Course project week 1 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Course project week 1 - Assignment Example The fracturing process involving pumping of fluids usually made up of chemicals and water, into structures at high pressure. Following a buildup of pressure that ultimately exceeds the strength of the rock, fracture occur, which might extend hundreds of feet away from the situation of the well. A propping agent is then pumped into the fractures to keep it open, as pumping pressure is freed (Hydraulic fracturing, 1990). At the end of the fracturing, the inner pressure within the geologic structure makes the injected fracturing liquid to rise above the surface for storage in pits or tanks to await disposal or recycling. In the United States, this process is currently underway in the Marcellus Shale region that takes in places like Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Virginia Maryland, and West Virginia. South America also has fracturing going on in places that include Venezuela, Brazil and Argentina while in Europe fracturing goes on in Britain between Blackpool and Pendle Hil, in Lancashire. Despite much criticism, hydraulic fracturing has affected the economy in a number of positive ways. This includes the Creation of employment opportunities for many Citizens, generation of income for the many employees working in this sector, increasing the states revenues both directly and indirectly (Karapataki, 2012). In addition, the fracturing process has increased economic activities in certain places thus improving tax Revenue of the concerned Local Government. Hydraulic Fracturing Background Information | Hydraulic Fracturing | US EPA. (n.d.). Home | Water | US EPA. Retrieved March 15, 2013, from

Effectiveness of Teamwork in Virtual Teams Dissertation

Effectiveness of Teamwork in Virtual Teams - Dissertation Example .56 6.2. Ways to solve the problem 6.2.1. Virtual team management..59 6.2.2. Leaderships.60 6.2.3. Training provided for team members.63 6.2.4. Trust building among team members.64 6.2.5. Effective communications, e.g. add the frequency of face-to-face contacts..66 6.2.6. Boundary Management..69 Chapter 7: Case Study of Virtual Collaboration 7.1. The context and challenge.72 7.2. The challenge of building a virtual team...73 7.3. Defining a compelling challenge..73 7.4. Creating involvement ...74 7.5. Managing performance..75 7.6. Demonstrating commitment .76 7.7. Team success and illustrative outcomes ...77 7.8. Dynamics in a Global Virtual Team..78 7.9. Implications for virtual team leaders ....78 Chapter 8: Guidelines 8.1.Guidelines...80 Chapter 9: Conclusions 9.1. Summaries and Conlusions...86 Bibliography Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1. Background introduction 1.1.1. The origins of teamwork Much of the behavior of an individual in an organization is an expression of his place in the group to which he belongs. These groups tend to develop persistent patterns in their relations to each other. Because members identify with their own groups, they may express fairly uniform attitudes toward other groups. In some cases, well-developed patterns of antagonism are found between groups, with each being critical of the others and defensive toward itself. Thus, natural conflicts of interest exist even in the most wisely designed organizations. The formal structure typically establishes the basis for these conflicts by the way it differentiates its work units. With all of the diligence and understanding a manager can exert, differentiation across formal units and cohesion within each of them are the almost inevitable consequences of... If a group is not integrated, teamwork is likely to be minimal-regardless of efforts to develop it. Conversely, where integration in a group is high, there is greater potential for the development of teamwork. High cohesion is a necessary ingredient for the development of teamwork, but not the only one. In order for teamwork to be developed, a number of other elements are essential. Many factors operate to encourage the development of team relationships. Common membership in a particular group, the possession of a common terminology, the sharing of a common doctrine, common problems with regard to the current operational situation of the team, and common understandings of its significance, the possession of common means and channels of communication, the fact of frequent association, and shared values regarding the necessity for working as a team-these are all factors that enhance the development of teamwork. Nonetheless, the presence of the above factors alone will not assure effective teamwork. In addition, the development of a closely knit team requires each member to possess a frame of reference that embraces cooperation and coordination as operational requirements. When people act at cross purposes, it is because they are impelled by individual, rather than common, motives or by motives that are incompatible and irreconcilable. On the other hand, teamwork develops through the efforts of individuals who possess motives that require cooperative activities for their attainment.

Voluntary disclosure and corporate governance

Voluntary disclosure and corporate governance Introduction: Theforces that give rise in demand of information disclosure in modern capital market stems from the information asymmetry and agency conflicts existing between the management and the stockholders. Therefore, the solution to agency conflicts lies in the ownership structure and the function of board of directors. (Jensen and Meckling 1976) found that the Ownership structure is assessed by the proportion of shares held by managers and blockholders.So managerial ownership which is (the proportion of shares held by the CEO and executive directors) and blockholder ownership which is (the proportion of ordinary shares held by substantial shareholders) are two major governance mechanisms that help control agency problem. In addition, [Fama 1980] argues that the board of directors is the central internal control mechanism for monitoring managers. Financial reporting and disclosure are important resources for management to communicate firms performance and success of efficient capital market (ECM).Fama (1991) defined ECM as a market in which new information is accurately and quickly reflected in share prices. The incentive to voluntarily reveal information still under interest to both analytical and the empirical researchers.Analytical research concerned and verified issues as how competition affects disclosure, (Darrough and Stoughton 1990). Empirical researchers documented the influence of firm characteristics like size, leverage, listing and managerial ownership on disclosure. Firms provide disclosure by financial statements, management discussion and analysis, footnotes, furthermore some firms involved in voluntary supply such as internet sites, press releases, conference calls, management forecasts. Corporate disclosure is proxied by an aggregate discloser score of annual report, including background information, summary of historical results, non financial statistics, projected information and management decision and analyses. (Botosan 1997])and (Endg and Mak 2003). Voluntary disclosure is measured by the amount and detail of non mandatory information that is contained in the management decision and analyses in the annual report. Research problem: Corporate governance mechanism that is well practiced could benefit shareholder financially by exercising more control in the companies management. Moreover, the corporate governance characteristic can be seen as proxies for independents and the alignment of interest between management and the shareholder in minimizing the agency conflict. Many researches have been done among different countries to find out which factors could contribute to more disclosure by companies in their financial annual reports.Accordingly this research examines the impact of ownership structure, the profitability and board composition on corporate disclosure, in other words examining the relationship between corporate governance and voluntary disclosure, because the disclosure of information helps to reduce the cost of agency problems when there is an information asymmetry between management and shareholders . The efficiency gab has been narrowed in the worlds major economies but there remain important gabs in what we know. In particular, we lack a sufficient understanding of the complicated ways in which the various corporate governance mechanisms interact with each other and with other characteristics of firms and economies. Research Questions: Is there any relationship betweenlevel of profitability and the extent of voluntary disclosure? Is there any relationship between managerial ownership and the extent of voluntary disclosure? Is there any relationship betweenthe family member sitting on the board and the extent of voluntary disclosure? Research Objectives: The main objective of this study is to examine whichamong the variables contribute to voluntary disclosure and which attributes drive management toward increase disclosure levels. Specifically, the objectives of this study are listed below: To examine whether level of profitability affect the extent of voluntary disclosure of companies in Jordan. To examine whether managerial ownership structure affects the extent of voluntary disclosure of companies in Jordan. To examine whether the family member sitting on the board affect the extent of voluntary disclosure of companies in Jordan. Significance of Study: There are many parties will get benefits from this study, corporations, regulators, policy makers, the analytical, andempirical researches.This research will improve their understanding on which corporate governance factors affect the extant of voluntary disclosure and will increase their information about this area via providing additional evidence on corporate governance and disclosure. CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW Since separation of ownership and control is the predominant form of corporate governance, previous studies have investigated the relationship between the corporate governance mechanisms and firms disclosure behaviors. Many different theoretical perspectives and research methods have been employed by a wide range of research questions covering different countries and time periods. For example studies have been done by Chow and Wong-Boren (1987); Penmann (1988), Cooke (1991), Hossain et al. (1994) and Balachandran (2004). 2.1 Corporate governance The prior study mentions that the corporate governance refers to the way companies are directed and controlled. A primary concern is the likelihood of a deviation in the objectives of corporate managers from those of shareholders due to the agency costs involved in monitoring managerial behavior (Berle and Means 1932). Another study also mentions that the quality of corporate disclosures is associated with corporate governance characteristics. According to Bujaki and McConomy (2002), corporate governance has been described as the process and structure used to direct and manage business and affairs of the corporation with the objective of enhancing shareholder value†. Corporate governance has also been defined by the Finance Committee Report (1999) as â€Å"the manner in which firms top officers are being monitored and discipline accordingly with the objective ofenhancing shareholders value†. It is also claimed that â€Å"Corporate governance is the process and structure used to direct and manage the business and affairs of the company towards enhancing business prosperity and corporate accountability with the ultimate objective of realizing long term shareholder value†. Dey (1994) stated that proper corporate governance system can help ensure an effective division of authority among shareholders, the board of directors, and the management. According to recent reports by Newby (2001), investors are increasingly basing their investment decisions on companies corporate governance records and are willing to pay more for shares of well-governed companies compared to those of poorly governed companies. This premium for well-governed companies is explained by the role of corporate governance in a companys overall risk management strategy. 2.2 The agency theory Jensen Meckling (1976) in the agency theory provides a framework linking disclosure behavior to corporate governance. Corporate governance mechanisms are introduced to control the agency problem and ensure that managers act in the interests of shareholders. Theoretically, the impact of internal governance mechanisms on corporate disclosures may be complementary or substitutive. If it is complementary, agency theory predicts that a greater extent of disclosures is expected since the adoption of more governance mechanisms will strengthen the internal control of companies. Further, agency theory provides a framework for analyzing financial reporting incentive between managers and owners. Signaling theory explains why firms have an incentive to report voluntarily to the capital market even if there were no mandatory reporting requirements,and voluntary disclosure is necessary in order to come successfully in the market for risk capital,the ability of the firm to raise capital will be improved if the firm has a good reputation with respect to financial reporting. 2.3 Voluntary disclosure Penmann (1988) stated that financial disclosure could be divided into mandatory and voluntary disclosures. Mandatory disclosure is defined as any financial item disclosed in companies annual reports that are prescribed by accounting standards and or the stock exchange regulations. However, voluntary disclosure is defined as any financial item or data disclosed in annual reports of companies that are not prescribed by the companies act and or accounting standards, and, in addition, for public-listed companies, the stock exchange regulations. Further, Meek, Roberts Gray (1995) defined voluntary disclosures as disclosures in excess of requirements, representing free choices on the part of company managements to provide accounting and other information that deemed relevant to the decision needs of users of annual reports. Many studies have been carried out to explain voluntary information disclosure such as Chow and Wong-Boren (1987); Cooke (1991) Hossain et al. (1994) and so forth in their attempt to determine different levels of disclosures and the association between firms characteristics such as firms size and industry type and the levels of disclosure. In addition, good reporting is expected to lower firms cost of capital because there is less uncertainty in firms that reporting extensively and reliably. Therefore, there is less investments risk and lower required rate of return. According to Welker (1995), managers are not likely to withhold information for their own benefits under an intensive-monitoring environment, because this could lead to improvement in disclosure comprehensiveness and quality of financial statements. On the other hand, if the relationship is substitutive, companies will not provide more disclosures for more governance mechanisms since one corporate governance mechanism may substitute one another. If information asymmetry in a firm can be reduced because of the existing internal monitoring packages, the need for having additional governance devices is considered smaller. These apparently conflicting viewpoints on the impact of corporate governance have not been totally resolved, in spite of this theoretical ambiguity. Companies that perform well have a strong incentive to report their operating results. Competitive pressures would also force companies to report even though they did not have good results. Silence of a failure to report would be reinterpreted it as bad news. Companies with bad news would be motivated to report their results in order to avoid being suspected of having poor result. Such a situation would also force bad news firms to disclose results in order to maintain credibility in the capital market. 2.4 The reasons for voluntary disclosure Management of companies provides voluntary items in their annual reports because they perceived those items as important to be disclosed. Management wants to give information to users through annual reports in such a way that they are capable of meeting various needs of users for decision-making. There are various user groups of annual reports and each group has different perception regarding the voluntary items. One group may perceive item A as more important than item B. These differing perceptions among groups might be caused by different information needs to fulfill their specific purposes. Through annual reports, users can obtain more firms information relating to their decision-making. Although there are many sources of information regarding business entity, an annual report is considered the most important and valued source of information Vergoosen (1993). With regard to reasons why companies disclose voluntary items, theory suggests that many of the reasons why managements disclose items voluntarily to users are centered on the need to raise capital at the lowest possible cost (Cooke 1989). The following explanations may support reasons why companies disclose information voluntarily: Additional disclosures may help to attract new shareholders thereby helping to maintain a healthy demand for shares. Additional disclosure by providing more information relating to the present and future condition of firms wealth in order to build an image that may generate goodwill for future benefits (Iqbal et al 1997) Increased information may assist in reducing informational risk, which could lower the cost of capital. For the purpose of raising capital on the market, companies may increase their voluntary disclosure in annual reports. Consequently, listed companies are more likely to have a higher level of disclosure than unlisted companies Multiple listed companies often have an interest in foreign capital markets since foreign operations are often financed by capital (Choi Mueller 1992). Disclosure level might be increased to adapt to local customs to meet the requirements of banks and other suppliers of capital. Listed and multiple listed companies might increase their social responsibility disclosure to demonstrate that they act responsibly (Watts Zimerman 1979). Companies may have attained their status on the securities markets and are able to attract new shareholders for raising fund because they act responsibly (Cooke 1989) Under the capital markets transactions hypothesis, managers who plan on making capital market transactions (i.e., issuing public debt or equity) have incentives to provide voluntary disclosures to reduce information asymmetry between the managers and investors (Healy and Palepu 1995). According to the litigation cost hypothesis, the threat of litigation can encourage firms to increase voluntary disclosure (Skinner 1994). Table 1: Summary of previous studies examining Firm characteristics and the level of voluntary disclosure Year of study Author Country Variables used Result 1987 Chow and Wong Boren Mexico Firm size, financial leverage, and assets in place. The extent of voluntary disclosure is significantly related to firm size but not to firm leverage and assets in place. 1991 Cooke Japan Company size, Stock market listing, and industry types. Size was the single most important variable in explaining variation in voluntary disclosure. Stock market listing was also found to be a significant predictor, and manufacturing firms were found to disclose more information that other types. 1994 Hossain et al. Malaysia Firm size, ownership structure, foreign listing status, leverage, assets in place, and size of audit firm. Firm size, ownership structure, foreign listing status is statistically related to the level of information voluntarily disclosed by publicly traded companies. In contrast, leverage, assets in place and size of audit firm do not appear to be important factors in explaining voluntary disclosure by firms. 2001 Ho, Wong Hong Kong independent directors, voluntary audit committee, dominant personalities, family members on the board, voluntary disclosure The results indicate that the existence of an audit committee is significantly and positively related to the extent of voluntary disclosure, while the percentage of family members on the board is negatively related to the extent of voluntary disclosure. 2004 Balachandran Malaysia Voluntary disclosure, CEO duality and the proportion of independent directors on the board and on audit committees He found that CEO duality is associated with lower levels of voluntary corporate disclosures. It was also found a positive relationship between the proportion of independent non-executive directors on both the board and the audit committee to the extent of voluntary corporate disclosure. CHAPTER 3 HYPOTHESIS DEVELOPMENT 3.0 Introduction Upon existing academic literature several determinants explain why a firm may provide more information voluntarily than mandatory. Different theories such as agency theory, signaling theory, political cost theory, capital needs theory and so forth have also been used to explain those voluntary disclosures This chapter covers the theoretical framework, the hypotheses, the model specification and measurements of variables, disclosure index development and finally this chapter presents the model of the study. 3.1 Variables and framework 3.1.1 Profitability (Foster 1986) suggests that profitable, will managed firms have incentives do distinguish themselves from less profitable firms in order to raise capital on the best available terms by providing voluntary disclosures. Managers are motivated to disclose more detailed information to support the continuities of their positions and remuneration. Therefore, more profitable firms can be expected to disclose more voluntary information. (Haniffa and cooke 2002) find a positive and significant association between the firms profitability and the extent of voluntary discloser. This means that when there is increase in the profitability the voluntary discloser of this firm will increase. Therefore, it is hypothesized that: H1: there is a relationship between companys profitability and the extant of the voluntary disclosure 3.1.2 Managerial ownership ( Jensen and Meckling 1976) mention that agency theory argues that in a diffused ownership environment, firms will disclose more information to reduce agency costs and information asymmetry. In a more concentrated ownership situation, the impact on voluntary disclosure is more complicated. The argument can be made in either direction indicate that since managers pursue their own interest, higher management shareholding would imply a larger sharing of the loss, and ultimately, a lower possibility that management would lower corporate value. Managerial ownership is the percentage of ordinary shares held by the CEO and executive directors, and includes their deemed interests. When managerial ownership falls, outside shareholders will increase monitoring of managers behavior (Jensen and Meckling 1976). To reduce monitoring costs by outside shareholders, the manager will provide voluntary disclosure. Thus, voluntary disclosure is a substitute for monitoring. In addition, a study by (McKinnon and Dalimunthe 1993) found a significant association between ownership structure in diversified Australian companies and voluntary segment disclosure. (Hossain et al 1994) found that the level of disclosure of Malaysian companies is inversely related to the percentage of shares held by the ten most important shareholders. Further, empirical evidence shows that managerial ownership is negatively related to disclosure (Ruland, Tung and George 1990). Hence it is expected that voluntary disclosure increases with decreases in managerial ownership. Therefore it is hypothesized that: H2: There is a relationship between managerial ownership and the extent of voluntary disclosures. 3.1.3 Family member on the board When members of the board own a large number of shares and at the same time they are relatives from one family or a number of families, this may affect the financial disclosure practice of the firm. (Haniffa and Cooke 2002) in their study reported that the percentage of family ownership in any firm may influence the disclosure practice of the firm. It has been suggested that in countries where certain families have equity holdings there should be a little physical separation between those who own and those who manage the capital. (Ho and Wong 2001) mention that, the family control phenomenon is still in existence nowadays. However, it is still not clear to what extent the unique corporate ownership structure would impact the effectiveness of other monitoring devices such as audit committee, independent non-executive directors and CEO duality in determining a firms financial disclosure. Further, they stress that in a family-controlled firm, members of the controlling family would directly participate in the daily management of the firm by appointing themselves as executives and board directors. It is also assumed that every family member owns and votes its shares collectively. In theory, there are potential conflicts between the controlling and non controlling shareholders of a firm due to the formers propensity to extract private benefits through their involvement in the firm and other insider dealings. (Nicholls and Ahmed 1994) argued that capital owners do not have to rely completely on voluntary disclosure to the public to monitor their investments because they have greater access to internal information rather than the general public and stakeholders. This conclusion and findings are based on the idea that since members on the board have more information than external users this will negatively affect the extent of voluntary disclosure. This means that when the family ownership is large the voluntary disclosure of this firm will be less. It is assumed that companies with a family member sitting on the board are more likely to have lower level of voluntary disclosure than otherwise. Therefore, it is hypothesized that: H3: There is relationship between the family member sitting on the board and the extent of voluntary disclosure. 3.1.4 Control Variables From a review of the prior literature on voluntary disclosure, it was decided to include three control variables in the regression model for testing the main hypotheses. The control variables are firm size, leverage, and assets in place. Firstly, Firm size (SIZE): as a view of the association with higher levels of disclosure and firms size, (Firth 1978) who examined the impact of firm size, stock market listing, and auditors presence on voluntary corporate disclosure found that firms size and stock market listing were positively associated with voluntary disclosure. (McNally et al 1982) found that the companys size has significant relationship with the level of voluntary disclosure items. (Hossain et al 1994) found that firm size and Ownership structure of foreign-listing status are statistically related to the level of information voluntarily disclosed by publicly traded companies. Secondly, Assets in place (AIP): In relation to assets in place, (Hossain and Mitraa 2004) in their study examine the assets-in-place in determining the level of voluntary disclosure of data on foreign operations made by US multinational companies. The results indicate that assets-in-place influence the level of voluntary disclosure of data of US multinational companies. In contrast, (Chow and Wong-Boren 1987) examined the effect of proportion of assets in place on the voluntary disclosure. The results have not demonstrated any convincing evidence of any relationships. Thirdly, Leverage (LEVERAGE): the definition of leverage is the degree to which an investor or business is utilizing borrowed money. For companies, leverage is measured by the debt-to-equity ratio, which is calculated by dividing total debt by shareholders equity. The more total debt there is, the greater the financial leverage and the greater the risk of the company falling on its face. For investors, leverage means buying on margin or using derivatives such as options, to enhance return on value without increasing investment. Leveraged investing can be extremely risky because you can lose not only your money but the money you borrowed as well. Voluntary disclosure of information concerning debt fund may allow shareholders and bondholders to make better predictions about the growth, risk and return prospects of companies. Therefore, firms with higher leverage tend to disclose more information than the lower ones. (Cadbury 1995) in his study found that there was a positive associatio n between leverage and the extent of voluntary segment disclosure among New Zealand firms. 3.1.5 Framework Considering all factors of the independents and dependent variables, the model of the study is depicted the following figure. 3.2 Measurement Dependant variable Definition Measurement DSCORE Discloser score Total number of points awarded for voluntary discloser, strategic, non-financial and financial information (coding one â€Å"1† if the company disclose and Zero â€Å"0† otherwise) Independent variables Definition Measurement ROA Profitability Return on Assets MOWN Managerial ownership The proportion of ordinary shares held by the CEO and executive directors ( dividing the directors shares on total shared issued and fully paid) FMB Family member in the board Coding one (1) if there is family ownership and zero (0) otherwise Control variables Size Firm size This variable is measured by the log (base ten) of total assets LEV leverage The ratio of total debt of total equity value of the firm AIP Asset in place The ratio of net book value of fixed assets to total assets 3.3 Disclosure Index There is no agreed theory on the number and selection of items that should be included in a disclosure index. (Cooke and Wallace 1989) argued that the measurement of accounting disclosure is a procedure that has some inherent limitations and subjectivity. To reduce the subjectivity, the literature suggests that the following steps should be taken into consideration when constructing the index (see for example in Hossain et al. 1994). * Review the previous literature to draw a list of voluntary disclosure items. * Check that these items are not required by regulations and eliminate or omit any mandatory items. * Refine the list and get the views of academics and professionals on the items. Disclosure level can be measured in a number of different ways. The commonly used approach has been adopted using a discretionary item scores â€Å"1† if it is disclosed, and â€Å"0† if it is not disclosed. This method of scoring is known as the un-weighted approach based on the assumption that each item of disclosure is equally important. An un-weighted approach has been used in several prior studies like (Wallace 1988) and (Cooke 1989) in their study employ un-weighted disclosure index. (Gul and Leung 2004) reported that the final disclosure list contained 44 discretionary items such as background information, financial performance information and non-financial performance information. The background information includes matters that cover corporate goals, competition, products and markets. On the other hand, performance information includes items such as changes in sales, gross profits and RD expenditures. Furthermore, Non-financial information includes number of employees, and staff training and products segment analysis. For each item in the disclosure index, the company receives a score of ‘‘1 if it voluntarily discloses information on the item and ‘‘0 if otherwise. Furthermore, In (Balachandran 2004) study, he measures the disclosure score index that comprises the consideration of 66 discretionary items. He mentions that the study used approximately 60% of the discretionary items as used in the previously detailed studies. Further, (HO and WONG 2001), in their study measured also the reported disclosure by using a relative disclosure index. It was derived by first compiling a comprehensive list of voluntary disclosure items that companies may provide in their annual reports in Hong Kong. The index consists of total 20 items of most important that disclosed in annual report. However, in the present study, the extent of voluntary disclosure was measured by using a disclosure index which contains of items that disclosed in the annual report.For each item in the disclosure index, a company receives a score of ‘‘1 if it is voluntarily disclosed information on the items and ‘‘0 for otherwise. 3.4 Data Collection This research will use secondary data obtained from the annual reports of all the Jordanian companies. 3.5 Sample Selection The sample for this thesis is all Jordanian companies which are listed on Amman Stock Exchange; therefore the sample includes ninety three companies and covers the period 2002-2007. 3.6 Data Analysis: 3.6.1 The Descriptive Statistics This descriptive study produced the mean, minimum, maximum and standard deviation for each variable for Jordanian companies during 2002-2007. 3.6.2 The Correlation of variables This study shows how one variable is related to another. The results of this analysis represent the nature, direction and significant of the correlation of the variables used in this study and the correlation between variables is analyzed by using

Epic of Beowulf Essay - Ambiguous Allegories and Imperfect Symbols

Ambiguous Allegories and Imperfect Symbols in Beowulf   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Though Beowulf contains apocalyptic elements from beginning to end, perhaps the most important apocalyptic element of Beowulf is the poet's historicizing of the biblical monsters in his characterization of Grendel, his mother, and the dragon. Of course, the many ambiguities found in Beowulf is the source of considerable confusion. For instance, on the one hand, early in the poem we read that the Danes in their dire necessity pray at heathen temples, invoking the devil for aid: "Such was their custom, the hope of the heathens; they thought of hell in their hearts; they knew not the Lord, the Judge of deeds, they knew not the Lord God, nor could they praise the Protector of the Heavens, the Ruler of Glory" (Beowulf: 175-188). On the other hand, Hrothgar and Wealhtheow constantly pray to the Christian God, whom they are supposed not to know, according to the lines cited above! In Beowulf and in the Book of Apocalypse, identity between symbols and realiti es, between allegories and their significations is ambiguous and imperfect. A few scholars have pointed out eschatological elements in the poem. John D. Niles writes: "Although God's final judgment of humankind is affirmed by only a few verses (977b-979, 3069a, perhaps 2741a and 3083b), the prospect of judgment is implicitly present throughout the poem. Similarly, the reality of Christ's incarnation is also implicit--in fact, it is never mentioned" (192). The last things are alluded to in Beowulf's seeking out "the judgment of the righteous," (2820), in Scyld's going "into the Lord's keeping" (27b), in Hrethel's finding God's light (2469-70), and in Heremod's, Unferth's, and Grendel's suffering torments in hel... ...duction. Cambridge: Univ. Press, 1967. Collins, John J. "Apocalyptic Literature," Harper's biblical Dictionary, ed. Paul J. Achtmeier. San Francisco: Harper, 1985. Emmerson, Richard K. and Bernard McGinn. The Apocalypse in the Middle Ages. Ithaca: Cornell, 1992. Garmonsway, et. al. Beowulf and Its Analogues. New York: Dutton, 1971. Gang, T. M. "Approaches to Beowulf." RES 3 (1952):.6-12. Gildas. De Excidio Britanniae in Wade-Evans, A. W. , trans. Nennius' History of Britons. London: Methuen, 1938. Goldsmith, Margaret. "The Christian Theme of Beowulf." Medium Aevum 29 (1960): 81-101. Green, Martin. "Man, Time, and Apocalypse in The Wanderer, The Seafarer, and Beowulf," JEGP 74 (1975): 502-518. Hieatt, Constance B. "Envelope Patterns and the Structure of Beowulf," English Studies in Canada 1 (1975): 249-265.   

India Under Nehru View

India has always been considered as a mysterious world with wide variety of interesting traditional values that was created all along the history line of India, from the big and complex things like philosophy schools of India to the daily’s things like the lamp in Diwali festival. So what has made India the way it is now with the blooming yet mysterious beauty from the richness in its culture? Well, here is a saying from the former Minister of India – Sir JAWAHARLAL NEHRU – to show the idea of Indian personality or India in general: She was like some ancient palimpsest on which layer upon layer of thought and reverie had been inscribed, and yet no succeeding layer had completely hidden or erased what had been written previously. All of these had existed in our conscious or subconscious selves, though we may not have been aware of them. And they have gone to build up the complex mysterious personality of India. † The meaning of this saying is that Nehru want ed to imply the idea of a complex yet so unified India in which everything from culture, living style to artistic structures was created in an unending process of both preservation and evolution at the same time.The way the Indian created their flourished culture has deeply showed the Indian personality who always try to maintain the traditional beauty in the evolution progress. They had built up the whole Indian culture based on the traditional values from thousands years ago without once trying to get rid of the old fundamental values of their grand and grand fathers, yet they known how to achieved the new things and balanced them between the old and the new so that now we can trace back the trail of the thousands years old civilizations through everything in Indian people’s daily life.After thousands years, India culture has now become richer in range wise and structure wise. We can see the richness in cultural values and the Indian has done a good job in advancing the Ind ia culture to be so flourished and full of colors from the very traditional base of their ancestors culture. The most common thing that people tend to think about India personality or India in general is that the life of Indian people is very rich in religious activities and it had played a big role in their life, also in their mind we can clearly see the strong affects of traditional value like Vedas or Upanishad.If we look inside those old literatures closely, we can find innumerable of evidences that can prove the uniquely richness in traditional values and also it can show the two paralleled processes of preserving and advancing, which is the personality of India that Nehru had stated. Here is some piece of my mind about Indian literature along the history to prove the statement of Sir. Jawaharlal Nehru. In every branch or various sections of literature from fiction, drama, biography, poetry, drama, novels, short stories and literary criticism, Indian literature has a tremendous variety to offer.Nearly every major Indian language has a rich tradition of literature. The earliest works of Indian literature were orally transmitted. Sanskrit literature begins with the Vedas collections of sacred hymns dating to the period 1500–1200 BCE. Those earliest works like the Vedas or Upanishads were composed to be sung or recited and were transmitted for many generations before being written down. Since almost all of the earliest works of ancient India literature were all orally transmitted so we can’t find the exactly time of those brilliant works in the timeline of India history.The earliest records of a text may be later by several centuries than the date of its composition. After this time from around 200 BC to around 11 AD, Sanskrit literature went through a secular phase. A major development during the secular period was the introduction of drama, with the early dramas set in historical epic tales. During the first through fifth centuries, South Ind ia's literature was primarily secular and written in Tamil, not Sanskrit, with the main topics being war and love.Following this period was a time of change for southern literature, with the tradition changing to bhakti (devotional) literature that in subsequent centuries eventually spread northward. All in all, the giant India literature was big in size and contents, and the number of literature works of India is like stars in the sky along the timeline of India history. This has shown how big and complex of the Indian literature. There was such a wide variety in types and styles of composing, from poems to verses, oral literature to written works but we can still see the unity in them with the main theme and color being India traditional mind and soul.Since the religious and Vedic culture had such tremendous impact on Indian culture and I must say those traditional elements were deeply engraved in every Indian people’s mind, so it’s no surprising to know that the maj or topic of Indian literature is about religious deities and philosophy. And much more later the ancient period of oral literature, the tradition of picking the idea from stories or myths in Vedas or the great Mahabharata to compose bhakti poems and literatures was very noticeable.This tradition was slowed down since the domination of British in India, which had bring major changes in the styles and topics of literature. It seemed like with the invasion of British culture or the Western in general, India’s literature had faced big challenge to preserve the traditional colors in their works yet somehow the India factor was still strongly presented. So we can conclude that along the timeline of India’s history, never once the traditional culture had failed to exist in every literature work, with time went by India literature was advanced bit by bit, yet it still maintained the main flow of tradition culture.It was indeed diversity in unity. The history of Indian literatu re dated back to 1500AD or more since the existence of the first ever literature work of India, which name was Rig Veda – the first and most important part of the famous Vedas. Rig Veda was composed in Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism. The Sanskrit word veda â€Å"knowledge, wisdom† is derived from the root vid- â€Å"to know†, that’s why the scholars called the Vedas the sacred books of knowledge.The Vedas can be considered an encyclopedia of ancient India and it gave many tips about how the life of ancient people would be like. With it giant length, it’s such an amazing thing to know that the Vedas were actually orally transmitted through centuries. And along with the Vedas, other ancient literatures were also preserved by oral way. This is why the literary tradition in India is primarily oral literature in vernacular languages. It was in the 6th century that an extensive written literature appeared.Through such a long period of time, the oral literature of ancient India has been successfully passed down to the next generations by using rhythmic recitation and thus the whole giant walls of text that we know nowadays are almost exactly the same to the one from approximately one thousands and five hundreds years before Christ. This has show how strong and effective of the preservation progress of Indian, they didn’t just let all the literatures to be in vain because of having no writing system to store it, ancient Indian had found a way by using oral literature to preserve the world’s longest literature work that is totally unbelievable!The Vedas were the all time topic for other writers to compose their own works that related to it like Puranas and Itihasas which explained myths in the Vedas to the mass Indian. From the original Vedas to the vast number of many branches that were expanded through years to explain or improve all the know ledge of Vedas. We can clearly see the broadening of the Vedas and its branches by many writers. They did not just make a whole new literature works out of nowhere but they based their works on the root of Vedas and its knowledge then added their own creativeness.The main themes of Indian literature were mostly about religious stories or myths with Brahmanism deities (and later Hinduism). Many epics dealt with Vedas stories and they always contained the spirit of Vedas’ principles. Noticeable evidences that we can find in India literature about this characteristic are Mahabharata, Ramayana from the early Sanskrit literatures and many Bhakti poems in the medieval period. Mahabharata and Ramayana are the longest literatures size wise in the world, those epics were the all time favorite of every Indian people.Mahabharata itself was an improved version of the originally 8,800 verses literature named Jaya which was composed by Krsna Dvaipayana Vyasa, later this version was enlarge d to 24,000 verses namely Bharata by Vaisampayana and then it became the giant version Mahabharata version which was written by Ugrasravas with up to 100,000 verses. This enlargement of the Mahabharata epic has shown that Indian literature had undergone many improvements through years and those advances had somehow made Indian literature become rich in content and complex in structure.Not only the expand of old literatures since the Vedic age, the tradition of Bhakti is also very noticeable in term of the common theme about deities. Bhakti (or a personal devotion to a god) usually was composed in poems to show their respectful attitude to a god. Many of the Bhakti poems told stories or just shown Indian’s praising to their gods from Vedas or epics like Mahabharata and Ramayana. That’s why Indian literature was so big in size and varied in style. On another note, we can find many translated versions of the epics or myths in a wide variety of languages all over India.For an example, Jagannath Das wrote an Oriya version of the Bhagavata and Tuncattu Eruttacchan, the so-called father of Malayalam literature, wrote recensions of traditional literature. Much traditional Indian literature is derived in theme and form not only from Sanskrit literature but from the Buddhist and Jain texts written in the Pali language and the other Prakrits (medieval dialects of Sanskrit). This has shown how effective of the persevering process in India since many literature works were not only available in its original language but also in many more languages.This process had somehow helped spread the traditional values to all other areas in India and maybe other places out side of India too. So, all we can conclude here is that in term of preserving and advancing of the traditional values, Indian has maintained their own colorful literature and culture through many obstacles in history. I must say Indian was worth being called the ocean of knowledge and mysterious myths! After being through many centuries of improving and preserving, Indian literature has grown giant with such a wide variety of themes and styles, yet it still possessed the unity in variety.And to top of it all, through analyzing Indian literature to prove my point of view of Sir Nehru’s saying, I’ve realized that India has such a unique charm that no other country can possess, that is the ability of keeping the thousands years old traditional culture’s values and indigenous spirit in every aspect of Indian’s daily life without any cracks even though many new things were accepted in the culture during the history’s timeline. No wonder, Indian literature and Indian culture in general had such an attracting charm to everyone who ever had a chance to know about it.

Interest groups in the U.S. politics Essay

The United States is a democratic country, which supports non-violent political and social movements, seeking different improvements in the U. S. domestic and international policies. That is to say, the requirements of interest groups are not always met, because whereas various types of interest groups are acknowledged, there still exist those factions, which have narrow social base and whose political presentation is limited in scope, as a rule, to financial interests of their members. For instance, the sugar lobbies (such as SIG) represent the opinion of 10, 000 -15,000 farmers, who call for the restriction of import of sugar and for the special social programs for sugar farmers. Such factions are usually intended as those with narrow interests and their founders and members lobby these interests in special moments and periods, when the atmosphere becomes more conductive for promotion –for instance, when they find out that the imported sugar does not fir into the international quality standards, or before the elections (Elhauge, 2002). Special interest groups are usually distinguished from â€Å"constituency-representing organizations, which have a broad social base, address a wide range of issues, and balance members’ interests with a strong commitment to the commonwealth† (Etzioni, 1990, p. 172). These organizations might pursue such non-financial interests as those related to social status, value issues in addition to financial ones, for instance the Urban League represents the interests of urban residents and seek environmental, social and political changes in large cities. â€Å"While the public views interest groups as threatening pluralistic democracy, the conventional wisdom of political science has seen them as beneficial† (ibid). In fact, it is possible to assume from the present situation, that the most beneficial activity is related to the constituency-representation. Furthermore, special interest groups are likely to bring problems to larger factions, due to dynamic interactions between political parties, movements and non-profit organizations. Small factions pursuing narrow goals are also more likely to use ‘black PR’ technologies, directed to changing public attitudes towards certain political parties and either to increase or to decrease loyalty rates. On the other hand, the eradication of small ‘narrowly-specialized’ factions is neither possible nor useful, as the statement that competing factions (Mcwilliams, 1988) are likely to reduce each other, is valid only for small groups, whose interests are temporary. On the contrary, constituency-representing organizations are more likely to produce long-term programs including political, economic, social and cultural dimensions of human life. â€Å"The balance between interest groups and the shared polity is maintained most effectively when the pro-community forces rise up, but not higher than, the level they are able to contain but not suppress interest groups† (Mcwilliams, 1988, A9). Moreover, the role of factions is viewed in the context of the historical development of the United States. Over the last three decades, the American political institutions have become less integrated, and the power of factions has increased. On the other hand, due to the growth of their number, it is much more difficult nowadays to maintain the balance between the main political course and the consent between the state and narrower interest groups (Etzioni, 1990). It would be also important to mention the functions of interest groups. First of all they serve as a supplementary force that intensifies the public opinion representation, especially during the electoral process. Moreover, they make the political process more receptive comparing to the electoral process, which is intended as a domination of majorities, while factions are more likely to have goals, which are cohesive with the main wishes of social and national minorities; and thus they serve as a mediating force standing between the person and the state. Interest groups are known to improve the disproportionate separation of the legislative and the executive branches, because their propositions of legislative changes are logically supplemented by similar propositions for the executive branch. Another important cultural function is associated with the growth of political consciousness and political culture as well as the amount of political information in media, which represents a number of standpoints. At all times interest groups and political parties served an indicator of public consciousness and diversity as well as intensified political antagonism, especially in the most critical periods: for instance, during the Vietnamese military invasion, Carter’s position were actually weakened by interest groups, including the most peaceful youth movements, dissatisfied with the resolution of Iranian hostage crisis. As a rule, interest groups arise in the most conductive atmosphere (liberal or democratic regime), in which human rights and freedoms are declared. Political, economic and social factions can originate from professional unions or leagues (like social workers’ professional organization), which seek to represent the opinions of their professional group or their customers’ viewpoint (for instance, social workers nowadays initiate law enforcement and the adoption of certain legal acts as well as get directly involved in lobbyist activities). The discontent with government policies is another important recondition for the arousal of an interest group: political activity is actually determined by the existing economic and social policies, so it’s easy to predict, for instance, the activation of industrial unions, when under the pressure of ecological groups, the U. S. government or certain local authorities put additional taxation on enterprises, dealing with toxic substances or with oil and natural gas. It is also important to note that interest groups will exist as long as the democratic system exists, because it is impossible to satisfy the needs of the whole society with respect to its diversity. Consequently, those concerns, which have already been satisfied, are likely to be replaced by new demands. This means, human needs are immeasurable and never-ending, whereas material resources are limited, so the U. S. government today can provide only partial gratification of political claims. Furthermore, the issue of representation is also quite contradictory: on the one hand, the growth of diversity among political parties signifies positive dynamics in this sense, on the other hand, due to the increase of public consciousness, the diversity in worldviews has grown disproportionably to the number of existing factions, so that even small groups (families, local communities) seek social or economic support, but in this case we cannot speak about true representation, since their influence is insufficient to initiate the changes at legislative or executive levels. The representation of each citizen’s interests is a utopia, as at the present time only large (more than 100,000 members) interest groups can achieve representation, can be heard, if speaking figuratively. Furthermore, it is important to note that the complete representation is inhibited by the demands of the epoch, to which self-respecting factions are supposed to adjust. For instance, the ISN movement, whose leaders several years ago (in 2000-2001) called for the changes in the U. S.immigration policy and were representing the viewpoints of national and ethnic minorities, who live and work in the country (Elhauge, 2002), has changed its directions and now are trying to create more constructive basis for the U. S. foreign policy. On the one hand, it is associated with the events of September 11, which were close followed by the violations of Muslim minorities’ human rights. On the other hand, political changes forced this faction to make a more profound inquiry into the current state of affairs and to find the most acute concerns of the society. Similar dynamics can be noticed in a number of special and constituency-representing interest groups which removed irrelevant concerns and posed new questions, such as those related to women’s rights, ethnic minorities’ human rights, social security and intellectual property. As one can assume, certain interests remain overlooked or underrepresented, whereas the most ‘fashionable’ sociopolitical trends (gender equality) are overstated and therefore prioritized. Works cited 1) Elhauge, E. Does interest group theory justify more intrusive judicial review? Yale Law Journal, 2002, Vol. 110 2) Etzioni, A. Special interest groups versus constituency representation: Research in social movements. Conflict and Change, 1990, Vol. 8. 3) Mcwilliams, R. The best and the worst of public interest groups; from lifting up the poor to shaking down the elderly, Washington Monthly, March 1988, Vol. 20.

renaissance essays

renaissance essays The Protestant Reformation and the Counter-Reformation were two very important events in European history. They are a vital part of the Renaissance. They signify the point at which the power of the church dimineshes and the power of the monarchs increases. The Protestant Reformation began with Martin Luther. Martin Luther had once been a monk for the Church, but, after leanring about the way indulgences were practiced in the Church (particularly practiced by Tetzel), he wrote 95 statements about indulgences and posted them at a local church. He had assumed that the Church would accept these statements. Unfortunatly for the Church, the statements were not accepted. By not accepting Luther's teachings, the Church had inadvertantly encouraged its own decline. Since they did not kill Luther immediatly, he was able to spread his "heresy," and, by the time the Church realized how large a threat he was, it was too late. Luther had, in the 1520's started Lutherinism conflicted directly with the Church. It said that only two sacraments were necessary: baptism and communion. This reduced would reduce the power of Lutheran ministers and also save peasants money. This encouraged peasant converts. This also encouraged lords and princes to convert. They would convert to sieze the holdings of the Church in their lands and also to gian power over the new religion. Instead of the Church controlling the officials, the officials controlled the (Lutheran) Church. Lutherinism also stressed intent. He said that, for God to forgive a person, the person would have to feel real regret, instead of iust paying a fine. Luther also stated that, for a person to have good credited to their soul, they would have to have a good intent, not just a fear of Hell. I believe that these facts were unimportant to converts compared to the facts that Luther had defined Lutherinsim much better that the Church had ...

buy custom Business and Management Final Assessment essay

buy custom Business and Management Final Assessment essay Netflix is a major company in the popular Silicon Valley. Netflix offers its subscribers with the internet movie streaming and the traditional DVDs by the mail services. It is evident that the company is very popular. This is because by April, 2011 it had more than 23 million subscribers. This growth by Netflix has been witnessed, despite the magnitude of criticism that the company has endured over the years. It was initiated in the market in 1997, and gained its market share because of its superior movie services it offered to its customers. The incorporation of new technology was fundamental to this revolution in the market, but the management knew that after its videos streaming service had gained the required market share and all the technicalities had been fixed, it would shrink. Therefore, the company had a long run plan that would cushion it against this vagary. That is, the company would split its movie services into internet streaming videos and DVD rental services via email . This study, therefore, aims at evaluating the effects of Netflixs corporate decision on its profit margins, market share, SWOT analysis and BCG analysis to determine its performance in terms of growth and market share retention. Immediate Effect of the Decision to Split the Movie Services In 2011, the company founder and chief executive officer Mr. Hasting announced this split. However, this decision, despite warning from a few of his corporate managers, resulted in the companys subscribers revolting against it, and they closed their accounts. It is evident that the company lost more than 800,000 subscribers in the third quarter of the companys fiscal year (Wingfield Stelter, 1). This decision turned out to be disastrous for the company. The announcement by the management on the fall in the number of subscribers made the companys stock to plummet resulting in more than 25% downturn in companys stock trading on the regular basis at the New York stock exchange. This demanded that something should be done. Netflix chief executive officer had to apologize to the public three weeks after the decision to split its services had been made, and he decided to reverse it (Wingfield Stelter 1). The company had also decided to increase its prices from $10 a month subscription fee for the combination of the video stream and the DVDs to $16 a month for the same. This increase was necessitated by the need to caution itself against the increase in the amount of money that was being spent on licensing for more materials for its video streaming service. Mr. Hasting had defended this decision by citing that the companys customers were fast moving into the future, in which the internet would serve as the media that people would watch their favorite TV shows nd new movies (OBrien, Jeffery 1). This new medium was more advantageous, as it would offer them instant viewing. This new trend in the market was the driving force for the companys decision to split its services as the mailed DVD service had already peaked. The company had recorded in the first quarter of its 2011 fiscal year that there was a decline in the DVD shipment, and this trend has been increasing year after year. Therefore, Netflix had to change and incorporate the internet movie streaming as its major service in the market (Ho and Ramamurthi 1). However, it is evident that its initial decision to split its services was hasty, and it had irked its customers. It is evident that the companys chief executive officer was not fully aware as to whether the company had carried out an effective customer focus study that was expected to evaluate, how the public would have received the radical changes that the company was implementing (Wingfield Stelter, 2). In a nutshell, Netflix had not taken in to consideration the emotions people attached to the periodic DVD delivery packages they received, despite the fact that they at times did not watch those movies. They had not consulted with the customers, like many companies based in the Silicon Valley. Netflix had over relied on its analytical data-driven decision-making process that evidently cannot quantify emotions of the customers. Therefore, there was a need for the company to slow its decision-making process, so that it would give room for all relevant stakeholders to express their o pinion on the rooming changes at the company. This approach will ensure that the decisions made were holistic, and they took into consideration all the premiums proposed (Wingfield Stelter 1). However, it should be noted that Netflix future depended on this split, and implementation of this strategy was crucial. This is because the subset of the DVD rental services of the company products would shrink, as technology would continue playing the more pivotal role of re-insurrecting the market. Downloading and streaming would dominate the market, but Netflixs drastic decision to incorporate it would not aid well its evolution to be the greatest company in the digital entertainment. This decision required correct and cautious implementation (Lamb, Hair and McDaniel 58). Netflixs SWOT Analysis Strengths Netflix market entry timing was superb. This is because there were fewer competitors. This enabled it to establish its brand name as a unique service provider. This well-timed entry in the market has allowed it to maintain a high market share. Leading online market share for the movie reentals Its services have a low fixed cost It provides its customers with free rented DVD shipping and postage services It has the largest DVD selection catalogue in the world Netflix boasts of an award winning website Weaknesses Netflixs primary disability to fully satisfy the rush customer demand for a movie after its release Netflixs rent by email service has some delays and it may take days for a movie to get to a particular customer. This creates room for customers dissatisfaction, as their mood to watch that particular movie could change before it gets to him or her. Netflix faces strong suppliers Netflix faces volatile performance from particular movies The studios that produce those movies are the only ones who can determine the release date of a movie, even when it is most anticipated in the market Opportunities Netflix has the potential to expand its services to the global market Threats Studios can form an alliance against it It can easily lose its goodwill It faces the risk of malware It has the potential of being obsolete within a limited time, due to the rapid growth in technology Netflixs Growth Market Share The above diagram shows that Netflix has maintained a high market share, and its growth has continued tremendously. This high performance in both facets of the market can be articulated to its aggressive marketing strategy and networking campaign. This is eminent for the companys strategic policies of splitting its services into two. This is because the management was able to forecast the demand patterns of its customers, despite the initial pitfall of its announcement on implementing these changes in its service delivery (Boone and Kurtz 22). It is evident that the reception of the changes that Netflix had implemented had negative impacts on its customers, and consequently, the market forces. This is the reason why its shares plummeted. However, it is evident that the companys business model had been drafted to enable it thrive in the movie service industry. This is because the development of new technology that complemented video services was necessitating the acquisition of the video streaming formats that would become popular with its customers. Therefore, Netflix had to incorporate these transitions to ultimately be in the position of being the ideal digital entertainment company in the globe. This splitting was fundamental in attaining this ideal. Buy custom Business and Management Final Assessment essay

Abstract Health Care

MIS 6324 Business Intelligence Dr. Syam Menon Term Project SUBMITTED BY : Group 6 Swetha, Priya, Ram, Vishal, Madan Business Intelligence in Health Care Management The  health  care system is more complex than most people know. Its business model is different from most  businesses  in that its consumers dont usually come willingly. That, plus not getting paid what they bill, hurts cash flow makes health care a shaky business. With uncertain revenue, costs not entirely within their control, and regulatory issues, health care management problems arent always easy to fix. Forward-thinking healthcare organizations realize that data and, thus, business intelligence (BI) is at the center of informed and precise decision-making that will improve patient and service outcomes in addition to ensuring their organizations’ future. This paper gives an insight into which business intelligence tools are currently being used in healthcare and their effectiveness in terms of sustaining the businesses of those organizations that use these tools. The paper also deals with common problems faced while implementing these techniques to patients’ data and ways to overcome problems. Outdated information management strategies and invalid statistics cause serious problems in investigating health outcomes and negotiating reimbursements. Predictive modeling, however, goes beyond standard regression techniques, expanding advanced analytical options for better, faster decision making. Predictive models use a variety of tools to deliver more accurate, long-range views of treatments and costs. Also there are many new reporting technologies designed to improve the productivity of business analysts and preserve information consistency throughout an organization. These analytical tools, the advantages vs. problems during implementation and their ability to shape the future of healthcare industry are focus of this paper.

Be an Anthropologist Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Be an Anthropologist - Essay Example Physical anthropologists concentrate on anatomical and physiological structures of human beings with a major focus on their stages of growth and development. Question 2 Evolution refers to changes in inherited characteristics of biological populations from one generation to the other. The process of evolution leads to diversities in successive levels of biological organizations in species, individual organisms and life molecules such as proteins and Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). Existing variations and patterns exhibited by bio diversity are believed to be shaped by gradual processes of speciation and extinction. Charles Darwin formulated a scientific argument for evolutionary theory through natural selection. Natural selection enables the genetic mutations that enhance reproduction to maintain commonality in successive generations of a population. Evolution occurs through changes in heritable characteristics of organisms (Bergstrom & Dugatkin, 2012). Evolution influences all aspects of behavior and forms of organisms such as character traits and physical adaptations through natural selection. Question 3 Physical anthropologists primarily study fossils of earlier organisms. Past species left records of their evolutionary history. Fossils constitute the morphological and anatomical records that physical anthropologists compare to discover lineages of the species. ... Question 4 The physical anthropologist selects resources, including the notebook, guides for identifying fossils and textbooks of paleontology. The second step is collecting of fossils from geologic formation from where the anthropologist can access. The anthropologist should select fossils from known or unquestionable sources since they are reliable. These fossils are considered reliable because the environmental contexts from which they originate from are known (Steckley, 2011). The anthropologist should examine the selected fossils carefully using lenses and take notes. The third step involves using field guides to investigate taxonomic identification and scientific classification of the fossils, including their kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus and species. The anthropologist then labels the sketches using the guides and textbooks. The anthropologist studies the geologic map of the area where the fossil is found in order to determine the formation and geologic period f or the geologic deposit. The anthologist then studies the paleaolecology and paleaoenvironment in which the organism of the fossil lived (Steckley, 2011). The final stage of studying the fossil involves summarizing the fossil’s analysis based on observations and research. Question 5 Source (in-texed above) Question 6 The source above deals with the study of jawbones in identifying the evolutionary processes. The book has presents the process of evolution beginning from four billion years, although only a few photographs of jawbones are available for viewing (Duranti, 2010). The introduction of the book defines physical anthropology within

Information System Analysis (Case study) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Information System Analysis (Case study) - Essay Example I will present the main system modeling design and overview. For this purpose I will use UML diagrams like that class diagram, data flow diagram, Context diagram, Use Case diagram. I will also present the detailed analysis of the system Decision Tree. The Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD) will be main components of the system designing and modeling. The system of GB Manufacturing is going to computerize the overall system working and management of tasks. The aim of new system is to present the better system handling and management of employees and equipment. This new system will computerize the whole record of the tracking and maintenance of workers equipment and check in and check out. Here we will develop a main system databases that will record the system working and transaction. This database will store the data regarding the employees, their check in, check out, equipment and tools they take and skills. The main reason behind this system development is to computerize the overall working and tracking. This will reduce the working load and enhance the power of the workers and mangers to the effectively mange the project and working. This section will discuss the main components of the new system. These components will work as unit to mange the whole system working and tracking. This system will compose of following main components: I have accessed the above system working areas and found that these aspects are the main system modules those will perform main functionalize. The system will be a centralized system that will handle the working transaction and schedules of the employees working. Here we will pay attention on better modeling of the system scheduling aspect because this is the main working functionality of this system. In this section of the user modeling I will present the main system’s Context diagram that will demonstrate the working and behavior of the existing physical system. Then I will discuss about the 0 level

Recent new york history with short essay format questions Assignment

Recent new york history with short essay format questions - Assignment Example the inefficiencies within the governments, as well as introduced reform coalitions and invented â€Å"methods of mobilizing public opinion† through â€Å"muck racking, celebrity picket line, forcing of an official witness-calling investigation, launching of a referendum campaign,† and poring over the city planner or commission government’s outputs (Rodgers, â€Å"Atlantic Crossings† 52; Thelen 1885 qtd. in Rodgers, â€Å"In Search of Progressivism† 117). Progressivism caused a lot of civil-focused reforms via the amendment of the Constitution; these reforms covered or created the personal income tax, Federal Reserve, antitrust laws, immigration-restrictions and food regulation (Leonard 207). A significant highlight of progressivism in New York City is its participation in the reformation of prostitution in the Tammany Hall. A published report, which linked â€Å"Tammany Hall with police-protected brothels,† paved the way to â€Å"redefine† policies that caused the proliferation of prostitution (Engs 76). In an incumbent party’s view, the Progressives took its opportunity to strike whenever government inefficiencies are spotted. Exploiting government flaws through reform proposals is a foolproof idea to firmly root the Progressive Party in New York. The only drawback of this movement is the simultaneous reforms’ sustainable capacity; with all the reformation occurring, there may be not enough people to watch its effectivity. Consequently, feedback is not captured to be incorporated to reform-improvements. The fiscal crisis in New York consisted of the primary and secondary cause. While the primary cause is considered the root cause, the secondary causes were government responses to the primary cause. The primary cause was the â€Å"city’s exaggerated forecast of real estate revenue collections† (Fuchs 56). This forecast left the city with significant deficits. However, instead of cutting spending, the government resorted to short-term borrowing (Fuchs 56).

Corrections Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Corrections - Essay Example On the other hand, some people are always released on parole after serving a part of their terms in prison. During parole and probation, offenders are required to abstain from committing similar offences while at the same time meeting certain prescribed conditions. It is usually the duty of correctional treatment specialists, parole officers and probation officers to monitor offenders and help them keep out of new crimes for as long as they are in their custodies. Such setups are often known as diversion programs. Some students may wish to play an integral role in protecting the country against criminals or by preventing criminals from committing other crimes. It is upon this very fact that my address is going to be based. In other words, I am going to discuss about the role of diversion, and the career path to a profession in this field. Diversion programs in criminal justice systems of different states are mainly run by district attorney’s offices, courts, police departments, or by agencies. The programs are aimed at enabling criminal offenders avoid being charged by law courts as well as having their names appearing on criminal records. In other words, diversion programs are a better alternative to police and court involvement, and in some cases, where these institutions are involved, to avoid further prosecution. Theoretically, diversionary tactics have a strong background. One Tannenbaum’s in 1938 regarded the application of formal court procedures against juveniles and minor offenders as the â€Å"dramatization of evil†. In 1963, a sociologist by the name Becker noted that labeling some acts as deviant and therefore treating their committers as outsiders in some cases did more harm to the offenders and society in general than the good that they intended to fulfill. Yet again, in 1951, one Lemert made certain classic statements about the assigning of labels to offenders

Peter ducker Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Peter ducker - Essay Example Management can survive only through superior competence and continually improving performance. Drucker has emphasized the importance of role of management not only in business but also on political state of affairs of many countries. He asserted that only management can help most of the countries to come out of their economic and/or political struggle and build their economies. Drucker’s seven key elements, as described by Hutton and Holbeche, (Drucker, 2007a) that influenced organisational thinking and practice to a large extent include, scientific management as the key to productivity; decentralization as the basic principle of organisation; personnel management as the orderly way of fitting people into organisation structures; manager development to provide for needs of tomorrow; managerial accounting for use of analysis and information as the foundation for firm decision-making; marketing; and long-range planning (Drucker, 2007b). Drucker’s philosophy of management was based on five basic principles: setting objectives, organising, motivating and communicating, establishing measurements of performance, and developing people and self. Drucker refers to these principles as manager’s responsibilities. However, some of these principles have been criticized by others. For example, Parkinson argued that some of Drucker’s principles are vague and others are still to be defined. He also felt that Drucker’s ignorance of a specific issue/problem seems greater than his knowledge. Some of leading management theories of the 20th century contributed by Drucker include, management by objectives; putting the customer first; the role of chief executive in corporate strategy, and structure follows strategy. Drucker proposed the theory of the business, in which he contended the fact that businesses are run on a

Consumer Analysis of new video game store in London Ontario Research Paper

Consumer Analysis of new video game store in London Ontario - Research Paper Example ormation as age, income, and gender characteristics, while behavioral analysis provides some patterns of behavior common for the targeted audience (Acsbdc.org, n.d.). According to the Statistics published by the government of Canada, the population of London census metropolitan area, Ontario in 2011 was 474,790. The percentage of children aged between 0 to 14 comprised 16,6%, the working age population - 68,4%, and the percentage of the population aged 65 and over – 15,0% (Statistics Canada). Population by sex category is divided into male and female, whereas there are 229,950 males and 244,840 females. Below are presented visual illustrations of both age and sex distribution. Behavioral analysis of the customer is also knows as a psychographic profile which is applied for identifying and evaluating the factors influencing consumers’ choice. Thus, in a given case study, behavioral analysis should be used in order to analyze the reasons why customers make decision to buy products at Push Star versus the products sold in other locations (Acsbdc.org, n.d.). There were identified four major factors, including the following: price, store location and accessibility, assortment and availability of new games. Price is essential for users of video games. This factor is critical as with the development of Internet technology and accessibility of free online platforms make video games less competitive on the market. Convenience and accessibility of the store also will play an important role in the inflow of potential consumers. Assortment of the video games and other relevant products also will have impact on the consumers’ behavior. The greater the ra nge of video games is offered the greater customer’s loyalty will be. Availability of newly issued video games will also influence customer’s choice of the video game’s retailer. This group is the largest demographic for rental services. Customers of this age are more focused on rentals from the traditional rental

Peter ducker Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Peter ducker - Essay Example Management can survive only through superior competence and continually improving performance. Drucker has emphasized the importance of role of management not only in business but also on political state of affairs of many countries. He asserted that only management can help most of the countries to come out of their economic and/or political struggle and build their economies. Drucker’s seven key elements, as described by Hutton and Holbeche, (Drucker, 2007a) that influenced organisational thinking and practice to a large extent include, scientific management as the key to productivity; decentralization as the basic principle of organisation; personnel management as the orderly way of fitting people into organisation structures; manager development to provide for needs of tomorrow; managerial accounting for use of analysis and information as the foundation for firm decision-making; marketing; and long-range planning (Drucker, 2007b). Drucker’s philosophy of management was based on five basic principles: setting objectives, organising, motivating and communicating, establishing measurements of performance, and developing people and self. Drucker refers to these principles as manager’s responsibilities. However, some of these principles have been criticized by others. For example, Parkinson argued that some of Drucker’s principles are vague and others are still to be defined. He also felt that Drucker’s ignorance of a specific issue/problem seems greater than his knowledge. Some of leading management theories of the 20th century contributed by Drucker include, management by objectives; putting the customer first; the role of chief executive in corporate strategy, and structure follows strategy. Drucker proposed the theory of the business, in which he contended the fact that businesses are run on a

Geo-Political and Economic Organization of Asean Essay Example for Free

Geo-Political and Economic Organization of Asean Essay The Association of Southeast Asian Nations is a geo-political and economic organization of ten countries located in Southeast Asia, which was formed on 8 August 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Since then, membership has expanded to include Brunei, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. Its aims include accelerating economic growth, social progress, and cultural development among its members, protection of regional peace and stability, and opportunities for member countries to discuss differences peacefully. ASEAN has emphasized regional cooperation in the â€Å"three pillars†, which are security, sociocultural integration, and economic integration. The regional grouping has made the most progress in economic integration by creating an ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by 2015. AEC envisages the following key characteristics: (a) a single market and production base, (b) a highly competitive economic region, (c) a region of equitable economic development, and (d) a region fully integrated into the global economy. The implementation of AEC is able to boost economic returns of countries in ASEAN due to cooperative and collaborative as a group could have generated a larger overall pool of benefits to be distributed among than countries than each will ultimately achieve by working on its own. But nevertheless in my opinion, Thailand will be of great concerns to many businesses in the region when AEC is established. Thailand possess in an advantageous geographical position which is located at the strategic center position in ASEAN, foreign companies be obliged to set up a solid foundation for the base material storage and product distribution to export their products to the countries in ASEAN if they are intend to establish market in ASEAN. Other than that, open economy policy of Thailand is closely integrated in the AEC blueprint. Thus it can be seen, Thailand’s markets will be benefit most among the countries in ASEAN when it come into effect in 2015. According to a news report on Thailand newspaper World Journal, also known as Chinese Daily News, a sense of urgency is palpable in enterprises all type and in virtually every industry in Thailand since AEC will be organize soon. A number of listed companies adjusting corporate business strategies and formulating an aggressiveness marketing program are being stepped up without cease in order to meet the new challenges and opportunities that will be  occur after two or three years. Managing director of TICON (Ticon Industrial Connection Public Company Limited), Mr. Virapan Pulges indicated that TICON had already the corporate strategies to cope with the regional economic integration by 2015, focus on the greatly increasing future demand of distribution center and warehouses facilities in Thailand. The Chief Executive Officer of CMO (Creative Management Organization), Sermkhun Kunawong revealed that convention and exhibition industries will be enormously benefit from the establish of AEC because the convention and exhibition industries in Thailand are occupied leading level among ASEAN countries. CMO planned to gain further insight into related convention and exhibition industries regulation of other countries in Asian in order to seek business opportunities and establish close contact with logistic industries in Asian countries. Chairman of the board of DRT (Diamond Roofing Tiles Public Company Limited), Prakit Prathipasen mentioned that his company always maintains their products export to Vietnam and Cambodia, but they will expand their export markets to Malaysia and Indonesia from now on, they planned to set up a warehousing distribution center at Changwat Surat Thani, Thailand to aiming at above markets. The presidents of MFEC (MFEC Public Company Limited), Siriwat Vongjarukorn stated that Information and Technology industries will benefit from establish of AEC. The implementation of open and liberal investment policies and actively encourage inward investment will extremely intensify markets competitive in ASEAN. Company must pay close attention in adjusting corporate strategies, increasing competitive advantages and implement performance evaluation on a more concrete form, herein attract the investment that is in favor of the Information and Technology industries. His company has long been prepared for the establishment of AEC through service integration with various companies to increase competitive advantages and the advantage of fully satisfies known customers’ demand. The new report above let us know about that how the leaders of companies in Thailand deal with the change. Four of them accept the inevitability of change and recognize changes as potential of sources of energy and self-renewal, they develop effective management skills that help organization move towards something better. They shared a common vision of  responsibilities and economy opportunities for their companies and countries, an idolized goal has been created by them to seize the opportunities for expand their markets and try to maximized their benefits from the establishment of AEC. That is every appearance that we can almost certain they possess Charismatic Leadership- they have a vision, they are willing to take personal risks to achieve that vision, they are sensitive to follower needs, and they exhibit behavior that are out of the ordinary. The Key characteristics of charismatic leadership that they possess are: 1. Vision and articulation- They has the clear visions that proposes a future better than the status quo and is able to clarify the importance of the vision in terms that are understandable to others. They planned and implementing the new corporate strategies to meet the establishment of AEC by 2015 and they has a good idea how the strategies can benefit their companies and countries. 2. Personal risk- They willing to take on high personal risk, incur high costs, and engage in self-sacrifice to achieve the vision. According to their narrations, their new corporate strategies involve high costs to build large infrastructure facilities within or outside their country for large scale productions, they has to take on the responsibilities and possibilities of failure at their own risk. 3. Sensitivity to follower needs- They are perceptive of others’ abilities and responsive to their needs and feelings. Due to their company involve in large scale capitals and productions, they must appoint some qualified person to important positions. 4. Unconventional behavior- They engage in behaviors that are perceived as novel and counter to norms. They being as successful leaders will never assumed that if they could just keep things running on a steady without changing and vision, their companies would be successful. AEC is an international collaboration project among ASEAN countries, good workers or followers will be an essential part if the companies endeavor to obtain benefits and advantages from the project. Followers of charismatic leaders have higher task performance, task performance, and adjustment to the leader and to the group than did followers who worked under groups led by noncharismatic leaders. There are four-step process shows that how do  charismatic leaders influence followers. 1. Articulate a vision- It begins by the leader articulating an appealing vision. A vision is a long-term strategy for how to attain a goal or goals. The vision provides a sense of continuity for followers by linking the present with a better future for the organization. The leaders share their vision with followers about the steps to attain goals in future through AEC by 2015. 2. Create a vision statement- A vision is incomplete unless it has an accompanying vision statement. A vision statement is a formal articulation of an organization’s vision or mission. Charismatic leader may use vision statement to imprint on followers an overarching goal and purpose. Once a vision and vision statement are established, the leader then communicates high performance expectations and expresses confidence that followers can attain them. This enhances follower self-esteem and self-confidence. Leaders create framework for all their strategic planning that will apply to entity companies to meet the goals. 3. Create a new set of values- The leader conveys a new set of values and through words and actions by his or her behavior, set an example to followers to imitate. Charismatic leaders were more effective because their employees personally identified with the leaders. Finally, the charismatic leader engages in emotion-inducing and often unconventional behavior to demonstrate courage and convictions about the vision. There is an emotional contagion in charismatic leadership whereby followers â€Å"catch† the emotions their leader is conveying. As I have mentioned at above, AEC is an international collaboration project among ASEAN countries, so leaders should create a new values that can apply to ASEAN countries instead of old values that are relate only with a country. 4. Demonstrate the vision- Because the vision is such a critical component of charismatic leadership, we should clarify exactly what we mean by the term, identify specific qualities of an effective vision, and offer some examples. Leaders implement the visions with their followers to achieve the goals. According to the other news report of Thailand newspaper World Journal, Department of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Commerce held a round table meeting with regard to tourism recently, discussed the opportunities and development  in tourist industry after Thailand join AEC by 2015. The round table meeting invited the Ministry of Tourism and Sport, relevant departments and travel agencies to participate in discussion. Head of Foreign Trade Department indicate that the integration of ASEAN will mainly reflect the effect in investment and mobility of human resource after the establishment of AEC. By that time, Thailand will see further competitive in tourism markets from other ASEAN countries. Therefore, Thailand is critical to maintain and increase its own competitiveness to adapt to the markets and create great development progress. After the discussion in round table meeting, the methods were considered as effectiveness in increasing competitiveness of tourist industries of Thailand included: 1. Unify the standardization of tourism service, adopt international standard progressively to guild and measure. 2. Train employees with systematically, instill professional knowledge to them and also let them learn to master foreign language. 3. Formulate trade standard, avoid price war break out. 4. Establish good relationship with other ASEAN countries. 5. Create stricter law and legislation, crack down on illegal activities related to tourist industries. Moreover, the round table meeting believed that short term and long term plans should be formulate to guide travel agencies solve their problems in order to accelerated development and faces the competitive from ASIAN countries positively. We can address the foregoing changes of Ministry of Commerce, Thailand as an international and goal-oriented activity, we can also described the scenario as planned change. Essentially there are two goals in planned change. First, it seeks to improve the ability of the organization or industry to adapt to changes in its environment. Second, it seeks to change employee behavior. If an organization or industry is to survive, it must respond to changes in its environment. When competitors introduce new products or services, government agencies enact new laws, important sources of supplies go out of business,  or similar environmental changes take place, the organization or industry needs to adapt. Efforts to stimulate innovation, empower employees, and introduce work teams are examples of planned-change activities directed at responding to changes in the environment. Because an organization or industrys success or failure is essentially due to the things that its employees do or fail to do, planned change also is concerned with changing the behavior of individuals and groups within the organization. In the above case, Ministry of commerce improves the competitiveness and abilities of tourist industries in Thailand and train employees to improve their qualities to face the changes brought by AEC, like the increase of competitors are fully consistent with planned change. Change agents are responsible for managing change activities, change agents can be managers or nonmanagers, current employees of an organization, newly hired employees, or outside consultants, but the Ministry of Commerce, travel agencies and employees of tourist industries are the change agents in this case. However, when people are confronted with change, resistance to change appears to be natural and positive state. One of the well-documented findings from studies of individual and organizational behavior is that organizations and their members resist change. One recent study showed that even when employees are shown data that they need to change, they latch onto whatever data they can find that suggests they are alright and dont need to change. Our egos are fragile, and we often see change as threatening. In order to avoid continue walking in the old steps and seclude oneself, seven tactics have been suggested for use by change agents in dealing with resistance to change: 1. Education and Communication- Resistance can be reduced through communicating with employees to help them see the logic of a change. Communication can reduce resistance on two levels. First, it fights the effects of misinformation and poor communication. Second, communication can be helpful in â€Å"selling† the need for change. The changes are most effective if Minister of Commerce communicate its rationale balancing various participants’ interest versus a rationale based on minister or heads of  department’s interest only. 2. Participation- Its difficult for individuals to resist a change decision in which they participated. Prior to making a change, those opposed can be brought into the decision process. Assuming that the participants have the expertise to make a meaningful contribution, their involvement can reduce resistance, obtain commitment, and increase the quality of the change decision. Therefore, Minister of Commerce should invite participations f rom various industries that are related to tourist industries to increase the success rate of changes. 3. Building Support and Commitment- Change agents can offer a range of supportive efforts to reduce resistance. When employees fear and anxiety are high, employee counseling and therapy, new-skills training, or a short paid leave or absence may facilitate adjustment. Research on middle managers has shown that when managers or employees have low emotional commitment to change, they favor the status quo and resist it. So firing up employees can also help them emotionally commit to the change rather than embrace the status quo. Minister of Commerce should fully support all of the participants by effort and money due to they are same sided and share same purposes to benefit their countries and industries. 4. Implementing Changes Fairly- Try as managers might to have employees see change positively, most workers tend to react negatively. Most people simply dont like change. But one way organizations can minimize the negative impact of change, even when employees frame it as a negative, is to makes sure the change is implemented fairly. Procedural fairness becomes especially important when employees perceive an outcome as negative, so when implementing changes, its crucial that organizations bend over backwards to make sure employees see the reason for the change, and perceive that the changes are being implemented consistently and fairly. Technical support and financial support allocate by Minister of Commerce to participants must be absolutely fair and free of discrimination or bias. 5. Manipulation and Cooptation- Manipulation refers to covert influence attempts. Twisting and distorting facts to make them appear more attractive, withholding undesirable information, and creating false rumors to get employees to accept a change are all examples of manipulation. Cooptation, on the other hand, is a form of both manipulation and participation. It seeks to â€Å"buy off† the leaders of a resistance group by giving them a key role in the  change decision. The leaders’ advice is sought, not to seek a better decision, but to get their endorsement. Ministry of Commerce can conceal the fact that will be against by participants in order to cooperative production. This method is not recommended to change agents unless there are left with no choice, because the tactics can backfire if the targets become aware they are being trick or used. 6. Selecting People Who Accept Change- Research suggests that the ability to easily accept and adapt to change is related to personality. It appears that people who adjust best to change are those who are open to experience, take a positive attitude toward change, are willing to take risks, and are flexible in their behavior. Ministry of Commerce should select participants who are positive self-concept and high risk tolerance because they are coped better with change. 7. Coercion- Coercion is the application of direct threats or force on the resisters. The examples of coercion are threats of transfer, loss of promotions, negative performance evaluations, and a poor letter of recommendation. This method can use to be directed against participants who are not follow instructions or rules that made by Ministry of Commerce. No discussion of resistance to change would be complete without a brief mention of the politics of change because change invariably threaten and the status quo, it inherently implies political activity. In the frame of ASEAN Economic Community, enterprises need to the notion of operation and management to get the best of the achievement of free flow system from essential productive factors. Companies should convert to from the operation strategies that confines only to domestic markets transnational operation though establish relationship with business partners in the area of ASEAN. The most important thing is to put the pressure on formulate a new business planning for strives to adapt the changes and committed to the new business opportunities. The establishment of AEC is expected to create bigger markets for products of Thailand, at the same time, companies of Thailand should examine themselves if they are brace to become a member of AEC while speed up with enhance comprehensive strength. Most of the ASEAN countries are not fully prepare to meet AEC, there are still some disadvantages in various directions for Thailand, especially the  political situation of Thailand not showing any specific development route, some corporation are still lack of related knowledge result in not fully prepare of relevant plans. For this purpose, Thailand should make full use of advantages and rational utilization of resources to increase competitiveness to differentiates their superiority with other ASEAN countries for the in coming of establishment of AEC by 2015. References Aseansec.org (2007) ASEANWEB ASEAN Economic Community. [online] Available at: http://www.aseansec.org/18757.htm [Accessed: 1 Oct 2012]. Chinaasean.org (2005) Ministry of Commerce of Thailand Appeal Tourist Industries to Increase Competitiveness. [online] Available at: http://www.chinaasean.org/html/report/1259802-1.htm [Accessed: 1 Oct 2012]. En.wikipedia.org (1967) Association of Southeast Asian Nations Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASEAN#From_CEPT_to_AEC [Accessed: 1 Oct 2012]. ROBBINS, S. and JUDGE, T. (2010) Organizational Behavior. 13th ed. Prentice Hall, p.447-450,654-659. News.sina.com.tw (1996) Thailand Listed Company Adjust Strategies to Meet AEC [online] Available at: http://news.sina.com.tw/article/20120626/7156145.html [Accessed: 1 Oct 2012].