Impact of Mass Media on Children Essay

Too much media attention focuses on the impact of sex and violence on children. The assumption seems to be that if the media stopped showing sex and violence on television and in films–and now video games are the culprit–the world would be a better place. Sometimes the argument goes further. If the media instead presented quality family and religious programming, children would grow up to be moral people. Both of these ifs are based on the premise that the media makes us do things that we don’t want to do. The scenario in the 1950s played out like this: We have two good teenagers; They listen to Rock ‘N Roll music; The music stimulates their animal instincts; They have sex. They didn’t want to; the music made them. Today the scenario goes like this: The boy is good; The boy plays video games; The boy becomes a crack shot; The boy goes to school and shoots his classmates; He didn’t want to; violent video games made him. I agree that the video games and the music have an impact on children. From the video games†¦and television†¦and films, the child learns the signifiers of violence. Similarly, the media teaches us the signifiers of sexuality. Once those signifiers become signifieds stored in our memories, that learning can’t be unlearned this side of suffering a brain injury. However, no single signifier stands alone. Individuals interpret each signifier as part of a mental schema. The final influence for a given individual to choose antisocial behavior may be the video game or the music. Or it might be the chocolate doughnut. With billions of people in the world, somebody somewhere is likely to be motivated to action by just about anything. To blame the media for individual behavior is missing the point and simplifies the issues. Just getting the â€Å"bad† messages out of the media is not going to create a â€Å"good† society. The media is an influence The media does have an influence on children; the same impact it has on all of us: 1. The media teaches us the signifiers of the culture and what they mean. 2. The media sets an agenda which directs our attention to the issues that the media managers think are important. 3. The media teaches us ideology by offering us solutions to binary oppositions. Let us look at each of these points separately and see what the impact could be on children. Here are two typical sets of signifiers found in our culture. The images of Jennifer Anniston from Seventeen (August 2000) teach the signifiers of sexuality, feministic and gender. Whether those signifiers have a positive or negative impact on a given individual depends on individual past experience. One person may read her images as cultural definitions of â€Å"cute.† A victim of sexual abuse may interpret the signifiers as an invitation to arouse notice. A person who knows the signifiers of pornography may read the images as indicating availability. The CD cover to the right teaches the signifiers of gender and masculinity. The images create an association of masculinity with violence and weapons. Both images put signifiers into the culture, set an agenda and offer solutions to binary oppositions to the children to whom they are targeted. Teaches signifiers. From watching violent films, television, and playing violent video games, we all learn how to be violent. Similarly, we learn the signifiers of sexuality and what those signifiers mean. How we interpret those signifiers is going to depend on our own past experiences. Children who are sexually abused are going to read sexual signifiers differently than children whose parents demonstrate a loving, caring relationship and explain sexual behaviors to their children. Similarly, children who were physically abused or who live in violent neighborhoods also will bring their past experiences to any media experience. In short, the past experiences of children help determine what impact the media’s images have on children. What this means is that the media can’t make mass murderers or schoolyard shooters, but if a child decides to go in that direction, the media helps teach them how to do it. Sets the Agenda. An analysis of mass media becomes a bit scary at this point. What are the three dominant topics presented in the media? Sex, Violence and The Consumer Culture. This is what we are telling children is important. Offers Solutions to Problems. Now things become really scary–at least to me. Let’s look at this media effect in three ways: 1. The media constantly presents the binary opposition of good vs. evil. This is particularly true in many cartoons, such as â€Å"Batman† or â€Å"G.I. Joe,† or some other superhero scenario. In each case, society is held hostage by evil. The average person can do nothing. Only the superhero can defeat evil through the use of violence. But, there’s a limit to what even the superhero can do. If the good guys destroy evil, then the premise of the cartoon is over. The heroes win but evil continues. Here are the lessons being taught: Evil exists to destroy good and so the world is a conflict between good and evil. Most of us cannot do anything against evil; therefore, we are easy victims. We must give control over to superheroes who can wage war on evil. Violence is the solution to problems. 2. True love is the solution to all personal problems. Remember the â€Å"Jerry MaGuire† line: â€Å"You complete me†? â€Å"True love† means only one person in the world exists for each person. The current cliche â€Å"soul mate† sums up this way of thinking. Here are the lessons being taught: If there is only â€Å"one† person for each person, how do you explain an attraction to another person? Today’s economy constantly puts men and women together in high pressure, stimulating circumstances. We are psychologically and physiologically wired to respond to members of the opposite sex. Sooner or later, most people in our culture will be placed in an interpersonal context that can easily assume the â€Å"feelings† of love because body chemistry is responding to the closeness of the other person. If a person needs someone to â€Å"complete† that individual, what happens when the part that needs completing feels incomplete again? The fault lies with the relationship. No doubt all of us need someone some of the time, but a person with serious, unresolved personal issues is probably incapable of forming a healthy relationship in the first place. When the first partner fails to fill the personal hole, then the incomplete person will go in search for another â€Å"completer.† Is it any wonder that so many failed relationships exist? Is it any wonder that so many teens engage in premarital sex since â€Å"love† is the solution so often offered by the media? Why is the media hooked on love? Love motivates us to purchase so many products–from toothpaste to diamonds–so that we can offer our ideal selves to another person instead of the actual people we are. Plus, it is easy for the media to connect sex and love. What was the name of the last new movie you saw where sex didn’t follow once the lead male and female fell in love? As Maslow argues, sex is a strong motivator†¦strong enough to convince people to spend money to acquire sexual attractiveness, and, by extension, love. 3. Finally, the media offers violence as the method chosen by men. The movie industry presents us with Tom Cruise, Wesley Snipes, Al Pacino, James Bond, and the list goes on and on. In sports, we have Sunday football and Wednesday wrestling. The History Channel presents the heroes of World War II. A & E and Discovery channels prove the power of cops through their programming. According to the media, such men are heroes. They protect their families. They are honored by those around them. They are rewarded with the most attractive women available. Any boy unwilling to engage in violence can not be a â€Å"man.† Girls also have something to learn. They need a â€Å"man† to protect them from becoming victims of rape and violence. As cheerleaders stand on the sidelines cheering on the team, they are taught to reward the guys who prove they are men. Conclusions The media teaches children the signifiers of sex, violence and consumerism. The media tells children it is important to think about these three things because these are the topics the media most often places into the agenda. Finally, either sex, violence or a product offers a solution to every problem.

Friendship †The Sunshine of Life Essay

Friendship is more than just being friends. True friend is the one who knows everything about you and is there when you need him/her. Everyone should have such person. I have found mine. Our friendship has not been long, we have known each other a little more that a year, but we quickly found a common language and by now there has formed a strong bond between us. Maybe this is because of the fact that we have spent practically every day together. We are really inseparable. I like about my friend that whenever I have had a problem or hard times I can always turn to him and share my problems. What is more, it seems he has answers to everything though sometimes they cannot be taken seriously that bristles me up in a while. After that, I am often surprised, how my friend still tolerates me, but then I realise that is because we are used to each other. Even If I annoy him, and he annoys me and we feel that the other is intolerably nerve-wracking, we have so many cherished memories that we cannot just interdict our friendship. Finally, each friendship, and not only friendship, all relationships have high and low tide periods, so has our friendship, but despite the conflicts and quarrels, we stick together through thick and thin. To sum up, true friend is necessary like water and air and we have to hold tight not to loose them, because it is hard to survive without their support. My friend is indispensable for me and I am delighted to have such a great person in my life.

Harper Lee Biography Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Harper Lee Biography - Research Paper Example Harper Lee was different from her college-mates in that she was not quite as interested in dating, makeup, and fashion as others were. She instead focused all her efforts on improving her writing skills. She was a member of the glee club as well as of the literary honor society. â€Å"Pursuing her interest in writing, Lee contributed to the school’s newspaper and its humor magazine, the Rammer Jammer† (â€Å"Harper Lee†). Harper Lee particularly got famous from a controversial novel title To Kill a Mockingbird, which depicted race relations in the USA among many other issues. Harper Lee was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for writing this novel, though no other book has been published by her ever since. About herself, Harper Lee said, â€Å"I am still alive although very quiet† (Lee cited in Lombardi). Harper Lee has received several honorary doctorates since June 1966 when she was named by the President Johnson to the National Council of Arts. Harper Lee presently lives in New York (â€Å"Biography of

Assignment african american history Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Assignment african american history - Essay Example Although most people today believe slavery in America was confined to the south, Douglass witnessed many slaves being beaten during his early childhood in Maryland. He was often required to endure cold and hunger due to neglectful conditions in his northern home. When he was eight years old, he was sent to work for a ship’s carpenter in Baltimore. While there, he learned to read and write until his mistress was informed this was against the law. His experience in the city made him aware that not everyone bought into the idea of slavery. When Douglass was 15, his owner died and he was sent back to the farms. There, he was cruelly beaten by the slave-breaker Edward Covey until the day Douglass beat up Covey and tried to escape. He was caught and returned to slavery, but sent back to Baltimore. In Baltimore, Douglass borrowed the identification papers of a free sailor friend and successfully escaped on September 3, 1838. He began writing about his experience in 1845. Douglass’s narrative reveals the degree to which black people were made into beasts. Although his mother died when he was seven, he admits the news had almost no effect on him. This was because he had been separated from her since infancy. â€Å"Never having enjoyed, to any considerable extent, her soothing presence, her tender and watchful care, I received the tidings of [my mother’s] death with much the same emotions I should have probably felt at the death of a stranger† (Ch. 1). At this point, he’d also watched his aunt brutally whipped and he was working in the fields. Early separation from family destroyed any natural human feelings of attachment and removed any possible support. Cruel treatment kept him always in fear. Neglectful living conditions made him grateful for the smallest crust of bread. His description of the life of the slave reveals the need for and active encouragement of bestial

The Crusades Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Crusades - Research Paper Example Islam from present day Pakistan to Morocco and from the base of Turkey down to East Africa. This made Islam a threat to Christianity since there was a chance that Muslim invaders will spread their Jihads into European lands that were considered Christian at that time.Carl Erdmann points out that 11th Century reforms in the Church were the main cause of the First Crusade sanctioned by the Catholic Church. This is because the reform sought to purify all elements of the European society including warriors and militants. He, therefore, explains the Crusades as an attempt by the Catholic Church to divert violence and military force towards 'sacred' activities. In March 1095, Pope Urban II sent troops to go the Eastern Church which had its headquarters at Byzantium to help them defend themselves against a Muslim invasion. In the Council of Clermont a few months after that, in November 1095, Pope Urban II called for Christian armies and warriors to be sent to Jerusalem to re-take the city o f Jerusalem and establish a Christian state there.From an analysis of the activities of the first Crusade sanctioned by Pope Urban II, it appears that there was the need for the Pope to defend the borders of Christian Europe. This seems to be a natural course of action any religious leader would have taken against the Muslim expansion. The Crusades were successful and the Christians took Jerusalem in July 1099. They set up the Syrian and Palestine Christian states and took the island of Cyprus as a security point.

System enhancement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

System enhancement - Essay Example re cases when the previous ticket is nicely documented, the engineer is even able to find troubleshooting commands as well as specifics on how to solve the customer’s issue. Escalation engineers are usually the best resort for the TAC engineer but, given the ratio of escalation persons to TAC engineers, a TAC engineer will ONLY reach out to his escalations when he doesn’t know the answer, or is unable to locate a Cisco document that would solve his issue and is not able to find a similar previous ticket or at least a previous ticket with valuable and relevant information. Topic tool, however, is at the TAC engineers’ disposal at any time and readily available with a tremendous amount of information. The real challenge is being able to search for the information you need and be able to find the answers you want on topic in the shortest time possible. The goal is not only to solve a case but to solve it quickly. Experience has shown that the more information added to the topic database and the shorter the time required to find that information equals the shorter the resolution time. This enhanced the overall customer’s experience with TAC. In some cases, the customer is a person with more experience than the TAC engineer himself but they still call in with a firm belief that their issue will be resolved because they know that a TAC engineer has the resources and will be able to find the answer from a previous ticket, filed notice, or a documented bug, all of which reside on our topic database. Out of all the resources available for TAC engineers there is consensus among TAC engineers that they get most of the answers to resolve their cases from the information found on the topic tool. The goal of this proposal is to make topic search a richer tool by adding more information to it, hence enabling TAC engineers to find solutions to a wider spectrum of issues. Based on my investigation, research and discussions with other engineers I found that an engineer

Information System Hardware and Software Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Information System Hardware and Software - Essay Example They generally include databases, word processors, and spreadsheets. Microsoft Office Professional 2007 is a type of application software. It includes Access, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint and word that are widely used as business application software. By using Office Professional 2007 business professionals can work faster, efficiently and effectively, stays organized, and manage contacts and customer information more effectively and in one place. It helps in producing professional-looking marketing materials, dynamic business documents, spreadsheets, presentations and databases with no prior experience or technical staff. Microsoft Office Excel 2007 can be used for analyzing business information for making better business decisions. It has features such as new tools for filter, sort, graph, and visualizing information so that business information can be analyzed more easily. Office Excel 2007 provides improved PivotTable and PivotChart views for advanced analysis and it is much easier to create. Microsoft Office Word and PowerPoin can be used for creating professional-looking documents and presentations in less time. Microsoft had included new templates and tools that make Office Word easier to reuse content, apply professional formatting, and quickly preview changes. Office PowerPoint makes it quicker and easier to create presentations that are more dynamic. Office PowerPoint has a wide library of customizable themes and slide layouts, and new graphic tools. It enables to create powerful charts, SmartArt graphics, and tables, and then instantly preview formatting changes. Microsoft Office Access helps in find, use, and manages information more effectively. By using it, new database can be created easily without any previous experience. Microsoft has provided a library of predefined database tracking applications for the most common business processes and

The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Essay

The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families - Essay Example The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program is a grant that aims to help move recipients into work, and therefore turn the welfare into a temporary assistance program. The report focuses on effecting changes in the social programs of the United States. It targets the branch of the government that deals with temporary assistance for families classified as needy (TANF). The recipients of this report are the various organizations, both governmental and Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), which deal with welfare funding. Following the continuous complaints from American citizens about the social welfare of the working class, the issue of primary concern is that the current program falls under the Social Security Act enacted on August 14th, 1935. The nation has formed welfare recipients under the renewed act. The renewed act is the Personal Responsibility Act of 1996 based on work opportunity reconciliation. Problem Statement According to government statistics, the TANF program is represented by 31% of white families, 33% black, and 29% Hispanic (Kearn, 2000). It is important to note that the aim of the program is to provide funds to needy families with a five-year limit on financial assistance. In fact, total welfare spending for the year ending 2010 reached an astounding $900 billion. The problem arises when, even with the large amounts spent on assisting poor families, more families keep being added to the system.

Robots Replaces Humans Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Robots Replaces Humans - Research Paper Example The technology in robots may be traced back in the Industrial Revolution when mathematics, engineering and science was in flower in England that provided the basic groundwork of robotics. Among the prominent scientist during that time who contributed to the development of robots was Charles Babbage who developed the foundation of computer science and his two uncompleted project, difference and analystical engine. Although these projects were not completed, they laid out the basic framework for mechanical calculations necessary for robots to function (Thomasnet 2013). Robots as we know them today however was not yet recognized nor had such name during this time. The concepts about robots however already proliferated during the Industrial Revolution but its realization has to come decades later because the technology were not yet available then. Until in 1920, Karel Capek published his play entitled Rossum’s Universal Robots where the word robot was first used. The word robot came from an old Slavic word that meant â€Å"servitude, monotonous or forced labor†. From the use of â€Å"robot† in Karel Capek’s play begun the usage of the word that refers to mechanical devices that replaces human functions. It was however in 1927 that the first actual robot was made in the United States called Televoc which operated through the telephone system. Japan followed suit in 1928 and created Japan’s first robot named Gakutensoku. Robot became a formal science in 1941 when  Isaac Asimov  formulated the  Three Laws of Robotics, which formally gave the name of robot creation as robotics (1950). The first few models of robots that used modern available technology begun in the 1950’s however which George Devol designed a robotic arm device named Unimate which was intended for industrial use. Unimate function then was to transport die castings in General Motors plant in New Jersey. Seeing the viability of robots particular in industrial manufacturing, a company

The Opportunities and Challenges of Contemporary Public Health Policy Essay

The Opportunities and Challenges of Contemporary Public Health Policy for Specialist Community Public Health Nursing - Essay Example This paper is a critical review of the available literature on specialist community public health policy in England as applicable to health visiting. Some of the more recent position papers along with several research papers on the role of health visiting nurses, their qualifications and skills and the relevant policies will be reviewed. The advantages of health visiting to the target segment and the various challenges faced by health visitors as well the administration will also be discussed to understand the health visiting environment in England. Specialist community health policy in England Despite recognizing the importance of public health promotion and preventative strategies through community settings, public health issues concerning health visiting still remains a subject that attracts much attention. Health visiting may have evolved from simply being concerned with sanitation to addressing maternal and child welfare; it is now being touted as the most essential of services in the realm of public health. Today, health visiting in England and UK as in other countries is being given the importance that it demands. This concept of health visiting primarily focuses on generating awareness among individuals, families and communities as a whole of the importance of ensuring the wellness of both the child and the family (Carr et al, 2012). However, there is an increasing awareness among practitioners and policy makers alike of the need for effective policies and implementation strategies to cater to the demanding and more complex needs of the changing community settings which are more heading towards being multi-ethnic and diverse in nature. There is evidence of a multi-pronged approach to developing health visiting services in England. This can be seen from the initiative by National Health Services (NHS) in gathering evidence base for improving public health based on a three-tier structure that takes in to account the strategic directions set by a board of advisors in collecting the evidence base, dividing the work based on reference group and forming of user panels to establish a framework for evaluation of the evidence base (Bull et al, 2004). The Royal College of Nurisng (RCN), UK’s largest association of nurses, midwives, health visitors and other practitioners has published a position paper on health visiting (â€Å"Pillars of the Community: the RCN UK position on the development of the registered nursing workforce in the community†) which has since been instrumental in contributing to the decision of the Department of Health to endorse the coalition government’s pledge to increase the number of health visitors from 8000 to more than 12000 (an increase by 4200) and also the ‘Health Visitor implementation Plan’ set to guide and strengthen health visiting service in the country, as part of the â€Å"A Call to action: 2011’ publication that endorses a four tier model: Community; Universal; U niversal Plus and Universal Partnership Plus (Health Visiting Services & Public Health Nursing: a consultation document, 2012). Concerns have been raised on the role of health nurses in the community settings where it seemed to take on the role of surveillance more than support to the families of the different communities. However, specialist community

Business Report of Lenovo Essay Example for Free

Business Report of Lenovo Essay Introduction Lenovo was found in 1984 in Beijing and it is the world’s second-largest PC vendor. According to the last official statistic, Lenovo consolidated turnover of 146.6 billion Yuan and Lenovo employs nearly 40,000 people. Lenovo is a well-known national brand in China and Lenovo is serving customers in more than 160 countries. In order to expand overseas business and access to world-class brand, Lenovo carried out an acquisition of the former IBM Personal Computing Division in 2005. IBM was founded in 1911 in the United States and it is the largest information technology and business solutions company in the world, currently has more than 30 million employees in the world, with operations in over 160 countries and regions. The problems experienced by Lenovo concerns the construction of cross-cultural teams. Most of the merger and acquisition fail in the post-merger cultural integration. Lenovo set up work teams for designing the future of IBM and developing the new view after acquisition. The results had been shown it uneasy and can lead to the failure of the Lenovo’s acquisition strategy. At the beginning of the acquisition, cultural differences had not been enough anticipated in the acquisition process. And Lenovo wants to remedy the problem as soon as possible to make IBM acquisition profitable in the next strategy. The report part of the business plan Summary This report is intended to identify, describe and propose some solutions to Lenovo to solve the problems about teams and groups in the acquisition of the IBM. This report will describe problems associated with team building, provides some possible solutions and evaluates each of these. And, this report will describe the impact of cultural differences on the establishment of work groups. Actually, Lenovo had taken some measures, but it with little success. According to the current state of Lenovo, this report will give some suggestions and solutions to overcome or avoid the conflict caused by cultural differences and set up effective cross-cultural teams. Especially, these solutions are based on literature on the issue. It concludes that it is necessary for the company to establish effective and appropriate measures to eliminate the barriers in cross-cultural teams, as absence of this may threaten the company’s long-term development. To overcome the problem, Lenovo should take the follow action for IBM survival: * Obtain the core values between Chinese employees and American employees through an internal survey. * Design an international training program for all the employees and especially for managers. * Incorporate both corporate cultures of Lenovo and IBM to create a new corporate culture. * Every cross-culture team should organise monthly meeting or weekly meeting to evaluate the progress of communications and work. * Organise some internally non-working activities to create more opportunities for the communication among employees with different cultural context. * Set up the special teams to deal with the problem caused by cultural difference in every cross-cultural team. Introduction This section of business plan will introduce the problems caused by cultural differences in cross-cultural teams and give some suggestions to overcome the problems. In the acquisition of IBM, Lenovo accepted more than 10,000 employees and it also means that Lenovo accepted a very different culture. Lenovo is not only facing the differences between western and eastern culture, but also Lenovo facing the problems of how to integrate the teams with different organisationally cultural context. In this report, the recommendations to overcome the problems in cross-cultural teams and groups are based on the literature on team building and cross-cultural team management. Body At the beginning of the acquisition of IBM, Lenovo had taken some measures. For example, in order to both sides can communicate better, the new Lenovo use the international common language English as the official language of the company. But cultural integration is a long-term process, which requires companies to devote their time and patience and the communication, compromise between both of high level, and staff in the acquisition. It must not be too hasty. Base on the fact of Lenovo, there are three aspects should be noticed and improved. Firstly, IBM has a long history and IBM has very high brand awareness. In addition to the brand, employees can get the respect for personal values ​​and a comfortable working environment can be provided for employees by the human resources services and the improvement of the system. In contrast, Lenovo has a big gap no matter the position in IT industry and the strength of themselves. If some team members uphold the cultural superiority or group superiority that their own cultural value system better than those members from other cultures or groups, their behavior maybe resulting in the failure of team building because they will be possible to take hate and boycott from other members, even lead to conflict. Because the conflicts caused by cultural differences between team members and individual differences under thus influence, analysis and identification of cultural differences is necessary. Secondly, communication is the process of exchange and transmission of information among people or groups. Because of the multi-cultural background, language and non-language barrier, people lack of understanding of each others political, economic, legal, social and cultural environment, and the understanding of the customs, values, etc. are different. They are often based on their own perspective to make an analysis and judgment on each others information, and thus the misunderstanding and conflict are often obtained. Because of these, design a multi-cultural training and hold a monthly meeting or weekly meeting is necessary. Thirdly, a company has an acquisition of another company means an integration of two different corporate cultures. When the employees of a cross-cultural group are conscious of the different of personal cultural awareness with others, it will be cause the group lost their purpose. Based on the possibility, establish a common business concept and corporate culture is a good solution to this problem. Establish a new joint management concept and a strong culture based on the environmental requirements and the principle of the companys strategic development, so that reducing cultural conflict and that each employee’s thinking and behavior can combine with the companys operations and purpose. Adopting these recommendations and the actions in summary can make internal and external combination of the teams more closely, establish a good reputation in the international market and enhance multinational cultural adaptability. This is the ultimate goal of why Lenovo needs solve the cross-cultural issues of teams and group in the acquisition of IBM. (1077 words) Section 2 1. What the literature says â€Å"teams and groups† The importance of teams and groups for an organisation In modern society, one person’s power, information and resources are limited. Most time people need cooperate with others no matter working or others as Handy (1993) said â€Å"On average, managers spend 50% of their working day in one sort of group or other. Senior managers can spend 80%†. Although there is no clear and single definition of a teams and groups, there is a basic limited definition by Bennett (1991) â€Å"a collection of two or more people who possess a common purpose†. The formation of an organisation groups in order to achieve the purpose of work more efficiently. An organisation can produce some different kinds of groups, for example: formal and informal, LOCO, HICO, teams, etc. An organisation needs to be aware of their differences and use them as efficiently as possible. There are a lot satisfying reasons why an organisation should create work groups. For example, organising effective groups can have some uses for the distribution of work, the management and control of work, problem-solving and decision-making, information processing, information and idea collection, testing and ratifying decisions, co-ordination and liaison, increased commitment and involvement, negotiation and conflict resolution, inquest or inquiry into the past. (Handy, 1993) No matter what kind of a group there is a bottom line is â€Å"A strong group is †¦ usually more powerful than a strong individual and can have a considerable effect on organizational policy and practice.†(Thomson, 2002) This literature review will pay attention on teams mainly. In a team, everyone plays different role and they have specific function and they working with an important principle â€Å"voluntarily co-ordinate their work in order to achieve group objectives†(Bennett, 1991). Building a team People hope they can define their identity through their membership of certain groups like people belong to local political and pressure groups, for example, because they experience a shared set of values with the other people in the group which reinforces their own values. But, according to Thomson (1997), one reason why people belong to group is â€Å"social needs†. As Thomson Mabey said â€Å"some †¦ groups will be family or friendship groups, which are formed to meet a diverse range of needs such as affection, security, support, belonging or identity. Some may be committees, where members usually represent different interest groups who come together to discuss their differing perspectives on matters of interest†, people should build a team for the work that is highly complex problems, need for consensus decisions and there is uncertainty when a broad range of competences are required. A company is a big group of a lot of people working together, so the managers are responsible to build effective teams or workgroups. After collecting more individual talents, building a team has the ability to use the talents on a united effort and success is very important (Woodcock, 1979). Consequently, the managers should know how to effectively build a team. In general, the managers must have the knowledge about the five development stages (forming, storming, norming, performing and mourning) in a team or workgroup and they should have an appropriate leading method for themselves (Thomson Mabey, 1994). Of course, this is not enough for managing a team. The managers need realise everyone’s advantages and dis advantages in the team and especially the differences of their culture context. Teams and cross-cultural context In modern society, business environment developed quickly international. Different cultural members mixed in a team so that the team has powerful ability to solve complex problem. But, individuals from different cultural context must show a different behavior and values in the team. This is because the peoples cognition, thinking, needs, values, code of conduct, customs, etc. are formed in the years of life, work and education. The individual differences caused by cultural differences led to the conflict of the team in the cross-cultural context (Sun, 2012). So, how to make a cross-cultural team working effective is the main responsibility of managers. In a cross-cultural team, there is an important factor is a clear understanding of every one culture and values, and a process of acculturation. The acculturation process is a mutual exchange of cultural pattern (Olie, 1995). Related to the case of Lenovo, the best recommendation for acculturation is integration. It different with one culture dominate the others, integration is a process of acculturation (Nahavandi Malekzadeh, 1995). Interest for Lenovo In the case of Lenovo, Chinese and American must accept each other for working effectively. But the main problem in the cross-cultural groups is communication. The managers of Lenovo must make everyone in the group understands and adapt to the different culture with some training or actions. And more important is design a politic cooperatively cultural pattern. 2. What does the literature say about different cultural contexts and its influence on teams and groups What are culture and its importance According to Hofstede(2003), culture is â€Å"the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another†. It related to a group. With a large-scale research study of IBM branches around the world by Geert Hofstede, the culture is considered a compositive project. Geert Hofstede creates a new way to describe culture through five variables: power distance, individualism, masculinity/femininity, uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation. All theories have limitations. Although this method created by Geert Hofstede is not absolutely right, it does not affect the theory of Hofstede can analyse one country’s culture as a valuable tool. Contract with the case of Lenovo, the most important effect by culture is â€Å"Currently only 25% of international mergers and acquisitions in Europe are successful. The price of failure is high. Cultural misunderstanding lead to loss of face, loss of money and, in extreme case, even loss of life† (Gibson cited in Naysmith, 2006). If managers do not pay enough attention on the culture, it possibly can cause the failure of the acquisition of IBM. Organisational culture Culture is not only exists in the countries, but also culture exists in any organisation constituted by people. Based on Handy (1993) said, â€Å"The role organisation will succeed as long as it can operate in a stable environment†. A steady cultural environment is necessary for an organization get success. At the same time, organisational culture is manageable and it can affects the approach of management, the accepted goals and customer of the society determine and influence that what managers strive for and the rule observed by managers (Stewart cited in Naysmith, 2006). So, the organisation also based on the cultural context of the country. The organisational culture can also measured by the five variables created by Hofstede.(Geert Hofstede, 2001) Influence of culture on â€Å"teams and groups† If a company formed by people comes from different cultural country, this company will own a special energy. It is a competitive advantage from a cross-cultural context. But, exerting the competitive advantage effectively is the most important challenge for the cross-cultural group. Because in a cross-cultural group the members have different working purpose and processes will be revealed. (Maznevski Peterson, 1997) The effectiveness of work group will be decreased by the ethnocentrism, stereotypes, different expectations and difference in values. And these negative emotions will produce the anxiety and misunderstanding in-group, even diminishing the workers dedication to the company and destroying the group ardor. Interenst for Lenovo Cross-border mergers and acquisitions not only include the corporate cultural differences of both sides, but also include the cultural differences between the countries of the two sides. Organise some activities or cultural training to make more opportunities for every understanding different culture can eliminate the negative affects effectively. 3. Conclusion This literature review introduces some keys briefly for understanding teams and groups in a cross-cultural context. Firstly, teams and groups are particular important for an organisation. But there are some problems should be solved in a cross-cultural group. The managers is not only should know everyone’s skill and talent, but also they should know their difference caused by different cultural context. And some actions can make a good communication between each other for understanding the differences are necessary. Secondly, based on enough knowledge to understand the importance of culture, the managers should eliminate the negative affects of cross-cultural context through some activities or training. And the most important is creating an appropriate organisational culture. It can give the cross-cultural group an approach, so the cross-cultural group can exerts the competitive advantages completely. Bibliography Bennett, R., (1991), Organisational Behavior, London: ME/Pitman, pp.145, 154. Geert Hofstede, (2001), Culture’s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions, and Organizations Across Nations, Second Edition, Thousand Oaks CA: Sage Publications Geert Hofstede, (2003), Cultures and Organisations, Intercultural Cooperation and Its Importance for Survival, Soft ware of the Mind, London: Profile Books Ltd. Handy, C, (1993), Understanding Organisations (4th ed.), London: Penguin, pp.150-2. Maznevski, M. Peterson, M.F., (1997), Societal Values, Social Interpretation, and Multinational Teams. In C. Skromme Granrose S. Oskamp (Eds.), Cross-Cultural Work Groups, pp. 61-89, London: Sage Publications Ltd. Nahavandi, A. Malekzadeh, A.R., (1995), Acculturation in mergers and acquisitions, In Jackson (Ed.), Cross-Cultural Management, pp. 328-341, Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd. Olie, R., (1995), Culture and integration problem in international mergers and acquisitions, In T. Jackson (Ed.), Cross-Cultural Management, pp. 308-325, Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd. Sun Ziwen, (2012, April 13), Case analysis of the cultural integration in cross-border mergers and acquisitions of Chinese enterprises, Peoples Forum, 356(2), 7. Thomson, R., (2002), Managing people (3rd ed.), Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann, pp.92, 95. Thomson, R. Mabey, C., (1994), Developing Human Resources, Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann in association with the Institute of Management, pp.177. Woodcock, M., (1979), Team Development Manual, Aldershot: Gower Press Teakfield Limited, pp.177.

Early Stage Dementia Nursing Care

Early Stage Dementia Nursing Care The aim of this case study is to explain and discuss the nursing care of a 69 year old lady who has recently been diagnosed with early stage dementia. This case study will demonstrate my knowledge and understanding of evidence based nursing practice whilst exhibiting my ability to outline a plan of care which is based on this. The structure of this study will adopt part of the nursing process, i.e. assessment of the client and planning of care in partnership with the client. The nursing process requires the nurse to carry out a holistic assessment of clients needs which takes into consideration the persons physical, social, psychological and spiritual being in order to produce an appropriate plan of care (Kenworthy et al, 2006). This case study shall also discus the nature and possible causes of Simones illness. The experiences of Simone discussed in this case study will be influenced by the use of a biomedical, psychological and social approach to dementia. This case study is based on a fictitious community psychiatric nursing assessment of a person called Simone. Simone is a 69 year old lady who has just received a diagnosis of early stage dementia. Simone lives with her daughter who is aged 40 and is a paraplegic who in the last twelve months has had two bouts of depression. Although Simones daughter is able to look after herself to a great extent she does require some of her mothers help. It became evident from the assessment that Simone appeared very anxious about her diagnosis as well as what will happen to her daughter. Although Simone appears orientated to place she appears to get flustered at times when she cannot answer some question. There appears to be no concerns in relation to Simones physical state of health. Simone stated that she does not need help at the moment and that she will cope. Simone has no family locally and since she began looking after her daughter 10 years ago, Simone appears to have lost touch with many of her friends. Simones home is clean and well equipped; they both wish to continue living here although it appears as though they are anxious about coping. Simones daughter reported that on a few occasions recently her mother had burned food while cooking. According to National Health Service (NHS, 2009) dementia is a common condition. In the year 2000 18 million people worldwide were said to have been living with the condition with that figure projected to rise to 34 million by the year 2025 (Alzheimers Disease International, 2010). At present there are approximately 700,500 people in the United Kingdom with dementia and although it is something which largely affects people in later life there are currently at least 16,000 people in the UK under the age of 65 who have the illness (Department of Health, 2009). Dementia can affect anyone regardless of their gender, ethnicity or class. At particular risk of developing dementia are people with learning disabilities. Dementia is a devastating and severe illness and can be defined as a syndrome which is associated with a number of illnesses in which there is a progressive decline in many areas of functioning. These areas include memory, reasoning, communication skills and our ability to carry out daily activities (DOH, 2009). Furthermore people may experience behavioural and psychological symptoms such as psychosis, depression and aggression (World Health Organisation [WHO], 1992). There are different forms of dementia, the most common being Alzheimers which accounts for 62% of all cases. With Alzheimers the chemistry and structure of the brain is altered and brain cells die. The onset of Alzheimers disease is said to be slow and the decline is gradual over many years. The second most common cause of dementia is vascular dementia (VD) with the most common type being Multi Infarct Dementia (MID), this is where the brain has been damaged by repeated small strokes. MID can also be caused by high blood pressure, irregular heart rhythms or diseases which cause damage to the arteries in the brain. As a result of MID the patients condition gradually gets worse in steps and the person will usually deteriorate until they have a stroke were they will deteriorate before having another stroke and deteriorating further. Often people will have both types of dementia. Other forms of dementia include but are not limited to dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and fronto-temporal de mentia (FTD) (Ouldred Bryannt, 2008). Dementia with Lewy Bodies is thought to be the third most common cause of dementia. Those who have it have microscopic changes called Lewy bodies in the nerve cells of the brain which are caused by tiny protein deposits in the brain which disrupt its functioning. Visual hallucinations and delusions often occur. Fronto temperal dementia is rarer and the person affected may have personality changes before their memory is affected. Progression of dementia is different for each individual, for some it may be fairly rapid whilst for others it may be more gradual. Clinical features of the disease can be classified into three stages although these may not be present in every person and not all people will move through each stage (Alzheimers Society, 2007). Simone had visited her GP recently in relation to a series of vague physical complaints however recently she also admitted that she was worried that she had been having lapses in memory as well as becoming very intolerant of her daughter at times. According to the Scottish Government (2010) some people may be reluctant to attend their GP if they are worried they have dementia, some people may wait for as long as two years. The fear of dementia in the person or in their family is seen as the most significant barrier to seeking a diagnosis (National Audit Office, 2008). It is usual practice for General Practitioners to start the assessment process before referring the person to a local memory assessment clinic or community health team for further detailed assessment (Ouldred Bryannt, 2008). A bio medical approach is one way of understanding dementia and this view may have been important in ensuring Simone has a proper diagnosis. The Mini -Mental State Examination was developed as a screening instrument for diagnosing dementia which results in assessment of things such as, memory, language and visuoperceptual function. In Simones case, when cognitive impairment was detected, the MMSE will have been utilised to detect dementia. Whilst trying to determine whether Simone has dementia she will have been asked if she wishes to know the diagnosis as well as whom else she would like to know (NICE, 2007). A score of less that 24 out of a possible 30 points is said to indicate an abnormal result however patients with scores between 21 and 25 can be considered for re evaluation in 3 to 6 months. Those with a score of greater than 25 reduce the probability of cognitive impairment. NICE (2007) recommend the result of this MMSE assist in determining the appropriateness of pharmacological interventions. For cognitive symptoms of Alzheimers dementia, Donepizil, Galantimine and Rivastigmine which are acetylcholinesterase inhibitors are utilised. Nice recommend the prescribing of these three for those who have a diagnosis of Alzheimers disease of moderate severity that is decided by an MMSE score of between 10 and 20 points. For non- Alzheimers dementia and mild cognitive impairment the acetylcholinesterase inhibitors and Memantine should not be prescribed for the treatment of cognitive decline (NICE, 2007). Should the use of medication be an option for Simone as past of her care plan there would be a need to assess whether Simone requires assistance with medication administration including storage of medicines ( NMC, 2010). The possibility of a pill dispenser (dossett box) may be useful to encourage correct dosage and timing (Alzheimers Scotland, 2010). Also incorp orated into the care plan would be the need to inform Simone of the side effects of the medication as well as monitoring Simone for any effects (NHS, 2007). Dementia has been known to be referred to as having three stages. A comprehensive assessment has concluded that Simone has been diagnosed as having early stage dementia. The early stages of dementia it is also referred to as mild with the next stage known as moderate/middle and finally severe/late. Nice (2007) suggests that after Simones received her diagnosis informing her of what this entails should be incorporated into her plan of care. As a nurse I would ask Simone if she wishes that her and her family receive this information. This information would include the signs and symptoms of dementia (NICE, 2007). Sign (2006) argue that the information should be offered to patients and their carers in advance of the next stage of the illness. One of the problems arising from the assessment is that Simone appeared anxious about her diagnosis and what might happen to her daughter. This would be an important time for the nurse to attempt to gauge Simones knowledge understanding of the disease and offer information step by step depending on her ability to cope with it (Lecouturier et al 2008). The importance of a client centred approach is central when planning care for Simone (NICE, 2007). As a nurse it is important to recognise Simones theory of her life, and to realise that what counts is her perception of her situation and not just what the expert may think (Rogers, 2003). In order to achieve this successfully the nurse may plan to establish a therapeutic relationship with Simone. Good communication between all those involved including the nurse, client, relatives and specialists within the multidisciplinary team must take place accordingly in order to create a holistic and individualised plan of care (Hinchliff et al, 2003). As a nurse I could adopt the use of a model to provide a basic framework for the helping process for example Egans skilled helper model (Hough 2006).This is concerned with obtaining the clients current picture, it helps clients clarify the key issues which require to be changed (Egan, 2007). The main principle is helping clients to tell their stories, whilst enabling clients to develop new perspectives that help them reframe their stories, also to help clients achieve leverage by determining which part to work on first (Egan, 2007). Skills the nurse could use here include basic listening skills, paraphrasing and reflecting, summarising, asking questions and using silence (Egan, 2007). These skills will underpin the therapeutic relationship (Rogers, 2003). This model also looks at the preferred picture and is concerned with helping Simone identify and choose what she wants, again the main principle here is to help her imagine a better future and help her choose realistic and challenging goals that are real solutions to the problems and unused potentials which have been identified (Egan, 2007). The third stage is concerned with the way forward, the main principle is to help Simone review and choose possible strategies, along with resources and put these into a realistic plan to achieve goals (Egan, 2007). It is clear that Simone and her daughter wish to carry on living at home for as long as possible therefore by helping Simone recognise and understand the illness and its stages will assist in identifying her strengths and highlighting the things she can do as well as plan ahead for the future. At this moment in time Simone feels as though they are coping however respite could be part of the care package (NICE, 2007). Written and verbal information should be passed on regarding local support groups that Simone could attend on her own, or with friends and family. It is important to encourage Simones independence for as long as possible by encouraging her to carry on independently with those activities of daily living she still appears to be managing. Simone appears to be have isolated herself over the last few years therefore the option of attending a day hospital may be offered with transport to and from being put into place. The option of befriending may encourage Simone to get out and about in addition to support and companionship (Volunteer Centre, 2010). As it has been reported that Simone has burned her food lately this could pose a risk to Simone and also her daughter. As part of Simones plan of care I would be required to draw on the expertise of members of the multi-disciplinary team for example an occupational therapist who could visit in order to carry out a kitchen assessment. Simones vulnerabilities and risks to herself and others, as a result of her cognitive impairment would be identified by carrying out a risk assessment. Part of Simones care plan would include a risk management plan (NHS, QIS, 2007). This care plan would identify the roles and responsibilities for all members of the multidisciplinary team including Simone, her daughter, the community mental health nurse, occupational therapist, psychiatrist, social worker and also physiotherapist. Within Simones plan of care it is vital to ensure that risk assessment is continuous as Simones dementia progresses through the stages then so too will the risk to her and other s increase. As a community psychiatric nurse I have a responsibility to draw on expertise from the relevant disciplines and make referrals accordingly (NMC, 2010) for example as Simone progresses through the stages there may be a risk of falls and therefore as part of the risk assessment and plan of care I would refer Simone to a physiotherapist. As a nurse I should always seek valid consent from the person to share the information obtained via assessment with other agencies that may be involved in the care planning process (NMC consent). Simone has been presumed to have capacity to make decisions regarding her care and treatment however as the dementia progresses this may no longer be the case. If a person appears to lack capacity to make a decision then the provision of the Adults with Incapacity Act must be followed. This Act sets out principles which must be adhered to in addition to a Code of Practice, these principles include, presumption of capacity, supporting a person to make decisions, an individuals right to make unwise decisions, the best interests of the person and ensuring the least restrictive alternative (Griffith Tenhnah, ). As Simone appears to have been diagnosed early this allows time to discuss and plan for the future. This may include discussing the provisions of the above mentioned act for example, whi le Simone still has capacity she may nominate a spokesperson (attorney) to make decisions regarding her personal welfare including healthcare and consent to treatment should she become incapable. This is known as lasting powers of attorney (LPA). Another provision under the Mental Capacity Act that may be discussed with Simone is that of Enduring Power of Attorney (EPA) where Simone could appoint someone which would give them the legal right to manage Simones financial affairs. As a nurse it is important to discuss the use of an advanced statement as part of the plan of care as this would enable Simone, while she is still well enough to do so, to write a statement which outlines the way in which she wishes to be treated should she become unwell and no longer have capacity (). Dementia is a terminal illness and NICE (2007) recommend a palliative care approach from the time of diagnosis until death. As a result the care plan should incorporate Simones wishes in relation to end of life care for example a preferred place to die. The provision of palliative care in the UK is said to favour those with cancer (Fallon Hanks, 2006) although those with dementia can have equally as severe symptoms and similarly poor prognosis. Therefore planning ahead for Simones end of life care may result in a good quality service with improved experiences for Simone and her daughter (Scottish Government, 2008). Discussions might also take place around the possibility of a do not resuscitate decision, if Simone felt this was appropriate it could be documented. This would ensure that no attempt is made to resuscitate Simone in the event of cardiac arrest if this is her wish (National Health Service Scotland, 2010). People who care for relatives with dementia are said to suffer higher levels of stress and ill health than the general public (Scottish Dementia Strategy). This may well be a significant change for Simones daughter. As Simone wishes to stay at home it is vital that a carers assessment is carried out and appropriate support and information is provided as it may become too difficult for her daughter to sustain otherwise and could result in Simone requiring admission to care services. The option of respite should be a vital part of the care plan (NICE, 2007). In conclusion, this essay has provided an explanation and discussion regarding the nursing care of a 69 year old lady who has recently been diagnosed with early stage dementia. This case study has demonstrated my knowledge and understanding of evidence based nursing practice and demonstrated my ability to utilise this in order to outline a plan of care. Alzhiemers Scotland (2010) http://www.alzscot.org/pages/info/safety.htm National Health Service Choices (2009) Your health your choices: Dementia. [Online] Available from: http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/dementia/Pages/Introduction.aspx [Accessed 04th August, 2010] Alzhiemers Society: Demography, Alzheimers Society position statement. [Online] Available from:http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.phpcategoryID=200167documentID=412 [Accessed 04th August, 2010] Alzheimers Society (2007) Information Sheet: The Progression of Dementia. Alzheimers Society. London. [Online] Available from: http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/factsheet/458 [Accessed on 3rd August 2009] Department of Health (2009) Living well with dementia: A National Dementia Strategy. London. [Online] Available from:http://www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh/groups/dh_digitalassets/@dh/@en/documents/digitalasset/dh_094051.pdf [Accessed 3rd August, 2009] Fallon, M., Hanks,G ABC of Palliative Care. British Medical Journal. Blackwell Publishing. Folstein MF, Folstein SE, McHugh PR. Mini-mental state. A practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician. J Psychiatr Res. 1975;12:189-198. Egan, G. (2007) The Skilled Helper. (8th Edn) USA: Thomson Brooks/Cole Griffith Hinchliff, S., Norman,S., Schober, J. (2003) Nursing Practice and Healthcare (4th Edn) London: Arnold. Hough, M. (2006) Counselling Skills and Theory. (2nd Edn) Great Britain: Hodder Arnold. Kenworthy, N., Snowley, G., Gilling, C. (2006) Common Foundation Studies in Nursing. (3rd Edition) Churchill Livingston:USA. NHS QIS 2007 NMC CONSENT http://www.nmc-uk.org/Nurses-and-midwives/Advice-by-topic/A/Advice/Consent/ Ouldred, E., Bryant. C. (2008) Dementia care. Part 2: understanding and managing behavioural challenges. British Journal of Nursing. Vol 17. No 4. Scottish Government (2008) Living and Dying Well A National Action Plan for Palliative and End of Life Care. Edinburgh. The Volunteer Centre http://volunteerglasgow.org/befriending/drumchapel.asp World Health Organisation (1992) The ICD-10 Classifications of Mental and Behavioural Disorders: Clinical Descriptions and Diagnostic Guidelines. WHO. Geneva.

Economic Profiles of Arab Countries

Economic Profiles of Arab Countries QATAR Qatar has been ranked as the world’s wealthiest country on a new list compiled by the prestigious US. Qatar has 2,051 million people, the majority of whom (about 90%) live in Doha, the capital. Qatar is the 146th most populated nation , age structure 0–14 years: 21.8% (male 92,896/female 87,201) 15–64 years: 76.8% (male 451,127/female 182,330) 65 years and over: 1.4% (male 6,545/female 4,690) (2008 est.) with a GDP of 181.7 Billion per capita of ~102,700USD. Sharing the same Arabic language presents an advantage for ANB to enter Qatar. The country’s population is growing by an average of 1.093% (2008 est.) Petroleum the cornerstone of Qatar s economy accounts for more than 70% of total government revenue, more than 60% of GDP, and roughly 85% of export earnings Oil has given Qatar a per capita GDP that ranks among the highest in the world. Qatar is now the richest country in the world caused by a rising global oil demand which helped current GDP per capita to expand 94% in the Nineties. Income distribution in the country is relatively balanced, with a majority (70%) in the middle class, The economy is expected to grow at a healthy rate of 5% for the coming years. Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup bid is the successful proposal from the government of Qatar to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Qatar will be the first Arab state to host the World Cup. Qatar promoted their hosting of the tournament as representing the Arab World, and has drawn support from across the member states of the Arab League. They also positioned their bid as an opportunity to bridge the gap between the Arab World and the West. Furthermore, people coming from different nations visited Qatar for this match and strengthened the image Qatar would depict of their interest in the World Cup 2022. Additionally, Qatar hosted the 2011 Asian Cup . With a fast-expanding population and substantial economic growth over the past decade, a reliable and extensive transportation network is becoming increasingly necessary within Qatar. So far the government, the primary transport developer, has done well in terms of keeping up with demand for new transportation options. In 2008 the Public Works Authority (Ashghal), one of the bodies that oversees infrastructure development, underwent a major reorganization in order to streamline and modernize the authority in preparation for major project expansions across all segments in the near future. Ashghal works in tandem with the Urban Planning and Development Authority (UPDA), the body that designed the transportation master plan, instituted in March 2006 and running to 2025. As driving is the primary mode of transport in Qatar, the road network is a major focus of the plan. Project highlights in this segment include the multibillion-dollar Doha Expressway and the Qatar Bahrain Causeway, which will connect Qatar to Bahrain and Saudi Arabia and is considered a milestone in regional interconnectivity. Mass-transit options, such as a Doha metro, light-rail system and more extensive bus networks, are also under development to ease road congestion. In addition, the railway system is being significantly expanded and could eventually form an integral part of a GCC-wide network linking all the Gulf states. once all projects are up and running Qatar will have one of the most advanced and modern transport infrastructures in the region, it will be an opportunity and a niche market for ANB BAHRAIN Bahrain has a very small population of ~1.3 Million, of which more than 50% are non-nationals, with a relatively high GDP ~27,000USD. The middle aged population (30-64yrs) including non-Bahrainis is around 48%. Bahrain has the first post-oil economy in the Persian Gulf because the Bahraini economy does not rely on oil. Since the late 20th century, Bahrain has heavily invested in the banking and tourism sectors. The countrys capital, Manama is home to many large financial structures. Bahrain has a high Human Development Index (ranked 48th in the world) and was recognized by the World Bank as a high income economy. Bahrain was designated a major non-Nato ally by the Georges W. Bush administration in 2001. Bahrain has the fastest growing economy in the Arab world, Bahrain also has the freest economy in the Middle East and is twelfth freest overall in the world . In 2008, Bahrain was named the worlds fastest growing financial center by the City of Londons Bahrains banking and financial services sector, particularly Islamic banking, have benefited from the regional boom driven by demand for oil. Petroleum production and processing account is Bahrains most exported product, accounting for 60% of export receipts, 70% of government revenues, and 11% of GDP . With its highly developed communication and transport facilities, Bahrain is home to a number of multinational firms and construction proceeds on several major industrial projects. OMAN The current GDP is $78.11 billion, expected real GDP growth of 4.5 per cent in 2013 and 4.0 per cent in 2014. Current GDP per capita has expanded continuously in the past 50 years. It grew 339% in the 1960s reaching a peak growth of 1,370% in the 1970s scaling back to modest 13% growth in the 1980s and rising again to 34% in the 1990s. Officially called the Sultanate of Oman . It has a strategically important position at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. From the 17th century, Oman had its own empire, Unlike its resource-rich neighbors, Oman has modest oil reserves, in 2010 the UNDP ranked Oman as the most improved nation in the world in terms of development during the preceding 40 years. Additionally, Oman is categorized as a high income economy and ranks as the 45th most peaceful country in the world. Omans Basic Statute of the State expresses in Article 11 that the national economy is based on justice and the principles of a free economy. Omani citizens enjoy good living standards, but the future is uncertain with Omans limited oil reserves. Other sources of income, agriculture and industry, are small in comparison and count for less than 1% of the countrys exports. Oman has a very diversified economy . Since Jan 2009 Oman has a free trade agreement with the United States , eliminating tariff barriers on all consumer and industrial products, also providing strong protections for foreign businesses investing in Oman. The total population is 2,773,479 and of those, 1,957,336 were Omanis. 43% of the population is under the age of 15. About 50% of the population lives in Muscat and the Batinah coastal plain northwest of the capital; about 200,000 live in the Dhofar (southern) region, and about 30,000 live in the remote Musandam Peninsula on the Strait of Hormuz. Omans economic growth plunged to 2.8 per cent in nominal terms in 2013. In April, the International Monetary Fund estimated in its World Economic Outlook that the non-OPEC crude exporters economy expanded 5.1 per cent in 2013 when adjusted for inflation, slightly outperforming a 5.0 per cent rise in 2012. Expected economy growth 4 to 5 per cent this year, underpinned by stable oil prices and the billions of dollars spent on major projects in the past two years. Last years slowdown in nominal growth was mainly due to a 1.4 per cent fall in the oil sector, which accounts for nearly 46 per cent of Omans $80 billion economy and had seen a 10.7 per cent jump in nominal terms in the previous year. KUWAIT Kuwait one of the richest Arab countries, and has a population of 2,695,316. includes 1,291,354 non-nationals. Population growth rate by 1.79% and this rate reflect a return to pre-Gulf crisis immigration of expatriates. Urban population 98.3% of total population . Age structure 0–14 years: 25.8% ,15–64 years: 72.2% , 65 years and over: 2% Kuwaiti citizens accounted for 40% of Kuwaits total population in 2011 the rest is foreigners. The government and people of Kuwait consider the high level of immigrants to be a problem. This led to the announcement in 2013 that Kuwait will reduce the number of expatriates by deporting 100,000 expats annually over the next 10 years. A recent proposal by a Kuwaiti lawmaker restricts all expats to only five years residence in Kuwait, all expats will be deported after living 5 years in Kuwait. Kuwait also banned expatriates from driving. Kuwaits economic freedom score is 62.3 making its economy the 76th freest in 2014 index, with a GDP 151$ billion with a 5.1% growth 39,889 per capita . the unemployment rate is 2.1% Kuwait holds the world’s sixth biggest proven reserves of oil and oil extraction accounts for 40% of GDP . The strategic location of Kuwait and geopolitical turbulence in the region helped foster economic prosperity in Kuwait. Kuwait became wealthy due to Basras instability. It was estimated that Kuwaits sea trade reached 16 million Bombay rupees by 1800, a substantial amount at that time. Economic prosperity during the late 18th century attracted many immigrants from Iran and Iraq to Kuwait. Kuwaits pre-oil population was ethnically diverse.

The Thieves Who Couldn’t Help Sneezing Essay -- Thomas Hardy

The Thieves Who Couldn’t Help Sneezing There is one main character in this story, Hubert. We barely get any description of the physical features of Hubert; however what we do find out is: he is a fourteen year old boy, a ‘yeoman’s son’ with a horse named Jerry. All of them resided in Wessex. ‘A man darted from the thicket’ ‘Another man’ ‘And Another’ These three quotes; all from the same paragraph tell us that there are in total three robbers. Yet again there is very little detail about any of the three robbers; two descriptions of the few criminals there states that their faces are ‘artificially blackened’, and at least one of them had a, ‘deep voice’. In the whole of the short story there is possibly twenty-six other people; these are briefly mentioned throughout the story. Only one of the twenty six people get named and that person is, ‘Sir Simon’. Unlike ‘Tony Kytes’ there is one main character, Hubert. Only two settings are used, they are the ‘mansion’, and the, ‘Vale of Blackmore’. This is more complicated and detailed than ‘Tony Kytes’; where...

Ozone Depletion and Industrial Output Essay -- Ozone Layer Environment

Ozone Depletion and Industrial Output For years, we have heard about the ozone crisis: that because of industrialization and the lack of pollution-consciousness by our industries, governments, and academia, we have put so many environmentally harmful products into the atmosphere that our ozone – the good kind, the kind that protects us from harmful UV radiation – is becoming dangerously damaged. It is becoming thinner and developing holes, like the large hole over Antarctica. Predictions made expected the ozone hole to continue to increase and for the general thickness to get continuously thinner, so that the harmful UV rays of the sun would pass right through our atmosphere and fry our skin if we went outside for ten minutes fifty years from now. (I was actually told this in elementary school, except that we were told that this was an inevitable scenario, and there was really nothing that we could do about it other than buy SPF 250 sun-block. As a tech fix, this would probably be entirely p ossible!) However, recent evidence has shown that the rate of expansion of the ozone hole is actually decreasing; that the ozone is not being destroyed as quickly as experts thought it would. In fact, the ozone held its own and showed very little damage for a few years at the end of the 1990s. Why? Perhaps it is because emissions that damage the ozone are being reduced internationally, therefore resulting in an overall reduction of damage done annually to the ozone, allowing it to begin to repair itself. Before it was known that they would cause great damage to the ozone, many factories not only released uncontrolled amounts of polluting emissions, but they also developed products that were very damaging t... ...t, there is the realistic path of dangerously continuing to destruct our atmosphere. Basically, cleaning up technology and industry in order to reduce emissions and other problems is an uphill battle, but a very feasible one if enough people recognize it as worthy. If industry continues to reduce emissions, and is given incentives to institute greener technologies rather than just cleaning up old ones, I think that we will well be on our way to ceasing ozone damage and perhaps also to help eradicate other environmental problems. Works Cited Fahey, D.W. and A.R. Ravishankara. Summer in the Stratosphere. Science, v.285, n.5425, p.208-210, July 1999. Kerr, Richard. A Brighter Outlook for Good Ozone. Science, v.297, p.1623-1625, September 2002. Poliakoff, Martyn et al. Green Chemistry: Science and Politics of Change. Science, v.297, p.807-810, August 2002.

korn :: essays research papers

Born in Bakersfield, California, Korn has become one of the most popular new bands of the nineties. They have revolutionized heavy-metal music as we know it (or used to know it), by injecting several different musical influences into traditional rock, from hip-hop and rap, to 70's funk music. This strange blend gives Korn a sound of its own. It is because of them that we coined the phrase: â€Å"hardcore metal†.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Korn’s first single â€Å"Blind† opened up the doors for hardcore music in 1994. The song introduced lightning fast drum arrangements, frightening guitar riffs, hammer style bass lines, and scratchy, screaming vocals. â€Å"Blind† also introduced a new wave of instrument playing by the use of a seven string guitar that is tuned down from the standard EBGDAE to a strange DAFCGDA. The form of low tuning has become a model to hardcore music. Some of the most common bands such as Limp Bizkit and Staind have adapted to using low tunings in their guitar playing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Blind† is a typical drug song that simply explains the singer’s experience with drug use, and how it provided an escape from the pain he had endured as a young adult. He wants to leave the world and start all over again, but doesn’t know how, so he uses drugs to distort his reality. The chorus is typical of the hardcore sound because he is filled with so much rage and anger that makes it hard to understand what he is saying. The song is played by a five piece band which is typical of a hard core rock band of today. It pushes away from the conventional four piece band that flourished within all rock bands.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It has the elements of the rock sound because it includes a singer backed up by two guitarists, a drummer, and bass player.

Ethics In Contemporary Society Essay

The study of ethics explores man’s notion of morality. It refers to the in-depth analysis of the social norms that are used to gauge what is right and what is wrong from our actions. Most of these social norms largely depend on our view of life and its value. This is where â€Å"bioethics† was based. Although all the moral principles stem from the basic social norm that life should be valued, it should be noted that overtime, the way in which life is esteemed and prized changes. In other words, though the notion of preserving and promoting life seems to be the core principle of morality, the interpretations of the importance of life, along with the basis of its value change sporadically from time to time. Advancement and changes in the view of life Technological and medical innovations have delivered various changes in the life of mankind. These advancements have brought about ease and comfort in our day to day living. Such innovations were deemed as necessary tools for progress, advancement and expansion towards a more developed state of industrialization. Such innovations were made to fulfill an end goal of having a world where each and every human being will find a better state of life. However, the rise of this modern civilization did not only produce improvements in the way of living. Rather, it also introduced modifications in our values. In essence, the modern civilization that leans on science, technology, and capitalism proved to be the major basis for the creation of the evolving views on life and living. This modern society brought about by deemed advancements challenged our social norms and created a new sense of consciousness and appreciation for life. As what can be observed, the various bioethical dilemmas that remain to be very arguable issues these days stemmed from the introduction of scientific and technological advancements. Generally, it seems that the advancements that were created and invented by man not only enabled us to have power and control over our physical landscape. Rather, these granted us a certain level of empowerment that allowed us to generate the notion that we can challenge the traditional parochial view of life and living. As such, many issues that address the concept of life and death have risen. The question, however, remains the same: should these challenges to the norm beneficial or do these changes just contribute to the disintegration of society and ruin of moral integrity? No common ground Abortion, â€Å"mercy killing,† â€Å"mercy death,† and â€Å"letting people die† are just among the pressing bioethical issues that continue to haunt not only the medical sector, but the entire society. Apparently, issues that involved life and death stem from our various points of view regarding how, why, and when life should be valued and in what degree. Although all worldviews seem to agree that everybody should place value on life, the basis on how it should be valued changes over time and place. For example, it should be noted that issues on â€Å"mercy killing† stem from the fact that people are faced with the dilemma on what should be prioritized: life as merely the chance to breathe or life as a state of actual living. Also, the introduction of innovations to man’s way of life largely prompted many people to disregard the supreme thought that â€Å"everyone has the right to live. † Instead, more and more people are adapting the thought that life should be valued only if the person will enjoy more benefits that sufferings in the life that he is bound to pursue. Radically, the importance of life has changed from â€Å"being supremely important† to â€Å"becoming important on the grounds of the rewards and punishments that it may bring. † Unfortunately, the dilemma of choosing which of these life views are better for our society will be left unanswered unanimously for each of us will hold his own set of moral opinion, that is again, largely influenced by the degree of technological advancement that enveloped each of our lives. Reference: Thiroux, Jacques P. (2006). Ethics: Theory and Practice. Prentice Hall

Chinese firework industry Essay

1. Introduction—Objective and structure of this report The Chinese fireworks industry has experienced significant change since China adopted â€Å"open door policy†, moreover, it has huge market share in the world’s fireworks market. But on the other hand, the Chinese fireworks industry also has fatal weaknesses. Therefore, whether to invest in this industry is still a considerable challenge to most investors. The objective of this report is to give some suggestions to Jerry Yu on his decision of the investment on Liuyang fireworks industry. Furthermore, some proposals on how to improve the attractiveness and the competitiveness of Chinese fireworks industry at a long-run level are worked out; from personal level, there are some strategic options to Jerry Yu in terms of handling an individual fireworks firm. To achieve this objective, an industry analysis and a market audit are carried out and a gross conclusion is drawn based on the analyses and suggestions. 2. Industrial analysis The aim of this industrial analysis is to outline the situation of the Chinese fireworks industry in conjunction with analyzing the rivalry within this industry through Porter’s five forces model (please refer to Appendix). 2.1 The Chinese fireworks industry overview The general belief was that China-made fireworks actually made up about 80% to 90% of the world’s fireworks market. But although Chinese fireworks account for most of the world’s market, it can be said as a relatively messy industry in terms of its quality, packaging and timing control and distribution channels. As the most popular form in Chinese fireworks industry is family-run workshop, which is usually poorly funded and lacking of R&D and managerial input, the whole industry is basically labor-intensive and the technological innovations are also restricted. The competition is intensified by the emergence of small companies. These private workshops are flexible and quick in responding to market demand. They would copy any popular product design and sell it for much less prices than  government-owned or some collectively owned factories. This fact results in price drop which has become a serious problem for the whole industry. Besides, foreign competitors such as Japanese and Korea companies also threaten the Chinese fireworks industry. 2.2 Market trend The fireworks’ market can be divided into domestic and export market. In the past years, the demand of domestic market is declining while export sales is rising. Since China opened its door in 1979, export market has become a major market of Chinese fireworks. Figure 1 indicates the growth of export market during the period of 1994-1998. Figure 1: Export sales of Chinese fireworks industry in 1994-1998 From Figure 1, it’s clear that the demand of export market is increasing stably. Undoubtedly it’s a beneficial factor for Chinese fireworks industry. Another market trend is that the demand for display fireworks is increasing at a fast speed due to the increase of public fireworks shows, whereas the demand for consumer fireworks is expected to decline owing to the more restricted regulations. 2.3 Porter’s Five Forces Model (Appendix). Porter’s five forces model aims at examining the competitive status of the whole industry. 2.3.1 Potential entrants (High) The opportunity for potential entrants of fireworks industry is high. The capital requirement for establishing a fireworks firm is very low; the economy of scale is high and the brand identification within this industry is relatively low. All these facts provide good opportunities for firms to enter this industry. 2.3.2 Bargaining power of suppliers (Low) Because of the huge number of suppliers of fireworks and little product differentiation among fireworks products, the bargaining power of suppliers is low. 2.3.3. Bargaining power of buyers (High) Owing to the large number of choices and low even zero switching costs, the fireworks buyers have high bargaining power. 2.3.4 Substitutes (Low) The threat of substitutes of fireworks is relatively low. Although there are substitutes such as make-believe â€Å"firecrackers†, due to the heritage of tradition and culture, real fireworks are still irresistible to most consumers. 2.3.5 Rivalry (High) Rivalry of fireworks industry is high. The possibility for new entrants is high, while exit barrier is low; a bulk of existing firms that have little diversity and product differentiation are competing in this industry; buyers are more powerful than suppliers†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ All these forces shape the fierce competition in fireworks industry. What is indicated through the analysis of Porter’s five forces model is that the rivalry of fireworks industry is high. Therefore, if firms were to survive in competition, they should make great effort to differentiate their strategies to achieve sustainable competitive advantages over competitors. 3. Market Audit of Liuyang fireworks industry The market audit focuses on the Liuyang fireworks market’s position through the identification of its domestic and foreign competitors and a SWOT  analysis. The goal of this market audit is to assist Jerry Yu to determine whether to invest in Liuyang fireworks industry or not. 3.1 Competitor analysis The competitors of Liuyang fireworks industry include both domestic and foreign ones. The competitors and their main competitive aspects of Liuyang fireworks industry are delivered in Table 1. Table 1: The competitors of Liuyang fireworks industry Competitors Domestic Foreign Liling Pingxiang, Wanzai Dongguan Other small establishments Japan, Korea and Spain Competitive Aspects Price competition Both price and quality, especially in low- and medium-priced markets More sophisticated management and marketing practices Copy popular design and sell much less Better quality and timing control, better packaging. From Table 1, it’s clear that the Liuyang fireworks industry has been facing fierce competition from both domestic and foreign competitors though it’s still the largest and most well known place for making fireworks in China. All of them have their own competitiveness versus Liuyang fireworks. Thus, if Liuyang fireworks industry were to sustain in the intense competition and â€Å"beat† these competitors, it’s necessary for it to modify strategy to increase its competitiveness relative to its competitors. Figure 2 shows the competitive position between Liuyang fireworks industry and its competitors on a positioning map. Figure 2: Competitive positioning map of Liuyang fireworks industry and its competitors From the positioning map, it can be demonstrated that although Liuyang fireworks industry has strong competitiveness in terms of reputation, it is seriously lacking of management capabilities compared with Dongguan and foreign competitors, which could be a disastrous factor in the future. Therefore, to improve the management of Liuyang fireworks industry is crucial for each individual investor’s success as well as the whole industry’s sustainability. 3.2 SWOT analysis of Liuyang fireworks industry Liuyang fireworks industry does share certain similar characteristics in terms of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats with other Chinese fireworks manufacturers, but it also has its own features. 3.2.1 Strengths * Long reputation and product variety Liuyang has been the most well known place for making fireworks in China for a long time. It has the strongest reputation in China and even in the world market it also occupies an influential position in terms of product variety and reputation. * Huge market share As the largest manufacture community of fireworks in China, Liuyang has been enjoying huge market share in both domestic and export market. * Liuyang government’s offensive strategy In 1997, Liuyang government adopted offensive strategy responding to the  decline of its fireworks sales. This has been proven to be very useful—one year later, Liuyang fireworks sales increased. * Low labor cost Located in Hunan province, Liuyang is a relatively small and less developed city. Furthermore, most of the manufacture factories are located in rural places, where the labor cost is very low. This is a beneficial factor for manufacturers because with low cost, they could gain more profit. 3.2.2 Weaknesses * Poor management input and capabilities As identified in competitor analysis, Liuyang fireworks industry has little management input and poor management capabilities. Since most of them are family-run workshops, they have no capital to fund management. What’s more, as most workers are farmers who are not well educated, they have no intellectual resource for marketing capabilities. * Messy distribution channels The overall distribution system of fireworks industry is rather fragmented and messy. Neither the old government-run channels nor the new distribution channels are efficient and effective. On the contrary, they are rather chaotic. 3.2.3 Opportunities * Increasing revenue and demand As shown in Figure 3, the total revenue of Liuyang fireworks industry increased substantially in 1992-1996. Now the demand is still increasing especially in display fireworks category. This represents an opportunity to investors. Figure 3: The total revenue of Liuyang fireworks industry in 1992-1996 Source: Liuyang Firecrackers and Fireworks Exhibition (refer to Exhibit 1 in this case) * Technological innovation appealing to consumers Technology development triggers the technological innovations. Fireworks can be combined with modern technologies like laser beams, computerized firing and musical accompaniment to cater for customers. * Increased safety of fireworks Actually, the fireworks are not as dangerous as usually perceived by people. Technological innovation such as smokeless fireworks makes fireworks safer and as long as people can use fireworks properly, it’s not so dangerous. This can be demonstrated from Figure 4. Figure 4: The increased consumption(millions of pounds) versus decreased injuries(per 100,000 pounds) of fireworks in 1990-98 Source: American Pyrotechnics Association (please refer to Exhibit 2 in this case) What is indicated in this chart is that within 1990-98, the consumption of fireworks increased whereas the injuries decreased. The increased safety can help to build consumers’ confidence toward fireworks. 3.2.4 Threats * Intensified competition and local protectionism As illustrated in competitor analysis, more and more competitors including existing firms and new entrants are competing with Liuyang fireworks  industry. The direct consequence is the price drop which leads to the deduction of profit margin. Some small manufacturers even copy designs and purchase inferior raw materials to gain profit in competition, which worsens the quality and reputation of Liuyang fireworks industry. In addition, some local Chinese governments tend to protect local manufacturers when purchasing fireworks. * Legal restriction As fireworks has made some tragedies among users, most countries and Chinese cities more or less inhibit the sell and use of fireworks. Some places even banned the use of fireworks. This fact is undermining the fireworks industry. * Credit crisis Due to the bad debt control and lacking of respect for business contracts in China, the transaction costs are increased while cash flow are slowed down, which is a serious issue for fireworks industry. * Poor profit margin and loss of brand identities This threat exists especially in export market. The importers buy the fireworks at very low price from Chinese manufacturers and then resell at much higher prices. This is indicated in Figure 5: the comparison between FOB import prices from China and wholesale prices of four types of Chinese display fireworks in US. There is a huge gap between them. The American importers enjoy huge profit whilst Chinese manufacturers suffer from low profit margin. Furthermore, some large western fireworks manufacturers and dealers started to outsource the making of their brand-name fireworks. The Chinese fireworks manufacturers are facing the problem of losing their brand identities. Figure 5: The comparison between FOB import prices from China and wholesale prices of four types of Chinese display fireworks in US Source: China Sunsong Fireworks Corp. and Websites of fireworks wholesalers in U.S. 4. Suggestions for Jerry Yu Chinese fireworks industry is a highly competitive industry, however, it still presents opportunities for investors. Based on the analysis of Liuyang fireworks industry, the suggestion for Jerry Yu is to take the opportunities–to invest in Liuyang fireworks industry. Nonetheless, to win in the fierce competition, it’s also recommended that Jerry Yu should integrate the advantages he has into the opportunities to create competitive advantages versus his competitors. Therefore, there are some strategic options proposed for him. Furthermore, some recommendations for Chinese fireworks industry as a whole are also worked out in order to increase its competitiveness and attractiveness. 5. Proposed strategic options 5.1 Options for Chinese fireworks industry (Options 1-4) 5.1.1 Strategic option 1: Launch an industry-wide advertising campaign to change consumers’ perception and attitude toward fireworks. As interpreted before, most consumers regard fireworks as a very dangerous product, especially for youth. But in fact, it’s not as dangerous as consumers’ perception. Figure 6 shows the comparison of the dangerousness between fireworks and other products. From the treatment quantities it’s rather manifest that the treatment for youth caused by fireworks is the least among these eleven consumer products. Furthermore, as the technology of fireworks is improving, the dangerousness will be less than before. Therefore, it’s necessary for the manufacturers within this industry to launch an advertising campaign to change consumers’ perception, attitude and to build consumers’ positive belief–fireworks is much safer than what they think. Figure 6: Estimated emergency room treatment per 100,000 youth (ages 5 to 14) Source: American Pyrotechnics Association (refer to Exhibition 3 in this case) Advantages: ââ€" º To build consumers’ confidence toward fireworks can somehow prevent the decline of demand of consumer fireworks from consumers’ perspective. If consumers know fireworks are virtually much safer than their perception, probably they will purchase fireworks more actively than before in spite of the restriction of government regulations. Disadvantages: ââ€" ª To launch an industry-wide advertising campaign requires sufficient capital. But as most fireworks manufacturers are family-run small workshop, it’s hard for them to afford the cost for this advertising campaign. 5.1.2 Strategic option 2: Build TQM at an industry-wide level. Lacking of quality control is a serious weakness of Chinese fireworks industry. Therefore, it’s necessary to build TQM (Total Quality Management) industry-wide to regulate and guarantee the quality of Chinese fireworks to compete with foreign competitors and to attain trust from consumers. Advantage: ââ€" ºThe advantage is obvious–increase Chinese fireworks industry’s competitiveness with foreign competitors and in doing so, to maintain and even increase its market share in the world’s market. Disadvantage: ââ€" ª The only problem TQM might face is the messiness of Chinese fireworks manufacturers. TQM requires fund as well as regulations, but for small  workshops, it’s difficult to achieve. 5.1.3 Strategic option 3: To absorb foreign investments actively to improve both hardware (equipment, capital, etc) and software (management capabilities, etc) of Chinese fireworks industry. Advantages: ââ€" ºForeign investment can compensate one weakness of Chinese fireworks industry—lack of capital. If Chinese manufacturers have sufficient fund, they can improve their equipment, the products’ quality and packaging and their management resource such as R&D, etc. No doubt that these facets can greatly promote Chinese fireworks competitive position, through which, Chinese fireworks industry could prosper. Disadvantages: ââ€" ª There is a latent possibility that these foreign investments might finally control the Chinese fireworks industry. If this happens, Chinese fireworks industry would lose its identity. 5.1.4 Strategic option 4: Build strong brand awareness and image of Chinese fireworks industry. This can be implemented by advertising campaign or aggressive promotional activities.