Effects Of Cash Drain On The Multiplier Essay Help

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Effects of Cash Drain on the Multiplier
Cash drain effect causes some changes in the multiplier. The net effect brings about a decrease in the multiplier associated with cash drain in the economy. The multiplier has changed from 6.67 to 4.0 (see PowerPoint). This shows that fluctuations associated with the cash drain is one of the possible factors that contributes mainly to the changing the size of the multiplier.
Continuity of Economic Policy
I refute with these claims. This is because the operation of the Federal Reserve is highly monitored, and the president can appoint no more than three governors. Change in the nomination process of these governors would not improve economic policy since there are other checks available to monitor the economy. These include the federal open market committee, open market operations, the use of the discount rate and the Reserve requirements.
Functioning of the Federal Reserve
I support the statement that the role of the Federal Reserve is stabilization of the economy. The primary function of the Federal Reserve is to control inflation. This is in line with the policy of stabilizing the economy. This is part of the Act of the Federal Reserve that was passed in 1913. The Act came up with the National Monetary Commission.
Profits for American Banks
International businesses were increased to enable the reconstruction of Europe following the period of WW I. This enabled the passing of the Edge Act of 1919 by the Congress that allowed banks to engage in the financing of the looming trade. A Real Bill Doctrine was introduced to offer loans to businesses, causing inflationary pressures. The problem of inflation was later streamlined through the increment of the Discount Rate to 7% in the year 1920.

English 101 college essay help near meName:
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English 101
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The listing for qualification into the position of a human resources assistant manager is communication skills, problems solving skills and flexibility. Additional skills stipulated in the cluster include the ability to utilize different computer packages such as Microsoft software applications. According to a college recruiter, the acquisition of the skill is mandatory in facilitating the work of human resource personnel, which entails hiring, and maintenance of the company’s HRIS system and sorting employee benefits.
The frequently requested soft skills for the position above are interpersonal skills, computers skills and problems solving capabilities. The second category of competencies demanded includes computer literacy. As a student intending to occupy a similar position in the future, I possess some of the skills. Nevertheless, I am undertaking studies to augment my competency when it comes to interacting with people from diverse background.
For interpersonal skills, I exude humility in my interactions with people. Considering that I grew up in a cosmopolitan region, I have the advantage of possessing the skills to initiate conversation with employees as a requirement for the task.
For problem-solving skills, the exposure of working in the hotel industry as a waiter sometime back added to my competencies hence the reason I fulfill the requirement.
When it comes to flexibility and the possession of the skills necessary for using computer technologies, I have prior experience of using Microsoft applications and internet programs in facilitating the accomplishment of schools projects. For that reason, I feel the dissemination of information will prove easier since I will leverage the ability with planning skills acquired when studying a business course.
Even though I am good at communicating messages to people, my pursuance of a course in English is an attempt to prepare me for the task adequately. Additionally the analytical capabilities and the flexibility I exude allow me to feel confident in serving such a position after school. As such, I would qualify for the post of a human resource assistant for PNP.
Work Cited
Professionals for Nonprofits. Human resource assistant. College recruiter. College recruiter.com.2015. Sourced from https://www.collegerecruiter.com/job/8422230-human-resources-assistant

The Tobacco Industry scholarship essay helpName:
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The Tobacco Industry
Section 1: Context
The major challenge found in the 21st century is discovering effective strategies to control the powerful influence of the media to truncate tobacco usage. The reason behind this is because; the media has initiated the tobacco use through the television, newspapers, radio and lately through the internet. The internet has made the problem more challenging. The tobacco industry and its control forces are using the internet to influence people’s behaviors and attitudes (Edwards, 216). More than 3000 youths are introduced in the smoking prevalence in a single day.
The rapid growth of the media has brought about the tremendous expansion of tobacco industry and its use. This has therefore influenced the subsequent evolution of tobacco control mechanisms. One can recognize the efforts of the control interventions by viewing the health organizations that are mostly affected by the tobacco smoking. The inventive investigate frameworks have contemporarily advanced the study of tobacco usage together with the mass media at societal, organizational, international and personal level (Flay, 33). This has in turn created the image of how the tobacco advertising and its sponsorship is either influencing or has been influenced by the primary and secondary stakeholders in the tobacco industry (Edwards, 222). The primary and secondary stakeholders comprise of the tobacco farmers, the manufacturers, smokers, distributors, the parents, youths and the government.
The finances used by the tobacco industries in advertising their products are increasing day by day. The media is the most used in promoting and advertising tobacco products. However, the same channel is used to support the control measures. Therefore, the control interventions have formulated anti-tobacco campaigns sponsored by the public health agencies that help in developing control measures (Jiang, Nan and Pamela, 287).
Section 2: What does this mean to my family?
Although smoking is preventable, it is the leading cause of unwanted premature deaths all over the world particularly in countries where tobacco use is unregulated. Alcohol consumption follows up the tobacco smoking, which is also rated as a causative agent of preventable mortalities ( Jiang, Nan and Pamela, 54). Therefore, drinking and smoking are strongly related behaviors. Many smokers are found to be most likely alcoholics who engage in its consumption more frequently. They also consume it in large quantities per drinking episode (Flay, 55).
Advertising the tobacco products has been noted to influence individuals in associating themselves with smoking the products. The use of adverts in the tobacco industry has become more intense since the companies compete for the market. Moreover, the companies diversify their avenues in reaching their consumers to gain competitive advantages over their competitors in the market share. The companies also use sponsorships to gain the attention of the public. The youths and the non-smokers have been the target of the advertisements and the sponsorships (Flay, 97). Moreover, the ads aim at winning the smokers’ loyalty to avoid smoking a particular brand and try to the one being advocated for by the specific promoter.
Parties in societies often benefit from the sponsorships. The parties include schools and community projects. A good example is when an earthquake stroke Sichuan province (Jiang, Nan and Pamela, 105). The Sichuan Tobacco company funded the construction of a school in the area, which was called Sichuan Tobacco Primary School. This shows that the schools existence and the consequent education were pegged on the will of that tobacco company.
Sponsoring community projects by tobacco industries brings about negative social impact. The companies hide the fact that they are building their positive image and attaining their immense profits by posing as channels used in pursuing corporate societal responsibilities. The sponsorship aligns to certain conditions such as allowing the company to put its name or its product brand. This captures the individuals’ attention thus negatively influencing the community as a whole. The real charitable acts should not be profit oriented, and sponsorships should always be done in an acceptable manner.
Messages from the sector of public health prevail in the media surroundings encouraging and educating the young people on the need for avoiding and later quitting smoking habits. In most cases, the people often get information from tobacco industries because the industries have enough finances used in funding adverts and scholarships all over the country. On the contrary, most anti-tobacco activists rarely fund adverts due to their less financial endorsement. This has denied them a larger internet space for their advertisement compared to the tobacco industries.
Looking deeper into this use aired advertisements on the media; one can realize that families are the most affected parties. The young perceives these adverts as a sign of adulthood and self-subsistence (Jha, Prabhat, and Frank, 82). They tend to practice what they see and hear from the advertisements posted on media especially when advertised their role models or heroes such as celebrities. Their urge is to try doing what the heroes do. As a result, they find themselves addicted to smoking. They later influence their peers by boasting how they have followed their heroes’ footsteps.
It, therefore, becomes a big deal for them to get money that can be used to meet their needs of smoking. This is to say that, the addicted young fellows start engaging in criminal activities to fund their use of tobacco (Jha, Prabhat, and Frank, 297). It consequently creates conflicts in and among families. This is a direct adverse effect of adverts about tobacco products but links to sponsorship indirectly. My viewpoint about this issue is that the advertisements and sponsorships received from tobacco industries should be limited in particular places. Sponsorships should only be administered to adults. This is because they are mature people who can be informed about the impacts of tobacco and make the right choices with disregard for the benefits they are going to get from the sponsorships. Furthermore, advertising should also be regulated. The advertiser must give the possible causes attained from smoking of tobacco. By this, the advertisements should balance the equation regarding both the benefits and effects of smoking.
Section 3: What this Means for my Company
Recently, the number of documented evidence on the issues regarding the influence of tobacco use has suddenly increased. As a result, it has led to an increment in liability that almost all tobacco industries sell their products to the youths (Jha, Prabhat, and Frank, 44). It has also been found that these industries mislead the public together with consumers on health risk issues that are presented concerning smoking. Several campaigns have been put in place in different regions of the country, with the aim of exposing the misleading acts presented by these tobacco industries that targets the youths. The campaigns are there to enlighten them on dangerous effects attained by using tobacco products. Their messages are disseminated to the people via the media (Jiang, Nan and Pamela, 167).
American Legacy Foundation is the well-known anti- tobacco foundation that fights against the production and use of tobacco products. The messages conveyed by the campaigns negatively publicize the tobacco products, which gives a hard time for tobacco industries to redeem and maintain their images. The messages also impact on companies’ profitability. Workers in the tobacco companies also find it hard to keep their personal images. They are perceived as enemies who are contributing to the downfall of society by associating themselves with the tobacco industries that are being exposed.
The expectations of managers, workers and consumers are far beyond the aspects of manufacturing and marketing of their products. They wish their products to go further from that. Therefore, the tobacco companies should take the responsibilities for the consequences that their consumers go through after a long period of use. The companies should take the role of enlightening the majority on effects of tobacco (Jha, Prabhat, and Frank, 165). This is the primary benefit that the society can gain from it as opposed to other companies where the stakeholders expect their company to create job opportunities for people in the society (Jiang, Nan and Pamela, 88).
Being an executive in the tobacco industry, I would initiate a product from the social responsible investment company that will enable the society to benefit directly or indirectly from practices of the tobacco industry. This will assist the tobacco industries to overcome the negatively imposed challenges (Wakefield, Melanie et al., 179). For the industry to be seen as ethical, it has to include investors from the non-profit firms. The investors are there to build the sector’s positive image. The tobacco industry will then take part in the roles played by the non-profit organization without gaining any profit. It should also take the initiative of educating people on the risks passed by smoking tobacco (Landman, Anne, Pamela and Stanton, 32). The people opting to smoke will be aware of its effects. By doing this, they will have prevented the fact of being lamented on producing hazardous substances to people.
The tobacco industry should also produce a product that can be used to facilitate quitting for the already addicted people. It means that the ones who wish to stop the habit will have the company’s support by using that particular product. Moreover, the tobacco companies should make sure that their image is improved through the development of effective programs that prevent the youths from smoking. This can comprise of adverts showing smoking as an activity done by adults.
Section 4: What does this Mean to my Country?
The government has a significant role to plays in the tobacco industry. Firstly, the industry contributes significantly to tax and revenue of a country. The tax is then used by the country to cater to the peoples’ needs with disregard to whether the company’s beneficiaries are smokers or non-smokers. However, the government can successfully control or regulate the use of tobacco through the regulation of national policies and legislations (Landman, Anne, Pamela and Stanton, 44). It is supposed to educate its people on the dangerous effects of tobacco use and act by legislating. The government’s interventions and policies are a powerful tool that can make a difference in subsequent health outcomes. The government can also increase the taxation and legislations strictly put across. Together with the strategies from anti-tobacco companies, the tobacco consumption can steadily decrease in many countries that smoking is associated.
The government has the power of banning promotions, advertisements and sponsorship from the tobacco industries with the aim of regulating their marketing and thus the smoking rates of its citizens. It can authorize the tobacco companies to print health warnings on their products. It can also establish specific smoking zones for the few people who smoke. These are some of the ways that the government can regulate the use of tobacco in its country to avoid health expenses.
Section 5: Media Impact
The media is a channel that possibly transmits its messages to the society either through the radio, magazines, internet or newspapers. The messages are easily persuasive. All these channels are a gateways used by tobacco companies together with the anti-tobacco agencies to diminish or encourage smoking. Lately, the internet and text messaging has joined in advertising the tobacco products (Wakefield, Melanie et al., 34).
Mass communication unites communities together around the globe. It is used to magnify the effects of mass media on public health all over the world. It is evidently found that a significant percentage of smokers are found in the most developed countries. This is because, the countries have good communication facilities that allow the tobacco companies to advertise efficiently their products and also reach their targets (Landman, Anne, Pamela and Stanton,2 32). The media’s role of influencing parties such as the policymakers and the public to the consequences of controlling tobacco use is central and dominant in the most developed countries.
The media has joined with anti-tobacco interventions that range from announcements being broadcasted on the mass media, to the tobacco promotions carried out all over the world. It has been paid by anti-tobacco agencies to spread specified information that tends to reduce smoking habits in youths. It is evident that the exposed information by the media about related tobacco issues helps in reducing its use (Wakefield, Melanie et al., 92). This is because, in most cases, a great number of individuals have a belief that information gained from the media is always right rather than the one received from other sources. If the media shuns the usage of tobacco through the bad images it creates to the public, the people join it in preventing the spread of tobacco products.
The contradicting part is that the tobacco industry significantly invested in the media who advertise their products (Landman, Anne, Pamela and Stanton, 32). The adverts are then delivered to their consumers as fast as possible especially when the targets are smokers. The companies have a belief that all smokers have a high self- esteem to choose what is right for them and there is no need for educating them on the consequences of smoking. They think that they cannot be easily swayed by what other people perceive about tobacco products. Therefore, they finance the media to help them in marketing their products. In most cases, movies are used in promoting the use of tobacco products. The films are acted by the celebrities who show off their smoking habits (Thrasher, James et al., 145). This is because the celebrities are held in high esteem by the young people as being their role models. This results in many youths trying to emulate them to look cool amongst peers. Tobacco companies have so many strategies they use via the media to market their products. The advertisements together with the sponsorships enable the companies to sell their products.
On the other hand, the media is of great importance to the government because it is used to air out the policies formulated to control and regulate the use and marketing of tobacco products. Other authorities and agencies use it as a platform of educating the masses of the risks created by using tobacco products. It is then true to say that the media plays a very crucial role in shaping the people’s perception regarding the use of tobacco in many countries (Thrasher, James et al., 45). It can either prevent the tobacco consumers in using the products or encourage more people in joining the addicts in exploiting it.
References
Edwards, Richard. “The problem of tobacco smoking.” Bmj 328.7433 (2004): 217-219. Print.
Flay, Brian R. “Youth tobacco use: risks, patterns, and control.” Nicotine Addiction: Principles and Management 1993 (1993): 365-384. Print.
Jiang, Nan, and Pamela M. Ling. “Reinforcement of smoking and drinking: tobacco marketing strategies linked with alcohol in the United States.” American journal of public health 101.10 (2011): 1942-1954. Print.
Jha, Prabhat, and Frank J. Chaloupka, eds. Curbing the epidemic: governments and the economics of tobacco control. World Bank Publications, 1999.
Landman, Anne, Pamela M. Ling, and Stanton A. Glantz. “Tobacco industry youth smoking prevention programs: protecting the industry and hurting tobacco control.” American journal of public health 92.6 (2002): 917-930. Print.
Thrasher, James F., et al. “The impact of anti-tobacco industry prevention messages in tobacco producing regions: evidence from the US truth® campaign.” Tobacco Control 13.3 (2004): 283-288. Print.
Wakefield, Melanie et al. “Role of the media in influencing trajectories of youth smoking.” Addiction 98.1 (2003): 79-103. Print.
Wipfli, H., and J. M. Samet. “Global economic and health benefits of tobacco control: part 2.” Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics 86.3 (2009): 272-280. Print.

Tsarnaev Brothers custom essay help 
 
 
Tsarnaev Brothers
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Tsarnaev Brothers
Introduction
Two explosions occurred on April 15, 2013, at around 2.49 p.m. while the Boston Marathon was underway. The two explosive devices that caused the explosions were strategically placed where spectators stood to watch runners cross the finish line. Each explosion resulted in the death of at least one person, wounded, burned and maimed some other spectators. Damage was also done to private and public property, including sidewalks, the streets, barriers and goods owned by businesses and people around the center of the explosions. In total, over two hundred and fifty individuals suffered severe injuries, and three people were killed. Following the explosion, the local police, Massachusetts State Police (MSP), FBI and ATF immediately launched an investigation. Camera footages of the marathon from before, during and after the explosions were examined by investigators. Video evidence of suspects believed to be responsible was identified by Federal investigators days into the investigation. In turn, the investigators turned to the general public for help in determining the identities of the unknown suspects. They were identified as Tamerlan Tsarnaev and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. It was ascertained that they were brothers.
This paper focuses more on Tamerlan Tsarnaev as a particular lone wolf individual and traces his “self” indoctrination as a “soldier” for a cause. The article includes historical, ideological, operational and outcome-based evaluation. It further includes a reality-based perspective of the impact of contemporary flows of information on the acquisition of materials and tactics to commit an act of terror. Also, it addresses the potential for this menace to grow and succeed in their stated and unstated goals.
Historical Evaluation
Anzor and Zubeidat Tsarnaev gave birth to their two sons Tamerlan Tsarnaev and Dzhokar Tsarnaev in 1986 and 1993 respectively. While Tarmelan was born in the Middle East republic of Kalmyk, North Caucasus, his brother Dzhokar was born in Kyrgystan though certain reports indicate that Dagestan was his birthplace. It is through their father Anzor that they are half Chechen and through their mother Zubeidat that they are half Avar. The family lived for a while in Makhachkala, Dagestan and Tokmok, Kyrgyzstan. The brothers, however, self-identified as Chechen although they never spent time in Chechnya (McCaul 2014).
In 2002, the Tsarnaev family migrated from Russia and came to the United States where they applied for refugee status. They settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts where Tarmelan Tsarnaev went to college at Bunker Hill Community. He later dropped from college to concentrate in boxing with a target of earning a place in the national Olympic team. On July 15, 2010, Tarmelan married Kathrine Russell, a U.S citizen at Masjid Al Quran Mosque located in the city’s Dorchester section. He is reported to have had a violent past, including one in July 2009 where he was arrested for allegedly assaulting a former girlfriend. Tamerlan has a daughter named Zahira with his wife.
The Tsarnaev family is Muslim, but in the three years before Tarmelan’s death, he is reported to have become more devout to Islam. The FSB (Russian Federal Security Service) is said to have informed the FBI in 2011 that he was getting radicalized. The report further indicted that there was a high chance he would return to Russia to join extremist groups there. The letter by the FSB to FBI also indicated that Tamerlan had previously sought to travel to Palestine but changed his mind because he could not speak Arabic. The FBI was therefore requested to contact Russian authorities if he made any travel arrangements to Russia. In response to this letter, the FBI decided to carry out a check on Tamerlan and even decided to interview his family but failed to find any evidence that he posed any threat. The Russian government was subsequently handed all the information relating to him. (McCaul 2014).
Tamerlan’s brother Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, at the time of the attack, was a student majoring in marine biology at Dartmouth’s University of Massachusetts. He attended high school at Latin School and Cambridge Rindge in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He participated competitively in wrestling and became his team’s co-captain. During his graduation in 2011, he received a $ 2500 scholarship for college from the City of Cambridge which enabled him to attend the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. On September 11, 2012, he became a naturalized citizen of United States. Tarmelan’s former boxing coach at one time stated to the NBC that Dzhokhar admired his elder brother and was significantly affected by him (Cullison 2013). His parents returned to Russia before the bombing and are reported to have separated (McCaul 2014).
Ideological Evaluation
In January 2012, Tamerlan Tsarnaev traveled to Russia and after six months returned to the United States in July 2012. Details of his visit remain scanty but FBI officials at the United States Embassy in Moscow report that before his father Anzor Tsarnaev arrived in Russia later in May 2012 he spent time with other family members in Makhachkala. There are conflicting reports however concerning the amount of time the two spent together and any possibility that Tarmelan may have visited other areas of Dagestan or even Chechnya (McCaul 2014). Some reports indicate that during his time in Dagestan, he frequented a mosque in Makhachkala on Kotrova Street. The FSB links the mosque with radical Islam and believes it is where Tarmelan made a turn to radicalism. Some experts, therefore, believe his source of radicalization to be Dagestan because it is here that Mahmoud Nidal, a member of the Al Qaeda top brass, supposedly recruited Islamist insurgents. There is reason, therefore, to believe that Nidal and Tamerlan could have met on some occasions. This report is also confirmed by a number of investigative journalists who spent time in Dagestan trying to find out much of Tamerlan’s time there. The journalists say that Tamerlan attempted to join Chechen extremist after meeting Mahmoud Nidal but was rejected partly due to his conspicuous Western style (McCaul 2014). A former Russian investigator also reported that Mahmoud Nidal was on the run during Tamerlan Tsarnaev visit to Dagestan but could not have hesitated to emerge from hiding to meet Tamerlan Tsarnaev. (McCaul 2014). It is, therefore, important to have an understanding of Russia’s North Caucasus region.
Russia’s region of North Caucasus has been for decades a volatile region. Violent Islamist groups from Chechnya, Dagestan and some surrounding republics have engaged the Russian Federation in a bloody and ruthless war (McCaul 2014). Varying reports suggest that apart from the war that these groups have engaged in with the Russian state, they have the potential of cooperating with Al Qaeda in its global jihad. Ayman al-Zawahiri, the current Emir of Al Qaeda is reported to have been arrested in Dagestan in 1996. He has continuously made calls for the volatile Caucasus region to turn into a jihadist safe haven (Bjolepera 2011). The fighters in Chechnya have also been reported to fight alongside Taliban and Al Qaeda forces in Afghanistan. Also, it is estimated that 850 Chechen fighters affiliate to Jaish al-Muhajireen wal Ansar – a Syrian-based group of Islamist fighters allied to Al Qaeda’s Islamic State of Iraq. It is reported that the leading violent Islamist extremist group in Caucasus region has increasingly created ties with Al Qaeda (McCaul 2014).
According to McCaul (2014), it is possible that during Tarmelan’s time in Dagestan he could have witnessed the war between the Russian army and these terror groups first-hand. Chances are that he got an opportunity to meet some rebel fighters, which may have contributed in fueling his radicalization. Memmott (2014) explains that an understanding of the context of the current situation in Caucasus can shed some light on Tamerlan’s desire to carry out the bombing. Cullison (2013) also notes that although there is no sufficient proof to ascertain whether the Marathon Bombing is tied directly to Tamerlan’s visit to Caucasus region or possible contact with the ongoing terror activity in Chechnya’s Dagestan, it can be considered reasonable that he at least got inspiration from their actions and ideologies that drove him to be part of a vision of global jihad that the region shares with Al Qaeda.
Investigations conducted by the FBI indicate that during the interrogation of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, he confessed that they had no connection with any known terror outfit but were motivated and influenced by extremist Islamist beliefs. They learnt how to make explosives from online magazines published by the Al Qaeda in Yemen (Andersson 2013). The investigations further reveal that Tamerlan and his brother allegedly considered conducting suicide attacks and striking out much later on the fourth of July. However, they decided on the option of using remotely detonated improvised bombs like the pressure cooker bombs they used and other assortments of IEDs (Cullison 2013). During interrogations, Dzhokhar said that they were defending Muslims from the United States because it had conducted the war in Afghanistan and Iraq. In their view, this was a war against Islam. Memmott (2013) reports that Dzhokhar had scrawled a note on the boat he had been hiding before his arrest saying that the Marathon Bombing was a retribution to the U.S. for its military actions in Iraq and Afghanistan. The note by Dzhokhar also calls victims of the Bombing “collateral damage”, just the same way victims of U.S wars have been collateral damage around the world (Memmott 2013).
Cullison & David (2013) suggest that Islam could have played either just a secondary or a tertiary role in the bombings despite the outwardly apparent religious motivation the Tsarnaev brothers may have had. The authors argue that Tarmelan’s sympathy towards Caucasus political shortcomings and his inability to fully integrate into the American society could be the primary motive behind the attack. According to Memmott (2013), Dzhokhar was not as bothered as his brother was about America’s role and involvement in the Muslim world. Memmott (2013) therefore concludes Dzhokhar was just a recruit helping out in a cause.
Operational Evaluation
Blanchard (2007) points out that many recruits who are often inspired by Al Qaeda ideology often do not become operational until they travel abroad. Some scholars have argued that the Tsarnaev brothers never operated alone and that Tarmerlan’s radicalization must have been aided by his six months visit to Dagestan and reliance on the familial bond between him and his brother (Cullison & David 2013). While details remain scant on exactly how the brothers first became operational, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev must have just been a follower of his brothers’ radicalization. Bjolepera (2011) explains that radicalization process rarely occurs in a vacuum, thus casting doubt on the concept of “lone wolf” terrorism. Andersson (2013) reports that the six-month trip that Tamerlan made to Dagestan just facilitated further his radicalization when he came in contact with notable Salafi’s and freely spoke about jihad. However, the onset of his radicalization must have been when his mother pleaded with him to be more religious in an attempt to make him kick off his heavy use of alcohol and controlled substances. Tarmelan is said to have steeped in religion so much that he started giving summons to his family members and even convinced his mother to begin wearing a hijab. Together, they were so immersed in religion that it drove the family apart as the father had difficulty comprehending and understanding a son’s sudden change in behavior (Cullison & David 2013).
Cullison (2013) argues that it is possible that the people Tamerlan interacted with during his visit to Dagestan convinced him not to join them in their strife in Chechnya but rather suggested he returns home. He came back equipped with reinforced views on the U.S role in the Middle East crisis and together with his brother they began plotting an attack.
Outcome-based Evaluation
When the two explosives planted by the Tsarnaev brothers exploded close to the finish line of 117th Boston Marathon, Martin Richard, Krystle Campbell and Lu Lingzi died, and over two hundred and fifty others were injured. Forensic analysis of the explosives indicate that they were pressure cooker bombs that were filled with shrapnel so as to register maximum damage in a fashion popularly associated with militants in Pakistan and Afghanistan (McCaul 2014). Cullison (2013) claims that if indeed it is true that the Tsarnaev had no connections to any affiliate arm of the Al-Qaeda group, then he and his brother must have succumbed to their ideologies and committed an act of terror.
Cullison (2013) explains that the three hallmarks associated with organized terrorism was absent in the Boston Marathon Bombings. The bombings had negligible political or religious significance; no known terror group claimed responsibility afterwards, and there were no bits of intelligence picked by any intelligence source. Cullison (2013) therefore concludes that the attack is a case of what he refers to as “lone wolf” terrorism – terrorism activity that is not attached to any organization.
Reality-based perspective of the impact of contemporary flows of information on the acquisition of materials and tactics to commit an act of terror and the potential for this menace to grow and succeed in its stated and unstated goals
According to Gary & Head (2009), the internet has become an indispensable tool used by the Al Qaeda and other terror organizations to indoctrinate ideologically recruits around the world. Person-to-person interaction is also another means utilized by these groups for the ideological recruitment of individuals but is not as efficient as the internet because it presents more hurdles than the internet. The Internet also provides these groups with a platform that they can easily use to access thousands of people around the world. They have also established multiple Internet chat forums like the “al-Fida” and “Al Shumukh” (Gary & Head, 2009). These chat forums operate on a “gaming” system where individuals are given incentives in the form of points so as to remain in the chat rooms. According to Brachman & Levine (2011), the majority of individuals who have been arrested in the past on terror-related activities have in one way or the other been active users of these hardline forums or have been found to be in possession of extremist materials sourced from the internet.
At the time of his arrest, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is said to have told investigators that they learnt how to make pressure-cooker bombs and other improvised explosives after reading an English version of a jihadist magazine called Inspire (Cullison 2013). The first issue of Inspire was launched in mid-2010, and a number of its articles provide instructions on how to make a bomb. The materials also encourage individuals who desire to join foreign wars to view themselves as “jihadists next door” and launch an attack in their countries (Andersson 2013). Surprisingly, the publisher of the magazine was an American citizen of Pakistani descent named Samir Khan. He died in 2011 from a drone attack that also killed one of Al Qaeda propagandist called Anwar al-Awlaki. In general, the internet must have played a role in the radicalization of Tsarnaev brothers.
McCaul (2014) mentions that Tamerlan had a YouTube account that he used to view some Russian-language videos focusing on Islam, and he even went further to compile a playlist of jihadi videos. Tamerlan created the account a few weeks after his return from Dagestan, which, therefore, indicates that he possibly received some degree of radicalization. One of the videos that run for thirteen minutes with the title “The Emergence of Prophecy: The Black Flags of Khorasan” is based on a jihadi prophecy and viewers are given details of how the world will come to an end. A viewer is also shown how a holy army shall rise out from a region around Afghanistan, and sweeps the entire middle all the way to Jerusalem (McCaul 2014).
The use of the internet to read and watch jihadi magazines and videos must have therefore had an impact on Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Many researchers have suggested that the internet serves as an accelerant or a reinforcing agent of radicalization, and it has broken the traditional barriers that individuals seeking to be radicalized would encounter (Blazak 2001). If indeed the internet had an impact on Tamerlan’s actions, then the internet has the potential of spreading terror through radicalization and eventually making terror groups succeed in their stated/unstated goals.
Conclusion
There is no doubt that Tamerlan Tsanaev’s trip to Dagestan and his use of the internet played a role in his radicalization, and subsequently him carrying out the bombing of Boston Marathon. Many scholars agree that the internet has provided a platform where Al Qaeda can recruit passively through indoctrination. The internet, therefore, has provided Al Qaeda propagandists venues to publish web magazine like Inspire. They indeed now pose a threat to world peace and seem to be succeeding in their goals through recruits like the Tsarnaev brothers who fall prey to their radical views.
References
Andersson, H. (2013). Tamelan Tsarnaev Had Right-Wing Extremist Literature. Retrieved from BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23541341.
Bjolepera, J. P. (2011). ‘American Jihadist Terrorism: Combating a Complex Threat’. Congressional Research Service Report for Congress.
Blanchard, C. M. (2007). Al Qaeda: Statements and Evolving Ideology. In CRS Report for Congress.
Blazak, R. (2001). White Boys to Terrorist Men: Target Recruitment of Nazi Skinheads. American Behavioural Scientist, 44, 982-1000.
Brachman, J., & Levine, A. (2011). The World of Holy Warcraft. Foreign Policy.
Cullison, A. (2013). Boston Bombing Suspect was Steeped in Conspiracies. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved June 21, 2015, from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142412788732.HTML
Cullison, P., & David George-Cosh, A. T. (2013). Turn to Religion Split Suspects’ Home. The Wall Street Journal.
Gray, D. H., & Head, A. (2009). The Importance of the Internet to Post-modern Terrorist and its Role as a Form of Safe Haven.. European Journal of Scientific Research, 25, 396-404.
McCaul, M. (2014). The Road to Boston: Counterterrorism Challenges and Lessons from the Marathon Bombings. U.S. House of Representatives. Retrieved June 6, 2015, from https://info.publicintelligence.net/HouseBostonBombingsReport.pdf
Memmott, M., & E, P. (2013, June 21). ‘the hunt is over.’ Police apprehend marathon bombing suspect. Retrieved from NPR: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetw-way/2014/6/21/shots-explosions-heard-as-boston-manhunt continues.
 

Colonists Desire for Independence custom essay helpName:
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History
Colonists Desire for Independence
Colonists wanted to gain independence as part of a wider effort in learning from the revolutionary politics. The colonial regime wanted to take control of the South Carolina region, and this was only possible through independence thereby creating a unanimous strength among the locals towards leadership. The middle colonies wanted to take charge of crops, land, tobacco, and cotton gin available in the area. This would be possible if they took a considerable part of the control of the Carolina government. Britain played as a major threat towards the economy of South Carolina. This is because of heavy taxation. This move saw the resistance of British administration.
Debate in the Colonial Legislature
The South Carolina colonial legislature debated to have independence considering the harsh British rule. They factored in the extent of the force applied and the possibilities of the suicidal nature of the activities for independence. The declaration of independence was put at stake in connection with 13 colonies. Massachusetts was mentioned to be involved wholly in the quest for justice. There was the discussion on the need for the colonies to govern themselves independently free from taxation from other states. There was a declaration of involvement in stiff war both on the frontier and at a distant battlefield.
British view of the American Colonists
The British administration viewed the Americans as a weaker segment. They looked hopeless towards a successful defeat of the British government. British had a strong military base in terms of equipped soldiers, discipline, and payment to the army that was very favorable. The British had a substantial capacity for engaging the Navy in fighting the Americans. The result of war would unite Americans with the British putting into consideration the role of taxation by the British on poor Americans. British viewed threats from Americans in terms of religious freedom, trade, and limited governance. They rejected the American rebelliousness and mercantilism.
Everything will Change; everything has changed
The wordings are a suggestion about the turnoff point where the British administration cannot succeed in defeating the patriot forces. Cornwall states these words as an acknowledgement of the change in the direction of war where untrained officers weaken the British Realm. These remarks create a suggestion that future governance will be a problem owing to the limited knowledge of the British nobility. Cornwall is embarrassed that he sends his deputy to surrender at the ceremony though he is physically ill. He goes back to England in pursuit of other careers in his life.
Defeat of the British
The colonialists defeated the British just because the former were fighting for their homes and families. Even if they kept losing, they continued fighting for their families. The British army had travelled for so long over 3000 miles away. This provided an excellent support for the colonialists since they could fight with ease and accuracy, supported by their ally. These allies included the French and Dutch plus Spanish, who wanted the English to drop and lose the battle. The British army hired German soldiers to fight for them, and this angered the colonialists. These soldiers would be spotted with ease and killed. Colonialists would ambush British soldiers as they hid themselves behind trees in the forest. The British were also defeated

Walking & Jogging Training Log scholarship essay helpName
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Walking & Jogging Training Log
Day Total Miles Total Minutes Activity condition Increases/
Decrease Route weather Description (Nature of the activity)
Sunday 13 30 Walk 6 Turkey long Sunny With the day being sunny, the walking activity was relatively good
Monday 10 50 Jog 8 Wakanda Sunny The duration of the run was increased but the number of miles reduced. Sun was averagely good
Tuesday 8 40 Run 6 Workout Hot The weather was hot. With much minutes for running, the average miles covered were relatively low
Wednesday 14 40 Bike 6 Wakanda Cloudy Clouds persisted along the day making the average number of miles covered to be high. The bike movement was good.
Thursday 14 50 Aqua Run 5 Rifle range cloudy Adaptation to the cloudy weather was received positively. I was thus able to run 14 miles in 50 minutes.
Friday 5 60 Aqua swim 6 Zoo short Stormy Stormy clouds appeared on the better part of Friday morning, but later disappeared into a cloudy weather making it possible to swim 5 miles in a one hour time period
Saturday 6 30 Walk/jog 3 Rifle range Cloudy The weather was favorable but the problem of wear out of the body was present making the average number of miles covered to reduce considerably, Saturday being the last day of the exercise.
Week totals 300
Source: Author, 2015
Scale on increase or decrease in activity:
10- Increase
1- Decrease
Additional comments: the week was great as far as training is concerned. I hope that next week will be better if the weather will be favorable. I need to discuss with the coach on the timing of various activities to see whether I am at par with the required standards.
 

Cultural Differences, Organisational Restructuring and Conflicts cheap essay help 
 
 
 
 
Case Study
Cultural Differences, Organisational Restructuring and Conflicts
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Cultural Differences, Organisational Restructuring and Conflicts
Case 3: Organization Restructuring and Conflicts
Summary
The case presented is a meeting between an organisation’s manager, Carlos, and two long serving employees that worked under him in the past- Rita and Juan. Carlos and Peter are two managers within the organisation. They were recently transferred to new roles with Peter assuming Carlos’ roles. This was after the organisation underwent a merger. Carlos had finally managed to have a meeting with the Rita and Juan over some complaints in the workplace.
Rita’s main issue is the decision by her new supervisor, Peter, to limit her job roles by proposing a secretarial position to her instead of her initial role of director of advertising. Due to this misunderstanding, Rita has mean words for Peter, as she feels alienated and even contemplates skiving work, though she is normally hardworking. Juan is also complaining about working with Jackson as her direct partner in marketing. She feels that Jackson does not understand the unique preferences of the organisation’s clients as she does, considering her five years’ experience.
Carlos intercedes by reiterating how invaluable the two employees are to the organisation, owing to their long terms in service and effective communication skills. He also appeals to them to understand that the company is undergoing a transition due to a merger. He also insists that personal conflicts should be ironed out at a personal level. The two, Juan and Rita are discouraged from quitting the organisation or propagating divisive standpoints, as the company is now one after the merger took effect. Carlos appears keen to harmonise the employee roles with a view to retain them.
I agree with Carlos move in solving the conflict in the new merger. He sought to make the people understand that a merger always comes with new challenges and that people in the organisation need to learn to get along. There are several challenges that usually come up during a business merger. Firstly, there is need to integrate the corporate cultures of the various businesses under the merger. The products of the different organisations seeking to merge are usually of different portfolios. These need to be harmonised too. There is also need to retain the customers and employees of the individual organisations merging. Business mergers also have inherent business inefficiencies that must be detected early enough with a view for resolution. Thereafter, the business would be in a good position to progress.
Case 8: Cultural Differences
Summary
This case is a conversation between two businesspersons, Michelle and Norio, who represent different organisations. Norio has travelled from Tokyo, Japan to New York to negotiate business deals with several organisations. From the onset of the conversation, these two people appear to have been brought up in different cultures, with different food preferences. Norio loves seafood but Michelle does not. This outright disparity is aggravated when Norio realises that Rogers, the initial person he had been dealing with from this organization, had been transferred to handle internal accounting roles for the organisation, and the new person taking charge of international accounting is now Michelle. Rogers loved sushi, much like Norio. The first meeting ends with Norio declining to sign the already negotiated business deal without stating substantial reason.
In the next meeting between the two, Michelle seeks to iron out any misunderstanding that could have caused the previous deadlock, by explaining the change of employee roles within their organisation. Norio commends Michelle for the reasonable prices that they sell their products, and reveals that he had also been meeting other companies. Perhaps he had secured an alternative deal that denied Michelle’s organisation a business opportunity. This is evident when Michelle prompts him to sign a business contract that would see Norio’ company market Mustang clothing line, but he subtly declines. He insists that his plane is almost leaving and he has to go.
Cultural issues have always proven divisive in managing business relations. I disagree with the way Michelle handled the whole situation. She did not realize that their direct cultural mismatch had a role in dissuading Norio from signing a business deal with her. The organisational restructuring could also have broken the already established trust between Rodgers and Norio, as a new party, Michelle, was being introduced. To this end, Michelle got it right. She should have spotted the cultural disparities from their initial conversation and devise ways of mending them. For example, she should have sought for Rodgers, who identifies with Norio, to convince him to sign the agreement in the second meeting.
There are several business areas where cultural conflict can prove detrimental. Firstly, conflicting cultures in an organisation’s leadership can be a real business drawback. The differences in opinion among senior staff and the differences in leadership styles may cause internal dysfunction. Secondly, conflicting business processes may also be because of cultural conflict, especially under merger circumstances. Communication styles may also prove incoherent and confusing when the different companies under a merger used different channels and protocols initially. The other potential area of cultural conflict in business is the preferred reward systems for employees of individual organisations who intend to merge.
 

Ethical issues or Dilemma facing Bob Hopkins online essay helpName
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Ethical issues or Dilemma facing Bob Hopkins
An individual may be confronted by moral issues in trying to meet the established ethical standards in an organisation. This is what transpired in the scaffold plank incident. Bob’s payment terms were not officially capped at specific amount. There was no minimum or maximum value stipulated by the company as the salary for its salespersons. Against this backdrop, Bob’s partner (Stan) enquired whether any potential customer ought to have signed a purchase agreement to the -16 feet long scaffold plank. Controversy arose when Bob found his name written in the sales order for 3x12s to Quality Lumber. This angered him since he was aware that the product demanded by the company did not correspond to those being supplied.
Stakeholders of the Company and their Conflicting Roles
The main stakeholders of the company are John White and White Lumber. Other shareholders include the employees of the company who need to work hard for their survival. John White has some conflicting values when judging Bob’s decision. He is so much concerned about the success of the business in the future. He has a keen interest of improving the scale of its operations. This is the reason John could not stand any decision by Bob that would cripple the returns of the lumber business. John never cared about ethical concerns that would arise in the transaction between the company and the customer. All that was important to him was to make more money that would be ploughed back to the business during tough economic times.
Bob’s Alternative
Bob had no alternative other than to quit the company on ethical grounds. However, any considerations to quit the company would probably have a negative impact on his life. First, he was very worried about his personal survival in the tough month of February. Having finished college a few years earlier, he could not secure a job anywhere else except in lumber business. Thereafter, he should have sought employment elsewhere. Bob had a college degree that could enhance his career options. He could easily get a job compared to the other people as Steve, Janet, and other workers out there who relied heavily on lumber business for survival. Bob also realized that business ethics would not mean much in a normal setting since his experience with John gave him exposure on possible business malpractices.
What Bob should do
Bob is doing the right thing by observing ethical attributes in a business setting. He should maintain his stand and lobby for an audit of all sales made to various clients to see if orders correspond to their descriptions. He was right in suggesting that any material meant for scaffolding should be supplied as indicated and used appropriately. This would avoid possible injuries on the site. It is thus crucial to reiterate that the company has an obligation to follow up on available information to ensure that products ordered are supplied accordingly. Bob should stay in this job and use it as an opportunity to learn and understand how ethics is practiced in the real world of business. Similarly, having studied ethics in college, he should use it as a reference point for business morals. These morals need to thrive in a business setting to ensure positive appropriation of demand and supply factors in the market.

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Saving Sourdi
Saving Sourdi is a short story, which deals with the struggles and perceptions of Nea, who is one of the characters. The main characters are the elder sister Sourdi and the younger sister Nea. These two sisters are close and grew together all through to their life. Their growth and togetherness exhibit their different roles played in this story thus clearly bringing out their definite characters. This story is illustrated to show how the character of Nea and her viewpoint shapes the interpretation of the reader about the story. Saving Sourdi is a tale that holds up the strong bonds of sisterhood and family and change as people grow to maturity. The story is created from a point of view that can influence how one views the characters and their choices.
Character analysis
This short story by May-Lee Chai is quite interesting in showing how the characters ultimately play different roles. Nea, who is the sister to Sourdi, is the narrator as well as the principal protagonist in “Saving Sourdi” as they grow up into adulthood (Chai, 43). Although Nea and Sourdi grow up together, the development of their characters is differently manifested. Nea falls behind, maturity-wise, but Sourdi continuously matures. This is most likely due to her aggressiveness together with her nervous behavior that plays the negative roles all through the story.
It is evident from the story that Nea continually attempts to save her sister all through the entire story but with no success over and over. Her action shows her perseverance in repeated trials and her aggressiveness. However, she never grows up in the story, unlike her sister who develops into a young woman. Nea is too plain and non-enthusiastic though continuously tries her best to save her sister from various situations. Sourdi is more beautiful than Nea because Nea is too childish. The author describes her beauty by her round face, long and wide nose, sleek hair and crescent-shaped eyes. The beautiful looks makes her to get attention from admirers, especially men, throughout the story. Sourdi is submissive to men in this short story but Nea looks upon it as a threat to their sisterhood relationship. She thinks that the men have the aim of snatching her sister from her.
Sourdi is perceived as being more desirable and older compared to her sister. Nea is the controlling one compared to Sourdi. Seemingly, she takes the role that is supposed to be played by her elder sister. Nea is too naïve to understand the happenings between Sourdi, his husband, and Mr. Chhay (Chai, 143). All she fights for is happiness and closeness to her sister, whom she feels marriage has snatched away from her. She wants to be the heroin in the fight because she thought that Mr. Chhay is a bad man but later that was proved wrong. This shows her protective character. Nea also shows her selfish and immature character when she involves Duke in sourdi’s family matters without any proof. It is demonstrated when she took Duke to Sourdi’s home to help her save her sister, whom she thought had been attacked by Mr. Chhay.
Nea’s aggression, anxiety, and naivety negatively influence her decisions all through the story. Nea is a static character. This means that she does not change. She does not think before she acts. Despite the lessons learned from her actions, she does not alter. Her mother addresses this issue by saying that the problem with Nea is that she does not think before acting (Chai, 79). She is a hardheaded child from her childhood to her adulthood. Nea is also a flat character. This is because; the author does not show the reader the other right side of her.
She is just the same despite the life lessons and experiences she passes through from the beginning to the end of this story. She can be termed as impulsive, selfish and a strong-willed adolescent who never matures up (Shea, Renée, Lawrence and Robin, 56). The family, especially Ma, always find it hard to tolerate prejudice brought about by the foreign culture and work hard to solve it together with Nea’s stubbornness. To add on, Nea is fearless. It is seen at the beginning of the story where Nea fearlessly faces the drunken man and stops him from messing with her sister. She stubs him to ensure her sister’s protection.
Sourdi has a round character. She blooms from a child to a mature young woman (Chai, 109). She faces her marriage life with courage just to ensure change takes the path with her husband hence forming a beautiful family. This shows that she stops depending on her family and becomes independent. She embraces her individuality with courage. Ma also seems to have a round character. She is an active woman who raises and supports her children from childhood to adulthood. She marries off Sourdi to a rich man only to make sure Sourdi gets a better life.
Plot
The story commenced when Nea and Sourdi were all alone working in a restaurant in the presence of drunken men. One of the drunkards was trying to place his arms around Sourdi and due to the protective nature of Nea, she stabbed the man. Ma, her mother, apologized to the grieved and made Nea do the same, which was contrary to her expectations. She thought she could be seen as a hero by protecting her sister. Talking to her sister that very night, Nea boasted to Sourdi that she would have killed the man but Sourdi felt disappointed (Chai, 297).
The story then moved to the part when Duke and Sourdi began seeing each other. This made the two sisters to start drifting apart because Sourdi began to show interest in men (Shea, Renée, Lawrence and Robin, 156). Duke used to wash dishes for Ma, which made the relationship with Sourdi to start and later came to an end after being fired. Ma fired Duke because he dropped a tray of utensils, which instantly broke leading to a loss in Ma’s business. Sourdi felt that Duke had no future due to his poverty.
Later, Sourdi’s family met Mr. Chhay, and that was the moment Sourdi’s life took a turn. Ma made her get married to Mr. Chhay against her wish. This is because Mr. Chhay was a financially stable man who could provide a suitable lifestyle for both Sourdi and her children. He was older than Sourdi when they got married. Her marriage separated her from her family (Chai, 58). The two sisters were too close to each other to the extent of discussing particular issues concerning their lives late in the night before retiring to bed. Their relationship eventually weathered after Sourdi got married.
One day, Nea received an alarming call from Sourdi at night making her feel that her sister was in danger because she sounded like a crying person. Nea tried to inquire what the problem was, but Sourdi asked for her mother. She quickly judged Mr. Chhay as a dangerous man whose intention was to harm her sister. She even thought that Mr. Chhay had hit her. Nea acted promptly by narrating the whole scenario to Duke, Sourdi’s ex-boyfriend and both decided to pay Sourdi a visit to see what the actual problem was without informing her. Sourdi was shocked to see Duke, who accompanied Nea (Webber, Sabra, and Patrick, 204). She did not expect Nea to visit her with someone else without telling her.
Nea and Duke saw the bruises on Sourdi’s eye and concluded that her husband had hit her. The reason for her bruised eye was that a diaper box had fallen on her face. Duke reacted by knocking Mr. Chhay in the mouth who bled profusely. However, they realized that the alarming call was to notify Nea that she was going to have another baby and did not know what to do. The situation was settled, and Nea went back home. The story ends in the same way it began in that, the husband whom she was forced to marry abuses her and tries to save Sourdi from the violent marriage.
Point of View
The whole story is set in Nea’s point of view (Chai, 175). Nea has a unique manner in which she sees the events taking place different from any other person. The reason to why I conclude that this story’s viewpoint is Nea’s is because; she is the main narrator and major protagonist. She creates suspense to the readers and brings out the strong relationship between her sister and herself. The suspense in this story is clearly noted which was successfully created by Nea. We are not able to know whether Nea became a heroin in trying to protect her sister. Did she mature up after her separation with Sourdi? Was she able to realize her mistakes from her experiences and initiate change in her life? In the latter, did she get married? What of her sister’s marriage, did she leave them in peace? Does this story reveal the two sisters’ relationship after being told in Nea’s viewpoint? All these questions have been left unanswered thus creating suspense in this short story. The suspense can only be created if Nea is the narrator. It also helps the author to show up the distinct characters of Nea and Sourdi (Webber, Sabra, and Patrick, 204).
If the story were from Duke’s point of view, we could have read the different part of the story, probably showing how he was a better man for Sourdi. Various details of the story highlight that it was from Nea’s point of view. For instance, lack of details concerning the relationship between Duke and Sourdi indicates that the perspective cannot be from Duke. Also, the story is written in first person with the narrator being Nea.
The story could also be different if it came from Sourdi’s point of view. It could not bring out the suspense, and the entire plot could have been different. According to me, the author could have used Sourdi as the ideal narrator because she is easy to relate to, and everyone understands her. Nea is a character whom no one could ever know due to her inherent dramatic nature (TEACHER’S, M. A. N. U. A. L., 77). If it could have been in Ma’s point of view, the plot could have also been entirely different. It could have revolved around a single mother who raises her children with limited financial ability while trying to understand a new country’s culture and language.
The Setting
The story takes place in 1980s. It starts late at night symbolizing trouble. The rising actions occur in the course of 3-4 years. These years separates the Nea from Sourdi. After the climax, the story finishes a few hours later (Webber, Sabra, and Patrick, 204). Saving Sourdi short story took place in United States after the family moved there. It was difficult for Nea to adjust to this environment since the place was only occupied by Americans but not Asians as she opted to find. It was the only Asian family present in that society. The two girls were at their tender age when they moved to the U.S. The family operated a bar that located in South Dakota. It is ironically named as the silver palace. This is the initial point where the story commenced with a recollection of Nea attempting to save her sister, Sourdi.
This family at first lived in Texas but later moved to South Dakota, at their uncle’s place. The bar setting plays a crucial role in the formation of the protective characteristics of Nea. The bar leads to several situations to arise. For example, Nea feels that there is a necessity of saving Sourdi from being harmed by the drunk man in the bar. Therefore, Nea does not leave her elder sister to fight for herself in the midst of the drunkards even though she is the eldest and can take care of herself.
Towards the end of the story, the setting drastically changes. Sourdi moves away to her family with her husband (Webber, Sabra, and Patrick, 99). Nea and her mother are left behind. Nea becomes upset about their separation and seems to be skeptical about Sourdi’s husband. This helps in building Nea’s character. The theme of companionship ties the setting of the story. It is present in the beginning as the girls grow up living together under the same roof. As they mature, the bond of sisterhood and friendship is strengthened. Though Nea trails behind in maturity, one can assume that it is because she is the younger child.
However, it is ironic because she is too protective of her sister. As mentioned above that the setting changed when Sourdi moves into her family, it also changes their companionship with her sister. Sourdi leaves to his husband’s place while Nea is left at home. Sourdi is also changing from childhood and embracing her individuality by getting married. It shows her transformation from childhood life to adulthood. However, this is inconsistent of Nea, who tries to voice contrary opinions to her mother about Mr. Chhay. At the end of this story, the separate setting of the siblings enables Nea to realize that Sourdi is just trying to be independent and no longer needs protection (Webber, Sabra, and Patrick,95). The mood of this short story is disappointing.
Symbolism
There are some symbolic references found in the short story Saving Sourdi. These symbolic acts and statements have a representation behind it within the story’s context. Nea is in a form of Naga (TEACHER’S, M. A. N. U. A. L., 44). Naga was a magical snake in the Chinese culture with a wide mouth that could swallow people. Her irrational decisions, her overprotective character, and her actions symbolically consumed and limited the people around her.
Mr. Chhay symbolizes the community that Nea and her family desire to please. Ma wants to ensure her daughter gets her future happiness for a better life. Mr. Chhay is a financially stable man whom Ma sees as a suitable and potential husband for her daughter Sourdi.
Duke’s relationship with Sourdi shows that her involvement with men compromises her relationship with Nea. Nea hates to see her sister involve herself with men. Duke, however, is a good example to show the reader how Sourdi changes and matures up with boys until marriage. In addition, it shows how Nea fails to change and remains childish and unwilling to let Sourdi experience her relationships. She goes further to deny Sourdi’s marriage with Mr. Chhay.
The drunken man at their restaurant, Mr. Chhay and Duke symbolizes the trend of men who initiated the separation of Nea and Sourdi’s relationship. Each one was able to drive Sourdi away from her sister, making Sourdi mature while leaving Nea behind classifying her as a child. The minefield story is also symbolic in Saving Sourdi short story (TEACHER’S, M. A. N. U. A. L., 103). Its deeper meaning shows that Nea thinks that she owe Sourdi much. That is why she overprotects Sourdi and saves her in any arising situation.
Conclusion
To summarize, the short story “Saving Sourdi” is a story that deals with the struggles and perceptions of Nea, who is one of the characters. The main characters are Nea and Sourdi, who are sisters. The growth and togetherness of these two sisters exhibit their different roles played in this story thus clearly bringing out their definite characters. Other characters in this story include Ma, the mother to Nea and Sourdi, Duke, who was Ma’s worker in her bar and also once Sourdi’s boyfriend. Mr. Chhay was also a character who was Sourdi’s husband.
Nea, who is the sister to Sourdi, is the narrator as well as the principal protagonist in “Saving Sourdi” short story as they grow up into adults. This story progresses around two sisters who are growing up. Nea is the controlling one compared to Sourdi. Sourdi is perceived as being more desirable and older compared to her sister. Nea’s aggression, anxiety, and naivety negatively influence her decisions throughout the story. Sourdi has a round character. She blooms from a child to a mature young woman.
The whole story is set in Nea’s point of view. The author has used her to bring out each character’s character in an easy way. The whole story is centered at Nea’s actions making it flow in an interesting manner. This paper provides possible reasons to why the author did not opt to use the other characters’ point of view. The setting of this story is relevant in that; it enables the central character, Nea to exhibit her character thoroughly. The story starts late at night symbolizing trouble. The bar setting plays a crucial role in the formation of protective characteristics of Nea. There are some symbolic references found in “saving Sourdi”. These symbolic acts and statements have a representation behind it within the story’s context. Mr. Chhay symbolizes the community that Nea and her family desire to please. Ma wants to ensure her daughter gets her future happiness for a better life. The drunken man at their restaurant, Mr. Chhay and Duke symbolizes the trend of men who initiated the separation of Nea and Sourdi’s relationship.
Work cited
Chai, May-lee. Glamorous Asians: Short Stories & Essays. University Press, 2004.
Shea, Renée H., Lawrence Scanlon, and Robin Dissin Aufses. Literature & Composition: Reading, Writing, Thinking. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011.
TEACHER’S, M. A. N. U. A. L. Literature & Composition. Diss. Bowie State University, 1910.
Webber, Sabra J., and Patrick B. Mullen. “Breakthrough into Comparison:” Moving” Stories, Local History, and the Narrative Turn.” Journal of Folklore Research 48.3 (2011): 213-247.
 
 

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New Climate Change
Climate change refers to the alterations in the distribution of weather patterns over time. New climate change has been the most challenging factor in the 21st century. The world most influential political scientists have come to an agreement that the emission of Carbon Dioxide and the greenhouse gases from industrial processes and the fossil fuel combustion have led to the global warming effect. The impacts of global warming has led to damage of coastal areas, significant loss of species, interfered with agricultural pattern and increased infectious diseases. Vicky Arroyo says that it is time to prepare our homes and cities for our changing climate, with the rise in flooding, drought and uncertainty. She has explained in this using various cities such as Darfur and Russia. She uses environmental law and her background in Biology and Ecology.
She displays the skyline, which is her hometown, New Orleans. The place was one of the most developing parts of the world, but, unfortunately, a half of the city is immersed below the sea level. In the year 2005, the Hurricane Katrina destroyed New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. The impact led to the death of one thousand, eight hundred and thirty-six people. Almost 300,000 homes were destroyed, and most of the people were left homeless. On the other hand, other parts of the world such as Cyclone Nargis, in 2008 were destroyed by the storms. The aftermath was the death of almost 138,000 people in Myanmar. The military has also stepped in claiming that climate change has a threat that could hinder stability and the security of the governments.
The changes in the climate do not affect all the people equally. In fact, there are significant distributional consequences all over the world. For instance in New Orleans, the female-headed households and the elderly were the most vulnerable. The ones in vulnerable and the lowly lying nations have found themselves migrating to other countries, which have resulted in conflicts. The immigration has led to death because of the competition for limited resources in countries like Chad and Darfur. The Russians nation has planted a flag on the ocean bottom to take claim of mineral ownership under the receding Arctic sea ice. The aim is to make an individual superpower but in the end the negative impacts are experienced by the entire world from the resulting international wars.
Vicky came with three sets of examples of adapting to the climatic change especially on the floods. In New Orleans, the 1-10 Twin Spans, with the sections knocked out in Katrina have been rebuilding 21 feet higher to overcome the great storm surge. Brad Pitt developed the raised energy-efficient homes and made it hard-hit Ninth Ward. The church she used to attend also had been rebuilt higher to become the first Energy Star church in the country. The development of technology and infrastructure are the crucial elements while handling the climate change matters. The governments need better planning and system for evacuation. The primary cause of many deaths in Katrina was the poor infrastructure and lack of educating the citizens on how to make right decisions in times of crisis.
The agriculture sectors from Asia to Africa have been faced with the heat linked to the climate change. This led to the death of thousands of people in 2003. The Oxfam and the Swiss Re are helping farmers in the hillside terraces in finding ways to conserve water with insurance when it comes to drought. The stability provides the farmer with the opportunity to invest and access credit. In United Kingdom, the Thames Barrier protects from the storm surge. The Asian cities climate resilience network is restoring the mangrove forests that are water catchments areas.
In conclusion, adaptation to climate change is very crucial to not only the experts but also the community as a whole. The future is based on the past events and the plans should be made accordingly to downplay the challenges posed by climate change. The engineering, designs of critical infrastructure, City water systems, building codes and the water rights govern this principle. To fully adapt to the climatic changes, there is need for improved technology and infrastructure aimed at preventing and dealing with crisis.
 

Influences that affect Customer Buying essay help onlineName
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Influences that affect Customer Buying
Buying of items or goods and service is greatly influenced by both external and internal factors. These factors arise from several influences and dynamics. These may range from individual perception to environmental issues that could change a customer’s decision on buying a given product. In many cases, the environment plays a very important role in a customer’s decision to purchase a product or not. The influences could be values, beliefs, age, social class, and monetary factors along with one’s social lifestyle. The factors can be considered as external influences. Additionally, influences may arise from internal dynamics such as preference, hobbies, likes, dislikes, temperament, and opinion on the product. In some cases, internal and external factors may conflict leaving an individual with the option to make a decision that overrides a given influence. For instance, in purchasing a purse, the customer exhibited the strong personal desire for the love of purses. It is her dressing style to include in her dressing accessory. In such a case, the customer exhibited an internal influence that drove her to make the purchase.
It is the customer’s routine to always include purses in her purchases. This is brought about by the desire to fulfill her wish to her a stylish dressing code. In opting for the purse, the customer showed that her purchase was driven by a reason which is in line with her desire to maintain her stylish dressing. Additionally, the customer was driven by the inner psychological want to maintain her personal lifestyle which she does by opting for stylish products such as a purse. In most cases customers purchase products that are in line with other items they are fond of buying or having. This explains why the psychological influence behind her purchase was very high as it is in line with her general overall mood. Her social standing and cultural background played a major role in her decision to purchase the purse. The fact that she had the desire to polish her public image in depicting a stylish style of dressing showed that the customer was greatly influenced by a stylish lifestyle which can be considered as a cultural norm. It means that the customer was influenced by a given reference group.
Social groups, class, values, culture, all plays an important role in influencing a customers buying decision. In whatever an individual sets a mind to purchase, several factors have to come in to drive the desire to completion or to reject the idea of purchase. Desires arise out of deeply held values which are beliefs closely linked with ones culture of acceptable norms of social living. In purchasing the purse, the customer showed the cultural norm of her society of what is acceptable of her dressing and style. In some cultures, it is difficult to choose on a given style of dressing a case in which customers with the desire to buy a particular stylish item can greatly be hindered due to cultural reasons. Even though the customer may like and want the item, cultural aspects will conflict with the desire and in the end stop the customer from making the purchase.
Apart from the above influences that may have prompted the customer to make the purchase, other mundane influences such as monetary aspects do play a role in purchasing. This comes depending on a customer’s ability to afford a given item at a given place. For instance, the fact that the customer bought the item showed clearly that she had the means to afford the item at the given price. If at all she had no means to afford the item, she could not have bought it at that given price. Many several factors play part in buying a given item apart from the ordinary dynamics a customer may face. However, at the end, it all depends on the factors and influences the customer faces before deciding to purchase a given product.
I. Description of Purchase
The customer purchased the purse due to the liking of the product which arose out of the psychological need to find fulfillment.
II. What level of the following types of involvement did the buyer exhibit for this purchase?
a. Product Involvement –The level of participation was high
b. Situational Involvement- Level too was high
c. Enduring Involvement-The enduring involvement was small
III. What type of buying decision making was used? Limited decision-making?
Justify your answer
The buyer did not consider other factors before making the purchase. The buyer only limited herself to the product and the social influence that restricted other options she could have chosen on.
IV. What brands were included in the buyer’s evoked or consideration set?
The customer did not have much of an option and just had to go ahead to purchase the product.
V. Which of the following situational influences were involved in this purchase? Give support
Social Surrounding ( ) Yes ( ) No
Time ( ) Yes ( ) No
Purchase Reason (√) Yes ( ) No the customer majorly focused on the product and the reason for purchasing the product.
Buyer’s Mood ( ) Yes ( ) No
Other, please specify
VI. How did the following psychological influences impact this purchase?
Lifestyle
Going by the lifestyle the customer led, the product offered a better way of self-expression and style.
Learning
The customer’s level of education greatly influenced purchasing the product as she was able to discern the need for the product.
Motives
The motivation for purchasing the product was mostly driven by the inner need to satisfy her psychological desire. In that, the purpose was directly influenced by an internal drive.
Overall, what level of psychological influences was evident? The level was high
VII. How did the following social influences impact this purchase?
Family
The family’s preference and likes contributed to the customer’s motive to buy the product. Given that the customer knew how the family would respond to the purchase, it motivated her to buy the product.
Reference Group
This did not significantly influence the customer in purchasing the product as she did not subscribe much to a given reference group.
Culture and Subculture
Going by the family factor, the customer considered the family’s cultural heritage contributed to the overall purchase of the product. This the customer did to show respect to deeply held values and beliefs.
Other Specify
Monetary factors, which greatly influenced the customer to purchase the product as the customer was in a position to afford it.
Overall, what level of social influence was present? The level of social control was moderate
VIII. After the purchase did the buyer experience any cognitive dissonance? No. The customer did not experience a cognitive dissonance.
Give example
This is because, the customer bought the product after careful consideration of several factors such as cultural influence and psychological factors.
 
 
 
 
 

Develop a Research Question (Police Brutality) essay help 
Develop a Research Question (Police Brutality)
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Develop a Research Question (Police Brutality)
It is important to develop a research question that correlates with the research topic. For instance, the research on police brutality is a broad topic since there are numerous sources covering this topic. Therefore, the researcher needs to narrow down the topic into a simple statement that covers the area of interest. For instance, a research question that covers the topic on police brutality and victims involved would be:
R1 – Are police more likely to use excessive force against the racial minorities compared to the whites?
In formulating such a question, the researcher can cover the topic of interest fully and comprehensively. In broader terms, the research should develop a practical research question. For instance, the research question developed, in this case, will reveal the reasons that make excessive force by police on racial minorities the most controversial issue in North America. The research question does not restrict the researcher to focus in one place only but rather permits citing high-profile cases involving police use of excessive force in America. For example, the fatal police shooting explored in ColorLines and the Chicago Reporter in 2007 indicated numerous incidents of police brutality on Afro – Americans victims.
In this case, Oakland, California records that 37 out of 45 police officers involved in a shooting out were black. Such a situation is perpetuated by the system and tends to increase the tension between the racial marginalized communities and the police. Eventually, the situation solidifies the public perception that the police force is biased. It, ultimately, indicates the relevance of the research question in exploring the adverse effect of police brutality in destroying community cohesion.

The Position of Women in Society in ‘An Ideal Husband’ According to Marxist Theory essay helpName
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The Position of Women in Society in ‘An Ideal Husband’ According to Marxist Theory
Introduction
The Marxist Theory Lens is one of the most credible tools for literary analysis, since it provides critical insights into the various aspects of human life, often the subjects of literature. A Marxist critique performs the literary analysis by raising various fundamental questions that have a correlation with the themes tackled by the author of a literary work under scrutiny. For instance, the fundamental issues often raised by using the Marxist approach to analysis of a literary work include how an author’s work brings a reflection of his or her ideologies. Most authors portray such ideologies through creation of fictional world’s characters, the settings and the relationship between the themes tackled. An Ideal Husband is a play by Oscar Wilde, whose storyline revolves around a couple facing a blackmail scheme. The blackmail scheme results into a scene of reflection in which the couple attempt to reflect on their moral standards, bringing an idea of the political class who also believe in ethical purity. Subjecting Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband to a critical analysis, it is evident that the book is a vivid representation of key aspects of a societal life, through its reflection on marriage as the main theme, as well as other themes such as womanliness and feminism, aestheticism, as well as the art of living.
Oscar Wilde Biography
The author’s general life depicts a background of affluence and higher social class. It is possible to assert that his successful childhood life, which introduced his future success in education and publications, was a result of the perfect union of his parents. Wilde was born to two accomplished parents, with the the father being a surgeon for top government officials, and the mother a career politician and an activist in Dublin (1854). Having borrowed the artistic skills from his respected mother, who was also a poet, Wilde manifested excellence in his artistic works during his youth through composition of award winning poems (Adut 214). He therefore won prestigious awards throughout, including scholarships to the Trinity and the Magdalene colleges. While college life would have been sources of new challenges to his life, Wilde acquired new opportunities to advance his poetic and writing skills, and won more awards. The many poetic engagements that he participated in also served as an opportunity for incremental development in the discipline. While in college, Wilde built a name and a reputation as a writer, and a wit. The two names, Oscar Wilde, have depicted lavishness and romance, which have evoked the ideologies of the Irish myths and sense of heroism (Adut 217). In this case, this set of names convey a message of love patriotism, and pride that the parents had for their Irish nationalism.
From background, it is possible to assert that Wilde derived much of his lifetime impetus from the nature of his family environment, which is a product of marriage. His father’s life was a success story, having risen to the high ranks of operating on European Monarchs during his career. In addition to the father, he also had a successful mother, whose life also wrote a success story not only as a historian, but also as an activist and a political commentator. From his mother’s efforts, she became a prominent contributor to the formation and operations of the freedom movements that delivered independence to Ireland later in 1921. Having been well-accomplished role players in their career lines, both parents published many materials ranging from essays, poems and fairy tales, a trend that Wilde adopted and toed to build his success as well (Adut 214). In many cases, a successful child is usually a manifestation of a good family environment, which depicts a perfect marriage. The success of an entire family is also a product the smallest unit, which is marriage in the case of married people. It is therefore evident that Wilde’s family, stemming from his parents’ marriage is an example of a perfect marriage.
Prior to the peak of his fame and success, Wilde had excelled in excelled in school, graduated from college and established himself in London (Peter 415). Alongside his dedicated efforts in publishing, he also became a magazine editor, during which his fame rose in London not only as a wit, but also as a dandy. He then advanced to become a renowned public speaker, a duration followed by his marriage and subsequent birth of two sons (Adut 213). The publication and subsequent premiering of the book, An Ideal Husband, marked the pinnacle of his fame in 1895, as well as introducing the period of his later downfall. Due to accusations of indecency pegged on suspicions of homosexual acts, Wilde was found guilty and imprisoned for two years, an event that marked the end periods of his fame in London. Wilde later relocated to France after his release from prison, where he wrote among his last books De Profundis and Ballad of Reading Goal, before his final death in 1900. Considering the Wilde’s biography, which is a success story till the end of his time when a tragic turn of events engulf his prowess, one would want to imagine that he had been an ideal husband to his wife, as well as an ideal father to his two sons (Adut 234). Just as his father may have been considered an ideal husband during Wilde’s childhood and growth, and having followed an example of his mother’s artistic skills of writing, one would have advanced such expectations to imagine that he would have been an ideal husband in marriage.
Social Class
The concept of class has remained an integral aspect of societal lives. In many cases, there are fundamental parameters that define the particular class where an individual or a group of people belongs. For instance, the level of education and the amount of accumulated wealth often become the most common factors that define social class. In this case, members of a society with high levels of education tend to belong to the same social class, often higher than the uneducated. In addition to the level of education, the amount of accumulated wealth, in which those with more wealth (the rich) belong to higher social classes, as compared to those with relatively little wealth. In the Oscar’s Wilde’s book, “An Ideal Husband,” the concept of social class is evident from the first scene. In this case, the author uses education as a defining tool that places the members of this society in different classes.
In a conversation between Mrs. Marchmont and Lady Basildon, in the octagon room at Sir Robert Chiltern’s house in Grosvenor Square, the two introduce the scene in a rather argumentative manner. Sir Robert’s house is depicted to reflect the Greek affluence and success, usually obtained by those ranking higher than other members of the same societies do. While in this house alongside a couple of other guests, Mrs. Marchmont shows her interest in acquiring education from Sir Robert’s house. She states in Act One Scene I, “I come here to bed educated (pg. 1).” Mrs. Marchmont’s confession at these early stages of the play point to the fact that that education is a critical theme in the subsequent stages of the play, perhaps a defining measure of social class.
However, even though she expresses her strong desire and the efforts she makes to receive education, her friend belongs to a contrary school of thought, and immediately detests dreams of getting education. Lady Basildon seems uncomfortable with education, and confesses stating that she hates being educated. During the same conversation in Scene I, Act I, she is heard saying, “Ah! I hate being educated! (pg. 1).” Mrs. Basildon’s rejection of education at this stage of the play could also be a further pointer to the fact that education contributes to the creation of social classes, since others welcome and use it to acquire better status in their societies (Veronica 158). As a point of correction, Mrs. Marchmont attempts to correct Lady Basildon’s ideology about education; by stating the significant role, it plays in helping one acquire a serious purpose in life. According to her, education is among the few effective tools through which one can use to discover, develop, and perhaps sustain their desired dreams in life. She responds to Lady Basildon’s hatred for education in Act One Scene I, she states that, “So do I. It puts one almost on a level with the commercial classes, doesn’t it? But dear Gertrude Chiltern is always telling me that I should have some serious purpose in life. So I come here to try to find one (pg. 1).”
Considering Lady Basildon’s ideology and her public hatred for education, it is possible to not that she is an epitome of the old generation, in which the society did not expect women to know, nor understand much (Veronica 161). Her position on education paints a negative picture on women, as a group of people within the society that represent ignorance and illiteracy. Furthermore, if one uses education to create social classes in the Oscar Wilde’s society, perhaps women, as the uneducated lot would occupy a lower status, as men keep the lead as the educated. Lady Markby, in her response to Lady Chiltern in a conversation about the factors affecting happy marriage life, she blames the conditions of the House of Commons for ruining their husbands, and further refers to higher education for women as a horrible thing.
Her statement partly says in Act II Scene 1, “I think the Lower House by far the greatest blow to a happy married life that there has been since that terrible thing called the Higher Education of Women was invented.” However, since there are a couple of her friends who advocate for education, especially for women, Lady Chiltern corrects her statements by confessing a contrary opinion. Lady Chiltern in response to Lady Markby states that, “Ah! It is heresy to say that in this house, Lady Markby. Robert is a great champion of the Higher Education of Women, and so, I am afraid, am I.” In this battle of words, both women belong to different ideologies regarding the need and role of education, depicting a division of ideologies and plight.
Womanliness and Feminine Role
Even though Oscar Wilde uses the title An Ideal Husband, which invites an ideology and speculation about an ideal husband, there are also features of feminism and womanliness across the story. In order to acquire a deeper comprehension of the features of womanliness and feminine roles in Oscar’s An Ideal Husband, it is important to contrast some principle characters. Part of Oscar’s story relies on the existing opposition between Lady Chiltern, described as a virtuous woman, and Mrs. Cheveley, portrayed as a demonic woman. Mrs. Cheveley’s villainy and wit are among the few traits that have made her a pleasurable character. Oscar Wilde uses Mrs. Chiltern to depict the womanliness of the female members of the society, and portrays her a model Victorian woman, and epitome of modernity in the face of women. While working as an editor with the Women’s World Magazine, Wilde took the opportunity to elaborate on the positive images of women, especially those who represented modernity such as Mrs. Chiltern. For instance, Wilde described Mrs. Chiltern as a morally upstanding, highly educated, as well as supportive. This description made the readers to have a positive view about Mrs. Chiltern’s character and aptitude.
Wilde elaborates the supportive role of Mrs. Chiltern by referring to the role she played in forming the political career for her husband. In this case, Wilde relates her successful role in supporting the husband’s political career to the positive traits, some of which include the high level of education, as well as the high moral standards that appealed to the public. Furthermore, Mrs. Chiltern is portrayed as an embodiment of the role of fostering unity through reconciliation and forgiveness. In Act IV, Mrs. Chiltern emerges with a new face and a new role as the champion of forgiveness, as well as a caretaker. While manifesting her new role and traits, she recommends pardon rather than punishment, and makes it an exclusive mission for the female members of the society.
Mrs. Chiltern’s role of forgiving, supporting and providing care to her husband as he builds his political career is a representation of modern Victorian womanhood. In addition to her new role of advocating for forgiveness, offering adequate support and caretaking, Mrs. Chiltern also comes out as the symbol of differences between the new generation and old generation of women. There are remarkable differences between herself and Lady Markby who represents the old generation of women, also referred to as the embodiment of old group of society wives. Some of the differences include their attitudes toward education, in which Lady Markby represents those with little or no education, while Mrs. Chiltern comes out as an advocate of modern education.
Ambition and Politics
Ambition has persisted to be an integral component of any political life or dream. It is usually the genesis of one’s ideology, and the desire to appeal to the public, with a message of ability to create a difference. The regime and practice of politics in the previous generations such as the 19th century remains similar to the modern times, with regards to the existence of ambition (Lisbeth 4). Just as the modern day politicians, the politicians in the olden days in England also painted themselves as public servants, who carried the public interests at heart with a primary aim of delivering positive change. Wilde paints a picture of the route to high ranking political positions, and asserts that in order for one to attain such political ambitions, they need to harden themselves, and perhaps develop ‘steel nerves, and very thick skins. This enables one to withstand criticisms and criticize alike. It also emboldens one to speak out their mind on sensitive political issues, and also be able to fight to win support for their political agenda, even if it had small proponents at the start.
This implies that one has to display extra-ordinary energy required to cope with the pressures that come from the public, opposition parties, as well as the mainstream media. While there are members of a politician’s inner circle who may also attempt to outmaneuver their ambitions, the media may also tend to dig deep into the private lives of such ambitious politicians to promote personal interests. In many cases, journalists use such opportunities to promote the sales of their stories, by digging into crucial matters such as individual weaknesses about the aspiring politicians (Lisbeth 6). It therefore implies that for a politician aiming at a high-ranking position, there is a natural need to display extra ambition to match the resulting challenges and pressures. The ambition becomes the drive that helps such a politician endure all the pain and suffering that accompany the journey to their desired success. Wilde presents Sir Robert Chiltern as one such politician with a burning ambition to succeed. For instance, at a relatively younger age of 40, Chiltern made to become an under-secretary, after which the Prime Minister also offered him a cabinet position.
Conclusion
An Ideal Husband is a true reflection of Wilde’s ideologies on various aspects of their societal life. Such aspects range from education, the historical role or plight of women in the society, politics as well as the art of living. Wilde believes that education is a significant tool for success in life, and uses it to create the differences between the higher commercial social class, and the less educated who lack serious purpose in life, and belong to the lower social status. The overall background and setting of the play revolves majorly around his family, consisting of his parents who had achieved greater success through education. Wilde also belongs to a higher social class, having been born and raised in a rich family. This is evident from the lifestyle that Wilde lived, her social circles and the professional pursuits of the parents. Furthermore, Wilde paints a picture that there are two different generations of women, each with a unique set of features. He therefore gives credit to the later other the former, since the former have education, high moral standards, advocates of forgives and support in the family. However, he belongs to a school of thought that one has to have strong ambition to achieve their goals. He uses an example of Chiltern with the political ambition, who stood all the challenges such as blackmail to rise to top political ranking (An Under-Secretary) at a relatively young age of 40.
Works Cited
Adut, Ari. “A Theory of Scandal: Victorians, Homosexuality, and the fall of Oscar Wilde1.” American Journal of Sociology 111.1 (2005): 213-248.
Aggestam, Lisbeth. “Introduction: ethical power Europe?” International affairs (2008): 1-11.
Beechey, Veronica. “Women and production: a critical analysis of some sociological theories of women’s work.” Feminism and materialism (2013): 155-197.
Dickinson, Peter. “Oscar Wilde: reading the life after the life.” Biography 28.3 (2005): 414-432.
Wilde, Oscar, et al. The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde: The picture of Dorian Gray: the 1890 and 1891 texts. Vol. 3. Oxford University Press, 2005.
 
 
 

SMBP Assessment essay help online 
 
 
 
 
SMBP Assessment
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1. What does a Hierarchy of Strategy mean?
The hierarchy of strategy refers to relations and layout of an organization’s primary corporate strategy and the existing sub-strategies that allow the organization to run its operations effectively. The corporate strategy focuses on an organization’s core activities while analyzing how the organization can enhance its competitive advantage through such activities. The sub-strategies in the corporate strategy include the functional unit and business strategies. The functional unit strategies focus on the responsibility of various departments in achieving the organization’s objectives. The business strategies allow the organization to achieve sustained and lasting success in its target industries or sectors. The hierarchy of strategy is also known as the logical framework of strategic management and planning. The hierarchy of strategy may involve bottom-up, top-down, or bidirectional planning.
2. What is a Learning Organization?
A learning organization is a company that encourages its members to acquire knowledge through learning with the intention of ensuring that it adapts to dynamic environments quickly and successfully. The current business environment is highly competitive, and organizations must develop strategies that would allow them to maintain their competitiveness. Learning organizations support and encourage their employees to learn continuously by offering allowances and creating learning opportunities such as seminars and workshops. According to Bersin (2012), high-impact learning organizations provide their employees with career progression opportunities and reward them for their knowledge. Learning organizations also encourage risk taking and critical thinking while accepting any mistakes that may arise during the process. Learning organizations involve all their employees during decision-making activities and are ready to learn from experimentation. Learning organizations also ensure that all their employees access new information that would help them enhance the organizations’ overall productivity.
3. What is a strategic decision and what are its three characteristics? Include examples of strategic decisions.
Strategic decisions refers to the complex and long-term decisions that affect an organization’s entire future and the senior managements in that is responsible for making strategic decisions. Strategic decisions are crucial because they help in determining how successful an organization’s policies would be in the end. Strategic decisions affect all the employees, resources, and the environment in which an organization operates. Strategic decisions have several characteristics that differentiate them from administrative and operational decisions.
The first feature of strategic decisions is that they involve significant resource propositions for companies. Strategic decisions usually involve acquiring new resources, organizing the existing resources, or transferring other resources. An example of this characteristic is where an organization deploys some of its existing employees to new offices in different regions as a means of increasing the organization’s productivity.
Another aspect of strategic decisions is that they focus on enabling an organization respond to threats and opportunities through harmonization of the organization’s resource capabilities. For instance, an organization can respond to changes in the technological environment by introducing new computers and training its employees on how to enhance their productivity through various computer programs.
The third characteristic of strategic decisions is that they involve a broad range of activities in organizations. For instance, an organization can implement policies that affect several departments concurrently to ensure that the organization realizes its mission and objectives.
4. What are the responsibilities of the board of directors? Provide an example of a board that did not meet its obligations
According to Boland & Hofstrand (2013), the first responsibility of the board of directors is hiring, monitoring, appraising, and rewarding an organization’s executive. The board of directors also offers guidelines how an organization should operate through determining the organizational mission, vision, and goals. Usually, the board of directors works together with an organization’s executive to determine its mission, vision, and goals.
The board has a duty of developing governance systems that based on overarching organizational policies. The board of directors must determine how the organization operates by providing the appropriate frameworks and implementing various rules on functioning of their organizations. The board of directors must ensure that such rules are based on policies that guide the actions of the organization’s management. Furthermore, the rules should be flexible and clearly defined to ensure that the organizations operate efficiently.
The fourth responsibility of the board of directors is controlling the relationship between the organization and its CEO. The board of directors must occasionally arrange meetings with the CEO, and this helps in generating status reports concerning their organizations. The fifth responsibility of the board is protecting the organization’s finances and shareholders’ investments. It ensures that company’s assets are maintained in good order. An example of a board that failed in its mandate is the AIG board that was embroiled in power struggles against the company’s Chief Executive in 2010.
5. Describe the purpose of an EFAS Table
The EFAS table is used to identify an organization’s threats and opportunities that it encounters while operating in various environments. The EFAS table helps in analyzing how an organization’s management responds to each threat or opportunity. The EFAS table consists of five columns where the first column lists the threats and opportunities and the second column mentions the weights given to each threat or opportunity. The rating assigned to each threat and opportunity is indicated in the third column. The fourth column contains the weighted score that is derived from multiplying the weight and rating from the second and third columns. The fifth column contains the columns concerning each threat and opportunity in the EFAS table. The addition of all the weighted scores in the EFAS table produces a composite score that illustrates the organization’s response to external factors.
6. Define Competitive Intelligence
Competitive intelligence is the collection, analysis, and distribution of information concerning a business’s competitors, customers, and products with the aim of enabling an organization’s management to make strategic decisions. Organizations must collect and act upon information concerning their business environments and industries to ensure that they maintain their competitiveness. Competitive intelligence is a legitimate and critical activity for organizations operating in dynamic and competitive environments because it helps such organizations to recognize the threats and opportunities affecting their operations. As West (2001) points out, competitive intelligence is an integral factor in strategic and tactical marketing planning. The application of competitive intelligence varies depending on factors such as the size of an organization, industry, and political environment among others.
7. In what ways may a corporation’s structure and culture be internal strengths or weaknesses? Look at your organization and analyze its structural and cultural strengths and weaknesses. How can the weakness be improved?
An organization’s structure and culture can be an internal strength in enhancing communication between various departments or individuals. The structures can be an internal strength if it promotes the development of interpersonal skills. The structures and cultures can improve strength if they help in reducing operational costs, reduce bureaucracies, and enhance teamwork. The organizational culture and structure should allow faster decision-making and involve all the employees during the decision-making processes.
An organization’s structure and culture can be a weakness if it denies prevent the employees from interacting or cooperating with their colleagues or other entities in their industry. Some organizations maintain a strict code of secrecy as a method of protecting their intellectual property. Such measures may deny such organizations the opportunity to improve their products through sharing of information. The organizational culture and structures can be a source of internal weakness if they result in complicated communication channels within the organizations. The cultures and structures can also lead to internal weaknesses if they result in matrix management styles because this delays decision-making and reduces the productivity of the employees. One of the greatest weaknesses in our organization is communication because a low-level employ must go through a hierarchy of senior employees before the management addresses an issue. The organization can remove this weakness by eliminating the bureaucratic process of reporting incidences within the organization.
8. List and explain four current sociocultural trends in the U.S. that are transforming North America and the world
Some of the current sociocultural trends that are changing the world include smart products, innovating to zero, connectivity and convergence, and bricks and clicks.
a. Smart Products: There has been an increase in the abundance of smart products capable of sensing, connecting, reporting, and correcting various issues without the need of any human interference. The smart products include phones, watches, and smart buildings among others. Several companies are introducing smart driverless cars that will revolutionize the transport industry.
b. Innovating to Zero: The increasing threats posed to the environment have increased consumer awareness to ethical manufacturing practices. Many organizations are committed to reducing their carbon footprints and increasing the safety offered to employees within their facilities.
c. Connectivity and Convergence: There has been an exponential growth in the number of active internet users. The internet accessibility is changing how people interact with others or their environments. For instance, people can work remotely or access various libraries wherever they may be. New technology also allows people to do more activities without any physical contact. For instance, internet connectivity enables the introduction of new business models, mobile working solutions, and open innovations among others.
d. Bricks and Clicks: More consumers in the U.S. are moving from the brick-and-mortar stores to the virtual stores that enhance the shopping experience and convenience to the customers. Many businesses have created their online presence to take advantage of the increasing number of e-consumers. The current retailing model for many firms is the “Click and Collect” model where customers order for products over the internet and request for the goods to be delivered to their homes or offices.
9. What are Corporate Strategies?
Corporate strategies refer to the main tactics and policies initiated by an organization’s management to reflect the organization’s core values and mission while identifying the approaches to use in realizing the organizational objectives. Corporate strategies offer guidelines to various business units within an organization to ensure that they operate harmoniously to enhance their service provision and meet the expectations of shareholders. Corporate strategies are based on knowledge of factors such as the organization’s current status in the industry, the organization’s target, and methods the organization will use to realize its goals.
10. Define Corporate Parenting
Corporate parenting refers to the methods a multi-business company with a central headquarters uses to nurture and manage its individual strategic business units (Kozami, 2005). In corporate parenting, the multi-business company eliminates the weaknesses of corporate portfolio techniques by creating synergies in different strategic business units through sharing capabilities and resources. Usually, multi-business firms that grow through acquisition are interested in understanding how they can add value to their newly acquired business units. Corporate parenting involves different approaches that include strategic control, financial control, and strategic planning.
11. List and describe four popular options for international entry
The four popular approaches used for international entry include direct exporting, licensing, partnering, and buying local companies. Direct exporting is one of the methods used by most companies seeking to enter foreign markets, and it involves selling a company’s products directly into various foreign markets. Multinational corporations work closely with distributors and agents who help in selling the company’s products and represent the multinational corporations in various events. Consequently, multinational corporations must ensure that they select capable representatives when they use direct exporting as an international entry method.
Although licensing is an attractive method of foreign market entry, it involves sophisticated arrangements that include the multinational companies transferring the right to using their products and services to local firms. Licensing is most applicable in situations where the local businesses have an expansive market share. The multinational corporations can offer licensing for production or marketing activities.
Some foreign markets make it compulsory for multinationals to partner with local firms before they are allowed in their markets. Partnering strategies vary widely, and they range from complex strategic manufacturing agreements to mere co-marketing alliances. Partnering is crucial in business environments where the local culture varies significantly from those of the multinational company’s native country. Partnering with local enterprises gives the multinational corporations access to customers and market knowledge in the foreign countries.
Buying local firms is a suitable international market entry strategy in situations where the local businesses are direct competitors to the multinational corporation or have significant market shares. Some countries require multinationals to purchase local businesses, and this may force the multinational corporations to buy local companies. Buying local firms is a costly market entry strategy for multinational corporations, and it requires proper evaluation of the expected returns from the markets. However, the main advantage of this approach is that it enables the multinational corporations to establish their presence in local markets quickly.
12. What are corporate scenarios? What three steps should be followed?
Corporate scenarios refer to the expected future circumstances in a business’s environment based on assumptions, uncertainties, and previous and current trends. Developing the corporate scenarios is important for a business’s success because it enables a company to forecasts the impact of its interactions with internal and external agents. Businesses must also evaluate the impact of regulations, economic situations, threats, and opportunities for growth. Creation of a corporate scenario involves three steps that include gathering, analyzing, and reviewing.
The gathering phase involves collecting information that related to a company’s business environment. One method of obtaining information concerning the company is holding corporate scenario workshops. Corporate scenario workshops require the company’s representatives to ask various questions concerning issues affecting the organization. Consequently, the participants in such workshops must be people with adequate knowledge about the company’s operations and be capable of providing honest information.
The analysis phase involves the processing of information obtained in the first stage. The individuals responsible for conducting an analysis of the gathered information must demonstrate knowledge of the organization’s previous experiences. Such knowledge allows the analyzer to build appropriate models to illustrate how the business is performing. The reviewing phase involves providing feedback on the results of the data collected and analyzed in the previous steps. Reviewing enables the organization’s management to develop greater understanding on their company’s situation in various markets and the potential impacts of any strategic decisions they would make.
13. What are some of the approaches a company can take to identify and prepare its people for critical positions?
One of the methods that a firm can use to identify and prepare its people for critical positions is clearly illustrating the requirements for each available position before identifying the potential employees for the promotions. Effective leaders have several characteristics that the businesses can use to determine the employees worth promoting to important positions. Companies should evaluate how each employee behaves and interacts with others in the organizations. One of the critical characteristic of workers worth promoting is leadership since the organization expects the promoted employees to lead others. Employees who demonstrate the desire to increase their productivity and take responsibility during various situations are also suitable candidates for promotions. Finally, a company can also promote employees who show positive attitudes towards their work and the organization’s future. One way of identifying such characteristics in the employees is to engage them in teamwork activities or assign them various duties to complete within a specified duration. A company can also use role-playing and interviews to evaluate how the employees handle different situations relevant to their organization and responsibilities. The company can then offer training and orientation to the employees who show the potential of being good leaders.
14. What information should an action plan include?
Every action plan must include specific tasks, duration, and resource allocation. The primary objective of an action plan is to enable an organization to prioritize and plan its activities in a manner that facilitates the realization of organizational goals and missions. Successful organizations achieve their objectives by developing achievable milestones and stipulating the necessary actions required to achieve each milestone. The identification of specific tasks allows the organization to determine the particular activities undertaken by each employee. All operations in an organization should be time-specific, and this implies that the action plan must indicate the time needed for the successful completion of each task. Finally, the inclusion of resource allocation in the action plan helps in determining the money required for various activities.
15. List the six guidelines proposed for successful downsizing, and explain the importance of each one
The first guideline for successful downsizing is eliminating unnecessary work that does not add value to an organization. The organization’s management should amalgamate recurrent jobs to prevent many employees working on one job where only a few employees could complete the job satisfactorily. The importance of merging repetitive jobs is that it allows the company to retain talented and committed employees while laying off the unproductive employees. Merging the recurrent tasks also helps in reducing the complexity of managing a large number of workers who may have little work to do in the organization. The second guideline for downsizing is outsourcing some of the operations in a group. Outsourcing allows the organization to enhance the level of its services by enabling other groups or individuals to work on the non-core activities in the company. Outsourcing helps companies to reduce their operational costs by choosing skilled entities who also offer their services at the lowest costs possible.
The third direction for downsizing is planning for sustained efficiencies, and this is important because it enables the organization to increase the responsibility of various departments in realizing long-term objectives. Every department in an organization must have targets that they need to meet within specified deadlines. The fourth guideline for downsizing is informing all the employees the reasons that have made the company to reduce its workforce. Communicating with the employees on impending retrenchments helps in preparing them psychologically and helps the organization to address workers’ concerns. The fifth guideline is for the organization to increase its investment in the remaining employees by increasing their capacity through various training programs. This is important because it enables the remaining employees to multitask and handle responsibilities of varying complexities. The sixth guideline is for the organization to develop and introduce value-added jobs. This is important because it helps in balancing the eliminated jobs within the organization, and this allows the company to increase the quality of its products and services.
16. What is re-engineering? What are the seven principles of re-engineering proposed by Michael Hammer? Explain which principle is most important in your opinion
Business reengineering refers to the management strategy that involves reexamining and restructuring how a business organization conducts its operations with the aim of reducing costs and supporting the organization’s mission. According to Hammer (1990), the primary emphasis of reengineering is to dissociate an organization with outdated assumptions and rules that impede the progress of an organization. Business reengineering begins with a critical assessment of the customer needs, strategic goals, and mission of the organization before determining whether the organization needs to redesign any of these factors. According to Hammer (1990), the first principle of re-engineering is organizing operations around outcomes instead of tasks. The first principle implies that organizations should assign employees with the complete responsibilities for particular activities. Compressing the responsibilities in organizations increases the accountability, lowers operation costs, and reduces delays.
The second principle of re-engineering is ensuring that the employees who use various outputs of processes perform them. This helps in reducing overhead costs in organizations and eliminates capacity planning challenges. The third principle is integrating the real work with information processing, and this helps in reducing inflexible operations in companies. The fourth principle of re-engineering is treating geographically scattered resources as if they are centralized. Centralizing resources helps in reducing bureaucracy, redundancy and allows organizations to benefit from economies of scale. The fifth principle is linking comparable activities rather than combining their results since this eliminates the risk of failures during integration phases. The sixth principle is enhancing control in processes by putting decision points in workplaces. This principle suggests that organizations should liberate and encourage their employees to make decisions at all levels in the organizations. The seventh principle is capturing information at its point of origin once, and this help sin reducing redundancy. Although all the principles are significant, I believe that the first principle is important because it helps in addressing many of the challenges faced by different organizations. For instance, many organizations seek to reduce losses due to delays, fraud, and increased operation costs among others. The first principle helps in preventing all these situations.
 
References
Bersin, J. (2012). 5 keys to building a learning organization. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/joshbersin/2012/01/18/5-keys-to-building-a-learning-organization/
Boland, M. & Hofstrand, D. (2013). The role of the Board of Directors. Retrieved from https://www.extension.iastate.edu/agdm/wholefarm/html/c5-71.html
Hammer, M. (1990). Reengineering work: Don’t automate, obliterate. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/1990/07/reengineering-work-dont-automate-obliterate/ar/1
Kozami, A. (2005). Business policy and strategic management. New-Delhi: McGraw-Hill Published.
West, C. (2001). Competitive intelligence. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave.

Management Accounting: Costing and Budgeting argumentative essay help 
 
Management Accounting: Costing and Budgeting
Name:
Institution:
Management Accounting: Costing and Budgeting
Cost Classification
Direct costs can be traced accurately in a product or project with little effort. These costs are variable, and they can include salaries to a supervisor, wages incurred, the cost of sand and others. The indirect cost cannot be traced with little effort. They are related to multiple costs of a project or product, and they include insurance, salaries incurred in plan work and the depreciated cost. Table: cost classification
Cost Classification
-the wages of the electrician who did the job
direct
-depreciation of the tools used by the electrician
Indirect cost
-The salary of Sparky Ltd.’s accountant
Direct
-the cost of cable and other material used on the job
indirect
-rent of the premises where Sparky Ltd stores its inventories
direct
Source: Author, 2015
Costing Methods
The application of appropriate costing method in production process involves the use of the best rationale applied in the reporting framework. This is because proper reporting dictates the determination of financial recording in a transaction. Various methods can be used depending upon the nature of inventory valuation method applied. This inventory valuation calls for the application of such costs relating to acquisition, invoice price and the purchase price. Transport costs and discount may be subtracted to arrive at the right costing technique. The application of appropriate costing method in a manufacturing concern enables the understanding of the value of input and output that relates to the production process. The application of a suitable accounting system would provide the determination of costs used in production accurately. This is because there is the involvement of the management in making critical decisions regarding prices, competitiveness, future investment, and production levels. Different costing methods may be applied according to the specific requirements of a particular production process. These include the use of job costing; batch costing, process costing, contract costing and service costing (LUCEY, 2002, 67).
Job Costing
This technique is also referred to as job order costing. Job costing methods involves the application of a technique in consideration of a single line item or an individual contract. The method is usually applied in situations where there is the element of job uniqueness, and production process is not geared towards product consumables. Work done involve fulfilling customer’s expectations about requirements and duration. Particular industries that can apply this technique are those that engages in steel work, heat exchangers, Shipping Companies, and pressure vessels among others. The main purpose of this method is applied is to ensure that all costs relating to work completion have been brought together. The objective set relates to the determination of specific cost, determination of profitability, controlling operational efficiency and future planning of an investment activity (LUCEY, 2002, 78).
Batch Costing
Batch costing is a technique that involves the idea of calculating costs using batch in contrast to the use of a single lien item. This means that an organization would compare various cost elements contained in batches. Costs are classified together as fixed, variable costs and calculations can then be done appropriately. Calculation done would revolve around the idea of division technique where the batch cost would be determined by the units produced. The procedure involved can be used to the idea of accumulation of each batch, separating cost sheets and then giving each batch a number. Items produced in this technique are usually identical in nature. The application of this method is usually appropriate in areas that involve the manufacturing of define batches such as drugs, drilling machines and gas cylinders (Lucey, 2002, 174).
Process Costing
Process costing technique can also be referred to as unit costing or continuous method. The method is usually applicable in situations that calls for continuous/repetitive operations where cost averaging is applied. Cost averaging is usually applied in situations associated with units’ production in a given period. Determination of the average cost is usually done for identical items in time. Major subdivisions of this costing are joint products and by-product costing. Joint products are used in connection with other by-products. The figure below illustrates a situation associated with major sub-divisions associated with operation costing technique (Lucey, 2002, 174).
Figure: Sub-divisions of operations costing.
Source: (Lucey, 2002, 174)
From the above figure, batch costing is shown at the centre with the dotted line over it. This shows that there are characteristics that appear in batch costing technique that are synonymous with the process and specific order costing (Lucey, 2002, 174).
Contract Costing
This involves the tracking of costs that emanates from specific contractual arrangements with a customer. Quotation for long-term projects is provided through this method. The technique applies to projects that would take a long duration, and this means that a formation of a contract is necessary. Contract costing applies to construction arrangement since these are long-term in nature. The work done is usually at the premises of the customer. Risks involved are high and are uncertain. The terms and conditions should be complied with by the requirements of the customer. Projects are equally identifiable since their inception to a successful finish. Costs accumulation is a common attribute that should be ascertained on behalf of each contract. The procedure involved in this type of an arrangement requires separate ascertainment thereby treating elements of expenses in a separate sheet. This calls for a need to identify a separate number, separate account, charging costs and collection of such costs. The separate number ensures that a single contract can be identified with a particular job number. A separate account provides that no interference with any other transaction relating to a different contractual obligation. Charging costs means the idea of expensing costs about relevant contract amount (LUCEY, 2002, 108).
Service Costing
Service costing refers to the determination of costs that relates to the provision of a certain service. Cost per unit should be assessed at the end of a particular service so that aggregate costs relating to that event can be determined appropriately. Service costing techniques should also be referred to as operating costing owing to the transaction cost of a given operation. This technique is usually practiced by those industries that offer services. These includes such industries as hotel, water supply, good transport, educational institutions, road maintenance, and personnel departments among others. Features relating to service organizations include the dealings associated with intangible products, labor-intensive industries, and services that are not perishable. This means that once a service has been rendered, there is no possibility of storage of such a facility. Classifications may take the form of fixed and variable costs. There are stages that are involved in the idea of transforming raw materials into finished products (LUCEY, 2002, 117).
Various costing methods can be used in the measurement and recording of materials in the production process. These includes techniques such as direct materials, direct labor, and factory overheads among others. Some of the methods applied in costing technique includes actual costing, standard costing, and normal costing. Actual costing involves the technique that is associated with products costs of materials, labor, and actual overhead incurred. There are no estimations involved here but rather; actual costs are applied in contracting. This means costs associated with the direct material, direct charges, and direct labor are put into perspective. Standard costing involves the application of measurement criteria that relates to standard costs that ensures cost comparison. Normal costing is used to track production costs that apply the basis of input prices in combination with the actual quantity used. The actual price is included in normal costing to include direct materials and labor costs (LUCEY, 2002, 156).
Costs Calculation (FIFO, LIFO, AVCO)
This is captured below:
FIFO method
FIFO Periodic
Units available for sale 10 000 + 20 000 = 30 000
Units sold 9 000 + 0 = 9 000
Units in ending inventory 30 000 – 9 000 = 21 000
Costs of goods sold units unit cost total
Sales from first purchase 9 000 $10 90 000
9 000 90 000
Ending inventory units unit cost total
Inventory from 3rd 1 $10 $10
FIFO Perpetual
Purchases sales balance
Date units unit cost total units unit cost total units unit cost total
1st 0 – –
3rd 30 000 $10 300 000 30 000 $10 30 000
10th 20 000 $13 260 000 30 000 $13 260 000
20th 9 000 $10 90 000
LIFO method
LIFO periodic
Units available for sale 10 000 + 20 000 = 30 000
Units sold 9 000 + 0 = 9 000
Units in ending inventory 30 000 – 9 000 = 21 000
Costs of goods sold units unit cost total
Sales from 20th January 9 000 $10 90 000
9 000 90 000
Ending inventory units unit cost total
Inventory from 3rd January 10 000 $10 $100 000
Inventory from 10th January 11 000 $13 $143 000
LIFO Perpetual
Purchases sales balance
Date units unit cost total units unit cost total units unit cost total
1st 10 000 $10 $100 000 10 000 $10 $100 000
3rd 11 000 $13 $143 000 11 000 $13 $143 000
10th
AVCO Method
Weighted Average Unit Cost= Total Cost of Inventory/ Total Units in Inventory
AVCO periodic
Units available for sale (purchases) 10 000 + 20 000 = 30 000
Units sold (sales) 9 000 + 0 = 9 000
Units in ending inventory 30 000 – 9 000 = 21 000
Weighted average unit cost units unit cost total
3rd January purchases 10 000 $10 $100 000
10th January 11 000 $13 $143 000
21 000 $11.57 $243 000
243 000/21 000 = 11.57
Costs of goods sold 9 000 $11.57 $104 130
Ending inventory 21 000 $11.57 $242 970
AVCO Perpetual
Purchases sales balance
Date units unit cost total total units unit cost total
3rd 10 000 $10 $100 000 10 000 $10 $100 000
10th 11 000 $13 $143 000 11 000 $13 $143 000
21 000 $11.57 $243 000
20th 9 000 $11.57 $104 130 9 000 $11.57 $104 130
Data Analysis
From the above data, FIFO method can be applied in situations that call for first unit going to the inventory and being sold first. The application of LIFO method is based on the assumption that the last product unit that was recorded in the inventory was sold first leaving out the old stock. Average cost (AVCO) technique is a straightforward method that applies the weighted average cost associated with units on sale. The average cost is then applied to the determination of costs of goods sold in agreement with the relevant perpetual method (LUCEY, 2002, 63).
Key Performance Indicators
This may take the form of data analysis using right metrics and other measurement tools. Report tools would proof beneficial in trying to provide access controls associated with security concerns. Users of financial statements are empowered with data tools that provide effective information throughout the reporting period. This means that there are benefits associated with improved productivity of work. Problem areas can be identified with ease. Various strategies can be employed for improving performance indicators. This can take the form of the application of proper conversion rates for best results. Other models involved include quantitative approach represented by numbers, practical approach and directional specifications. A practical approach is an interface associated with the Company’s operations. The directional approach is the measurement of success path witnessed in an organization. The success of an operation of a business segment can evaluated through KPIs. Unfavorable outcomes can be eliminated. This can be done through increase sales revenue to realize much profits with fewer costs. A balanced scorecard can be brought into perspective as a management framework for assessing performance improvements. Similarly, costs can be reduced by employing labor-intensive techniques that do not form part of increased costs (HIRSCH, 2006, 27). Value creation can be realized through product quality. Quality attributes would ensure that customers do not lose their money without a legitimate cause (LUCEY, 2002, 40).
Purpose and Nature of Budgeting
In the business perspective, budgeting plays a vital role in management. This is because a budget enables proper planning of all expenses attributable to the operations of an organization. Income and revenue would also be put into perspective about a given segment of a business. The use of budget helps an organization to track its spending and provide for new sources of funds. Tracking of the spending habit is usually assessed to see if funds are available for spending. Spending controls would ensure that the available funds are used appropriately, and there is no exceeding of the set amount. There is a critical role associated with the provision of the necessary support for funding. This extends to the need to justify the usage of funds so that proper measures can be put to enable future spending. Proper spending would thus be supported through the application of an appropriate plan that would caution the business against bad spending habits. The nature of a budget employs the process associated with estimating the current budget through proper evaluation of a past budget. Revenue amount emanating from sales would then be determined to assess the amount generated from activities of the business (investments). All expenditures should be defined appropriately, and these should be subtracted from the revenue estimates in a given period. This would provide a surplus or a deficit budget. After reviewing of the necessary adjustments, the final draft of the budget needs to be submitted to the relevant authorities. This enables proper comparison of the actual results against the estimated results thus giving a financial view towards the direction to be taken by an organization (HIRSCH, 2006, 37).
Budgeting Methods
Various budgeting methods may be applied to an organization depending upon particular needs. These methods include zero based method, incremental, and fixed and flexible method. Zero based method is a planning tool that involves the elements of reversing of the process involved in a traditional budget. Each item that is involved in zero budgeting needs approval without necessarily affecting the changes made alone. In other words, a zero base technique must be applied where the re-evaluated data are complied. This means that a task to be completed is identified and then engaging in funding for resources independently. Incremental budgeting involves preparing of a plan involving added amounts that increases the actual budget. This means that there is the allocation of additional resources from the last budget estimate. A fixed budget is a technique that does not involve any change in respective to activity levels. This means that the budget is static, and there are no changes that occur when sales volume are altered. A flexible budget presents a scenario where changes are felt. This means that there are adjustments that occur on activity levels when volume increase of decrease. The table below shows various classifications of budgets (HIRSCH, 2006, 87).
Fixed budget
Unit sales 1 000
Unit production 1 200
Budget $ 000
Sales (1 000 units *15 000) 15 000
Cost of sales
Materials (1 200 units *$ 5 000 per unit) 6 000
Labor (1 200 units * $2 000 per unit) 2 400
Variable overhead (1 200 units * $ 800 per unit) 960
Fixed overhead (1 200 units * $ 2 400 per unit) 2 880
12 240
Closing inventory (200 units * $10 200 per unit) (2 040)
Cost of sales (1 000 units *$10 200 per unit) (10 200)
Profit 4 800
Source: Author, 2015
Flexible budget
Activity level:
Direct labour hours
8000
9000
10000
11000
12000
Variable costs:
Indirect materials ($1.50)
Indirect labour ($2.0)
Utilities ($0.50)
Total Variable costs
Fixed Costs
Depreciation
Supervision
Property taxes
Total fixed costs
Total costs
$12 000
16 000
4000
32000
15 000
10 000
5 000
30 000
$62 000
$13 500
18 000
4 500
36 000
15 000
10 000
5 000
30 000
$66 000
$15 000
20 000
5 000
40 000
15 000
10 000
5 000
30 000
$70 000
$16 500
22 000
5 500
44 000
15 000
10 000
5 000
30 000
$74 000
$18 000
24 000
6000
48 000
15 000
10 000
5 000
30 000
$78 000
Source: Author, 2015
Cash Budget
January February March
Opening balance 15 000 55 000 200 000
Add: Receipts
Cash sales 100 000 200 000 150 000
Collection from debtors 30 000 50 000 20 000
145 000 305 000 370 000
Less: payments
Cash purchases 60 000 80 000 100 000
Expenses 10 000 15 000 20 000
Payments to creditors 20 000 10 000 70 000
Closing balance 55 000 200 000 180 000
Source: Author, 105
Variances
From the above budgets, variances can be calculated by subtracting costs from revenue in their respective months of income. The table below shows deviations calculated from given data:
Source Budget Actual Variance F or U Variance %
Cash receipts
Cash sales 100 000 110 000 10 000 F 10
Collection from debtors 30 000 28 000 2 000 U 6.7
Cash payments
Payments to creditors 20 000 30 000 10 000 U 50
expenses 10 000 12 000 2 000 U 20
Indirect materials 12 000 10 000 2 000 F 16.7
Indirect labor 16 000 14 000 2 000 F 12.5
Utilities 4 000 2 000 2 000 F 50
Source: Author, 2015
NB: Percentage = (variance/budget) * 100
Variance has been established from the above table. Cash sales are represented by a variance of 10%, which is favorable. This shows that budgeted expenditure was less than the actual cost.
Findings
Variances have been arrived at through the percentage method of dividing variance value with the budgeted amount. Accountability would be identified in various associated with cost centers, revenue centers, profit centers, and investment centers. Revenue centers provide the authority through which sales can be manipulated with little regard to the determination of costs. Revenues and sales items have been considered in this analysis to focus on the favorable approach in finding variances. Cost centers is largely based on cost segments. Inferior materials could be bought to increase costs thus creating an unfavorable variance. Profit centers are the primary concern for variance analysis. This is because the proper determination of profits means that relevant price has been identified. Investment Centers focuses on the determination of return on investment (ROI). Improvement on investment return can be done by increasing profit margins so that the Company remains productive (HIRSCH, 2006, 113).
Bibliography
HIRSCH, M. L. (2006). Advanced management accounting. London, Thomson Learning
LUCEY, T. (2002). Costing.