Becker’s Rational Theory

Gary Becker is both a sociologist and economist although he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992 for his rational theory for economics.   The lecture he gave for the Nobel was divided into six points: his economic approach to life, his view of the discrimination against minorities, his theories on crime and punishment, his understanding of human capital, his perspectives on family ties and how he believes people will accept the theories he had proposed. Becker’s ideas are refreshing, if not altogether new and worth understanding. First of all, he distinguishes his analysis from the Marxian perspective.   He explained that the communist concept is purely based on utilitarian terms while his concept of rationality is a method of analysis and not an â€Å"assumption about particular motivations.† (38) His approach is founded on the idea that time has its own cost.   He argues that many human developments have been made to extend life expectancy but no one can alter the pace of time from twenty-four hours to another pattern.   Thus, time has its cost and also affects the choices that people make because of its price. Becker takes hiring of workers and discrimination into a new light with his idea that the employers may usually be the source of discrimination but in truth, the employees and customers of a company also contribute to the decisions being done on employment. He cites that some workers refuse to be assigned under a woman and certain clients may prefer to deal with white instead of black sales agents. One of his theories on discrimination is that when the quantity of the majority of a prejudicial relationship is greatly higher, the income of the mentioned party will be much higher while those of the minority group will be very limited.   However, Becker also believes that if the prejudicial group is smaller in quantity compared to the group they have chosen to outcast, then the prejudice will be harmful to the prejudicial people. Becker also controversially cites that the popularized beliefs of employers, teachers and other persons of influence on the community can create stereotypes that are harmful or counter-productive.   He bases his assumptions on the premise that education is an investment because previous studies show that putting more time and money in getting academic training boosts a person’s chances to become economically successful. Stereotyping people causes these minorities to lessen their educational investments both academically and career-wise.   This makes them less productive to society. It is worthy to note that Becker highly believes that education is a very good investment for the economy and that learning can be hindered by prejudice. Another institution Becker chose to analyze is society’s view on crime and punishment.   Becker sought to explain that crimes like stealing may not seem to cost the society very much but criminals also invest on weaponry and premeditated planning which could have been put to better communal use.The Nobel winner explained that in the mid-twentieth century, crimes were viewed as originating from mental illness and social oppression to the point that criminals were made to look like victims of society. These, therefore, affected social policies by giving criminals more rights, reducing the chances of apprehending and convicting criminals while lessening the security of the rest of the innocent. In his economic point of view, Becker believes that policies must be geared towards higher costs of punishment for criminals to deter them from making their crimes a livelihood.   He believes that to lessen crime, the economic and social environment formed by public policies (e.g. expenditures for punishments, employment opportunities, educational programs) must be taken into consideration.   If the legal jobs were paying much higher than what would have been gotten from a quick crime, then it would lessen the probability of criminal acts. It was Becker’s ideas that have inspired Law Professor, David Friedman (1995) to propose other ways of fighting and preventing crime.   Based on the Nobel awardee’s theory, the professor suggests that instead of paying policemen regular salaries, these officers should just get what has been collected from the criminals he had apprehended and caused to be convicted. In this scenario, the victim shall pay for the investigation of the crime to the police so that investigative jobs will be allocated well to the uniformed men. According to Friedman, this will lessen the cost of taxes that ordinary law-abiding citizens pay for protection and judicial courts. When the criminal is able to pay the damages he had brought about, then the victim and police have been paid. In this way, the policeman are not   tempted to accept bribes from criminals while the cost of implementing justice is greatly lowered. Another point of view was given by Dr. Mark Thornton, Senior Fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute, this time contradictory to Becker’s.   After his winning the Nobel, Becker became a staunch believer in the legalization of drugs to lessen its harmful impact on society.   On the other end is Dr. Thornton who made a paper entitled, Harm Reduction and Sin Taxes: Why Gary Becker is Wrong, to state his points.   According to Becker, legalizing drugs would bring in positive results if excise taxes will be created to make the price of these drugs less affordable.   However, according to Dr. Thornton, the taxes will still not eliminate the consumption of dangerous drugs but will only encourage production and consumption of more potent forms of these drugs.   Marking legal drugs as harmful will only make these even more attractive to young teens and adults.   Putting excise taxes will make the drug too costly for those who truly need it which might lead to consumers preferring a less expensive yet more harmful kind of solution and the formation of a black market.   Thornton further argues that there is no proper way to calculate the tax rate. (12) I In Thornton’s light, he reveals that Becker’s ideas may be highly theoretical but not practical because it does not take its effects on society as critically as it should. One subject that may give Becker a Marxian link is his use of the term â€Å"human capital.†Ã‚   Although the term he uses is Marxist, he does not intend it to mean something utilitarian.   Instead, Becker chose to use the term as a name for an analysis that bases its assumptions on how individuals choose their education, career training, medical care and other additions to knowledge and health by weighing the benefits (cultural and non-financial) and costs (value of time spent on these founding investments). (43) Becker identifies two theoretical concepts used in human capital analysis which are the general and specific training or knowledge.   Becker believes that general training is simply knowledge of how to make things work but specific training or knowledge refers to an individual’s skill in climbing up and down the authority structure of the company he or she works for and includes the talents that may be necessarily giving this employee more value to the company. With this proposition, human capital becomes an asset of a company as part of accounting principles. He further explains human capital investment in the light of marital relationships. He believes in the idea that marriages are unions that are based on the theory that putting together two people’s resources would make them stronger economically. Thus, divorce rates are affected by the financial stability of husbands and wives.   This also explains why the rich have lower divorce rates compared to couples who are problematic in their finances. Although romantics may want to challenge this idea, the statistics will provide Becker with more evidence rather than refute his contentions. Human capital is founded on the idea that education is an investment. Becker offers his human capital analysis to explain the gender gap in earnings of men and women.   Traditionally, women were more likely to get poorly-paid jobs because they spend time taking of children first before they can invest more attention to getting better education or training.   However, the decline of family size in the past decades, growth of divorce rates that leave single mothers to work for a living, increase in the fulfillment of job vacancies brought about by industrialization and legislation has been able to give women more opportunities for career and financial stability. Becker believes that his rational choice way of analyzing life can also explain the formation, dissolution and structure of families. The family is the oldest and most basic of all institutions. Becker already mentions that marriage is a union that is made between individuals who believe that staying together would benefit them both. Divorce, then, would be made if the two individuals believe that economic stability would be achieved without the other. One of the controversial principles regarding family and economics came from Malthus who believes that fertility would rise as incomes increase and would decline as incomes decrease.   This theory failed when the modern era showed that as industrialized countries were becoming super economic powers, birth rates started to dwindle. According to Becker, the only problem with the Malthusian principle is that it was not adaptable to modern life. Modern people put great value in time and so taking care of children costs greatly. Parents also recognize that the success of their children are based on the good quality education and training they are able to get. This raises the cost of investments even more which leads to couples having fewer children. This explanation also addresses why more and more women are entering the labor force. With fewer children to tend to, women are freer to pursue their careers. Becker also sought to analyze why there are societies wherein gender roles seem to attribute to women the child-rearing and agricultural activities compared to the men who are delegated to do the fighting and market work.   He believes that these are because of biological differences and cultural conditioning. He incorporates his human capital analysis by saying that any investment in education requires practice and that since men have more time to delve into the sporty and marketing skills, they are the ones given the gender role.   Women, on the other hand, are too busy with children to develop their own talents and skills and would do better in simply doing what else should be done to uphold the family. Becker believes that the way one is raised has a lot of bearing on how one thinks and acts as an adult.   Choices adults make in life are based on their childhood experiences.   Therefore, the family is a very important institution in society because the preferences that are at work in his rational theory are formed when people are growing up. Another aspect of family life Becker chose to single out was the issue of altruism.   Based on the â€Å"Rotten-Rid Theorem,† selfish individuals use altruistic behavior to ensure their own welfare. Therefore, parents and children can strive to uphold altruism within their families because of their own selfish purposes. For example, parents who are not planning to leave bequests to their children strive to uphold love, guilt and assistance among family members to ensure their welfare once they grow old.   By imbibing values such as caring, older children are made to feel guilty when they cannot take good care of their old parents. Parents who do not plan to leave bequests to their kids tend to strive to work or assist their children in housekeeping to compensate for their lack of financial contribution. With children who have been taught to give back something in return while they were young, the kids will be obliged to take good care of the old parents. Parents who are not planning to leave bequests can also give their children the best investment they can have – education – to ensure that when they are already old, the young ones will be able to provide for their needs. With these in mind, Becker makes a funny proposal for parents to have contracts with their children to oblige them to take care of the old couples once they are too weak to work. With his analysis of familial relationships, Becker also realizes that social institutions like homes of the aged are contributing to the breakdown of families. With the government taking care of what could have been someone’s responsibility, the family members communicate less and become estranged from each other. Other sources of this problem are greater geographical mobility, increased wealth due to better national economy, better capital and insurance markets that create financial endowments for these responsibilities, higher divorce rates that separate family members from each other and even health care which also takes care of things so that people can continue to work instead of taking care of each other. Becker concludes his lecture by summarizing the main points he had so far mentioned.   He also predominates any oppositions to his claims by saying that since his concepts are based on economic or rational choices towards behavior, many critics have already raised issues about individuals not acting consistently all the time and that behaviors are not always forward-looking (especially the ones of criminals). Becker counters these allegations also by explaining that his rational choice theory is not simply an economic approach limited to the micro level.   He believes that the theory can be a very good and powerful tool to use to understand and derive implications on the macro level. Backer believes that using assumptions about technology and other determinants of opportunities, market and non-market situations, laws, norms and traditions can help obtain better results about group behaviors. Becker’s ideas are truly remarkable. Some are simply a review of what has been happening to society (e.g. family dissolution) while others like his view of crime and punishment are refreshing and obviously revolutionizing social policies and perspectives. His view on crime, particularly, raises many controversial questions towards practicality especially because it concerns the security of many innocent people. Controversial or not, his rational choice theory shines a new light towards how humans keep adapting to the society he is forming at every moment and this makes him worth of the Nobel Prize. Works Cited Becker, Gary. â€Å"The Economic Way of Looking at Life.† Nobel Lecture. 09 December 1992 Economic Sciences.(1992): 38-58. Friedman, David. â€Å"Rational Criminals and Profit-Maximizing Police: Gary Becker’s Contribution to the Economic Analysis of Law and Law Enforcement.† 23 March 2008. < http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Academic/Becker_Chapter/Becker_Chapter.html> Thornton, Mark. â€Å"Harm Reduction and Sin Taxes: Why Gary Becker is Wrong.† 23 March 2008.         

CMIT Quiz

When you go to Disk Management, the option to create the RAID 10 array is not available. What should you do? Install an don RAID controller typewrite. Com/64705886/ o mobility ombowithtestoutpcproa220801220802troub Ices tenderhearted sandal atherosclerosis/ 1/91 Combo with â€Å"Combo with â€Å"Tautest PC Pro A+ 220801 / You have connected two drives to the primary DID interface in a PC system. How could the drives be configures? (select two) 1) Set both drives to Cable Select You have a desktop computer that uses a 250 Watt power supply.You recently added a disk RADIO array to the system and now it spontaneously shuts down. What should you do? Upgrade to a power supply that provides more watts You are responsible for managing the client workstations at your computer. A seer in the conference room called concerning the digital projector and display issues when the projector is connected to his laptop. After identifying the cause and completely resolving the issue, the projector di splays the images perfectly both on his laptop and on the projector. What should you do next?Document the solution You have a custom database application that your company has been using for several years. The application works fine on all of your Windows XP systems. You have just purchased a new Windows 7 system for one of your sales team members. You make this user a member of the Users group on the local system. You install the custom application successfully. When the sales person logs on and tries to run the application, the program splash screen loads but then seems to hang. What should you do first?Grant the user permissions to the directories and files used by the application. What is a recovery partition? A partition created by the computer manufacturer to restore the system to its original State 2) Set one drive to Master and the other to Slave http://equalize. Com/64705886/ combowithcombowithtestoutpcproa220801220802troubleshootingand70ther 2/91 I ,'25/2015 A user in sale s cannot get his laptop to display through a projector. He sees the screen output on the built LCD display, but the video is not being seen on the projector. What should you do first?See the Fan key to redirect display to the external video port Which of the following tools is specifically designed to test the DC voltage on a HAD power connector? Power supply tester On a Windows system, which Task Manager tab would you use to adjust the priority given to a specific program? Processes After removing the printed paper from your laser printer, the toner smudges and can be wiped off in places. Which of the following is most likely the problem? Fuser rollers The video driver on your Windows 7 computer is preventing the system from starting up successfully.You have already downloaded an updated driver and copied it to the computer's HAD. Which mode should you select from the Windows Advanced Boot Options menu that would most likely allow you to start the computer to continue fixing the pr oblem? Enable VGA Mode Which tool would be the best choice to remove and replace the motherboard BIOS chip? ICC extractor Which utility can be used to view when a service was stopped as well as any error messages generated by the service? Event Viewer You have added a new 1 TAB HAD to a endows computer. The disk is configured as a basic disk.Which of the following can be configured on this disk? (select two) 1) Primary partitions 2) Extended partitions with logical drives co mbowithcombowithtestoutpcproa220801220802troub Ices tenderhearted sandal etherealness rods/ 3/91 You're troubleshooting a computer running Windows 7. The SO has halted and a blue screen has been displayed on the monitor with an error message. What is the first step you should take in troubleshooting the issue? Search for the error in Microsoft's knowledgeable or in a search engine on the Internet Which of the following identify the key preferences between a worm and a virus? ) Worms independently replicate thems elves 2) A virus relies on a host for replication Which of the following protects a computer from electrostatic discharge? Antistatic wrist strap You have purchased an LED monitor and connected it to the DAVID port using a DAVID cable. You configure the screen resolution to 1440 x 900 with bit color. The screen display seems to be fuzzy. What should you do to correct the Change the screen resolution to the native resolution of the monitor In which of the following situations would restoring from a backup be the best option? Select two) ) You accidentally deleted several important emails from Outlook and need to restore them. 2) You need to restore several word processing files that were accidentally deleted from My Documents Your laptop carrying case is designed from a inch laptop, yet you think you can squeeze your inch laptop into it. Before slipping the laptop into the case, what Remove any Expressed from their slots co mbowithcombowithtestoutpcproa220801220802troublesh00tingand7 0ther sand 1 atherosclerosis/ 4/91 Combo with â€Å"combo with â€Å"Tautest PC Pro A+ 220801 / You have a small wireless network with less than 50 client computers.You upgrade the hardware on TV'0 wireless devices so you can use a better security standard than WEEP. Now you need to implement the new security standard. You need the greatest amount of security with the least amount of effort, and without replacing any of the wireless infrastructure. What should you do? (select two) 1) Implement WEAVES You're conducting scheduled maintenance on a laser printer. You notice that there is a buildup of excess toner inside the interior of the printer. Which of the following is the proper way to remove Use an antistatic vacuum You're troubleshooting a malfunctioning notebook computer.Nothing appears on the LCD display when the system is powered on. What is the first thing you should do? Plug in an external monitor You have a compiler that compiles applications used in your business. You w ant to make sure that the compiler continues to run in the background, even if you open the other applications. How can you adjust the amount of attention given to that application? Use Task Manager to adjust the process priority Several employees have forwarded you an email indicating that your company's health insurance provider has just launched a new benefits management Web site that all employees must start using.The employees are told in the email to click a link to access the site. Once there, they are required to provide their USN. However, you have discovered that your company's insurance provider did not send this e mail. What kind of attack just occurred? Phips inning 2) Configure each client with the same key 5/91 A user sends a print job to a network printer and it prints page after page of random characters. He calls the help desk and a technician discovers that somehow the wrong printer driver has been loaded on the users workstation.

Advantages Disatvanges of Newspaper

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Reading the Newspaper There are many advantages and disadvantages of reading the newspaper. Newspapers are one of the traditional mediums used by businesses, both big and small alike. People read newspaper to find out information, news, and what going on around there world. However, there are many pro and con about reading the newspaper. The advantages of reading the newspaper are good in many ways. For instance, you can increase you neologies by reading the newspaper. You can also find information around world. In addition, many people buy newspaper just to read the advertisement from the restaurants, movies, subway and discount stores. However, reading the newspaper has become a habit for most families. It has something for everyone. For example, you can reach certain segments of your market by placing your advertisement in different sections of the paper such as sports, crosswords, news, comics, classifieds, etc. The disadvantages of reading the newspaper show that it is wasting of time by reading the nonsense article. In addition, people who making the newspaper they wasting the papers company and killing more trees. Moreover, you have no assurance that every person who receives the newspaper will read your advertisement. They may not read the section you advertised in, or they may simply have skipped the page because it contained little or nothing else of interest and which is wasting of papers. Different people have different opinion of reading the newspaper. Some people would read the newspaper, because they like, and they would find some interesting articles to read or something else. Other people would not read, maybe they don’t know how to read or they would just get a newspaper and look at the pictures. In conclusion, I am more likely to be advantages of reading the newspaper, because when I get newspaper from subway and start to read it I learn something, which increases my neologies. Reading the newspaper can help people in many ways. For instance, it can help people known the today news, sports score, crosswords, comics, etc. Newspapers, as their name suggests, provide us with News. With the spread of education, the popularity and importance of newspapers have increased by leaps and bounds. Everybody today wants to read a newspaper. Those who cannot read themselves want others to read it out to them. Even in a backward country, like India, newspapers have become very popular. They are published in English, Hindi, Urdu and in all other regional dialects of the country. They are read, or listened to, with great interest by everybody. They exercise a profound influence on the minds of the people. The most important function of newspapers is to bring us news of the world. News is their chief interest and charm. They tell us what is happening not only in our country by in other countries of the world as well. Without newspapers, we would be like a frog in a well who knows nothing of the outside world. In a democratic country, like India, they are an important means of forming public opinion. They comment on current events and criticize or appreciate the conduct of the government. It is through them that the public comes to know of the problems that face the country and the different possible ways of solving those problems. They, thus, educate the public mind and enable the people to have their own opinion on matters of public importance. They, thus, make democracy possible. Everyone must read newspapers. This is essential for national integration. This is essential to keep down fissiparous tendencies. Besides this, the newspapers are also an important means of communication between the government and the people. It is through the newspapers that the government places its programmes, its policies, and its achievements, before the people. The public also uses them to express its dissatisfaction with the government. They voice the grievances of the people and suggest measures of reform. Thus, by expressing public opinion they serve as a check on the government. They are essential for the proper functioning of democracy. The press is all powerful in a democracy. A free press is essential for its success. Newspapers are also an important means of advertisement. They help trade and commerce. If a trade or an industrialist wants to increase his business, he can do so by advertising his goods in the newspapers. They help both the employer and the employees through their wants columns. The large number of advertisement of every kind is a clear proof of the popularity of the newspapers as a means of advertisement. But the newspapers have some drawbacks also. They serve as a means of propaganda for the various political parties. Often views and comments are expressed through them that confuse the people and misguide them. The people fail to understand the truth. Sometimes, news are even twisted and distorted. At other times, they stir up class hatred. They sow seeds of communal quarrels. This misuse of newspapers did much to encourage agitations in Gujrat, Bihar and other parts of the country.

British Airways Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

British Airways - Research Paper Example Three countries have been selected as the most appropriate targets for such initiative: Mexico, Brazil and Ukraine. Each of these countries can offer different benefits in regard to the firm’s particular plan. Mexico seems to meet all criteria as a target country for outsourcing activities. Brazil and Ukraine can also respond to the firm’s specific needs under the terms that appropriate arrangements of cooperation are made. The various aspects of such plan are presented below emphasizing on both the theoretical and practical implications of the specific project. Table of contents Executive Summary 2 1. Introduction 4 2. British Airways – Outsourcing of Aircraft maintenance services 4 2.1 Company overview 4 2.2 Aircraft maintenance services – industry characteristics 5 2.3 Outsourcing of Aircraft maintenance services 5 2.3.1 Brazil 5 2.3.2 Mexico 6 2.3.3 Ukraine 7 2.4 Outsourcing as a business strategy – theoretical perspectives 8 2.5 Conclusion 9 Re ferences 10 Appendix 13 1. Introduction The effects of firms’ strategic decisions can be quite important influencing the organizational performance either in the short or the long term. For this reason, when managers have to develop a critical strategic decision need to review all parameters of the relevant plan, taking into consideration potential failures or unexpected problems. In the Aviation industry a similar approach has to be used when such decisions need to be developed. This paper focuses on the potential effects of the decision of British Airways (BA) to outsource part of each supply chain activities, its aircraft maintenance services. There are three countries that have been reviewed, as of potential targets of this strategy: Brazil, Mexico and Ukraine. Each of these countries has been involved in such activities, but not at the same level. For example, Mexico has been found to be a country that can effectively support all aspects of outsourcing in regard to an ai r carrier’s aircraft maintenance services. The other two countries, Brazil and Ukraine seem to be less developed in this sector; still, Brazil and Ukraine also can offer a series of benefits to firms that would decide to outsource their aircraft maintenance services to these countries. The theoretical aspects of outsourcing, as a common business strategy are also presented in this paper, aiming to highlight the implications that BA would have to face in case it would decide to proceed to the specific plan, i.e. to outsource its aircraft maintenance services to Brazil, Mexico or Ukraine. 2. British Airways – Outsourcing of Aircraft maintenance services 2.1 Company overview British Airways is a major competitor in the global aviation industry. The firm was first established in 1919 under the name ‘Aircraft Transport and Travel Limited (AT&T)’ (British Airways History 2012). In the decades that followed the growth of the firm was significant (British Airways History 2012). At the end of 2011 the fleet of the company was estimated to ‘245 aircrafts’ (IAG About Us). In 2011, January, BA was merged with the Spanish Air Carrier, Iberia (IAG About Us); the firm resulted has been IAG, International Airlines Group, a firm based in Spain (IAG About Us). The financial performance of BA, as a member of IAG can be characterized as quite important, as indicating in the financial report of IAG, the parent company, for 2011 (Figure 4, Appendix). In a more

Five Forces of Competition Model Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Five Forces of Competition Model - Case Study Example The second force considers the threat created by new market entrants. The railroad business requires huge capital in starting a business operation. Moreover, potential new players lack access to land that is essential for the development of rail networks. The advancement of other transportation systems also hinder the widespread investment in this industry. For current players, the market remains stable as the rate of receiving new entrants is low. The bargaining powers of buyers stands as the third force (Hill & Jones, 46). In the railroad industry, buyers possess little bargaining power. The charges incurred in transportation are a dictate of legal laws regulating prices. Therefore, buyers lack power in price control. Moreover, the importance of goods transported through rail such as agricultural products limits the bargaining power of the buyers. The fourth force suggested by Porter considers the power of suppliers. In the case of railroad transport, suppliers hold a significant power. Union Pacific Corporation notes that the companies in the trade over-rely on specific suppliers for locomotive parts. Consequently, the withdrawal of one of the suppliers serves as a major challenge for these players. Suppliers in this industry control major processes of operation. The fifth force evaluates the threat of substitutes. The transportation industry offers substitutes in the shipping and air freight industries. Shipping costs sign ificantly cheaper while air transport remains faster. However, railroads remain significant due to their large operations on the land. Their major substitutes primarily operate in the air and water. Based on this analysis, the railroad industry stands out as unattractive. Challenges of competition create substantial problems. Moreover, the high cost of operation and the power of suppliers makes the industry unstable and unsustainable by new

Corporate and global strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Corporate and global strategy - Essay Example Finally the study tried to some useful recommendation in terms of research & development and value chain cost for the company. Table of Contents Table of Contents 3 1.0 Procter & Gamble 5 2.0 Corporate Strategy 6 2.1 Core Competency of P&G 7 2.2 Overall Scope 8 3.0 Business Level Strategy 8 4.0 Internal Analysis 10 4.1 Porter’s Value Chain 10 4.2 Barney’s VRIN model 13 5.0 External Analysis 16 5.1 PESTLE 16 5.1.1 Political Environment 16 5.1.2 Economic 16 5.1.3 Social Environment 16 5.1.4 Technological 16 5.1.5 Environment 17 5.1.6 Laws and Regulations 17 5.2 Porter’s Five Forces 17 5.2.1 Threat of New Entrants 17 5.2.2 Buyer Power 18 5.2.3 Supplier Power 18 5.2.4 Competition 18 5.2.5 Threat of Substitutes 18 6.0 Evaluation of Strategy 19 7.0 Conclusion 20 7.1 Internationalization of P&G 20 7.2 History of Global Expansion of P&G 21 References 22 1.0 Procter & Gamble Proctor & Gamble is a famous American consumer product company. The organization is headquartered at Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. The company was founded by William Procter and James Gamble in the year 1837. The company operates over ninety five countries internationally. Sales volume of the company has crossed a record mark of $82, 00 billion in the year 2011. The organization has established product leadership in various categories such as Skin Care, House Care and Oral care. More than 125,000 employees work in the Procter & Gamble. The consumer product company sells more than two hundred and sixty brands across the globe. The organization enjoys leadership in more than twenty four brands globally and able to obtain billion of dollars per annum from each of the product category. The consumer product organization has established more than twenty eight technical centres internationally (PG-Global, 2012). Proctor & Gamble emphasizes on adopting modern technology integrated with state of art research and development facility in order to achieve competitive advantage over competitors. Th ey have incorporated market research intelligence process in order to take strategic decision to expand business in foreign market (Kotler, 2009, p. 253). The company has expanded their business extensively in last twenty years and achieved phenomenal sales growth from their international business operation hence analyzing their business and corporate level strategy will help management practitioners to understand key ingredients required to develop a sustainable strategic model. Strategic analysis of Procter & Gamble will not only help management practitioners to gain insight about strategic choices but to gain knowledge about global business practices. These study will do strategic analysis of Procter & Gamble in the below mentioned manner. Step 1- Analyzing corporate strategy of P&G, Step 2- Analyzing business strategy of P&G and Step 3- Internal and External environment analysis. 2.0 Corporate Strategy The Cincinnati based company has realized the significance of globalization t o survive in the hyper competitive market and adopted themselves (read Clay Street Think Tank) according to the prerequisite of situation (Weiner, 2006, p. 22). The organization has shifted focus from delivering products to American consumers and established SBU or strategic business units internationally. Procter & Gamble has increased level of plant capacity with the intention of achieving economies of scale and deliver product mix in cost effective manner (Lofgren, 2005, pp. 102-115).

Financial Markets Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Financial Markets - Assignment Example oney markets which entail bond markets and stock markets, money markets, commodity markets, insurance markets among others (Bhole & Mahakud 2009, p.2). The financial market is crucial  for the success of the businesses encompassed in a given economy. Every business utilizes specific financial instruments in their operations. The document below analyzes 1 PM PLC, a British company on the basis of its financial aspects. Numerous financial markets have cropped up in the modern world of business. The financial instruments that are in existence in the common modern markets can be broadly classified into equity and debt based financial instruments. The debt-based financial instruments represent loans made by a given investor to the asset’s owner. In others words, it entails the businesses borrowing money from financial institutions. It has some benefits to the investors as well as disadvantages. The most significant benefit of the debt based financial instruments is that unlike the equity-based financial instruments, the entrepreneur retains the sole control of the enterprise (Howells & Bain 2007, p.5). This implies that the investors will be entitled to share profits and also have the say run the business towards their direction of choice. When the entrepreneur is need of the cash, acquiring the cash do not seem a problem. However, it can sometimes lead to conflict somewhere along the way since it has to be repaid as per the laid down terms and conditions. Foreign exchange is another type of financial instrument being utilized in the modern business. However, this has limitation to the businesses which transact businesses internationally. The most prominent financial instrument in the world today is the equity market or the stock market. Most of the companies and enterprises are making use of this market to serve their financial needs. It can be defined as an aggregation of buyers as well as sellers of stocks also termed as shares (Bhole & Mahakud 2009, p.3). They

Career Development and Gender, Race, and Class in The United States Essay

Career Development and Gender, Race, and Class in The United States - Essay Example In career development, gender, class and race play a vital role in the life and experience of people. The analysis of race, class or gender enables us to differentiate between thinking relationally and thinking comparatively. In career development, people think comparatively upon learning the experiences other than theirs and then contrast and compare the life experiences of other groups of people. This is where the minority is suppressed especially in cases where development of career in based on majority or discriminated on the basis of race, gender or class. On the other hand, relational thinking entails seeing the existing interrelationships within experiences of diverse groups. When one thinks relationally, they see a social structure that generate history of unique groups simultaneously and together link them in the society. This does not imply that the experiences of minorities are similar to those of the majority group. Therefore, this paper seeks to discuss career developmen t and compare the oppressions of gender, race and class. The paper also seeks to discuss the struggles of the minorities and women in general. Career development, gender, race and class are key elements in the life of the minorities who are basically discriminated against based on their limiting factors. African Americans are one of the minority groups who have continuously struggled to curb the discriminations against them by other groups based on race and even religion. For instance, in the early centuries of the republic, Jews and Catholics were denied, in some states, the right to vote. The Jews, Irish, and other immigrants continuously faced a long duration of de facto discrimination in educational opportunities, housing, and employment. In the struggle against such discriminations, the civil rights struggle only involve the racial minorities, as demonstrated by the status of homosexuals, the disabled, and women. Women have also struggle greatly to end the discriminations again st them in various states formerly. For instance, until late 1860s, women were prevented or restricted from owning property in many states. The right of women to vote was not even protected constitutionally until the Nineteenth Amendment ratification in 1920. This was not until the 1964 Civil Rights Act added sex on the list of bases to which people could not be discriminated against. Among other characteristics to which people could not be discriminated according to the Civil Rights Act 1964 were age, race, religion, and national origin. The women struggled through feminism movements to run campaigns against discriminations based on gender and sex (Fitzgerald 116). Other minority groups that have struggled against discriminations included Hispanic Americans who struggled to increase their access to education and increase their voter registration numbers. Their struggle led to the amendment of the Voting Rights Act in 1975, which demanded that the materials of elections be made avai lable in the language of the minority groups including Spanish. The other minority group is the Native Americans who also struggled to stop discrimination and long standing neglect against them. The groups struggled through the American Indian Movement that was aimed to recover their heritage, culture and land issues. Homosexuals have also continually struggled for equal rights. Since early 1980s,

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Why And How Was Neo-Liberalism Able To Establish Itself As The Dominant Paradigm In The 1980s - Essay Example (Tyvela, 2004, p.156) Even Communist China was at the forefront of the global neo-liberal program, making it only a matter of time before other countries joined the system. And this is precisely what had happened in the 1980s and continues to this day. With the collapse of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s and the shift in policy framework of several developing countries, the nature and complexion of geo-economics had taken a different form. Major financial institutions such as International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the Inter- American Development Bank were the chief promoters of the neoliberal project. The neoliberal system also possessed some inherently democratic values such as the emphasis on free-trade and offered equal economic opportunity for those who are enterprising. This made it easy for many fledgling and aspiring democratic countries in the developing world to adopt the system. Moreover, the prospect of creating prosperity and the potential for lifting st andards of living convinced politicians to take this approach. Nothing exemplifies the merits of neoliberalism than the recent developments in India and China. Since they started to participate in financial globalization, countries with abundance of cheap labour such as India and China are destined to assume leadership position in coming years. (Foulkes, 2006, p.22)