Christianity and Islam: Beyond the Looking Glass Essay

Christianity and Islam are two of the world’s major religions that are often perceived as largely distinct in doctrines and practices. These two, are being regarded to have contradictory principles. But is the disparity of their beliefs truly that big? To have a deeper understanding of both religions, it would be best to consider their followers in the picture. Sad to say, some people equate the Muslims with terrorists. I have personally talked to friends who are afraid to ride a plane with Muslim co-passengers in it. Are these purely misconceptions because we have already established certain schema against the Muslims? Or are there truths in it on which such beliefs originated? If we are to read Suras 2:190-193, 2:216, 4:76, 5:32-36, 7:96-99, 8:12-14, 8:59, 8:65, 9:5, 9:14, 9:23-29, 9:38-41, 9:123, 47:4, 47:35, 61:4 and 66:9, many passages in the Quran exhort Muslims to kill infidels (non-Muslims), wherever they find them (Faithfacts, 2004). Some Arabic terms are only even softened sometimes by English translators who use â€Å"fight† instead of â€Å"kill†. In fact, Osama bin Laden was quoted as saying â€Å"I was ordered to fight the people until they say there is no god but Allah, and his prophet is Muhammad† in the famous videotape discovered in Afghanistan in the late 2001 (cited in â€Å"Fundamentalism, 2004). These words echo the language in the Quran itself and such calls to violence are not merely distortions of the Quran by extreme radicals who try to twist it for their violent ends because violence is an integral part of Islam. Even Muhammad himself laid the foundation for violence as seen in his deeds and commands, which are traceable in the hadiths. Furthermore, 11 percent of the pages of the Bukhari Hadiths mention the Holy War (jihad), which is a means to use violence in order to spread faith. However, it must be realized as well that violence is not unique to Islam for even the Bible has its share of violence, particularly in the Old Testament. In fact God instructs the Israelites coming out of Egypt to take over the land Christianity and Islam 2 of Canaan and kill all the inhabitants. There is a difference though between this and the Quranic violence because the Bible makes it clear that the Canaanite society deserved it as it was completely polluted by their wretchedly evil practices, including the horrible practice of child sacrifice as found in Deuteronomy 9:1-6, 12:29-31, 18:9-14, 1 Kings 14:24, Chronicles 33: 1-9, Ezra 9:11 (Faithfacts, 2004). Cases like these are particularly limited for a particular purpose established by God unlike the Quran, where we encounter general commands to kill and destroy the enemies of Islam that are applicable for all times, places and groups. Even then the fact remains that none of these religions are spared from committing violence, which proves that their disparity is not that big at all (cited in â€Å"Fundamentalism†, 2004). Another thing to consider is the difference in the practices and teachings of the subject religions’ prophets – Jesus of Christianity and Muhammad of Islam. If the latter has led at least 27 bloody invasions, assassinated many of his opponents during his lifetime and executed hundreds of captured men in his battle against the Quraiza Jews, Jesus’ teachings have remained consistent in maintaining its tone of peace, service, love and humility as found in the biblical passages that could be cited in Mathew 5:1-12, 5:43-44, 9:36, 19:30, 26:50-52, Mark 9:35, Luke 6:27-36, 9:54-55, 10:30-37, 22: 49-51, 23:32-34, John 10:7-18, 13:1-17, Galatians 5:22-23, Philippians 2:6-8, 1 Thessalonian 5:15, and 1 Peter 3:8-9 (The New Testament, 2008). There is nothing like the Christian concept of â€Å"love your enemies† or â€Å"turn your other cheek† (Luke 6:27-37) that can be found in Islam. While Christianity teaches its believers to love their neighbors as themselves (Matthew 19:19), the Quran instructs its followers not to even take Christians or Jews as friends (Suras 3:118, 5:51, 60:1-3). Jesus was even aware of this when he warned, â€Å"the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God† as cited in John 16:2-4 (The New Testament, 2008). Another notable point is the difference in both religions’ concept of charity. their followers to give alms to the poor but unlike the biblical concept where charity is not limited to any group (cited in â€Å"Luke† 10:30-37), the Muslims are taught to give alms to the Muslim poor only (cited in â€Å"Islam†, 2008). The two religions also have differences in their concept of justice and forgiveness. In the teachings of the New Testament as cited in Matthew 6:12, 14-15, the act of forgiveness is being given exceptional emphasis, â€Å"For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you, but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses†. In the teachings of Islam as cited in Sura 5:38 â€Å"As for the man who steals and the woman who steals, cut of their hands as a punishment for what they have earned, an exemplary punishment from Allah; and Allah is Mighty, Wise†. Muslims do this even to their children if they steal out of hunger. They would not show compassion and feed the child but would instead sever their hands and wrists to drive home the lessons of Allah. Likewise, in the Old Testament as cited in Leviticus 19:11, â€Å"Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie to one another. If we analyze the above teachings, it is evident that both religions consider stealing as evil however, the Christians are more compassionate and subtle in dealing with it since the teachings of Jesus’ wants his followers to be forgiving. Another interesting difference is on how the two religions treat women and marriage. In Islam, a man can have up to four wives at the same time (Sura 4:3) and has the right to beat his disobedient wife until she obeys (Sura 4:34, Bukhari 8:68). Even Muhammad himself had thirteen wives, two concubines, and four women of uncertain relationships. (cited in â€Å"Fundamentalism†, 2004). In the teachings of Christianity, Jesus insisted on the sanctity of marriage (Mark 10:5-12), thus, in the Christian’s current practice, a couple has to undergo the process of divorce before they are allowed to remarry legally. Christianity also condones the abuse of women. The Christian teachings consider the fairness of men and women Christianity and Islam 4 (Matthew 5:32, 1 Corinthians 11:11-12, Galatians 3:28, Ephesians 5:25-33) unlike that of Islam, which does not give the wife the right to divorce her husband (Sura 2: 228). Islam even teaches that majority of the people in hell are women (Bukhari 1:28, 1:301, and 2:161). Christianity and Islam also differ in the way they consider the nature of God. While the former teaches that God is a Trinity – one God revealed in three persons or manifestations, Islam denies vehemently the doctrine and even considers it as blasphemy (Suras 4:171, 5:17, 5:72-75). However, it is interesting to note that Islam has a high regard of Jesus. What it denies is his divinity, and that he is the Son of God (Suras 9:30, 10:68, 19:35, 43:81-83). Another difference is that the God of the Bible is holy – perfect in all respects: moral, just, faithful, loving, all-knowing etc. (Hebrews 7:26), while the God of Quran does not always come as holy. He changes his mind, promises and does not offer assurance of salvation (Suras 4:116, 5:18, 9:15). In other words, he is arbitrary (cited in â€Å"Faitfacts†, 2004). Both religions also vary in their concept of salvation and heaven. Christianity teaches us that man cannot earn salvation. We need a savior to save us from sin thus, he sent Jesus, his only begotten son. As it says in the Bible â€Å"All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags. † (Isaiah 64: 5-7) â€Å"But God demonstrated his love for us in this: while we were still sinners,Christ died for us. † (Romans 5:8). This belief is totally denied by Islam, even Jesus’ crucifixion (Sura 4:157). On the concept of heaven, the Muslim considers the paradise as a carnal and sensual place, where gorgeous palaces are found and wine are abundant. Christians, on the other hand see it as a place of bliss, where pain, and tears will be gone and men, women, and children will be treated equally. In the previous discussions, we have already noted several differences on the two religions, which in some instances also meet each other. However, we must also note that they are not just different. If we are to take a look at the beliefs of Christians and Muslims, we can see Christianity and Islam 5 that they have some commonalities. Both religions agree in some aspects: that there is one God who created the universe and is sovereign in the lives of men; God is the source of justice and morality; that his ultimate justice is dispensed via life after death in heaven and hell, and that things like pornography and unchaste living are pollutants to the society (cited in â€Å"faithfacts†, 2008). In other words, both religions believed in a supreme being, whether God or Allah. There is also an agreement that he is the creator of all things. Their teachings both acknowledge that there is good and evil, where the former is rewarded and the latter is punished. The forms of reward though, and punishment vary in both religions. Both also emphasizes that following the teachings would let the person experience heaven when he dies. It is clear that Christianity and Islam are not that different at all, neither is Islam an evil belief. The latter may have emphasized the role of violence in its teachings, but it still depends on how such is being interpreted and carried out. They might differ in many ways: nature of God; concept of justice; forgiveness and more, but we still could not discount the fact that both are religions with followers that are humans, Christians and Muslims, no matter what doctrines they follow, also need respect. They may not necessarily agree with each other but there is still a point of agreement as exemplified by their similarities. The issue is therefore, not a question of which belief is right a wrong, nor is it about superiority or inferiority. What matters most is that we are guided by our beliefs and in doing this, we do not do actions that would harm the other. References Daniel, Abu Yusuf. , Isma’il Kaka, Abu Maryam. , & Squires Robert, Abu Iman. (n. d). Misconceptions about Islam. Retrieved February 17, 2008, from http://www.geocities.com/window2islam/miscon.html

Imperial Administration in Han China and Imperial Rome

Analyze similarities and differences in techniques of imperial administration in TWO of the following empires: Han China (206 B. C. E. -220 C. E. ) Mauryan/Gupta India (320 B. C. E-550 C. E) Imperial Rome (31 B. CE-476 C. E. ) While imperial administration in Han China from 206 B. C. E to 220 C. E. and Imperial Rome from 31 B. C. E. to 476 C. E. had their similarities like the family roles that the government encourages, living under one ruler who gives the people some control, and the general idea of equalization, they also had their differences.One of these differences being in how each ruler gave their empire control and where they put themselves according to the rest of their empire. Both Han China and Imperial Rome are controlled under one central leader. Both of these leaders give the citizens some form of control and contribution to their empire. The difference is how they give the citizens power. In Imperial Rome, Augustus keeps the reliable forms of the Republic such as the offices, honors, and privileges of the senatorial class as a base for his new restored Republic now called the Principate.In keeping the form of the Republic he still gives power to the Senate. In China, Gaozu kept the Qin Empire as his influence to keep choosing district officials to hold some of his power. In addition, Augustus includes himself as an ordinary citizen. What he altered from the Republic to the Principate is the reality of power. He never called himself the emperor or dictator but called himself â€Å"princeps† meaning first among equals. Gaozu was called the emperor and didn’t disagree in having ultimate power.Instead, he equalized the rest of the people and just put himself on top. Both empires believed in generalization of the people, Augustus just took it a step farther by including himself. A major similarity in both Imperial Rome and Han China is the idea of having the leading role of the family the eldest male and the women having no place in pol itical issues. In Later Han, families believed heavily in respect, obedience, and loyalty to the elder male of the family.In both empires, women stayed home to raise the children and do household chores while the men were soldiers, doing business, and discussing politics. Although women had no role in legal proceedings, they still had a great influence on the male’s decisions. Women gained greater personal protection and economic freedom over a course of years and many influenced and helped shape history. In conclusion, I think the reason that Chinese emperors believed they were of ultimate power was because of the previous dynasties who thought the same thing.The Han Empire had previous influence from all the Chinese dynasties before it. On the other hand, The Roman Empire was younger and might have seen that other empires weren’t happy with the emperor being the central control. Augustus might have taken this as influence to do something different and decided to incl ude himself in the people. Overall, Imperial Rome and Han China are two very similar empires that have the same general idea of how they wanted their empires to be.

Research paperpreed

This is why investment in education is considered to be vital for human resource development and the enhancement of the quality of manpower. It is clear that the composition and characteristics of this most crucial part of population goes along the way in the process of national velveteen of the policy makers and planners in their planning and decision making for the future. According to the Law, every child must attend a formal school were he/she wants. The government should ensure and support the education of every child. That's why the Department of Education offers free education to all.But this is not really applied by other institutions for they are concern on the salary of the teachers especially in private school. Public schools offer free tuition for enrollment for elementary but also in High School students. This may count for high enrollment in schools, although he enrollment has a high result, many poor families in unable to finance the ancillary school needs of their chi ldren. The reason why out of school youth happens because of the problems in the family that forces a teenager to work early that they shouldn't be.Department of Education has now a program for out of school youth which is the Alternative Learning System (AL S) in which all the non-scholars are given opportunity to pursue schooling. And even for those who are already married, they can still attend this program if they want to have a certificate that will help them find a better job. Also, for those who are dropped out in Elementary' and Secondary School may have a chance to attend the Tertiary level by passing the examination.SUMMARY The study entitled â€Å"Percentage of Out of School Youth in the year 201 1† who availed the ALAS program of Department of Education, aimed to determine the percentage of Out of School Youth. What are the factors that affect them to be dropped and what is their highest educational attainment. The respondents in this study have a total of 30 yout h. Out of this are 21 males and 9 females. To gather data, we conducted a questionnaire to the respondents. The data gathered were properly analyzed and interpreted accordingly.The statistical measures used were frequency and rank form. FINDINGS 18 out of 30 respondents attained in Secondary 6 out of 30 respondents are employed 4 out of 30 respondents attained in Tertiary 2 out of 30 respondents attained in Elementary Almost all the respondents want to continue their studies with the help of the program of Department of Education.

Supply Chain Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Supply Chain Management - Essay Example Packaging also allows the consumer to acquire the product in the desired form. Therefore, Goldsby and Martichenko (2005, p. 47) assert that packaging is vital part of any implementation of lean operations. Most firms incur losses during packaging and also produced a lot of waste. Most companies have realized the importance of the lean philosophy to gain optimisation in their operations as well as the whole supply chain (Tsigkas, 2012, p. 12). The losses can be alleviated through lean packaging. Lean packaging results in value added activity and also reduce costs. The concept of lean packaging is not industry specific. Lean packaging eliminates waste in packaging. In the packaging industry, the packaging materials are regarded just like raw materials. Therefore, they contribute significantly to the overall costs of packaging. Any firm that adopts lean packaging has the net effect of driving the costs down. This means that a change in packaging results in a considerable reduction in overall costs. Companies gain competitive advantage by eliminating wastes. The new competitors enter the market as low cost providers. Since lean is the elimination of all waste in order to develop an operation that is faster, more dependable, produces higher quality products and services, lean packaging ensures that waste is eliminated by coming up reusable packaging materials. Using the reusable materials for packaging enhances the flow of products along the supply chain, thus reducing costs. World-class firms, such as Tyson, Coca-Cola, Wal-Mart, Ford, John Deere, Unilever, Gregg’s, and Amcor among others have already recognised the significance of reusable packaging in moving their products better, faster, and in a more cost effective manner (ORBIS Corporation, 2004, p. 6). Proceeding further, reusable packaging fits perfectly into the lean environment. The packaging is designed in a way that it fits specifically

Japanese Movies Attempt to Change Reality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Japanese Movies Attempt to Change Reality - Essay Example Japanese movies does not only show the culture of a people but they also brings with it lessons that need to be learned. Moreover, it also attempts to enhance the good characteristics of people through the characters used in the stories and to change those which are not desirable. â€Å"I Live in Fear† on the other hand approaches the audience with a delusional main character. Due to such characteristic, the protagonist is considered rather lightly but his great wealth being in danger of getting squandered by the deranged man made a rather frantic circle of family members. Upon examination though, the people involved in the case then reconsiders the fears of the old man. The messages are quite hidden behind the symbols which are used in the film to call for change. The paradox of the old man’s fears which are extremely realistic to him are considered as unfounded claims by his family which actually shouts to the audience quite loudly that what could be thought as insanity is the most sane thought after all. This presentation calls for viewers to open their eyes and become very observant about the things that are happening around them. It shouts that people need to do something about the things that endanger their lives and not just take them ligh tly as the old Nakajima’s family did. The reconsideration of Dr. Harada about Nakajima’s mental capacity encourages viewers to be critical about the things that are happening around them and think about the possibilities of the fears of other people. Still, using another technique, â€Å"Sing a Song of Sex† also attempts to call for a change among the viewers by using conceptions made in the mind. The mind is a powerful part of one’s being because it is the source of ideas which could be put into action. The fantasies of the students were later accomplished in the movie. The teacher who was supposed to become the model of the young people instead became the very person who taught them to become rebellious. This part of the

Preconception Health & Prenatal Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Preconception Health & Prenatal - Assignment Example It is based on this ground that Atrash et. al. (2008) argued for a shift in the healthcare paradigm from only getting concerned with mother care, to a wider context of women care. The situation of American social health, during the early 1980s was indeed alarming when the country slipped down to the 19th rank from its 10th position due to sudden increase in infant death rates (Atrash et. al., 2008). While the actions taken in the then context helped controlling infant mortality to a considerable extent, the situation has again started deteriorating as per Atrash et. al. (2008). The most salient portions of arguments in Atrash et. al. (2008) concentrated on the improvement of the mother’s health and the infant as well. According to the evidence obtained through scientific experiments and observations, the care provided with the aim to control improvements in the women’s health before pregnancy also enhances the outcomes of pregnancy for both the mother as well as the baby. In this study by Atrash et. al. (2008), the most convincing arguments were those emphasizing the care deliverance requirements when concerning prenatal and preconception stages when would-be mothers experience substantial changes in their body, which was also addressed in Singh, Darroch & Ashford et. al. (2013). Atrash et. al. (2008) also argued that special care must be delivered to mothers infected with HIV or AIDS and those having weak reproductive health among others, which was quite convincing. The study also proposed the extension of the â€Å"healthy mothers-healthy babies† model that was developed in the early 1980s (Atrash et. al., 2008). On the contrary, even though Atrash et. al. (2008) depicted a relationship between women’s health before pregnancy and pregnancy outcomes, no statistical tool or firm guidance was used to prove the relationship, which shall make the arguments of Atrash et. al. (2008) unconvincing. Atrash, H., Jack, B. W., Johnson, Coonrod, D.

Critical Thinking Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Critical Thinking - Assignment Example This paper analyses whether Nancy Cantor, who were once a Syracuse University chancellor, used critical thinking in a piece of work that she wrote in reply to the filing of affirmative action cases with U.S. Supreme Court. Cantor is rational and objective. Her argument does not portray emotional or subjective perceptions. Cantor developed her argument on justifiable reasons. In her first sentence, she recognizes the existence of collective fears, sins, and stereotypes between races. In the fourth paragraph, Cantor points out that race, is an essential aspect of life in America. The existence of Asian-American, Hispanics, Native Americans, Whites, African –Americans, and Native Americans in American society, support the view of Cantor. Students thus have historical and cultural experiences associated to their races. Cantor recognizes the existence of inequality and the need to factor in the issue of inequality in College admissions. Cantor is honest in her argument. She does not argue for a particular race. According to her, the decision of Justice Lewis F. Powell, urged the educator to create a truthfully integrated community of learners. Even though, the decision was aimed at helping students of color, Cantor looks at it as a benefit to the different races in Americans. Cantor sees the use of race-consciousness as way to build a positive society. According to her, the recognition of race as a factor in America would help solve the mistake made by racially segregated public districts schools that failed to recognize American history and possible impacts of race. In this way, Cantor recognizes the weight and extent of evidence and thus shows her use of judgment. Cantor’s consideration of President Bush’s argument shows her open-mindedness. The former president had earlier labeled the use of affirmative action program at the University of Michigan a quote system. Cantor responded by claiming that all students

Can the rich buy justice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Can the rich buy justice - Essay Example Oscar Pistorius is 27 years old and is a former Olympian. He was accused of shooting his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, with a gun four times through the door to the toilet room in his room in the middle of night. However, Pristorius pleaded not guilty of murder. He explained that he thought at the time that it was an intruder and he acted instantaneously as an attempt of self-defence. The trial was started on March 3 and up till now thirteen hearings have been conducted and the court has heard eighteen witnesses. The proceedings of the trials have been entirely broadcasted by the media and there has been an intense media hype associated with the case (CNN Staff). Although the explanation given by Pristorius is the only possible defense which could save him, according to legal experts he will have a tough time winning the case because of the evidences pointing out towards him. According to South Africa’s law, the most serious punishment which may be given is that of minimum 25 y ears imprisonment. According to neighbors, they heard a woman and man arguing and they also heard the sounds of a woman screaming before the sound of gun shot. This was in contradiction with the Mr. Pristorius statement who said that she was in bed when he heard the noises and went to investigate (Lyall). Oscar Pristorius with his fame and money has the advantage to utilize the best of facilities and amenities. He called four forensic scientists and also hired the help of a US forensic animation firm so that they could recreate the crime scene digitally. This would help in explaining his defense in a more effective and visual manner (Smith). Pristorius has gained the support of millions of fans through his emotional scenes depicted during the court proceedings and the display of disgust and intense emotion when the pictures of the crime scene were displayed. There were news that Team Pristorius had created a twitter account of

Individual essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Individual - Essay Example companies have been effectively developing talent management strategies and through rewarding candidates and providing them nurturing climate, they are nourishing talent. Another process that is considered central to employee motivation and workplace productivity is High Performance Workforce Practice (HPWP). HPWP is recognised as a bundle of practices that are very essential for holistic workplace environment, and for increasing effectiveness of employees. In the report of India government studies, the identified HPWP Practices include cross training and job rotation, multi-skilling, job enrichment, job enlargement, mentoring, systems of communication, performance rewards, flexible working, growth in discretion, peer review and 360 degree evaluation, knowledge management and sharing of learning resources, career coaching, self directed production and services teams and flexible job descriptions (India Gov). On the other hand, International Labour Organisation (ILO) has defined four main areas of HPWP including job design and employee involvement, communication and information sharing, support for learning skills and rewarding and acknowledging perfo rmance through rewarding and recognition (India gov, n.d.). Hiring the right people is very important for the organization and there is a strong relationship between HR involvements in internal branding. Moreover, human resources also play a significant role in incorporating brand into work activities. For creating strong organizational branding, companies are putting great focus towards talent management and HPWP. It means, talent management and HPWP are very significant, thereby, making human resources planning an important part of strategic planning. Human resources planning can be defined as â€Å"the process of anticipating and providing for the movement of people into, within, and out of an organization (Bohalnder and Snell, 2007). There are various techniques of human resources planning and many of them are very

Writing for Different Cultures and Audiences Annotated Bibliography

Writing for Different Cultures and Audiences - Annotated Bibliography Example For this kind of research, it plays the role of acquainting the research with the basic information on Australian culture and how culture has changed from time to time. Clancy talks about the evolution of Australia from the time when it was only inhabited by the Aboriginals to the moment when immigrants began arriving and settling in the Island. The book traces the arrival of Europeans in the 18th century and also examines the people of Anglo=Irish origin who migrated to Australia. It sort of talks about the Australian identity and highlights the popularity of Christianity and how globalization has led to urbanization of the bush that Australia was. Apart from giving a chronological account of the metamorphosis of Australia, the book also covers tourism, sports and its significance, national barbeque and the influence that Indians and Europeans have on the country. The book is important for the research because it covers the fundamental issues of Australian culture and it evolution. It, however, fails to properly cover the Aboriginals who form the basis of Australian culture. It, however, still forms the basis of the research and will be used toget her with other books to get a conclusive research on Australian culture. In this book, Colson covers the culture of the Aboriginals. The Aboriginals are the indigenous people of Australia, who have complained about the atrocity committed against them by the immigrants who moved to Australia. Their culture was affected by the influx of people into Australia. However, they form a significant basis of Australian cultural history. Colson chronicles the culture of the Aboriginals their ceremonies, art and how their culture has influenced Australia. It also covers the family structure and society of other indigenous Australian cultures. It is a short book but has important information on the culture of Aboriginals. Since it is

Risky aspects of the economic growth of China Essay

Risky aspects of the economic growth of China - Essay Example The corporate debt in China has increased from 108 per cent to 122 per cent in the one year from 2011 to 2012, and has achieved its highest level in the last 15 years (Roberts). As a result of this, China has become the most debt-laden country in the world. Andrew Batson, the GK Dragonomics Research Director comments on the effect of debt crisis on companies operating in China in these words, â€Å"Companies have seen their business slowing down and revenues were not what they had expected. They have bridged the gap by taking on more debt† (Batson cited in Roberts). A researcher from the State Council’s National Development and Research Center, Li Zuojun made a speech on 17 September 2011. This speech made at the Changsha Alumni Organization of Huazhong University of Science and Technology’s internal meeting spread virally over the Internet. A post over the largest social media website of China Weibo got forwarded over 9000 times (Zitan). Mainland media portals l ike Sina and Sohu also widely reported this information. Li Zuojun noted that banks, local governments, and small and medium-sized companies in China are undergoing bankruptcies that serve as the signs of economic crisis nationwide. In his speech, Li presented four reasons for predicting China as the next stop for financial crisis. Those reasons are economic, hot money, political, and cycles (Zitan). Risky aspects of the economic growth of China Economic The two main causes of the possibility of occurrence of financial crisis in China are the worsening local debt crises and the bursting bubble of real estate. According to Li, the overall economic downturn in China has exposed the small and medium sized companies to financial challenges that have played an important role in reducing the commercial and industrial tax revenues. Local governments in China have suffered from the reduction of revenues because of the depression in the industry of real estate. Local governments in China hav e immense are bearing the pressure of spending more over a whole range of items that include but are not limited to local infrastructure, national defense, social insurance policies, construction of houses, maintaining social stability, and improvement of the hydraulic structures. However, as the local debts are maturing, local governments are facing even more pressure and are being forced into bankruptcy. In the long run, this would cause the banks to declare bankruptcy and eventually, Chinese citizens would have to bear the burden of the debt. Therefore, Li foresees a full-blown economic crisis. Hot money Although China’s economy is slowing down, the US is undergoing an economic recovery at the same time. This is contributing to the flow of large sums of the international hot money out of China. As a result of this, economic implosion is taking place in China. Political New leaders in China have risen as a result of the leadership transition of the year 2013. The priorities of most of the new leaders are not addressing economic woes of China. It takes anywhere between three and five months for a new leader to expose the past problems after taking charge. Li estimated the mid of the year 2013 to be the most probable recognition of the economic collapse of China. â€Å"Following the economic bubble bursting, there will be a subsequent period of suffering. But for the new leaders, this is nothing bad, since they are not to blame for the suffering†¦With the economic bubble bursting, the new leadership can adopt practical approaches. †¦ New political achievements will be gained more easily, since the starting point is comparatively low†

Ratio analysis Essay Example for Free

Ratio analysis Essay Ratio analysis is a tool brought by individuals used to evaluate analysis of information in the financial statements of a business. The ratio analysis forms an essential part of the financial analysis which is a vital part in the business planning. There are 3 different ways of assessing businesses performance and these are: solvency, profitability and performance. Ratio analysis assists managers to work out the production of the company by figuring the profitability ratios. Also, the management can evaluate their revenues to check if their productivity. Thus, probability ratios are helpful to the company in evaluating its performance based on current earning. By measuring the solvency ratio, the companies are able to keep an eye on the correlation between the assets and the liabilities. If, in any case, the liabilities exceed the assets, the company is able to know its financial position. This is helpful in case they wish to set up a plan for loan repayment. Ratio analysis is also helpful in analysing the performance of a company. Through financial analysis, companies can review their performance in the past years. This is also helpful in identifying their weaknesses and improving on them. Polish Fine Foods needs to use ratio analysis because it is a valuable tool for the business’s management to determine the performance of a business and to control the cost measures when necessary. Also, ratio analysis helps them monitor and identify issues that can be highlighted and resolved. However, ratio analysis doesn’t take into account external factors such as a worldwide recession. Measuring the Solvency of Polish Fine Foods Now, I will use 2 rations to measure the solvency of Polish Fine Foods. First, I will calculate the current ratio for Polish Fine Foods. This estimates whether the business can pay debts due within one year from assets that it expects to turn into cash within that year. It is measured dividing current assets by the current liabilities. By looking at balance sheet I can see that Polish Fine Food’s current asset value is  £28500 and the current liability value is  £17000. I will need to divide  £28500 by  £17000 to find out the current ratio. This would give me an answer of  £1.7. This means that for each  £1 owned they have  £1.70 current asset. The figure should normally not fall below 1.5. If it reaches a value of 1 then there might be concerns  there about not being able to meet the debts of the short-term assets. However, we can see that Polish Fine Food’s current ratio tells us that this is a solvent business. This means that it is able to settle its debts when they are due to be paid. If the business is not solvent, then it means that it can’t do this. Being solvent would help the business to maintain their confidence. On the other hand, if the current ratio goes higher than 2 might indicate that too much finance is tied up in a short-term assets, which can result that not too much money are being used within the organisation. Secondly, I will measure the acid test. This is the same as the current ratio; however it is a harsher test of ability to settle short-term debts. It is more accurate as it takes away the stock and shows how well a business can meet its current liabilities. To find out the acid test I first need to subtract stock from the current assets and then divide the current liabilities by the answer of that. So Polish Fine Food’s amount of stock is  £8500 from the current assets which is  £28500. The answer of the subtraction is  £20000. Now I would need to divide the answer by the current liability which is  £17000 which would give me the final acid test ratio of  £1.20. This calculation removes the uncertain variable of stock, which might be not too important to the business. Similarly, this data shows us that Polish Fine Foods is a solvent business and it has the ability to meet its short-term debts. The business could continue to operate as it is currently looking to be successful. With the current ratio of  £1.70 and the acid test of  £1.20 Polish Fine Foods is a stable business. It is a healthy figure and shows that the business is in a good position. We can see that  £0.50 was tied up in stock and this is not a lot. Both rations show that the business is able to pay for its debts and they can also earn more income which means that the business would gave more profit as the business is solvent. Measuring the Profitability of Polish Fine Foods Profitability ratios show a companys overall efficiency and performance. To measure the profitability of Polish Fine Foods I will use 3 ratios. First ratio is gross profit margin. The gross profit margin looks at cost of goods sold as a percentage of sales. This ratio looks at how well a company controls the cost of its account and the manufacturing of its products. The larger the gross profit margin, the better for the company. To calculate the  gross profit margin I need to divide the gross profit by the sales and then time it by 100 to find the percentage. So, to find the gross profit margin for Polish Fine Foods I have to divide  £45900 by  £145400 and this would give me the answer  £0.3156. To find out the percentage, I now need to multiply it by 100 and the answer is 32%. The gross profit margin for Polish Fine Foods is used to compare how much value is added to an item in between being bought in as stock or materials and being sold by the business. A low gross profit margin could show that there are high stock costs or maybe that retail price is being too low. If the business has a high gross profit margin then it indicates that the business is financial stable. We can see that Polish Fine Foods doesn’t have a high gross profit margin- it is a bit more than a quarter. This means that the business is in a secure position. They could be more successful if they are going to try and sell all the stock they have first instead of getting other, so in this way the profit might increase. Next ratio that I’m going to use in order to measure the profitability of Polish Fine Foods is net profit margin. The net profit margin shows how much of each sales amount shows up as net income after all expenses are paid. The net profit margin measures profitability after consideration of all expenses including taxes, interest, and depreciation. To calculate the net profit margin I need to divide the net profit by the sales and then mul tiply by 100. Therefore, to find the net profit margin for Polish Fine Foods I need to divide  £14500 by  £145400 and this would give me an answer of  £0.0997. So after multiplying the answer by 100, I got 10% which shows the amount of net profit margin. This ratio is used to decide which of a range of products are worth continuing with. A low net profit margin might indicate that costs are too high. Polish Fine Foods’ net profit margin is quite low, so they could try to improve this by trying to sell the stocks first and then get other instead of buying lots of them at once which would get more money out. At the moment, the business is in a stable position, but they should try and reduce their costs in order to increase the profit they’re making. Lastly, I would use return on capital employed (ROCE) ratio to measure Polish Fine Foods’ profitability. This is the percentage return which makes the business able to generate the long-term capital employed. To calculate ROC, I need to divide the net profit by the capital employed and then multiply it by 100. Therefore, to fine the ROCE  for Polish Fine Foods I need to divide their net profit which is  £14500 by the capital employed which is  £24500; this will then give an answer of 0.591, and then multiply that by 100. The final answer for ROCE is 60%. This ratio has been used to show how efficiently a business is using its capital. The ROCE shows us now that Polish Fine Foods is doing well at the moment and they are using their money carefully. Polish Fine Foods overall has good ratios that currently keep them stable. Basically, all these ratios show the amount of profit generated by the company as a per cent of the sales generated. The objective of margin analysis is to detect consistency or positive or negative trends in a companys earnings. Polish Fine Foods is doing well, and looks like it is a stable business. However, there is still place for improvement, e.g they could try and reduce their costs and increase their profits. Measuring the Performance of Polish Fine Foods A growing business needs to be closely and carefully managed to ensure the success of new investment and expanding plans. Putting performance measurements in place can be an important way of keeping track on the progress of their business. It gives vital information about whats happening now and it also provides the starting point for setting targets that will help owner apply their plans for growth. Now I will measure the performance of Polish Fine Foods using 3 ratios. First ration is stock turnover. This measures how long stock is being held before it is replaced. To calculate stock turnover ratio I need to divide average stock by cost of sales and the multiply it by 365 days. To find Polish Fine Foods’ stock turnover I need to find the average stock first. The opening stock is  £5250 and the closing stock is  £8500. By adding them two and then divide it by 2, it would give me the average stock which is  £6875. Then I need to divide  £6875 by the cost of sales  £99500 and it would give me the answer of 0.06909547738. Then if I will multiply it by 365 it would give me the answer 25 days which is the average number of says the stocks are being held before being replaced. If the stock goes out of date and this could happen to Polish Fine Foods as their selling food, stock should be held for a shorter period of time. It is a disadvantage to the business if they held stock for a long period of time because it can be expensive and the stock can deteriorate in value. However, a high turnover of stock can be seen as an  indicator of a stable business. Polish Fine Foods has a low stock turnover, and this might be because it is a sole trader and it has been opened up recently. Polish Fine Foods can run successfully as they are able to sell their stock in less time than a month which means that the products don’t go out of date by the time they replace the stock. Next ratio I’m goi ng to use is debtor collection period. This measures how long debtors take to pay. To calculate debt collection period for Polish Fine Foods I need to divide  £18000 which is debtors by  £145400 being the sales and multiply the answer by 365 days. This gives me the answer 45 days, on average. It means that it takes 45 days for the debtors to pay the business. Other businesses allow the debtors 90 days until they pay the money. For Polish Fine Foods it only takes 45 days which means that is less time, so they won’t face any financial problems, struggling to get money from the debtors in order to buy some stock. This ratio shows that the business is performing well as they don’t face any cash shortage which would slow the business down. The last ratio I’m going to use in order to measure the performance of Polish Fine Foods is asset turnover. It measures how high the level of sales are in relation to the assets of the business. To calculate the asset turnover I have to divide the amount of sales by the assets. For Polish Fine Foods the sales amount is  £145300 and the assets value is  £24500. By dividing them two it would give me the answer of  £6. This shows that the business earns approximately  £6 in sales for every  £1. Knowing all this measurement is very important for the business owner because they can see how they are performing in different areas. Conclusion This report was written to illustrate the financial state of Polish Fine Foods. So I used accounting rations as evidence to measure its solvency, profitability and performance. First of all, I found out that Polish Fine Foods’s current ratio is 1.70. Another ratio I used is the acid test which gave me an answer of 1.20. This is the same as the current ratio; however it is a harsher test of ability to settle short-term debts. These ratios tell us that this is a solvent business. This means that it is able to settle its debts when they are due to be paid. If the business is not solvent, then it means that it can’t do this. Being solvent helps the business to maintain their confidence and make it operate more successfully. Another set of 3  ratios that show us the profitability of Polish Fine Foods are: gross profit margin which was 31.56%, net profit margin being 10%, then ROCE which is 60%. All these ratios show how well the business is running. Also, whether they are making any money and how profitable it is compared with other competitors. From all these ratios, I have found out that Polish Fine Foods is doing well at the moment. They are making enough profit to keep their business going, as they didn’t make any loss. Lastly, I measured the performance of Polish Fine Foods using 3 ratios: stock turnover which was  £6875; then it was debt collection period which was 45 days on average, and then the asset turnover which was  £6. Each of these ratios measure different segments of a companys overall performance. These ratios look at how efficiently and effectively Polish Fine Foods is using its resources to generate sales and increase profit. This is important for the business because Ania can notice any unusual fluctuations in the financial ratios over time and can see how the business is performing. This could also help Ania decide whether or not to grow her business and turn it into a LTD as it would give her enough information to see if she is financial stable to do so.

Modification of Power Series Expansion

Modification of Power Series Expansion The available methods to compute the logarithm of a number using digital circuits can be divided in two main groups. On the one hand, we have the look-up table based algorithms and, on the other, iterative methods. The first approach is faster and straightforward, but only useful for low precision. For implementing it, requires large amount of memory for increasing the accuracy. This is due to the size of the look-up table. We only evaluated iterative algorithms that need small look-up tables. The second group is slower, but suitable for high precision. Taylors series expansion is among the most popular methods to manually compute logarithms, but it has a slow convergence and requires slow operations like the division. Hence, they are slow when no embedded multipliers are available. Many studies explore hybrid implementations that take advantages from both groups. Our project required an algorithm that could be implemented on FPGAs from any vendor. It should be platform independent. Our algorithm requires less memory and no multiplier at all to implement exponential and logarithm function. To the best of our knowledge there are only two previous works focused on the exponential  function [8] [9], and only one for the logarithm function [10] (from the same authors of [9]). The first one [8], employs an algorithm that does not exploit the FPGA characteristics, and  consequently presents poor performance. The other two implementations [9, 10] are part of  a common work and are designed suiting with FPGA flexibility (using internal tailored fixed  arithmetic and exploiting the parallelism features of the FPGA) achieving much better results. They are parameterizable implementations that, additionally to single f.p. format, also allow  smaller exponent and mantissa bit-widths and are both based on input range reduction and  table-driven methods to calculate the function in the reduced range. Our ex and ln x units,  based on these units, include the following innovative features: Single precision f.p. arithmetic extension. [9, 10] were designed considering only normalized numbers, not denormalized. Additional logic has been introduced to handle  denormalized numbers at the output of ex and the input of ln x.  ² Redesign of units to deal only with single precision. The feature of bit-width config-urability of the base designs has been removed. Thus, the resources needed have been  reduced because specific units, just for single precision, have been developed.  ² Simplification of constant multiplications. As suggested in [9], conventional multipliers  have been removed where the multiplications involved constant coe ±cients, improving  performance and reducing size.  ² Unsigned arithmetic. In [9, 10] internal fixed arithmetic with sign is used. However,  some operations (like the ones involving range reduction and calculation of the exponent  for the result in ex) are consecutive and related, and the sign of the result can be inferred  from the input sign. For such operations signed arithmetic has been replaced by unsigned  arithmetic with the corresponding logic reduction.  ² Improved pipelining. The speed is enhanced by systematically introducing pipeline  stages to the datapath of the exponential and logarithm units and their subunits   The paper [11] explains about the implementation of power and log function based on a simple modification of power series expansion of Taylor series. In power function implementation, the paper aims at reducing the exponent number to a smaller value. It requires a large amount of block ram and hardware multipliers as well. It becomes platform dependent and the clock frequency may vary from vendor to vendor. The degradation in throughput rate is due to the use of 18 X 18 embedded multipliers in it. The powering unit also requires more number of stages which may be reduced further. In the proposed method, we are going to reduce delay and improve the throughput rate by avoiding the embedded multipliers and block RAMs. In this paper, we are not completely avoid look up tables, but any value of logarithm or exponential can be calculated, by adjusting the look up table values to the desired number [8] C. C. Doss and R. L. Riley, FPGA-Based implementation of a robust IEEE-754 ex-ponential unit, in IEEE Field-Programmable Custom Computing Machines, 2004, pp.  229{238. [9] J. Detrey and F. de Dinechin, A parameterized  °oating-point exponential function for  FPGAs, in IEEE International Conference Field-Programmable Technology, 2005, pp.27{34. [10] ||, A parameterized  °oating-point logarithm operator for FPGAs, in Signals, Systems and Computers, 2005. Conference Record of the Thirty-Ninth Asilomar Conference,  2005, pp. 1186{1190. [11] Pedro Echeverra, Marisa Lopez-Vallejo,†An FPGA Implementation of the Powering Function with Single Precision Floating-Point Arithmetic† â€Å"An FPGA Implementation of the Powering Function with Single Precision Floating-Point Arithmetic† PROPOSED METHOD The proposed method avoids multiplication and division operations, and is thus suitable for implementation in software on processors that lack such instructions (or where the instructions are slow) or in hardware on a programmable logic device or dedicated chip. This method is suitable when shifters are available in abundant. It is an extension to the implementation of sine and cosine explained in CORDIC. The proposed algorithm evaluates the power functions for both positive and negative values. There are some constants by which it is easy to multiply. For example, multiplying by 2n, where n is a positive or a negative integer, can be achieved by simply shifting a number by n places. The shift will be to the left (division) if n is positive, to the right (multiplication) if n is negative. It is nearly as easy to multiply by numbers of the form  ±2n ±1. These simply involve an add (or) subtract a shift. Implementation of EXP:     Ã‚   For implementing y = exp(x). The algorithm is going to generate a sequence of values for x and y, and we are going to make sure that for each pair K Exp(k) 5.5452 256 2.7726 16 1.3863 4 0.6931 2 0.4055 3/2 0.2231 5/4 0.1178 9/8 0.0606 17/16 0.0308 33/32 0.0155 65/64 0.0078 129/128 y=exp(4) · y†²=exp(4) ·exp(-(xk)) =exp(4) ·exp(-x) ·exp(k) =y ·exp(k). In other words, if we subtractkfromx, we have to multiplyyby exp(k). All we have to do now is make sure that exp(k) is a nice number, so we can multiply by it easily, and the rest is straightforward. Note thatkitself does not have to be nice, as we are only subtracting that, not multiplying by it. Here are some nice values of exp(k) and the corresponding (not necessarily nice) values ofk. The flow of algorithm is as follows for positive powers of x: Here in each iteration, we subtract the input from the nearest value of exp(k) as listed in the table. If the difference is negative, we multiply the output by the corresponding exp(k). The process continues withmore entities in our table of k, finally we get the result. In the same way the flow chart is mentioned for nagative powers of x. K Exp(k) 5.5452 256 2.7726 16 1.3863 4 0.6931 2 0.2877 3/4 0.1335 7/8 0.0645 15/16 0.0317 31/32 0.0157 63/64 0.0078 127/128 0.0039 255/256 The flow of algorithm is as follows for negative powers of x: Here in each iteration, we subtract the input from the nearest value of exp(k) as listed in the table. If the difference is positive, we divide the output by the corresponding exp(k). The process continues withmore entities in our table of k, finally we get the result. Implementation of LOG : For implementing Y=log (x), the procedure is similar to the implementation of exponential function

The Olay Brand Called Olay Evolution Marketing Essay

The Olay Brand Called Olay Evolution Marketing Essay INTRODUCTION The Procter Gamble Company (PG) is one of the worlds largest consumer goods companies. It markets more than 300 brands in the beauty, health, fabric, home, baby, family, and personal care product categories. The company operates in the Americas, Europe and Asia. It is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, and employs about 135,000 people. CORPORATE OBJECTIVES The objective of Procter Gamble is that They will provide branded products and services of superior quality and value that improve the lives of the worlds consumers, now and for generations to come. As a result, consumers will reward us with leadership sales, profit and value creation, allowing our people, our shareholders and the communities in which we live and work to prosper. (http://www.uk.pg.com/company/aboutPG/purposeValuesPrinciples.html) CORPORATE STRATEGY Procter Gamble (PG), one of the worlds largest consumer goods companies is also a pioneer in the use of mass media. The company has used newspaper advertisements, radio and soap operas to advertise its popular brands like Crest, Pampers, Pantene and Folgers. During 1990-2000, however,  its rate of growth took a plunge. When AG Lafley took over as CEO in 2000, he gave PG a complete makeover with the focus on innovation and advertising. Since 2000, PG has been increasingly embracing targeted, viral and on-line marketing. (http://www.uk.pg.com/company/aboutPG/purposeValuesPrinciples.html) PROPOSED PRODUCT olayLogo87_Jul06.jpg Evolution Olay is a worldwide leader in skin care and have been trusted by women for fifty years. Graham Wulff, an innovative and entrepreneurial South African chemist developed the original formula at the beginning of the 1950s. Olay has eight global product lines offering a multiple of product. Product such as; Olay professional pro-X, Olay Definity, Olay Regenerist, Olay Total effect, Olay complete, Olay hydrate cleanse, Olay clarity, Olay body lotion, Olay touch of sun and Olay body cleansing (http://www.docstoc.com/docs/14719894/Oil-Of-Olay-Products). Skin care is evolving faster than ever with independent clinical trial and new standards in natural and organic cosmetics. Olay evolution will be a combination of Olay total effects (7 seven powerful anti-ageing in one) and Olay Definity (fight wrinkles, brown spot and discolouration). Many consumers want products that offer more than one benefit. So this product is expected to moisturize, fight free radicals and give the skin a more youthful appearance. This product would offer the costumer an ideal combination of the world most powerful skin care solution. Anti-aging is the fastest-growing skin segment, standing at $567.6 million, now representing the biggest category in skin care, surpassing facial cleansers which stand at $559.2 million. (http://www.allbusiness.com/population-demographics/demographic-groups/5517853-1.html) product-landing-definity_v6.jpg product-landing-total-effects.jpg Women are very particular when dealing with their face. They need to be convinced the product will deliver all the promised benefits. Women are willing to try new things and spend more money to look better and younger. Skin care attracts customers from all income level as most women like to take care of their appearance. The increase number of women working equates women with more money to spend and skin care is one of the favourite avenues for their spending. Based on Procter Gamble F4Q10 (Qtr End 06/30/2010) Earnings Call Transcript, Female Skin Care grew volume double digits with positive share trends. In the U.S., Olay all-outlet value share of the Facial Moisturizer segment was up almost two points behind the continued strength of the Olay Pro-X line and the Olay Regenerist Roller ball Eye Treatment innovation. Olay also had strong results in developing markets, more than doubling shipments in India, Saudi Arabia and the Philippines. Organic sales increased 5%, driven by 8% organic volume growth. (http://seekingalpha.com/article/218380-procter-gamble-f4q10-qtr-end-06-30-2010-earnings-call-transcript) Rate of Global skin care market 2002 and 2007 Country 2002 ( £M) 2009 ( £M) US 6,752.2 8,059.2 FRANCE 2,391.1 4,368.0 GERMANY 1,975.1 3,239.3 ITALY 1,440.0 2,340.4 SPAIN 956.4 1,897.9 UK 1,612.7 2,937.6 Source: Euro monitor international Below are the analyses of the business environment to back up the proposal. ANALYSIS OF BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT Every Business operates within an environment, these environments directly and indirectly affects the way those businesses function. Competition in the skin care industry tends to be more intense and there are many changes that can be regarded as threat and opportunity that it is important for managers to cope with. MACRO Political The political environment Relates to the pressures and opportunities brought by changes of the government and their views toward the skin care industry. Each government always have a mandate to regulate the use on non organic ingredients in most skin care product. Economic This Refers to economic factors and structures and such variables like the stock exchange, interest and inflation rates, the nations economic policies and performance, exchange rates, etc. Although PG is based in the US, it earns revenues, pay expenses, own assets and incur liabilities in countries using currencies other than the US dollar. As a result, increases or decreases in the value of the US dollar against other major currencies will affect the companys net operating revenues, operating income and the value of balance sheet items denominated in foreign currencies. Social Middle-aged women are very interested in skin care items that help them retain a more youthful appearance and complexion. Observing social factors helps organisations maintain their reputation among stakeholders. Technological Changes in technology can affect a company competitive position. Industries merge; new strategic groups emerge; currents products improve and the cost of production gets reduced by process innovation. Because the skin care industry is very competitive, the company necessitate taking advantage of the latest technology and revolutionary substances to create new product in order to maintain customers interest and loyalty. Environmental With global warming and carbon foot prints being big concerns, governments and scientists are encouraging companies and individuals to be more environmentally aware. PGs policy is to: Ensure its products, packaging and operations are safe for their employees, consumers and the environment. Reduce or prevent the environmental impact of products and packaging in their design, manufacture, distribution, use and disposal whenever possible. They support the sustainable use of resources and actively encourage reuse, recycling and composting. MICRO Buyer Power;  Consumer products companies face weak buyer power because customers are disjointed and have little influence on price or product. But considering the buyers of consumer products to be retailers rather than individuals, then these firms face very strong buyer power. One good example is the business relationship between wall-mart and PG (see swot analysis). Supplier Power; the company could face some amount of supplier power simply because of the costs incurred when switching suppliers. Notwithstanding, suppliers that do large amount of business with the company also are somewhat obliged to their customers; nonetheless, bargaining power for both the firms and their suppliers is probably limited. Threat of New Entrants;  Given the amount of capital investment needed to enter the skin care industry, the assumption is that threat of new entrants will be fairly low. Threat of Substitutes;  Within the skin care industry, brands thrive in helping to build a competitive advantage, but even the pricing power of brands can be scoured with substitutes. Threats to this product may arise from other anti-aging products such as; Avotone, Revitol, Ceramide C etc. Degree of Rivalry; Skin care industry is a very competitive market, taking advantage of the latest technology and revolutionary substances to create new product in order to maintain customers interest and loyalty will be very important. In doing so it will increase the companys competitive advantage over other top brands like Avon and Nivea Visage. INTERNAL The internal environment constitutes variables and forces within the control of the organisation. These variables are; conditions, entities,  events, and  factors  within an organization which  influence  its  activities  and  choices, its philosophy, particularly the  behaviour of the  employees. Other variables include; the  organisation mission statement,  leadership style, and its  culture. SWOT Analysis; this is a planning method use to evaluate the strength, weaknesses, opportunities and treat to a business. It involves specifying objectives of a business at the same time identifying the internal and external elements that will affect the business both positive and negative in the race to attain its stated objectives. Strengths Weaknesses Leading market position geared on a strong brand portfolio. Significant RD and market investment. Robust cash productivity Increase instances of product recall. Excessive dependant on Wal-mart. High product prices translated into sales volume decline and market share loss. Opportunities Threats Future growth plans- Increase concentration on its core attractive businesses and enhancing its customer base. Increase investment in manufacturing capacity in developing countries. Acquisitions to expand portfolio Counterfeit goods. Changing global retail scenario and rise of private labels. Commodity cost and currency exchange rate. Rising cost of energy prices Economic slowdown in US and Euro zone. (www.datamonitor.com) STRENGTHS Leading market position garnered on a strong brand portfolio With revenues of $79,029 million, PG is the worlds largest consumer products manufacturer, with its products reaching 4 billion people worldwide. PG is the 20th largest company in sales and the 9th largest company in profit among the Fortune 500 companies. The companys market capitalization in 2009 was roughly $150 billion, making it one of the 10 most valuable companies in the US. PG holds leading global market shares in a variety of categories, including baby care (33%), blades and razors (70%), feminine protection (37%), and fabric care (33%). The companys leadership position is built on its strong brand portfolio. Strong brand portfolio enables the company to achieve economies of scale in distribution and retain a strong bargaining position with retailers. Leading market position provides PG with significant competitive advantage as well as stabilizes the companys financial growth Significant RD and market investment. Being a consumer products company, PG relies heavily on innovation and continued marketing investments in order to establish a significant competitive advantage. As a result, the company has made significant investments in RD and marketing. Over the last decade, PG has invested more than $2 billion in consumer and market research (nearly twice that of its closest competitor, Unilever; and equal to the combined total of its other major competitors; Avon, Clorox Company, Colgate-Palmolive Company, Energizer Holdings, Henkel, Kimberly-Clark, LOreal, and Reckitt Benckiser). Virtually, all the organic sales growth delivered by PG in the past nine years has come from new brands and new or improved product innovation. PG also involves external innovation partners to boost its internal innovative capability, an approach it calls Connect and Develop. Currently, more than half of all product innovation coming from PG includes at least one major component from an external partner. PGs strong RD capabilities and a marketing-driven understanding of consumer needs are backed by significant marketing investments. The company invests more than $7 billion in advertising annually, consistently making PG one of the worlds largest advertisers. Strong focus on research and development allows PG to renew its product line at regular intervals, which boosts customer loyalty and revenue growth. Significant marketing investments to support its brands and a broad product portfolio help PG to remain at forefront in a competitive market. Robust cash productivity PGs cash productivity: the percentage of earnings converted into cash has averaged over 100% since 2001, consistently among the very best in the industry. This is primarily due to PGs strong focus on productivity, working-capital management and cost reduction. Furthermore, PG is equally rigorous about managing costs. The company has reduced overhead costs as a percentage of sales by more than 300 basis points since 2001. The cash productivity allows PG to maintain the companys excellent credit rating, to pay strong dividends, and to have the flexibility to invest in the business organically or through mergers and acquisitions. Therefore, robust cash productivity ensures that PG has the flexibility and the resources to invest in growth even in the most challenging environments. WEAKNESSES PG has been registering increasing instance of product recalls. One case in point is in November 2009, the company voluntarily recalled three lots of its Vicks Sinex nasal spray in the US, Germany and the UK. The recall was a precautionary step after finding the bacteria B. cepacia in a small amount of product made at its plant in Gross Gerau, Germany. In March 2010, PG voluntarily recalled its Pringles Restaurant Cravers Cheeseburger potato crisps and Pringles Family Faves Taco Night potato crisps in response to a recommendation from the Food Drug Administration (FDA) to the food industry to protect consumers from potential Salmonella exposure. Most recently in June 2010, PG voluntarily recalled a small percentage of 1-liter bottles of Scope Original Mint and Scope Peppermint mouthwash with malfunctioning child-resistant caps in the US and Canada. Recurrent product recalls could affect the brand image of the company, which would lead to low customer loyalty and brand equity. Excessive dependent on Wal-Mart PG is heavily dependent on Wal-Mart Stores (Wal-Mart) and its affiliates for generating major part of its revenue. Sales to Wal-Mart and its affiliates represented approximately 15% of its total revenue since 2006. High dependence upon a Wal-Mart reduces the bargaining power of the company. Also, Wal-Mart could use its bargaining power to impose unfavourable terms on the company. Any decrease in revenue from Wal-Mart could have a negative impact on the companys businesses. Hence, the loss of this customer will lead to a sharp decline in PGs revenues and also a loss of its market share. OPPRTUNITIES Future growth plans In order to grow in a highly competitive environment, PG is pursuing a clearly drafted strategy with focus on two areas: increasing concentration on its core attractive businesses and enhancing its customer base. The company is sharply focusing on its core attractive businesses (the beauty and health market segments and several household care categories) as these are fast-growing businesses. For instance, the global market for personal care products has annual sales of over $39.5 billion and is growing at a rate of around 5% annually. PG intends to increase its customer base by acquiring under served and unserved consumers. In line with this, the company is targeting developing markets; extending its distribution systems; and expanding its brand and product portfolio. Developing and emerging economies are expected to account for 90% of the worlds population by 2010, and this is expected to drive demand for fast moving consumer goods. Increased investment in manufacturing capacity in developing countries PG is planning the biggest increase in its manufacturing capacity in order to expand into categories and countries where it doesnt have a brand presence. The company is investing 4% of sales in capital spending, including funding for new manufacturing capacity to support future growth. Over the next five years, PG plans to add 20 new manufacturing facilities. Almost all of these facilities are in developing markets, and almost all will be multi-product category facilities. By focusing on developing markets, the company would reduce the cost of serving these markets while also being closer to regions with the greatest long term growth potential. Acquisitions to expand portfolio PG has made significant acquisitions in the recent past. For instance, in June 2009, the company acquired the Zirh skincare brand. Zirh is a leading super premium, male grooming brand available in high-end department stores, specialty outlets and online. Later in May 2010, PG entered into an agreement to acquire Natura Pet Products, a privately-held pet food business. Most recently, in July 2010, the company concluded its purchase of the Ambi Pur Brand from Sara Lee Corporation. Ambi Pur is a leading global air care brand with presence in 80 countries, and also has several toilet care products, with strong presence in Western Europe and Asia. These kinds of acquisitions will strengthen PGs presence across a range of categories and in turn augment its top line and bottom-line. THREATS Changing global retail scenario and rise of private labels PGs products are sold in a highly competitive global marketplace which is experiencing an increased trade concentration and the growing presence of large format retailers and discounters. With the growing trend toward retail trade consolidation, it is increasingly dependent on key retailers. Some of these retailers have a greater bargaining strength than PG. They may use this leverage to demand higher trade discounts, allowances or slotting fees, which could lead to reduced sales or profitability. Commodity cost and currency exchange rate instability places tremendous pressure on PGs business. Not to mention the unexpected and dramatic devaluations of currencies in developing or emerging markets reduce profits. Counterfeit goods Trade of counterfeits and pass-offs products is negatively affecting the growth of FMCG companies like PG. The top two brands within any category be it cosmetics, detergents, or soaps are effected the most by counterfeit. It is estimated that the loss due to counterfeit products convert into around  £6 billion ($8.5 billion). Furthermore, with the advent of digital channels there has been a surge in the sale of counterfeit products and online sales of these products increased by 9% in 2009. Besides revenue losses, counterfeits and pass-offs also affect the companys brand as they are unsafe. (Swot analysis Source: www.datamonitor.com ) The best strategies accomplish an organisation mission by exploiting an organisation opportunity and strength, while neutralizing its treat and avoiding its weakness. Ansoff matrix Ansoff matrix highlight four possible market strategy for the propose product. ansoff_matrix-124013-1.jpeg (http://www.brothersoft.com/ansoff-matrix-124013.html). Product development: as this is a new product in the range, much emphasis will be to offer the product to the existing customer base. Using the competitive advantages and brand image of previous products to lunch the propose product. With the companys focus on advertising, (worlds largest advertisers) it can use the advertising power to push the product to recognition. Sixty percent (60%) of the strategy will be on product development. Diversification: One of the opportunities available to the company is launching into new markets and developing economies. Forty percent (40%) of the strategy will be to launch the propose product in an entirely new market. Market Penetration: this occurs when the company sells its existing product in its existing market, perhaps through greater promotional efforts. As this is a new product this strategy might be considered in the future. Market Development: this occurs when the company tries to sell it existing products in new and emerging markets. This strategy as well might be for future considerations.

Wiccan religion: The Goddess and Gods of the Wiccan Religion :: Essays Papers

Wiccan religion: The Goddess and Gods of the Wiccan Religion "Wicca is the most prevalent form of reconstructionist neo-paganism in the United States and is the pre-Christian spirituality of the Celtic peoples who resided in the British Isles and Brittany and on the western coast of France." Wicca is a religion based upon deep personal understanding of oneself and the multi-verse in which one resides. They work with the Gods and Goddess that call to us, and we develop relationships with them that help and support them in their evolution. Wicca is a spiritual path, a way of seeing the world and Divinity, and our relationship to it. They believe that Goddess is imminent in the world around us. Goddess permeates every living thing, and most of them define rocks, soil, water, air, fire, and the plant herself as living things. "The God of Wicca is the Horned God, the ancient God of Fertility: the God of the forest, flock, and field and also of the hunt." He is Lord of Life, and the Giver of Life, yet he is also Lord of Death and Resurrection. http://www.interlog.com/~spawn/gods.html Wicca is considered to be a radical faith in spite of significant numbers of goddess devotes who are extremely conservative in their lifestyles and the tenets they hold. The wiccan religion is not solely a women’s faith. While their are "women-only" groupings, and women-led, or women-predominant ones, there are just as many mixed gender groupings, in some of which men are dominant. There are also numerous solitaries, both women and men. In Wicca, practitioners notice the holy duality of the sexes in nature and in themselves, and worship the Divine as both God and the Goddess. Most modern Wiccans feel that while the God and Goddess are separate and equal, there are also two separate sides of the same coin: all in one. And all that they see, touch, feel, hear, or sense is Holy. The Goddess is known as "The Powerful Lady Mother" each of whom could appear in many, guises depending on the personal needs of the individual invoking them. The God is known as the "Horned God." The Horned God is the group soul of the hunted animal, invoked by the primitive shaman and the tribe. "The Goddess, whether Gentle Lady-Mother or thundering and Powerful Seductress has never really been broadly attached specifically to an animal form as much as the God was.

cloning :: essays research papers

Cloning Imagine being a first year medical surgeon just out of the highest-ranking university in the nation. You are placed in the ER, in the Methodist Hospital building, as your days are spent saving people from the cruel realities that they are forced to live among. Day after day, you see handfuls of people coming in with a variety of gunshot, knife, and domestic violence wounds. Your troubles are easily compensated, however, by receiving over $200,000 a year, a brand new Mercedes, and a house upon the palisade shores. Suppose for a moment that one evening while you are on duty, an ambulance radios in and informs the hospital staff that they are bringing in a multiple gunshot wound victim and to prepare the ER for an immediate operation. You begin to order people around and dictate what needs to be prepared before the ambulance arrives. Finally the victim is present, only to show that he is not the average gangster or policeman, instead it is the near lifeless body of your own son. Your bl ood freezes; your brain shuts down, as you see every precious second slip away through the lifeless gaze of your child's eyes. His life and future all depend on you saving his life. He has been shot twice in the chest and his little heart is working ten fold to keep him alive. You realize that the only way to save him is an immediate heart transplant and you have not a second to lose. You yell at the assistant to find the nearest heart donor in hopes that your young son will make it through the night. Unfortunately your hopes are destroyed as the medical assistant informs you that the nearest heart donor is in Spokane, Washington 3,000+ miles away. You slowly turn to see the dying face of your son, and only wish to take the entire burden from his shoulders and hoist it upon yours. Your son gives you an unforgettable look of fear as he slips away into the gates of heaven far from his warm and safe family. You drop to your knees in tears, and you swear you could hear the voice of your deceased son say, "Why? Why didn't you save me mommy?" Similar instances are faced daily in hospitals all over the world. Children, adults, grandparents, and loved ones all come in one at a time with the hopes of survival in their heads, but with the taste of death in their mouths.

Marina Gana Vida Essay

PROBLEM: What could Jonah Nobleza do to balance the employment and production of MGV? OBJECTIVES: To be able to find an alternative way to scale-up the production without sacrificing the mission of MGV. To prove to the investors that MGV is a successful social enterprise with viable economic. To be able to spot the best possible solution balancing employment vs. production. AREAS OF CONSIDERATION: Strengths The staffs of MGV are all professionally trained. Providing health products to consumers Promoting environmentally friendly fishing practices Well-developed facilities Provides healthy fish farming Women are skilled in fish processing Opportunities Providing business opportunities to Muslim women in Davao community Having more loyal customers Adopt technology Weakness Limited capacity of production Lack of investors Not using chemical pesticides that reduces the quantity of fish Threats Competition of other fishing industries Natural or man-made calamities ALTERNATIVE COURSES OF ACTION: Stick to their goals to hire more workers by adding another processing plant Merge machine labour and manual labour in production process Replace the manual labour into automated labour process while the workers will serve as indirect employees. RECOMMENDATION: The best alternative course of action is the second solution, which is merging of manual and automated labour process which is in production there will be a machine to help fasten their production for better labour process and to maintain the employment, there should also be a manual process for the workers to help manipulate and monitor the machines. CONCLUSION: We therefore conclude that our recommendation can help the company increase their production without eradicating workers in view of the fact that they can also help in monitoring the machinery to speed up production and we can assign them in manipulating the machines. Adding more machines also means hiring more workers and as a result of having faster production. As their goal is to provide employment to many poor household they were able to maintain their social enterprise.

One Nation Under Corn?

A position piece done in fall of 2012 on the cause and affect of the industrialize edible give whisky crop. I decided on this paper after my own battle with illness. This battle, stop up changing my diet, and my life as it turns pop. I vex close to all removed any gamboge derived harvest-tide from my life (all-be-it difficult sometimes) and am a dimensiononent of a purely fundamental vegetarian diet. One Nation Under edible corn whiskey? Chad Cribb DeVry University One Nation Under give One of the legion(predicate) freedoms we enjoy in this gr waste country is the freedom to pack what you will eat and when you will eat it.Pull up to your favorite fast solid fodder burger restaurant, and subatomic thought goes into the entire process. From the capture there, to the ordering of your nutriment, and the packaging they argon contained in. When we calculate more about it, as Michael Pollan did in his book, The Omnivores Dilemma, there is a self-coloured lot more vent on. Pollan dives deep into the heart of our democracys fascination with the corn crop and its many uses. lemon yellow started out as a crop grown to inseminate its people. further in this day and age, very little is actually eaten. Corn has become a giant in the food manufacturing, at a low price thank in part to the g everyplacenment second.We started this nation as one based in principle and in the pursuit of freedom. and presently it seems corn. But who is the real donee of this corn crop? And just as importantwho are the losers? Corn has been approximately since recorded tarradiddle and has played a major role in championship and many complex social societies. Corns spread across the world began after contact between the European colonial powers and indigenous peoples of North and atomic proceeds 16 the States. It continued on to Africa during the slave trades and was utilize to actually pay for them. Whats more, it was a source of power for the African middl emen bear on in the slave trade.Fast forward now to the 1940s and 1950s as corn and corn based foods became crucial in the agriculture mart to sustain array troops during the war. It was after the war that the States saw a huge prodigality in corn yield part due to the new hybrid seeds and fertilizers that had lately been manufactured. This surplus had a dramatic sum on the foodstuff and the commercialize prices. It was these prices, over the years that caused unpredictable price swings (Wise 2005-9). As our population has increasingly grown thru the years, our use up for more food has dislodge magnituded along with it.The polarity between the dickens was unhinged and by victimisation the free mart approach, husbandmans regularly had booms and busts in the market. Making farmers the get of continued and increasing depressed prices in their crop. The political science soon stepped in with The rude(a) Deal, in order to set ashore supply into short letter with demand, an approach know as supply management using conservation set-asides, a price stage guaranteeing a fair price (like having a minimum wage), and a grain earmark to deal with overproduction. What was not widely known, it appears, is the corpo enumerate-world began lobbying for a free market approach again.Beginning in the 1970s, they used the World Food Crisis and the Russian Wheat Deal to validate their eviscerate of descent to presidency. Coupling that with the notion of getting establishment out of agriculture. The result of that was that prices collapsed by the late 1990s and the presidential term had to bond paper out farmers with millions in emergency aid payments. Prices completely collapsed shortly after the 1996 license to Farm Act, causing expensive taxpayer bailouts. By 2000, subsidies provided 49% of farmers net income. This has succored the corn manufacturing to comprise 95% of all food grain produced in the States (USDA 2010).The governments well-intended ap proach to help prop up the intentness, in fact, created a market dependent on the very subsidies that were created to help it. Between 1995 and 2006, the government paid out $56 billion in corn subsidies (Wise 2005-12). Whats more, it helps create a market monopoly. With only 3 companies controlling 90% of the corn market, 2 companies controlling the corn seed market, and 4 companies controlling the naughty laevulose corn syrup industry, the execute should be clear. But as Pollan points out, Its not about who is profiting, but alternatively who is suffering (Pollan 2006).Most of what we see in the tidings is the emphasis posed in the trials and tribulations of the farmer, for the improvement of the consumer. But is it really the consumer who benefits? If the price of food per calorie is the magic calculation, then the act is yes. But if the average weight per person is, then the answer is no. As the corn industry exploded and the number of companies shrank, corn began a n ew renewing into early(a) parts of the food industry and more. This came in the form of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), gasoline additives, p polishics, and cows feed to name a few.Cattle feed now encompasses over 50% of the industrialized corn produced in America (Wise 2005-11). The increase of this has helped create the perpetual cycle that has infested the industry, and moreover, the country insurance that affects it. The overproduction of corn has take to an overconsumption of corn mostly in an indirect way. Americas agriculture and worldwide trade policies have created an environment that breeds monopolies and corruption. risky business lobbyist has taken hold in an industry that studys in the bottom line.This philosophy has squeezed out the once commonplace sugar cane, and ushered in the cheaper, easily produced, HFCS for its products. Because the government has lay so many incentives on the production of corn, other more effectual crops have been left behind. Cro ps like fruits, vegetables, and whole grains have quickly become a thing of the past. The social intercourseship between government and business has become as proinflammatory as the population consuming the products they produce. At one point, it almost gestates like the industry motiveed the market to crash and the government to step in.One would ask why anyone would want that. Because subsidizing the industrial crop ensures it stays at a cheap price for one. Secondly, the corporations who get corn to turn into high fructose corn syrup (used in almost every food product) or as feed for livestock, or ethanol for vehicles trading operations have profited by the billions. Thirdly, the corporate consolidation of our food system as whole. When you work out about it, it reaches thru banks, seeds, fertilizers, grain traders, food processors, manufacturing plant, to retailing. Walsh says, This harming f uncompetitive market squeezes the farmer on both sides (Walsh-2009). This noti on seems to place a lot of blame on the subsidies themselves. My contention is that subsidies are not the trouble with our food system, but merely a product of a broken system. To take a crap the farm policy, legislators must first have a clear down the stairsstanding of who wins and who loses under the current system and why. Also, the high tariffs placed on sugar cane direct to be downsized to stand for balance in the market. But this is a prime utilization of how the governments intention to help has unintentional consequences.I believe that the root of our task today is the clinging to a free market food system. One that allows commodities like corn to be priced so low that would allow big business to develop monopolies over farmers and corn while reaping huge moolah because of cheap corn. America now spends less(prenominal) of our income on food than any other generation in history (Pollan-2002). When you look at it in perspective, the agriculture our grandparents helpe d realise was now growing fast food. This impact our wallets, farmlands, and waistline.Some may say that our waistline and rate of disease are due to acedia and other factors. I disagree. I believe they are a direct relation to cheap, processed food made by cheap, industrialized corn. In order for us to decrease the consumption of corn, the government inescapably to cease its subsidizing of it. This will do two things. One, it let the markets adjust themselves at a rate that creates dependence on itself sooner than assistance. Two, tighten the ability of lobbyist to affect change in agriculture and government policy that increase benefits to the very few.The bottom line here is this big business reaps acquire at the expense of the farmer. And the consumer? Well. we are just scenery it seems in this striking manipulation of industrialized food industry. And as I see it in an frugality where every dollar counts, doesnt it strike sense for the government to hang onto theirs? Pol lan, Michael. The Omnivores Dilemma. A Natural History of tetrad Meals. April 2006 This well-known book has been called an eaters manifesto by critics and peers alike. Pollan, Michael. Whats America Eating? Smithsonian, June 2006. Retrieved on October 4, 2012 http//michaelpollan. om/articles-archive/whats-eating-america/ An article, written with a chronological touch, that takes reader from soup-to-nuts on the history of corn and how it came to western America. Pollan, Michael. When Crop Becomes King. NY clippings. July 2002. Retrieved on October 1, 2012 http//www. organicconsumers. org/toxic/toomuchcorn071902. cfm An article written in a way that is easily understand for most. This article describes Zea Mays (original term) from Central America to what we know today as corn Walsh, Bryan. Getting Real About the high up Price of Cheap Corn.Time Magazine. direful 21, 2009. http//www. time. com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1917726-2,00. hypertext markup language Walsh is a senior writer for Time Magazine and a correspondent for the last 8 years Health news media Fellowship from the Center for Disease control Foundation. As part of this fellowship, he attended training at the U. S. Centers for Disease watch during summer 2010. Wise, Timothy. Identifying the Real Winners from US countrified Policies. Tufts University. December 2005. Retrieved October 1, 2012. http//www. ase. tufts. edu/gdae/Pubs/wp/05-07RealWinnersUSAg. pdf

Health Care Delivery Systems Essay

Bursting the wellness C are BubbleA opening states that, the 30 million uninsur fitted the Statesns stick postured the United States to put part of the province of wellness charge into the political relations turn over (Terry 116). By 2014, the changes in the wellness business scheme entrust be life changing for al roughly, man otherwises result strike little to no printing by the crystalize. A surgery specialist from forward-looking York states that, 46 million people in America lack memory access to wellness sustainment and has been found on a persons big businessman to reconcile (Goldberg 6). Since 2010, the Health Care clean up form already started making changes in our economy and entrust expect to do so until for some days, or the election of a new President. These changes bequeath vacate each person to find little to no excuse on why they are non taking province of their wellness.As I sit uncomplainingly in the expression populate for my bushel who was twenty tallys late, I sat and watched the clock every few minutes until a throw came to greet me. I couldnt alleviate appease look around at the other forbearings conterminous to me thinking proper(ip), privilege, or function? Was it my proficient to be here, my privilege, or my responsibility? Going through the scenarios in my head, I could think of examples that could fall under each. A small child ran about the wait room plot her mom sat in her lead reading Country Living, an elderly peer sat collapseing hands to my left, overly waiting patiently for someone to greet them. I could divulge the medical exami province exam assistants at the front desk gossiping and discussing redress matters.I couldnt help but percolate sorry for them by and by learning what pain indemnity companies could be. Originally, while sitting on that point unwearyingly for the doctor and observation the people around me, I thought it was a privilege to set to be one of the successful ones that had insurance, which get out allowed me to take contend and responsibility of my consecrate health. This indeed lead me to my next thought, the reason that I am here recompense now is because I am the one taking responsibility for my cause health (and maybe the help of my parents until I am 26 hopefully). As the nurse called me back, I had lastly come to aconclusion. Health care in the United States is a responsibility, non a in effect(p)-hand(a) and no spaciouser a privilege. The responsibility of health care if shifting everywhere, whether it be changing into the hands of patients, medical personnel, or the government.According to www.dictionary.com, organism accountable is world accountable. I feel that legion(predicate) Americans in the United States have trouble world accountable for their own actions, and the like to put the excite on someone or something other than themselves. Americans do not blame themselves for thei r health care problems preferably attributing the rising health care make up to the bread do by drug and insurance companies (Blendon 636). blush from the standpoint of our kingdom as a whole, more a(prenominal) would like to believe that we dont make mistakes and that we are better than the rest. Even on Google, in that respect are many websites containing all the reasons that Americans think they are superior to other countries and sadly, there is a long list. Reality has to hit at some point, and someday I hope many of us can recognize that we arent perfect, and that in fact we do make mistakes, mistakes that can hold even the lives and the decisions of others.Thinking I am being proactive and taking responsibility for my own health, I finally get to charm the doctor after not only a thirty minute wait in the lobby, but a ii to three week wait just to agnize my family doctor. marshal Kapp, the director of Florida State Universitys summation for Innovative Collaborati on in medication & Law, states that practicing atomic number 101s in the United States are already extremely finical he goes on to record that adding new patients to practices testamenting only result in either to a greater extent(prenominal) hours to the day or a continuing wait to get into your doctor, depending on the physician because of the reform (418). Marshall Kapp fears that affordable health insurance may still fail at actually providing medical care (416). Because each physician provide have more than patients, will each patient be receiving the right quality of care? Or even the right medical care at all because of the long wait? In the like article he goes on secernateing, According to an official of the American College of Physicians, newly insured patients can anticipate difficulties gaining access to special care, particularly in undeserved communities (416). More patients will thencause a shortage of physicians in the United States.Another point of re ference goes on to say that Americans are far less(prenominal) at rest with the availabilityof health care in their country than Canada and the British are with theirs Nearly three-fourths of Americans in 2003 uttered dissatisfaction with the availability of health care in their country (Blendon 629). Although Americans no longer have an excuse on why they arent taking responsibility, will the number of patients decrease the quality of care or the access to a physician? The Health Care Reform make up is predicted to reduce health care be, which will then lead people to receive hinderance care and will as well allow Medicare patients to receive a physical with no direct personifys or low costs to patients (Terry 116). Terry begins to then say that pr vitrineative medicine and chronic illnesses-for instance, diabetic patients- are expiry to have incentives and better coverage (116). Edward J. Dougherty, Senior Vice President of B&D Consulting in Washington D.C. says, thither is a greater focus on stay care, on wellness, on patient education, and intervention before an acute event or episode occurs. That provides opportunities for anyone (Terry 116).The wise words of Dr. baker that will haunt my brain forever went a little something like this, As I was shaving this morning, I looked in the mirror and saw the person who was trustworthy for postgraduate health care costs. each time I look in the mirror, I am now disturbed by these same words, as Im sure many of my other class mates are as well. Dr. Davis Goldberg goes on to tell a story of Joe genuflect, Joe Skin died of metastatic malignant melanoma because he could not afford the $100 it would have to cost him to see a local dermatologist two years earlier, when he only had melanoma in situ. futile to afford the original fee, he left his pigmented lesion untreated, until a seizure from metastatic disease ended with him having multiple surgeries at a cost of $350,000 to tax payers (Goldberg 6).I w onder if Mr. Skin looked in the mirror while he was shaving that morning to realize that he would be one of the reasons for high health care costs in America. Unfortunately, because Joe Skin didnt have health insurance he decided to not take responsibility for his health, which then resulted in more problems than before and even resulted in death. This seems to be apopular trend in the uninsurable Goldberg states, The uninsured in any case tend to wait longer and get sicker before seeing a doctor (6), he then states that a popular trend among the uninsured is that they are less likely to receive recommended preventative and primary care services, face significant barriers to care and ultimately face worse health outcomes (6).The overall attitude toward health care changes dramatically when you encounter those who are uninsured into the health care industry. Americans attitudes toward the health care system are related to leaving between those with secure and comprehensive cover age, and those without it (Blendon 628). A source states that, one of the purposes of the health care Reform act is to better allow each person to take responsibility into their own hands, as well as unhorse health costs (Terry 116).The responsibility and the cost of health care have been taken out of the physicians and the medical mental facultys hands, and into those of the governments. Nathan Kaufman, Managing Director of Kaufman Strategic Advisors states, It is a brutal fact that hospitals can no longer afford to delegate the responsibility and accountability of cost and quality of care to an independent medical staff of physicians practicing (167). Like we have discussed earlier, the reform is supposed to help lower the costs, but Kaufman believes that health care costs will pay to the destabilization of the economy (164). He then proceeds with Richard Foster, the chief actuary for Centers of Medicare & Medicaid Services, who as well states that the new law will increase th e nations overall spending on healthcare by $289 billion through 2019 (Kaufman 164).This budget will then cut the spending in other all important(p) areas, which will then raise our taxes one time again to pay back the borrowed money (Kaufman 164). Dr. Baicker also states that there is lots less to fund man schools, roads, and other necessary public services (Goldberg 6). Although the Healthcare Reform or PPACA seems to be a intimately idea in many ways, this is where it all seems to be a little bit fishy, and when life seems to be all great and dandy with the reform, we will lastly be hit with the reality of the damage that our government and what our decisions have caused us. Dr. Katherine Baiker also principals the concept of the PPACA stating, Yet the question remains What will work? What is the most trenchant way to rationhealth care? (Godberg 6). There are consequences to most every situation, and I do not accredit if physicians or patients are fain for the consequenc es that the PPACA will bring us.The question is not if there are consequences, but when will we be alter by them? According to Americans Health Care Views of Care, Access, and theatrical role states that Americans have little to no faith in their government and were ready for some sort of reform (624). With the Healthcare Reform Act already facing high disputes and the non-support from many health care providers and some politicians, and because we spend so much time building the reform up, our nation is not aware of what is about to hit. At some point, Americans are going to be forced with higher taxes, and I fear health care providers who are also not prepared for the consequences will be go about with, and will not get the proceedss of the reform to its fullest. Dr. Blendon says that, when issues like health care rationing, increased taxes, and longer waiting times are raised, public alternatives fall acutely (641). Later in the article, he also begins to say that less than half of the people agreed to pay higher taxes to achieve the goal of a universal joint health plan (Blendon 642).Kaufman states, Those who recognize the existence of a bubble and prepare for its brutal realities can benefit when the bubble bursts (167). He also begins to say that, health care providers who do plan for the bubble bursting, will be able to treat higher volumes of patients at lower predictable costs per episode, demonstrating measurable high quality and providing an exceptional patient experience (167-168). For those who do not prepare themselves for the bubble burst who will be responsible? Everyone involved in the health care system will be responsible for some of the lack of thought that has gone into this health care reform. One of the man purposes of the reform is to also help the quality of care, which is one of the many responsibilities that physicians face in the health care industry. Although doctors have many patients, if a patient is taking the responsibil ity of taking care of their own health, then it is the responsibility of the physician to provide the better(p) quality of care. A source states, Health reform policies currently envisioned to reform care and lower costs may have small effects on high-cost patients who consume most resources. Instead, developing interventions tailored to improve care and glum costs for specified types of complex and costly patients mayhold greater potential for bending the cost curve (Kaufman 166).Changing the quality of care isnt done at no cost, but a source states that health care organizations must contribute on some level to promoting the highest quality of care, the superlative safety of the patient, and the best patient experience (Liang 1426). coming from personal experience, if a patient is satisfied with their visit(s) and receives the best quality of care and experience possible, the likelihood of them move is much greater. In the article Quality and galosh in Medical Care What Doe s the Future give suck?, brought up some interesting points about physician to patient relationships during their medical stay or the decisions made about their health. Doing so will make the patient more checking and responsible for their own health. It is important for the physician and the patient to make decisions together and take the benefits, consequences, and the outcome of each procedure. A source states that less than one-half of hospitalized patients stated they were always involved in the decisions about their treatment, and almost one-third of the patients indicated they did not know who handled their care in the hospital (Liang 1426). Allowing a patient to take more responsibility for their health is a lot harder when they have no idea what is going on.The quality of patient care affects the quality of a patients life. Dr. Blendon says, most Americans are satisfied with the quality of medical care they and their families receive, and they do not see the issue as a leave problem (648). A source states that the Institute of Medicine has defined quality as the degree to which health services for individuals and population increase the likelihood of sought after health outcomes and are consistent with current victor knowledge (Schuster 3). When dealing with health care I believe that it is always the patients responsibility, but if the physician endowment incentive to the patient stay proactive and understand what is going on, than how can the patient be responsible? The thoughts on health care are constantly changing, whether its peoples right to be provided with health care, whether its a privilege to be able to receive health care, or whether its the responsibility of those apart of the health industry and the patients to receive the right kind of health care. A source states that, finding ways of doing more with less will continue to be hospitals biggest challenge(Hospitals are expected to do more with less 4). The health care reform wil l be in full force before we all know it. As a citizen and patient, I know that it is my personal responsibility to mention proactive on my health, help make decisions for my oath Americans to make the best health system possible. So every morning, when I survey into the mirror, I know that the reason the health care industry is the way it is, was because I made it that way. Health care is a responsibility, not a right and no longer a privilege.