Annotated Bibliography (PHI 445) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Annotated Bibliography (PHI 445) - Essay Example In essence, this study is highly effective because it begins to show the human cost to corruption, more than just a financial one. Bishara, N. (2011). Governance and corruption constraints in the Middle East: Overcoming the business ethics glass ceiling. American Business Law Journal, 48(2), 227-283. This is an in-depth study that analyzes the way corruption in many areas of business in Middle East has impacted the ability of small and medium-sized family businesses from growing too large. The author is a Middle Eastern business expert and has a unique spin on the glass ceiling. Taking a commonly used sociological term, Bishara spins that to demonstrate how certain types and sizes of business operating in the Middle East encounter a glass ceiling upon growing too big and quickly discover how corruption prevents them from growing even more, and limits their economic ability. He does this be talking about various issues related to corruption, including bribery and exploitation, and how this limits the continued development and expansion of small to medium sized enterprises. The glass ceiling, then, prevents the ethically minded firm from truly growing as an organization. Chauncey, M., and Jude, R. (2010). Daily practice: Ethics in Leadership. Contemporary Issues in Education Research, 3(7), 19. Chanucy and Jude are focused on educating future business leaders, and current managers in the field, about the importance for teaching ethics in school. They focus on the reality that many universities and colleges around the country tout their own ethics, yet they often fail in their attempts to educate future leaders about the importance of creating an ethical and honest business environment when they move into the professional world. This is the first of a series of studies aimed at illustrating the importance of ethics in leadership and provides the reader with some great information about what concepts to employ moving forward. Hansen, H. (2011). Managing corruption risks. Review of International Political Economy, 18(2), 251-275. In this study, rather than simply focusing on the effects of corruption, Hansen goes further to provide the reader with specific measure that they can implement to shield themselves from the risks of corruption. His focus is on Western companies who are looking to expand internationally. There are obviously risks in making this step, many of which involve how to navigate the business landscape in the host country. By minimizing the risks of corruption from the outset, the company can limit potential losses down the road. He proposes certain networks that need to be established, prior to entering a foreign market, in order to limit the possibility that corruption will become a necessity. The article is quite in-depth and would be a great inclusion to the library of any executive tasked with the responsibility of navigating international business markets. Johnson, V. (2012). Higher education, corruption, and reform. Con temporary Readings in Law and Social Justice, 4(1), 478. This study by Johnson takes another unique look at corruption by put into context of higher education. Many individuals understand that corruption exists in higher education around the world, but many fail to focus

Logical fallacies in an editorial (editorial rebuttel) Essay

Logical fallacies in an editorial (editorial rebuttel) - Essay Example Since the authors name is not disclosed, the views expressed therein can be attributed to the Editorial Board of USA Today. In the immediate aftermath of the catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the Obama Adminstration issued a moratorium banning all drilling activity in the region for the next six months. This meant that all 33 oil rigs in the Gulf will remain idle, along with tens of thousands of oil-rig workers. The moratorium elicited mixed reactions from different sections of society and body politic. The republicans accuse President Obama of pandering to the insecurities and fears of the masses, whereas public opinion is fairly supportive of this decision. The editorials central argument is that the moratorium is too arbitrary a measure; and that the Obama Adminstration could have drawn up more specific set of criteria for the reopening of rigs. The author goes one step ahead and enlists three specific criterions for the eventual reopening of rigs. These are: â€Å"Is it safe to drill?, Is there a credible plan for plugging a blowout?, and Is the industry capable of cleaning up a catastrophic spill?†. He further explains the rationale behind these questions. To this extent there seems to be no editorial bias one way or the other. Major newspapers in the United States are classified as either liberal or conservative; and it appears that the author takes up neither position in the article. Hence it is easy to come to the conclusion that the editorial is not ideologically slanted, and that it espouses neither the right-wing nor the left-wing perspective. But a closer examination reveals more fundamental deficiencies. Beneath the veneer of being objective and critical, one could detect the soft stance toward major oil corporations. Given the sheer scale of the oil-spill catastrophe, one would expect a

The Zara Business Plan Marketing Essay

The Zara Business Plan Marketing Essay Zara offers the latest trends in international fashion in an environment of thought-out design. Its stores, located in the main commercial areas of cities across Europe, America and Asia, offer fashion inspired in the tastes, wishes and lifestyles of todays men and women. Zara moves at the pace of society, fashion ideas, and trends that society itself has natured. Hence its success among people, cultures and generations that, in spite of their differences, share a special sensitivity for fashion. Due to the growing of the clothing industry and the enormous unmet need in the market in the Puget Sound, we see the long-term expansion and potential of Zara throughout the Northwest. We are visionaries who see Zara as an extreme financial launch. By achieving its sales targets, Zara will position itself for exceptional profitability and self-funded growth. With our plans of Zaras expansion in South Centre Mall, our plan is to generate revenues of $7,094,763 by 2008. Management of Zara is seeking an investment of $800,000 in addition to the $150,000 already invested by the founders. Proceeds will be reinvested into the expansion of Zara into new markets and products. Purpose Approach The purpose in business is to maintain the responsiveness to the changing trends in consumer tastes through creating new designs fast that are suitable for all customers at an affordable price. In the ongoing expansion process we have decided to move into the Puget Sound Region because of the many advantages that could be exploited. We have considered several elements that we have learned throughout the semester and applied them in our decision making process. Worth of ZARA We have created a payroll chart for the just the four owners that will be our only staff, which the profit is divided evenly for all four owner. Accounting for the identifiable logo and the cost of operations our acquisition proposal would be $#######. This figure is derived from our analysis, where we multiplied our average monthly sales figure by eight percent because we included the branding of Zara and it helps us minimize our risk by not overspending. The total cost of revenue for the first year of opening is estimated at $350,000.00. Estimate Business Cycle Comparative Statement Current Assets Current Liability Working Capital Long Term Liability Zara Income Statement Lease (including Insurance and other Expense) Operating Expense Tax for cost of revenue Total Expense Payroll Hourly Wage Hours Gross Pay Tax Managers / Owner (4) N/A 4,160 Yearly Total Balance Sheet Asset Cash AR Inventory Equipment Three departments Men Æ’Â   Son Women Æ’Â   Ashley Children Æ’Â   Justin Open Shift Æ’Â   Justin Closing Shift Æ’Â   Huy Three Sunday unless holiday or event We agree on that we as the owner are the only worker in our newly franchise Zara store. Cost distributes Lenders Suppliers Government -Assumption 8.8%- How much inventory needed? Starting Inventory Number of Employee South Center Mall Mall hours 10:00 am 9:30 pm Monday to Saturday 11:00 am 7:00 pm Sunday 80 hours open per week 52 weeks in a year 80 X 52 = 4160 hours open in a year 2467.56 X 12 = 29610.72 / 4160 = 7.12 transaction per hour Price of Space $27.76 per square feet Size of space 4000 square feet 4000 X $27.76 = $111,040.00 $111,040 / 45 = 2467.56 transaction Price Range per Item $35.00 to $79.00 Asset 640 item on displace and for sale Piece $8.00 Mark-up $2.08 $10.08 Mark-up 26% Children Selling Price $35.00 $57.00 $79.00 Mark-up $9.00 $15.00 $29.54 Cogs $44.10 $71.82 $99.54 Total Cogs $215.46 Revenue $171.00 Profit 45 Contract Specifies All included Utilities Water / Sewage / Garbage Insurance $111,040 X 12 = $1,332,480 rent per year Bank of America Available for amounts up to $100,000 Provides a one-time lump sum with fixed monthly payments Quick approval process Lets you borrow without using your business or personal assets as collateral Competitive, fixed rate of interest Maximum term up to 5 years Set the stage for the success of your practice. 100% practice financing plus working capital available Buyer/Seller referral network Demographic site analysis Fixed and variable rates with terms up to 15 years Deferred, graduated, and interest-only payment plans available Combined practice and real estate loans available Financing for equipment, cabinetry, and office furniture, fixtures, and supplies Financing for renovations and construction Financing can include architecture, design, and management consulting fees All terms and features subject to credit approval. Some restrictions apply. Zara Operations To be successful in providing high quality products to all of our customers at a price that is affordable we selected our locations based on the locations that are similar to those of other Zara stores. Our strategy is to move from city to city while continuing the business practices used by Zara and implementing information technology. Our preference in location is derived from the closeness to the entertainment, financial institutions, art museums, and upscale restaurants. This preference allows us to reach numerous customers because it would be located in areas that people will either drive or walk passed. While receiving the attention provided by our friendly personable salespeople, customers will enjoy our in-store coffee shop and the ambiance that is created by our interior designers. We intend to utilize information technology to flatten the hierarchical structure of management, thus, granting our employees more decision-making power and responsibility. Exploiting information technology through implementation of TPS and DSS will enable us to organize information that can be used to improve the decision-making quality. Customers could use our online store to receive reminders of birthdays and other holidays, so that they can send gifts as well as getting the news on the new styles to be release in the near future. We have created our website with the goal of making it east to use, therefore, allowing customers to participate in sales promotions as well as providing feedback on products. They could also view the feedback of other customers. The website can also be customized to fit the customers shopping behaviors. (pp. 295) Future Potential of ZARA This business has a lot of potential. We could possibly incorporate different marketing strategies although the one used has proven to be successful. Zara could also develop an online website. Through the online store we will sell our products and do some pre-marketing of new products before they are released in addition to collecting consumer responses about the products. Another potential factor that we have considered is to open discount stores that would allow the business to sell the surpluses in inventory. This will enable us to become more efficient. The areas we have chosen for the location of our stores are downtown Seattle, Bellevue Square, and the South Center Mall in Tukwila. These areas fit the needs of surrounding businesses, our staff members, the seasonal shoppers, and the vacationing tourists. The selected areas also offer a wide variety of restaurants, tourist attractions, and entertainment, which could prove to be an advantage. (pp. 331-332) Zara Investment Recommendations Considering the risks involved of opening a business, we are confident about the future profitability, so we highly recommend the purchase of Zara. We are confident about our recommendation because we would be entering into a franchise that has maintained its success, opened its retail stores in great locations, and utilized the products of the research and development in our business practices. These actions translate into great potential for profitability because many of the practices have already been proven to be effective. Another advantage could be created by the implementation of information technology that will improve processes and performance amongst internal customers. Looking at the future potential of the business allows us to be confident in our decision as we embrace the expansion of Zara into the Puget Sound region.

Sanitation and Housing Conditions Alexandria, Virginia Essay -- Urban

Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia and is recognized as one of the best places to live and do business on the east coast. The city’s urban planning showcases the city’s vibrant, diverse, historic, and unique neighborhoods. Urban planning began there in the 19th Century. Urban populations rose drastically, and a host of problems came with it: unsanitary conditions, overcrowding, and corruption of government. Economic depressions promoted a climate of social unrest, violence, labor strikes, and disease (Rose, 1997). In the beginning of the 19th century, development of American cities often took a compact, mixed-use form, reminiscent of that found in places like old town Alexandria. By the early 20th century, the focus was on the geography of water supplies, sewage disposal, and urban transportation (Virginia Places, 2010). This paper will discuss the city’s historical and current sanitation program and housing accommodations for sewage disposal. Before the 19th Century, sewage disposal was virtually unknown until the first American cities were built around the 1700’s. Human waste was originally disposed of in the woods, but some wealthy Virginians built large houses and used chamber pots to "do their business" indoors, and the contents would be thrown into the back yard. Later, as towns developed, waste was tossed into the streets to decompose or be washed away in the rainstorms (Virginia Places, 2010). Privies or outhouses were also built in back yards and were commonly used to dispose of waste. Toilets, also known as â€Å"water closets,† were put into homes in the mid 19th Century in the United States. The water closet had indoor plumbing where piping was run through the roof, and a gravity ... ...thier ecology – making the city easier to sustain into the coming years. Works Cited Frederick Law Olmsted (2009). FrederickLawOlmsted.com . Retrieved December 28, 2010, from http://www.fredericklawolmsted.com/Lifeframe.htm History (2010). Alexandria Sanitation Authority (ASA). Retrieved December 28, 2010, from http://www.alexsan.com/ Levy, J.M. (2011). Contemporary Urban Planning (9th ed). Upper Saddle River, NJ Rose, J. K. (1997, November 8). The city beautiful movement. University of Virginia. Retrieved December 28, 2010, from http://xroads.virginia.edu/~cap/citybeautiful/city.html Sewage treatment in Virginia (2010). Virginia Places. Retrieved December 28, 2010, from http://www.virginiaplaces.org/waste/sewer.html Urban planning (2010). World Lingo Translation. Retrieved December 28, 2010, from http://www.worldlingo.com/ma/enwiki/en/Urban_planning

Mac & Cheese Essay

The article â€Å"Why Games are Good for You† by Steven Johnson presents reasons why electronic video games are not harmful. While other people have written and talked about the harms that video games bring to young people. , Steven Johnson argues just the opposite. He says that video games have many benefits including making us smarter. Steven Johnson begins his article by describing what the critics say about video games. First, they are a great waste of time says Dr. Spock. At their worst, they promote violent responses from children. The main argument about video games is that they take away from children reading. Then the author presents the reasons that reading is so good for people. However, the author then says that a lot of the criticism about video games is because they are being judged by old standards by people who believe reading is the main way for children to learn skills. He asks the reader to think of a world where video games came before books. Then he argues that the criticisms of books would look a certain way. The criticisms are the author’s way of showing benefits of video games, like they are three-dimensional, and they have strong visual images and sound. The user uses complex motor skills to navigate them. Also, he shows that the children interact with the games and can control what ha ppens in them. Steven Johnson then shows that the arguments used against books in this made up situation are like the ones used for video games. They do not show the benefits of reading like using the imagination or the shared experience of reading the same story. The arguments against video games are limited also says the author. He says if you compare video games to books, then the games will not be judged well because the two are so different. Next, he talks again about the benefits of reading like concentration and making sense of words and meanings. After showing how reading brings many benefits, he then argues that some of the benefits of readings are found with video games. He says, â€Å"By almost all the standards we use to measure reading’s cognitive benefits—attention, memory, following threads and so on—the nonliterary popular culture has been steadily growing more challenging over the past thirty years† (485). Research is showing in the last few years that people who play video games regularly are gaining important skills. In fact, Steven Johnson argues that â€Å"Increasingly the nonliterary popular culture is honing different mental skills that are just as important as the ones exercised by reading books† (485). He provides examples of why he believes this. Steven Johnson does not agree with critics of video games who believe they are not only a waste of time for children, but can cause harm. Instead, he argues that video games provide many benefits and skills for children including motor skills, interaction with a narrative, a rich landscape of sounds and images and so forth. Other researchers are starting to agree that video games are providing some benefits. Steven Johnson believes that video games should be valued more, but he also suggests that reading is still important. The main point, though, is that parents and others should stop thinking that video games are all bad and appreciate the value they bring to the child.

Lief Liddy

Dear Hiring Manager: My experience as in signal analysis and several other specific forms on intelligence gathering while serving as a liaison between the U.S. Army and the Royal Air Force are simply the beginning of the reasons why I am the perfect candidate for the Intelligence analyst position you are currently advertising. I saw among the qualifications you are seeking is the ability to obtain a Top Secret/SCI with Lifestyle Polygraph security clearance. Why waste the company’s money obtaining that clearance for someone else when I currently possess Top Secret/SCI with CI polygraph clearance?   I have spent the past five years conducting signals intelligence analysis on foreign soil and reporting my findings to high-ranking officials in several governments. My duties have also included assuring that my team maintains compliance and security standards including supervised drug tests. In addition to my on-the-job training that makes me a prime candidate for your position, I am currently a third-year student at the University of Maryland pursuing a bachelor of science in computer and information science. The combined field knowledge and technical training make me ideal for the position. As an added benefit, I have worked in the field for which we will be designing products, giving you the advantage of my first-hand experience. I look forward to the chance to meet with you and discuss how my skills can benefit your company. Thank you for taking the time to review my credentials. The best way to contact me is via email at [email  protected] or [email  protected] Sincerely, Sgt. Lief Liddy U.S. Army

Christmas Tongue Twisters Alliteration Lesson Plan

Christmas Tongue Twisters Alliteration Lesson Plan Everyone knows the popular tongue twister She sells seashells on the sea shore. This Christmas, teach your students about alliteration and let them try and create a few fun holiday tongue twisters of their own. Heres how. Explaining Alliteration Start your lesson by saying the popular tongue twister mentioned above. Then, ask students if they have ever heard of this saying before. Discuss that this play on words is called alliteration, which is a literary element. Ask them if they can guess from your example what alliteration might mean. Try and get students to work towards a definition like this: Alliteration is defined as the repetition of consonants at the beginning of words in any piece of writing. Make sure that students understand that alliterative words do not have to start with same letter or letters but it can be like ( i.e. chilly and silly). You can give students the example below. The pots and pans were Peters prized possessions. Next, have students try and brainstorm some words. Write the letter H on the front board and ask students to try and think of names, place, animals, or food that begins with the same sound of that letter. Let them try and come up with at least five words for each category. Then, as a class try and come up with a tongue twister using the words from the categories. Tongue Twisters Once they have gotten the hang of what alliteration is and how it works, then you can let them loose to try and create festive tongue twisters on their own. Extend the lesson by asking your students to illustrate a tongue twister or two. Let them use a dictionary and/or thesaurus to kick their twisters up to the next level of complexity. Here are a few Christmas tongue twisters to get you started: Crazy kids clamor for candy canes and Christmas cookies.Toy trains travel and toot along the track.Hal had happy holiday holly.Prancer presents pumpkin pies and presents.Chilly children cheer and chant on chilly nights.Santa sings silly songs about sleighs slipping supper fast in the sun.Tiny Tim trims the tallest tree with tons of terrific tinsel.Red-nosed Rudolph romps readily round ruby wreaths.Blitzer bobbles a billion brilliant bells.Santas super sleigh slips so swiftly through the snow.Shiny stars sparkle on silver sleighs.Ten tiny toy soldiers tinker with twenty toy trains.Santas stuffed sack sags and slumps. Edited by: Janelle Cox