Ways to get kicked out of your House

The Reserve Bank of India had prompted the rupee's largest single-day rally since January 998 on 30th august by saying it would provide dollars directly to state oil companies to pay for imports, but the recovery proved short-lived. Economists have long argued that India needs to implement structural economic reforms to bring about meaningful progress. Last year, parliament lifted restrictions on foreign direct investment after much debate As a Citizen: As a citizen of India what I feel is middle class may not have lost faith yet in the economy.On the macro level there might be changes but as a common man or at the Cicero level I don't see any great change except for the hike in prices. Due to the falling rupee the â€Å"Marl's† seem to have great opportunity to reap benefits from the Indian markets. Even the exporters will be benefited due to the fall in rupee. I definitely feel that this falling and depreciating economy is due to the coming elections. Even the financial cond itions are easing are the interest rates are coming down.By : Fleshes shanghai 5 ways to get kicked out of your House By Afghanistan's . Spoil your sister's wedding by insulting and throwing shoes and splitting on the guests. 5. Start roaming naked in your house. Economic situation. † And what I feel is that it will be facing it for few more months. The Indian rupee has lost roughly 12% of its value during the past month. The major reason behind this can be because the country in importing more goods than it is. Micro level I don't see any great change except for the hike in prices. Due to the By : Peevish shanghai

Acheulean technology Essay

The Oldowan technology is referred to as Mode 1, preceding the Mode 2 Acheulean technology. The latter implies that it is more advanced and more sophisticated than the former. Mode 1 technology only refers to simple hand tools which include choppers, scrapers, awls and woodworking tools. On the other hand, Mode 2 technology was the â€Å"retouched† and reworked Mode 1 tools. This ensures that their tools were more symmetrical making it effective and useful for its purpose It has been an argument on whether the ergaster was to be considered as a different taxon since some researchers claim that they feature â€Å"different† characteristics from other Homo taxons and also associates them as the direct ancestor of humans. KNM-ER 3733 and KNM-ER 992 are some ergaster specimen that were found. These specimens show no significant difference from other homo taxon to qualify it as a new species. Researchers still support Homo erectus as the closer ancestor of modern humans and that the ergaster are â€Å"H. erectus from Africa† The Turkana Boy was a significant find since it provides evidences of evolution of humans. By studying its morphology, scientists found out that the Turkana boy exhibits the possibility of having its own language and also how modern humans evolved traits from it. Bipedalism, brain volume, size of canines and inner ear bones are some features shared by Australopithecus and Homo sp. This suggests that they share a common ancestor. Works Cited http://www. archaeologyinfo. com/homoergaster. htm http://www. crystalinks. com/turkanaboy. html http://www. ecotao. com/holism/hu_austral. htm http://www. crystalinks. com/Oldowan. html

Why Germany Lost the First World War

Why Germany lost the First World War The First World War ended with the triple entente as victorious (with help from the Americans). Some reasons to why the allies won the war were because of; Germany had to fight a war on two fronts, the unstable political situation in Germany, the allied naval blockade, German economy, failure of the schlieffen plan, interception of the Zimmerman telegram, the German naval blockade on Britain (sinking of American ships), development of the tank and anti-submarine weapons, the advancement of new technology that required new tactics. The Naval blockade The British blockade was a key factor in the defeat of Germany. Starved of supplies, the German army was weakened and the German people lost some of their will to support the war. The war at sea was one of the main factors that contributed to Germany’s defeat. To help the British navy survive against the German submarines the British used several different techniques to stop their boats from being destroyed. The British used mines and depth charges. Also to reduce the allied shipping losses all merchant ships travelled with a military convoy which provided protection to the merchant ships. When the convoy formation was applied the allied shipping losses decreased by 20%. Another technique used was Q ships. Q ships were merchant ships with disguised heavy guns. Q ships were the reason that German submarines stopped warning the enemy ship that it was about to attack. The effect of the British blockade of Germany was that there were 300,000 deaths that were related to malnutrition and starvation during 1914-1918 among civilians. The blockade also cut supply chain of nitrate that was used to make explosives and also used in fertilizers. Weaponry The tank was a British invention. It was first used at the battle of the Somme. The tanks advanced in front of the infantry, crushing barbed wire fences and spraying the enemy with machine-gun fire. Yet the tank was very unreliable since half of them broke down before reaching the German trenches, also the tanks were not very agile they moved at first only at a walking pace and the tanks were not very maneuverable. Also the Germans used poison gas (first used in Spain) to fight the enemy this weapon was very effective in the war, yet this weapon was unreliable due to its dependence on the direction of the wind. Since if there was a sudden change of direction in the wind the poison that was just released could be swept back against the Germans. Due to the circumstances of the war as it changed from a quick and rapid war to a static war with the use of trench warfare and competition of modern weaponry. Failure of the Schlieffen plan The German plan was to sweep towards France thinking that Russia would be very slow in mobilizing its troops. The plan was to sweep in through Belgium (Germany thought that there was not going to meet any resistance from Belgium and also not it did not think that it would be violating the treaty of London), then sweep in towards Paris and invade France. After France had been invaded they would direct their forces towards Russia whom they thought would be very slow mobilizing its troops. The Germans were wrong about the Belgians, the Russians and the English. The Belgians put up great resistance there by slowing the advance of the German troops. The Russian army was a lot quicker to mobilize than expected so now Germany was ending up doing what they wanted to do the least fight a war on two fronts. The Belgians slowed down the German troops long enough for the entente troops to arrive to meet the German troops. Due to the equality in strength this led to a race to water in effort to bypass the other army. This led to trench warfare. The Germans were not prepared to do this type of war, they did not have the resources to do this due to the british naval blockade. Concerning the Schleiffen plan there were a few severe miscalculations that led to gargantuan problems, the Germans had miscalculated the amount of soldiers, supplies and communication that required to be transported across the country from east to west and back. This miscalculation was not expected due to Germany thinking that Russia would be slow to mobilize and thereby give Germany time to first beat the French then later turn all their forces towards the east to face Russia. Weak Allies Germany had chosen her allies badly, they had allied themselves to the decaying Austrian Empire, Ottoman Empire and Italy. Germany had chosen badly when relying on Italy to help out in the war since as soon as war was declared Italy pulled out of the alliance. Also Germany had to constantly assist the Austrian Empire in protecting their own territory. This led to problems as this exhausted troops that would and should have been sent to fight the war in the trenches. Germany also sent supplies that should have been sent to the soldiers fighting on the front line. If Germany had stronger and more reliable allies then the outcome of the war would have been different. Political Unrest As the war went on and millions died Germany’s censored propaganda released only tales of glorious combat and victory. As this propaganda continued the nation was starting to suffer from the naval blockade. As thousands were dying the nation was releasing posters saying how well the war was going. The false propaganda started unrest inside the German nation, the unrest came from both outside the government yet also from inside. The socialists wanted to seize the power and take control of the nation, whilst this was happening inside the country soldiers were starting some unrest as arguments and some minor protests came up, these protests led to mutiny on the seas. The involvement of USA The Germans also tried to make a naval blockade of their own on Britain. They also included a policy of â€Å"unrestricted submarine warfare against all ships that they suspected were carrying supplies to britain†. This was very effective since the British were suffering from the shortages of supplies. Yet the germans also sank a great amount of American ships which helped bring the Americans into the war. When the Americans discovered the Zimmerman telegram about how Germany hoped to ally itself with mexico against them the final song had been sung. USA declared war on Germany on April 1st 1917. The war devastated Europe, it changed the geography of countries for a very long time, it destroyed empire such as; the Austrian Empire, The Russian Empire, the German Empire and later the Ottoman Empire.

Role of Perception in Decision Making Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Role of Perception in Decision Making - Essay Example It has been found that cultural background indeed helps in shaping the behavior of an individual (Husted and Allen, 2008). Today we are living in the times of globalization and liberalization of economies, which makes it obligatory on the part of the organizations and individuals to work with people from different cultural backgrounds. At times an organization also gets to be known as having particular culture by taking in consideration the working behavior and cultural background of the workforce. Managing a whole lot of diversity forms the key component of the effective management process. Diversity within an organization can also be effectively managed if one can analyze how we form a typical perception about someone. Workplace diversity is stated to have a positive as well as a negative aspect. The diversity on account of gender also influences the behavior of an organization. Thompson's (2000) came out with a detailed study suggesting that men hold more negative views of diversity than women. This view gets strength from an experiment carried out on 2686 workers at an electronics company. This expe riment came out with findings that women of all racial/ethnic backgrounds held more positive perceptions of diversity than Caucasian males (Hostager and Meuse, 2008). ... Well a number of similar studies have also found out that there is no significant difference in ethical perceptions of men and women. But at the same time, it needs to be emphasized that no study has so far indicated that men are more ethical than the women counterparts (Marta et al, 2008). This goes on to show that there's indeed some amount of truth in the fact that women are more ethically perceptive/ sensitive. While managing an organization such factors need to be taken into account for effective management of the organization. What are the positive and negative effects of using perceptive "shortcuts" when judging others Perceptions are supposed to help in the process of making judgments as well. While stuck up in some tricky situation and the manager is entrusted with the task of judging a person, a process, a team or an organization then the perceptive 'shortcuts' come in handy. But, there is also a possibility that making use of such 'perceptive shortcuts' could actually result in a wrongful judgment. Often, collective behavior of a team depends upon the nature of judgments taken by some individuals (Husted and Allen, 2008). The model of Trevino on ethical decision making in business tries to explore the relationship between individualism and collectivism. The key elements of this model are; the perception of a moral problem, moral judgment, and ethical behavior. Some of the positive and negative effects of using perceptive shortcuts can be summarized as; i. Positive effects a. Decision can be taken quickly b. Follow up action is also aided by the perceptive shortcuts c. Process of decision making become easier d. It helps in

Research Paper on Native Son by Richard wright Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

On Native Son by Richard wright - Research Paper Example Many middle aged adults are content with how they have lived their lives, and others want to change theirs (Shepard, 2013). Middle adulthood presents the reality to folks that there is little time to transform their life configuration. These are times in a person’s life that they can really look back on the aspirations and goals they laid down when they were growing. Growing into middle adulthood can go either way of being pleased and satisfied or being full of uncertainty and distress. The middle age phase serves as a time for reevaluation, a chance to put new choices into consideration. Many individuals feel they need to take their livelihood in a new path or do something they’ve wanted to do their whole life. After such reflection, a person either concludes that he or she is contented with the life structure choices made or quickly plans to made changes while they are still possible (Balswick, 2005) Brian knows that his physiological functioning is weary, and his bio logical clock tells him he is reaching middle adulthood. Since many athletes participate sports over a long period (from adolescence straight to middle adulthood), a lot of wear and tear happens. To most athletes like Brian, their social clocks commence before middle adulthood. At the time, Brian was enjoying playing football; he missed his teenage years and early adulthood. Now that, he is approaching middle adulthood he looks back on what he has missed out on in the last twenty years of his life and most importantly his achievements. Attaining middle adulthood is worthwhile because he now gets to do things he longed to do with his family. This according to Zgourides fulfils the primary psychosocial task of middle adulthood, which is to, develop generativity, or the desire to expand one’s influence and commitment to family, society, and future generations (Zgourides, 2001). Women sometimes sacrifice their ambitions and career plans for their families. Their desire is to be t he best mothers to their kids and good wives to their partners. For women, middle adulthood may bring the feeling of loneliness since those who have children are worried that their children are going to leave them. One woman realized that her children were growing older and were to go away to college. She developed a sense of incompletion inside of her and knew she had to go back to college to further her career. She gave her marriage and raising children her best, unfortunately, her marriage succumbed in divorce, and her children went away to college. The woman managed to earn her degree and went ahead with her life (Miller, 2010). Perhaps middle adulthood is best known for its infamous midlife crisis: a time of reevaluation that leads to questioning long-held beliefs and values (Zgourides, 2001). Many people may feel that they did not live the life they planned for themselves when they were younger, and their lives tend restart when they reach middle adulthood. There are a lot of aspects in a person’s life that may either take a good or bad twist. By the time, adults reach middle adulthood age many of them differ in the opinion on how they have lived their life so far. This is a time when a person reflects on where they came from as opposed to where they are going from the middle of their life. Sometimes during this stage, choices are made to either continue the path already taken or establish somewhat different path of live (Whitbourne, 2005). Many adults

Role of Mergers & Acquisitions in Organizational Change Research Paper

Role of Mergers & Acquisitions in Organizational Change - Research Paper Example It happens when an organization wants to enter into a new market or wants to lower the cost of production. Other organizations use this method to increase their market share in the market. This report demonstrates the crucial role played by the merger and acquisition in organizational change. Thesis Mergers and acquisitions play a vital role in the organizational change. This role can be developed if it is highlighted and addressed adequately. Introduction Definition Organizational change is the process by which a company or organization goes through change with an aim of remaining more relevant and achieve its goals within the right time, (Cassiman & Colombo, 2006). This change occurs when there is a change in business strategy, when an organization wants to rebrand or when there is a major change in parts the entire organization. These changes are important for an organization to remain relevant in the dynamic market field. The process of organizational change involves making bold changes and it may also involve expansion of the organization. Mergers and acquisitions play a major role in the process of organizational change. The issue of acquisition and mergers involves having a corporate strategy in matter to do with buying, selling and division of companies, (DePamphilis, 2008). This involves companies with similar entities coming together in the process of merger and agreeing on terms and condition of operation. A merger is slightly different from an acquisition. Takeover Acquisition is also known as take over. This process involves buying of the entire business entity. This may end up expanding the company that has bought the business entity, (Finkelstein 2010). Nature of acquisitions The term consolidation refers to a union of two or more companies to form a new joint business initiative. This means that none of the tow companies can survive independent of each other. It is also know n as merger of companies. We have both private and public acquisitions. The key point here is that acquisition and merger are done as part of the company’s strategy either in venturing into a new market of remaining relevant and expansion of the organization. If the target company has been listed in the stock exchange then it’s not a public acquisition acquisitions can either be public or private, (Mikael & Jani, 2011). Acquisitions can also be classified as hostile or friendly. The process of acquisition is very detailed and involves many steps. This is why studies show that 50 per cent of the acquisitions done are successful while others are not. In other words, acquisitions are difficult to achieve. The acquisition is perceived either as friendly or hostile depending on how the idea of buying the target company is communicated. In friendly cases, the negotiations are done in private that every deal is based on mutual agreement with the companies involved. In case of the hostile acquisitions the target company’s boards of directo rs are caught unawares. The company is sold without their knowledge, (Mikael & Jani, 2011). Hostile acquisitions can end up being friendly acquisitions with time. This happens due to improved terms of agreement after the procurement process. When we talk about acquisition, we are referring to a large company or organization procuring a small company. There are instances where the smaller company acquires the control of

EGT3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

EGT3 - Essay Example This type of economic regulation may prevent competition in the market. Industrial Regulation has an impact on various entities. For national firms which operate in a monopolistic or oligopolistic market, regulation is a boon. Regulation helps in the development and growth of these industries. An example could be companies working in oil and power sector. Regulation is also beneficial for small and mid size industries which would find it tough to survive in the absence of regulations because of intense global competition and the realization of economies of scale by big international firms. An example is small and mid-size firms in Textile manufacturing. Industrial Regulation has negative impacts on multi-national firms who want to expand their businesses internationally but are constrained due to regulation. An example is regulation on FDI in retail in several sectors. Regulation is also harmful for consumer as a whole in certain sectors where competition would actually reduce prices. However, in sectors mentioned above such as drugs and ammunition, regulation is useful for society as a whole. (Joskow,Rose). Social Regulation implies the restrictions imposed by the government in order to prevent or prohibit harmful corporate behaviour such as environmental pollution and occupational health hazards or to promote desirable behavioral patterns. Social regulation has an impact on almost everybody. This includes the corporate, end-consumers, shareholders and the environment. The corporate have to adhere to certain standards to be in business which have attached costs in the short run. The end-consumers are positively affected as social regulation leads to a better holistic environment. A monopoly is a form of market in which almost all the sales in the market go to a single firm. A natural monopoly is a situation constrained by technology or costs in which it is optimal for the entire production to be done by a single firm.

Vietnams Confucian Heritage and Its Impact on Governance Dissertation

Vietnams Confucian Heritage and Its Impact on Governance - Dissertation Example It is clear to anyone who has observed the evolution of the world over the years that communism is a failure that still blinds people in some places around the world and that all cronies of communism have not amounted to much anywhere in the world. In stark contrast to this, those governed by the Western Capitalists or those who have been defeated in war by the previously mentioned have fared much better. The stark contrasts between North and South Koreas, former East and West Germany and the future rise of Japan after the Second World War are a clear testimony to the fact that pure communism was an evil that needed checking and restraining. Although in the present post-Vietnam era the misguided Islamists around the world remain vocal and critical of the West, blaming it for all of their self – induced abject failures they have no answers to provide about why their own religious civilization has never amounted to anything anywhere around the world. Surely, a people who were th e followers of the last guidance from the Creator of the Universe should have been able to demonstrate something to the world instead of espousing loathing, revulsion and an utter backwardness. After all, the proof of the pudding is in the eating and no people can dump the reason for their failures on to others. Thus, it is likely that something broke down in Vietnam for it to have become a playground for superpowers, just as something distinctly rotten is apparent in Islamic societies. Economics and the distribution of resources have always profoundly influenced human societies and the world. Clearly, despite all attempts to blame the West for the paucity of Vietnam, it is the people of Vietnam and its leaders who must assume responsibility for its destruction when Vietnamese leadership sought to side with communism or capitalism instead of working for the good of the nation.

MKTG Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

MKTG - Essay Example The main goal of the new product is to capture the upcoming healthy food segment, penetrating the market with a strong presence, grabbing market share and contributing to the revenue. The proper combination of the Marketing mix, which is product, price, place and promotion and the determinant attributes can lead to a successful product. As far as the product is concern, it is just fit for the upcoming healthy food market. People can’t resist the finger licking fast food irrespective of alarming rate of the obesity in the United States. However, in this scenario if the Fast food lovers get an option to have the same tasty food but with lower calories as just 250 units instead of 470 units in Wendy’s single sandwich and 670 units in Burger king’s Whoppers respectively. The vegetarian option is very promising, it has been seen that only three percent of Americans are completely vegetarian. However, almost sixty percent prefer food which is meatless (Campbell, 2008, p 91). This revealing data says that American want foods which are vegetarian in nature. And they would love to have that with the brand name of McDonald’s. The pricing is very much important. McDonald’s has always adopted the penetration pricing strategy. And that is the reason it is the largest seller of the fast foods in the world. The combo healthy meal price is only $ 3.59, which is very much competitive and the individual price for the baked patties burger would be only $ 1.09, the mash potatoes at $ 1.50 and the smoothies at $ 2.29. The interesting part is the combo gives a saving of $1.29 with respect to the individual items if they are bought all by any customer. This pricing strategy would definitely help the new product to penetrate the market easily. The place for the pilot project for the healthy meal has been chosen wisely. The Colorado is famous for the McDonald’s. Once a McDonald’s

Meaning of life - 2006 singles Essay Example for Free

Meaning of life 2006 singles Essay Have you ever wondered what the meaning of life is, the purpose of our existence. Life is truly a mystery we know very little of our own selves. Something beautiful as a life is something amazing to watch. A life is considered priceless. Life is a treasure among treasures. I consider it a miracle that I am alive and talking to all of you today. The chances of me being here is 1in 5 million, and yet I am here. The same goes for all of you present here today. All of us should feel blessed that we get to experience the privilege of living. The miracle of life begins with the love of two people because of this love a life is created. One good thing leads to another. They’re maybe time that we are challenged, but we should never yield instead we take these challenges as an opportunity to grow in life. If somehow you fall all you need to do is simply stand up again and again. Life is not just a bed of roses we need to fight for what we want and stand for whatever we believe in. Don’t be afraid to encounter risks. It is by taking chances that we learn how to be brave. Don’t shut love out of your life by saying it’s impossible to find time. The quickest way to receive love is to give; the fastest way to lose love is to hold it too tightly; and the best way to keep love is to give it wings. Don’t run through life so fast that you forget not only where you’ve been, but also where you are going. Don’t forget, a person’s greatest emotional need is to feel appreciated. Don’t be afraid to learn. Knowledge is weightless, a treasure you can always carry easily. Don’t use time or words carelessly. Neither can be retrieved. Our generation is so attached to technology that we become like machines. We spend so much time on our gadgets that we fail to notice the things around us. We fail to see the beautiful world around us. Living is not simply eating and breathing is if we spend so much time on our cell phones and playing computer games then we were never alive in the first place. Our life is the greatest gift we are given. The memories we make with our friends and family. We laugh, cry, love and hate these are the proof that we are truly alive. Each and every one of us is irreplaceable all of us are one of a kind. Don’t think of your life as something insignificant maybe just by the act of living you are making someone happy. There is one thing to remember Life is not a race, but a journey to be savored each step of the way.

Tools And Techniques In Environmental Analysis Commerce Essay

Tools And Techniques In Environmental Analysis Commerce Essay Strategic management is also called institutional management. It is the art and science of making, implementing and evaluating cross-functional decision making that helps an organization to achieve its long-term objectives. In this process the organizations mission, vision and objectives are discussed and developed. After these objectives are developed, the policies, plans, with respect to projects and programs, are designed, and then resources are allocated or budgeted to implement them and achieve the objectives. (wikipedia n.d.) Strategic management consists of a set of activities that come under setting goals and over the process of putting together tactics to achieve these goals and objectives. How strategic management is carried out depends on the organizational structure of the company. The Board of Directors, the management team as well as other stake holders of the company can be involved in these activities that fall under strategic management. Strategy can be defined as unified, comprehensive and integrated plan that relates to the strategic advantages of the firm to the challenges of the environment. It is designed to ensure that the basic objectives of the enterprise are achieved through the proper execution by the organization. (Jauch and Glueck 1988) Formulating a strategy for achieving an objective or a set of objectives is a combines three main processes which are: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ By analyzing the situation, self-evaluation and competitor analysis: both internal and external, both micro-environmental and macro-environmental. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ After this assessment, objectives are set. These objectives should be parallel to a time-line; some are in the short-term and others on the long-term. This involves creating vision statements (which is the long term view of a possible future), mission statements (which is the role that the organization gives itself in society), overall corporate objectives (both financial and strategic), strategic business unit objectives (both financial and strategic), and tactical objectives. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ These objectives should be studied along with the results of the situation analysis and a strategic plan can be formulated. The plan provides the details of how to achieve these objectives. Environmental analysis is a process that begins from identification of environmental factors, assessing their nature and impact, auditing them to find their impact to the business, and making various profiles for positioning. All the decisions taken by the organization and the impact of these decisions depend on the organizations internal and external environmental factors. These environmental factors should be carefully analyzed before taking any decisions. Environmental analysis is made up of the processes of scanning, monitoring, analyzing, and forecasting the business situations and variables of the environment. Scanning is done to get information from the environment. Monitoring is done to check the nature of the environmental factors. Analyzing requires data collection and the use of tools and techniques. Forecasting is a method to find the future possibilities based on the past results and present scenario. (Business Environment Analysis n.d.) Different types of methods, tools, and techniques are used for environmental analysis. Some of the major methods of analysis are Scenario Building, Benchmarking, and Network methods. Scenario building gives an overall picture of the total system with the factors which affect it. Benchmarking is to find the best standard in an industry and to compare the ones strengths and weakness with the standard. Network method is to assess organizational systems and its outside environment to find the strength and weakness, opportunity and threats of an organization. Some of the techniques of primary information collection can be Delphi, Brainstorming, Survey, and Historical enquiry. Delphi technique collects independent information from the experts without mixing them. Brainstorming is information collection technique being open minded without criticizing others. Survey is to design questions and to ask them to the participants whereas the historical enquiry is a kind of case analysis of past period. Analysis tools can be statistical such general descriptive tools as mean, median, mode, frequency or tools can be inferential as ANOVA, correlation, regression, factor, cluster, and multiple regression analysis. (BADU 2002) SWOT Analysis A scan of the internal and external environment is an important part of the strategic planning process. Environmental factors internal to the firm usually can be classified as strengths (S) or weaknesses (W), and those external to the firm can be classified as opportunities (O) or threats (T). This is called SWOT analysis. (QuickMBA n.d.) The SWOT analysis provides information that is helpful in matching the firms resources and capabilities to the environment in which it operates. The SWOT Matrix A matrix of these factors can be constructed. This matrix will be helpful in developing the strategies for the firm. The SWOT matrix (also known as a TOWS Matrix) is shown in the next page: SWOT / TOWS Matrix Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities S-O strategies W-O strategies Threats S-T strategies W-T strategies S-O strategies pursue opportunities that are a good fit to the companys strengths. W-O strategies overcome weaknesses to pursue opportunities. S-T strategies identify ways that the firm can use its strengths to reduce its vulnerability to external threats. W-T strategies establish a defensive plan to prevent the firms weaknesses from making it highly susceptible to external threats. ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS OR EXTERNAL AUDIT The organizations should adapt themselves and their strategy to the external environment which is constantly changing. The external environment is also called macro environment. These forces of the external environment cannot be controlled and can be analyzed using a variety of tools and techniques such as Environmental Scanning and PEST analysis. Environmental Scanning Environmental scanning is defined as the process that seeks information about events and relationships in a firms environment, the knowledge of which help top management chart the firms future. In this process, the external environment is divided into sectors or areas such as political, economic, cultural, technological and further analysis such as Pest analysis can be done after scanning the environment. Information is collected by monitoring and forecasting any changes that occur to the variables of the environment that have been identified earlier. This collection of information helps the organizations to find out where they are lacking and what exactly they need which helps them in formulating the strategies. (Acar 1995) Environmental scanning is used to gather information from the environment. PEST Analysis A PEST analysis looks at the Political, Economic, Social and Technological drivers or the external forces that affect the organization. It is most useful when used together with other tools such as the SWOT analysis. Political Factors These factors may have direct or indirect impact on the organizations operation. Decisions made by the government may have an effect on the business. The political arena has a big influence on how organization operates. Economic Factors Economic factors such as the market prices and market cycles affect the purchasing power and behavior of the consumers. Sociological Factors These factors include the demography, lifestyle, cultural aspects of the consumers. These factors have a big influence on the consumer needs and wants. Sociological factors also affect the size of potential markets. Technological Factors Technological changes play an important role in shaping how organizations operate. Technological factor is very important to gain competitive advantage. Technological innovation can also improve the production efficiency, quality and speed. New technology is changing how organizations operate. Porters Five Forces Analysis Porter identified the following five forces model of competitive strategy: The threat of new entrants and the appearance of new competitors The degree of rivalry among existing competitors in the market The bargaining power of buyers The bargaining power of suppliers The threat of substitute products or services which could shrink the market The strength of each of these forces varies from industry to industry, but taken together they determine long-term profitability. These five factors affect the strategy of the organization. It is important to analyze and study these five forces to be able to craft a successful strategy. To be successful, the organization must respond effectively to the pressures of these five forces. INTERNAL ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS The resources, strengths, behaviors, weakness and distinctive competences are major components of the internal environment of an organization. An organization uses different types of resources which help them achieve their objectives and the way in which they utilize their resources can be the source of their strengths or weaknesses. This can also be defined as organizational capability which is used to develop the strategies and objectives which the organization can achieve and these should not unrealistic according to its capabilities. Some of the components of the internal environment of an organization are: Organizational Resources These are all the tangible and intangible inputs used in the organization to create outputs in the firm of product or services through a transformation process. Organizational Behavior The behavior of an organization demonstrates is the result of forces operating internally which will determine the ability or constraints in the usage of resources. Competency Competency of an organization is the ability to do what its competitors cannot do or the ability to do better than what they can do. This concept is used for strategy formulation. CONCLUSION It can be seen that the analysis of the environment is critical to the success of the decisions that managers have to make which have widespread impact on the functions and processes of the business.

The Citibank Strategy Using Ebusiness Marketing Essay

The Citibank Strategy Using Ebusiness Marketing Essay Introduction The Citibank started in 1812 in the city of New York in the United States of America, the bank started with very limited funds selling mostly insurance policies and investments, the bank was one of the first national bank in the US, developed very early in the late 19th century, the bank expanded fast and gain customers confidence quickly which made other banks fear the fast growing Citibank, later became called the Citigroup which involved other financial sectors and joined the integration business operations with other companies. The bank created new business opportunities, for many business by offering loans and shares, the company has created the business cards which made it easy to deal with the money transactions and other payment methods, the credit cards use to be fast for that period of time, but with the fast growing use of the cards, the business boomed and other method for money transactions being required, the Citibank was one of the first banks to create the online e-business solutions to ease the work load on their employees, reduce the cost of papers with paperless statements to customers, and increase the speed of communications. The banks competition has increase in the past few years, the invention of the e-business and software solution has took the banks systems and advanced it for the befits of both the banks and their customers, the innovation resulted in the increase in competition using any methods to win and control the markets, the competition has two ways of competitions, the perfect and the monopolistic, the Citibank used both of them, shared benefits with perfects competition using integrated business plans with other banks and business partners and used the monopolistic to introduce cheaper prices and shared investments with overseas beneficiaries without the concern of the impact on the US markets. The Citibank used many strategies in their plans, using the strategy to compete in the market needs plan to monitor the financial market and the stock market very closely, the bank introduce the prices very carefully when it comes to use the monopolistic approach which gives them the lead in the price manipulation, the other strategy is the marketing which is the most important factor in increasing sales margin in the tangible assets and improving the companys image in the intangible assets, using the e-business for marketing has advanced very much and the online marketing has proofed of its capabilities and worth, using the e-business for marketing needed analysis from the Citibank to evaluate the situation from time to time to manage their marketing operations and strategy. The Citibank after researching, analysing, and deciding to use their plan for all the strategies mentioned which helped them for a century of financial products and services, the company realise that any business will do anything to survive the unexpected, using the perfect theory or monopolistic are the same it does not make them evil or unethical bank, the appearance in the market and the competition comes from nowhere, are the bomb shill of the financial market and any market, the Citibank working according the stock and financial market changes and the variability of the market is controlled by no one except the fear or the stable characters that manage and operate in the markets. E-Business services strategy The computer age, came and change businesses how they functions and run, the invention of the software and other computer solutions made the business life easier and intruded speed at the work place, the new invention has two sides, the first is an advantage for the business around the world for the reason mentioned, the disadvantage is the increasing in unemployment, the more software invented the more people lay back of work and the machines taking over, lots of machinery will be controlled and operated by one employee. The whole software process done automatically, the only time is the bank human resources interfere in human contact when the situation get out of hand and investigation is a must, the bank will launch private investigation for each case, the website of the bank has many features and facilities that allow the clients and customers to brows into their products and services. (Bodily, 2004) Citibank one of many companies who are responsible for making much redundancy around the world and trusted the new world innovation in e-business and its functions, for example in the past anything get to do with bills, paper work, transactions authorisation, companys editing, needs many processor employees to deal with the requirements and the time spending on that job will take months to complete especially if there is mistakes or error by human touch, the new innovation in the software computing system the two most advantages that mentioned, the speed of the process will take few minutes for applications to be filled and the completion of a task will take few days instead of months, if any mistakes occur, the software automatically will fix the error and issue a report for that matter, Citibank has a website that uses very strong encryption database which includes all the work needs and security for protection from any unexpected hackers attack, or competitors trying to invade the Citibank privacy which is common in the monopolistic competition. (Bodily, 2004) Figure 1 the diagram illustrated the e-business operation between individual and the bank / the source Google image. The diagram gives the idea of how the data and information transfer between customers and the bank, the data will go through many authentication procedures before reach the other end with seconds or minutes, the strong and secure database needs more bit encryption codes, the software solutions has only agreed user names and pass words for the companys employees to identify them and allow them to inter the main domain software to be able to manipulate the database and do the work in a safest way, the combinations of the system is very complicated and has millions of different codes and has countless numbers, the other security and safety for the Citibank online services that have been innovated and made dealing with the bank with more confidence is that Citibank introduce the secure online personal accounts for customers which allow individuals to go online and need to put the password then put the various numbers in different page and then ask for the account holder some questions, t hen when all this done in just few seconds the bank account page gives you information of the last time you visited the page, if the user sees it was not him/ her visited, then the bank ask customers to be informed immediately and the bank will freeze the account till further investigation done. (Smart Computing, 1999) The bank also provide credit cards products, the cards would be partnership contract with the VISA, MASTER CARD, AMERICAN EXPRESS, and DINNER, the bank provide these cards to customers through contract done between the Citibank and the cards companies, contract between the customer and the cards companies, and the Citibank and customers, the bank will fill automated application through the safe their database and the cards companies database, the application takes few minutes and the answer will be approved or declined, if its approved, the bank will fill automated application to part that is designed for the bank in the application confirm the authorisations of money and the card, the bank then will issue another automated application between them and the customer for a contract that guarantee the customer will agree to their policies and receive the cash with guaranteed safety, the bank then will try to sell the customer their favourite product which is the insurance for the loan j ust in case of unemployment, sickness, or other reason that will be related to the customer un able to pay the loan back, the card issuer will take few days to process the card and transaction of the cash will be automatically processed, this process in the past would take months to complete. (Daft, 2008) The Citibank products and services, promise that the new innovation way of the bank functions are simple, fast, and secure, so the bank when provide online process of application the promise to ensure the customers service and support through the period which the customer requires, the bank provided claims facilitation for the online support that was designed for communication between the bank and customers, the products such as insurance has various style and designed to different segments, there is life insurance just in case of any deaths in the family, health insurance that designed for reduce the hassle of GBs and hospitals and give peace of mind just in case of health emergency, travel insurance for families or individual just in case flights cancelled or trouble in the process of the airport or anything related to travel, insurance on property includes business and private properties which the bank made it compulsory if the customer took the loan from the Citibank, in some ins urance the Citibank require customers to fill application and provide all the personal data then the insurance will be immediately effective, and other insurance needs to be investigated after filling the online application such as home insurance. (Robbins, 2001) The Citibank with all these e-business products and services, the software companies didnt stop on providing the online services at this point but gone much far than that, the database between them and customers, the use of the mobile phones has increase comparing to the 90s when its first used, in that time such use only for calls and maybe some companies give the customers privilege of SMS in the old encryption data, the calls were too noisy and the and the online or internet werent invented yet, the banks customers would be advised to visit the bank very often to ensure of his/her bank account running smoothly. (Earl, 1999) The software companies has created a system similar to the online on the internet on computers, the use of the internet on mobiles phones has topped the chart for businessmen, students on the go, businessmen needs the internet handy when they travelling and some data to be sent right away and this data sometimes contain important contents, other important use is that sometime some money transactions to be confirmed before deadlines, so some deals to be completed, Citibank asked the software solution company to use their latest innovation in mobiles technology with their bank services by contacting and facilitate the online services with mobile online personal accounts, the contracts set again with two parties, the first one is the bank with data transferred securely online on the mobile, second is the mobile company such as Vodafone, Orange, and T-Mobile and others, the contract will allow the bank to use and manipulate their database online through different encryption that designed solely for the mobile use only and allow Citibank customers only to process their online personal bank, in return for this service the bank will encore little charges that will go to the mobile phones company for their allowing the bank and the bank customers through their technology. In the past the needs for data transfer, information feed, on the go messages between the bank and the customers were not even a dream, people wouldnt believe the idea or someday some technological advancement would get to the point where SMS messages will reach the internet mobile services, but now in the use of the mobile services has reached customers that wouldnt be possible before, the bank provided SMS services that will allow customers to go through their bank accounts online on their mobile phones and check their messages from the bank to inform them of the balance and their statements, they even give a code to short SMS messages with 52484 which allow the customer to go direct to the page as this code being published on the Citibank website, the other thing that resulted from the contract between the bank and the phone companies is that both companies will have shared advertising, the bank using the phone companies will recommends the contracted phone companies to their cust omers and the phone companies will advertise for free in their phones pages for the bank, in this way both companies using each other customers, the diagram structure illustrated in the next diagram shows the e-mobile new invention of how data and information being used and what structures involved in the data transfer through only mobiles encrypted codes. (Earl, 1999) Figure 2 the diagram illustrates the e-mobile operation structure / the source: Google image. The Citibank also provides online services such as paying the utilities bills such as gas bill, electricity bill, the services will be encrypted to suit the transactions between banks, for example the customers go online and choose the feature that say mange your bills, the page will identify the codes encrypted when password inserted, the page then appears and the customer will be required by the bank to fill some form online, then after the page completed the software automatically asks from the customer to wait for the application process, the page then will appear to confirm the transactions form the bank page to the company that issued the bill and sending email confirm the payments. (Earl, 1999) The bank even invented a saving system plans for their customers using the automatic savings accounts, for example the technology software designed for customers, to deposit a certain amount of money let say $500, the cash in two year will automatically work through very complicated data allow the number work itself through some investments, the calculation data would be inserted in advance into the system so the money will be calculated each month automatically, taking certain percentage from the investments cut despite the investments success or fail, the calculation set to have the cut from the investments automatically to the customers bank accounts, the procedures through the e-business are very complicated, so no one allowed to altered or changed it, other investments that the customer will share the data designed to allow the customers share the loss of some investments if they decline and the contract is very clear about this on the online application, the clients on the othe r hand have different shares and different applications that only allowed clients or companies to enter private domains on the software solution main page. (Handy, 1997) Figure 3 the diagram illustrates the Oracle application server which allow only secure data transfer / the source: Google image. The diagram illustrates the type of server that they use which carry strong bits and security software to enhance the protection of their customers, the software also give customers other benefits such as input and output information without the system break down. One of the biggest Citibank investments products is, the mutual fund investments which the software give customers the challenge to compare their prices online, through their own URL and websites to guarantee the customers the promise of fairness and give customers the taste of the investments that will change their life forever, the bank realise that advertising for their products is not enough, they had to take the challenge with the help of the technology through comparison with other banks or building societies offers online, the offer includes the extra benefits that Citibank willing to give up for their customers for the benefits of both the bank and their customers, the Citibank already researched the use of the comp arison software and understood its methods, the more benefits to customers the more the software will put them on the top of the comparison list, and that how the software has been designed not for specific bank, its mutual contract for the benefit of everybody involved in this equation of cat and mouse, the strategies of the Citibank are differ from country to country and region to the region, the websites are so many and each one has different language and different approach even though the target is the same to increase profit and inter new markets, the use of the online banking has the same benefits for any nationality or culture, and the Citibank has designed many websites for their bank all over the world. (Handy, 1997) Citibank Strategic Methods The Citibank operates using two theories, using the perfect theory and the monopolistic theory, the perfect competition theory when the market is deciding and have prices control, and all companies are happy with it, no one has the power in controlling the prices function, the Citibank perfect competition allow other companies to share the competition, in the other side of the competition theory is the Monopolistic competition which apply its hard line attack on prices, companies who are ready to take this road has opportunities to use the market in an odd way to gain profits dealing in this kind of competition and selling products, the market easy to use one way enter and the other way exit and no obligations, there are many products and consumers in this market but no business has total control as the prices sometimes change according to circumstances such as financial market changing. (Borden, 2009) Since the beginning of the world financial problems few years the Far East governments have a contingency plan to protect their economy by not depending on one sector or one business as they formed a plan of Diversification in both the government and private sector in which made them pass the credit crunch that happened in the US market regarding the Citibank business in which show that the overseas branch has survived the decline stage comparing to the other banks in the US market because of the freedom of ability to change some regulations overseas that depends on the circumstances. (Carr, 2003) Figure 4 the table illustrates the bank balance sheet for internal use by the Company/ the source: Google image The table above illustrates the basic known balance sheets for bank and building societies; the balance sheet help the bank determine the revenue and expenditures for the company annual statements. The Citibank starts to follow the plan in which suits all their market audience mostly new segments and new markets, The banks move was to educate employees, and provide proper training and understanding about the culture of each region, and understanding the laws and legislations of each government separately and make sure that the managers have the right management equipments and tools for running the company overseas. (Carr, 2003) The good strategic move Citibank is to change the image that developed lately about company abroad, the first one is the use an ethical way of supporting some takeaway business with loans that use food processing with chemicals seeds to grow a paltry, without realising that the bank movement has been calculated and monitored from different ethical groups. So Citibank try to change this image by come close to the community and show them how they follow the right way, they only support those who are following the right ethical path, especially the local religion and culture in some Far East countries such as Indonesia about following the ethical ways, introducing HALAL bank account which does not charge interests on any bank account in the Islamic way, on the other side of the world, in the US the plans didnt work the way Citibank hoped, the ethical groups are fiercely attacking the bank plans of supporting companies that uses chemicals and damaging the environments, which resulted in controversy and debates, and that wasnt the only case. (Borden, 2009) The Citibank get involved in many unethical cases such as relying on foreign investments that depends on cash and not involved the concern of the ethical side, the case involved allowing overseas investors who are involved or suspected in wrong doing in the banks shares, and other cases such as running from paying taxes on some secret investments overseas that not has been registered in the US tax department. (Borden, 2009) Marketing Strategies The most aspect of the banks business, or any business for that matter, the company abilities to sell their products and services, the way of represent themselves and how a company can promote themselves with careful approach to the other businesses and the public, the most important thing for the Citibank using the marketing techniques is the use of the HR to control the damage that has been a headache all these years. (Kotler, Keller, Brady, and Goodman, 2009) The Citibank used the strategies such as the four Peas, the strategy which proofed success in the market because of its accurate analysis to identify their assets such as tangible and intangible, the assets have great power impact on any business, when identify what the company as place, product, price, promotion, the company can determine the immediate situation of what they have and compare it to the market and their competitors, the bank will find where they stand in the market, using other analysis such as the market the BCG which means the product life cycle, any company use this matrix can determine their products or service if its worth selling it in the market or its waste of investments in new product or service. (Kotler, Keller, Brady, and Goodman, 2009) Figure 5 the diagram illustrates the 4Ps matrix for the marketing mix/ the source: Google image. The 4Ps in this diagram explain the basic 4Ps matrix and its marketing mix, the Citibank uses this matrix all the time to determine their own marketing mix, start with the products, the bank provided the world with the finest banks services and products which adding new various extra every time the market require the change such as the e-business and update and renewal of the computer systems, if the bank does not use these techniques they wouldnt know that the markets needs the changes and the products will be the same and nothing extra or no variation in products will be added, products and services innovation coming in the same category of the variation which products and services needed to be inspired by the old ones, the inspiration comes also form the customers needs such as the customer easy to use a bank account and the ability to manipulate his/her own bank account which came possible with the e-business. The place or the locations in the marketing mix, suppose to be the first choice for any business the distribution channels which is favourite by any bank around the world to be able to connect with their customers, the Citibank has many locations around the world that enable them to sell direct to customers and increase communications with their clients as well as the public, when talking about the place in the past, someone will understand is only the locations , but with todays technology advancement age, the concept has changed and place in the marketing mix also means the online services which include all the features that are available on sites, everything customers needs it will be on their websites, including choosing of any language, data, design that suit individuals, business 2 business communications, data and cash transfer, and many more. (Li, 2007) The price of the Citibank always using the price elasticity to compete in the market, the hard line prices which force customers to buy the products without compromise is out of the question, the plan of the bank always have variations as well as the products, the prices are different targeting different segments such as students cards which has a different price charges than adults or pensioners, the Citibank uses the penetration price techniques which allow them to set a price for a market solely for the penetrate the market, for example a basic bank service or product cost a certain amount in the market, to penetrate that market the Citibank as a large experience company set challenging and competitive price known that other banks will not try to do the same, in this case the Citibank penetrate that market in that specific product or service knowing that they won that product or service. Finally the promotion, a technique in the marketing mix that give a chance to the bank to identify the present promotion techniques and what are the new competitive techniques, the first thing this technique depend on is the mass communications, the communication will be between the Citibank and their marketing company that has a complete management system designed especially for this kind of function, for example when the Citibank faced all that unethical fiasco and the controversy that came with it, the marketing team and the PR of the company unit with the marketing company to do damage control and set the right criteria for releasing statement right away, and didnt stop in that, the PR of the company kept appearing in different media channels, a newspapers, magazines and TV shows to calm the press down and proof that the bank actions are ethical and responsible. (Poter, 1998) Conclusion The Citibank as a large corporation, started as an effort of ambitious individuals who saw the future in something that became multinational company later, the company has offered the world many great products and services, created many opportunities and jobs for the public, helped the yearly capitalism to evolve with a system that proofed its success for over a hundred years, the company helped the world of how to create management system, increase communications techniques, helped in many researches and projects that contributed to the world of business of today, each individual in the leading senior management throughout the history of Citibank has created something new for the companys systems functions, walking with the changes and the obstacles that have occurred in the last 100 years has made the company stronger and wiser and that is why the company deserve the praise for success even though their main target is the cash. The company technological advancement and co-ordination in communication, helped the company to maintain the lead in the banking business, when the technology of online business came about in the middle of the twenty century by many Microsoft companies, the computer appears in many companies offices and start to be part of the business, the public then has no idea who information and cash being transferred or market works. The Microsoft companies start to challenge each other in the software technology which transferred the business function forever with the e-business and working online, the future of the e-business the way Microsoft sees it, it depend on the customers demand because the world markets today are leading positions on any business or functions is the (demand word), the businesses realise that the demand age is here and depends on the future customer imaginations and liking, the Microsoft predictions are creating software that calculate for the customer all the banking options and give them the best deals not only what is going on today which present the customers with choice of best deals on comparison sites, the future calculation is counting the person best interest of the charges and the system in the future will force bank system to change to concentrate on the customers interest rather than the cash and sales that generated by venerable customers who are being charged with lots of m oney and they have been cornered by greed of the banks. The Citibank plan is to create a new management system that can monitor changes in the unexpected events that force immediate actions; the plan will includes the increase in partnerships with feared competitors who are causing Citibank money and effort to keep them out of bay, these companies not only in the bank business but also in the other business functions using the help of the US governments senators and other congress Politians power to force laws and regulations to be adjusted or removed to suit few rival companies, the Citibank has their own share in the equation of power but to illuminate the surprises, their plan to come closer to the rival its one of their priorities. The Citibank uses a software system that connect them straight to the financial and the stock markets, using the online e-business has helped them to monitor changes in the rate of exchange and the stock market share, as the Citibank corporation operates overseas, their actions depending on the rate of exchange and enhance their profits and revenues, the bank trying to regulate the e-business system with their overseas rivals in the banking business and create rate exchange monitoring system that will be specialised in the movements of the transactions, rather than the present system that only depends on the market movements and the price that would lead them to follow the market price regardless of their rate exchange concern, even though the Citibank used their tricks in the past, the company fears from the consequences that leading to the media scandals and public mistrust. Finally the Citibank is the company that has contribute for many years, delivered to the public great bank system, introducing e-business cost money, time, and effort to research it and implemented, the future for the bank business is bright and looking rather well, the bank system always will put the revenue ahead of their customers and that is the way business world functions.

Negative Effects of Violent Video Games on Teenagers Essay examples --

Video games have been available to consumers for the last 30 years. They are a unique form of entertainment, because they encourage players to become a part of the game's script. Today's sophisticated video games require players to pay constant attention to the game, rather than passively watching a movie. My working thesis is â€Å" Although there are other factors that can lead to violent behaviors such as inner stress, playing violent video games are one of the main factors that can lead to violent behavior in teens relationships†. For the categorizing exercise, I brainstormed for the charting using some of the examples we hold in class. I found three main classifications to divide my evidence based on. Those categorizes are background of author, for and against, and type of evidence. The most important categorizes for my final paper is the background of the author, and for / against. The authors of both articles have an academic specialty background in the study of violence causes in teenagers. Although the two authors have two opposing opinions. The first one is Craig Anderson, got a PHD in psychology in Iowa state university wrote an article entitled â€Å"The Influence of Media Violence on Youthâ€Å", supported my working thesis about the harming effect of violent video games. He stated that violent video games increase levels of aggression in teenagers. He stated his argument based on his observations which claims that teenagers spend most of their times in front of games. He found out that when reducing the exposure to violent video games, teenagers tend to lessen the violent behavior. When I read more about this point from some other resources, I found out that there is another clear explanation to this claim. The main direction of... ...idn’t give anything. He found that those who played violent video games lack academic skills in reading and math. He concluded through his study that violent video games affects teenagers’ academic life too. I see that violent video game consumes so much time from teens’ lives that it drains their energies to lessen their concentration. As a conclusion, I found the charting exercise very useful to write the evaluating essay. I ended up with four main categories. The most important two are mixed together which are categories by for/against and background of author. Then I introduced the categories by the type of evidence and by effects. I found out that there are many counter argument for all categorizes, which gave me the space to argue for my working thesis. I reached that I have a good start based on the unique significant classification for my final paper.

REGGAE AND ZYDECO :: Essays Papers

REGGAE AND ZYDECO If one were to look back into the world’s history, one would find that an important and consistent element is the world of music. Music has presented itself in various forms throughout its spread and through our identification of its magical realm, people have been fortunate enough to come across a means of relation. Whether it is blues and reggae or rap and pop rock, there is music out there for everyone. Music can serve as a stabilizer for some, a relaxant to others, and to many a form of inspiration. Music’s influence is felt everywhere and it brings about a stir of emotions in many people. Whether it is something as simple as relationship trouble or something deeper and more profound, such as one’s cultural history, music serves as a stimulant to the mind and in other ways, a stimulant to the body. Such music as country, rock, reggae and Zydeco all succeed in stimulating the body and convincing it that dancing will only increase the satisfactory feeling that the music tends to give off. Although there is a variety of music that could be examined to trace its evolution through time, there is one genre in particular that is quite interesting to examine. Though it differs from other types of music, it will be looked at in conjunction with Reggae music as they have similar ties. Reggae music is quite prominent today in the United States, parts of Africa, and of course Jamaica. Reggae is notoriously known for its most influential artist Bob Marley, and it is not unusual for one to have heard a few, if not many of his songs. Reggae’s popularity is steadily increasing and is doing so through both expansions of the music as well as increasing knowledge on the genre. The genre that has been chosen to focus on and examine is much less known than Reggae. It can be assured that a number of people asked on the subject will have no knowledge of the genre and perhaps not even recognition to the name. This particular genre is that of Zydeco music. Zydeco music is Louisiana based and most notably linked to Cajun music. Its roots are deep in the South and although it tends to not venture far from home, those around it have found music to fall in love with. Reggae and Zydeco, as well as many other musical genres have ties that go as far as Africa.

Drama Essay Essay

â€Å"Drama and theatre in their content and style reflect the society from which they spring† – To what extent is this true of contemporary Australian theatre practice? Theatre is a direct reflection of life and society. Any script is written, including their themes and genre, in the attempt to draw on and display our surrounding world to ultimately impact audiences. Our unit of drama including Matt Cameron’s Ruby Moon and Jane Harrison’s Stolen does exactly this, but more specifically reflects on contemporary Australian culture and events. This combined with our experiential learning proved that theatre indeed is a mirror to society. Ruby Moon’s depiction of suburbia and its â€Å"dark underbelly that lurks beneath an idyllic, picture-perfect veneer† serves as the main content of the play and a powerful comment on Australian society. Growing up in suburban Melbourne, playwright Matt Cameron reflects his childhood experiences through contemporary theatre. This involves an abandonment of genre classification through a deliberate pastiche of styles, creating dramatic tension and stimulating audience. Non-realism, the fractured fairy tale, absurdism, horror, gothic, crime, humour, vaudeville and surrealism all combine to create ambiguity and therefore unpredictable tension. In addition, Ruby Moon is typically non-realist and non-traditional, and this ambiguity is evident in the unresolved ending of Ruby’s existence; â€Å"was there a child, Ray?†¦or are we just having the same nightmare?† Leaving the audience with more questions than answers opts out of the traditional resolution and rather mirrors the confronting complexities of contemporary Australian society, we are not the â€Å"lucky† or â€Å"perfect† country, rather as Cameron quotes; â€Å"a picture-perfect veneer†, a paradox that the seemingly suburban proximity that defines Australia does not equal â€Å"intimacy, fraternity, community†. This is especially evident through experiential learning, the pair undertaking the final scenes tended towards Realism and believable Stanislavsky styled acting, which for audiences, conflicted against Cameron’s covert intent of ambiguity. However, the opening scenes  performed in our class took the opposite approach; Brechtian in style, especially in the â€Å"stripped back† manner of set; two chairs were the only props used, and alienation of audience through lighting and variation in pace and volume. Supporting this was the mixture of styles between heightened realism and absurdism contrasted within character – Ray was played as the ‘straight man’, realist and serious in nature, responding and contrasting to Dulcie’s eccentric, loud and absurdist representation. This only heightens her unpredictability, presenting the pastiche of genre and style through character and the ambiguity beneath the suburban faà §ade. Lighting again featured as a major theatre technique in my own performance of Ruby Moon. To consolidate for the harsh white lights of our theatre space, we made the choice to turn off ‘house lights’; using darkness and a warm-yellow glow lamp. This provided a non-realist, eerie and uneasy atmosphere, with up-lighting on our faces; a stereotypical â€Å"horror† visual to highlight the multi-facets of our character’s personas and emphasis on the sinister undertones in the surrounding darkness. The intimidating atmosphere heightened the intimacy of the actor-audience relationship as viewers themselves were enveloped in darkness and focus drawn to the only light source on stage. This also presented Brecht’s alienation technique through uncertainty and discomfort instilled into the perception of the fear of the unknown within darkness. This certainly juxtaposes the idyllic and conventional nature of suburbia; lights always on inside; inviting and nothing to hide, reflecting Cameron’s ideals of theatre and Australian society; â€Å"that is the ingenious deceit of suburbia†¦it is as much about the surrounding darkness as it is about the light.† Stolen, whilst still in the realm of contemporary Australian theatre and non-realism, differs in its theatrical content, style and reflection of society. The theatre piece reflects a vital part in both our past and present Australian society; that of the Stolen Generation, dramatising the fear, agony and ongoing aftermath even in contemporary times. The style is far more overt than Cameron’s world of deceit; Harrison stresses the themes of identity, culture, hope and emotions of this event in a post-modern, extensive mix of performance styles and a non-linear narrative structure. This episodic sequence allows for a merging of past and present, and was carried through in our own experiential  learning. When witnessing the performances of Stolen, it is clear the focus both groups put on emotion, non-linear structure and effective use of props to convey style and content. For example, the use of a white sheet and spotlight to create silhouettes for storytelling was a powerful motif and use of a theatrical prop to not only portray the non-realist and narrative style of Stolen, but to enhance the content of family and fear. Dual scenes were simultaneously presented; one in dialogue, and the other in silhouetted visuals that emphasised and emotionalised the horrors of our Australian past. As Harrison quotes; â€Å"What I wanted was to make an emotional connection†¦I want them to think ‘that happened to people. How would I feel?† The play also incorporates elements of Brecht’s ‘breaking of the fourth wall’ and Realism in both the scripted and our class performance of the final scene. As the original script’s stage directions dictate; â€Å"they line up diagonally†¦just like in the first scene. Then the actors break out of their roles and talk in turn about their own experiences.† The original production in 1998 did just this in relation to indigenous actors and their role in the stolen generation. However, for our class performance, students emulated the directions through their experiences in workshopping, characters, researching and performing Stolen. This simple, stripped back and realist Brechtian ending was the perfect theatrical technique and choice to reflect the plays content and importance of personal connection and emotion, adding and a contemporary spin on Australian theatre. As an audience member, it was incredibly powerful hearing actors talk unscripted and bring a true sense of realism and conviction when recounting their own experience; strengthening the actor-audience relationship through understanding and empathy. One can only imagine the immense power of individuals exposed to the stolen generation and Australia’s dark past, and their re-telling of stories as actors on stage in Stolen. Witnessing our class performances, it was clear Harrison’s intent of emotional connection with the audience and an empowered empathy towards the story and our own traditional and contemporary society. Theatre is simply a mirror to our society; a reflection of our past wrongs and future endeavours with the aim of social comment and audience engagement. Both Cameron’s ‘Ruby Moon’ and Harrison’s ‘Stolen’ address  contemporary Australian society content: whether it is the warped world of suburbia or our country’s mistakes, both employ dramatic and theatrical techniques and style to reflect this and strengthen the actor-audience relationship. As Matt Cameron quotes, â€Å"theatre exists in the imagination of the beholder†¦it is not necessarily about the black hat. It is about the blind man in the dark room looking for it.†

Weibo And Chinese Society

The new media, different from television, magazines, books or paper-based publications, is a new form of mass communication, which contains technologies that enable digital interactivity. For example, websites, video games, Internet all belong to the new media. Currently, the new media is becoming increasingly popular and sharply changing people's life. The advent of Webb in China is one of the most prominent examples, which is also the topic I am going to analyze in this passage.Chinese Webb, similar to twitter used worldwide, is a micro blob, by which people can post words, pictures and videos on the Internet. The general public or the organization can create their own account easily and share things with their followers so they can communicate freely with each other. Some celebrities and government officials also own Webb accounts and in this way, Webb helps to create a two-way communication between famous people and Chinese Internet users.Research showed that people spend at leas t one hour per day checking Webb messages on their cellophanes or on their laptops, while spend only fifteen minutes on reading newspapers. It is very common in current Chinese society to see people using Webb every day to check the latest news, share daily life, or chat with friends, etc. Nearly fifty percent of the Internet users in China have Webb accounts and use it regularly. Among these people, most of them are from the younger generation who are more open-minded to the new technology.This paper consists of two parts. The first part aims to understand the effects Webb has made ten years from now on Chinese society. The second part talks about Chinese government policy and the progress China has made reflected by the proliferation of Webb. Speaking of the impact of this new media, Webb has impressively changed the traditional mass media. Prior to the turn of the century, only journalists with an official degree can be reporters and public news, which they thought were newsworth y.However, in nowadays, with the advent bowie, the general public can be the first one to reveal something important happened around them by posting Webb using only forty Chinese characters. Sometimes these posts can be the sources of the news on next days newspaper. For example, on March 2013 a man robbed a store and fell down on his way running. This accident was firstly recorded by a citizen who happened to pass by in that neighborhood. Then he quickly posted this on Webb and called the police. Immediately, this post was reposted thousand times and known to many people in this city.Later on, the newspaper bought the pictures taken by the Webb user and published as the next days headline news. In this way, the general public is helping professional journalists find newsworthy things happened around them and change the traditional humdrum way of publishing. In addition, the extensive use of Webb is acting like a supplement of paper- erosion reports. Every famous news agency has the ir own Webb accounts, whenever there was an influential news, there would be a short post to give people a brief Introduction of what happened. Also, Webb can be a place where the journalists post updates in a continuous event.For example, when the missing airplane MYNAH accident happened this year, every progress the rescue group had made was posted through Webb. While we were waiting anxiously for the latest news-if there were survivors, how was their family numbers, where was the plane, what caused this crash, etc. Overall news agencies post the latest contents immediately when there were new discoveries. The general public simply need to refresh their Webb to look for the latest news, which makes it more convenient and quickly. The advent of Webb also has tremendous impact on the daily life of the general public.Firstly, Webb users can follow official accounts based on their interests-what kind of news they care about most, which celebrities they esteem and want to know more abo ut. For instance, a person likes sports might follow soccer players and other sports news related accounts. A person cares about health eight become a fan of Chinese Healthy Diet on Webb. In this way, the Webb users can conveniently receive information specifically what they want to know by using the Internet. Moreover, by reposting these webs, Webb users can share the interested news with other followers and show the support for the original Webb user.Besides that, Webb users can also follow private accounts, which consist of one's family members, friends and co-workers. Even if people cannot meet each other every day, they can still keep in touch and let others know what happened in their life by posting Webb. In the current society, Webb is a good immunization tool to help promote the interaction between people who are busy working or studying every day and cannot meet each other because they live far away. My own example can best illustrate this point. Study abroad, which means I can only meet my family members and friends once a year.But regularly post on Webb about what I have learned, what I have done, how I feel, etc. My friends can like or comment on my posts so we would not feel so far from my life in a remote country. The use of the micro blob also provoked great repercussion on the whole society, especially on the political field. Since a two-way communication teen government officials and the general public was built up based on the proliferation of Webb. Almost every civic servant in China has their Webb account and is required to post their weekly work publicly.If Internet users have problems with the policy or officials' behaviors, they can comment under the post or send a private letter through Webb. It is the government officials' duty to reply in time to the citizens and explain every action they take until the askers receive a satisfied answer. Making sure that the general public has a clear understanding of what the government is doing is a task for government officials through their communication on Webb. It is also common for people to show their support to certain policy or government officials through the use of Webb.Due to the impressive influence it has on the whole society, once a post was sent by a civic servant or a department in the government, it would be repost at once by thousands Of Internet users who advocate this proposal. Therefore, with the power Of the Webb users, it is easy to distinguish if an action or policy by the government is welcomed to the public in society. On the other hand, Webb can dramatically help to supervise the political yester and other charitable organizations. Before the proliferation of Webb, it is relatively hard for the public to directly oversee the behaviors of the authorities and social groups.This kind of supervision is mostly achieved by the specialized department set up to keep an on the behaviors of the government officials. However, nowadays, people can freely post a nything they discovered in their daily life and keep an eye on the celebrities what they have posted through Webb. The Webb users also supervise the misbehaver Of government officials in political field and urged he related department to investigate. Two examples happened in 201 1 and 2012 Chinese society can best help to explain this point.In 2011 a Webb user with the account number Mime Guy posted several micro blobs about her Mistreat and big houses. And her title was the manager of the Chinese Red Cross, which was revealed in her Webb profile. This made the Webb users pretty confused: where did all her money come from? How can she afford such luxury? With more and more people paying attention to this young girl with such unusual background, the Red Cross was forced to response to this issue. Although that this organization clarified it had no connection with Mime Guy, the public do not think that is the real truth.Also, the Public Security Bureau began to investigate the relatio nship between Mime Guy and the Red Cross. Specially, they suspect this so-called manager had improper relationship with the chairman of the board, so she could have access to the money people donated to the Red Cross and used it for big houses and Mistreat. Later after the Mime Guy affair, the Red Cross was mistrust by the public for a long time and was required by the relevant department to reveal its edged to the society and become completely transparent. Another case happened in 201 2 was triggered by one picture taken by a Webb user in a car accident scene.The post on Webb showed that in this kind of occasion, the government official was smiling instead of grieving for the hurt people, which made the general public angry. Afterwards, this official was severely criticized by the people on Webb. People even found out all his other pictures taken in different occasions to see if he was eligible to be a civic servant. Eventually, people found that in many pictures, he wore efferent costly watches, which were not accordance with his income earned from his job. With more and more people doubted the sources of the money, relevant department began to investigate in this case.They found out that a large amount of the money of his fortune was from corruption. This official used the convenience of his position to make money for a long time so he had money to afford expensive watches and big houses. As a result, this official was â€Å"sent â€Å"by the Webb users into prison. Of course, the spread of Webb is a two-edged sword , which means it can also exert negative effects on society. For instance, there is a group of people who open Webb accounts only to sell products, which makes the Internet environment full of commercials.It is difficult to regulate these commercials because it is hard to tell if the product is of good quality based on the limited information Webb posts can provide. Also, the freedom people possess when they use Webb makes the online environme nt increasingly complex. Diverse people holding totally different opinions can equally and freely express on Webb. On rare cases, immoral people purposely release fake news to the public in order to tarnish others' reputation or cause a society panic. The general public might get confused based on the complicated information they receive.There was once a water company being framed by a piece of news in Beijing Daily. It reported that the water from Ongoing Company was not clean and could not achieve the water standard in China. Later on, this news was posted by several Webb users without testing its accuracy. Along with the spread of this breaking news all over the Webb environment, this company got stuck in trust crisis and had a significant decline In monthly sales. Thousands of Internet users showed their anger and disappointment to this water company ND the news Was reposted in a large scale.However, when Ongoing Company went to test its water in the Quality Supervision Bureau, the result showed Ongoing water was clean and had achieved the water standard. It turned out the news was distorted and afterwards misused by the Webb users. This example showed that it is equally easy for both the truth and fake news spread out through Webb and the latter would absolutely damage the social order to some degree. The spread of Webb and its effects can be the introduction of the second part of this paper, which explains the Chinese society progress and the overspent policy.Because of the significant impact Webb exerts on Chinese society, the government has taken specific measures to regulate the Webb environment. Moreover, the policies, being increasingly flexible and allowing for more freedom, can reflect the Chinese progress in recent ten years. Fifty years ago, Chinese people were not used to freely speak in the public at all, nor were they allowed to criticize the government officials and the policy. In my father generation, people who dared speak out the actual e valuation of one policy might even end up being caught into prison because they were considered ooh aggressive.Almost every thing they said or did was under the guidance of the government. People did not have a way to express their thoughts, not to mention giving advice to the government. Obedience blindly might be the best words to describe the people living in that period. However, in the new era, with more rights are given to the general public, people are changing their mind accordingly. They begin to say something in public instead of stubbornly listening to the authority. Webb is an excellent tool to help achieve this transformation within this background.With the advent of Webb, people are having a channel to easily express themselves. They can set up an account and apply their personal design to the home page. They can post words and pictures. These Webb contents do not limit to their daily life about what they have done and how they feel which are mainly shared with their f riends and family members. Webb users can also use the micro blob to comment on recent events happened in China and in the international scale. For example, after the plane crash MYNAH, many Webb users criticized the inappropriate behaviors of the Malaysia government and airplanes.Another example would be the lawsuit in 201 1. The driver, whose father is Gang Lie-a government official, was interrogated in court because he triggered a car accident, which caused one people dead and one people severely injured. Hundreds of Webb users posted on Internet their complaints because they thought the court was treating this criminal inequity due to his special social Status. This case reflects a big progress which not only means the government is giving more freedom to people, but also means people are more willing to discuss the current affair and becoming the masters of their own country.Still, I cannot deny that there are restrictions on Webb use. Offensive words and pornographic contents are definitely not allowed to exit on Webb. Besides, the regulation on political field is relatively strict compared to the policies used to regulate the Internet in other countries. However, even if there are certain amount of restrictions on the contents people can post, it is too a large degree progressive compared to before. The limitations are primarily in political area, especially when the reputation and safety of central government were threatened by aggressive speech on AIBO.If happened, the relevant accounts might be suspended and the posts would be deleted as soon as being found. Moreover, this Webb user might even be arrested if the post had caused a severely negative effect within the whole society. This is a comparatively strict punishment compared to the policies made on pornographic or fake news. To the latter one, the account might still be used. Only the specific vibe contains pornographic or violence contents would be deleted by the administrator. The policies in sensitive period in China, (for example, when minorities groups ere trying to split China) are harsh compared to that in normal times.The government is controlling Webb environment to stop the rumors, which aim to cause social panic. During that special period, Internet users even cannot post webs including sensitive words such as â€Å"split of China† â€Å"The independence of Tibet† or the names of the sensitive characters in the political fight. All in all, Chinese society is making progress in the new millennium, not only in terms of economics, but also in political and cultural area. The policy and laws enacted by the government guarantee freedom and democracy to the public.Chinese people's minds are opening to the world and becoming more autonomous accordingly. They use Webb to share their life, enjoy the rights they are accorded to help master the country. It is not possible for the social organization or government to block a piece of news they do not want the public to know any more. With the extensive use of Webb, all the information around them and directly affect them would spread quickly and has a significant effect within the whole society. People have already stepped into a new era with the extensive use of Webb and the old days will never come back.

Obesity Essay

Overweight and obesity is on the increase in both adults and children. TheForesight: Tackling Obesities: Future Choices – Project Report(Government Office for Science, 2007) suggests that by 2050, 50% of the UK’s population will be obese. This is a major cause for concern as obesity can lead to coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, certain types of cancer and complications in pregnancy as well as many other well documented health complications (Ewles, 2005). Not only is obesity and poor nutrition likely to increase the cost to the NHS from ? 2billion per year to ? 5billion per year in 2025 but the social implications are huge. By reducing premature deaths people, on average would enjoy and extra 1. 3 – 2. 5 million years of life and 2. 8 million years of illness and disability-free life (DoH, 2010). However, in contrast, the Health Survey for England (National Heart Forum, 2009) would suggest that although obesity is still a problem, the prevalence of obese children aged 2-11 years is, in fact, declining: By simply incorporating the recent Health Survey for England (HSE) data into the Heart Forum model, it is shown that for children of both sexes, aged 2 to 11, the predicted prevalence of overweight and obese in 2020 drop from their Foresight predicted values of 28% overweight and 16% obese to 22% overweight and 12% obese. Since the review of obesity predictions in 2005ii, the 2006 data showed a small reduction in obesity levels a nd the 2007 data have tended to confirm this decrease. † This would indicate, that some, if not all of the health promotion strategies are beginning to take effect. This essay will be critically examining the current early interventions, health promotion practices and Government policies aimed at reducing health inequalities with regards to improving nutrition and reducing obesity. All of the interventions discussed in this essay utilise the Public Health ‘Upstream Approach’ whereby the problems caused by disease and disability are addressed through prevention rather than treatment (Bournhonesque and Mosbaek, 2002). I have, therefore, not discussed weight-management clinics which aim to treat overweight and obesity – a ‘Downstream Approach’ which cannot be considered an early intervention. The Black Report (DHSS, 1980), the Acheson Report (DoH, 1998) and the more recent Marmot Review (DoH, 2010) all identify that there are great differences between health behaviours and outcomes across a socio-economic gradient – widely known as health inequalities. In simple terms, the more money you have, the better educated you are and the better your housing and social environment are (including ethnicity) the better decisions regarding your health you will make andthe healthier you and your lifestyle will be. The Determinants of Health and Wellbeing in Human Habitation model (Barton and Grant, 2006) demonstrates clearly the relationship between people and other external factors that contribute to health and wellbeing and, as stated by WHO, 2011: â€Å"The social determinants of health are mostly responsible for health inequities. † For example, with regards to nutrition and obesity, the National Childhood Measurement Programme (2009) shows that in England approx. 23% of people in the most deprived quintile are obese but only approx. 13% of people in the least deprived quintile are obese. It is also shown that whilst different areas of England are more obese than others (London having the highest figures and the South West having the lowest) the general trend remains the same. Despite Government initiatives like ‘Change4Life’ (DoH, 2011) which discusses portion sizes, healthy snack options and makes recommendations such as eating five portions of fruit and vegetables a day statistics suggest that there has been limited success. The House of Commons report, Health Inequalities (2009) showed that 35% of people of professional and managerial occupations will consume five pieces of fruit and vegetables per day but hat only 21% of people who are unemployed or in part-time employment will consume the recommended amount of fruit and vegetables. The Low Income Diet and NutritionSurvey (Nelson et al/Food Standards Agency, 2007) showed that 66% of boys will eat less than two portions of fruit and vegetables per day and in comparison 56% of girls will eat less fruit and vegetables per day. It also showed that the consumption of saturated fat differs between age and gender – men consuming 30. 4g per day, women 59. 4g, boys 27. 5g and girls 24. 7g. There is also evidence of inequalities between race, gender and age and these are not always mutually exclusive. The Government White Paper Healthy Lives, Healthy People: A Call to Action on Obesity in England (DoH, 2011) highlights inequalities within ethnic minorities with women showing a higher prevalence of obesity than men. Healthy Lives, Healthy People (DoH, 2010) describes a partnership between the DoH and Association of Convenience Stores with the aim of making fresh fruit and vegetables more available in deprived areas and also providing chiller cabinets for fresh fruit and vegetables in work areas. Healthy Start (DoH) is an initiative that allows low-income families to purchase free fruit, vegetables, milk and infant formula and vitamins in exchange for vouchers thereby encouraging the uptake of healthy foods. The Healthy Start Quality Impact Assessment (DoH, 2010) has been careful to identify and eliminate potential inequalities that could be connected with the vouchers e. g. Kosher alternatives can be purchased with the vouchers. The same document indicates that the Healthy Start scheme has been largely successful but improvements to healthy nutrition education for families and awareness amongst eligible families of the scheme need to be made. Young children are, of course, reliant on their parents to provide their sources of nutrition. The Scottish Health Survey (2003) showed that children from families of lower socio-economic status consumed more fat, sugar and processed foods and less fibre, less ‘good’ carbohydrates like pasta and rice and less poultry and white fish. A child’s weight can be influenced by many different factors including parental attitudes to food, family eating behaviours (young children model their eating on parental eating habits), food choices and reduced physical activity/increased sedentary lifestyles (DoH, 2009). It is therefore important to address parental nutrition as well as that of the children within the family. This can be a challenge if the family in question do not perceive there to be a problem with their current diet or lifestyle. Sometimes recommending healthy nutrition to parents, handing out leaflets of signposting to websites or support organisations is simply not sufficient. It is important, as professionals, to recognise that some families will need a greater input than others and that the level of engagement with each family is likely to vary. The Educational Approach (Green and Tones, 2010) to Health Promotion aims to provide evidence-based information coupled with developing individual skills that will enable a person to make informed decisions about their health behaviour. This can, however, result in the client making voluntary choices which may not concur with the health promoter’s. Training is available for professionals e. g. HENRY (Health, Exercise and Nutrition for the Really Young) funded by the DoH and Department for Children, Schools and Families. This scheme trains professionals working with families and young children to empower parents to provide an optimally healthy environment for their children. It is soundly based upon the Family Partnership Model and uses solution-focused approaches and reflective practices and, having undergone evaluation, has shown to be a widely successful programme (Rudolf et al, 2009; Davis et al, 2002). For older children and their parents, cookery and nutrition lessons are now being made compulsory within schools (House of Commons, 2009) and ‘Cook It’ classes are available as part of the Healthy Lifestyles Service commissioned in some Primary Care Trusts. There is a drive to improve school meals, children’s awareness and knowledge of healthy food and the general food experience through initiatives such as the Food for Life Partnership which through evaluation has shown to be a success (Orme, 2011). Christensen (2004) describes a Health-Promoting Family Model, whereby internal factors (such as genetics, family health history and values and goals) and external factors at societal level (income and wealth, housing, ethnicity etc. ) and community level (health services, mass media, peer-groups etc. can all shape a child’s health and well-being. It also discusses the idea of a child being an actor for health promotion and that their behaviour, opinions and self-awareness can be influential upon the family within which they are a member. The suggestion, therefore, that parental behaviour change is solely responsible for the health outcomes of family members is, perhaps, inaccurate. This model provides a substantial argument fo r Healthy Eating education within nurseries and pre-schools and also the promotion and implementation of the Food for Life Partnership. It has been widely documented that the gap in health inequalities is widening despite best efforts to close it. The UKPHA (2004) responded to the White Paper Choosing Health – Making Healthy Choices Easier (DoH, 2004) by stating that choices in Public Health at a population level are spurious. The rich are becoming richer, the poor are becoming more likely to be victims and perpetrators of crime, progress in reducing the gender pay gap is slow and deprived communities suffer the worst effects of environmental degradation. The response states that if you have lower socio-economic status, behaviour change and making healthy choices is simply not always an option; whilst Government initiatives and information given to families by health professionals is designed to empower people to make healthy choices, the locus of control is not always endogenous (Rotter, 1966). It should be recognised that the act of empowerment and giving advice to those who cannot act upon it, is, perhaps, an act of disempowerment serving only to feed the concept of a ‘Nanny State’ and creating a disconnection between behaviour and desirable outcomes (Freire, 1985). WHO (1999) states that whilst national health policy should prioritise those most in need, all social groups are affected by unequal distribution of benefits related to socioeconomic growth and societal goods (e. g. access to education) and this needs to be addressed if the gap in health equality is to be closed. The Government has pledged to use evidence-based services to address the problem of inequalities in nutrition aimed at different population groups at National, Community and Local levels (DoH, 2011). Beattie’s Four Paradigms for Health Promotion (1991) clearly shows how health promotion can be a ‘Top Down or Bottom Up’ exercise with the professional being either a leader or a facilitator for change. The Social Change model (Naidoo and Wills, 2009) whereby changes are sought within organisations at Government level to bring about improvements of the physical, social and economic environments thus promoting health can be demonstrated through the use of mass media, advertising and policy-change. The Healthy Food Code of Good Practice (DoH, 2008) sets out seven targets including restrictions on the advertising of unhealthy food to children, information on nutritional content of food in a variety of settings and a single, simple and effective approach to food labelling. The Food Standards Agency has adopted the ‘Traffic Light System’ to visually indicate the nutritional value of foods with ease – this, the DoH (2008) states, has helped to drive behaviour change. The Behaviour Change model (Naidoo and Wills, 2009) is concerned with making improvements to a client’s individual health by encouraging them to change their lifestyle. However, the client has to be ready to make the change – without this component, the act of behaviour change is likely to be ineffective (NICE, 2007). Subsequently, this can lead to ‘victim blaming’ (Ewles, 2005) if the individual is seen to be ‘ignoring’ advice whichis counterproductive when those choices are not really choices and the locus of control is exogenous. However, with the gap in health inequalities no nearer to being closed, can the Government truly conclude that these measures are working towards behaviour change and healthier lifestyle choices? I would suggest that until the cost of healthy food is reduced, thereby making it more accessible to families with lower socio-economic status, surely the visual aids and advertising are futile? Both the Foresight Report (2007) and the Government White Paper Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives (DoH, 2008) recommend that early intervention could be a way oftackling the problem of overweight and obesity. The Health Visitor Implementation Plan: A Call to Action (DoH, 2011) states that early intervention is ‘the most effective way of dealing with health, development and other problems within the family’ and the CPHVA/Unite (2008) recognise that Health Visitors play a key role in reducing childhood obesity through contact with families antenatally, postnatally and throughout the early years of a child’s life. This is discussed further within the schedule of the Child Health Promotion Programme (DoH, 2008) which states that healthy weight and nutrition should be discussed from the days of early pregnancy. The Marmot Review (DoH, 2010) discusses a Life Course Approach which suggests that, even from the antenatal period, there will be certain life events that affect health (for example, in childhood, variation in nutrition affects growth which can then be associated with adult health risks [Wadsworth, 1997]) and wellbeing and that early intervention and prevention is key. A logical early intervention to prevent obesity would be to promote healthy nutrition in families. Singhal et al (2004) state that: â€Å"Early nutrition has a major impact on long-term health including cognitive function, bone health and risk factors for cardiovascular disease. ‘Start4Life’ (DoH, 2011) covers topics such as breastfeeding (which is widely recognised as a protective factor for obesity), weaning (again, widely recognised as a protective factor for obesity if started no earlier than 6 months) and physical activity for babies. EMPOWER (Empowering Mothers to Prevent Obesity at Weaning) is a sp ecialist health visiting programme involving home visits to babies who are at high risk because their mothers were extremely obese prior to pregnancy. The programme has been developed and piloted and is currently undergoing phase 2 of a randomised controlled trial (Barlow et al, 2009). Sure Start Children’s Centres offer support with healthy eating and breastfeeding, in conjunction with Health Visitor clinics, breastfeeding support groups and postnatal groups. However,the NESS (National Evaluation of Sure Start, Birbeck University of London, 2005) review of Sure Start Children’s Centres indicated that whilst the centres had benefit to less deprived families, there was little benefit to those families of greatest need. This could be explained by Tudor Hart’s (1971) Inverse Care Law; those who are most in need of an intervention either do not or cannot access ervices that are available. The setting for health promotion is integral to effective health education and taking into account accessibility, the target group and the premises (or location) is a fundamental role of the health professional (Green and Tones, 2010). Getting this right can help to avoid the risk of increasing the health gap in society by addressing the needs of excluded groups and including unconventional settings (Linnan and Owens Ferguson, 2007). The Ottawa Charter (WHO, 1986) states that: Health promotion works through concrete and effective community action in setting priorities, making decisions, planning strategies and implementing them to achieve better health. At the heart of this process is the empowerment of communities – their ownership and control of their own endeavours and destinies. † TheEuropean Health for All Policy Framework (WHO, 1999) demonstrates that by allowing individuals, groups and communities to influence the context in which they experience health and giving control over the environment in which they live and work, people are encouraged to take responsibility for their own health. Witness accounts of a community successfully working together to prevent the closure of a budget supermarket in an affluent town centre rejuvenation project demonstrate how effective community empowerment can be (Ayre, 2011). As discussed throughout this essay there are a huge number of evidence-based documents that highlight the necessity for healthy nutrition and many more besides. Evidence-based practice and evidence-based health promotion are both becoming increasingly recognised within the public health domain (Nutbeam, 1999). Whilst, as identified by Perkins et al. 1999), evidence-based health promotion is a good thing, the UK Treasury Report (HM Treasury/DoH, 2002) would suggest that there is a high volume of research describing the problem of health inequalities but relatively little intervention research that helps to identify practical responses. Nutbeam (2004) describes the notion of ‘analysis paralysis’ for academics and policy-makers as a result of the compl exities surrounding the differences in opportunity, access and resources and their impact on health status. This leads to continuous examination and debate about the nature of the problem but little effective action to tackle it. Nutbeam carries on to say that a deficit in research surrounding wider social, economic and environmental determinants of health can discourage Government responses until more convincing evidence is obtained or can restrict attention to only good evidence of effect thereby narrowing responses significantly. Public health policies are inevitably guided by political considerations alongside available scientific evidence (Black, 2001) which can lead to restrictions in evidence-based assessments thus resulting in the ‘wrong answer to the right question’ (Davey-Smith et al. 2001). Having discussed healthy nutrition as an early intervention to prevent obesity, I would like to conclude that whilst there are many documents and initiatives concerned with reducing health inequalities across socioeconomic gradients, slow progress is being made. I feel it should be a priority to engage individuals, families and communities in health promoting activities and consultations that will e ncourage ownership in improving their diet and nutritional intake whilst taking into account their social, economic and environmental circumstances. Until the cost of healthy food is driven down and the availability of cheap, unhealthy food is reduced little will change. As stated by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (2011): â€Å"Suggesting that children in particular can be â€Å"nudged† into making healthy choices especially when faced with a food landscape which is persuading them to do the precise opposite suggests this would be best described as a call to inaction. † I perceive that, when combined, the Behaviour Change model and Educational Approach could be successful – when given the opportunity to make informed decisions, healthy choices may become more likely. I also believe that, if used in isolation, neither model would have the desired outcome. Timely dialogue should occur to encourage the receptivity to behaviour change and evidence-based health promotion should be delivered in a way that is amenable and accessible to all socioeconomic groups. A ‘Bottom Up’ approach, whilst difficult to truly achieve, could be an effective way to tackle to problem of poor nutrition and the resulting overweight and obesity with clients identifying their own needs and gaining skills and confidence to act upon them (Naidoo and Wills, 2009). I would suggest that the majority of interventions regarding healthy nutrition and reducing obesity (and perhaps all health promotion activities) are all top down as they all have a common goal – changing behaviour and improving health by providing evidence-based information with the professional acting as an ‘expert in the field’ (Naidoo and Wills, 2009). The delivery of the intervention, therefore, denotes not only the perceived role of the professional but also the level of success.