York and Sevilla Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

York and Sevilla - Essay Example New York City boasts of numerous Air Trains that have full-time operation within the city. There are three main airports people tourists and public travelers use to fly across the city including JFK International airport. The Newark Liberty International airport is a key transport terminal. LaGuardia Airport is another transport terminal in New York. Air transport facilitates tourism industry within the city because it is relatively cheaper to fly across the city at only $5 while children under five years take it free. In addition, tourists who may wish to fly using private flight have only twenty-five minutes to move between Teterboro Airport and Midtown Manhattan. However, air transport in York city, particularly the public sector, may at times limit tourism activities due to frequent commercial air traffic, consequently leading to unwanted delays. Sevilla offers a many advantage to tourists of all walks who visit the destination. The Sevilla International Airport is 25 minutes away from the city’s center. The Airport helps in facilitating quick tourist movements in and outside the city. In addition, La Parra International Airport, located only 10km away from Jerez de la Frontera, offers relatively cheap flights for tourists to Sevilla. Most of the flights have WI-Fi access that enables tourists to browse through and access information while on board. However, most of the flight-service-offering companies are relatively expensive to the tourists. The city of New York mainly utilizes two rail stations found in Midtown, Pen Station on the west side and the Grand Central Terminal on the east side of the city. The stations enjoy services from many bus and subway lines that facilitate an exchange of travelers out and into the stations (Boniface & Cooper 2009, p. 282). The railway transport is a good supplement to other means of transport available in New York because it does not experience traffic congestions. In addition, rail transport offers

Corporate Governance Essay Example for Free

Corporate Governance Essay ABSTRACT This paper examines whether the remuneration of the Chief Executive Officer position in Hong Kong public firms is affected by board composition, given the influence of family control on the boards of many Hong Kong companies. It is hypothesized that I) in family-controlled boards, Chief Executive Officers receiver higher compensation and II) Chief Executive Officers in family-controlled boards serve as Chief Executive Officer positions longer. In family-controlled boards, corporate governance is of very high importance as the independent non-executive directors can exert less influence over the board, compared to non-family-controlled boards (â€Å"dispersed boards†). Keywords: Board composition, Remuneration, Corporate Governance. 1.INTRODUCTION The economic turmoil in Asia in 1997 has led to a wider recognition of the importance of corporate governance. In line with global trends towards higher standards of corporate governance, the duties and liabilities of the directors of the listed companies have therefore become more stringent. It follows that many corporate governance mechanisms designed to monitor board members may be less effective for family-owned and family-controlled firms. However, to attract outside investors, family-owned and family-controlled firms tend to encourage greater independence and monitoring from the board. For the purposes of the study, family-owned and family-controlled are used interchangeably. The reason is that actual family ownership is difficult to ascertain due to various shareholdings and special purpose vehicles that are used, and cannot be deduced from annual reports. Thus, in this study we classify family-control and family-ownership when the board is made of a majority of related family members as a â€Å"family-controlled board†. When it is not, we classify it as a â€Å"dispersed board†. In practice, there are instances where the family owns the majority of a company but comprise of a minority of the board, and it is possible that the family is able to exert influence via other avenues, however, this study will not be examining such. Family-owned firms are common throughout Asia. Studies show that, family-owned firms hold more than 20 percent of the equity of listed companies in Asia, and more than 60 percent of the listed companies have connections with family-owned groups (Bebchuk Fried, 2006). Family-owned businesses represent the predominant form of listed companies in Hong Kong (Standard Poor’s, 2002). Such family ownership structure implies the strong influence of dominant shareholders and provides limited voice for minority shareholders. Compared to the Anglo-American environment, where ownership blocks are less concentrated but institutional investors are more prevalent, in Hong Kong, there is less of a culture for non-executive directors or minority shareholder activists to challenge. Variations in ownership structure may lead to differences in the nature of agency conflicts, the roles of directors may vary in accordance to the ownership structure. For family-owned firms, Shleifer and Vishny (1997) argue that the primary agency conflict is between a family owner and non-family owners. Meanwhile, for widely held firms, Berle and Means (1932), and, Jensen and Meckling (1976) argue that the primary agency conflict is between executives and shareholders. As a consequence, tying remuneration to performance of executives may prove the most efficient way to mitigate this agency conflict. To date, a vast of literatures published in recent years show the growing recognition of influences of family-owned firms and executive remuneration on corporate governance. Many studies have tended to focus on the use of remuneration contracts to align interests of executives with owners in family-owned firms. The rise in executive remuneration in recent years has been the subject of public criticism, which further intensified corporate governance scandals. Therefore, the question whether a correlation exists between remuneration and family-control in board composition at Hong Kong-listed companies. 2.OBJECTIVES In 1994, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited introduced rules that require listed firms to disclose the remuneration of directors. Before 2004, there was no requirement to disclose the names and remuneration of directors (Cheng Firth, 2005). The Disclosure of Financial Information rule under Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited’s Listing Rules was amended on 31 March 2004 to require full disclosure, on an individual and named basis, of directors’ fees and any other reimbursement or emolument payable to a director. In addition, Hong Kong Financial Reporting Standard 2 requires listed firms to disclose directors’ share-based remuneration. The Code on Corporate Governance Practices forms part of the Listing Rules and came into effect on 1 January 2005. According to the Code on Corporate Governance Practices, Hong Kong’s listed firms should be overseen by an effective board, which should assume responsibility for the leadership and control of the listed firm, and the members of which should be collectively responsible for promoting the success of the firm by directing and supervising its affairs. Directors should make decisions objectively in the best interests of the firm. In regards of remuneration policy for firms’ directors, the Code on Corporate Governance Practices requires the disclosure of information related to the firm’s directors’ remuneration policy and other remuneration-related matters. There should be a formal and transparent procedure for setting policy on executive directors’ remuneration. The Chief Executive Officer, a director in the board of company, will hence have his/her full remuneration disclosed. It is recommended that remuneration should be set at a level sufficient to attract and retain directors of the caliber required to run the company successfully, but companies should avoid paying more than is necessary. However, it is argued that many corporate governance mechanisms designed to monitor board members may be less effective for family-owned firms. However, to attract outside investors, family-owned firms tend to encourage greater independence and monitoring from the board. In Hong Kong, there are quite a number of listed companies have a high concentration of family ownership. It is common for the top executives of family-owned firms in Hong Kong to be family members. The rise of remuneration of family executives in family-owned firms has been the subject of public criticism. Recognizing this, the purpose of this research is to find out whether there is any relationship between family-board-control of firms and remuneration of Chief Executive Officers. To summarize, this study revolves around the following major objectives. †¢ To test whether there are significant differences in Chief Executive Officers’ remuneration for family-controlled and non-family-controlled firms (specifically firms with family-controlled boards and firms without family-controlled boards); †¢ To find out whether â€Å"Family Chief Executive Offices† (cases where the Chief Executive Officer are family members of the family-controlled boards) are awarded excessive compensation, compromising standards of corporate governance; †¢ To examine the tenure of Chief Executive Officers for family-controlled firms vs non-family-controlled firms, given that there may be differences in the board’s ongoing approval and demand of the results delivered by the Chief Executive Office; and †¢ To test whether there are significant differences in corporate governance structure of family-controlled and non-family-controlled firms. 3.LITERATURES REVIEW, HYPOTHESIS DEVELOPMENT 3.1 Agency theory It is commonly acknowledged that ownership structure, the basis of corporate governance, is important to the overall performance of firms. While there are a large number of literatures discussing ownership structure, agency theory is frequently cited as a foundation. In modern corporations, the separation of ownership and control leads to agency conflicts that can be alleviated through various corporate governance mechanisms (Fama and Jensen, 1983). As one such mechanism, compensation schemes are designed to provide incentives that align the behavior of agents to act on behalf of principles (Jensen and Meckling, 1976). This relationship between executive compensation and firm performance has received considerable attention from the general public and academics. One of the issues in the field of management is the impact of family influence (Mishra et. al., 2001; McConaughy et. al., 1998) and corporate governance on the value of a firm (Khatri et al., 2001; Kwak, 2003; Black et al., 2003). There are various studies in diverse areas like accounting, economics, finance, law and management have been conducted to study such impact (Mishra et al., 2001; Kwak, 2003; Blacket al., 2003; Andersen and Reeb, 2003). These studies have resulted in interesting and useful observations. According to Alchian and Demsetz (1972), the principal agent problem comes from hidden action due to asymmetric information. The essence of a firm is that, it permits people to work as a team. It is the cooperation of a team that leads to a firm’s output. Thus, the agency problem inevitably arises in corporate governance. According to Jensen and Meckling (1976), agent problem arises from the conflict of interests between shareholders as the principals and the executives as the agents. Consequently, residual control rights fall into the hands of management instead of the residual cash flow claimants. As a result, the sum of monitoring expenditures be incurred by the principal, bonding expenditures incurred by the agent, and the value of the lost residual borne by the principal are included as the cost of agency. In general, when ownership of a firm becomes more dispersed, the agency problem will be deteriorated due to the inability of the relatively small shareholders to monitor the behavior of management. The monitoring of managers by shareholders is also weakened by free-rider problem. To mitigate the problem of agency, Ang (2000) and Denis and Sarin (1999) suggested the shareholding of management to be increased in order to make the executive a significant claimant. An inverse correlation exists between the dispersed ownership and firm performance (Berle and Means, 1932), because executives’ interests do not coincide with the interest of shareholders so that corporate resources are not used for the maximization of shareholders’ wealth. This view has been supported by many scholars. Shleifer and Vishny (1986), McConnell and Servaes (1990), and Zingales (1995) found a strong positive relationship between ownership concentration and corporate performance. In transitional economies, Xu and Wang (1999) and Chen (2001) found a positive relationship between actual firm performance and ownership concentration for a sample of listed Chinese companies. 3.2Ownership Structure It is common in Hong Kong, that ownership structure is characterized by single dominant owners (Chau Leung, 2006). A report of the Corporate Governance Working Group of the Hong Kong Society of Accountants in 1995 indicated that a high concentration on family-controlled listed firms is highly entrepreneurial and opportunistic in their business strategies, however, the report also indicate that these firms with single dominant owners lack resources and corporate culture to maintain strong internal corporate control. The 2001 Review on Corporate Governance by the Hong Kong Standing Committee for Corporate Law Reform, as well as a report from Standard Poor’s, indicated that family ownership structures present particular challenges. Theoretically, there is a major puzzle regarding the role of family in large firms (Bertrand Schoar, 2006; Villalonga Amit, 2006). In family-controlled firms, threatening factors may negatively influence the firms’ value (Demstez, 1983; Demstez and Lehn, 1985). Table 1 as below lists positive and negative factors affecting the relationship between family control and firm value. It shows that there is still difference of opinion among researchers on this topic of importance. 3.3â€Å"Family† Chief Executive Officers In this study, whether a person belonging to the family acts as a Chief Executive Officer is taken into account. We classify family-control and family-ownership when the board is made of a majority of related family members (â€Å"family-controlled board†). When it is not, we classify it as a â€Å"dispersed board†. Family Chief Executive Officers have substantial stockholdings of 5 percent or more (Daily Dollinger, 1993), with such given bargaining power, can be expected to influence the size and structure of their remuneration packages to their own benefit. Thus, for the purposes of this study, Chief Executive Officers with stockholdings of less than 5 percent are not counted as â€Å"Family Chief Executive Officers†. There are differing opinions on whether such Family Chief Executive Officers have higher or lower remunerations at such family-controlled firms. Some believe that such Family Chief Executive Officers are receiving above-average compensation due to the family-controlled board, as well as their strong ability to influence remuneration committee. Oh the other hand, others take the opposite view and see that Family Chief Executive Officers should be receiving below-average compensation. There is several reasons for this expectation. First of all, both anecdotal (Applegate, 1994; Kets de Vries, 1993) and empirical (Allen Pamian, 1982; Gomez-Mejia et al., 2001; Schulze et al., 2001) evidence suggest that incumbents with family ties to owners enjoy high employment security. As argued by Beehr (1997), the Family Chief Executive Officer inherently plays two overlapping and interdependent roles: a work role as steward of the company, and a non-work role as fulfillment of family obligations. In reciprocity for this role duality, the Family Chief Executive Officer is rewarded with a relatively assured job (Allen Pamian, 1982; Kets de Vries, 1993; Gomez-Mejia et al., 2001). Moreover, some literatures suggested that evaluators are more likely to make positive performance attributions to employees when there are emotional ties between monitoring and those being judged (Cardy Dobbins, 1993). It is expected that in family-controlled firms, board members in their role as monitors may be less inclined to attribute disappointing results to the Family Chief Executive Officer, giving the benefit of the doubt to the incumbent when interpreting ambiguous performance data. Agency theory suggests that there are inherent conflicts between shareholders and executives. Applying agency theory’s logic, the above scenario suggests that in family-controlled firms, risk adverse agents would trade higher job security for lower earnings if they are related to principals. Family Chief Executive Officers mitigate usual agency costs because of their aligned interests with the owners (Anderson Reeb, 2003). The information asymmetry problem in agency relationships may also be reduced given the close ties between Family Chief Executive Officers and the owners. Since they hold high ownership stakes, Family Chief Executive Officers have sufficient incentives to place family welfare ahead of personal interests, thus may perform better than firms with non-family Chief Executive Officers. Barney (2001) suggested that appointing family members as Chief Executive Officers may be beneficial. Tradition, loyalty, and bonding relationships determine how resources are deployed in family firms. Family Chief Executive Officers build common interests and identities (Habbershon Williams, 1999) and play a dual role by being both owners and executives (Chang, 2003; Yiu, Bruton, Lu, 2005). Through social relationships with managers and employees, Family Chief Executive Officers may help to obtain intangible resources such as goal congruence, trust, and social interactions, providing valuable, unique, and hard-to-imitate competitive advantage (Chu, 2011; Liu et al., 2011; Luo Chung, 2005). The Code on Corporate Governance Practices recommends remuneration committee to seek advice from the Chief Executive Officer on the matter of directors’ remuneration. Executives in firms controlled by a large shareholder receive more compensation for performance, than executives in firms lacking a controlling owner (Gomez-Mejia et al., 1987). Mehran (1995) examined the relationship between executive remuneration, ownership structure and firm performance. The results indicate that firms, which have more outside directors, have a higher percentage of executive remuneration in equity-based form. Moreover, the percentage of equity-based remuneration is inversely related to the outside directors’ equity ownership, i.e., the executive’s equity-based remuneration rose if the outside directors’ owned less of the company, and vice-versa. Next, Mehran (1995) turned to firm performance, and its relationship to executive remuneration and ownership structure. He used Tobin’s Q and return on assets as measures of firm performance. He found firm performance to be positively related to the percentage of executive remuneration that is equity-based. However, Mehran (1995) no relationship between firm performance and ownership structure. He concluded that the results support the notion that executive remuneration should be tied to firm performance. There is a vast amount of literature on turnover of the Chief Executive Officer position (Furtado and Karan, 1990; Kesner and Sebora, 1994; Finkelstein and Hambrick, 1996; Pitcher et al., 2000). However, according to Finkelstein and Hambrick (1996), the relationship between remuneration and turnover has not been subjected to rigorous empirical examination, even given the emphasis on retention as a justification for high remuneration of Chief Executive Officer. The following hypotheses are framed: Hypothesis 1: In family-controlled boards, Chief Executive Officers receive higher compensation. Hypothesis 2: Chief Executive Officers in family-controlled boards serve as Chief Executive Officer positions longer. 3.4Board Composition The role of the board is expected to represent shareholders, provide strategic guidance to and effective oversight of management, foster a culture of good governance, and promote a safe and healthy working environment within the company. In accordance to Hong Kong Stock Exchange Listing Rule 3.10, the board of directors is required to have at least three independent non-executive directors. The presence of â€Å"truly† independent non-executive directors in the corporate governance regime is seen as one way of mitigating agency problem associated with concentrated family ownership. In family-owned firms, given the influence of family control on the remuneration and performance relationships exists, where the majority of shares are in the hands of family members, under this circumstance, the executive and risk-bearer functions are merged and more of the wealth consequences of the executives’ decisions are internalized. In other words, there is less separation of ownership and control and thus lowering agency costs, which in turn leads to less cost for monitoring by outside directors. Therefore, firms closely controlled and managed by family members are expected to use lower proportion of outside directors compared with firms with disperse ownership. In widely held firms, with ownership dispersed among many investors, investors are often small and poorly informed to exercise even the control rights they actually have. Moreover, the free-rider problem faced by individual investors makes them uninterested in expending effort to learn about the firms they have financed, or even to participate in the governance (Shleifer and Vishny, 1997). As a result, the larger degree of separation of ownership and control in widely held firms leads to greater conflicts. The use of outside directors by widely held firms is expected to be more. 3.5Remuneration Committee In 1999, remuneration committees were uncommon in Hong Kong, with only few firms reporting their existence (Cheng Firth, 2005). Since 2006, Hong Kong Stock Exchange proposes a rule to require issuers to set up a remuneration committee, with the committee chairman and a majority of the members being Independent Non-executive Directors. In family-owned firms, the positions of the Chief Executive Officer are usually held by family members, who can influence the level of remuneration paid to directors. The Code on Corporate Governance Practices recommends remuneration committee to seek advice from the Chief Executive Officer on the matter of directors’ remuneration. The Code on Corporate Governance Practices recommends that the majority of remuneration committee members be Independent Non-executive Directors. The presence of Independent Non-executive Directors on the remuneration committee is supposed to be used as monitoring mechanism that prevents excessive remuneration for executive directors (Basu et al., 2007), including that of the Chief Executive Officer. The role of independent non-executive directors and large institutional shareholders becomes crucial to curtailing the possible self-serving behavior of top managers (HKSA, 2001). Studies of firms in other countries show conflicting results on the relationship between remuneration and remuneration committee. Some findings show that remuneration committees tend to reduce remuneration, whereas others report the opposite (Conyon Peck, 1998; Ezzamel Watson, 1998). However, in practice it is highly likely that the Chief Executive Officer has some influence over the compensation decision (Murphy, 1999). An important question relating to the composition of remuneration committee concerns the ideal combination of outsiders and insiders. Insiders may face distorted incentives due to their lack of independence from the Family Chief Executive Officer (Bushman et al., 2004). 3.6 Components of Remuneration The basic components of remuneration of Chief Executive Officer are similar, however, the relative level and weights on the components differ (Abowd and Kaplan, 1999, and Bryan et al., 2006). Generally, remuneration of Chief Executive Officer can be divided into four basic parts: a base salary, an annual bonus which is tied to some accounting measure of company performance, stock options, and long-term incentive plans, such as restricted stock plans and multi-year accounting-based performance plans. †¢ Base salary: is the fixed part of remuneration of Chief Executive Officer, causing risk-averse executives to prefer an increase in base salary rather than an increase in bonuses. Most components of remuneration are specified relative to base salary. †¢ Bonus: in addition to the base salary, most companies offer their executives an annual bonus plan based on a single year’s performance. The purpose of such bonuses, as well as options, is to align the incentives of the Chief Executive Officer with that of the shareholders. †¢ Stock options: are contracts, which give the owner the right to buy shares at a pre-specified exercise price. Stock options reward stock price appreciation, not total shareholder return, which includes dividends. In this study, stock options are excluded, as full details of such information would not be retrievable from annual reports. †¢ Other forms of compensation: restricted stock to be received by executives, it is restricted in the sense that shares are forfeited under certain conditions, which usually have to do with the longevity of employment. Many companies also have long-term incentive plans in addition to the bonus plans, which are based on annual performance. Top executives routinely participate in supplemental executive retirement plans in addition to the company-wide retirement plans. Most executives have some sort of severance arrangement. Finally, executives often receive benefits in the form of free use of company cars, housing, etc. Based on the various conceptual and empirical evidences presented above, this study aims to understand whether the remuneration of a Family Chief Executive Officer is influenced by the board composition, i.e. whether it is family-controlled or not. This ties into the original Hypothesis 1, thus, the further hypotheses is framed as follows: Hypothesis 3: The higher the proportion of independent non-executive members on the board of directors at family-board-controlled firms, the lower the Chief Executive Officer remuneration.

Hustler v. Falwell :: essays research papers

Hustler v. Falwell   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hustler Magazine versus Jerry Falwell was a case that involved many key elements. First of all it was a case that examined if a public figure such as Jerry Falwell could collect for emotional damages sustained to him by a parody that was published in an issue of Hustler Magazine. Secondly, did Hustler invade Falwell’s privacy by publishing the contents of the parody? The most important aspect of the case, that was under review, was if Hustler was in accordance with their First Amendment Rights, of freedom of speech, by publishing the parody.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The parody in question was published in an issue of Hustler in a faux advertisement for Campari Liqueur. In the advertisement entitled, â€Å"Jerry Falwell tells about his first time,† Falwell is portrayed as giving an interview. In the fake interview Falwell talks about his first sexual experience, which was with his mother, and describes how he was drunk and the experience took place in an outhouse. The interview also tells how Falwell doesn’t go out in front of the pulpit unless he’s â€Å"sloshed.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The district Court found Hustler Magazine liable for Falwell’s emotional distress and granted him 100,000 dollars in damages. However, the court did rule in favor of Hustler in that they did not invade Falwell's privacy since he was a public figure. They also ruled against Falwell’s libel claim, stating that Hustler did not publish anything that a reasonable person would misinterpret as the facts.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The big argument in the case, when it was introduced to the Supreme Court, was if the District Court had deprived Hustler Magazine of their First Amendment rights. Since Hustler was a magazine of nationwide circulation and since Falwell is a national figure Hustler argued that the parody was in no way wrong since any reasonable person would identify it as humor rather than facts. The Court agreed and it found that Falwell should not be rewarded any damages.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Chief Justice Rehnquist presided over the case. In his statement of opinion Rehnquist acknowledged that the article wasn’t of the best taste. He also acknowledged that there isn‘t really a good way to distinguish between cases of this nature. His argument of this was since all jurors have different views and opinions that verdicts in cases such as this would be of opinion rather than clearly defined by the law. He acknowledged that not all speech is protected equally by the First Amendment but this case didn‘t possess such speech.

Assess critically the contribution Essay

Taylorism is a form of job design, which stresses short, repetitive work cycles; detailed, set task sequences; a separation of task conception from task execution; and motivation linked to pay. Taylor argued that the principal objective of management should be to secure the maximum prosperity for the employer, coupled with the maximum prosperity for each employee (1911). Fredrick Taylor’s five principles of scientific management: 1. A clear division of tasks and responsibilities between management and workers. 2. Use of scientific methods to determine the best way of doing a job. 3. Scientific selection of the person to do the newly designed job. 4. The training of the selected worker to perform the job in the way specified. 5. Surveillance of workers through the use of hierarchies of authority and close supervision. Taylor proposed this by measuring what workers did against the time taken, to develop ‘one best way of working’ (1911). By using quantitative methods a workers output could be accurately measured. At the time of its inception Taylor found that firms who introduced scientific management as he prescribed became the worlds most meticulously organised factories (Nelson, 1980). Managers are responsible for identifying the best cost efficient work practices and training workers to become highly productive and affective in their specific work task. Taylor argued that it stands to reason that an employee becomes more productive when working at their speciality and concluded with stating that there are more benefits gained for both employees and employers from dividing workers. With linking pay to each task performed, Managers can thus control the workforce and output and consistently achieve desired goals. The piece rate pay system  pays workers in parallel to number of items each worker has produced, hence also providing employees with an incentive to work. Henry Ford’s theory (Fordism) referring to mass production in industry (Marcouse, 1996) united the idea of assembly line and Taylor’s theory of division of labour and payment. Fordism focused on dividing jobs into unskilled and semi-skilled tasks. Whilst managers at Ford vehemently opposed any relation to Taylorism, it can be said that Fordism retained the faults of Taylorism of an autocratic work environment with little room for creativity as well as the benefits of the piece rate system relying on financial motivation. Criticisms of Taylorism: 1.Assumed that the motivation of the employee was to secure the maximum earnings for the effort expended; and neglected the importance of other rewards from work (achievement, job satisfaction, recognition), which later research has found to be important. 2. Neglected the subjective side of work-the personal and interactional aspects of performance, the meaning that employees give to work and the significance to them of their social relationship at work. 3. Failed to appreciate the meaning that workers would put on new procedures ad their reaction to being timed and closely supervised. 4. Had inadequate understanding of the relation of the individual incentive to interaction with, and dependence on, the immediate work group. Taylor did attribute ‘underworking’ to group pressures, but misunderstood the way in which these worked. He failed to see that these might just as easily keep production and morale up. 5. Ignored the psychological needs and capabilities of workers. T he one best way of doing a job was chosen with the mechanistic criteria of speed and output. The imposition of a uniform manner of work can both destroy individuality and cause other psychological disturbances. 6. Had too simple approach to the question of productivity and morale. It sought to keep both of these up exclusively by economic rewards and punishments. Incentive approaches under the scientific approach tended to focus on the worker as an individual and ignored their social context. Pay system may result in a worker valuing quantity over quality. 7. Functional foremanship was deemed to be too  complex and an unwieldy mode of supervision. (Huczynski, 2013) Ways to alleviate the negative effects of Taylorism especially to worker motivation and performance and find new ways to job designs came about following the introduction of the American psychologists Fredrick Hertzberg two factor theory of motivation. Hertzberg had the idea that there were two sets of factors that affected motivation and job characteristics: Motivators: These factors refer to the extent to which a job offers opportunities for achievement, creativity, responsibility, opportunities for personal growth. These are intrinsic to the job itself. Hygiene factors: These comprise issue as the nature of supervision and supervisory style, the level of pay, working conditions, and interpersonal relations. These are extrinsic to the job. For Hertzberg it was only the motivator factors that have the potential to generate satisfaction and motivation. If hygiene factors are improved, they do not result in improved motivation, but if removed, will result in demotivation. To raise levels of motivation and therefore performance, following Hertzberg theory of motivation, companies needed to ensure that the hygiene factors were in place, and to also ensure that the ‘motivator factors’ (i.e intrinsic motivators) were incorporated into the jobs. In particular, jobs needed to be designed in such a way that workers could be given opportunities for achievement, responsibility and personal growth. Criticisms of Hertzberg two-factor theory: Can job characteristics fall neatly into two categories of motivators and hygiene factors? Can a job characteristic be both? (Example can pay be a motivator as well as a hygiene factor-?) Blunt and Jones (1992) They point out that some studies from Nigeria have indicated that hygiene factors, in particular pay, supervision and working conditions, acted as motivators. Machungwa and Schmidt (1983) reported on a study conducted in Zambia and found that material rewards and the physical conditions of work appeared to have both motivating and demotivating effects. This was interpreted by Blunt and Jones in the following way: if material rewards were inadequate they were demotivating, but they acted as motivators if they were perceived as reasonable. This appears to directly contradict Hertzberg’s theory, but Blunt and Jones consider that this is only likely to be the case in less developed countries, as Hertzberg (1987) himself appears also to argue. However, one study does not refute a theory. Hertzberg did his original work on qualified professionals, such as engineers, whereas the people surveyed in the study above were manual workers. This in itself might be enough to account for the difference. In general, we can expect professional or managerial workers everywhere to be more intrinsically motivated than ma nual workers given the different nature of the work that the two groups undertake, but as we shall see the way work is organized may compensate for such differences in the relative interest value of different types of work The theory is regarded as a Universalistic theory; that it will impact all individuals in the same way in all work situations. It does not take into consideration that some people may not have a desire for personal growth, and are therefore unlikely to be motivated by job enrichment initiatives that give them higher levels of autonomy and responsibility. Hertzberg theory was superseded by Richard Hackman and Greg Oldham ‘the Job Characteristics Model’; which argued in a similar respect to Hertzberg theory, that if jobs are enriched this will lead to improvements in attitudinal outcomes (increased satisfaction and motivation) and improvements in behavioural outcomes (higher productivity and lower rates of absenteeism). Three critical psychological states: Hackman and Oldham argued that jobs should be designed in such a way that they are focused on the achievement of three critical psychological states: Workers must experience work as being personally meaningful-something that  they care about. Workers must experience personal responsibility for their work- accountability for their work. Workers must know if their work performance is effective-they must have knowledge of the results of their work activities. If these 3 critical psychological states are achieved, higher levels of satisfaction, motivation and performance will result from the worker. However this theory too has had its criticisms. Current literature now argues the importance and focus on team working, however one should acknowledge that the interest in team working is not something that is new to current times. Autonomous and semi-autonomous work groups were central to earlier theories of the 1960’s and 1970’s. Team working has now re-emerged as part of the lean production & flexible working debates. An American Theorist, Harry Bravemen thesis known as the ‘Bravemen thesis argues to counter the popular view in social science and management literature that Taylorism has been superseded by human relations and other more sophisticated approaches; that there is in fact a tendency for workers and their jobs to become de-skilled through fragmentation, rationalisation and mechanisation. This argument of deskilling workers and jobs was continued in the context where it became known as McDonalization a term that came about after the publication of a book by Georg Ritz. McDonalisation is a form of work design aimed at achieving efficiency, calculability, predictability and control through non-human technology, to enhance organisational objectives by limiting employee discretion and creativity. He used the term to refer to the processes used at the growing number of fast food restaurants dominating the American market. McDonalds is a modern example of the Taylorised way of work. The tasks are de-skilled and simplified for an employee at McDonalds and limited by the  sophisticated technology of fast food preparation. Hamburger grilling instructions are detailed and precise, cooking times and the sequence of events dictated to make a burger. Drinks dispensers, French fry machines, programmed cash registers all limit the amount of time required to carry out a specific task and leave little room for the employee to do as they wish, little room for creativity or innovation to processes. This way of working ensures the aims of the organisation to achieve greatest efficiency, calculability, predictability and control all of the key elements described by the Ritzer’s ‘Mcdonalization’. Regardless of the fact that the de-skilling may lead to de-motivated employees, which may result in high absenteeism and high staff turn over; its ability to integrate new workers into the production processes and dismiss employees without losing knowledge form the organization allows the model to still be successful. Taylorism can also be illustrated in modern day call centres. A case study on a customer service call centre run by two British Companies, Martin Beirne, Kathleen Riach and Fiona Wilson found strong continuities with Taylorism, in relation to work design and operation. They found the work to be pressurized and highly paced with managements focus on productivity and cost minimisation. Most of the jobs were narrowly defined and closely monitored. The time duration of each call taken; the content of the conversation with each customer; and the advise also given to the customer was prescribed (from Beirne et al 2004). But modern day illustrations of Taylorism don’t end there. It is also seen in relation to ‘scientific selection & training’. We’ve now moved away from an industrial economy towards a knowledge –based economy where an organisations competitive success depends on its talent. Much effort is devoted by contemporary organisations to select and recruit the right person for a role. Taylorism also placed importance and the introduction of scientific selection criteria by management to do a particular task. In line with his emphasis on scientific approach to selection, Taylor advocates scientific training as he argues that â€Å"it is only when business systematically cooperate to train the competent man†¦that it shall be on the road to national efficiency†. (Taylor, 1911: p 98). In the context of the knowledge  economy, organisations are generally encouraged to develop employees’ skills and knowledge. ‘Now one of the very first requirements of man who is to handle pig iron as a regular occupation is that he shall be so stupid and so phlegmatic that he more nearly resembles in his mental make-up the ox than any other type. The man who is mentally alert and intelligent is for this very reason entirely unsuited to what would, for him, be the grinding monotony of work to this character. Therefore the work man who is best suited to handling pig iron is unable to understand the real science of doing this class of work’. (Taylor 1911/1997 pg 59) â€Å"The task is always so regulated that the man who is well suited to his job will thrive while working at this rate during a long term of years and grow happier and more prosperous, instead of being overworked†. (Taylor 1911) Thus scientific management matched the worker to the job and in the process separated the conceptualization of work from its execution. It also provided safeguards against personal bias and individual favoritism, which is something that can still be applied to the current context of contemporary organisations. Taylorism is also found in the Saudi Educational system, for example metaphorically describing students as the ‘raw material’ of schools; controlling the movement of teachers & students through class bells; conceiving of the curriculum as a product; dividing students into grades or dividing curriculum into units and individual lessons; describing the school facilities as a ‘plant’ are a result of a ‘factory model’ schooling that has its roots in the adoption of scientific management principles by educational administrators. Contemporary schools in Saudi are still largely influenced with its teaching and learning deeply rooted in ‘scientific management’ as seen with the following: 1. Schools are large and bureaucratized. 2. Students change teachers every year. 3. Teachers plan and teach alone. 4. Curriculum is fragmented. 5. Tracking students by ability levels. 6. Deskilling of teachers through alignment of teaching mandated curriculum and standardized tests. 7. Emphasis on monitoring /surveillance & bureaucratic activity-scripted curriculum and scripted tests. Taylorism does not permit autonomy in work. Input by production workers in the organisation, planning, and direction of the manufacturing process was not allowed, requiring workers to do exactly what they were told to do and no more. This authoritarian approach to work can been illustrated in the schooling: That student’s are excluded from the planning, organisation and direction of the educational process. De-skilling of the teachers as their work is conceptualised by others (Ministry of Education who agrees the standard curriculum to be used in schools) and enforced by the bureaucratic outcome of accountability systems implemented in schools. The other way that Taylorism continues to influence the education system is through the use of individual rewards for individual effort (example the focus on a students individual test results). Taylor developed wage-incentive schemes emphasizing piecework and historically assembly line foremen attempted to stop any sort of worker inter action. Elton Mayo who introduced Human Relations theory based on his research at the Hawthorne electrical factory was to see how productivity will improve if the lighting condition changes and he followed Taylor’s scientific principles by testing the changes against a control, with part of the factory lighting being unchanged, (Kelly 1982). This lead him to conduct further experiments which vast doubts on Taylors assumptions about the importance of money in motivation (Marcouse, 1996). According to Huczynski and Buchan, the conclusions which can be drawn from Hawthorne studies are: 1. People at work are motivated by more than just pay and conditions. 2. Their need for recognition and sense of belonging are very important. 3. A person’s attitude to work is shaped strongly by the group in which that individual  belongs within the company. 4. The ability of the informal group or clique to motivate an individual at work should not be underestimated. (Huczynski and Buchanan 1991) . Another contributor to the Human Relations approach is Abraham Harold Maslow, an American psychologist who was best known for creating Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. They range from physical & social to psychological needs. Maslow (1943, 1954) stated that human motivation is based on people seeking fulfilment and change through personal growth. Self-actualized people as those who were fulfilled and doing all they were capable of. The Human Relations models have changed management and how workers are in fact valuable employees and stakeholders of an organisation. The key difference between scientific management and the human relations model is highlighted when analysing the motivational techniques to increase productivity. Scientific management emphasises the use of financial measures in order to secure employers objectives whereas the human relations model argues that management should acquire the insight into the skills that will manipulate social factors in order to harness their employees social needs to managerial ends (Fincham & Rhodes, 1999). Thus, behavioural science; motivation theories in combination with the humanistic theories of management, have added to Taylors principles and allowed for contemporary organizations to succeed where scientific management alone failed. Taylorism was an influential management theory of the late nineteenth century. Despite its relevance to its time the influence can still be seen in todays twenty first century: educational institutes, service sector and the manufacturing industries. Though there are limitations to his method, this principle has a considerable profound and lasting influence to all contemporary organizations because of  Taylor’s â€Å"preoccupation with the efficient use of resources†. This philosophy can almost apply to every organization, despite its work structure, such as structures of team working or job enrichment; one of the ultimate goals should be improve efficiency. As Braverman says, â€Å"the principle of scientific management is not a failed system, but a set of guiding principles which continue to inform and influence the role and function of modern management†. Some of the methods he advocates, such as division of labour, scientific selection and training, have become the features of modern society. More primarily, as efficiency is one of the enduring needs of all organizations, his preoccupation with the efficient use of resources thus becomes the driving force behind the evolution of subsequent management theories and the root of management practice. References: Huczynski, A. and Buchanan, D: Organisational Behaviour. Eighth Edition. Pearson 2013. Huczynski, A. and Buchanan, D.,1991. Organizational behaviour An Introductory Text. Second edition. London: Prentice Hall International (UK) Ltd. Hertzberg,F., B.Mausner and B.Snyderman: The motivation to work (New york: Wiley 1959). Taylor F.W (1997): The principles of scientific management. Mincola, NY (original work published 1911). Braverman, H (1974): Labour and Monoploy capital: The degradation of work in the twentieth century. New York Monthly review press. Kelly, John. (1982), Scientific Management, Job Redesign, & Work Performance. Academic †¨Press. Marcouse, I. et al. (1996), The Complete A-Z Business Studies Handbook, Hodder & †¨Stoughton. Ritzer, George. (2000) The McDonaldization Of Society. Sage Publications Inc. Taylor, Frederick W (1911) The Principles of Scientific Management, Harper Bros. Fincham, R & Rhodes, P (1999) Priniciples of Organisational Behaviours, Oxford Univeristy Press. Nelson, David (1980) Frederick W Taylor and the Rise of Scientific Management, The University of Wisconsin Press. Maslow, A. H. (1943). A Theory of Human Motivation. Psychological Review, 50(4), 370-96. Maslow, A. H. (1954). Motivation and Personality. New York: Harper and Row.

Applying Ethics to End of Life Care Essay

Applying Ethics to End of Life Care can be a difficult task for those involved in making the decisions pertaining to active and passive euthanasia, as well as palliative care when it comes to themselves or loved ones. According to The Last Chapter-End of life decisions â€Å"there often comes a time that advances in medicine are no longer your friend, they become the enemy† (West Virginia Public Broadcasting, 2010, Dec. 28). Euthanasia, or right to death; according to Mosser (2014), â€Å"the argument for euthanasia is straightforward: A person who is virtually certain to die within a given amount of time and is experiencing or will experience a lot of pain before he or she dies should be able to choose an earlier, less painful death. What purpose is served by keeping a person alive only to experience constant, agonizing pain?† (sec. 6.3, para. 32). The answer to the question would seem rather obvious depending on your point of view. According to Palliummja (2011, March 19) Dr. Balfour Mount stated â€Å"People do not have to die with pain†, and Kass (1989) states â€Å"Each person has a right to control his or her body and his or her life, including the end of it† (pg. 27, para. 1). Within this paper is a look at three different ethical points of view. The topic of End of Life Care will be explored through the perspective of the utilitarian, the deontologist, as well as the relativists. Each one of these theories have their own take on what is considered morally right and morally wrong. Although each of these theories have their benefits and cons, it is this researcher’s belief that the relativist’s point of view would be the best ethical theory to apply when dealing with End of Life Care issues because it is left up to the individuals own moral standards of what they perceive to be the morally right or wrong thing to do. We will first take a look through the eyes of the relativist. According to Mosser (2014), â€Å"we should recognize that there are no universal or general ethical standards; that a person’s ethical view is relative to his or her culture, society, tradition, religion, worldview, and even individual values. Because moral claims are said to be relative to something else†, he continues with â€Å"Even though philosophers distinguish between different kinds of relativism, we will generally use the term to mean that any ethical claim is relative to a set of beliefs and that any such ethical claim is true, or consistent with, that set of beliefs† (sec 6.2, para. 14). It is the individual aspect of relativism that I would like to focus on as the best way to tackle ethical questions pertaining to end of life care. This leaves the decision solely up to what the individual believes is the right thing to do, based on his or her own personal beliefs. If it is considered ok by that individual to go ahead and end their life, through active or passive euthanasia so they do not suffer more pain than what is necessary, then that is what the morally right thing to do would be. The relativist simply says that the practice a given culture/individual adopts as correct determines what should be done (Mosser, K., 2014). The second ethical view that we will be looking at is the deontological theory. According to Mosser, K. (2014) â€Å"deontological ethics focuses on the will of the person acting, the person’s intention in carrying out the act, and particularly, the rule according to which the act is carried out. Deontology focuses on the duties and obligations one has in carrying out actions rather than on the consequences of those actions† (sec. 6.1). In short the deontologists is not concerned with consequences, but rather what it is the law of the land says is right or wrong. This means that even if a patient was certain to experience excruciating pain and suffering, and was certain to die in a matter of days, euthanasia would still not be permissible because the law states that killing is the wrong thing to do. This would present a problem for a patient who is wanting to end their life early because the physician would be bound by law not to perform such acts because to kill a pers on is against the law. The doctor patient confidentiality aspect cannot be applied in this case. The good thing about the deontological view is that it keeps doctors in check by not allowing a  doctor to end a life just because they no longer wish to treat an individual. Kass gives an example of this by stating â€Å"Even the most humane and conscientious physician psychologically needs protection against himself and his weaknesses† (pg. 35, para 3). Meaning that the law is set in place so that a doctor does not make killing a therapeutic option. But even though this is a check so to say for the doctor, this cannot be the ethical theory best to satisfy ones individual need or want for an earlier termination of life, if in fact that is what they choose to want happen. The utilitarian in this situation would ask that we take a look at the consequences of such an act as euthanasia, taking into consideration as to what is the best outcome for the most amount of people. According to Mosser, K. (2014) â€Å"When given a choice between two acts, utilitarianism states that the act that should be chosen is the one that creates the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people† (section 6.1). This has its strong and weak points as well. The strong point in this is that it takes a look at every aspect of the situation, analyzing the benefits and cons to either end a life or keeping an individual alive. The problem with this view lies with, who is it that benefits the most, is it the patient and patients family who benefits more, or is it the hospital or physician who benefits more. A point made in the video End of Life Care Dilemma: Who gets booted from ICU stated that hospitals tend to â€Å"bounce from the emergency room the perso n who you know is going to die soon† (ForaTv. 2010, April 14). The reason for this is the amount of money made by keeping ICU beds full. It could cost up to two million dollars to keep an individual alive for two years. In the view of the video provided it would be more cost efficient to end a life and use the two million dollars to pay for school lunches for school children prolonging life for 500 years rather than the two years for the one individual (ForaTv. 2010, April 14). So the question remains, who is it that benefits more? It would seem as if the hospital would benefit more by ending a life because it opens up a new bed for the next individual. When it comes to end of life care and utilitarianism there is no sure way to know that ending a life would be benefitting the right individuals. In conclusion, it is this researcher’s belief that the best ethical point of  view to use when dealing with end of life care would be the relativist ethical theory. This theory allows an individual to make the decision based on what it is that they feel is the right option to do. There is no outside influence as to what a person should do when you are able to make the decision based off of your own moral beliefs. As stated above by Kass, â€Å"Each person has a right to control his or her body and his or her life, including the end of it† (pg. 27, para. 1). This right is taken away once you put forth a deontological or utilitarian point of view. The individual no longer has a say in what it is to be done with their life. Many would opt for a less painful death, in fact this researcher would opt for a less painful death knowing that I may spend the rest of my life in agonizing pain, or deteriorating. Even if it was the patients wish to die peacefully before suffering the agonizing effects of the disease, there is nothing that the doctor can do to assist with these wishes, because the law of the land prohibits murder, and since active euthanasia would be causing the death of an individual with the intent to cause the death, this would be classified as murder, this is why the deontological approach cannot work in terms of end of life care. It removes the individual’s wishes as to what they want to have happen, and replaces it with what society believes should happen. The utilitarian point of view is also one that removes the individual wants or needs from the end of life care factor. It brings in the benefits of others that may out weight the benefits of the individual. It is these reasons presented within this paper that this researcher believes that although each of these theories have their benefits and cons, it is the relativist’s point of view would be the best e thical theory to apply when dealing with End of Life Care issues because it is left up to the individuals own moral standards of what they perceive to be the morally right or wrong thing to do, and there is no other influence on what should be done with one’s own life. References ForaTv. (2009, Sep. 24). End-of-life care dilemma: Who gets booted from the ICU? [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XpAYPgjMYg Kass, L. R. (1989). Neither for love nor money: Why doctors must not kill. Public Interest, 94, 25-46. Retrieved from the ProQuest database. Mosser, K. (2013). Understanding philosophy. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. Palliummja. (2011, March 19). Dying for care – quality palliative & end of life care in Canada (English subtitles/captions) [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com /watch?v=Q6mUbIjKEEI West Virginia Public Broadcasting. (2010, Dec. 28). The last chapter – end of life decisions [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jKUZ8lS9b4

Analytical Essay Sample on Global Business Management

Analytical Essay Sample on Global Business Management Global business management can be defined as the interaction of people from different cultures, societies, and various backgrounds in undertaking various business activities with the aim of achieving their goals for example earning profits from their investments. Because of invention of advanced technology the world has increasingly become a village and as a result global business is the modern form of business in this 21st century. Because of globalization there have been great disregard to national borders, governments have lower hand in controlling the flow of their economies and MNC’s are now not restricted to only one particular country as it was before. The reality and existence of globalization can be witnessed when patterns of trade are considered, for example the general level of imports and exports in several countries have magnificently increased over the past few years. Also globalization have led to significant increase in production of business services for example firms dealing with Just-in-Time (JIT) ideas have led to customers getting information .e.g. of accounting and auditing conveniently. Also due to globalization financial systems organizations have now been integrated and they work as one unit thus enhancing the chances of conducting business globally for example through the use of Credit Cards and the existence of flexible exchange control systems in many countries. It is therefore important to identify different approaches to global business management which can be employed in a business setting of management across cultures and across a diverse workforce in a global setting. Globalization is also now vividly evident because of the way people migrate from one country to another without much difficulty, for example different countries have relaxed their stringent traveling rules to allow ample time for business activities to be undertaken. It is also critical to look into how respective managers can maximize the practical applications of these approaches to Multi-National Companies (MNCs) such as Coca Cola Company. International Business management practice is the greatest concept that must be understood clearly by all managers and Chief Executives Officers of MNC’s before going global. It is the process of applying management concepts and techniques in multinational environment so that firms can become and remain international in scope. This process is influenced by new technologies, improved communication and transportation systems. It involves identifying the suitable approaches to going global and understanding all the advantages and disadvantages of each approach before going global in any business undertaking. Any company may invest in another country and there are different approaches that a manager can employ depending on the factors that the respective organizations are considering, for example; the cost of entering the new market, existing policies in the country of choice, the rate of technology, foreign currency exchange rate control systems among others. According to John Tomlinson in globalization and culture he argues that, globalization lies at the heart of modern culture and cultural practices lies at the heart of globalization. He says that business globalization has led firms that operate and invest in a global scale to transform patterns of trade and shape the interactions between them for example through mergers. Under this case that we want to create subsidiaries and invest in the UK, Africa, and China as a senior manager, I can recommend the following strategies of entering the market to be suitable; The first approach to be considered is that of exporting and depends on a number of factors that includes the following; the available resources that a firm is capable of spending, the size of the company, if the company posses any past export experience and expertise or it is trying it for the first time, conditions of conducting business in the selected abroad market and products nature for example if the products are perishable or durable. Under exporting there are two methods namely; direct exporting and Indirect exporting. Direct exporting involves the producer of the products or services dealing directly with a buyer in the foreign country and often regarded as the difficult method of entry because the owner or the exporter of the product is entirely responsible for the business undertaking for example researching the suitable market for the products and establishing the suitable distribution channels to be used. Therefore this method requires much attention in terms of management and the resources to be used in the entire exporting process. It is also arguably the best method because the exporter may benefit from reaping maximum profits and may enjoy long-term growth thus the company can maintain its base in those countries. Under direct exporting I may choose to use modes such as agents and distributors, domestic sales representatives, overseas sales office or subsidiary. Such methods have various advantages that will help my company exploit the host markets, for example agents and distributors are familiar with the market, there are existing business contacts and sales people are always dedicated to the customers thus can boost business activities in these host countries that is UK, Africa and China. Under indirect exporting an exporter can access foreign market free from risks of doing it directly. It involves the use of independent organizations within the exporters domestic markets. It can be done through various ways, for example, a domestic based export merchants, who take the title of the goods and sells them in those countries abroad, domestic based export agents who sell and market the goods on behalf of the exporter and co-operative organizations who act on behalf of the producers. I can prefer the use of one of the above methods of entry because of the following advantages; communication is very much easy because the exporting company is domestically based and the risks of investing are much lower than coming up with full market in the host country. This approach might be cumbersome to undertake because the cost of getting links with agents thus taking long time to establish a market. An example here is that to export companys product to various countries e.g. in China or UK and identify merchants and agents to market my products Another approach of entering the new market and it will help in opening of branches in the UK, Africa and China is a method of entry called relationship based partnership and comprises of the following; Joint venture partnership whereby it can be defined as a partnership created by one or more companies with a view to carry out a business together. They contribute equally to the business and agree to share any profits in a certain percent in the course of the business. Such a business is referred to as equity joint venture and it is favorable because there is sharing of risk and loses. There is also contract joint venture which involves creation of new firms in which foreign and local investors share ownership and control. Generally joint ventures are common where government conditions demand so in order to ensure control, nationalism and reduced re-patriation of profits. It will be an ideal situation if the company that am working for is still young and wish to exploit other markets for their products since it require fewer resources. However, it has potential problems and includes sharing of profits, employment issues, market coverage and decision making due to different long-term interest in partners. Another relationship based partnership that I can use is licensing method of entry, whereby they can be termed as contracts in which a foreign licensor provides a local license with access to know-how in exchange for financial compensation. I can prefer to use this method because it presents an opportunity to entering markets that may have been otherwise closed to exports and also it will not require my company to have substantial capital investments in the host market horizon that is UK, Africa and China. However, I may be faced with problems like loosing production control of my company’s products. Also still under relationship based partnership I will suggest that my company consider franchising as a method of entry. Franchising involves one partner called franchisor licensing trademarks and established methods of entry to a party called a franchisee in swap for a recurring compensation. A good example that illustrates this method is that of the Coca-Cola Company selling its syrup together with the rights to use its trademark and name to other independent bottlers. I can recommend this method of entry to my company because it is easy to start the business abroad, there is room for rapid expansion, there is stable offering of the same products for a long time and therefore will attract customers and most of the time franchisors offer training for free that is always not offered to individuals setting up their businesses. Strategic alliance method of entry can also be employed under relationship based partnership in going international which involves formal partnership between two or more parties to undertake a common business with the view of attaining same objective but the parties involved always remains independent to each other. Business resources to be shared may include common distribution, channel, knowledge, products or expertise. I can prefer this method because of the following advantages; there are low research and development costs, getting access to partner’s capital, new markets for the products of the company and quick time in marketing the products, there is sharing of distribution channels and tapping the other partners advanced technology and intellectual property among others. An example here is the coca cola Company reaching an agreement with any producers of drinks to market and distribute their products on their behalf. Another approach that I will consider before opening subsidiaries in the UK, Africa and China is referred to as direct investment method of entry. Directing investments entails setting up manufacturing facilities although it requires heavy capital and management dedication. It can also be carried out through acquisition and this involves purchasing of already existing foreign investments that will include existing experience workforce, management structures, local knowledge and the existing contacts in the market and the government. Although direct investment method is expensive and difficult to start should it succeed the company will enjoy good returns and will establish strong market base in its new market. An example here is that as am manager I will open a subsidiary of my company in Africa may be Sudan or in Somalia. This will be a viable project since I will have explored new markets in Africa and thus broaden the market share as well as make profits for the company and also e stablish a long-term economic market. After successfully identifying and setting the subsidiaries in the UK, Africa, and China I will embark on managing the investments. I will therefore appoint competent local managers in their respective countries that is, a Briton in the UK, a Chinese in China and an African in Africa. Research now days indicate that products associated with local people in a country tends to be selling unlike those days when people will go for products associated with foreigners. I believe that with the management being the local people it will be easier for marketing purposes since the locals will be motivated to buy the products of the company in the basis that they are promoting their own fellow citizens and hence their standard of living. For example certain African countries do not like foreigners in managing their business activities for example a case in which recently in Zimbabwe the whites were being forcefully ejected out of their farms and other businesses. The local people will always feel respected when one of their own is doing the management job and that will lead to success of the subsidiaries started. Another case to show that the locals in Africa have developed a negative attitude towards foreigners is when the local residents in Kenya boycotted to buy Delamere products when the owner was accused of murder. In fact they demonstrated and demanded that the business be changed to local owners. Another good example is that, in China history shows that they are very conservative people and will always promote local investors rather than foreigners. It is for these reason that I will prefer the local people to be managers in order to attract more customers and hence success of the company. Conclusion: We can therefore conclude that globalization has led to prosperity to all and the main ingredient to it has been international marketing which have been employed by firms in order to increase their market share and profits. Due to modernization and advancement in technology, most businesses are beginning to explore international markets for better profits and opportunities. In the recent past, trading activities has become increasingly global in some way because of the need to gather and increase the company’s financial bases. Advancement in technology including communication efficiency and better international relations has contributed to the promotion of the international trade. Competition has however become a great challenge to the success of global business management but most companies are rising to the challenge. To take advantage of the world being global village and to achieve greater investments and better market opportunities in the international market, it is necessary that primary and secondary market research is done to ensure that information regarding the target markets in countries desired is obtained.

Comparison of Women Status essays

Comparison of Women Status essays In addition to age, gender is one of the universal dimensions on which status differences are based. Gender is a social construction that specifies socially stereotyped roles that men and women are to follow. Women have always had lower status than men, but the extent of the gap between the sexes changes across cultures and time. In ancient Greek civilization, the role of women varies obviously from pre-classical times to the classical period. There was a huge social distinction between the women living in this society. Generally, there were three status levels a woman could evaluate in Ancient Athens; a citizen, a freedwoman and a slave. Citizen women gained their citizenship at birth by being born from parents who were also citizen. This kind of women generally known as respectable and had to follow specific codes regarding their public and private behavior. Freedwomen consisted of the slaves who had acquired their freedom or foreigners from other countries who had settled in Greece to live. Lastly, slaves were mostly foreigners who had been captured from conquered areas or were children of slaves. In Islam religion, there is no social distinction between women living in society obviously. On the other hand, wealth is an effective component which create social distinction between women. Greek women had not have a chance to control own right. If they were married, control went to their husband. If they divorced, control and rights went back to their father. The primary duty of respectable women were in charge of houseworks for instance, raising children, making family clothes etc. Society limited the women time at outside home. "Women run households and protect within their homes what has been carried across the sea, and without a woman no home is clean or prosperous. Consider their role in religion, for that, in my opinion, comes first ...

Hoffmann Surname Meaning and Family History

Hoffmann Surname Meaning and Family History The Hoffmann surname originated as a nickname for a farmer who owned his land rather than rented, from the Middle High German Hofman, meaning person working on a farm. The name eventually came to denote a steward (manager) of a manor farm; as such, it was widespread throughout central and eastern Europe, in both German and non-German-speaking countries. Hoffmann is the 10th most common German surname. Surname Origin: German, Jewish Alternate Surname Spellings:  HOFMAN, HOFMANN, HOFFMAN, HOFMANS, HUFFMAN, HUFFMANN, GOFMAN, HAUFFMAN, HOUGHMAN, HUFMAN Famous People with the HOFFMANN  Surname Dustin Hoffman  - Oscar-winning actorAbbie Hoffman  - American political activist; founder of  the Youth International PartyPhilip Seymour Hoffman  - American actor and directorGaby Hoffmann - American film and television actressErnst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann  (E. T. A. Hoffmann) - German Romantic author of fantasy and horrorAlbert Hofmann - Swiss scientist; best known for his discovery of LSDRoald Hoffmann - American theoretical Nobel Prize-winning  chemistFelix Hoffmann - German chemist best-known for inventing aspirin Where is the HOFFMANN Surname Most Common? According to surname distribution from Forebears, the Hoffmann surname is most prevalent in Germany, where it ranks as the 7th most common surname in the nation, but is used by a greater percentage of the population in Luxembourg, where it is the 3rd most common surname. It is also fairly common in Austria (74th), Denmark (116th) and Switzerland (150th). The Hoffman spelling, on the other hand, is most prevalent in the United States, although this spelling is not always derived from the German Hoffmann. According to WorldNames PublicProfiler, Hoffmann is found most frequently in southwest Germany, especially the states of Saarland and Rheinland-Pfalz, followed by the northeast German states of Brandenburg and Sachsen-Anhalt. The Hofmann spelling of this surname is also found primarily in Germany, but  in the states of Sachsen, Hessen, Bayern and Thuringen, followed by Zurich, Switzerland. Genealogy Resources for the Surname HOFFMANN Meanings of Common German SurnamesUncover the meaning of your German last name with this free guide to the meanings and origins of common German surnames. Hoffmann  Family Crest - Its Not What You ThinkContrary to what you may hear, there is no such thing as a Hoffmann  family crest or coat of arms for the Hoffmann surname.  Coats of arms are granted to individuals, not families, and may rightfully be used only by the uninterrupted male-line descendants of the person to whom the coat of arms was originally granted. DistantCousin.com - HOFFMANN  Genealogy Family HistoryExplore free databases and genealogy links for the last name Hoffmann. The Hoffmann  Genealogy and Family Tree PageBrowse genealogy records and links to genealogical and historical records for individuals with the Hoffmann  surname from the website of Genealogy Today. - References: Surname Meanings Origins Cottle, Basil.  Penguin Dictionary of Surnames. Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books, 1967. Dorward, David.  Scottish Surnames. Collins Celtic (Pocket edition), 1998. Fucilla, Joseph.  Our Italian Surnames. Genealogical Publishing Company, 2003. Hanks, Patrick and Flavia Hodges.  A Dictionary of Surnames. Oxford University Press, 1989. Hanks, Patrick.  Dictionary of American Family Names. Oxford University Press, 2003. Reaney, P.H.  A Dictionary of English Surnames. Oxford University Press, 1997. Smith, Elsdon C.  American Surnames. Genealogical Publishing Company, 1997 https://www.thoughtco.com/surname-meanings-and-origins-s2-1422408

Security as a management or technological issue Essay - 1

Security as a management or technological issue - Essay Example 11-24, 2009). Due to such significance and impact of security issues, a number of experts have been carrying out researches to identify loopholes in the systems. However, such researches (Azari, pp. 20-41, 2003) have resulted in the commencement of new debate or two different perspectives regarding the issue of security in organisations, as some experts promote consideration of security as a management issue, whereas, some encourage its deliberation as a technical or technological issue. In specific, this paper will attempt to evaluate the security issue from different perspectives, and will endeavor to recognise its existence from either perspective. In order to understand the security issue, it is imperative to understand the processes of organisations and information systems, and for such purpose, understanding of a cell will be valuable. In specific, every cell in the humans exists for a particular purpose, and for accomplishing the task, cells utilise the environment as an input, and this cycle continues in a constant manner throughout a human life. In this regard, it is an understanding that environment or surroundings in the form of organs play a greater and influential role in success of different cells in the body. It is the case with IT systems, as well as business processes in which, environment plays an imperative role in the success of organisation, and similarly, in the success of IT systems. Moreover, after the globalisation, organisations are now in connection to the environment due to introduction of technological systems in different business processes that now are very crucial during various business decisions and policies of organisations. Internet is an obvious example of such position of organisations that have now become a part of a larger technology network (Azari, pp. 81-84, 2003). A few decades ago, internet access was not an

How the 22nd amino acid is produced Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

How the 22nd amino acid is produced - Essay Example Even though it’s clear now that the amino acid is a product of enzymes involved reaction with two molecules of lysine, it’s important to know that the researchers are investigating if the molecule might be having complexity in its origin. Pyrrolysine is said to be very difficult to find in organisms and currently only a dozen of organisms posses it, interestingly its discovery was made in 2002 as being genetically encoded by methanogens; microbes that produce methane. The fact that it was first identified in the microbe have made the scientists to look back on the genetic code evolution.Pyrrolysine is now among the amino acids,22 in number that are used for protein synthesis. Protein synthesis involves the successive processes of gene transcription to messenger RNA that comes from the DNA molecule; it relays the genetical information from the nucleus to the cytoplasm where transport and ribosomal RNA carries out the process of translation to produce the required protein from a collection of three amino acids called codons (Kizycki, 2011). The understanding of how the amino acids are made, that is; its biosynthetic pathway provides an in depth knowledge of how amino acids productions can be made. How rare the amino acid is can also be of used (Kizycki, 2011) (Zhang, 2011) (Green-Church, 2011) to manipulate proteins as in the biomedical research, with its mode of synthesis well understood scientists can mimic the procedure to have mass production of other related amino acids for research purposes. The amino acid production process Lysine, other amino acids and some specific enzymes were combined and were anticipated that an intermediates would be produced, the intermediate is an amino acid that is produced during the biosynthetic process, the lysine were labeled so that when mass spectrometry was used it became heavier than the normal one, incidentally one signal produced by the instrumentation had a deviated mass that was attributed to the intermed iate. The biosynthesis of the new amino acid however comes with a surprise that its only precursor molecule is the other amino acid called lysine; this is also affirmed by the Microbiology professor Joseph Kizycki at the Ohio State University that they were not seeing the weird molecule but only the regular pyrrolysine from the two different amino acid they expected.pyrolysine was observed easily as it appeared with labeled lysine (Zhang, 2011). The process to arrive at the amino acid is considered to be very simple as it only involved only three chemical reactions though not all the chemical reactions were known or observed before. What is amazing with the new discovery is that only three enzymes and two molecules with the same origin constitute one molecule with a completely different from the initial molecules used to make it. In the molecule, a portion resembles the precursor completely, but when you compare with anther portion, enzymes are able to link and brings out a complete ly different molecule not been seen at all. The inconsistent nature of the pyrrolysine necessitated the use of mass spectroscopy to precisely analyze the mass of the particles that constitute it. The use of mass spe

Building Social Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Building Social Business - Essay Example "Social business" develops self-sustaining g and practical perspectives to business units with the capacity of improving the economic growth by combining the profit-making concept of business with the provision of goods and services which satisfy the needs of their target markets. Muhammad Yunus demonstrates how the concept of "Social business" has moved from just a theory to practical application in top corporations, business empires, and entrepreneurs. Professor Yunus illustrates how social business holds the potential to transform the enterprises and achieve free-market enterprise. The book has its strengths. Professor Yunus presents the book in a very easy to read mode. Even though he is a professor, he does not write in the technical language which allows people to read and comprehend the book with ease. Although the concept of social business has been considered by other people before him, he presents the concept very vividly by illustrations examples and demonstrations. He also devotes more pages in narrowing down the definition of the concept of social business by presenting new forms which are different from the definition it had acquired earlier. His new definition takes into consideration economic organization which connects commercial and financial objectives of the business with the ethical, social and environmental objectives. I found much strength in this book, especially where he presents the strategies of how business starting up can develop and progress in prosperity. His style of writing is motivating to read. The information presented in brought to the reader’s direct environment by presenting concrete examples which are directly linked to the reader’s environment. He uses such examples to present his ideas and insights while tactfully tackling the illustration of areas of application of social business in the real business world. He tactfully stresses the need for speed, planning, reevaluation measures and proper recognition of one’s target market.  Ã‚  

Fourth Latern Council of 1215 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Fourth Latern Council of 1215 - Essay Example The first Lateran Council was convened during 1123 BC that confirmed the Concordat of Worms. The second Lateran Council was convened during 1139 and formulated several tenets such as invalidation of the clerical marriage, regulation of clerical dress and excommunication of the people who attacked clerics2. The third Lateran Council was convened during 1179 and continued reforms in church with condemnation of simony, limitation of papal  electees  to the  Cardinals  and forbiddance of promotion to  the episcopate  before thirtieth year of the age. The fourth Lateran Council was convened during 1215 and continued with reform measures such as papal primacy, transubstantiation and conduct of clergy.3 The council was also concerned about distinguishing people of other religions such as Muslims and Jews from the Christians in  public area,  and they suggested the differentiation of the dress as a resolution of the issue.   The fifth Lateran Council that was convened during 1512 to 1517 continued with further reform of the Church. The fourth Lateran Council was summoned by Pope Innocent III during 1215 to resolve many issues that concerned Roman Catholic Church. These issues included the disaster at the Crusade wars, to strengthen the faith and continue reforms in the church. 4 Pope Innocent III himself worded the goals of the fourth Lateran Council as the plantation of the virtues, eradication of the vices, reformation of the morals, correction of the faults and removal of heresies. The other goals included the establishment of the peace, settlement of the discord and getting rid of the oppression. He also wanted to persuade Christian people and princes to aid the cause of Crusades. 5 There were many reasons why Pope Innocent III summoned the Fourth Lateran Council. The Christian society and Roman Catholic Church were in considerable turmoil due to moral issues. In addition to

Explain the conservatism of the New Right - what did it strive to Essay

Explain the conservatism of the New Right - what did it strive to conserve and what did it fail to conserve - Essay Example The concept of conservatism emerged out of the strong protest to socialism and communism. Capitalism and conservatism have always gone hand in hand. The concept conservatism is basically associated with history of the nation which includes a different political attitude in different eras. In American contest the conservatism is marked by tensions and absolute contradictions between anti-communists and anti-statists, but between traditionalist and individualists who declared publicly the primacy of religion, politics, or economics. The central idea, upon which the foundation of American conservatism is based on, is ordered liberty. It comprises of both individual freedom as well as individual responsibility. It also deals with limited government and unlimited market. It means the non interference of government in economy. The conservative attitude was associated with carrying on the past and an established thoughts, rules and conducts. According to the conservative thoughts the change s will affect the society rather than any positive sequel. The conservatives were involved in preventing the growing influence of socialism and communism. From mid 1930 to the 1960s the traditionalists in America gathered with the objective to fight the liberals’ â€Å"New Deal. The modern conservatism in America was influenced by the ideas of Russell Kirk. He affirmed his ideas through â€Å"Conservative minds.† Thus modern conservatism became the main political force in 1964. Russell Kirk was known as the father of modern conservative thought. In the United States the term New Rights refers to historical different conservative political movements. The New Rights were trying to conserve the old things but for their efforts they had to accept the changes. It was not affordable for them to be rigid with their opinion. The first New Right (1955 to 1964) adopted the â€Å"fusionism,† i.e. classical liberal economics, traditional social values, and an ardent anti-c ommunism. The second New Right in America was formed during Goldwater Campaign. The Second New Right became more popular than the first one. The Second New Right helped Ronald Reagan to win the White House in 1980. On the background of conservatism the attempt has been done to take review of two books, one is â€Å"Suburban Warriors,† and second is â€Å"Republican Ascendency.† The two books are basically written on the same background. â€Å"Suburban Warriors,† is one of the books during the rise of the New Rights. In the book the author Lisa McGirr focuses on the conservative monopoly of Orange Country to know the economic as well as social causes for its fanatical embrace of Goldwater- Reagan republicanism. Lisa McGirr here depicts that their movement was not one of unimportant people suffering from status anxiety. On the other hand this movement was established by successful people living a modern life and yearning for bright future. Lisa McGirr explains the importance of Orange Country that it was a â€Å"real centre and symbol of American Conservatism.†(P.4) In the end Lisa McGirr opines that they have become successful they have engaged in preserving things with its new form. They want the original values but at the same time they are aware of the fact that changes are inevitable and so they accept everything with adaptation. While telling that the conservatives have not just adopted the old rules, she says â€Å"

Understanding the class Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Understanding the class - Essay Example I prepared a few questions which I anticipated to be asked by the instructor so as to be o track during the class session. I tried as much to resist any distractions. I did this by sitting in a position of class where disruptive classmates are away from. I always put myself in the learning mood, focused on the instructor. I listened actively and took short notes in order for me to comprehend more. During the course of the semester, I shifted my position quite often for to remain alert during class time and tried not to distract myself by use of a phone or talking to my neighbor. During the class sessions, I learned that love involves feelings and emotions. It is a powerful affection of which makes one to be happy and show contentment. Knowing happiness means feeling cheerful and contentment in a manner that one feels satisfied. Love also is a form of human compassions and kindness. This explains how through it, we can feel the fullness of life. Love as a noun describes something adorable. Love as noun means that it is adoring feeling of deep affection between two people. It refers to another person as a beloved person involving desire. It can be something liked or showing affectionate concern toward others. Love as a verb is an action. This means that love expressing love towards another person or something. The action of showing love or showing affection explains love as a verb. As a verb, love can be used within the context of action whereby two people are involved in kissing or embracing each other. By attending class sessions, I understood that sexual identity is important for the development of an individual in terms of self-esteem and one’s self confidence. Sexual identity gives a person an opportunity to understand who they are and who they are sexually attracted to. Personal identity is defined by sexual identity of an individual. The two go hand in hand in that personal

Explain the conservatism of the New Right - what did it strive to Essay

Explain the conservatism of the New Right - what did it strive to conserve and what did it fail to conserve - Essay Example The concept of conservatism emerged out of the strong protest to socialism and communism. Capitalism and conservatism have always gone hand in hand. The concept conservatism is basically associated with history of the nation which includes a different political attitude in different eras. In American contest the conservatism is marked by tensions and absolute contradictions between anti-communists and anti-statists, but between traditionalist and individualists who declared publicly the primacy of religion, politics, or economics. The central idea, upon which the foundation of American conservatism is based on, is ordered liberty. It comprises of both individual freedom as well as individual responsibility. It also deals with limited government and unlimited market. It means the non interference of government in economy. The conservative attitude was associated with carrying on the past and an established thoughts, rules and conducts. According to the conservative thoughts the change s will affect the society rather than any positive sequel. The conservatives were involved in preventing the growing influence of socialism and communism. From mid 1930 to the 1960s the traditionalists in America gathered with the objective to fight the liberals’ â€Å"New Deal. The modern conservatism in America was influenced by the ideas of Russell Kirk. He affirmed his ideas through â€Å"Conservative minds.† Thus modern conservatism became the main political force in 1964. Russell Kirk was known as the father of modern conservative thought. In the United States the term New Rights refers to historical different conservative political movements. The New Rights were trying to conserve the old things but for their efforts they had to accept the changes. It was not affordable for them to be rigid with their opinion. The first New Right (1955 to 1964) adopted the â€Å"fusionism,† i.e. classical liberal economics, traditional social values, and an ardent anti-c ommunism. The second New Right in America was formed during Goldwater Campaign. The Second New Right became more popular than the first one. The Second New Right helped Ronald Reagan to win the White House in 1980. On the background of conservatism the attempt has been done to take review of two books, one is â€Å"Suburban Warriors,† and second is â€Å"Republican Ascendency.† The two books are basically written on the same background. â€Å"Suburban Warriors,† is one of the books during the rise of the New Rights. In the book the author Lisa McGirr focuses on the conservative monopoly of Orange Country to know the economic as well as social causes for its fanatical embrace of Goldwater- Reagan republicanism. Lisa McGirr here depicts that their movement was not one of unimportant people suffering from status anxiety. On the other hand this movement was established by successful people living a modern life and yearning for bright future. Lisa McGirr explains the importance of Orange Country that it was a â€Å"real centre and symbol of American Conservatism.†(P.4) In the end Lisa McGirr opines that they have become successful they have engaged in preserving things with its new form. They want the original values but at the same time they are aware of the fact that changes are inevitable and so they accept everything with adaptation. While telling that the conservatives have not just adopted the old rules, she says â€Å"

How Martin Luther King developed Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

How Martin Luther King developed - Essay Example The letter was written in protest to the law that segregated people on racial bases. The letter was intended to persuade his audience on the need for a nonviolent but direct action to eliminate the unjust laws. The intended audience was the critiques who were opposed to his activities in down town Birmingham, Alabama. This essay focuses on why Dr. Martin Luther King Junior's Letter from a Birmingham Jail stands out as a model of how to write a powerful argument. The essay will demonstrate what Martin Luther does to make his writing so persuasive even in the contemporary readers. Writing persuasively is not easy since it requires one to be able to coerce an audience that could be partial or impartial towards your ideas. It requires one to make the audience trust you and perceive your arguments, proclamations, or judgments as truthful (Jacobus 210-213). In case Martin Luther’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail, he had to convince his audience that racism is evil and should be elimin ated for the good of all. He starts his letter with the words â€Å"My dear fellow clergymen† (King 115). This enables him establish a connection with the intended audience. Luther manages to earn the readers trust and induces them to view him and his ideas as intelligent. The Letter to the clergymen is precise but clearly addresses different aspects of racism expressed towards African-American people, particularly in Birmingham during the time of the writing. The letter is realistic and unbiased. Dr. Martin wrote this letter on Aprils 16, 1963 while he was imprisoned. Leading Martin Luther’s letter evoked a sense of patriotism even in me. The letter was addressed to eight clergymen who were opposed to Luther’s work on civil rights. Martin Luther employs Aristotle’s persuasion appeals, which include ethos, pathos, and logos. In his writing, Luther appeals his own reputation, arouses emotions in the readers mind, and supports his claims using credible cita tions from influential thinkers. By making use of pathos, Luther is able to connect and invoke emotions such as anger, sympathy, patriotism, love, and empathy from the readers (Jacobus 225). The readers sympathize with him when he says, â€Å"I am in Birmingham because injustice is here† (King 116). This clearly addresses the question of his intentions, which had been posed by his critics. Additionally, he establishes his role as the right person to promote civil rights when he claims, â€Å"I have the honor of serving as president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference† (King 117). He reminds his opponents, who were clergymen that he is entitled to promote the rights of his community and is not any lesser than the eight clergymen are. Additionally, this demonstrates use of ethos to establish his credibility. He builds his credibility when he repeatedly compares himself to biblical characters who had suffered for telling the truth (Jacobus 213-217). By so doin g, the reader understands and appreciates Luther’s grounds as truthful. This is depicted when he states â€Å"Just as the eight-century prophets left their little villages and carried their ‘thus saith the Lord’ far beyond the boundaries of their home towns† (King 115-116). This statement convinces the readers that his course is genuine. He continues to claim that â€Å"Just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to practically every hamlet and city of the Graeci-Roman world,