Individual interviewsversus group interviews Essay

Individual interviewsversus group interviews - Essay Example Individual interviews are also found to be an appropriate form of data collection in the event that an interviewer needs to ask a number of follow up questions. During individual interviews, there is no significant time delay between when a question is first posed by the interviewer and when the interviewee answers it. Both the interviewer and the interviewee can be able to immediately react to what the other happens to be saying. A key advantage to his synchronous communication is identified as being the fact that the answers provided by the interviewee are found to be more spontaneous without having any extended reflection (Harris, 2013). Group interview or focus groups would be deemed to be more appropriate or be beneficial when used in addition to individual interviews in the event that the interview wants to determine how the different candidates are able to interact with each other in a group setting. The interviewer may ask the interviews to work together towards the resolution of problems. This will provide an opportunity whereby the interviewer will be able to observe and very carefully note how each individual performs. Group interview are found be more appropriate in the event that an interviewer wishes to reduce the amount of time it takes to conduct the interview. Individual interviews tend to take a lot of time but with group interviews, a number of candidates can all be interviewed at one go (Denscombe,

Process Centered Organizations Essay Example for Free

Process Centered Organizations Essay Process Centered Organizations are planned to create maximum value, innovation and development. A Process Centered Organization can sustain its processes at a high level. A process centered organizational design sorts out the best blend of structure and process. By carrying out a process-centered cycle, healthcare organizations can achieve their goals by changing the way workflow is defined and the way the people working in these organizations perceive their roles. In all healthcare organizations, the focal point is the patient. From a patient’s perspective, how much he or she is valued is important. Healthcare organizations around the globe are making efforts to satisfy their customers in the best possible ways. But modern times require these organizations to engage in the use of knowledge, skills, tools, techniques and systems to improve and direct processes towards creating value for the patient. One such example of a healthcare organization is Eastern Maine Medical Center (EMMC), Bangor, Maine. The organization in fact received the 2008 HIMSS Davies Award. This prestigious award is given to selected hospitals in the United States for effectively using information technology to improve the safety and quality of patient care. EMMC represents an immaculate example of how to apply and make use of electronic health records (EHR) along with other technologies in order to ensure delivery of quality and evidence based healthcare. The EHR system was installed as part of EMMC’s Patient First Initiatives Program. This was an effort to provide high quality patient care by changing care delivery, adopting a patient-focused culture and implementing a technology plan to support the care delivery process. EMMC’s use of data derived from its healthcare IT systems is a shining example of how to drive performance improvement, quality and improve care in response to state and national reporting requirements. †(HIMMS news, 2008) Eric Hartz, MD, EMMC chief medical information officer, says this award is a crowning achievement for EMMC’s employees. He emphasized that in the end, it is the patients of the region who will benefit from EMMC. The organizations staff worked hard for nearly a decade to implement the most advanced computer systems on the market to allow instantaneous sharing of health information among all healthcare providers involved in a patient’s care. When the software that was currently available wasn’t doing the job we wanted, we challenged our vendors to work with us to build something better. It has been a tremendous collaboration, said MR. Hartz. The services offered by these new systems are incredible. For example they improved ratio from electronic to hand written orders from 5:1 to 14:1. It eliminated 160 minutes from order writing to pharmacy receipt of orders, plus the average time for pharmacist review decreased 52 percent, from 50. 8 minutes to 24. 3 minutes. It also decreased overall medication incidents by 27 percent etc. (Cerner, 2008) The new systems in EMMC offer decision-support to help guarantee that patients receive the safest and best care achievable. EMMC’s providers and staff spent numerous hours working on the clinical systems to continuously make them better. They involved themselves and participated with the organizations experts in the information systems department and this allowed them to streamline all their processes and improve employee productivity. After several years of preparation, improvement, and execution, the nurses, physicians, and other healthcare professionals adopted advancements in information technology. They are now helping to bring the latest advancements and technology in patient care to the people who arrive at the doorstep of their hospital from any side of Maine. In process centering, processes are not newly created by organizations; in fact existing processes are modernized to meet the organizations goals. What process centering does is to modify the perception and bring the process into focus. And this is exactly what EMMC did in order to provide higher levels of satisfactions to their patients and customers.

My son, my executioner Essay -- Literary Analysis, Donald Hall

From a global viewpoint, the passing of generations of the human race is a smooth and natural cycle, one generation bringing another generation into this world, as they themselves begin to leave it. From the perspective of the individual, however, this cycle can bring about a mixture of feelings, from pride to depression, as they watch their own lives fall second to that of their children. Donald Hall’s â€Å"My son, my executioner† and Rita Dove’s â€Å"Daystar† describe how the birth and growth of a child is a massive turning point in a person’s life and can be looked at as either the continuance of one’s legacy or the withering of one’s own life, depending on the viewpoint. Donald Hall’s â€Å"My son, my executioner† describes the speaker’s acknowledgement that the arrival of the speaker’s son signals the beginning of the speaker’s own coming death, but muses that the child will carry on their legacy. The speaker holds the child â€Å"in [their] arms† (line 4) and reflects upon the situation. The speaker refers to the son as their â€Å"instrument of immortality† (line 6), its â€Å"cries and hunger† (line ...

My environment MY responsibility Essay

Good morning to Mr. Principal,teachers and students. Thank you for Mr. Principal for giving me a chance to present our speach on My environment MY responsibility. we come up with three categories of environment, where it includes the natural environment, built environment which involving the act of vandalism and social environment along with some suggestion on how we can improve these situations. As we talking about natural environment nowadays, we have to reflect ourselves on what we have done before this to the natural environment itself. Being such an irresponsible person or students who like to throw the rubbish everywhere, practice open burning and step on the grass that has been prohibited, it makes the environment become worst day by day. As we reflect back, this is all because our attitude itself. If we can change our attitude, I absolutely believe that we can also make a difference. Furthermore, what we have to bear in our mind is that, being a student is not just learning things in the class, but we also have to learn on how to manage our nature or our respective land or in other words our environment itself because we live in this world as a community and we are not alone. Thus, we should consider certain things to make sure that all the people can live in peace without being disturb by the others or by our attitude that can gives an impact to the society itself. In order to preserve and conserve the environment, we as a student should practice an environmental – friendly lifestyle. In this situation, if we practice this, we can avoid ourselves from doing things It is the responsibility of every person in checking the causes that affect the environmental disaster and play a positive role in improving it and these things have also got to be mentioned. One must realize the importance of a healthy environment and that it is for his/her own benefit to protect it and to take measures to make the world clean and green because as the proverb says â€Å"We won’t have a society if we destroy the environment†.

Wendigo: Cannibalism in Native American Folklore

Wendigo Cannibalism in Native American Folklore Connor Downie EN156-01: Mythology Professor Quinn 30March13 Lurking in the deep woods of the Northern United States and Southern Canada lies a mysterious and fearsome Native American monster, the Wendigo. The Wendigo is by far one of the most mysterious and feared monsters in not only in the Algonquian folklore which it is attributed to, but also other indigenous populations all over the world.Although this creature goes by many names in the Native American Tribes, including Wechuge (Athapaskan Beaver), Windigo (Algonkian), Witiko (Sekani), Wittikow (Cree), Wintuc (Lenape), Wintiko (Objibwa), and others, it is represented in the folklore of many cultures. For the sake of simplicity, the term Wendigo (Woodland Cree) will be used throughout this paper. Native Americans lived in harmony with the land around them, and their legends and stories showed the necessity to preserve that harmony, and the consequences of failing to do such.The stor y and idea behind the Wendigo is no exception to this; being an â€Å"unnatural† and dysfunctional part of life. This paper will observe and analyze the role of the Wendigo in Native American legend as well as the effect that it had on, not only the Natives Americans, but those who came into contact and studied the tribes. The Wendigo According to legend, a Wendigo is neither a man nor non-human, but rather something in between.A fully transformed Wendigo is most often described as a giant creature standing between eight and thirty feet tall, possessing incredible strength and speed, large claws and a body that looks like a skeleton with ash-toned skin. However, in any stage of transformation, it is most easily identified by its ravenous and continuous hunger for human flesh (Atwood 84). A Wendigo’s hunger is believed to be so insatiable that one of first things it consumes is its own lips (Carlson 359). For Native Americans, encountering a Wendigo, whether by accident or on purpose, could e the last mistake you ever make. You cannot outrun or outwit a Wendigo; and according to most stories, you are unable to talk or plead with the creature due to the fact it has lost the capacity for human speech after a long period of isolation (Atwood 84). However, that does not mean they are intelligent. The amount of time they have spent alone in forced isolation has made them the perfect hunter. They do not pursue their victims with inchoate frenzy but rather use superior cunning and an advanced knowledge of their game's desires and weaknesses.They hunt people with the cultural strategy and intelligence that people use to hunt animals (Ridington 110). Their hunting skills are only amplified by their extreme elusiveness and ability to survive in the harshest of climates. They are the epitome of everything to be afraid of in the woods. The original Wendigos can be found in the Pawnee creation myth, as the creatures that came before the Pawnee and were destroy ed by the Creator Tirdwa. â€Å"The men of the present era were not the original inhabitants of the earth.They were preceded by another race – people of great size and strength. These were so swift of foot, and so powerful, that they could easily run down and kill the buffalo†¦ The race of giants had no respect for the Ruler. On the contrary, they derided and insulted him in every way possible. When the sun rose, or when it thundered and rained, they would defy him. They had great confidence in their own powers, and believed that they were able to cope with the Creator. As they increased in numbers they grew more defiant, and at length became so bad that Tirdwa determined to destroy them.This he attempted to do at first by shooting the lightning at them; but the bolts glanced aside from their bodies without injuring them. When he found that they could not be killed by that means, he sent a great rain, which destroyed them by drowning (Grinnell 122). According to legend, a few of these giants managed to escape the flood and the Wendigos managed to survive. As the Creator made the new species of man, the original Pawnee, these giants shrunk back into the wilderness, emerging only occasionally to feed on the unsuspecting human.There are two kinds of Wendigos, Non-Human and Human. The first human Wendigo is sometimes said to have been a man who, driven mad by hunger and snow blindness, mistook his family for a group of beavers, killed and ate them (Smith 68). Human Wendigos do not always take on the traditional described appearance unless they are exposed to the severe isolation required to drive the person mad. Most human Wendigos mostly retain their human features, and instead only experience the desire for loneliness and a craving for human flesh.Also common to stories, both in legend and those recorded by persons studying native tribes, was the belief that a person transforming into a Wendigo had lost permanent control over their own actions and t hat the only possible solution is death (Ridington 108). Many people, fearing that they would bring harm to their family, begged for death rather than face a full transformation. Human Wendigos, although powerful, can be killed by dismemberment and the burning the remains to prevent the evil spirit from ever returning to the earth (Atwood 85).In the majority of stories that result in the death of a Wendigo, that Wendigo was at one time a human. Other traditional cures involved the consumption of copious amounts of hot grease from sources such as bear fat, melted deer tallow, and sturgeon oil (Atwood 85). Non-Human Wendigos are seen as the original Wendigos that were around before the first humans. These creatures are considered to be much more powerful than their human counterparts, and were able to inhabit and attack the dreams of their victims. These creatures rarely appear in legends, but rather are blamed for the actions of a possessed person.Killing a non-human Wendigo was not easy and stories celebrated the bravery of those who acted as bait in Wendigo traps. Algonquians often had great battles and had to employ the help of shamans (Podruchny 690). It is important to note that non-human Wendigos are considered by Native Americans to be Otherworldly, and on the same degree as the spirits that inhabit the spirit world alongside the Creator. Origins and Folklore The earliest reference to Wendigo occurs as an entry in the Powhatan dictionary appended to Strachey's Historie of Travell into Virginia Britania.The original word was wintekowa, meaning â€Å"owl† in Algonquian. For many natives, especially member of the Cree Nation, Owl calls were precursors of the deaths of individuals, and thus owls were seen as the sign of a coming Wendigo. Owls, like Wendigos, are formidable predators and possess large glistening eyes, and therefore became synonymous with the same (Brightman 341). The word Wendigo itself is derived from the Cree word wihtikowiw, meaning â€Å"he eats greedily†, which may explain the reason why ost believed to be Wendigos were isolated from the community before they consumed everything the community had. Native American Tribes lived in harmony with the land and the creatures around them. All tribes believed that upsetting the natural order of the world would cause severe disarray and eventually would lead to the destruction of the world. To counter this, hunters and gatherers would take only what they needed, waste nothing, and praise the creator for allowing them to be worthy to take such.Animals were held in high regard, not only for their gifts of food, clothing, and other materials, but also for the powers endowed upon them by the creator. Eating the flesh of an animal was said to transmit to persons, under appropriate circumstances, desired attributes of the species. For example, raw moose blood is said to impart onto the hunter a kind of invisibility relative to the perceptions of game animals, thus al lowing the hunter greater luck in the successful hunting of animals due to his increased stealthy abilities (Brightman 364).Like the flesh of any other animal, human flesh was believed to possess a Great Spirit power that is acquired through consumption of the tissue or organs. Eating human flesh would exacerbate the powers already present in the human consumer; endowing the Wendigo physical and spiritual abilities to overcome and eat human prey. In essence, a human’s abilities were multiplied and would eventually cause them to expand out of control and transform the person into a Wendigo (Brightman 364).The Wendigo often appears in stories in legends, but unlike most other mythical creatures, its purpose was less to teach moral values, and more to impart upon members of a community the consequences from straying from the natural order of life and defiance of the rules of the community. There are three kinds of stories in which a Wendigo is a part of. The first kind of story, involves a Wendigo which may be presented as a manifestation of the environment; the spirit is a spirit of place. In these stories, meeting up with a Wendigo carries no more moral weight than meeting up with a bear.If you get eaten, about all that can be said of you is that you ought to have been less unlucky (Atwood 86). In the second kind of story, a Wendigo appears as a warning or as a message to the protagonist. In these stories, if you get eaten by a Wendigo, the audience doesn’t feel sorry for you, because it was your own fault for getting eaten. These stories served to send the message that if you behaved and followed the rules like you were supposed to, such a thing would never happen to you (Atwood 86).The third kind of story the Wendigo is a fragment of the protagonist's psyche, and represents part of their subconscious that is made public to teach a lesson. In these stories, human beings who have â€Å"become a Wendigo † have not actually transformed, but i n fact worried so much that the creature they have feared or dreamed about splits off from the rest of their personality, destroys it, and becomes manifested through the person’s body (Atwood 86). These were used to teach lessons in regards to gluttony, loneliness, and other behaviors seen by natives to be unnatural and destructive.Wendigo stories express the danger and isolation of living in the subarctic wilderness as well as taboos against cannibalism (Ferrara 77). The Wendigo was seen as the personification of winter, hunger, spiritual selfishness, and isolation (Atwood 85). Winter is a time of scarcity in both food and warmth, and was considered by the natives to be one of the most necessary times for a community to band together to survive the harshness. A scarcity of materials would give rise to hunger; forcing people to either share what they had with each other for the good of the group, or hoard what they had for their own sakes.The choice to hoard, and act of selfi shness, was seen as an act of defiance not only against a group, but the Creator himself. The penalty for such a choice was being ostracized and isolated from the remainder of the community, and in some cases, death. Transformation According to lore, there are four recorded ways to be transformed into a Wendigo, either human or non-human. Most methods of transformation include large amounts of stress or pain, both mental and physical, and a long transformation period that may not occur all at once.In order to become a non-human Wendigo, one must either be born a Wendigo, or be eaten by a Wendigo. Although an individual Wendigo may once have been a man or a woman, once fully transformed they no longer have any evidence of gender (Atwood 84). Because of this, there is no recorded lore of Wendigos ever giving birth to new Wendigos, other than the Pawnee origins legend in regards to Wendigos inhabiting the world before man. Because of this, most non-human Wendigos are said to be the ori ginals that have survived for hundreds of years. The other method is to be eaten by a Wendigo and have our now â€Å"evil spirit† enter the otherworld. A person suffering this fate becomes the Native equivalent of a Demon and possesses humans through dreams and thoughts. Thoughts of the Wendigo are said to drive a person mad with anxiety about becoming a Wendigo, to the point that they give in to the desires to consume other people (Ferrara 79). Native Shamans were notorious in legends for using their ability to communicate with the spirits in order to send one of these creatures into the dreams of another, thus tormenting them with the thought of being transformed.To become a human Wendigo is much worse a fate than a non-human Wendigo. To become such, a human must either consume human flesh, or be bitten by a Wendigo. The reason for the consumption of human flesh is irrelevant, as soon as it passes your lips, you fate is essentially sealed. Legends of this kind of transforma tion speak of people starving from a lack of food, who eventually give in to the desire for food and eat their companions or family members. Like the stories of the Loup Garou or French word for werewolf, a Wendigo bite served as another way for one to be transformed into one of these creatures.However, unlike werewolves, a human was unable to transform back into a human once the transformation had begun (Podruchny 681). Both being bitten and the consumption of human flesh was said to not be instantaneous but rather a lengthy process, signaled by a period of strange emotions and behaviors by the possessed person that served as a series of warnings to others (Ferrara 79). The Wendigo in Reality In 1767, Alexander Henry observed an Ojibwa man who had killed and eaten four relatives during a food crisis. Henry recorded the actions of the tribe in his journal. The Indians entertain an opinion that the man who has once made human flesh his food will never afterwards be satisfied with any other†¦ He ate with relish nothing that was given to him but, indifferent to the food prepared, fixed his eyes continually on the children which were in the Indian lodge, and frequently exclaimed, ‘How fat they are! ’†¦ Be this as it may, his behavior was considered, and not less naturally, as marked with the most alarming symptoms; and the Indians, apprehensive that he would prey on these children, resolved on putting him to death (Brightman 348). The tribe was so scared of the unnaturalness of the man’s actions that they had him killed. Not unlike the Salem Witch Trials, those suspected of being a Wendigo were given little or no chance to defend themselves. They were immediately outcast from the group and treated like they were infected with some sort of disease. In many cases, acts of cannibalism were not actually witnessed, but rather reported by the suspected individual or other persons, or didn’t even occur at all. In seventy cases reporte d, 44 involved an actual act of cannibalism.In 26 cases, or 37 percent the potential Wendigo either recovered or was killed to prevent cannibalism (Rohrl 98). Around the time of Freud, psychologists began to analyze the stories and multiple cases regarding the Wendigo. Many noted that the common link between most cases was a psychological weakness and breakdown of the normally functioning personality (Ridington 107). From these psychologists, emerged the term â€Å"Wendigo Psychosis† which was used to describe the mental state of persons suspected or convicted of being a Wendigo.People suspected of suffering from this were often described as being â€Å"Bushed† or suffering from â€Å"Cabin Fever† (Atwood 87). For most, in order to reach such a breakdown of mind required large amounts of time spent apart from others, usually in harsh or near fatal conditions. The compulsive desire and craving for human flesh that appears in many of the Wendigo cases may point to a psychotic breakdown of normal emotions, motivations, and satisfactions in people who kill or are killed as cannibal monsters.However, unlike many other psychotic breakdowns, Wendigo behavior it is believed to be genuine and real by the members of society as well as by the afflicted individual (Ridington 128). More recently however, another possible reason for the actions of those believed to be Wendigos was uncovered, a lack of proper diet. Meat, and especially fatty meat, is essential to the diet of the Eskimo and of Northern Athapaskan Indians. Researchers claimed that a fat deficiency could lead to headache, and, in four to eight weeks, ultimately death (Rohrl 100).Was the reason for the actions of some not necessarily motivated by extreme hunger, but rather a lack of proper nutrition? It has been demonstrated that a drop in the blood sugar level can lead to many psychic phenomena, including depressive states, anxiety, and â€Å"other symptoms that have been lumped together a s ‘neuroses (Rohrl 100). The accepted conclusion is that although persons suffering from Wendigo Psychosis have experienced a large amount of mental stress, the fearsome creature itself does not in fact exist.Like many other mythological creatures, the Wendigo was placed in Native American legend to explain things that the natives could not understand at the time, and to enforce the rules of the community. Psychologist Lou Marano ultimately went further in a 1982 article stating that Wendigos had never existed, at least as people overcome by cannibal desires. Instead, he adopted a functionalist interpretation (influenced by scholarship on the Salem Witch trials), arguing that the Wendigo was a phenomenon that allowed Algonquians to kill the marginal, the mentally ill, and the unpopular (Smallman 575).Works Cited Atwood, Margret. â€Å"Cannibal Lecture. † Saturday Night 110. 9 (1995): 81-90. JSTOR. Web. 28 Mar. 2013. Brightman, Robert A. â€Å"The Windigo in the Materia l World. † Ethnohistory 35. 4 (1988): 337-79. JSTOR. Web. 28 Mar. 2013. Carlson, Nathan D. â€Å"Reviving Witiko (Windigo): An Ethnohistory of â€Å"Cannibal Monsters† in the Athabasca District of Northern Alberta, 1878–1910. † Ethnohistory 56. 3 (2009): 355-94. JSTOR. Web. 28 Mar. 2013. Ferrara, Nadia, and Guy Lanoue. â€Å"The Self in Northern Canadian Hunting Societies: ‘Cannibals' and Other ‘Monsters' as Agents of Healing. Anthropologica 46. 1 (2004): 69-83. JSTOR. Web. 28 Mar. 2013. Grinnell, George Bird. â€Å"Pawnee Mythology. † Journal of American Folklore 6. 21 (1893): 113-30. JSTOR. Web. 28 Mar. 2013. Podruchny, Carolyn. â€Å"Werewolves and Windigos: Narratives of Cannibal Monsters in French-Canadian Voyageur Oral Tradition. † Ethnohistory 51. 4 (2004): 677-700. Project Muse. Web. 28 Mar. 2013. Rohrl, Vivian J. â€Å"A Nutritional Factor in Windigo Psychosis. † American Anthropologist ns 72. 1 (1970): 97-101. JS TOR. Web. 28 Mar. 2013. Ridington, Robin. Wechuge and Windigo: A Comparison of Cannibal Belief among Boreal Forest Athapaskans and Algonkians. † Anthropologica ns 18. 2 (1976): 107-29. JSTOR. Web. 28 Mar. 2013. Smallman, Shawn. â€Å"Spirit Beings, Mental Illness, and Murder: Fur Traders and the Windigo in Canada’s Boreal Forest, 1774 to 1935. † Ethnohistory 57. 4 (2010): 371-95. Duke Journals. Web. 28 Mar. 2013. . Smith, Theresa S. and Fiore, Jill M. â€Å"Landscape as Narrative, Narrative as Landscape. † Studies in American Indian Literatures 22. 4 (2010): 58-80. JSTOR. Web. 28 Mar. 2013.

Genetically Modified Organism Essay Example

Genetically Modified Organism Essay Example Genetically Modified Organism Paper Genetically Modified Organism Paper Essay Topic: Call of the Wild Genetically Modified Organisms Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are taking the aspects of genes that people like the most and infusing them into another gene. These GMOs are used to make plants live through pesticides and herbicides, drought, and Just about anything else that gets thrown at them. The problem with doing this is it not only makes the plants resistant to the chemicals but it also develops super weeds that can take on far more chemicals than the original ones. Now there is far more residue on peoples food and because GMOs are not labeled, people have no idea what they are eating. Not knowing what is being injected can cause some serious health problems relating to the immune system triggering an allergic reaction. In order to free a person from the everyday worries of ingesting these GMOs into their body with or without their knowledge, genetically modified organisms should be banned. When it comes to GMOs our knowledge is minimal. Until we can learn more about them they should be banned. The splicing of genes is how genetically modified organisms are made. Referred to as genetically engineering (GE), DNA from one species is injected into another species to create what nature cannot. These plants, animals, bacteria, and viral genes are relatively new to us. In the 1990s, a California company, Calegne, came out with the first GE tomato, Flavor Savr (Introduction). This tomato was created so that it wouldnt get soft when it ripens. This made it easier to pack and ship the tomatoes. By 1998, 25% of corn and 38% of soybeans were genetically modified (Maynard). Genetically engineered soy and corn are found in 60% of processed food (Maynard). : Since the beginning of the development of a pesticide called Roundup it has raised many concerns. Roundup and other similar herbicides and pesticides are used to kill eeds and pests without killing the plants. The plants have been modified to with stand these chemicals. The increase of the amount used increases the residue on our food. It has also caused the development of pesticide resistant super weeds because of the increase. In 2010, it was reported that almost 366 million acres of genetically modified crops were planted throughout 29 different countries (Introduction). While the United States is busy being the leading country in GM crops, Europe is working towards a Europe-wide ban on all GM crops (Introduction). Again, these genetically modified organisms are new to us. We need to ban them before the possible long term effects take a toll on our people and animals. Genetically modified organisms have a short history, which serves as an issue for long term studies. Since GMOs have only been out since the 1990s, they remain relatively new to us. There have been studies conducted on animals, but as of 2011 there was only human study published. It concluded that the genetic material that was injected in to GM soy transforms into bacteria that lives inside our intestines (Genetically). We may even have these continuing to grow inside of us after we stop eating GM products. The studies on humans Just simply are not there to evaluate. Animals, on the other hand, have had many short term studies done on them. One study Touna tnat (5M soy affected tne ovaries, uterus, or testlcles In rodents (Genetically). Another said that the kidney, thymus, spleen, gut, brain and the immune systems in rats had changes after eating GM potatoes (Verzola). One was done that resulted in the deaths of most of the baby rats after a mother rat fed on GM soy (Genetically). A study on hamsters again proved to be something wrong with their reproduction. After about three generations of GMO fed hamsters, they could o longer have babies and if they did they usually died (Genetically). Some of the hamsters were reported as having hair growing inside their mouths (Genetically). These are all examples of some of the short term studies done. If there were long term studies conducted then we would be more aware of the dangers of genetically modified organisms. Long term and short term studies do not make a difference when it comes to the possible allergic reactions that these genetically modified organisms can trigger. In the United Kingdom soy allergic reactions have increased by 50% (Genetically). A skin prick test was done with GM soy and wild soy. The results were people reacted to the GM soy but not the wild soy (Genetically). This supports that GMOs have higher level of irritants in them to cause these reactions. Lack of labeling almost caused a huge problem with a company in Brazil. Soybeans from Brazil were found with a type of nut gene in them (Maynard). The company that purchased the soybeans tested it to see what gene types were injected in it. Luckily they discovered the nut gene before the soybeans were distributed. This type of modification to the enes could have caused many problems with people allergic to nuts. The lack of labeling and the amount of reactions go hand in hand. If these companies were to label their products then people will either know not to purchase it or if they do and have a reaction then they know where to trace the source of the GMO. Labeling must also be done because the United States has six major GMO crops grown in the U. S: soy, corn, canola, sugar beets and alfalfa (Genetically). With these genetically modified crops our processed food is made. With the corn and soy alone, 60% of are processed foods are produced. Between 1996 and 2008 the percentage of adoption of corn, cotton, and soybean genetically modified crops have increased from between 0-20% to 60-90% (Rapid). This growth in the amount of GM crops out there has made it difficult to not eat GMOs. Many sources out there have all said that if a person wishes to not eat genetically modified food then organic is the way to go. We already know that some GMOs can contaminate other crops so even organic farmers are in danger of them no longer being the product they originally expected. If these were banned then we wouldnt have to worry about allergic reactions or the ontamination of our other crops. When genes were first beginning to be spliced, a company started making plants which had the ability to not be affected by large amounts of pesticides/herbicides. The large amounts of pesticides/herbicides caused the plants to become resistant and in turn grown into super weeds. The development of these super weeds caused farmers to spray larger amounts of these pesticides/herbicides onto their crops. The resistances dont stop at super weeds. If the antibiotic gene injected crops spread then they too can develop a resistance for antibiotics (Genetically). People who ngest these specific genes could also develop a resistance to antibiotics. This can prove to De extremely dangerous IT tne person Is to Tall serlously Ill ana already nave an antibiotic resisted system. The British Medical Association wanted to ban all antibiotic genes in GM food so that we can avoid developing an antibiotic resistance in our immune systems (Verzola). When it comes to our health and antibiotics when our health is weak, we should be doing everything to avoid developing antibiotic resistant systems. This is our health we are discussing. We have been growing crops since the beginning of time. There is no reason to try to change the ways we have been doing it when it has proven effective. If we stop allowing them to have genetically modified crops then the threat of antibiotic resistant immune systems ceases. People who are for genetically modified food argue that these foods can save the world. To have crops that are able to survive during a drought can save some struggling countries. Some people say that starvation is much worse than anything the GMOs cause (African). If the productivity of crops is increased then countries will be able to feed the fast growing populations. Even if the rich were to give other ountries free food, the population will still suffer. Poor countries depend on agriculture for their income, so increasing productivity via biotechnology can impact the outcome of the crops and their wallets (Economist). The FDA said that GM foods are the same as non-GM foods so they do not need to be labeled. These foods, although, are not the same. One can cause many problems while the other is all natural and doesnt have any effects. They also say that the things like cancer and long-term damage to the immune system cant be directly connected to the use of GMOs (African). Long-term are the key words in their own argument, no long term tudies have been conducted which basically makes us blind to the possible long- term effects. There is a very strong chance that if the studies were done there could be a link found between cancer, weak immune systems, and GMOs. Although some people argue that genetically modified organisms are going to save the world, we simply dont know that much about their effects. The lack of knowledge of what we are really putting into our bodies can end up causing more problems than we think. GMOs should be completely banned because of the possibilities they have. The allergic reactions can at least be lowered by labeling the products that do contain GMOs. Super weeds could mean chaos when it comes to this new development. We dont know what these genetically modified organisms can do to our plants, let alone humans. People dont want to put food in their bodies when they have no idea what was put in the food to begin with. Maybe after twenty years of studying the long-term effects of GMOs my mind could change on this subject, but as of right now too much information is still missing. Even if people do believe that genetically modified crops can help feed the world it has yet to be proven. The effects of GM crops in the long run can prove to be far worse than hunger in the world. No one really knows what is going to be the result in the future, but I dont like the results in the present as it is. The production of genetically modified organisms needs to be stopped. We are causing more harm to what has been naturally practiced since the beginning of time. We have always learned how to adapt to our environment when it comes to agriculture and biotechnology was never involved until recently. Stop it before it takes over the world as we once knew it to be: all natural and safe to consume. African American Environmentalist Association. Genetically Modified Foods Should Be Produced to Feed the World. Global Resources. Ed. David M. Haugen. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2008. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from Genetically Modified Foods. 2005. Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 21 Oct. 2013. Economist, The. Genetically Engineered Foods Should Be Produced. Global Resources. Ed. Helen Cothran. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2004. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from Feeding Five Billion: New Agricultural Techniques Can Keep Hunger at Bay. The Economist (10 Nov. 2001). Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 6 Nov. 2013. Genetically Modified Foods Could Pose Numerous Health Risks. Genetic Engineering. Ed. Noel Merino. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2013. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from Doctors Health Warning: Avoid Genetically Modified Foods. Vol. 1 . 2011. Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 21 Oct. 2013. Introduction to Genetically Engineered Food: At Issue. Genetically Engineered Foods. Ed. Debra A. Miller. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2012. At Issue. Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 22 Oct. 2013 Rapid growth in adoption of genetically engineered crops, 1996-2008. Genetics and Genetic Engineering. Barbara Wexler. 2009 ed. Detroit: Gale, 2010. Information Plus Reference Series. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 7 Nov. 2013. Maynard, Cindy. Genetically Engineered Foods: An Overview. Genetically Engineered Foods. Ed. Nancy Harris. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2003. At Issue. Rpt. from Biotech at the Table. Current Health 2 27 (Nov. 2000): 22. Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 21 Oct. 2013. Verzola, Roberto. Genetically Engineered Foods Have Health Risks. Genetically Engineered Foods. Ed. Nancy Harris. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2003. At Issue. Rpt. from The 1999 GE Food Debates: The Turning Point. Synthesis/Regeneration (Winter 2000): 24. Opposing Viewpoints In Context. web. 21 oct. 2013.

Battle of Princeton in the American Revolution

Battle of Princeton in the American Revolution Conflict Date: The Battle of Princeton was fought January 3, 1777, during the American Revolution (1775-1783). Armies Commanders: Americans General George WashingtonBrigadier General Hugh Mercer4,500 men British Major General Lord Charles CornwallisLieutenant Colonel Charles Mawhood1,200 men Background: Following his stunning Christmas 1776 victory over the Hessians at Trenton, General George Washington withdrew back across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania. On December 26, Lieutenant Colonel John Cadwaladers Pennsylvania militia re-crossed the river at Trenton and reported that the enemy was gone. Reinforced, Washington moved back into New Jersey with the bulk of his army and assumed a strong defensive position. Anticipating a swift British reaction to the Hessians defeat, Washington placed his army in a defensive line behind Assunpink Creek to the south of Trenton. Sitting atop a low string of hills, the American left was anchored on the Delaware while the right ran east. To slow any British counterattack, Washington directed Brigadier General Matthias Alexis Roche de Fermoy to take his brigade, which included a large number of riflemen, north to Five Mile Run and block the road to Princeton. At Assunpink Creek, Washington faced a crisis as the enlistments of many of his men were set to expire on December 31. By making a personal appeal and offering a ten dollar bounty, he was able to convince many to extend their service by one month. Assunpink Creek In New York, Washingtons concerns about a strong British reaction proved well-founded. Angered over the defeat at Trenton, General William Howe cancelled Major General Lord Charles Cornwallis leave and directed him to advance against the Americans with around 8,000 men. Moving southwest, Cornwallis left 1,200 men under Lieutenant Colonel Charles Mawhood at Princeton and another 1,200 men under Brigadier General Alexander Leslie at Maidenhead (Lawrenceville), before encountering the American skirmishers at Five Mile Run. As de Fermoy had become drunk and wandered away from his command, leadership of the Americans fell to Colonel Edward Hand. Forced back from Five Mile Run, Hands men made several stands and delayed the British advance through the afternoon of January 2, 1777. After conducting a fighting retreat through the streets of Trenton, they rejoined Washingtons army on the heights behind Assunpink Creek. Surveying Washingtons position, Cornwallis launched three unsuccessful attacks in an attempt to take the bridge over the creek before halting due to growing darkness. Though warned by his staff that Washington may escape in the night, Cornwallis rebuffed their concerns as he believed the Americans had no line of retreat. On the heights, Washington convened a council of war to discuss the situation and asked his officers if they should stay and fight, withdraw across the river, or make a strike against Mawhood at Princeton. Electing for the bold option of attacking Princeton, Washington ordered the armys baggage sent to Burlington and his officers to commence preparation for moving out. Washington Escapes: To pin Cornwallis in place, Washington directed that 400-500 men and two cannon remain on the Assunpink Creek line to tend campfires and make digging sounds. These men were to retire before dawn and rejoin the army. By 2:00 AM the bulk of the army was quietly in motion and moving away from Assunpink Creek. Proceeding east to Sandtown, Washington then turned northwest and advanced on Princeton via the Quaker Bridge Road. As dawn broke, the American troops were crossing Stony Brook approximately two miles from Princeton. Wishing to trap Mawhoods command in the town, Washington detached Brigadier General Hugh Mercers brigade with orders to slip west and then secure and advance up the Post Road. Unknown to Washington, Mawhood was departing Princeton for Trenton with 800 men. The Armies Collide: Marching down the Post Road, Mawhood saw Mercers men emerge from the woods and moved to attack. Mercer quickly formed his men for battle in a nearby orchard to meet the British assault. Charging the tired American troops, Mawhood was able to drive them back. In the process, Mercer became separated from his men and was quickly surrounded by the British who mistook his for Washington. Refusing an order to surrender, Mercer drew his sword and charged. In the resulting melee, he was severely beaten, run through by bayonets, and left for dead. As the battle continued, Cadwaladers men entered the fray and met a fate similar to Mercers brigade. Finally, Washington arrived on the scene, and with the support of Major General John Sullivans division stabilized the American line. Rallying his troops, Washington turned to the offensive and began pressing Mawhoods men. As more American troops arrived on the field, they began to threaten the British flanks. Seeing his position deteriorating, Mawhood ordered a bayonet charge with the goal of breaking through the American lines and allowing his men to escape towards Trenton. Surging forward, they succeeded in penetrating Washingtons position and fled down the Post Road, with American troops in pursuit. In Princeton, the majority of the remaining British troops fled towards New Brunswick, however 194 took refuge in Nassau Hall believing that the buildings thick walls would provide protection. Nearing the structure, Washington assigned Captain Alexander Hamilton to lead the assault. Opening fire with artillery, American troops charged and forced those inside to surrender ending the battle. Aftermath: Flush with victory, Washington wished to continue attacking up the chain of British outposts in New Jersey. After assessing his tired armys condition, and knowing that Cornwallis was in his rear, Washington elected instead to move north and enter winter quarters at Morristown. The victory at Princeton, coupled with the triumph at Trenton, helped bolster American spirits after a disastrous year which saw New York fall to the British. In the fighting, Washington lost 23 killed, including Mercer, and 20 wounded. British casualties were heavier and numbered 28 killed, 58 wounded, and 323 captured. Selected Sources British Battles: Battle of PrincetonBattle of Princeton

Definition and Examples of Embedded Questions

Definition and Examples of Embedded Questions In English grammar, an embedded question is a  question that appears in a declarative statement or in another question. The following phrases are commonly used to introduce embedded questions:Could you tell me . . .Do you know . . .I wanted to know . . .I wonder . . .The question is . . .Who knows . . . Unlike conventional interrogative structures, in which word order is reversed, the subject usually comes before the verb in an embedded question. Also, the auxiliary verb do is not used in embedded questions. Commentary on Embedded Questions An embedded question is a question inside a statement. Here are some examples: - I was wondering if its going to rain tomorrow. (The embedded question is: Is it going to rain tomorrow?)- I suppose you dont know if they are coming. (The embedded question is: Do you know if they are coming?) You can use an embedded question when you do not want to be too direct, such as when you are speaking to someone senior in the company, and the use of a direct question seems impolite or blunt. (Elisabeth Pilbeam et al.,  English First Additional Language: Level 3. Pearson Education South Africa, 2008) Examples of Embedded Questions Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here? (Alice in Alices Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll)The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be.(Martin Luther King, Jr.)I set up the checkerboard and  explained how the  pieces are placed and how they move. (Herbert Kohl,  The Herb Kohl Reader: Awakening the Heart of Teaching. The New Press, 2013)I live in New York, and I was thinking about the lagoon in Central Park, down near Central Park South. I was wondering if it would be frozen over when I got home, and if it was, where did the ducks go? I was wondering where the ducks went when the lagoon got all icy and frozen over. I wondered if some guy came in a truck and took them away to a zoo or something. Or if they just flew away. (J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, 1951) Stylistic Conventions Kate [a copy editor] moves on to the second sentence: The question is, how many re-readings are reasonable? Uncertain about how to treat a question (how many re-readings are reasonable?) embedded in a sentence, she picks up [The Chicago Manual of Style] . . . [and] decides to apply the following conventions:Since the author has followed all these conventions, Kate changes nothing. The embedded question should be preceded by a comma.The first word of an embedded question is capitalized only when the question is long or has internal punctuation. A short informal embedded question begins with a lowercase letter.The question should not be in quotation marks because it is not a piece of dialogue.The question should end with a question mark because it is a direct question. (Amy Einsohn,  The Copyeditors Handbook. University of California Press, 2006) Embedded Questions in AAVE In AAVE [African-American Vernacular English], when questions are embedded in sentences themselves, the order of the subject (boldfaced) and the auxiliary (italicized) may be inverted unless the embedded question begins with if: They asked could she go to the show.I asked Alvin did he know how to play basketball. (Irene L. Clark, Concepts in Composition: Theory and Practice in the Teaching of Writing. Lawrence Erlbaum, 2003)

Article Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Article Analysis - Essay Example The researchers divided the whole procedure into preference assessment, functional analysis, discrimination training and experimental design. For phase 1, the students were given a tight schedule and requirements, which were required to be fulfilled and they were asked to pick one coupon. They were allowed to opt between food item and a break (Kodak, et. al, 2007). Students showed a preference for food item in phase 1. In phase 2, many tangible items were also added to the second reinforcer of break in order to check the preference of students. In second phase, the children showed preference for food item again. In phase 3, the students were allowed to choose between the options a number of times by adding to one option or minimizing from other option such as the food item of high preference was changed with low preference food item or the break time was facilitated with toys, adult attention and so on (Kodak, et. al, 2007). The results obtained from three phases were assessed by the researchers against each other in order to know as to what choices are effective in improving the problem behavior of the child. The children showed a preference for food item when a brief break was available with less facilitation. However, in later phases, when different tangible items were added to the break, the children also showed a preference for the break. According to Kodak, Lerman, Volkert and Trosclair (2007), the inappropriate behavior of children can be improved if highly preferred items are used by teachers and parents as children with autism show a clear indication of diversion towards high preferred items. The reinforcers that are highly preferred should be employed for treatment of problem behavior of children. People should be able to assess individual needs by evaluating the preference of each and every child with developmental disabilities or autism. After

Medical Genetics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Medical Genetics - Essay Example Individual II.5 is a homozygous normal parent while the partner is a homozygous affected person for a particular DNA coding conferring to a wild type phenotype. However, in an autosomal dominant inheritance, only a single copy of the wild-type phenotype allele is required for an offspring to be susceptible to expressing the symptoms. Therefore, each offspring has an equal probability of 50% of acquiring the mutant gene allele symptoms, and the other half would not be affected by the autosomal inheritance according to Onkers, I. (2009). Since the type of inheritance in this particular genetic pedigree is an autosomal inheritance, a heterozygous male (Bb) for the DNA coding mating to an affected female (bb)individual would produce one out of four offsprings expressing altered symptoms. However, within the unaffected offspring there would be two carriers (Bb) who will not show undesired traits for a particular condition. This is because when a homozygous wild-type mate with a heterozygous individual, there is a 25% chance of acquiring mutant (affected) individuals (Relethford, 2012). In a dominant, autosomal inheritance, individual III 1 (bb) can only acquire healthy offspring if she marries a homozygous normal man (BB). However, though the father (bb) of the individual III 1 (bb) suffers from the same disability as she does, the fathers’ disability does not affect her daughter’s subsequently genetic inheritance (Nielsen & Slatkin, 2013).

Baseline Organizational Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Baseline Organizational Ethics - Essay Example ng effective communication with the management is what has led the company to its great expansion and standardized consumer products as the ethics for the consumer industries demand. For IBM, even though its workers are subjected to sometimes longer working hours, the ethics in the technology industry permits that as long as the workers are compensated for long hours and they agree with them or they are included in their employment contract which is what IBM has done. As for Total for example, the environmental ethical guidelines are clear on the procedures and the precautionary measures required of the oil companies and these ethical policies have been neglected. The oil spill for example necessitates immediate compensation and public apology as well as participation in cleaning exercises of the environment but that did not immediately happen until the affected parties moved to court and the French judicial authorizes ordered their compensation and cleaning. The same case can be compared to BP which had a similar incident of oil spill in the ocean and they delayed in cleaning exercises until stringent measures were used including threats of closure before action was taken which is against the set ethical standards and policies. B. What are the primary factors that contributed to your ratings of the five companies, groups or organizations? Discuss how the examples you noted compare with similar policies, procedures, or standards that contributed to the ethical lapses in the publicly traded company selected for part a, of this assignment. I have interned and worked even part time in some of these companies and organizations and therefore have first-hand information on their ethical practices. A comparison of this information between these companies I have worked in and the set ethical standards is what has made me rate them as carried out in the table above. For those I have no first-hand experience, the media has been on the forefront on condemning them for not

Sampling and Continuous Improvement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Sampling and Continuous Improvement - Essay Example United States have always been in the forefront of international trade and manufacturing and it wants to keep it that way. Since China started its mass export of goods, US had been worried that it would capture a major chunk of world's exports however US found solace in the fact that Chinese products were of lower quality. However with changing times, China has started to develop low cost and yet high quality products to challenge US in the international market. The study conducted by Industry Week magazine on the comparison of Chinese and American manufacturers have identified important developments in the inputs that largely contribute to China's inevitable success. The article "Manufacturers Like Us" by David Drickhamer gives us important insights in this subject. According to the article, Chinese manufacturers have become increasingly competitive over the past decade. Their strict management practices and performance metrics show the proof of such changes. Also US makes china's industry revolution much more prominent by referring to them as Enemy Number 1. The two basic reasons for the increasing competitive advantage of Chinese manufacturers have been described as cheap labor and much more efficient machinery. Costs of raw materials and land utilization have also been declared as important inputs to the higher quality outputs that are now being produced. To fully analyze the factors of high quality production by Chinese manufacturers, let's analyze each input factor in detail. 1) Raw Materials Raw Materials are the building blocks of the manufacturing process. These unprocessed materials are bought from the market and transformed into outputs by applying different processes. Since it is expected that the prices of the raw materials will rise in the future, some manufacturers start hoarding these raw materials. This storage is referred to as the inventory and it is kept to meet unexpected shortages in the future. The Chinese manufacturers store large amounts of inventory hence their inventory turnover rates are lower for all types of products. As most managers said that they had four or fewer total inventory turns in a year, there costs are lower since ordering and purchasing costs are not encountered regularly. Rise is raw material costs have not been met by half of the manufactures in China. And those who reported increases, 20% did not charge the customers for the increase. Because of lower raises in cost of raw material, Chinese products are of lower prices and they can maintain the quality of the products without increasing the prices. 2) Labor China has been able to maintain its low cost products primarily because of very low labor rates. According to the article, the Chinese manufacturers pay average wages of $1,450 per year, which is less than three weeks' pay in the U.S. This is how China is able to compete with any country on its cost difference. The quality of the products made by the Chinese seems to be increasing because of better skilled and better trained employees than were available in the past. The Chinese managers provide over 20 hours of training per employee per year while they spend 5% of their annual labor budget on training. The costs may

Regional Tourism in Australia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Regional Tourism in Australia - Essay Example The conference will also include two regional site visits - Blue Mountains and Jenolan Caves and Sydney Harbour Sun set- two of the most beautiful and exciting sights of Sydney. The conference sessions and social events will surely provide you with opportunities to interact and make relationship with many dignitaries in and around Australia. The most enchanting feature of the conference is that one day session will be dedicated exclusively for Workshop. We hope all of you will join us with pleasure for the beautiful, informative and exciting conference - an event that will provide you with the opportunity to discover the new challenges in the tourism industry The Commission's Conference on Regional Tourism is one of the largest and unforgettable gatherings of tourism industry participants and leaders. Over the last few years, the conference has been witnessing the presence of a surprising number of participants. A number of informative and inspiring activities such as seminars, networking opportunities, workshops, enjoyable and productive games etc have increased the value of the conference. Throughout the conference held over the years, the participants include a wide variety of people with diverse backgrounds such as destination management experts, destination advertisement agencies, regional tourism promoting associations, publishing firms, technology suppliers, accommodation providers, and various media agencies and companies. Besides, academic stakeholders such as students, researchers from colleges and universities also take part in the conference Conference Venue Crowne Plaza Hotel at Darling Harbour, Sydney is the finest and most appropriate place for a conference that accommodates people in the range of 500 to 750 from different walks of life. Therefore, this hotel was fixed as the venue of the conference. The hotel is enriched with and known for its vast spaces and rooms of different types to accommodate people with different status and designations. The conferences or conventions of various sizes and budgets are being undertaken largely at this hotel. The management claims special attractions at the hotel and they assure all such facilities and amenities shall be provided to all participants irrespective of the type of room reserved. Some of these world class amenities include wireless high-speed Internet access in lobby, well-equipped fitness center, swimming pool etc. Conference Objective The ultimate objective of this year's Commission's Conference on Tourism is to provide a supporting and cooperative platform that encourage sharing of plans, ideas, and opinions, discuss common problems and concerns of stakeholders, and fosters the network of relationships among various participants. Furthermore, the program aims to assist in the development of rural and regional tourism across the various regions of Australia. Specifically, the conference tries to address the various needs of the many diverse stakeholders and segments of the regional tourism sector in Australia. The following are the key purposes for which the conference is proposed to be held: To encourage people interest of eco tourism and regional tourism as a means of earning foreign exchange To assist and contribute to the long term economic growth by giving

Company is on Marriott International and how they market to consumers Term Paper

Company is on Marriott International and how they market to consumers on the internet - Term Paper Example Marriott International website has been professionally designed. The web site has been decorated beautiful pictures of tourists enjoying themselves at the hotel. Customers can immediately identify the destination that suit their tastes and preferences by looking at the pictures displayed. The website links and menus have been well organized into Marriot hotel brands, careers, travel agents, group partners, shopMarriot, affiliates and mobile and many more colorful and attractive links. In addition, the writings on the website are visible, they have been written using visible fonts and designs that are attractive to customers (Marriot, 2012). Customers can access the website through the facebook sign up and login link. Marriott International is also available through twitter. Customers can email or ask a question to the Marriott International customer service through the website. Further, the website gives opportunity to customers to book accommodation online. Customers can by book accommodation through PayPal, MasterCard and visa by placing their orders online; they can also view the status of their order by entering their email and a confirmation number (Marriot, 2012). Marriot international has recently unveiled internet distribution and growth strategies aimed at reaching several tourists as possible. The company has put in place measures to ensure that customers get the best room price when they use their website for reservations. Internet marketing is instrumental to the company because it ensures that 8 percent of the total room nights are sold (Maandag, 2008). The site creates a positive customer experience since they can get attractive discounts. Tourists are able to get 40% off fall travel when they book early. Tourists can also locate hotels in various cities around the world; this is possible through the â€Å"find hotel† interface in the website. Further, the company has introduced

Regional Tourism in Australia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Regional Tourism in Australia - Essay Example The conference will also include two regional site visits - Blue Mountains and Jenolan Caves and Sydney Harbour Sun set- two of the most beautiful and exciting sights of Sydney. The conference sessions and social events will surely provide you with opportunities to interact and make relationship with many dignitaries in and around Australia. The most enchanting feature of the conference is that one day session will be dedicated exclusively for Workshop. We hope all of you will join us with pleasure for the beautiful, informative and exciting conference - an event that will provide you with the opportunity to discover the new challenges in the tourism industry The Commission's Conference on Regional Tourism is one of the largest and unforgettable gatherings of tourism industry participants and leaders. Over the last few years, the conference has been witnessing the presence of a surprising number of participants. A number of informative and inspiring activities such as seminars, networking opportunities, workshops, enjoyable and productive games etc have increased the value of the conference. Throughout the conference held over the years, the participants include a wide variety of people with diverse backgrounds such as destination management experts, destination advertisement agencies, regional tourism promoting associations, publishing firms, technology suppliers, accommodation providers, and various media agencies and companies. Besides, academic stakeholders such as students, researchers from colleges and universities also take part in the conference Conference Venue Crowne Plaza Hotel at Darling Harbour, Sydney is the finest and most appropriate place for a conference that accommodates people in the range of 500 to 750 from different walks of life. Therefore, this hotel was fixed as the venue of the conference. The hotel is enriched with and known for its vast spaces and rooms of different types to accommodate people with different status and designations. The conferences or conventions of various sizes and budgets are being undertaken largely at this hotel. The management claims special attractions at the hotel and they assure all such facilities and amenities shall be provided to all participants irrespective of the type of room reserved. Some of these world class amenities include wireless high-speed Internet access in lobby, well-equipped fitness center, swimming pool etc. Conference Objective The ultimate objective of this year's Commission's Conference on Tourism is to provide a supporting and cooperative platform that encourage sharing of plans, ideas, and opinions, discuss common problems and concerns of stakeholders, and fosters the network of relationships among various participants. Furthermore, the program aims to assist in the development of rural and regional tourism across the various regions of Australia. Specifically, the conference tries to address the various needs of the many diverse stakeholders and segments of the regional tourism sector in Australia. The following are the key purposes for which the conference is proposed to be held: To encourage people interest of eco tourism and regional tourism as a means of earning foreign exchange To assist and contribute to the long term economic growth by giving

Blended Family Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Blended Family - Research Paper Example The present article emphasize on the analysis of trends presenting changes in the patterns of parenting culminating into blended families. Remarriage affect the power dynamics within marriage. It witness changes in men and women in terms of marital power across their first-marriage, divorce and remarriage. It is observed that male ego and social setup cannot tolerate women’s market worth more when he compares with his worth! On the contrary domestically oriented women do undergo a feeling of loss of power. These circumstances pave the way for remarriage and formation of blended families. It surely affects the market work, marital and divorce experiences and their working atmosphere. Formation of blended family or stepfamily is a step to meet and fulfill the desires of each other as in these families one or both partners have been married before and has lost a spouse through divorce or death, and may have children from the previous marriages. Blending of two families not only encompasses two people coming together but also their children get an acceptance from the opposite partner and his/her children. Only by visualizing one cannot discriminate between the composition of first-marriage families and blended families, but when observed closely then there do occur a drastic difference in terms of marital conflicts. Blended families are structurally more complex as it comprises more family members. Children along with the adults (new parents) of blended family have to share more relations making the family tree from simple to complex. This results in amplification of the possibilities for conflict. Also the range of types of relationships also can lead to a greater likelihood of family disputes (Borrine Brown & Handal, 1991). This complexity can also affect the psychology of the child because of lack of family boundaries; this also affects the discipline of the

The Effects of Relocation of the Capital City in Korea Essay Example for Free

The Effects of Relocation of the Capital City in Korea Essay Abstract Many people had suggested a negative effect of the relocation of the capital city in Korea. They argued that a decrease in population in the present capital region (Seoul) would result in income loss because total factor productivity (TFP) in Seoul is higher than in any other province. On the other hand, when we decompose TFP into TECs and technological progress (TP) in this paper, it shows that the technical efficiency changes (TECs) in the Chungnam region has remarkably improved. In addition, the labor productivity in the Chungnam area is found to be higher than in the Seoul area. Therefore, this study shows positive effects to the literature of the debates regarding whether the government should shift the capital city or not. Introduction Shifting the country’s capital city was a key pledge in President Roh Moo-Hyun’s 2002 election. Although the Parliament passed the law to create of a new capital city in Chungnam Province area, there have been many debates so far. The basic motivation for changing the Capital City from Seoul to another location (Chungnam Province) is that there are too many people living in Seoul. Presently 48 million people are squeezed in Seoul so that it creates unbalanced economic development. However, there are also some critics of the capital movement. One reason for the opposition is the project’s enormous cost. The project cost varies from approximately $45 billion estimated by the Parliament to $125 billion by some private institutions. Furthermore, history shows that purpose-built capitals have taken more time and money. For example, Brazil’s new Capital City, Brasilia, added to the country’s economic huge debts. Suh Kim (2004) discussed this matter in terms of the income effects of 5% of the population moving from the Seoul area to the new capital city. They said that if 5% of the current population relocates to Chungnam Province, 1.7% ~ 1.9% of the gross domestic product would be decreased. The reason for this is that total factor productivity (TFP) in the Seoul area is greater than in the new capital city. The purpose of the paper is to estimate TFP for both Seoul and the new capital city area, Chungnam Province, and decompose it into technical efficiency (TE), technological progress (TP), and input changes. Unlike Suh Kim (2004), the decomposition of TFP proposed by Han, Kalirajan, Singh (2002) not only explains the scale of the TFP, but also shows the characteristics and details of the TFP. It is when the local government has an economic policy -decision making. The second part of the paper surveys the literature of TFP as well as TFP related studies for relocation of the capital city in Korea. The third part studies decomposition of the TFP method proposed by Han, Kalirajan, Singh (2002). The fourth part reports the sources and uses of the data and the empirical results. The final part provides some concluding remarks. A survey of literature in TFP (Total Factor Productivity)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The total factor productivity is a variable, which represents the productivity of the whole economy. It analysis encompasses residual production output that cannot be justified by production factors.   Therefore, the total factor productivity is used as a method of measuring changes in production process efficiency. According to Solow (1956), an increase in output depends solely on technical progress in the long-term, however, in the short-term; capital accumulation plays an important role.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   According to this viewpoint, Solow (1956) perceived total factor productivity as a concept that includes productivity based on technical progress and other production factors, which is defined as the Solow Residual. Its increasing rate that is measured by subtracting the contributions of labor and capital stock from the growth rate of gross domestic product is a comprehensive concept including technical progress and others.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There have been many studies on TFP growth, particularly in East Asia. According to Han, et al, (2002), most of the studies followed the growth accounting method using various production functions including trans-log and meta production functions.   However, we used to measure our Solow residuals until Nishimizu Page (1982) attempted to decompose TFP growth in Yugoslavia for the period of 1965-1978. TFP related studies in relocation of the capital cities in Korea   Suh (2004) estimated TFP in Seoul by the growth accounting method without the capital stocks recently. TFP in the near-Seoul area (including Kyungki Province) and strictly in the Seoul area shows as 0.039-0.047 and 0.042-0.048 respectively during 1990-2001.   This figure for Seoul area shows that TFP for non-near-Seoul area falls by 0.026. This gap has been widening as time goes by because the productivity in near-Seoul area is increasing faster than in non-near Seoul area.   Suh (Suh Kim [2004]) in another study estimated the income impacts of decentralization of population in Korea. Suh study suggested that if 5% of the current population of the Capital Region relocates to Chungnam Province, 1.7%-1.9% of GDP would be decreased. The main reason is simple that TFP in Seoul Region is higher than in non-Seoul regions. This conclusion is based and consistent with Suh earlier report in 2001. He added that the determinants affected for the Seoul to be higher than non-Seoul areas are such as the existence of high-technology industries as well as the infrastructure. On the other hand, there are several crucial criticisms in Suh’s study. First, he used the gross output as an output without a double deflation. According to Mahadevan (2002), one may use the value-added output by single deflation. However, the gross output should be deflated twice – corrected for purchases of intermediate inputs. Second, he assumed the share of the labor and capital in the production function: This could be very sensitive to the TFP estimation. Especially, his study lacks of the details of the information in TFP. The comparisons of TFP in Seoul and non-Seoul would suggest nothing but the figures of growth unexplained by the labor and capital stock increases. Decomposition of TECs, TP, and Input changes   According to Han, Kalirajan, Singh (2002), the frontier approach is able to decompose output growth into input growth; technical efficiency changes (TECs) and technological progress (TP). That is, Output Growth = Input growth + TFP growth   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   = Input growth + TECs + TP   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Above equation is algebraically described in graph A. The vertical axis measures outputs, and the horizontal axis measures inputs. Assume that a country faces two production functions, F1 and F2. The points on these functions represent the efficient production for period 1 and 2, respectively. In period 1, if the country is producing with full technical efficiency by following the best-practice techniques, its realized output will be y1* at the x1 input level. However, the country may not have efficient production, due to many constraints such as a lack of efficient organizational structure and a proper incentive structure for workers. In this case, the realized output y1 is less than the maximum possible output y1*: Technical efficiency TE1 is this gap between y1* and y1. Now, let us further assume that the production function shifts from F1 to F2 due to technological progress, including the improvements in human and capital inputs.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     * Graph A: Decomposition of TFP (Total Factor Productivity)   The decomposition can be mathematically expressed as follows: D   = y2 – y1 = A + B + C = [y1* ââ€" ª y1] + [y1** ââ€" ª y1*] + [y2 y1**] = [y1* ââ€" ª y1] + [y1** ââ€" ª y1*] + [y2 y1**] +[y2*ââ€" ªy2*] = [y1* ââ€" ª y1] + [y1** ââ€" ª y1*] ââ€" ª [y2* y2] + [y2*ââ€" ªy1**] = {(y1* ââ€" ª y1) ââ€" ª (y2* y2)} + (y1**y1*) +(y2*ââ€" ªy1**)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   = Change in TE + TP + yx*  Ã‚   = TFP Growth + yx* Data Used Four different data sets are utilized for this analysis. First, manufacturing industry’s total gross nominal output, number of employees, value of tangible fixed assets (capital input), and cost of production (intermediate input) are taken from the Report on Mining and Manufacturing Survey (various issues). The sample period of the data is 1980- 2002. The second data set includes the same variables for Seoul during the same years. The third set of data is for the Daejon area, and it contains the period from 1988 to 2002. The last set includes the same variables for Chungnam Province from 1980 to 2002. The gross output and the total costs are deflated by the wholesale price index (1995= 100) from the Bank of Korea, while the capital deflator from the Ministry of Statistics deflates the tangible fixed assets. Results   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Table A shows the results of the decomposition. First, in the period of 1980-2002, the total manufacturing industry had 144% increase of output, while the output increased by 88.7% and 197% for Seoul and Chungnam. For the period, Chungnam has a higher output increase. Furthermore, one can see that the labor productivity, defined simply by the total output divided by the number of the labors in the region, skyrocketed in Chungnam compared to that of Seoul in Figure 4.1. Figure 4.2 shows the ratio of the increase in the labor productivity. In this ratio, Chungnam has 14 more years higher than Seoul. We can notice that the labor productivity in the year 2000 in Chungnam is 2.3 times higher than Seoul’s. Second, comparing TE1 against TE2 gives an idea how the technical efficiency improved in the regions. For the total, TE has improved so much that 20.2% of output change is due to TE, while this figure shows no improvement for Seoul, and the small amount of improvement is due to this figure. However, one can see that there is a tremendous improvement for Chungnam, so that TE causes 228.7% of the increase of output. Table A Results of the Decomposition    y2 y1 (output change) y1* y1 (TE1) y2* y2 (TE2) TE1+TE2 y1**– y1* (TP) TE+TP y2* y1** (input change) Total 1.438 -0.002 -0.292 0.290 -0.455 -0.165 1.603 (1980-02)          (0.202) (-0.316) (-0.114) (1.115) Total 0.764 -0.031 0.001 -0.032 -0.015 -0.047 0.811 (1988-02)          (-0.042) (-0.020) (-0.062) (1.062) Seoul 0.887 0.004 0.004 0 0.195 0.195 0.692 (1980-02)          (0.000) (0.220) (0.22) (0.780) Seoul 0.385 -0.003 0.014 -0.017 0.213 0.196 0.189 (1980-02)          (-0.044) (0.553) (0.509) (0.491) Daejon 0.596 -0.151 0.005 -0.156 -0.113 -0.269 0.865 (1988-02)          (-0.262) (-0.190) (-0.452) (1.451) Chungnam 1.972 -0.008 -0.012 0.004 -0.027 -0.023 1.995 (1980-02)          (0.002) (-0.140) (-0.138) (1.012) Chungnam 1.487 3.398 -0.002 3.400 -3.463 -0.063 1.487 (1988-02)          (2.287) (-2.329) (-0.042) (1) D+C 1.252 -0.004 -0.05 0.046 -0.248 -0.202 1.454 (1988-02)          (0.037) (-0.198) (-0.161) (1.161) (The numbers in the parenthesis indicates the percentage of the output change.) Third, comparing TP in the regions shows the highest increase for Seoul. 22% of the output change stems from TP, while this ratio shows a negative number for Chungnam. It might be a main reason that many economists criticize the relocation of the capital cities, in terms of productivity. The seventh column shows the TE+TP or TFP for the regions. Seoul has a higher number than Chungnam Province. TE and TP cause 22% of the output increased, while a negative number is resulted for Chungnam. The last column suggests that the majority of the output change occurred from the increase in inputs, labor and capital for Chungnam. * Graph B: Comparisons of Labor Productivity for three regions * Graph C: Ratio of increase in the labor productivity in three regions When using the time-span of 1988-2001, the only period available for Daejon area, one can see that TE for the Seoul area has deteriorated, while it has tremendously increased in Chungnam. Thus, for Chungnam, TE has induced two thirds of the output change. However, as far as TP is concerned, the exact opposite phenomenon has taken place. For Seoul, this figure for TP is 0.195, and 55.3% of the output change is due to TE, while Daejon, Chungnam, and Daejon + Chungnam (D+C) show negative effects of TP on their outputs. Moreover, 49.1% of the output change is induced by the increase of the inputs in Seoul, when the majority of the output increase has occurred from the increase of the inputs for Chungnam and D+C. Conclusion Ever since President Rho Moo-Hyun’s pledge to shift the country’s capital city was announced, the issue has been a debated several times in Korea. Much research is being conducted to ascertain the economic appropriateness or validity of shifting it. One can hardly find the productivity analysis related. Suh Kim (2004) in the study analyzes the effects of income when 5% of Seoul area’s population moves to a new capital city: There would be an income loss of 1.7%-1.9% of GDP. This is because the Seoul area has higher TFP than any other area.   However, this paper further searches the characteristics of TFP in which we decompose its causes into technical efficiency, technological progress, and input changes.   It seems that the Seoul area has been flourishing with its increased output caused by the higher TFP, the total addition of the technical efficiency, and technological progress greater than in the Chungnam area so much that Suh and other criticizers of shifting the country’s capital city suggest not changing the location of the capital city. However, when we decompose and compare the TFP into TE and TP, it can be noticed that the Chungnam area has had a higher TE than Seoul, but vice-versa for TP. One can also see that the labor productivity in Chungnam has been higher than in Seoul, and this difference is even growing greater. Thus, our study adds to the literature of the debates regarding whether the government should shift the capital city or not, in that one may at least say that there would be some positive effects in TFP analysis. References Aigner, Dennis, J., C. A. Lovell, and Peter J, Schmidt (1977), â€Å"formulation and Estimation of Stochastic Frontier Production Function Models,† Journal of Econometrics, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 21-37. Barro, Robert J.and Xavier Sala-I-Martin. 1995. Economic Growth, New York: McGraw Hill. Charles I. Jones, Introduction to Economic Growth, 2nd edition, W.W.Norton, 2005. Han, Gaofeng, Kaliappa Kalirajan, Nirvikar Singh (2002), â€Å"Productivity and Economic Growth in East Asia: Innovation, Efficiency and Accumulation,† Japan and the World Economy, Vol. 14, pp. 401-24. Mahadevan R.(2002) New Currents in Productivity Analysis, Asian Productivity Organization, Productivity Series 31. Nishmizu, Mieko, and John Page(1982),† Total Factor Productivity Growth, Technological Progress and Technical Efficiency Change: Dimensions of Productivity Change in Yugoslavia, 1965-78, † Economic Journal, Vol. 92, pp. 920-36. Solow, Robert M., A Contribution in the Theory of Economic Growth, Quarterly Journal of Economics 70, Feb. 1956. Solow, R. M.(1957), â€Å"Technical Change and the Aggregate Production Function,† Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 39, pp. 312-320. Suh, Sung-Hwan. and   Kim, Kabsung(2004), â€Å"The Income Impacts of Decentralization of Population in Korea,† Journal of the Korean Regional Science Association, Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 65-78. Data Source Bank of Korea Economic Statistics System(ECOS)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Available at : http://www. ecos.bok.or.kr Korea National Statistical Office(KNSO)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Available at : http://www.nso.go.kr/eng2006/emain/index.html

Why Renault entered into joint venture with Mahindra

Why Renault entered into joint venture with Mahindra Internal Benefits: Joint ventures are formed in quest of managing companys resources in efficient manner. This includes techniques to reducing cost and risk that the firm faces, obtaining scarce resources, obtaining cheap factors of production (land, labour and capital), to include new information and increase the managerial know how so that productivity can be increased and to retain innovative employees of the firm. There are many capital intensive techniques followed by companies in oil and gas exploration, metals processing and mineral extraction. Internal benefit include building companys core strengths  Ã‚   Helps in to develop economies of scale by gaining access to other financial resources Joint venture help company to acquire new technologies and customers and gives access to knowledge, skills and better management Competitive Benefits: Joint venture helps companies to restructure their organisational structure. Competitive advantage is achieved by vertical integration or consolidation of the firms. This also helps the firms to have an influence on industry structure and competitors. Responding to the new globalisation trend this approach may help in creation of more effective competitors. Some other benefits are: Joint ventures are helpful in building competitive barriers against the new entrants. They act as a defensive strategy in response to the converging markets Helps in creation of small and competitive units of the firm in various geographical locations It also helps in reducing the time cycle to the market they are involved in Strategic Benefits: Joint ventures help in companies to implement change in their strategic position. This helps in better creation and exploitation of synergies among the two companies. Joint venture facilitate in the transfer of technology and diversification of the firm. Technology transfer helps in building knowledge to expand into key markets It also helps to develop new products and improve productivity by shared expertise and lower costs because indulging in research activities to develop new products can be time-consuming and costly. Small businesses also gain lead-time In the total number of joint venture formed, many were international joint ventures. Many of them were due to the cost involved in the operations. Companies in some industry depend on the technology to reduce costs. Joint ventures are favourable for them because they help them in accumulating money and people to work in short time, with not much time wasted in training and later to develop specialisation in a specific activity. This all leads to reduced exploration and production costs and thereby increase in the profit margins. Joint ventures are not as easy to manage as we are talking about. Sometimes companies are forced to follow a joint venture strategy because of the host countrys business regulations. For example China does not allow outside company to own a majority of domestic business. Mexico requires the companies for any foreign company which is operating in the country to have a joint venture with a domestic company. In addition to government regulations, other reasons f or multinational joint ventures as mentioned above are cutting the costs of doing business, sharing risks with acquiring technological information and management expertise from other companies. Kogut (1988) gave 3 different reasons for the existence of joint ventures. They were: Transaction cost approach: The cost aspect of a transaction in joint ventures helps in explaining joint ventures in terms of market failure for intermediate inputs in the production, various asset specificity, and high uncertainty over specifying and monitoring performance. As inspired by Penroses (1959) work, it is specified and shown in recent development in management research that to one should analyze and develop a firms strategy by focusing on its resources instead of the external environment. Two key behavioural assumptions of TC theory are opportunism and bounded rationality (Williamson 1991a). The transaction theory suggests that if firms with complementary resources try to produce individually then they will have to fight for the scarce resources and acquire them at greater cost. Another major motive behind joint venturing is the possibility of creating Ricardian rents. A Ricardian rent means the presence of scarce resources which generate higher profits than other resource s of the same type. Strategic behaviour approach: A joint venture addresses the difficulties faced by the organisation by providing a superior alignment of incentives through the mutual dedication of resources and by sharing the residual value of the venture. Joint venture is established in a spirit of mutual trust and commitment to its long-term success, the potential threats posed by opportunism and a small-numbers condition can be reduced. Organisational learning approach: Joint Ventures help in organisation learning Williamson (1991b) extends his analysis to strategic alliances, which is said to have the hybrid mode of governance, which are considered to occupy positions between the two ends of the market-hierarchy continuum. These hybrids in joint ventures are said to have stronger incentives and adaptive capabilities than hierarchies, which helps in providing more administrative control than markets. In global industries with globalisation there is higher need for organisational learning. This asks the firm manager to look for global efficiency, which later plays an important role in resource based theory. In a joint-venture setting, there is interaction and communication between the members of different firms. This information flow increases the boundary permeability with respect to the partners resources. This helps in offering an opportunity for learning. A popular example of this is ToyotaGM joint venture, in wh ich both partners had clear learning objectives (Adler and Cole 1993). Another use of joint ventures is to get rid of a business unit, that is, disposal of resources. Nanda and Williamson (1995) have argued that converting the business unit into a joint venture between the parent and buyer helps in selling of the unit. The joint venture operates for several years during which buyer learn about the operations of the unit is going to acquire and slowly resources will be integrated with those of the buyer. By initially running the business as a joint venture, the buyer in benefit of obtaining hands-on management experience and an insiders s view of its operation. Seller also has interest to teach the skill and tricks to buyer of business, since the price that the buyer is willing to pay when buying out the business depends on the joint ventures performance. Firms often go for the local partners in the domestic market in which they want to mark a presence, these are because of the following reasons: Items readily capitalised Human resource needs Government regulations and incentives Market access needs and speed of entry Knowledge needs and learning of new marketing methods A joint venture is formed only when all the organizations involved individually arrive at a positive net benefit calculation. For example, one partner considers the joint venture as an opportunity for learning a new technology while the other uses the venture to further exploit the technology. When two firms have had a great deal of experience of working together, they get to know more about one anothers culture and management style, and adjust their own accordingly thus the two firms are in a better position to explore collaborative opportunities compared to other firms which dont form any alliance with other firms. This all leads to identify ways of complementing joint venture their resources effectively for creating rents. This involves the proper analysis of costs involved in different companies. For example If there exist two oil companies which want to set up a new drilling platform in ocean areas, and neither one has capability to finance the project on its own, so the simple solution to them is to look for joint venture. That way, they share the costs of setup of drilling platform and other projects which later helps them in reducing their individual risk should they find no oil. That is a decided advantage to many business people. A complete study of operation, management and finance has to be done to successfully implement the joint venture. Joint ventures are quite helpful to some companies in gaining access to foreign markets. Sometimes both the firms forget the primary objective of their operation and just form joint venture to come into foreign market. These products bring in the foreign domestic investments in the host country through the firm with which joint venture is formed. So many governments give incentives for joint ventures. Joint ventures are a sometimes used to boost up the creeping sale. This can be the first step in acquisition of a business. It can also be used to act as catalyst for change, which is by bringing in a partner one, can stimulate more entrepreneurial activity in a particular area of a firms business. Joint venture also helps in expansion of customer base by expanding the scope and utilising other firms strength in different geographic market, using its distribution or sales network International joint ventures have also been pushed by international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization, who have given incentives by forming policies to eliminate trade barriers and deregulate foreign ownership restrictions and the international flow of capital. This helped in creating a climate in which international investment and partnerships have become increasingly attractive. In new scenario joint ventures have become means by which companies seek to expand profit margins and market share. In addition, regional trade areas such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the European Union (EU), and the Association of South and East Asian Nations (ASEAN) have worked to establish favourable conditions for joint ventures within specific, relatively localized regions. Why Renault entered into joint venture with Mahindra Mahindra? As told by the CEO of Renault Mr. Carlos Ghosn this joint venture was seen to be useful to mark a new step in Renaults global expansion strategy. The joint venture has started the Renault operation in the Indian market which is highly emerging market with respect to automotive sector. As Renault had no experience with the needs of Indian customer joint venture with MM was seen to help to create the first right hand drive version of Logan created to meet the needs of our Indian customers. Renault was also eyeing to mark its presence in Indian market in short period of time, Mahindra and Mahindra gave them that adequate platform. In the beginning of 2005 Renault designers visualized a low-cost car that was to retail for under Euro 5000. The car had quite good features however it looked robust and trustworthy compared to the sleek beauties manufactured by the Japanese and the Koreans. The car became a big hit and enjoyed pampering from buyers in most parts of Europe. Europeans liked the cars no-frill appeal. Renault thought of entering into Indian market, when it analysed the companies it sought upon Mahindra and Mahindra which was the main force behind the Tata Group. Mahindra and Mahindra helped Tata Motors for over ten years helping them build the modern day passenger vehicle. Mahindra also in seeing the future prospects of snatching the opportunity and mark its presence in Indian market started working in unison with Renault and started building and selling the Logan in India. Both Mahindra and Renault shared the profit of gaining knowledge and expertise. MM would get all important expertise needed to build monocoque or unitary construction. Renault, on the other hand, would gain direct knowledge of the cost-effective supplier base that Mahindra enjoyed in India. A labour-intensive car plant was established as against a fully automated one to analyze the quality and cost-effective work force available in India. The two groups concluded a framework agreement for setting up a joint venture in India with Mahindra retaining a 51 per cent share and Renault 49 per cent. The JV will be called Mahindra Renault Ltd. The estimated project amount was 125 million Euros. With other European automotive counterparties like Fiat and Skoda had little presence this venture was also seen a major competition to them. Mahindra did a customer research in Logan segment and found strong response for this C-segment car. Renault was looking for major global expansion; along with India it was also starting its operations in Romania, Russia, Morocco, Colombia and Iran. Renault was looking for a long term relationship with Mahindra and Mahindra and was looking for greater prospects in coming years of 2010 to 2012. Renault chose Mahindra and Mahindra because of the following reasons: Mahindra Group a US $ 2.5 billion company is the market leader in multi-utility vehicles and tractors in India. Mahindra and Mahindra had 55 years of manufacturing experience MM had built its high network of distributors and suppliers in India efficiently Mahindra group had built a strong base in technology, engineering, marketing and finance (Mahindra intertrade and MM financial services Ltd.). It also has a significant presence in key sectors of the Indian economy High presence in automotive components, information technology telecom (Mahindra British Telecom), and infrastructure development (Mahindra GESCO, Mahindra Holidays Resorts India Ltd.) Mahindra had a reputation of providing TATA Motors the platform to harness the automotive growth in India MM had not much presence in Sedan segment i.e. C-segment so Renault had no fears of having conflicts of interest Mahindra as a brand was a trusted brand in India. With the leverage of Mahindra as a brand Renault was also leveraging its own brand in Logan, as the joint venture was called Mahindra-Renault The transfer of knowledge and technology was mutually beneficial for Renault and Mahindra, it was good symbiotic relationship