TO CREATE A MARKETING PLAN FOR NEW PRODUCT OR SERVICE PowerPoint Presentation

TO CREATE A MARKETING PLAN FOR NEW PRODUCT OR SERVICE - PowerPoint Presentation Example Many facets of the marketing plan such as the pricing advantage are detailed below, including strategic analysis of competitors, internal and external strength, weaknesses along with opportunities and strengths etc. promotional plan, marketing mix, competitive advantage and launch strategy. Pond’s ‘Soft and Smooth’ is a deep cleansing, exfoliating face wash which is not only gentle to sensitive skin, but very thorough in cleaning out dirt and oil from every pore on your face. Soft and Smooth guarantees to leave you feeling fresh and cheerful. The convenient easy pump packaging allows the user to simply push the top of the container and get your face wash instead of flipping a cap, pouring it out and capping the bottle again with soapy hands.  ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Soft and Smooth is set for a spring launch(towards the end of February), whereby there will be a soft launch in many popular malls followed by a full blown dominating presence as the main launch on shelves in supermarkets and departmental stores around summer(beginning of May). Smooth and Soft face wash will be the solitary face wash related product offering in the company’s portfolio of products. However, given ample time and growth, the company plans on expanding its line of face wash with more special purpose face washes instead of a one-for-all product. The promotion plan entails a first time customers’ discount of 30% if purchased in the soft launch activity zone. The product will be showcased at the basement of two prominent malls in the metropolis along with banners, decoration, flash mob, gift hampers and other awareness-creating activities. The launch will take a multi-tier approach. Spring will usher in awareness activities as part of the ‘soft launch’, where a hired brand activation company would be responsible for showcasing the product in different shopping malls and busy shopping districts through exhibitions, kiosks, and various other

The Bible: An Eternal Canon

The Bible: An Eternal Canon When one thinks of the word Bible, it evokes images of revelation at Sinai, full of lightning and thunder, where an awestruck nation received the ten commandments. It conjures images of Isaiahs soaring prophecies, the anguish of Esther, and the courage of Daniel. However, despite the history within it, the Bible is not a history book. One who turns the pages and reads the ancient words will find promises of the rewards that await those who do good and the punishments that come in the wake of evil. The Bible is a roadmap to living life wisely; it gives advice and guidance, comforts the aggrieved and inspires the crestfallen. It illuminates events and helps place them in perspective. It is not an old storybook and not just a book of law but rather a compilation of the periods and people whose actions hold relevant lessons to be learned, even thousands of years later. When they compiled and finalized which books would be included in the biblical canon, it was understood by the ancient Jewish authorities that it was to be a guide for generations on how to live life. A central part of Judaism is the study of Torah in order to learn and adhere to the laws and way of life that is expected by God, as it says in the book of Joshua this book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success[1], meaning that one who studied the Bible would glean from it what the correct thing to do in their own life was and therefore, would find success. As such, while there were likely other books written, and certainly there were many other prophets and prophecies experienced, before the redaction of the biblical canon began, not everything was worthy of eternal inclusion. A crite rion for inclusion was that each book chosen by the ancient Jewish authorities was a selection which provided teachings, be they ethical or moral, that would be applicable and relevant for all future generations, regardless of time and place. If the Jewish authorities did not feel that it would still be relevant to be studied by future generations, regardless of how interesting it may have been, they did not include it. The biblical canon is meant to shape people. It is logical to believe that the Creator of the Universe provided man with a code of conduct, as it says God insist[s] that His worshippers live up to strict standards of ethics and morality[2]. God, through His actions, displayed the moral and ethical path that one should strive to emulate. When the ancient Jewish authorities compiled the biblical canon, it was clear that they were including the books that presented examples of upright and holy behaviour that future generations should strive to emulate. The biblical canon also endeavours to bring people who read its ancient pages closer to God. The books included in the biblical canon were selected with the intention that these timeless words would have an impact on all future generations and would still create a framework for a relationship with God, even thousands of years later. Another of the criteria for being included in the bible was that the works be composed during the era of prophetic revelation; that is, no later than the time of the building of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the returned exiles from Babylonia[3]. Books and prophecies that emerged after this cut-off date were not included in the biblical canon. It is for this reason that the Books of the Maccabees were not considered for biblical inclusion, since they were written after the period of prophetic revelation had ended. An opinion as to why this was the cut-off date for inclusions is that it was believed that no addition would be on the holy level of the books originally included in the bible. This is because the era of divine prophecy had concluded. There was also a feeling of being post-biblical Jews, meaning they felt that no matter how good a proposed new book for the Bible was, it did not matter since the Bible was closed for new additions. However, there is evidence that as late as the second century CE there was an ongoing debate occurring regarding certain books that had originally been included in the biblical canon that some rabbis believed should be removed. This debate is displayed in a Mishnah where the books Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs are discussed with the concept of ones hands becoming impure following contact with these holy books.[4] A difficult concept to understand, the essence of the idea is that if holy books make ones hands impure, they would be handled more delicately, and the very few hand-written copies in circulation at the time would be protected from too much use. An additional explanation for this idea, is that there was holy bread that people would place next to the holy books, thinking that since both were considered holy it was an appropriate thing to do. However, it was found that rodents nibbling on the food would also gnaw on the scrolls, thereby damaging them. Therefore, the rule was put in place to prevent damage to the books. The debate regarding this rule with respect to Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs in this Mishnah is whether the two books mentioned render ones hands impure, meaning are they considered holy like the other books that compile the biblical canon. The Mishnah brings several differing opinions on the subject, and it is clear that while both books remain in the Biblical Canon and are considered holy like all the others, there was, at some point, a debate about whether they should have continued to be included. It is evident that the ancient Jewish authorities recognized the centrality of the biblical canon to Judaism and took the task of compiling which books were appropriate for inclusion very seriously. Working with an understanding that the collection of books they were putting together would be studied intimately and thoroughly for thousands of years, they made the decision that only those books whose stories had applicable lessons for future generations would be included. Potential volumes that told of times where no lasting life instruction could be gleaned were dismissed. Materials that did not help to further ones relationship with God were also dismissed, since a key component of the biblical canon is to bring individuals closer to God as well as to teach individuals what God expects from them, ethically and morally, through Gods actions in the bible. A final criterion for inclusion in the biblical canon was the time in which an event happened. If the book was written after the er a of revelation had stopped, it was automatically disregarded since the biblical canon was closed to new additions that were not divinely inspired. The ancient Jewish authorities and their rabbinic heirs did not subscribe to the New Testament or the Koran because they did not agree with the belief that those books were of divine inspiration. Thus, their criteria for inclusion was intended as a protection against future man-made and human-inspired works that potentially negated or contradicted the precepts of the Torah. In sum, the ancient Jewish authorities were aware of the tremendous responsibility of compiling a canon of books that would be relevant for future generations and would hold strong the ideal of emulating Gods ways with fealty and steadfast allegiance. With that in mind, they established detailed criteria to follow to ensure that even thousands of years later, an individual could open these books to look in the creased pages of time to reveal eternal knowledge and wisdom of how one can transform their experience of life today. References Segal, Eliezer. Introducing Judaism. Vol. 4. Routledge, 2009 [1] Joshua 1:8 Bible RSV [2]Segal, Eliezer. Introducing Judaism. Vol. 4. Routledge, 2009, 147. [3] Ibid. 15 [4] Mishnah Yadayim 3:5

To what extent is Joe’s influence a help or a hindrance to Pip’s :: Free Essay Writer

To what extent is Joe’s influence a help or a hindrance to Pip’s development? In Great Expectations, the character of Joe is portrayed upon the reader as the comical but also sensitive grown-up figure towards Pip. Much of Joe’s upbringing was simple. As a result he lacks the intelligence to question the moral values that he was taught as a child. â€Å"There’s one thing you may be sure of Pip, said Joe, after some rumination, namely that lies is lies. How sever they come, they didn’t ought to come, and they come from the father of lies, and work round to the same. Don’t you tell no more of ‘em Pip† Due to this he does not have the same moral dilemmas that most people have. Joe’s innocence is then passed onto Pip who is the closet thing to a son that he will ever have. This innocence that Joe aspires can be considered a good thing, which aids Pip’s moral development, but it can also be considered a hindrance to Pip’s personal growth and his self-esteem. In a way, much of the story comes across with Joe acting more like a child with Pip than a father. â€Å"I always treated him as a larger species of child, and as no more than my equal.† Because of Pip’s lack of proper parents when he was young and Joe’s lack of love from Mrs Joe Gargery, the two of them form a strong bond with each other as both of them share the same treatment by Mrs Joe Gargery. â€Å"Joe and I being fellow sufferers and having confidences as such, Joe imparted a confidence to me†¦Ã¢â‚¬  As a result of this bond Joe’s personality is then somehow absorbed by Pip as Pip portrays a typical childlike quality in which he is easily influenced by those around him. Joe’s influence to Pip can come across as a positive outlook on Pip as Pip learns to respect others and their wishes as well as himself, but also not to retaliate and lower himself to someone else’s level if they provoke him. â€Å"She says many hard things of you, yet you say nothing of her. What do you think of her? I don’t like to say, I stammered.† In this quote, Pip refuses to tell Miss Havisham what he thought of Estella, because he did not want to create any more tension than there already was. This then backs up my point as its illustrating Pip’s control over his emotions due to Joe’s influence over Pip’s social behaviour. On the other hand, Joe’s influence can also be established as a form

Bhopal Gas Leak and BP Oil Spill

Bhopal and BP. They are two names that would ring a bell with anyone who is familiar with industrial disasters. Bhopal is a city in India where an industrial disaster in 1984 killed thousands people and maimed hundreds of thousands. BP (British Petroleum, BP Plc. ,), on the other hand is the name of a petroleum company (an energy industry super major) that appeared in international headlines recently for causing the worst marine oil spill in history.The number of casualties associated with BP oil spill is rather negligible but damage the spill caused on environment and economy of some American states were immense and it is ranked amongst major industrial disasters. In both these disasters it was the corporate houses that were in the wrong. Union Carbide (UCC), the company that ran the pesticide plant in Bhopal, neglected the safety measures required while handling toxic materials and in the BP oils spill it is the negligence of British Petroleum that led to the accident on the oil ri g â€Å"Deepwater Horizon† that ended up in the oil spill, which the company couldn’t stop for weeks.Though separated in time by decades and space by thousands of miles, both these disasters are connected in many respects. Curiously enough the final court verdict on the corporate culprits of Bhopal disaster came at a time when BP was busy capping the oil leak thousands of meters beneath the sea. In 1984 when the methyl isocyanate gas leak killed thousands in Bhopal the first thing Union Carbide management did was to put the blame on somebody else. In those years when Sikh militancy and terrorism were high in India UCC said the accident was the result of terrorist activity (nobody paid any attention to it).This year when the oil spill began in the Gulf of Mexico the first thing BP too tried to do was to put the blame on others –on Transocean Ltd (the company which owned the oil rig) and Halliburton, the company which manufactured the blow out presenter valve on t he oil well. The media mocked this and BP dropped the strategy. In the Bhopal the US based corporation then argued that it should not be held legally responsible because the Indian subsidiary was a separate legal person with very minimal ties with US. At the time of the accident the UCC-based in New York City – owned 50. 9% of the UCC India Ltd. , 22% owned by govt.of India and the rest by Indian citizens. The US court hearing the plea against UCC accepted the company’s contention and dismissed India’s pleas for justice. Later on humanitarian ground the company agreed to pay $470 million as compensation to victims of gas tragedy. In that pre-globalization period, India as a developing country had practically no clout over the US multinational company and finally it had to satisfy itself with prosecuting the Indian man agent of UCC India Ltd. In the case of BP oil spill too it was an instance of a company registered in one country creating problems in another cou ntry.In the initial stage BP management tried to portray the liability issues as US action against British industry and ward of penal actions. In the case of BP oil spill, along with the news of gushing crude spreading all over the Gulf of Mexico, talks about pinning the corporate responsibility on BP also appeared in the headlines. There was intense pressure on president Osama’s administration to act tough on BP and it made BP to pay up $20 billion for the clean up operation. In the BP oil spill case the corporation had to bow before the government. It was a company from a weaker country against a global super power; US finally had its way.The chief executive of BP had to own up responsibility for the fiasco and step down. 1 Pearce, Frank, Tombs, Steve (1990), ‘Ideology, Hegemony, And Empiricism: Compliance Theories of Regulation’, The British Journal of Criminology 30:423-443 2 Murru ,Maurizio (2004), ‘Bhopal 20 Years On: Globalization And Corporate Respo nsibility’, Health Policy And Development 250 volume 2 number 3 December 3 Amnesty International, 2004, Clouds of injustice, Bhopal disaster 20 years on, London 4 Broughton, Edward (2005), ‘The Bhopal disaster and its aftermath: a review’, Environmental Health: A Global Access Science Source, 4:6

George and Lennie in “Of Men and Mice” Essay

George and Lennie are the two main characters in this book. They look after one another and stick together. I think that that itself is quite strange as they are both completely the opposite to each other. Lennie is very dependant on George and probably wouldn’t be able to survive without him; he certainly wouldn’t be able to get himself out of trouble. But George is much more Independent than Lennie. George is also quite bossy, like a parent but is responsible and practical too. He acts like a parent to Lennie sometimes: â€Å"Lennie! Lennie for Gods sake don’t drink so much.† He often tells Lennie what to do like this example. But he is forced to because of Lennie child like behaviour and sense. Lennie very much in his actions and words reflects the personality of a young child. This is sometimes quite admiring and amusing, â€Å"You drink some Lennie, take a good big drink† he smiled happily.† He is also described in a way that a child would be, by saying, â€Å"he smiled happily† Even though Lennie annoys George, George still cares for Lennie. An example of this is when George warns Lennie about drinking the water. This also reflects his intelligence. Which he definitely seems when he’s described with Lennie because Lennie really does lack intelligence. Lennie ignores the warning showing his shortage in common sense. We find out that George is slightly short tempered by two incidents. One is when he talks about the bus driver giving them the wrong information. â€Å"We could just as well of rode clear to the ranch of that bastard bus driver knew what he was talkin’ about† He’s quite rude in this statement and we can tell that he is angry. Because he is already angry about this he snaps at Lennie. He talks about how much better off he would have been if he didn’t have Lennie with him and in my opinion he saws some quite harsh things, â€Å"You crazy son of a bitch you keep me in hot water all the time.† He seems determined to hurt Lennie in this paragraph when he talks like this to him. Particularly during this part of the story, you’re forced to feel sympathy for Lennie and feel that George is the ‘bad guy’. But we also see Georges caring side again when he sees’s Lennies anguished face and he is ashamed of himself. I think George is a compassionate person though. Because he still cares for Lennie and sticks by him and helps him out of trouble by choice. Lennie is purposely portrayed in a child like manner. You can tell by his tone of voice, the things he says, the way he’s described and his actions. â€Å"Lennie who had been watching imitated George exactly† â€Å"Where we goin’, George† â€Å"Ain’t a thing in my pocket George, honest.† Lennnie imitates George quite a lot, he looks up to George and trusts him. He tries to obey George and attempts really hard to remember what George tells him. He asks questions like a child constantly. And he tries to act clever in a child like way. Lennie also has a child’s imagination too; He is also attracted to petting things because of his child like gentle nature. â€Å"Let’s have different coloured rabbits, George† he makes silly comments like this as well. George doesn’t really trust Lennie. Not because he’s not a good person but because he’s forgetful and makes silly mistakes which lead to big trouble. Lennies stupidity, need of understanding and strength causes him to unknowingly make these mistakes. We know that he’s forgetful because he doesn’t remember where he is going and has to repeat things over and over again to remind himself. We also know that George doesn’t trust him because he doesn’t let him keep his own workers ticket. Both people think of the dream in different ways, Lennie thinks about it in a very childish dreamy way, and as you’d expect, George thinks practically and really about it. And when he realises he’s being unrealistic he stops himself: â€Å"-Nuts† I think this shows that he doesn’t get his hopes up too high and that he is a down to earth person. George is a planner, he likes to be organised and know what’s happening. He plans and tells Lennie where to go if there’s trouble at the ranch. George and Lennie are very different people but they both benefit and appreciate the companionship that they share. â€Å"But not us! Because†¦because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you and that’s why†

Vodafone Customer Satisfaction Essays

Vodafone Customer Satisfaction Essays Vodafone Customer Satisfaction Essay Vodafone Customer Satisfaction Essay MARKETING RESEARCH INTERNAL ASSESSMENT ASSIGNMENT SATISFACTION OF VODAFONE CUSTOMERS BY RAHUL G GADDAM PGDM BT ROLL NO: 10 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT In the preparation of this report, I acknowledge the encouragement and assistance given by a number of people from IPE. I sincerely thank Dr. Reshmi Ann Thomas for providing assistance and guiding me in doing this project. I thank her once again for exposing me to research methodology and also exposing me to software package SPSS. I want to show my gratefulness to all the respondents who spared their precious time in answering my questionnaires. INDEX PAGE NO: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4 INTRODUCTION 5 Executive Summary This research intends to investigate the relationships between the independent variables (offers,affordability,customer service, connectivity) and the dependent variable (customer satisfaction in Vodafone). It is a correlational study that measures the relationship by showing offers,affordability,customer service, connectivity as the independent variables and consumer preference as the dependent variable. The sample for this study was the IPE postgraduate students who use Vodafone as their service providers. Total 43 questionnaires were distributed among the undergraduate students and each questionnaireconsists of 14 questions. therefore 602 questions were used for data analysis. SPSS 15. 0 was used to analyze the collected data. Reliability analysis and stepwise regression analysis were performed for testing hypothesis. Finally, considering the time and resource constraints, the researcher tried to follow every possible guideline to establish the relationship between the variables. INTRODUCTION Vodafone is a mobile network operator headquartered in Berkshire, England, UK. It is the largest mobile telecommunications network company in the world by turnover and has a market value of about ? 75 billion (August 2008). Vodafone currently has operations in 25 countries and partner networks in a further 42 countries. The name Vodafone comes from Voice data fone, chosen by the company to reflect the provision of voice and data services over mobile phones. As of 2006 Vodafone had an estimated 260 million customers in 25 markets across 5 continents. On this measure, it is the second largest mobile telecom group in the world behind China Mobile. Mobiles places a vital role in our life these days. There are many network providers in the market. Vodafone is one of the major player in the telecom sector. This research is all about customers using Vodafone as their serivce providers. The customer has wide choice of selecting the network, among them Vodafone stands the first to be choosen and that is the reson why it is said to be worlds largest network. The main objective of this research is to find out whether the customers using Vodafone as their service providers are satisfied with its service or not. Satisfaction of the customer is the main priority of a service. More than 70% of its users are satisfied with its service (according to the researcher).

Free Essays on Poes Life

Poe: The Darkness Edgar Allen Poe is the most well-known author of his time. Edgar Poe’s ancestors were agriculturists and artisans on one side, and actors on the other. Poe was born on Jan. 19, 1809, in Boston ( Encyclopedia Americana Pg. 274). Edgar’s future mother was performing in Virginia, where she was being observed by a young man by the name of David Poe. Soon Eliza Arnold, a young actress, fell in love with David, and he with her. Only six months after the death of her first husband, Eliza and David were married. Edgar’s father joined Eliza’s acting troupe and was greatly criticized by an 1806 notice. â€Å"The lady is young and pretty, and is blessed with both singing and acting talents. Her husband is literally nothing.† This was not the only time that David was badly criticized. (Soon enough, the same types of criticism would plague Edgar later during his first literary disputes) (Meyers Pg.3). Edgar was born in a humble lodging house near Carver Street, south of Boston Common, on January 19,1809. On the back of a watercolor sketch which Poe treasured, his mother wrote: â€Å"For my little son Edgar, who should ever love Boston, the place of his birth, and where his mother found her best, and most sympathetic friends.† Later in adulthood however, Poe had a strong dislike for the city. He hated its ruling literary class-their stuffy morality, vague transcendental philosophy, abolitionist movement, and sterile domination of the American literary scene. After becoming extremely poor, the Poe’s left five week old Edgar in Baltimore with his paternal grandparents, David and Elizabeth continued their theatrical jobs. David Poe made his last stage appearance in October 1809. By July 1811-when Edgar was two and a half years old, his dad deserted the family, and was neither seen nor heard from ever again. After being deserted, Eliza was left with overwhelming demands from her job, constantly having to move, taking car... Free Essays on Poes Life Free Essays on Poes Life Poe: The Darkness Edgar Allen Poe is the most well-known author of his time. Edgar Poe’s ancestors were agriculturists and artisans on one side, and actors on the other. Poe was born on Jan. 19, 1809, in Boston ( Encyclopedia Americana Pg. 274). Edgar’s future mother was performing in Virginia, where she was being observed by a young man by the name of David Poe. Soon Eliza Arnold, a young actress, fell in love with David, and he with her. Only six months after the death of her first husband, Eliza and David were married. Edgar’s father joined Eliza’s acting troupe and was greatly criticized by an 1806 notice. â€Å"The lady is young and pretty, and is blessed with both singing and acting talents. Her husband is literally nothing.† This was not the only time that David was badly criticized. (Soon enough, the same types of criticism would plague Edgar later during his first literary disputes) (Meyers Pg.3). Edgar was born in a humble lodging house near Carver Street, south of Boston Common, on January 19,1809. On the back of a watercolor sketch which Poe treasured, his mother wrote: â€Å"For my little son Edgar, who should ever love Boston, the place of his birth, and where his mother found her best, and most sympathetic friends.† Later in adulthood however, Poe had a strong dislike for the city. He hated its ruling literary class-their stuffy morality, vague transcendental philosophy, abolitionist movement, and sterile domination of the American literary scene. After becoming extremely poor, the Poe’s left five week old Edgar in Baltimore with his paternal grandparents, David and Elizabeth continued their theatrical jobs. David Poe made his last stage appearance in October 1809. By July 1811-when Edgar was two and a half years old, his dad deserted the family, and was neither seen nor heard from ever again. After being deserted, Eliza was left with overwhelming demands from her job, constantly having to move, taking car...

A Profile of Henry VIII of England

A Profile of Henry VIII of England Henry VIII was King of England from 1509 to 1547. An athletic young man who famously grew much larger later in life, he is best known for having six wives (part of his quest for a male heir) and breaking the English church away from Roman Catholicism. He is arguably the most famous English monarch of all time. Early Life Henry VIII, born June 28, 1491, was the second son of Henry VII. Henry originally had an older brother, Arthur, but he died in 1502, leaving Henry heir to the throne. As a youth, Henry was tall and athletic, frequently engaged in hunting and sport, but also intelligent and academic. He spoke several languages and studied the arts and theological debate. As king, he wrote (with help) a text refuting the claims of Martin Luther, which resulted in the Pope granting Henry the title of Defender of the Faith. Henry became king on the death of his father in 1509 and was welcomed by his kingdom as a dynamic young man. Early Years on the Throne, War, and Wolsey Shortly after acceding to the throne, Henry VIII married Arthur’s widow Catherine of Aragon. He then became active in international and military affairs, pursuing a campaign against France. This was organized by Thomas Wolsey. By 1515, Wolsey had been promoted to Archbishop, Cardinal, and Chief Minister. For much of his early reign, Henry ruled from a distance through the greatly capable Wolsey, who became one of the most powerful ministers in English history and a friend of the king. Some wondered if Wolsey was in charge of Henry, but this was never the case, and the king was always consulted on key matters. Wolsey and Henry pursued a diplomatic and military policy designed to raise England’s (and thus Henry’s) profile in European affairs, which was dominated by the Spanish-Franco-Habsburg rivalry. Henry displayed little military ability in wars against France, living off one victory at the Battle of the Spurs. After Spain and the Holy Roman Empire became united under Emperor Charles V, and French power was temporarily checked, England became sidelined. Wolsey Grows Unpopular Attempts by Wolsey to change England’s alliances to maintain a position of importance brought a backlash, damaging vital income from the English-Netherlands cloth trade. There was upset at home, too, with the regime growing unpopular thanks partly to demands for more taxation. Opposition to a special tax in 1524 was so strong the king had to cancel it, blaming Wolsey. It was at this stage in his rule that Henry VIII entered into a new policy, one which would dominate the rest of his rule: his marriages. Catherine, Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII’s Need for an Heir Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon had produced just one surviving child: a girl called Mary. As the Tudor line was recent to the English throne, which had little experience of female rule, no one knew if a woman would be accepted. Henry was worried and desperate for a male heir. He had also grown tired of Catherine and fascinated by a woman at the court called Anne Boleyn, sister of one of his mistresses. Anne didn’t want to simply be a mistress, but queen instead. Henry may also have been convinced his marriage to his brother’s widow was a crime in Gods eyes, as proved by his dying children. Henry decided to solve the matter by requesting a divorce from Pope Clement VII. After seeking this, he decided to marry Anne. Popes had granted divorces in the past, but now there were problems. Catherine was an aunt to the Holy Roman Emperor, who would be offended by Catherine being shunted to the side, and to whom Clement was subservient. Furthermore, Henry had obtained, at cost, special permission from a previous Pope to marry Catherine, and Clement was loathe to challenge a previous papal action. Permission was refused and Clement dragged a court decision out, leaving Henry worried about how to proceed. Fall of Wolsey, Rise of Cromwell, Breach With Rome With Wolsey growing unpopular and failing to negotiate a settlement with the Pope, Henry removed him. A new man of considerable ability now rose to power: Thomas Cromwell. He took control of the royal council in 1532 and engineered a solution which would cause a revolution in English religion and kingship. The solution was a breach with Rome, replacing the Pope as the head of the church in England with the English king himself. In January 1532, Henry married Anne. In May, a new Archbishop declared the previous marriage voided. The Pope excommunicated Henry soon after, but this had little effect. The English Reformation Cromwell’s break with Rome was the start of the English Reformation. This wasn’t simply a switch to Protestantism, as Henry VIII had been a passionate Catholic and he took time to come to terms with the changes he made. Consequently, England’s church, which was altered by a series of laws and bought tightly under the control of the king, was a halfway house between Catholic and Protestant. However, some English ministers refused to accept the change and a number were executed for doing so, including Wolsey’s successor, Thomas More. The monasteries were dissolved, their wealth going to the crown. Six Wives of Henry VIII The divorce of Catherine and the marriage to Anne was the start of a quest by Henry to produce a male heir which led to his marriages to six wives. Anne was executed for alleged adultery after court intrigue and only producing a girl, the future Elizabeth I. The next wife was Jane Seymour, who died in childbirth producing the future Edward VI. There was then a politically-motivated marriage to Anne of Cleves, but Henry detested her. They were divorced. A few years later, Henry married Catherine Howard, who was later executed for adultery. Henry’s final wife was to be Catherine Parr. She outlived him and was still his wife at the time of Henrys death. Final Years of Henry VIII Henry grew ill and fat, and possibly paranoid. Historians have debated the extent to which he was manipulated by his court and the extent to which he manipulated them. He has been called a sad and bitter figure. He ruled without a key minister once Cromwell fell from grace, attempting to stop religious dissension and maintain the identity of a glorious king. After a final campaign against Scotland and France, Henry died on January 28, 1547. Monster or Great King? Henry VIII is one of England’s most divisive monarchs. He is most famous for his six marriages, which caused two wives to be executed. He is sometimes called a monster for this and for executing more leading men than any other English monarch on alleged charges of treason. He was aided by some of the greatest minds of his day, but he turned against them. He was arrogant and egotistical. He is both attacked and praised for being the architect of England’s Reformation, which brought the church under crown control but also caused dissension which would lead to further bloodshed. Having increased the holdings of the crown by dissolving the monasteries, he then wasted resources on failed campaigning in France. Henry VIIIs reign was the height of direct monarchical power in England. However, in practice, Cromwell’s policies enlarged Henry’s power but also bound him tighter to Parliament. Henry tried throughout his reign to enhance the image of the throne, making war partly to increase his stature and building up the English navy to do so. He was a fondly-remembered king among many of his subjects. Historian G. R. Elton concluded that Henry was not a great king, for, while a born leader, he had no foresight for where he was taking the nation. But he was not a monster, either, taking no pleasure in casting down former allies. Sources Elton, G. R. England Under the Tudors. Routledge Classics, 1st Edition, Routledge, November 2, 2018. Elton, G. R. Reform and Reformation: England, 1509-1558. The New History of England, Hardcover, First Edition edition, Harvard University Press, January 26, 1978.

Teaching and Learning Strategies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Teaching and Learning Strategies - Essay Example Minority ethnic pupils are admitted more frequently than the past. In interviews with children from different minority ethnic groups there were some principal findings, the most important features of their self characterisation stemmed from their families. Most parents teach their children about their ethnic culture, home language and religion, making them to contact with the net work of the relatives or friends from the same ethnic background. Another factor that is influencing how they their ethnic identity is how they are perceived and treated outside home. Two thirds of the children had some exposure to community language within their household; regular attendance posed considerable challenges to the children who were at a distance from the centre of religious life, a number of alternative individual and private arrangements were made by the parents. Mixed heritage children formed a significant group among the minority ethnic groups; it was the common belief of many parents that this heritage posed additional problems of their child's development of the clear sense of identity. Sometimes there is a chance that these mixed heritage children are not accepted into the community and the teachers are rarely aware about this fact, moreover the uncertainty in dealing with the minority ethnic groups particularly with reference to the heritage group is acute. The majority of the children who had been at their school for a significant time were well integrated socially and enjoyed the same pattern of friendship with their peer group. Very few were harassed physically in the racist incidents, and the verbal abuse or hurtful calling in the school or during the school journey is

Speaking to Inform Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Speaking to Inform - Essay Example Are reportedly born with Sickle-cell Diseases, and statistically the larger pictures brings about 100,000 Americans in its purview. Half a century from now it would have been unimaginable to survive this disease, however, today owing to the interventions of technology and other screening programs it can be said that it is manageable to live with Sickle-cell Disease. The regular Red Blood Cells (RBC) are disc-like structures; they are tailor-made to move through the blood vessels with considerable ease. These RBC’s are rich in an iron content protein known as Haemoglobin, which in turn carries out the function of transporting blood from the lungs to the various parts of the body. Sickle cells result in Sickle haemoglobin, which are quite sticky and stiff in nature and impede the flow of the blood; which results in severe pain and a series of other infectious diseases and sometimes damage of the organ. Sickle Cell Anemia is a genetic disorder and continues to be present in an individual’s body for an entire lifetime. Individuals with the Sickle Cell Disease are known to be born with the Disease, inheriting two separate genes from either parent. Sickle Cell Anemia is not known to have a specific cure. Treatments that are available work towards reducing the symptoms and other related complications. Stem Cell and Bone Marrow Transplants are the most common treatments but the results are not assured. A Stem Cell disease must not be interpreted as a Sickle Cell disease simply because Sickle Cell forms on a part of stem Cell transplantations; Stem Cell procedures are merely used to cure auto-immune diseases like Sickle Cell. Hematopoietic cell transplantations are known to cure many of the genetic disorder and as compared to Sickle Cell is a larger purview of manifestations in a human

Dyslexia In Early Years Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Dyslexia In Early Years - Essay Example This is a problem that is identifiable through observing some characteristics, such as inability to distinguish right from left. According to Robb & Piazza (2004) some simple but critical knowledge such as understanding right and left, bottom and up, high and low as well as maintaining a particular position assigned to the child in a game need to be clearly understood by the age of five years. When such problems are observed beyond this age, it is likely that the child is dyslexic. The problem is also evident among children who are unable to spell words correctly by interchanging letters, such as ‘f’ and ‘v’, ‘p’ and ‘b’, ‘b’ and ‘v’, ‘c’ and ‘s’, ‘a’ and ‘u’ among other letters that have some likeness.  This is a problem that is identifiable through observing some characteristics, such as inability to distinguish right from left. According to Robb & Pia zza (2004) some simple but critical knowledge such as understanding right and left, bottom and up, high and low as well as maintaining a particular position assigned to the child in a game need to be clearly understood by the age of five years. When such problems are observed beyond this age, it is likely that the child is dyslexic. The problem is also evident among children who are unable to spell words correctly by interchanging letters, such as ‘f’ and ‘v’, ‘p’ and ‘b’, ‘b’ and ‘v’, ‘c’ and ‘s’, ‘a’ and ‘u’ among other letters that have some likeness.   Dyslexic children usually have problems recognizing the sequence of activities, numbers and series. For example, it may be difficult to follow A-Z or 1-100. Even the sequence of letters in words may be a problem to such children, which is presents a major learning difficulty especially due to failure in spelling words correctly. For example, they may make mistakes while spelling words such as ‘lead’ for ‘deal’, and ‘name’ for ‘mane’, ‘left’ for ‘felt’, ‘except’ for ‘expect’ among other words with the same sound. Another problem may be misplacement of syllables. ‘Animal’ may be spelt as ‘aminal’, and ‘activity’ as ‘actitivy’. It is also difficult for such children to recognize the backward sequence such as Y, X, W, V, U e. t. c in the alphabetical order. The child unwillingly fails to pay attention to instructions.

World cultures Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

World cultures - Essay Example The Mayan civilization consisted of powerful city-states that spread from southern Mexico to northern Honduras. Scientists in Mayan civilization cite that drought theory plays a pivotal role where the people cut down the jungle canopy to accelerate the problem`. A climate model simulation depicts the aggregation of drought caused by deforestation. The pale climate records show that the collapse of Mayan socio-political structure links to Terminal Classical Drought (TCD). The efforts to assess the effects of climate change on prehistoric societies leads to controversies on the future climate change in the modern societies. Lane et al (2014) present evidence of TCD along the Caribbean Island of Hispaniola, Laguna Castilla, and other areas of the Dominican Republic. The flowering with the rain theory analyzes the cavern stalagmites on the cave floors to link the climate swings that lead to the fall of the empire. Belizean stalagmites in the early Classical Maya are unusually wet since the population proliferation aid the process. Sophistication of monumental architecture, political systems, and complex religion fall in the full flower era. Scientists provide a warfare theory that could have shattered the entire people. The stone carving depict vicious images such as Tikal, Quirigua, and Dos Pilas. It is possible cites went to war with each other. As Dos Pilas invasion took place in 760 A.D (Lane et al. 2014). One cannot rule out the possibility of war that brought economic disaster and a domino effect in the Maya cities. At the apex of their power, things started to unravel just like the stock market zigzag into uncharted territory. Carroll (2013) explains that the ancients built an advanced society where they were undone by their own success. The population of the people continued to escalate stretching the natural resources to a breaking point. The political leaders

Environmental Scan Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Environmental Scan - Assignment Example The program is solely responsible for health services and training opportunities, along with valuable educational programs. Regina Food Bank has been sustaining its operations from past many years. However external forces tend to affect operations of this charitable organization. There are four major forces in external environment as per PEST model such as political, economic, social and technological forces. This project has been incorporated in Regina located in Canada. Political power is in favor of Regina Food Bank. Its main aim is to eradicate any form of hunger issues from the country. The government had recently announced a lump sum amount to be donated to Regina Food Bank. This kind of investment would be done in terms of capacity building in community and voluntary sector. Political conditions at times are not stable due to frequent elections and this in turn proves to be a threat for charitable organizations. Economic factors mainly comprise of effect of recession on charitable organization. This encompasses various phenomenons like lower income of donor, increased service demand and stiff competition in context of declining funds of government. Job security is a vital issue for donors and this affects operations of charitable organizations. When disposable income is low then it negatively affects donation habits of individuals. Reduction in interest rates is good for businesses and home-owners but it has adversely affected charities. Market volatility reduced overall income from investments and reserves for many firms. The charities usually are dependent on investment factor. This kind of dependency will be influential since larger portfolio portion is held in shares. Market volatility also plays a major role for charities in context of pension funds. Pension funds are usually bounded within equities and hence declination in stock value creates large deficits. Financial instability and low interest

Stop kiss Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Stop kiss - Movie Review Example Live performances allow the audience to see how the actors undergo a sustained three-dimensional experience. In addition, the audience get to touch reality as presented by the actors and identify with some creativity in the artwork. This paper is a response to a performance of the â€Å"Stop Kiss† play. The play is about little triumphs of ordinary people in relationships. Diana Son who put the writings on the page reveals the secrets that befall a contemporary urban life of the mighty and politicians, who have to face a sour aftermath of their hate actions. The Garage Theatre made all this happen on the third Saturday of April 2012 at eight pm. You could read the excitement as the long waited moment of raising the curtains arrived. Garage theatre was celebrating ten years since its inception, which explained the big audience of the day. Callie and Sarah have recently met via a friend after Sarah has joined New York City. They realise that they share many commonalities in that they are in the process of self rediscovery after the diverse lives that are part of their past now. It is a tragedy that the two had a first kiss, which takes their friendship to another level and appears more of a love relationship. A late night walk in the park ends it all after their sight catches a vicious thug who beats Sarah into a coma. The performance was perfect with the audience laughing their hearts out all through the play. The audience encouraged the actors to do it better by laughing it off loudly in moments of humour. Great suspense rocked the audience as Bush and Beth Meticulously made their moves to deliver Diana’s message. Their voices were audible to every corner of the theatre, their movements good utilizing every part of the stage, and they acted professionally. As the play began I thought that the theme was on heterosexual behaviours of our society only to get a different meaning at the climax of the play.

Environmental Scan Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Environmental Scan - Assignment Example The program is solely responsible for health services and training opportunities, along with valuable educational programs. Regina Food Bank has been sustaining its operations from past many years. However external forces tend to affect operations of this charitable organization. There are four major forces in external environment as per PEST model such as political, economic, social and technological forces. This project has been incorporated in Regina located in Canada. Political power is in favor of Regina Food Bank. Its main aim is to eradicate any form of hunger issues from the country. The government had recently announced a lump sum amount to be donated to Regina Food Bank. This kind of investment would be done in terms of capacity building in community and voluntary sector. Political conditions at times are not stable due to frequent elections and this in turn proves to be a threat for charitable organizations. Economic factors mainly comprise of effect of recession on charitable organization. This encompasses various phenomenons like lower income of donor, increased service demand and stiff competition in context of declining funds of government. Job security is a vital issue for donors and this affects operations of charitable organizations. When disposable income is low then it negatively affects donation habits of individuals. Reduction in interest rates is good for businesses and home-owners but it has adversely affected charities. Market volatility reduced overall income from investments and reserves for many firms. The charities usually are dependent on investment factor. This kind of dependency will be influential since larger portfolio portion is held in shares. Market volatility also plays a major role for charities in context of pension funds. Pension funds are usually bounded within equities and hence declination in stock value creates large deficits. Financial instability and low interest

Vancouver Olympic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Vancouver Olympic - Essay Example According to Participation Agreement, the city accepted to be the host city and proceeded with the bid (Larry, Para 1-2). In December 1998, the Canadian Olympic Committee approved the Vancouver bid and agreed upon its representation Canada in the international bidding competition to host the 2010 Olympic Games. The Bid City Agreement was signed by the City, the COA and the bid group. The Bid City Agreement allowed the City to present its bid before the International Olympic Committee and established some roles and the responsibilities for all the parties in presenting the Bid. It also included intellectual property matters like copyright and trademarks, expenses, marketing, community consultation, the signing of the IOC Host City Agreement and operation of the Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games. The conditions of the Bid City Agreement need the City to work with the COC just to make sure that all features of the bid are covered and they are in compliance with the provisions of the Olympic Charter (Larry, Para 3). Initial Cost of Vancouver's Bid: The budget of the Bid Corporation for this bid was Can$34 million and of this total amount the Province of British Colu... Public corporation contributed 54 percent of the bid and private companies offered 46 percent of the funding. Contributing Factors: Hosting the Olympics in Vancouver and Whistler will affect the economy of the Province of British Columbia. Positive outcomes have been understood more important than the negatives for hosting the games. This point of view became very helpful for BC economy of the period around 2002 when the Canadian Dollar was weaker than the American Dollar. The time when Vancouver was selected as host city it was considered as capable as boosting the economy and increasing the tourism. Since then the Canadian Dollar has become stronger than American Dollar and tourism is expected to be lower as it will be very costly to come to Canada and spend in Canadian Dollars (Jay and Adam, Para 2). Motivation: The BC Government has created a favorable opinion of the games in the public eye. The government has guaranteed an economic boom following the games. It is expected that provincial growth will be approximately in between 0.9 and 1.2% per year from 2005 to 2011 (Derek, 2005, Para 1). Announcements have been made regarding the budget of the games and about its expected overall profit. It also has been claimed that there will be approximately 5600 new full time jobs, which will be created directly by the Games. The problem with the claims is that the government has speculated that Vancouver and Whistler areas would not be visited by the tourists if there were no Olympics and the jobs which are created by the Games would not be filled up by the workers and there would be unemployment, which seems to be wrong because there would certainly be large number of tourists and the unemployment rate in Vancouver area is one of the lowest in the

Group Definition Of Cross Cultural Awareness Management Essay

Group Definition Of Cross Cultural Awareness Management Essay The purpose of this report is to add to the group slide presentation on cross cultural awareness and the training program that was formulated to tackle the issue. Within this report there will be a summary of each the points that the group focused on. The task that the group were faced with was in the form of a training program that was geared towards increasing cross cultural awareness of a group of 10 British sales managers who work for IBM. Group Definition of Cross Cultural Awareness As more companies expand globally involving expatriates, the need for culture awareness has increased. The lack of cultural awareness is the main cause of misunderstanding and conflicts because of the cultural differences and where the behaviour perception of one culture may be different for another. (Cushner Brislin, 1996). The authors gave different names to cross-cultural awareness such as cross-cultural competence, cross-cultural training, intercultural competence and intercultural sensitivity. Based on several academic literatures, cross-cultural awareness means that a good understanding of its own culture will help the individual to understand more the others cultures and then to be more successful in cross cultural behaviour. In other words, the individual should be conscious enough of their own culture in developing the managers intercultural competence. That means increasing the ability to behave in intercultural way and improving communication across cultures as the intercultural competence shows consideration for others needs and fulfilment of ones own satisfactions (Gupta Govindarajan, 2002). In addition, cross-cultural awareness enables the individual to create a self-awareness through which he can identify his own knowledge and cultural values. Importance of Cross-Cultural Awareness Cross-cultural awareness is considered an important tool that reduces the consequences of cross-cultural conflict. It helps to learn how to behave in appropriate way across different cultures and create a feeling for these cultural differences. This results in enhancing cross-cultural communication skills like listening, speaking and observing which play a vital role to build trust between people of different cultures. The improvement of partnership skills as well, that requires a greater international collaboration. In addition, it decreases the cross-cultural misunderstanding and creates a winning working environment in the workplace. It is a business benefit and cost-effective solution for many companies since it maximizes their potential globally and develops the intercultural sensitivity of expatriates by providing better results to the organisation. It has a significant importance because the expatriates would understand and accept and build a strong relationship with people fr om various cultural backgrounds. Appropriateness of Training Bush and Thomas (2000) explain that it is of a main important for developing successful buyer-seller relationship. A sales manager will have to go through special training which we can call cultural diversity training. Before going through this training Bush and Thomas (2000) argue that it is a requirement for sales people to be exposed to a culturally diverse encounter. This phase will lead sales managers to realise the impact cultural diversity will have on business relationship and will enable them to be really aware of its importance, instead of neglecting it. Requirements can be achieved thanks to management training games such as the BAFA BAFA game. This game begins with the creation of two teams. The sales management team will have to be split into two teams that have different languages and cultures and will have to handle with the rules of the game, and to understand each culture. This game has a long history of success and it was proved to be a good tool to make people from different background work more effectively together. Once the sales managers are aware of the benefit cross cultural training could bring to them, they can move on the proper training. Montagno,R.(1996) say this will enable sales mangers to  acquire the three main qualities needed to do business abroad such as initiate conversation and establish and maintain a meaningful relationship. Type, content and length of training Seven types of training were identified by researchers Litrell and Salas (2005). These seven approaches are identified in the appendix. Each of the seven have their meanings, for example with regards to the groups specific training program, language training means that individuals do not have to become fluent but a general understanding of common courtesies in the host language is provided. (Befus 1988; Bennett 1986) It was decided that six months would be a worthy timescale for the training to take place in order to cover the ten methods and contents chosen by the group. These ten, were sourced from the handbook of intercultural training the ten can be viewed in table 1. These link to the groups definition of cross cultural awareness because the group had identified the key words, such as sensitivity, which is linked to the content of culture sensitizer. From the ten, a table (table 1) was created, which described factors such as what the outcome of the training will be, whether the training will give them knowledge into about or across cultures, what the learning styles would be as different people have different learning styles, for example British people have a different style to American people. The ten were chosen because we felt these were most likely to fit the definition of cross cultural awareness that we produced, for example self-awareness will give employees an understanding about their own culture as well as other peoples cultures. Table 1: Training Methods Cultural Effects Yang, et al (2009) suggest that the effect of trainees cultural background could be examines by Hofstede cultural dimensions. According to Hofstede (1994), nation cultural is defined as the collective programming of the mind in a nation or region. Hofstede (2009) suggested that cultural has several dimensions which include Individualism and collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, time orientation, power distance and masculinity and femininity. The review on cultural effect to the British participants learning performance will base on Hofstedes framework. Table 2 is a summary of the participants cultural effect: Table 2 Cultural Effects in Cross Cultural Training (Sources: Geert Hofstede, 2010) Dimensions Score Effects Approaches Individualism/Collectivism 89 The UK individualism cultural have higher intrinsic motivation than participants from collectivism cultural. The UKs participants valence and training motivation are higher when training is perceived to increase the competencies of individuals. The UKs participants cultural adopt a concrete, intuitive, and inductive learning style. Uncertainty Avoidance 35 The UK participants cultural training effectiveness is associated with a lower level of valence. Short/Long-term Oriented 51 The UKs culture has an average score on time oriented dimension. As a result, the course shall take care on both long-terms and short terms benefits. Power Distance 35 The UK participants cultural is higher when the training is implemented by using a decision-making process. Muscularity/ femininity 66 The participants culture will have higher training motivation and valence when training is perceived to increase the competencies of individuals. The UK has high individualism culture, Yang et al. (2009) showed that participants from individualism cultures have higher intrinsic motivation than participants from collectivism cultures and their valence and training motivation are higher when training is perceived to increase the competencies of individuals. Therefore, the training program should focus on increasing individual performance rather than organizations competencies. Yang, et al. (2009) reported individual cultures adopt a concrete, intuitive, and inductive learning style. As a result, the course shall include elements of solid example to gain best result from participants. They also suggested lower uncertainty avoidance cultural training effectiveness is associated with a lower level of valence. Consequently, the training shall include more individual works rather than group works. They found that the participants from short term oriented will require immediate benefit from the training program. However, the participants from long term oriented will require future benefit from the training program. The UKs culture has an average score on time oriented dimension. Therefore, the course shall take care on both long-terms and short terms benefits. Yang et al. (2009) found that the participants from short term oriented will require immediate benefit from the training program. However, the participants from long term oriented will require future benefit from the training program. The UKs culture has an average score on time oriented dimension. Therefore, the course shall take care on both long-terms and short terms benefits. They also suggested that masculinity cultural will have higher training motivation and valence when training is perceived to increase the competencies of individuals. Therefore, the training program should focus on increasing individual performance rather than organizations competencies. Evaluation The evaluation is an important stage to be considered in the implementation of cross-culture training. It aims to evaluate the effectiveness of cross-culture training by linking logically the content of measures to the training content (Kraiger et al, 1993), assess the improvement of participants awareness about cultural differences and whether the skills and knowledge learned from the training has been implemented in the workplace (Littrell, Salas, 2005) in order to provide recommendations for future cross-culture training. In order to evaluate IBMs cross-culture training, it is important for the evaluator to understand the meaning of culture awareness and sensitivity and set up success criteria for CCT program (Guzman, 2003). Only then they can evaluate participants knowledge and cross-culture training outcomes. The evaluation requires mixed methods including both qualitative and quantitative in order to increase the reliability of the findings. Thus, we will use various evaluation methods at this stage namely conducting interviews with participants in order to determine the change of their cognitive, affective and cognitive behaviour during the training, their self-maintenance and their adjustment to multicultural environment that have been also mentioned by Cross, et al, (1992) A set of congruent behaviours, attitudes, and policies that come together in a system, agency, or among professionals and enables that system, agency, or those professionals to work effectively in cross cultural situations. Th is method will be followed by pre-training and post-training survey in order to rate their competency and ability to deal with different cultures in the workplace. The return on investment (ROS) should also be used in order to measure the outcomes of this CCT program. This will help to decide whether CCT program should be modified or not and improve it in the future. Conclusion In conclusion, the pace of globalisation has raised a great attention of managers on the cross-cultural issues due to the conflicts and misunderstanding encountered in the workplace. These issues led to harsh consequences taking the form of frustrated shareholders and business opportunity losses. Therefore, there is a growing need to have an extensive interpersonal skills and knowledge than in past (Kealey and Protheroe, 1996). In other words, companies with an international growth strategy, such as our company IBM, are getting to implement a cross-cultural training for their global managers dealing with individuals from various cultures and this was an effective strategy to achieve their multicultural objectives and organisational performances. The six-month cross-cultural training implemented in IBM sales department will be a mean for our managers to increase their cultural awareness both at the professional and individual level including their communication and negotiation skills. Word Count: 1500 (exclude the tables and references) Appendix: Presentation Slides

Divorce In The United States :: essays research papers

As we have come closer to the end of the millennium, it is been easier to obtain an escape from a broken marriage. There have been many laws concerning divorce enforced in the United States that allow a quicker processing time. These laws, often referred to as “no-fault';, grant a divorce to a couple even if only one spouse applies for it. Marriages can be dissolved easily and for little or no reason. Laws including this no-fault policy should definitely not be enforced. The no-fault attitude towards divorce encourages casual actions in marriages. Studies show that divorce rates have increased 15-25 percent as a result of the no fault divorce laws. Making it easier for divorces to occur can decrease the quality of a marriage. In general all marriages go through bleak times making one partner often think about solace through divorce. Instead of working through the problems in a healthy manner, divorce through the no fault laws are quickly utilized to provide escape. The breakdown of a family can have many repercussions on the individual members with the least involvement. The children involved in a divorce are often times the most impacted victims of a divorce. Children with divorced parents are often left feeling neglected by the parent that has chosen to move out, unloved, and often times burdened with feelings of guilt. The poverty rates of single parented households are alarmingly high, and are often the result of divorce. With all these factors added together, divorce is a dangerous and scarring event in a child’s psyche. Recently, with the no-fault laws, it has been easier to dissolve a marriage for any reason or for no reason at all. In the past, divorces as well as marriages had to occur as an agreement or as a contract of responsibility. Through the no-fault laws, however, marriages can be dissolved by the wishes of only one spouse. Many believe that courts should treat marriages as any other contract and thus a divorce should be considered a breach of a legal agreement. If courts treated business contracts as they treated marriages, and systematically favored the party that wished to withdraw, the direct result would be the collapse or decline in the economy. In conclusion, the lax no-fault laws concerning divorce in our country are contributing to the moral decay of our society and should not be enforced.

Guest House :: Essays Papers

Guest House The first chapter introduces Mr. and Mrs. Bennett. We don’t know their first names because the wife calls her husband Mr. Bennett and he calls her â€Å"my dear†. They have five grown up daughters and one is named Lizzy or Elizabeth who is the father’s favorite. The mother thinks Jane is handsome (or good-looking) and Lydia humored. The other two daughters have not been introduced yet. Mr. Bennett thinks they are all silly and ignorant, except Lizzy. Mrs. Bennett wants the father to go with her to visit an eligible, â€Å"well to do† bachelor who will move into a neighboring estate at Michealmas the 29th of September, so she can aquaint him with her 5 available daughters. She would love to marry them off to money. There’s not much going on in her life except worrying about marrying her daughters and visiting with the other neighbors. Mr. Bennett, however, is not interested in meeting Mr. Bingley form Northern England and after twenty three years of marriage fancies himself to be the greater mind of the two. Chapter II Mr. Bennett goes ahead and is one of the first people to visit Mr. Bingley. He doesn’t tell them straight out that he has been to visit him, because he knows they’re all dying to meet him. So, he teases them about it first by telling them that hey may be the ones to introduce him to some of the other neighbors. They still don’t catch on until he drops the bomb that he’s already been to visit. He enjoys their shocked reaction, but doesn’t stick around. In this chapter we find out that Lizzy (the fathers favorite) is the second daughter. We also find out that one of the other daughter’s name is Kitty and she has an annoying cough and is really sensitive about it. The other girl’s name that we didn’t know is Mary, who is a bookworm. She is quiet. We also find out that Lydia is the youngest, but is also the tallest of the 5 girls. She appears to have a little spunk to her. Chapter III The girls along with their mother try to get their father to tell them about Mr. Bingley. They try every cleaver thing that they can think of to get even a hint of that he looks like or personality. Guest House :: Essays Papers Guest House The first chapter introduces Mr. and Mrs. Bennett. We don’t know their first names because the wife calls her husband Mr. Bennett and he calls her â€Å"my dear†. They have five grown up daughters and one is named Lizzy or Elizabeth who is the father’s favorite. The mother thinks Jane is handsome (or good-looking) and Lydia humored. The other two daughters have not been introduced yet. Mr. Bennett thinks they are all silly and ignorant, except Lizzy. Mrs. Bennett wants the father to go with her to visit an eligible, â€Å"well to do† bachelor who will move into a neighboring estate at Michealmas the 29th of September, so she can aquaint him with her 5 available daughters. She would love to marry them off to money. There’s not much going on in her life except worrying about marrying her daughters and visiting with the other neighbors. Mr. Bennett, however, is not interested in meeting Mr. Bingley form Northern England and after twenty three years of marriage fancies himself to be the greater mind of the two. Chapter II Mr. Bennett goes ahead and is one of the first people to visit Mr. Bingley. He doesn’t tell them straight out that he has been to visit him, because he knows they’re all dying to meet him. So, he teases them about it first by telling them that hey may be the ones to introduce him to some of the other neighbors. They still don’t catch on until he drops the bomb that he’s already been to visit. He enjoys their shocked reaction, but doesn’t stick around. In this chapter we find out that Lizzy (the fathers favorite) is the second daughter. We also find out that one of the other daughter’s name is Kitty and she has an annoying cough and is really sensitive about it. The other girl’s name that we didn’t know is Mary, who is a bookworm. She is quiet. We also find out that Lydia is the youngest, but is also the tallest of the 5 girls. She appears to have a little spunk to her. Chapter III The girls along with their mother try to get their father to tell them about Mr. Bingley. They try every cleaver thing that they can think of to get even a hint of that he looks like or personality.

Composers use language to create images

Composers use language to create images that communicate main ideas and add richness and depth to their texts BY Chrts961 Composers Wilfred Owen, writer of poems ‘Futility and ‘Exposure', and Jessie Pope writer of Who's for the game? use a diverse range of language techniques in their poems to create images to communicate main ideas . AII words in their poems are important because the way these poets use language is exactly in description which may be used to create tone, atmosphere or mood or simply to add richness and depth to their texts.Wilfred Owen's ‘Futility is about the existence of mankind. From the beginning of Futility we feel a rather scarce sense of emotion and feeling, but towards the end of the poem as the narrator starts to question things we begin to feel how distressed he becomes – â€Å"full nerved – Still warm – Too hard to stir? Was it for this day grew tall? – O what made fatuous sunbeams toil to break Earth's sleep at all? These rhetorical questions indicate to us the sense of urgency being felt for the soldier's life. Ultimately, the composer uses rhetorical questions to communicate deeper emotions. In the second stanza of ‘Exposure', Owen uses a clear description of he sound that the wind makes through the barbed wire – â€Å"like twitching agonies of men among its brambles†. The use of simile helps to create the extreme horror of no man's land and connects with the idea of the title ‘Exposure'.Although Who's for the game? Which is composed by Jessie Pope is about a serious topic, he helps us see the bright side to a war. This is done through rhyme. The use of rhyme gives a musical element in the poem and when combined with a serious topic it would feel as if the poem is trying to fire you up to go sign up and fight for your country in war. â€Å"Who'll give his country a hand? And who wants a seat in the stand? † suggests exactly this. Where is the love?

Green River company Essay

Aberdeen facility is focused on the production of special missile canisters for US Navy. The peculiarity of the production lies in its extraordinary complexity. Canisters have many features that require special attention and careful assembling. Thus, the commitment of workers is the issue of crucial importance. Otherwise, the quality of product will suffer, which is absolutely inadmissible with regard to the nature of production. The privileged position of Aberdeen plant lies in the fact that it doesn’t actually have any competitors. It works for the only customer US Navy. However, it contains hidden threats as well, because there is always a chance of neglecting a quality of product knowing that there is no fight for a customer. The Aberdeen plant was started five years ago without using unions to regulate pay scales and define various job descriptions. It employs 100 employees and is much smaller in size than the Green River facility. The production line utilizes three-quarters of its employees. Bob Lancaster – the founder and the first manager of the plant — first introduced the innovative participative management. Lancaster based his management theory on â€Å"doing the right thing, trust and if you can fix it, do it†. This functioned as a collective, it took away fear from doing or not doing what is needed to complete a task and it also gave each individual the responsibility of solving a problem without having to go through a chain of command to get results. Ken Dailey, Green River plant manager, is intrigued with the management processes at the FMC Aberdeen facility and thus is willing to implement similar changes at Green River. Dailey is a progressive manager and wants to innovate the Green River plant with a progressive style of management as well as three new plants that the corporation plans on building. The major organizational issue pertaining to the possible changes is that of an organizational structure. Obviously, within the Green River plant we notice usual linear structure of organization where authority is delegated from the top to the bottom, from the higher manager to the manager of the lower level. There is a direct relationship between superior and subordinate, with each subordinate responsible to only one person. Line relationships are associated with functional or departmental division of work and organizational control. Line managers have authority and responsibility for all matters and activities within their own department (Sterman, 2000). It means that organizational structure at Green River doesn’t suppose any personal initiative or any social interaction beyond the processes and functions defined. Moreover, linear structure also doesn’t suppose any group discussions, since major decisions are taken above. In contrary, Aberdeen facility has more flat organizational structure, when every employee can turn to the higher level one with an initiative, complaint or offer. Such an organizational structure presupposes more communication and thus has greater impact on employee’s motivation. Flat organizational structure kills the fear towards management in employees and create more favorable working atmosphere. Considering two different types of organizational structure within two facilities, it is possible to say that organizational structure actually impacts the organizational culture and the way people perceive themselves and their importance to the organization, treat each other and behave i. e. working atmosphere that exists. (Brislin, 1993) Thus, in Green River company, people are brought together based on defined roles within the structure of the organization. The nature of the tasks to be done is a predominant feature within this facility. Management, certain rules and relationships, identify goals and norms of behavior are established. Thus, Green River’s organizational culture is very formal. As it was mentioned before, employees do not have a chance and stimulus to socially interact with each other, share their ideas and experience. It is possible to identify Green River’s organizational culture as the one of total control and power from the center. At Aberdeen, in contrary, organizational culture is more people oriented, â€Å"humanized† and caring. This so-called â€Å"human† approach to management has resulted, in particular, in active interaction between employees, as well as in the fact that 30% of all employees were represented by women and 8% by minorities. It helped to create a positive image of the plant in the yes of Aberdeen community and people outside as well.

Fresh Water

Water resources are sources of water that are useful or potentially useful to humans. Uses of water include agricultural, industrial, household, recreational and environmental activities. Virtually all of these human uses require fresh water. 97% of water on the Earth is salt water, and only 3% is fresh water of which slightly over two thirds is frozen in glaciers and polar ice caps. [1] The remaining unfrozen freshwater is mainly found as groundwater, with only a small fraction present above ground or in the air. 2] Fresh water is a renewable resource, yet the world's supply of clean, fresh water is steadily decreasing. Water demand already exceeds supply in many parts of the world and as the world population continues to rise, so too does the water demand. Awareness of the global importance of preserving water for ecosystem services has only recently emerged as, during the 20th century, more than half the world’s wetlands have been lost along with their valuable environmenta l services.Biodiversity-rich freshwater ecosystems are currently declining faster than marine or land ecosystems. [3] The framework for allocating water resources to water users (where such a framework exists) is known as water rights. [pic] [pic] A graphical distribution of the locations of water on Earth. |Contents | |[hide] | |1 Sources of fresh water | |1. Surface water | |1. 2 Under river flow | |1. 3 Ground water | |1. 4 Desalination | |1. 5 Frozen water | |2 Uses of fresh water | |2. 1 Agricultural | |2. Industrial | |2. 3 Household | |2. 4 Recreation | |2. 5 Environmental | |3 Water stress | |3. 1 Population growth | |3. 2 Expansion of business activity | |3. Rapid urbanization | |3. 4 Climate change | |3. 5 Depletion of aquifers | |3. 6 Pollution and water protection | |3. 7 Water and conflict | |4 World water supply and distribution | |5 Economic considerations | |5. Business response | |6 See also | |7 Further reading | |8 Notes | |9 References | |10 External links | [pic ][edit] Sources of fresh water [edit] Surface water Main article: Surface water [pic] [pic]Lake Chungara and Parinacota volcano in northern Chile Surface water is water in a river, lake or fresh water wetland. Surface water is naturally replenished by precipitation and naturally lost through discharge to the oceans, evaporation, and sub-surface seepage. Although the only natural input to any surface water system is precipitation within its watershed, the total quantity of water in that system at any given time is also dependent on many other factors. These factors include storage capacity in lakes, wetlands and artificial reservoirs, the permeability of the soil eneath these storage bodies, the runoff characteristics of the land in the watershed, the timing of the precipitation and local evaporation rates. All of these factors also affect the proportions of water lost. Human activities can have a large and sometimes devastating impact on these factors. Humans often increase storage capacity by constructing reservoirs and decrease it by draining wetlands. Humans often increase runoff quantities and velocities by paving areas and channelizing stream flow. The total quantity of water available at any given time is an important consideration.Some human water users have an intermittent need for water. For example, many farms require large quantities of water in the spring, and no water at all in the winter. To supply such a farm with water, a surface water system may require a large storage capacity to collect water throughout the year and release it in a short period of time. Other users have a continuous need for water, such as a power plant that requires water for cooling. To supply such a power plant with water, a surface water system only needs enough storage capacity to fill in when average stream flow is below the power plant's need.Nevertheless, over the long term the average rate of precipitation within a watershed is the upper bound for average consumptio n of natural surface water from that watershed. Natural surface water can be augmented by importing surface water from another watershed through a canal or pipeline. It can also be artificially augmented from any of the other sources listed here, however in practice the quantities are negligible. Humans can also cause surface water to be â€Å"lost† (i. e. become unusable) through pollution. Brazil is the country estimated to have the largest supply of fresh water in the world, followed by Russia and Canada. 4] [edit] Under river flow Throughout the course of the river, the total volume of water transported downstream will often be a combination of the visible free water flow together with a substantial contribution flowing through sub-surface rocks and gravels that underlie the river and its floodplain called the hyporheic zone. For many rivers in large valleys, this unseen component of flow may greatly exceed the visible flow. The hyporheic zone often forms a dynamic interf ace between surface water and true ground-water receiving water from he ground water when aquifers are fully charged and contributing water to ground-water when ground waters are depleted. This is especially significant in karst areas where pot-holes and underground rivers are common. [edit] Ground water Main article: Groundwater [pic] [pic] Sub-Surface water travel time [pic] [pic] Shipot, a common water source in Ukrainian villages Sub-surface water, or groundwater, is fresh water located in the pore space of soil and rocks. It is also water that is flowing within aquifers below the water table.Sometimes it is useful to make a distinction between sub-surface water that is closely associated with surface water and deep sub-surface water in an aquifer (sometimes called â€Å"fossil water†). Sub-surface water can be thought of in the same terms as surface water: inputs, outputs and storage. The critical difference is that due to its slow rate of turnover, sub-surface water sto rage is generally much larger compared to inputs than it is for surface water. This difference makes it easy for humans to use sub-surface water unsustainably for a long time without severe consequences.Nevertheless, over the long term the average rate of seepage above a sub-surface water source is the upper bound for average consumption of water from that source. The natural input to sub-surface water is seepage from surface water. The natural outputs from sub-surface water are springs and seepage to the oceans. If the surface water source is also subject to substantial evaporation, a sub-surface water source may become saline. This situation can occur naturally under endorheic bodies of water, or artificially under irrigated farmland.In coastal areas, human use of a sub-surface water source may cause the direction of seepage to ocean to reverse which can also cause soil salinization. Humans can also cause sub-surface water to be â€Å"lost† (i. e. become unusable) through p ollution. Humans can increase the input to a sub-surface water source by building reservoirs or detention ponds. [edit] Desalination Main article: Desalination Desalination is an artificial process by which saline water (generally sea water) is converted to fresh water. The most common desalination processes are distillation and reverse osmosis.Desalination is currently expensive compared to most alternative sources of water, and only a very small fraction of total human use is satisfied by desalination. It is only economically practical for high-valued uses (such as household and industrial uses) in arid areas. The most extensive use is in the Persian Gulf. [edit] Frozen water [pic] [pic] An iceberg as seen from Newfoundland Several schemes have been proposed to make use of icebergs as a water source, however to date this has only been done for novelty purposes. Glacier runoff is considered to be surface water.The Himalayas, which are often called â€Å"The Roof of the World†, contain some of the most extensive and rough high altitude areas on Earth as well as the greatest area of glaciers and permafrost outside of the poles. Ten of Asia’s largest rivers flow from there, and more than a billion people’s livelihoods depend on them. To complicate matters, temperatures are rising more rapidly here than the global average. In Nepal the temperature has risen with 0. 6 degree over the last decade, whereas the global warming has been around 0. 7 over the last hundred years. [5] edit] Uses of fresh water Uses of fresh water can be categorized as consumptive and non-consumptive (sometimes called â€Å"renewable†). A use of water is consumptive if that water is not immediately available for another use. Losses to sub-surface seepage and evaporation are considered consumptive, as is water incorporated into a product (such as farm produce). Water that can be treated and returned as surface water, such as sewage, is generally considered non-con sumptive if that water can be put to additional use. [edit] Agricultural [pic] [pic] A farm in OntarioIt is estimated that 69% of worldwide water use is for irrigation, with 15-35% of irrigation withdrawals being unsustainable. [6] In some areas of the world irrigation is necessary to grow any crop at all, in other areas it permits more profitable crops to be grown or enhances crop yield. Various irrigation methods involve different trade-offs between crop yield, water consumption and capital cost of equipment and structures. Irrigation methods such as furrow and overhead sprinkler irrigation are usually less expensive but are also typically less efficient, because much of the water evaporates, runs off or drains below the root zone.Other irrigation methods considered to be more efficient include drip or trickle irrigation, surge irrigation, and some types of sprinkler systems where the sprinklers are operated near ground level. These types of systems, while more expensive, usually offer greater potential to minimize runoff, drainage and evaporation. Any system that is improperly managed can be wasteful, all methods have the potential for high efficiencies under suitable conditions, appropriate irrigation timing and management. One issue that is often insufficiently considered is salinization of sub-surface water.Aquaculture is a small but growing agricultural use of water. Freshwater commercial fisheries may also be considered as agricultural uses of water, but have generally been assigned a lower priority than irrigation (see Aral Sea and Pyramid Lake). As global populations grow, and as demand for food increases in a world with a fixed water supply, there are efforts underway to learn how to produce more food with less water, through improvements in irrigation[7] methods[8] and technologies, agricultural water management, crop types, and water monitoring. [edit] Industrial pic] [pic] A power plant in Poland It is estimated that 22% of worldwide water use is industrial. [6] Major industrial users include power plants, which use water for cooling or as a power source (i. e. hydroelectric plants), ore and oil refineries, which use water in chemical processes, and manufacturing plants, which use water as a solvent. The portion of industrial water usage that is consumptive varies widely, but as a whole is lower than agricultural use. Water is used in power generation. Hydroelectricity is electricity obtained from hydropower.Hydroelectric power comes from water driving a water turbine connected to a generator. Hydroelectricity is a low-cost, non-polluting, renewable energy source. The energy is supplied by the sun. Heat from the sun evaporates water, which condenses as rain in higher altitudes, from where it flows down. Pressurized water is used in water blasting and water jet cutters. Also, very high pressure water guns are used for precise cutting. It works very well, is relatively safe, and is not harmful to the environment. It is also u sed in the cooling of machinery to prevent over-heating, or prevent saw blades from over-heating.Water is also used in many industrial processes and machines, such as the steam turbine and heat exchanger, in addition to its use as a chemical solvent. Discharge of untreated water from industrial uses is pollution. Pollution includes discharged solutes (chemical pollution) and discharged coolant water (thermal pollution). Industry requires pure water for many applications and utilizes a variety of purification techniques both in water supply and discharge. [edit] Household [pic] [pic] Drinking water It is estimated that 8% of worldwide water use is for household purposes. 6] These include drinking water, bathing, cooking, sanitation, and gardening. Basic household water requirements have been estimated by Peter Gleick at around 50 liters per person per day, excluding water for gardens. Drinking water is water that is of sufficiently high quality so that it can be consumed or used with out risk of immediate or long term harm. Such water is commonly called potable water. In most developed countries, the water supplied to households, commerce and industry is all of drinking water standard even though only a very small proportion is actually consumed or used in food preparation. edit] Recreation [pic] [pic] Whitewater rapids Recreational water use is usually a very small but growing percentage of total water use. Recreational water use is mostly tied to reservoirs. If a reservoir is kept fuller than it would otherwise be for recreation, then the water retained could be categorized as recreational usage. Release of water from a few reservoirs is also timed to enhance whitewater boating, which also could be considered a recreational usage. Other examples are anglers, water skiers, nature enthusiasts and swimmers. Recreational usage is usually non-consumptive.Golf courses are often targeted as using excessive amounts of water, especially in drier regions. It is, however , unclear whether recreational irrigation (which would include private gardens) has a noticeable effect on water resources. This is largely due to the unavailability of reliable data. Additionally, many golf courses utilize either primarily or exclusively treated effluent water, which has little impact on potable water availability. Some governments, including the Californian Government, have labelled golf course usage as agricultural in order to deflect environmentalists' charges of wasting water.However, using the above figures as a basis, the actual statistical effect of this reassignment is close to zero. In Arizona, an organized lobby has been established in the form of the Golf Industry Association, a group focused on educating the public on how golf impacts the environment. Recreational usage may reduce the availability of water for other users at specific times and places. For example, water retained in a reservoir to allow boating in the late summer is not available to farm ers during the spring planting season.Water released for whitewater rafting may not be available for hydroelectric generation during the time of peak electrical demand. [edit] Environmental Explicit environmental water use is also a very small but growing percentage of total water use. Environmental water usage includes artificial wetlands, artificial lakes intended to create wildlife habitat, fish ladders , and water releases from reservoirs timed to help fish spawn. Like recreational usage, environmental usage is non-consumptive but may reduce the availability of water for other users at specific times and places.For example, water release from a reservoir to help fish spawn may not be available to farms upstream. [edit] Water stress [pic] [pic] Best estimate of the share of people in developing countries with access to drinking water 1970–2000. Main articles: Water crisis and Water stress The concept of water stress is relatively simple: According to the World Business Cou ncil for Sustainable Development, it applies to situations where there is not enough water for all uses, whether agricultural, industrial or domestic.Defining thresholds for stress in terms of available water per capita is more complex, however, entailing assumptions about water use and its efficiency. Nevertheless, it has been proposed that when annual per capita renewable freshwater availability is less than 1,700 cubic meters, countries begin to experience periodic or regular water stress. Below 1,000 cubic meters, water scarcity begins to hamper economic development and human health and well-being. [edit] Population growth In 2000, the world population was 6. 2 billion. The UN estimates that by 2050 there will be an additional 3. billion people with most of the growth in developing countries that already suffer water stress. [9] Thus, water demand will increase unless there are corresponding increases in water conservation and recycling of this vital resource. [10] [edit] Expans ion of business activity Business activity ranging from industrialization to services such as tourism and entertainment continues to expand rapidly. This expansion requires increased water services including both supply and sanitation, which can lead to more pressure on water resources and natural ecosystems. edit] Rapid urbanization The trend towards urbanization is accelerating. Small private wells and septic tanks that work well in low-density communities are not feasible within high-density urban areas. Urbanization requires significant investment in water infrastructure in order to deliver water to individuals and to process the concentrations of wastewater – both from individuals and from business. These polluted and contaminated waters must be treated or they pose unacceptable public health risks.In 60% of European cities with more than 100,000 people, groundwater is being used at a faster rate than it can be replenished. [11] Even if some water remains available, it c osts more and more to capture it. [edit] Climate change Climate change could have significant impacts on water resources around the world because of the close connections between the climate and hydrological cycle. Rising temperatures will increase evaporation and lead to increases in precipitation, though there will be regional variations in rainfall. Overall, the global supply of freshwater will increase.Both droughts and floods may become more frequent in different regions at different times, and dramatic changes in snowfall and snow melt are expected in mountainous areas. Higher temperatures will also affect water quality in ways that are not well understood. Possible impacts include increased eutrophication. Climate change could also mean an increase in demand for farm irrigation, garden sprinklers, and perhaps even swimming pools [edit] Depletion of aquifers Due to the expanding human population, competition for water is growing such that many of the worlds major aquifers are becoming depleted.This is due both for direct human consumption as well as agricultural irrigation by groundwater. Millions of pumps of all sizes are currently extracting groundwater throughout the world. Irrigation in dry areas such as northern China and India is supplied by groundwater, and is being extracted at an unsustainable rate. Cities that have experienced aquifer drops between 10 to 50 meters include Mexico City, Bangkok, Manila, Beijing, Madras and Shanghai. [12] [edit] Pollution and water protection Main article: Water pollution [pic] [pic] Polluted waterWater pollution is one of the main concerns of the world today. The governments of numerous countries have strived to find solutions to reduce this problem. Many pollutants threaten water supplies, but the most widespread, especially in developing countries, is the discharge of raw sewage into natural waters; this method of sewage disposal is the most common method in underdeveloped countries, but also is prevalent in qu asi-developed countries such as China, India and Iran. Sewage, sludge, garbage, and even toxic pollutants are all dumped into the water. Even if ewage is treated, problems still arise. Treated sewage forms sludge, which may be placed in landfills, spread out on land, incinerated or dumped at sea. [13] In addition to sewage, nonpoint source pollution such as agricultural runoff is a significant source of pollution in some parts of the world, along with urban stormwater runoff and chemical wastes dumped by industries and governments. [edit] Water and conflict The only known example of an actual inter-state conflict over water took place between 2500 and 2350 BC between the Sumerian states of Lagash and Umma. 14] Yet, despite the lack of evidence of international wars being fought over water alone, water has been the source of various conflicts throughout history. When water scarcity causes political tensions to arise, this is referred to as water stress. Water stress has led most ofte n to conflicts at local and regional levels. [15] Using a purely quantitative methodology, Thomas Homer-Dixon successfully correlated water scarcity and scarcity of available arable lands to an increased chance of violent conflict. 16] Water stress can also exacerbate conflicts and political tensions which are not directly caused by water. Gradual reductions over time in the quality and/or quantity of fresh water can add to the instability of a region by depleting the health of a population, obstructing economic development, and exacerbating larger conflicts. [17] Conflicts and tensions over water are most likely to arise within national borders, in the downstream areas of distressed river basins.Areas such as the lower regions of China's Yellow River or the Chao Phraya River in Thailand, for example, have already been experiencing water stress for several years. Additionally, certain arid countries which rely heavily on water for irrigation, such as China, India, Iran, and Pakistan , are particularly at risk of water-related conflicts. [17] Political tensions, civil protest, and violence may also occur in reaction to water privatization. The Bolivian Water Wars of 2000 are a case in point. [edit] World water supply and distributionFood and water are two basic human needs. However, global coverage figures from 2002 indicate that, of every 10 people: †¢ roughly 5 have a connection to a piped water supply at home (in their dwelling, plot or yard); †¢ 3 make use of some other sort of improved water supply, such as a protected well or public standpipe; †¢ 2 are unserved; †¢ In addition, 4 out of every 10 people live without improved sanitation. [6] At Earth Summit 2002 governments approved a Plan of Action to: †¢ Halve by 2015 the proportion of people unable to reach or afford safe drinking water.The Global Water Supply and Sanitation Assessment 2000 Report (GWSSAR) defines â€Å"Reasonable access† to water as at least 20 liters per person per day from a source within one kilometer of the user’s home. †¢ Halve the proportion of people without access to basic sanitation. The GWSSR defines â€Å"Basic sanitation† as private or shared but not public disposal systems that separate waste from human contact. As the picture shows, in 2025, water shortages will be more prevalent among poorer countries where resources are limited and population growth is rapid, such as the Middle East, Africa, and parts of Asia.By 2025, large urban and peri-urban areas will require new infrastructure to provide safe water and adequate sanitation. This suggests growing conflicts with agricultural water users, who currently consume the majority of the water used by humans. Generally speaking the more developed countries of North America, Europe and Russia will not see a serious threat to water supply by the year 2025, not only because of their relative wealth, but more importantly their populations will be better aligne d with available water resources.North Africa, the Middle East, South Africa and northern China will face very severe water shortages due to physical scarcity and a condition of overpopulation relative to their carrying capacity with respect to water supply. Most of South America, Sub-Saharan Africa, Southern China and India will face water supply shortages by 2025; for these latter regions the causes of scarcity will be economic constraints to developing safe drinking water, as well as excessive population growth. 1. billion people have gained access to a safe water source since 1990. [18] The proportion of people in developing countries with access to safe water is calculated to have improved from 30 percent in 1970[19] to 71 percent in 1990, 79 percent in 2000 and 84 percent in 2004. This trend is projected to continue. [18] [edit] Economic considerations Water supply and sanitation require a huge amount of capital investment in infrastructure such as pipe networks, pumping stati ons and water treatment works.It is estimated that Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) nations need to invest at least USD 200 billion per year to replace aging water infrastructure to guarantee supply, reduce leakage rates and protect water quality. [20] International attention has focused upon the needs of the developing countries. To meet the Millennium Development Goals targets of halving the proportion of the population lacking access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015, current annual investment on the order of USD 10 to USD 15 billion would need to be roughly doubled.This does not include investments required for the maintenance of existing infrastructure. [21] Once infrastructure is in place, operating water supply and sanitation systems entails significant ongoing costs to cover personnel, energy, chemicals, maintenance and other expenses. The sources of money to meet these capital and operational costs are essentially either user f ees, public funds or some combination of the two. But this is where the economics of water management start to become extremely complex as they intersect with social and broader economic policy.Such policy questions are beyond the scope of this article, which has concentrated on basic information about water availability and water use. They are, nevertheless, highly relevant to understanding how critical water issues will affect business and industry in terms of both risks and opportunities. [edit] Business response The World Business Council for Sustainable Development in its H2OScenarios engaged in a scenario building process to: †¢ Clarify and enhance understanding by business of the key issues and drivers of change related to water. Promote mutual understanding between the business community and non-business stakeholders on water management issues. †¢ Support effective business action as part of the solution to sustainable water management. It concludes that: †¢ B usiness cannot survive in a society that thirsts. †¢ One does not have to be in the water business to have a water crisis.