Ethics 2 Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Morals 2 - Article Example There are be that as it may, certain impediments, which controls from the examination being a finished observational investigation. Initially, the example picked is from one geological network in Canada. Besides, the businesses picked doesn't cover certain significant areas like design and lodging industry, which needs to keep up their CSR exercises as well. However, it may be noticed that the fundamental parts, which are exceptionally responsible to the social qualities, are thought about. Thirdly, the example size picked is 16 individuals from places of administration in particular. A general perspective on the workers and officials ought to have been gathered so as to pass judgment on the mindfulness towards CSR even at the base level in the ventures. Rules and arrangements are effectively planned however the execution is achieved through appropriate degree of mindfulness and obligation. The observational investigation directed here essentially calls attention to a district explic it contextual analysis including a few directors from certain picked segments. Fourthly it might be noticed that the meetings were maybe not directed in a deliberate way with a similar arrangement of inquiries posed to every respondent. Or maybe various respondents appear to offer thoughts from different edges and the peruser has little thought regarding what inquiries were posed. Fifthly, a possibility of predisposition emerges inferable from the purposive inspecting technique. The analysts appear to have gotten an example so as to demonstrate their foreordained thought. My involvement with Saudi Arabia shows that the country’s residential organizations are not worried or influenced by the worldwide norms of CSR the board. Or maybe they give most weight on the neighborhood society and investigate their inclinations first. The organization where I worked provided products requiring little to no effort/limits to the neighborhood purchasers and assimilated nearby individuals as their representatives particularly for the low talented positions. Saudi Arabia has in this way got away from the impact of universal principles of CSR, which probably won't be plausible

Relationship Management for Loyalty Card Scheme- myassignmenthelp

Question: Examine about theRelationship Management for Loyalty Card Scheme. Answer: Consistency of a very much oversaw business relies upon steadfast clients. Market vacillation may significantly relies upon the progression of clients hence keeping up the flexibly request chain. Despite the fact that showcase vacillation might be unavoidable, it might rely upon expanding and diminishing of market citation. This should predominantly be possible by giving quality products and ventures to the clients at a reasonable cost. There are various approaches to compensate these reliable clients for their great deeds. Some of them incorporate the accompanying; Offer aggregate markdown on chose lines-The administration should offer benefit to its regarded clients as a method of consolation. Financial specialists may for the most part consider the clients taste by decrease of amount costs too credit a few limits to advance the progression of low quality products. Cost decrease offered to clients establish to expand the amount of markdown over a given timeframe relying upon the volume of merchandise in the market. In that manner the gracefully request chain will be met just as keeping up the clients taste and inclination. (Garnefeld, Eggert, Helm, Tax, 2013). Parting with free things for numerous buys can likewise apply, for instance, purchase three get one free. Make a reliability card conspire Mostly this will in general be plastic swipe card which is utilized to store clients focuses at whatever point they shop. An opportunity arrives when they can buy merchandise by the utilization of the focuses accessible in their card and spare their money (Kuester, Benkenstein, 2014) .Through this demonstration the clients are remunerated and esteem the shopping place contrasted with others without this kindness. Organization of business cartels-Business association affiliations controls the cost or flexibly of items in the market. The restraining infrastructure practiced by single financial specialists will stop subsequently advancing oligopoly in the market. There are a few organizations that offer limits for different business. For example, when u meet a specific peak when making an approach a given system stage u certainly get a reward as a piece of advancement. (Kumar, Petersen, Leone, 2010). Praise your clients A financial specialist may shockingly play some good humored strategies to reward and joy the clients as a method of thanksgiving. For example one can welcome clients to advancement of certain products for nothing, when propelling another offer let them be the first to buy, take your best clients for a day out or dispatch a social stage and welcome your clients on the web. The acknowledgment will go far towards empowering different clients who love your business to get progressively engaged with your prosperity also. Request client criticism Most individuals feel acknowledged when mentioned to give their recommendation towards a specific item that the business give to clients. This proposal will help in changing the norm relying upon the market creating strategies. The criticism can be given through exchange, survey or leading reconnaissance. Consistent improvement of innovation has prompted disclosure of new mechanics of changing our the state of affairs. This broad measures has prompted improvement of new items in the market areas making escape clauses for new organizations. Visit ad and online social improvements has prompted fast acknowledgment of day by day developing items. Clients meet this item even through referrals from the market speculators or even from others sources who perceive the items also. A portion of the methods of gathering successful referrals incorporate the accompanying; Perceive and acknowledge wellspring of referrals-An entrepreneur should communicate thankfulness to the wellsprings of referrals by either messaging them, through calls, or in any event, composing a note of gratefulness to them. They become enchanted for being valued and as they admit to their companions they allude them as well. Acknowledgment of items and administrations found in the market;- One ought to guarantee that the source referrals are well acquainted with the items and administrations they offer, so they can have enough information to allude different clients (Shi, Prentice, He, 2014). They can allude to individuals inside the business region or others that they know paying little heed to their living arrangement. Execute programs that advance wellsprings of referrals;- Investors ought to make a social stage on site or potentially commercial channels that will make a connect to the wellspring of referrals. For instance, making a connection on site and include all the companions of one of the referrals will have the option to see the remarks sent to them. Empowering remarks will draw in more clients. This is one of the strategies that contacts numerous individuals (Van Doorn, Lemon, Mittal, Nass, Pick, Pirner, Verhoef, 2010).The referrals will likewise be presenting their remarks in the equivalent page.one ought to be exceptional as they suggest the customers about the business. The customers who have alluded new clients ought to be remunerated with the goal that the rest can move in the direction of the equivalent. References Berman, B., 2016. Referral advertising: Harnessing the intensity of your clients. Business Horizons, 59(1), pp.19-28. Garnefeld, I., Eggert, A., Helm, S.V. also, Tax, S.S., 2013. Developing existing clients' income streams through client referral programs. Diary of Marketing, 77(4), pp.17-32. Kuester, M. also, Benkenstein, M., 2014. Transforming disappointed into fulfilled clients: How referral reward programs influence the referrer? s demeanor and dedication toward the suggested specialist co-op. Diary of Retailing and Consumer Services, 21(6), pp.897-904. Kumar, V., Petersen, J.A. also, Leone, R.P., 2010. Driving productivity by empowering client referrals: who, when, and how. Diary of Marketing, 74(5), pp.1-17. Shi, Y., Prentice, C. furthermore, He, W., 2014. Connecting administration quality, consumer loyalty and unwaveringness in club, does participation make a difference?. Worldwide Journal of Hospitality Management, 40, pp.81-91. Van Doorn, J., Lemon, K.N., Mittal, V., Nass, S., Pick, D., Pirner, P. furthermore, Verhoef, P.C., 2010. Client commitment conduct: Theoretical establishments and research headings. Diary of administration examine, 13(3), pp.253-266.

My Summer of Memoir 5 Memoirs to Add to Your Reading List

My Summer of Memoir 5 Memoirs to Add to Your Reading List I read a lot of memoirs. It’s more personal, and often more fun, than straight autobiography. And I don’t like delineating strictly between “truth” and fiction, but I do like gleaning more about the lives of my favorite writers. I’m reading (or have already read) a lot of memoir this summer. Sherman Alexie’s You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me: A Memoir Alexie has been one of of my favorite authors since I read the Absolutely True Diary, so I knew I would pick up his new memoir You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me. What I didn’t know was that I would be captivated by it. It’s large, at 464 pages, evenly split between poetry and prose. But I read it in 4 days. This is Alexie’s Eulogy to his mother. It’s also a poetic meditation on life, mental illness, the reservation, and that all familiar memoir narrative of leaving home. Alexie never claims to be writing fact: in fact at many points throughout the book he points out the flaws of his memory, the lies his family told him, and his struggles post brain surgery. But what Alexie so powerfully expresses is the difference between fact and truth, a truth born of emotion, love, and trauma, regardless of the fact. Even if you’ve never read Alexie or don’t like memoir, read this book. On paper, I have very little in common with Alexie. But Alexie’s recounting of his leaving home, escape into fiction, and struggles with mental illness made me feel, for 464 pages, that we had everything in common. Roxane Gay’s Hunger. Again, I already loved Roxane Gay. Her earlier works, be it Bad Feminist or essays across the internet, have been popular and important. But Hunger is emotionally raw. Memoirs are often confessional, exposing ideas that are often left unsaid. But Gay’s painful descriptions of her rape, trauma, and struggle with weight are so often unspoken it’s jarring and painful to read. But it’s important and beautiful. Gay, as only she can do, seamlessly weaves narrative memoir with cultural critiques of everything from celebrity weight loss endorsements to the difficulties of air travel. This isn’t an easy read, and I put it down often, but it’s worth every moment of discomfort. Jesmyn Wards  The Men We Reaped I’m late to the program on this one, having never read National Book Award Winner Jesmyn Ward before this summer. I picked up The Fire This Time anthology after realizing there was a piece in it by Natasha Tretheway, one of my favorite poets. I was enthralled by Ward’s writng in this volume and immediately ordered The Men We Reaped and Salvage the Bones (which I dropped in a little free library in Nashville, I can’t resist them). The Men We Reaped is Ward’s memoir, delineated by the tragic death’s of important African American men in her life, closing with the young death of her brother. Interspersed between these strories are flashbacks to Ward’s childhood in Mississippi. Eventually, the flashbacks meet the present, where she recounts the story of her brother. It’s both political and personal and certainly worth a read, especially in the context of Black Lives Matter and continued police violence against African Americans. North Toward Home by Willie Morris Published in 1967, North Toward Home is not a new read. It’s the first in this list that I haven’t yet read. My MA advisor recommended it to me years ago and I just got around to picking it up this summer. Knowing my love of Civil Rights history, coming of age memoir, and the South it seems a perfect fit. I’m excited to read it this summer. The Diary of Anne Frank Okay, I’m not sure if this is a  memoir in the same way (it is a diary, after all). What’s more, I am admitting that I have never read it. In middle school, when it seemed everyone I knew was reading The Diary of Anne Frank, I refused to read anything I considered “sad” (I know). So here I am, a 25 year old lover of memoirs and histories who has never read The Diary of Anne Frank. That ends this summer. I’m just realizing how different this list is from a typical “summer reads” list. But here it does: some serious and seriously beautiful reading for that summer list. Sign up for True Story to receive nonfiction news, new releases, and must-read forthcoming titles. Thank you for signing up! Keep an eye on your inbox.

Pricing Kernels Defined in Relation to Asset Pricing

The asset pricing kernel,  also known as the stochastic discount factor (SDF), is the random  variable that satisfies the function used in computing the price of an asset. Pricing Kernel and Asset Pricing   The pricing kernel, or stochastic discount factor, is an important concept in mathematical finance and financial economics. The term  kernel  is a common mathematical term used to represent an operator, whereas the term stochastic discount factor  has roots in financial economics and extends the concept of the kernel to include adjustments for risk. The fundamental theorem of asset pricing in finance suggests that the price of any asset is its discounted expected value of future payoff specifically under risk-neutral measure or valuation. Risk-neutral  valuation can only exist  if the market is free of arbitrage opportunities, or opportunities to exploit price differences between two markets and profit from the difference. This relationship between an assets price and its expected payoff is considered the underlying  concept behind all asset pricing. This expected payoff is discounted by a unique factor that depends upon the framework set forth by the market.  In theory, risk-neutral valuation (in which there is an absence of arbitrage opportunities in the market) implies the existence of some positive random variable or the stochastic discount factor. In risk-neutral  measure, this positive stochastic discount factor would theoretically be used to discount the payoff of any asset. Additionally, the existence of such a pricing kernel or stochastic discount factor is equivalent to the law of one price, which presumes that an asset must sell for the same price in all locales or, in other words, an asset will have the same price when exchange rates are taken into consideration. Real-Life Applications Pricing kernels have numerous uses in mathematical finance and economics. For instance, pricing kernels can be used to produce contingent claim prices. If we were to know the current prices of a set of securities in addition to the future payoffs of those securities, then a positive pricing kernel or stochastic discount factor would provide an efficient means of producing  contingent claim prices assuming an arbitrage-free market. This valuation technique is particularly helpful in an incomplete market, or a market in which total supply is not sufficient to meet the demand. Stochastic Discount Factors Apart from asset pricing, another use of the stochastic discount factor is in the evaluation of the performance of hedge funds managers. In this application, however, the stochastic discount factor would not strictly be considered the equivalent to a pricing kernel.

Erik Erikson s Psychosocial Development - 1629 Words

Reflection Paper #4 Erik Erikson’s psychosocial stages theory suggests that people pass through eight distinctive developmental stages as they grow and change throughout their lives. Integrity versus despair is the eighth and final stage of Erikson’s stage theory of psychosocial development. This stage begins at approximately age 60 and ends at death. The crisis represented by this last life stage is integrity versus despair. Erikson proposed that this stage begins when the individual experiences a sense of mortality and tries to find meaning in their accomplishments. This may be in response to retirement, the death of a spouse or close friends, the result from changing social roles, worsening health, or other situations that lead to†¦show more content†¦For example, Julie just turned 67 and recently retired from her three-decade long job as a school teacher. As she begins to reflect back on her life both before deciding to retire and after, she finds that she experiences both fee lings of satisfaction as well as a few regrets. In addition to a career as a teacher that spanned multiple decades, she also raised several children and is confident that she has good relationships with all of her children. Her life evaluation most likely occurred slowly before she decided to retire. But after her last day, the actual idea of retired became more real after her last day and reminded her of her growing age. Julie now has time to reflect upon her life while deciding on what do with her new found free time. Upon reflection, Julie realizes that her biggest regret was that she could never afford to pay for her daughter’s college tuition on a single parent income. Julie’s daughter Sarah, now has a child of her own. After evaluating her life and feeling relatively proud with her accomplishments, she decided to follow her creative passions she never had time for like, taking free educational classes in art and creative writing. Julie also decides to help look a fter Sarah’s daughter while she is at work. While Julie realizes that there are some things she might have done differently if she had the chance, Julie feels an overall sense of pride and accomplishment with

Case Study Analysis Free Essays

Ethical Case Study 2: Sally Goes to School Shanda Woody Montreat College Ethical Case Study 2: Sally Goes to School A fundamental aspect of ethics in counseling is the right to informed consent. Informed consent reflects respect for the client as an individual and promotes self-governing during the counseling process (Pope Melba, 2011). The American Counseling Association Ethical Decision Making Model provides counselors with a blueprint for making ethical decisions while placing an emphasis on values and principles and is appropriate in resolving the ethical dilemma contained in this case study (Miller Davis, 1996). We will write a custom essay sample on Case Study Analysis or any similar topic only for you Order Now ACA Model The ACA Code of Ethics states, â€Å"when counselors are faced with ethical dilemmas that are difficult to resolve, they are expected to engage in a carefully considered ethical decision making model† (ACA, 2005). This model directly applies the ACA Code of Ethics while combining Kitcheners (1984) virtue ethics, counselor consultation, and self-determination (Corey, Corey Callahan, 2011). The model also includes the work of Van Hoose and Paradise (1979), Stadler (986), Haas and Malouf (1989), Forester-Miller and Rubenstein (1992), and Sileo and Kopala (1993). The ACA model encourages a counseling relationship based on trust and states when counselors are faced with an ethical dilemma they apply careful consideration to the decision making process (Corey, Corey Callahan, 2011). ACA Decision Making Model Process The ACA model identifies Kitcheners five moral principles as the cornerstone of the decision making process and they include: autonomy, nonmaleficence, beneficence, justice, and fidelity (Forester-Miller Davis, 1996). Upon eviewing these ethical principles, the model outlines seven steps in the decision making process including: identify the problem; apply the ACA Code of Ethics, determine the nature of the dilemma, determine a possible course of action, consider potential consequences for all options and determine a course of action, evaluate the course of action, and implement the action (Forester-Miller, Davis, 1996). The first step in the model is to identify the problem by gathering as much information as possible. It is important to outline the facts and eliminate any assumptions so that the counselor can determine the ethical dilemma and the course of action needed. In this phase, the model suggest asking questions such as: Is the issue related to me and what I am doing or not doing? Is it related to the client and/or the client’s family? Is the issue an ethical, legal or clinical problem? (Forester-Miller, Davis, 1996) The next step is to apply the ACA Code of Ethics. If there is a standard or standards that apply, the model recommends following the course of action indicated which should lead to a solution. It is important that counselors be familiar with the ethical standards and understand the implications (Forester-Miller et al. ,1996). The next step in the model is to determine the nature and dimensions of the dilemma. In this step, the counselor would consider the moral principles and decide which principles apply, then review any professional literature to help reach a decision, consult with colleagues and other professionals, and seek out assistance from state and national associations. At this point in the decision making process, the counselor may want to refer to Kitcheners (1984) five moral principles to ensure autonomy, justice, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and fidelity are being used as a guide in the decision making process. (Forester-Miller et al. , 1996) Next, counselors begin to brainstorm and create possible solutions for the ethical dilemma. After this stage, counselors will consider the information gathered during previous stages, assess each option carefully and consider the implications for the course of action. The ACA model stresses the mportance of eliminating options that will not result in the optimum outcome and to avoid making decisions that will be more problematic that the situation at hand. (Forester-Miller et al. , 1996) The final two stages include evaluating and implementing the selected course of action. At this point, it is imperative that the counselors consider any new ethical dilemmas that may have been created by the decision made a nd if it is determined more harm will come to the client the counselor must go back to the beginning and reevaluate the process to ensure the best possible outcome. Once it has been determined that this ethical decision made is appropriate, the counselor will implement the plan and follow up with the situation to ensure the course had the anticipated results. Ethical Decision and Implications After reviewing the ACA decision making model, the counselor would choose to discuss the purpose of treatment, the goals, procedures and techniques provided during the therapeutic relationship (Corey Herlihy, 2006). Any testing or diagnosis needs to be explained as the client has a right to be an active participant. Implementation of the ACA Code of Ethics A. 2. a Informed Consent which states clients have a right to choose and remain in the therapeutic relationship and counselors have an obligation to inform clients of the ongoing counseling process is imperative(ACA, 2005). At this juncture, the counselor would also want to refer to ACA Code of Ethics E. 3. a which states counselors must explain the nature and purpose of assessments in a way that the clients can understand (ACA, 2005). Reflections on the Decision Making Process Upholding the ethical standards of the counseling professional can be a difficult task due to a myriad of reasons. An ethical dilemma can prove to be overwhelming and complex but if the counselor utilizes an effective decision making model, refers to the ACA Code of Ethics as a guide, and upholds professional ethics by maintaining the best interest of the client the result should be positive and a learning experience for all involved. References Forester-Miller, H. Davis, T. (1996). A practitioner’s guide to ethical decision making. American Counseling Association (1996) Corey, G. , Corey, M. , Callahan, P. , (2011). Issues and ethics in the helping professions. 8TH edition. American Counseling Association (2005). Code of Ethics, Alexandria, VA: Author. Corey, G. , Herlihy, B. , (2006). ACA ethical standards casebook. 6th edition Pope . How to cite Case Study Analysis, Free Case study samples

Computer, Internet, Privacy INTERNET REGULATION POLICING CYBERSPACE T Essay Example For Students

Computer, Internet, Privacy INTERNET REGULATION: POLICING CYBERSPACE T Essay Computer, Internet, PrivacyINTERNET REGULATION: POLICING CYBERSPACE The Internet is a method of communication and a source of information that is becoming more popular among those who are interested in, and have the time to surf the information superhighway. The problem with this much information being accessible to this many people is that some of it is deemed inappropriate for minors. The government wants censorship, but a segment of the population does not. Legislative regulation of the Internet would be an appropriate function of the government. The Communications Decency Act is an amendment which prevents the information superhighway from becoming a computer red light district. On June 14, 1995, by a vote of 84-16, the United States Senate passed the amendment. It is now being brought through the House of Representatives.1 The Internet is owned and operated by the government, which gives them the obligation to restrict the materials available through it. Though it appears to have sprung up overnight, the inspiration of free-spirited hackers, it in fact was born in Defense Department Cold War projects of the 1950s.2 The United States Government owns the Internet and has the responsibility to determine who uses it and how it is used. The government must control what information is accessible from its agencies. This material is not lawfully available through the mail or over the telephone, there is no valid reason these perverts should be allowed unimpeded on the Internet. Since our initiative, the industry has commendably advanced some blocking devices, but they are not a substitute for well-reasoned law.4 Because the Internet has become one of the biggest sources of information in this world, legislative safeguards are imperative. The government gives citizens the privilege of using the Internet, but it has never given them the right to use it. They seem to rationalize that the framers of the constitution planned plotted at great length to make certain that above all else, the profiteering pornographer, the pervert and the pedophile must be free to practice their pursuits in the presence of children on a taxpayer created and subsidized computer network.3 People like this are the ones in the wrong. Taxpayers dollars are being spent bringing obscene text and graphics into the homes of people all over the world. The government must take control to prevent pornographers from using the Internet however they see fit because they are breaking laws that have existed for years. Cyberpunks, those most popularly associated with the Internet, are members of a rebellious society that are polluting these networks with information containing pornography, racism, and other forms of explicit information. When they start rooting around for a crime, new cybercops are entering a pretty unfriendly environment. Cyberspace, especially the Internet, is full of those who embrace a frontier culture that is hostile to authority and fearful that any intrusions of police or government will destroy their self-regulating world. 5 The self-regulating environment desired by the cyberpunks is an opportunity to do whatever they want. The Communications Decency Act is an attempt on part of the government to control their free attitude displayed in homepages such as Sex, Adult Pictures, X-Rated Porn, Hot Sleazy Pictures (Cum again + again) and sex, sex, sex. heck, its better even better than real sex6. What we are doing is simply making the same laws, held constitutional time and time again by the courts with regard to obscenity and indecency through the mail and telephones, applicable to the Internet. 7 To keep these kinds of pictures off home computers, the government must control information on the Internet, just as it controls obscenity through the mail or on the phone. Legislative regulations must be made to control information on the Internet because the displaying or distribution of obscene material is illegal.The courts have generally held that obscenity is illegal under all circumstances for all ages, while indecency is generally allowable to adults, but that laws protecting children from this lesser form are acceptable. Its called protecting those among us who are children from the vagrancies of adults. .u5e165234f7a160762a253497cdf5b0f2 , .u5e165234f7a160762a253497cdf5b0f2 .postImageUrl , .u5e165234f7a160762a253497cdf5b0f2 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u5e165234f7a160762a253497cdf5b0f2 , .u5e165234f7a160762a253497cdf5b0f2:hover , .u5e165234f7a160762a253497cdf5b0f2:visited , .u5e165234f7a160762a253497cdf5b0f2:active { border:0!important; } .u5e165234f7a160762a253497cdf5b0f2 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u5e165234f7a160762a253497cdf5b0f2 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u5e165234f7a160762a253497cdf5b0f2:active , .u5e165234f7a160762a253497cdf5b0f2:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u5e165234f7a160762a253497cdf5b0f2 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u5e165234f7a160762a253497cdf5b0f2 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u5e165234f7a160762a253497cdf5b0f2 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u5e165234f7a160762a253497cdf5b0f2 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u5e165234f7a160762a253497cdf5b0f2:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u5e165234f7a160762a253497cdf5b0f2 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u5e165234f7a160762a253497cdf5b0f2 .u5e165234f7a160762a253497cdf5b0f2-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u5e165234f7a160762a253497cdf5b0f2:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Eternal Seeds Essay8 The constitution of the United States has set regulations to determine what is categorized as obscenity and what is not.In Miller vs. California, 413 U.S. at 24-25, the court announced its Miller Test and held, at 29, that its three part test constituted concrete guidelines to isolate hard core pornography from expression protected by the First Amendment.9 By laws previously set by the government, obscene pornography should not be accessible on the Internet. The government must police the Internet because people are breaking laws. Right now, cyberspace is like a neighborhood without a police department. 10 Currently anyone can put anything he wants on the Internet with no penalties. The Communications Decency Act gives law enforcement new tools to prosecute those who would use a computer to make the equivalent of obscene telephone calls, to prosecute electronic stalkers who terrorize their victims, to clamp down on electronic distributors of obscene materials, and to enhance the chances of prosecution of those who would provide pornography to children via a computer. The government must regulate the flow of information on the Internet because some of the commercial blocking devices used to filter this information are insufficient. Cybercops especially worry that outlaws are now able to use powerful cryptography to send and receive uncrackable secret communications and are also aided by anonymous re-mailers. 11 By using features like these it is impossible to use blocking devices to stop children from accessing this information. Devices set up to detect specified strings of characters will not filter those that it cannot read. The government has to stop obscene materials from being transferred via the Internet because it violates laws dealing with interstate commerce. It is not a valid argument that consenting adults should be allowed to use the computer BBS and Internet systems to receive whatever they want. If the materials are obscene, the law can forbid the use of means and facilities of interstate commerce and common carriers to ship or disseminate the obscenity.12 When supplies and information are passed over state or national boundaries, they are subject to the laws governing interstate and intrastate commerce. When information is passed between two computers, it is subjected to the same standards. The government having the power to regulate the information being put on the Internet is a proper extension of its powers. With an information based system such as the Internet there is bound to be material that is not appropriate for minors to see. In passing of an amendment like the Communications Decency Act, the government would be given the power to regulate that material. BIBLIOGRAPHY Buerger, David. Freedom of Speech Meets Internet Censors; Cisco Snubs IBM. Network World. Dialog Magazine Database, 040477. 31 Oct. 1994, 82. Diamond, Edwin and Stephen Bates. And Then There Was Usenet. American Heritage. Oct. 1995, 38. Diamond, Edwin and Stephen Bates. The Ancient History of the Internet. American Heritage. Oct. 1995, 34-45. Dyson, Esther. Deluge of Opinions On The Information Highway. Computerworld. Dialog Magazine Database, 035733. 28 Feb. 1994, 35. Exon, James J. Defending Decency on the Internet. Lincoln Journal. 31 July 1995, 6. Exon, James J. Exon Decency Amendment Approved by Senate. Jim Exon News. 14 June 1995. Exon, James J. , and Dan Coats. Letter to United States Senators. 27 July 1995. Gaffin, Adam. Are Firms Liable For Employee Net Postings? Network World. Dialog Magazine Database, 042574. 20 Feb. 1995, 8. Gibbs, Mark. Congress Crazies Want To Carve Up Telecom. Network World. Dialog Magazine Database, 039436. 12 Sept. 1994, 37. Horowitz, Mark. Finding History On The Net. American Heritage. Oct. 1995, 38. Laberis, Bill. The Price of Freedom. Computerworld. Dialog Magazine Database, 036777. 25 Apr. .u786fbc7f418741dadd42f968d395ed5d , .u786fbc7f418741dadd42f968d395ed5d .postImageUrl , .u786fbc7f418741dadd42f968d395ed5d .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u786fbc7f418741dadd42f968d395ed5d , .u786fbc7f418741dadd42f968d395ed5d:hover , .u786fbc7f418741dadd42f968d395ed5d:visited , .u786fbc7f418741dadd42f968d395ed5d:active { border:0!important; } .u786fbc7f418741dadd42f968d395ed5d .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u786fbc7f418741dadd42f968d395ed5d { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u786fbc7f418741dadd42f968d395ed5d:active , .u786fbc7f418741dadd42f968d395ed5d:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u786fbc7f418741dadd42f968d395ed5d .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u786fbc7f418741dadd42f968d395ed5d .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u786fbc7f418741dadd42f968d395ed5d .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u786fbc7f418741dadd42f968d395ed5d .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u786fbc7f418741dadd42f968d395ed5d:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u786fbc7f418741dadd42f968d395ed5d .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u786fbc7f418741dadd42f968d395ed5d .u786fbc7f418741dadd42f968d395ed5d-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u786fbc7f418741dadd42f968d395ed5d:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Own Story Essay 1994, 34. Messmer, Ellen. Fighting for Justice On The New Frontier. Network World. Dialog Magazine Database, 028048. 11 Jan. 1993, S19.Policing Cyberspace. U.S. News World Report. 23 Jan. 1995, 55-60. Messmer, Ellen. Sen. Dole Backs New Internet Antiporn Bill. Network World. Dialog Magazine Database, 044829. 12 June 1995, 12. Shifting Into The Fast Lane. U.S. News World Report. 23 Jan. 1995, 52-53. Taylor, Bruce A. Memorandum of Opinion In Support Of The Communications Decency Amendment. National Law Center for Children Families. 29 June 1995, 1-7. Turner, Bob. The Internet Filter. N. p.: Turner Investigations, Research and Communication, 1995. WebCrawler Search Results. Webcrawler. With the query words magazines and sex. 13 Sept. 1995.

A Solution that Impacts essays

A Solution that Impacts essays Gandhi is probably the most well known non-violent protester of all times, followed by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Kings views on non-violence are all to clear in his I Have a Dream speech, where King said, We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Another passage of the same speech said, We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline, which shows that King didnt want his followers to lead undignified, violent protests (VanderMey). King knew that if the protests they led were violent then the police would just come and arrest the protesters and use violence against them, whereas if protesters used non-violence and then the police used violence the public would catch wind of the event and become interested or at least sympathetic. These non-violent protests were and are still effective due to the calm manner used in trying to talk situations out and come up with a conclusion. The first nonviolent protest that King led was the Montgomery bus boycott. This started with Rosa Parks arrest. Most everyone knows of this event, but not all know that it lead to Martin Luther King, Jr.s active role in protests for African American civil rights. With the success of the bus boycott, King realized the need for a way to unite all blacks for civil rights. He set out to organize the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, or the SCLC, which allowed blacks to gather and discuss issues as well as set up a base for King to speak in the south (Martin). Later, in 1960, King moved to Atlanta to preach at the same church as his father. This place allowed King to dedicate more time to the civil rights movement and to the SCLC. Another protest of importance is the one for desegregation of lunch counters. College students asked King to support them, and them the police arrested King as well as others. From jail in Birmingham, King wrote a let...

Hyphenation of Phrasal Adjectives

Hyphenation of Phrasal Adjectives Hyphenation of Phrasal Adjectives Hyphenation of Phrasal Adjectives By Mark Nichol Hyphens have been erroneously omitted from phrasal adjectives in the following three examples, each of which is followed by an explanation of the error and a corrected version of the sentence. 1. Three of those assembly members face a tough reelection in a Republican heavy district or represent the economically hard hit Central Valley. A lack of hyphenation in the phrase â€Å"Republican heavy district† prompts the reading â€Å"a heavy district inhabited by Republicans,† but the phrase means â€Å"a district populated mostly by Republicans,† so the phrase â€Å"Republican heavy,† as a phrasal adjective modifying district, should be hyphenated; the same rule applies for the final phrase: â€Å"Three of those assembly members face a tough reelection in a Republican-heavy district or represent the economically hard-hit Central Valley.† 2. The objective is to enhance focus and character work on a scene to scene basis. The phrase â€Å"scene to scene† modifies basis, so it should be hyphenated: â€Å"The objective is to enhance focus and character work on a scene-to-scene basis.† (However, just as one would write â€Å"a district heavy in Republicans† or â€Å"the Central Valley was hard hit,† the phrasal adjective should not be hyphenated when it follows the noun, as in â€Å"we worked on the script scene to scene† (or, better, â€Å"scene by scene†). 3. A weary customer said, â€Å"This is a serious shop until you drop situation, and I am dropping.† What kind of a situation is it? One in which the customer shops until he or she drops. The idiomatic phrase â€Å"shop until you drop† is a phrasal adjective modifying situation, so it should be hyphenated: â€Å"A weary customer said, ‘This is a serious shop-until-you-drop situation, and I am dropping.’† If that train of four hyphenated words seems too cumbersome, enclose it in single quotation marks: â€Å"This is a serious ‘shop until you drop’ situation, and I am dropping.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Punctuation category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Bare or Bear With Me?In Search of a 4-Dot Ellipsis50 Plain-Language Substitutions for Wordy Phrases

Auto industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Auto industry - Essay Example This is meant to ensure that there are no delays that can witnessed in the manufacture of the automobiles. Careful management of the supply chain entails that the automobile manufacturer will be in a better position to meet its target. Essentially, the aim of business is to make profits and this can be possible if an organization is capable of meeting its demand at a particular time. There should be no loopholes in the supply chain in order for the organization to operate effectively and efficiently. The other reason for managing the supply chain is related to the aspect of maintaining quality. Different companies can supply the same component required in making automobiles. However, the likely challenge to be encountered is that the quality of the components supplied by different suppliers may differ. Some parts supplied may be substandard and this can compromise the quality of the final product manufactured. It is the duty of the automobile manufacturer to outline the standard expectations with regards to the quality of the components supplied by different suppliers. Ensuring high quality components supplied can be achieved through establishing a quality assurance department within the manufacturing plant that would be responsible for ensuring that the parts supplied meet the standards. Defective components can be rejected and if needs be, these can be replaced with quality products. The other reason why managing the supply chain is important is about creating a good relationship with the suppliers. This is very important since this means that aspects such as pricing can be negotiated. A reputable car manufacturer can negotiate the prices of different components that are used in manufacturing automobiles. This is very important since the best deals can be achieved. Favorable prices of the components required for making cars mean that the final prices of the ultimate

Business Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 5

Business Law - Essay Example This implies that the consumer understands the reason for the six hoteliers raising their accommodation prices. The issue of price increase is quite acceptable and there is no question of breaking any Trade and Consumer Protection Law because this law is applicable only where goods have been purchased or services provided. In the case of Port Utopia it will be difficult for any client of Port Utopia hotels to argue that the price increase is not authentic. The services provided are average and befitting the environment in Port Utopia. Even if there is complaint that the price of $300 is too high, the hoteliers can argue that they are not compelling the clients to stay at their hotels and pay the price (Trade and Consumer Protection Law). The general costs have risen and the rises in prices of these hotels’ accommodation are justified with the rise in prices of the raw materials and other overheads. The seller has the right to sell good and pass good title. The prices have increased after due consultation between the existing six hoteliers. Only if there is any breach in the provision of services by any of the six hotels, the client could lodge a complaint under the Trade and Consumer Protection Law (Trade and Consumer Protection Law). Sally has done a good job in designing and manufacturing a new boat engine for speed boats which reduces fuel consumption by 40% and noise by 60% and costs approximately 20% less than the comparable models (Trade and Consumer Protection Law). There is no mention of the price that the two major engine manufacturers who together hold about 70% of the speed boat engine market are selling their boats for. It must be substantial enough for them to offer their boats at 30% discount. However, their condition that this discount applies only if the buyers agree not to buy and use Sally’s engine contradicts the provisions of the Trade and Consumer Protection Law. As manufacturer, Sally

History of Standards Of Beauty

History of Standards Of Beauty We live in a consumer culture and we are bombarded with advertising, retailing and entertainment industry. It is forcing us to buy and consume products, promising us happiness and self-transformation. Media is ever present in our lives. We look to the media to help us define, explain, and shape the world around us (Kellner, 2003). We make comparisons of ourselves, those close to us, and situations in our lives after seeing images in the media. And as a result, after these comparisons we are motivated to try to achieve new goals and expectations. In the contemporary world, messages about goods are all pervasive- advertising has increasingly filled up the spaces of our daily existenceà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ it is the air that we breathe as we live our daily lives (Jhally, 1990: 250). The important thing is that we cannot avoid comparisons of ourselves to the images which we are surrounded with from media and most of us will find ourselves inadequate when we do this (Kellner, 2003). How many times have we after seeing some beautiful woman in a magazine or on TV, thought: I want hair, lips, body, breasts or something else like she has?! Media is our most important information source. But I think we are not educated by it. We believe in everything that media serves us. This essay seeks to address so many women who feel they just dont measure up when it comes to their looks. Women who believe their thighs are too big, their breasts too small, their hair boring, their skin flawed, their body shaped funny, or their clothes outdated. We are surrounded with women who believe their life would improve if they could only lose 15 pounds; if they could afford contact lenses, that new perfume or anti-cellulite lotion; if they got a nose job, a face lift, a tummy tuck, etc, women who feel shame or unhappiness when they think about some part (or all) of their body. In other words, every day we see there is a great majority of women who feel this way. We all want to be beautiful. But I want to write about what lies behind that, behind that beauty myth. In this essay I will try to explore and to explain, how media plays a dominant role in influencing females perceptions of the world around them, as well as helping them to define their sense of self. I will try to examine the influences that media has on females feelings towards their place in society, sexuality, self-esteem and body image. I hope will give some answers to some questions. What media does in terms of imposing the beauty myth? How standards of beauty changed over time and yet beauty for women is still compulsory? What can we say about pressure on women as opposed to men when it comes to looks? How is beauty being sold to women and what the consequences of these issues are? I will try to show you who is getting the profit in this non-ending battle. In other words I will try to answer these questions that at one point we all should ask ourselves. STANDARDS OF BEAUTY THROUGHOUT THE PAST The cultural standard of beauty, when it comes to body shape, is always changing. Womens bodies is not what changed, it is the ideals (Kilbourne, 1995). Advertising, retailing and entertainment produce notions of beauty that change over time. These notions place pressure upon women who try to be in vogue (Wykes and Gunter, 2005). Between 1400 and 1700, a fat body shape was considered sexually appealing and fashionable (Attie and Brooks Gun, 1987). By the nineteenth century, the fat shape was replaced by voluptuous figure, centered at a generous breasts and hips and narrow waist (Fallon, 2005). The voluptuous shape for women persisted through the early part of the twentieth century, and eventually was replaced by the slender shape of the 1920s (Mazur, 1986). The curvaceous ideal continued through the 1940s and 1950s (Mazur, 1986). By the mid-1960s, however, fashions shifted once again towards the idealization of slender body shapes over curvaceous ness. Since then the only slight shi ft from extreme thinness as the feminine ideal was the muscularization of the still very thin body during the 1980s (Mazur, 1986). We are bombarded today with images of the perfect woman. She is usually a gorgeous blonde, although brunettes, redheads and exotic women of color are also shown. She is tall and skinny, weighing at least 20% less than an average woman weighs. She rarely looks older than 25, has no visible flaws on her skin, and her hair and clothes are always immaculate (Kilbourne, 1995). In other words, one perfect woman looks pretty much like the next. Like Kilbourne (1995) said in Slim Hopes it is likely that these women we see are not real. BEAUTY AND WOMEN The beauty myth tells a story: The quality called beauty objectively and universally exists. Women must want to embody it and men must want to possess women who embody it. This embodiment is an imperative for women and not for men, which situation is necessary and natural because it is biological, sexual, and evolutionary: Strong men battle for beautiful women, and beautiful women are more reproductively successful. Womens beauty must correlate to their fertility, and since this system is based on sexual selection, it is inevitable and changeless. None of this is trueà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Wolf, 1990: 12) In the near past as the new wave of feminism emerged women have broken trough many of the material and legal obstructions. And finally they got out of their houses and became emancipated. But then more strictly and heavily and cruelly images of female beauty have come to burden upon us (Wolf, 1990). And now we are in the middle of a strong reaction against feminism that uses images of female beauty as a political weapon against womens advancement and success. According to Wolf (1990) beauty is a money system. Like economy it is determined by politics. It is not about women at all, it is about institutional power. I will show you later where the money goes. It seems like we are a good way to make money. We are vulnerable when it is about our self-worth and self-esteem. The ideal of womens beauty contradicted womens freedom and power by moving the social limits to womens lives directly onto our faces and bodies ( Wolf, 1990). And the consequence is that we now ask the questions about our bodies, skin, hair, clothes etc, which women a generation ago asked about their place in society. After so many years fighting to get our rights to everything, we are now prisoners of our body. And beauty image presented in time is our tormentor. Once again we have to fight for our rights and freedom of choice. Throughout the years, there have been forces in culture that attempt to punish women who tray to succeed in their lives, in other words to get control over their lives and environment (Wolf, 1990). There is a strong cultural reaction against women that uses images of female beauty to keep women in their place. And we have to ask ourselves where men in that strong reaction against women are. MEN AND WOMEN Media pressures women to strive for the very thin look. For example, magazines for women celebrate the very thin look, but magazines for men do not do that. In fact, there are not so many that skinny women in mens magazines. Women have low self-esteem because they are surrounded with male idea of beauty that is linked with media representations. We all think that men want to possess the beautiful women we see every day in magazines or on TV. That is the thing that Wolf (1990) claims to be the beauty myth. We all have to strive for beauty because men want to possess women who have it. In other words women are being sold to themselves in order to achieve a self whom the men in the future might choose. But Loaded magazine said that women do not have the difficulty of living with the male idea of beauty shown on the catwalk. John Perry in Loaded magazine stated: No, men fancy models because they have beautiful faces, not because they look like theyve been fed under a door. Sleeping with a supermodel would be about as pleasurable as shagging a bicycle. The truth is it is women themselves who see these freaks as the epitome of perfection (2002: 79). We all think that men want to possess beautiful women like the ones shown on TV and in magazines. And the key point is that a womans sense of her body actually has not been hers but mans view of her body. Women see themselves trough mens eyes. But Berger (2005) notes that this is not an equal and opposite phenomenon. Men are pressured to be thin and well-toned too. But they can get away with imperfection as long as they have charm and humor (Gauntlett, 2002). Levels of skinniness are irrelevant. Almost all of the beautiful women in both womens and mens magazines are thin, not fat, and this must have an impact. Magazines impose us standard of beauty and women feel inadequate after seeing men longing for some perfect woman represented by media with flawless face, big breast, narrow waist, long legs, beautiful tan etc. Our culture teaches women they cant be happy unless they are beautiful, but I have to emphasize that it also teaches men they cant be happy unless they are rich and/or powerful (Wolf, 1990). But the difference is that rich and powerful men come in all shapes, sizes, and ages. Men can get away with every small imperfection. But when Julia Roberts was seen to have armpits at the premiere of Notting Hill in 1999, the worlds press went crazy with excitement over this (wholly natural)  ´outrage ´ (Gauntlett, 2002). So we have to face the fact that there is a difference between media representation of women and the one of men. We all are pressured because media does not just reflect our world but also shapes it. And it sells us all kind of solutions to improve ourselves. SELLING BEAUTY We are all bombarded every day with messages from television shows, movies, advertisements, magazine articles that we need to look a certain way in order to be accepted (Kilbourne, 1995). For many of us, these images are neither realistic nor achievable. The result is that we feel bad about ourselves if we dont measure up. This gives a sense of insecurity among women, and this drives sales in the beauty industry. In Slim Hopes Kilbourne (1995) argues that some could say we cannot blame only advertisements, but they are the most persuasive aspect of media power to influence us culturally and individually. Girls are extremely desirable to advertisers because they are new consumers, are beginning to have significant disposable income, and are developing brand loyalty that might last a lifetime (Kilbourne, 1999: 259). Girls of all ages get the message that they must be flawlessly beautiful and thin. They get the message that with enough effort and self-sacrifice, they can achieve this ideal. And the result is that young girls from the early start to feel bad about them. Kilbourne (1999) argues that these images of perfect women that surround us would not influence us so much if we did not live in a culture that imposes us the belief that we can and should remake our bodies into perfect ones. These images play into the American belief of transformation and ever-new possibilities, no longer via hard work but via the purchase of the right products (Kilbourne, 1999: 260). Magazines represent a strong insistence that women of all ages must do their best, and that they must spend their money in order to look as beautiful as possible. Some of their content is the fashion and beauty material, which takes up many pages in the magazines. But womens magazines today construct women in a social way too. As Beetham and Boardman say, magazines not only address women as consumers but also as readers, as in search of entertainment or in need of instruction in various social roles ( 2005: 41). We can say that magazines for women took the task of defining what it meant to be a woman, or what it meant to be a particular kind of woman. Through advertising women are told clearly what women should be, and what particular product they could use/buy to help. Women are suggested an identity and told they are not good enough being natural. We can say that women are asked to buy themselves. As Berger puts it, the publicity image steals her love of herself as she is, and offe rs it back to her for the price of the product (2005: 43). A massive worldwide industry is eager to tell women that there are products for sale which can improve their looks. And we all buy them, dont we!? And the worst part is that identity is understood as something that could be reworked, improved upon, and even dramatically changed. There are so many magazines that promised every girl the chance to get a stylish and attractive look that fashion models and famous women have. Spending money on clothing, cosmetics, and accessories are presented as necessity if we want to construct a desirable self (Ouellette, 1999). How many times have we as we read some magazine or watch TV advertisement and thought I have to have that? We all have products in our homes that we bought because of some add on TV or magazine article that told us that it is the best product for our hair to be astonishing , for our face to be immaculate, our figure to be fit, our lips to be attractive etc. And the important thing is that it seems like women get the messages/promises from magazines full of articles telling us that if women use these product they will improve their looks and, theyll have it all-the perfect marriage, loving children, great sex, and a rewarding career. But actually there is no link between these things. I think that it does not mean that we will be happy in our life if we try to change our looks using some product. One of the most powerful disciplinary practices for women is that of dieting. By dieting women are disciplining their bodies to only consume a certain amount of food. By doing this women feel they are becoming more like the image of the perfect (properly feminine) woman. Media activist Jean Kilbourne concludes that, Women are sold to the diet industry by the magazines we read and the television programs we watch, almost all of which make us feel anxious about our weight (Kilbourne, 1995). Many women tend to over diet which leads to anorexia and women who dont diet are mocked by society or they feel guilty for not doing that. After filling up the women audience with images of super-thin models, television networks then proceed to show hours and hours of commercials on weight-loss, dieting and fitness programs (Kilbourne, 1995). We can se that this is a marketing strategy. Firstly, media makes us feel bad about ourselves by showing us stereotypes of beautiful women that we are not and then they offer us the best solution to improve ourselves, to change our looks into prefect commodities of beautiful women. Another disciplinary practice that is given by the media is that of skin care and make-up. A womans skin must be soft, hairless, and smooth and ideally it should not show any sign of wear, experience, age, or deep thought. Magazines can give you page upon page of makeup tips and skin care strategies that women should follow in order to conform to the universal feminine standard (Wykes and Gunter, 2005). Cosmetic products are being sold to women to achieve those attributes that makes a women desirable. An unwrinkled face, thighs without cellulite, and large breasts have become the metaphor for female success because reaching these female symbols needs a lot of sacrifice, hard work, and self-control ( Wykes and Gunter, 2005). But I have to mention one thing that could lead us women to a completely different era when it comes to beauty. Theres a very different approach from Dove with its revolutionary campaign for real beauty that has received enormous publicity by using women of all shapes and sizes wearing white bra and pants to advertise their products. The whole point is to make beauty more accessible, as accessible as it can be, explains Alessandro Manfredi, vice president of Dove. So by widening the definition of beauty, we believe that more women will gain the confidence, because they will see beauty is closer to them than the beauty of a supermodel that is so far, and people could give upà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦We dont want women to give up, we want to tell them; beauty, its at your reach (Austen, 2006). Dove is launching a major initiative in order to encourage discussion and debate about the nature of beauty. The Campaign for Real Beauty asks women to give serious thought about beauty issues such as societys definition of it, the quest for perfection, the difference between beauty and physical attractiveness, and the way the media shapes our perceptions of beauty.  [1]  Dove has established the Dove Self-Esteem Fund to raise awareness of the connection between beauty and body-related self-esteem.The Dove Self-Esteem Fund in the US helps build self-confidence in girls ages 8-14. The Dove mission is to make women feel more beautiful every day by challenging todays stereotypical view of beauty and inspiring women to take great care of themselves.  [2]  But we have to face the fact that Dove, is the No. 1 personal wash brand nationwide. One in every three households uses a Dove product.  [3]  That includes bar cleansers, body washes, face care, anti-perspirants/ deodorants and hair care. Dove is available nationwide in food, drug and mass outlet stores. So we must ask ourselves, is it really about women or again some beauty industry is manipulating us and making money from our pockets?! BEAUTY AS PROFIT All this beauty selling leads us to the question: who benefits from this beauty market! Is it really about women or are we tricked by those who have the power? Media and beauty industry including diet, surgery and cosmetic industry is manipulating us by making us throw our money on reworking our looks. That leads me to one conclusion that it cannot be about women, for the ideal is not about women but about money. We should ask ourselves how much money we spend on the best thing that will make us desirable and beautiful. The cosmetic surgery industry in the United States takes $300 million every year, and is growing annually by 10 percent (Wolf, 1990). One reason why media is so influential is that advertising is 130 billion dollar a year industry. The average American watches 30 hours of TV a week and spends 110 hours a year reading magazines (Wolf, 1990). It is very unfortunate that the media influences society to the point that it defines the ideal woman. Advertising is a powerful force in our culture that informs us but does not educate us. Economics is also a significant factor in the development of the ideal image. There is a wealth of businesses that depend upon the American desire for thinness to survive (Wolf, 1990). Exercise and diet companies are an example. In order to create a market for their product, they attempt to make women feel inadequate about their own bodies through advertisement. According to Wolf, the diet industry has tripled its income in the past 10 years from a $10 billion industry to a $33.3 billion industry. When we compare some results with UK we can see that there is also a lot of profiting going on. The UK beauty industry takes  £8.9 billion a year by selling products to women. Magazines are financed by the beauty industry (Greer, 2002). They start with young girls and teach them how to use the right product and they establish loyalty that lasts a lifelong (Greer, 2002). We all probably have one cosmetic product that we use for so many years. Cosmetics for teenagers are relatively cheap but within a few years more cultured market will persuade the most rational woman to throw her money on the right product that promises to defend women from their own weakness So we can see that the economy depends on manipulating consumers to buy as much as possible. And we can link the beauty industry and mass media, it is as Wykes and Gunter say symbiotic relationship, because beauty industry depends on mass media and vice versa. It seems there is no limit in how one can be beautiful, or how much money can we spend in order to feel beautiful, completely disregarding our health. And the consequences are harmful or sometimes even devastating. CONSEQUENCES OF MEDIA REPRESENTATION Women learn to reconstruct themselves. It is second nature to disguise them, dress them and decorate themselves with a huge range of materials. Over the past 30 years they have gone further than ever before in this process. They can re-arrange some of the organic material that is their body-sometimes without any harm, sometimes with devastating consequences.(Wykes and Gunter, 2005:48) A research by the British Medical Association has shown that eating disorders have one of the highest mortality rates of all psychological illnesses, and that the level of skinniness enforced by fashion models is both unachievable and biologically inappropriate and gives a wrong picture of an ideal body to young women (Gauntlett, 2002). However, we cannot blame media influences to directly cause eating disorders. There are some others components that play an important role with these consequences. Report notes that eating disorders are caused by genetics, family history and cultural environment (Gauntlett, 2005). But for those who are psychologically and genetically predisposed to anxiety when it comes about body image, media plays an unhelpful role. The American research group Anorexia Nervosa and Related Eating Disorders, Inc. reports that one out of every four college-aged women uses unhealthy methods of dieting, including fasting, skipping meals, extreme workouts, laxative abuse, and self-induced vomiting.  [4]  The Canadian Fitness and Lifestyle Research Institute notes that girls even at age of nine are trying to control their weight. Research in the US gives similar results. In 2003, Teen magazine reported that 35 per cent of girls aged 6 to 12 are using at least one kind of dieting, and that 50 to 70 per cent girls of normal weight girls think they are overweight.  [5]   Cosmetic surgeons are making a lot of money with women doing cosmetic surgeries for every imperfection that we can imagine (Wolf, 1990). Women get the message that normal, round womens bodies are too fat; that soft womens flesh is really cellulite; that women with small breasts arent sexy; that women who dont have the perfect face arent attractive; that a women over 30 who in their faces have sings of their ageing are ugly. No wonder women are thinking about or doing cosmetic surgeries in order to be beautiful. In conclusion, what is the result of this sought for perfection? One out of every 4 college girls has an eating disorder. A psychological study in 1995 found that 3 minutes spent looking at models in a fashion magazine caused 70% of women to feel depressed, guilty and shameful. 50% of American women are dieting and 75% of normal weight women think they are too fat (Wolf, 1990). All these arguments lead us to one conclusion: to view ones body from the outside, that is, to put center onto physical attractiveness, sex appeal, measurements, weight, face characteristics has many harmful effects- feelings of shame, anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, development of eating disorder. CONCLUSION The traditional definition of beauty, based only on physical appearance, is powerfully communicated through the mass media and has been assimilated through popular culture. It is this ideal that many women measure themselves against and aspire to attain. According to the narrow-minded society we live in, there just doesnt seem to be a limit on how beautiful one can become.Well, someone has given us a definition of beauty that is superior to our mind. Can we hope for a day when mind in body will be a notion of beauty? I hope I have showed that by media presentation of an ideal difficult to achieve and maintain, the cosmetic and diet product industries are assured of growth and profits. I hope I have proved that in our society media has created an environment so image obsessed that those with power( and by those I mean beauty industry and media) have caused emerging of a generation of women so self conscious about their body image, that it is affecting their health. However, women around the world would like to see media change in way it represents beauty. We have to face the fact that wearing makeup, losing weight, having surgeries, dressing up etc, will not change who we are. Our identity is what makes us unique. We should not want anymore to look like someone else. There is nothing wrong in doing things that makes a woman feel good about her as long as we have a choice of doing that because of ourselves not because someone told us it is proper thing to do for a woman in order to be beautiful. So I have to emphasis that I in this essay I did not try to attack wearing make up, having surgeries, working out, dieting etc, as long as we do not feel shame, guilt or anxiety when we dont do these practices. We have to speak out for ourselves. It is wrong to use our looks as our voices. It is not the look that should do the talking. Beauty shouldnt be our weapon for success in life, but also it shouldnt be media and beauty industry weapon against women themselves. Media is always going to be present in our lives, but we have to realize that not everything we are exposed to by the media is real. So what can we do? We can take their power. We can reject political manipulation. Like Wolf (1990) said, we should turn away from them, and look directly at one another. We should look for the beauty in female subculture; try to find music, films, biographies, plays that illustrate women in three dimensions. And perhaps then we will unveil the beauty myth and find the truth about beauty.

Implementation, Strategic Controls, and Contingency Plans Essay

DRAKEN needs new growth methods, product development and new revenue sources. The implementation plan below will identify the course of action best suited for the company along with the objectives, functional tactics, action items, milestones, task ownership, and resource allocation. Also, the plan includes financial information including financial projections and a break-even analysis chart that will be used as the basis for moving the business forward. Strategy and Implementation The key strategy for DRAKEN is to build their operations and marketing around buildings and retail stores that are large enough to have permanent, on-site security needs, but not so large that they can save significant money by developing security staff in-house. To achieve this strategy, DRAKEN will: Train guards well for permanent check-in, patrol, and surveillance positions Use advertising and targeted lists to locate and market to these customer markets Focus specifically on guard services and high-level consulting audits, while outsourcing or referring to vendors for security equipment and system needs (ADT) Objectives According to Pearce, R., (2013), â€Å"Objectives or short-term objectives are measureable outcomes achievable or intended to be achieved in one year or less.† DRAKEN will base its success on meeting the following objectives: 1. Employ additional 25 full-time equivalent security guards by the end of the year 2015. 2. Supply security guards to 15 more buildings on a full-time basis by the end the year 2015. 3. Earn $2 million in revenue with net profit over $300,000 by the end of 2015. Functional Tactics According to Pearce, R., (2013), functional tactics are â€Å"detailed statements of the means or activities that will be used by a company to achieve short-term objectives and establish competitive advantage.† DRAKEN will built a competitive edge through high levels of customer service and assurance. The company will strive to not be a broker between clients and contracted security guards, as some security guard providers become, but instead be a partner in the security and protection of client’s assets, with security guards as a major tool in that protection. This strategy will require DRAKEN to carefully audit a client’s security situation and to work with them on plans to upgrade and maintain that security. DRAKEN supervisors will continually check in with clients and with the guards sent to client sites to learn about the challenges they are facing. Action items To reach its target markets of building management companies and large retail businesses, DRAKEN will use the following tactics: Improvement of a the basic â€Å"brochure† website, adding additional services, including corporate training, event planners, careers at DRAKEN, testimonials, and an open blog site. Advertising in trade publications read by managers in these two industries Advertising online with Google AdWords around keywords for security services and security guards, especially associated with these two types of customers New, more professional looking business cards and brochures for management and agents to distribute on appointments and while networking with Los Angeles business networking groups Direct selling work based on purchasing or developing target lists Direct mail of brochures and letters to these target lists of potential clients in the greater Los Angeles area. Milestones and a deadline The budgets for all marketing and personal relations (PR), and creating the brochure/stationery and website come out of the operating budget as they occur. The Chief Operating Officer will manage all marketing and sales activities while the CEO will set up accounting and operating systems and interview potential guards. These bullet points keep DRAKEN on track in its important milestones and deadlines. This helps DRAKEN management and everyone within the company to have a sense of urgency about what needs to be done. Tasks and task ownership The CEO and the COO are the primary salespersons for DRAKEN. They meet with clients at their location to perform an initial consultation and will create proposals for security services based on the client’s needs. DRAKEN management is tracking sales prospects and clients with ACT, a client management database system. The owner’s sales strategy is to listen carefully to the needs of the client and to provide assurance through stories of their experience and an expert understanding of their needs and concerns. While DRAKEN proposals may not be the lowest cost bids a potential client receives, DRAKEN management will follow up with care and the same personal attention that clients will receive if they move forward with using DRAKEN’s services. Resource allocation Resources will be allocated to all functional units in the business according to their needs. Functional units will be required to prepare annual budget for the finances they need to make units operational throughout the financial year. More resources will be committed to activities that generate more income to the business. Some of the profit generated from DRAKEN operations will be used in corporate social responsibility activities of the business. Key success factors DRAKEN believes the keys to success in its industry include: 1. Listening carefully to client concerns and objectives to create customized security guard packages 2. Knowing what the client does not know (bringing deep security expertise as well as knowledge of legal regulations and liability to the table) 3. Training security guards carefully and maintaining their training and certifications (e.g. to carry firearms) 4. Monitoring the  quality of security guard service to offer quality assurance Budget, and forecasted financials, including a break-even chart DRAKEN expects to produce excess cash after a lean year of operation in 2015, which can finance its expansion to an office space along with a 5 year home equity loan to support significant growth of its employee base in 2016 and 2017 to 25 FTE security guards (which can be estimated as 10 full-time guards and 30 part-time guards). Future growth will be financed by the business and will include launching operations in other citi es out of state and launching a line of security products. Budget The balance of start-up funding for 2015 will be provided from DRAKENS’s working capital of $56’000. Sales Forecast Security guard sales will be recurring. Assuming a client retention rate of 90% annually, based on DRAKEN CEO’s track record in the business, total sales will escalate quickly. Sales will be a combination of clients requiring 24/7 coverage and those with only daytime coverage. 40% of sales in dollars are expected from 24/7 clients. Sales are expected to meet the objective of $1.75 million in the third year. Direct costs of sales consist of supplies specific to each job, such as uniforms which must be purchased. Uniform may be a branded DRAKEN uniform, or contain the customer’s branding to provide the visible presence of security at the job site. Additional sets of uniforms must be purchased by the guards from the designated uniform provider. Suits for executive protection assignments, laundry, and cleaning of uniforms is the responsibility of the guards as well. Job supplies will include materials related to security audits and specific equipment purchases for a job as well. Break-even Analysis Monthly Revenue Break-even $24,475 Average Percent Variable Cost 4% Estimated Monthly Fixed Cost $23,407 The monthly break-even is low due to the cost savings by operating the office out of the CEO’s home in 2015. This allows for the business to become profitable quickly. Projected Profit and Loss Security guard labor is estimated at 55% of sales in 2015, dropping slightly to 53% by the 2017 as prices increase and cheaper labor becomes available due to the range of employees. Marketing includes ongoing Web hosting and maintenance fees, continued revisions and reprinting of the brochure and stationery, additional direct mail campaigns, ongoing advertising in trade publications, and online advertising for the website. Rent, utilities, and depreciation will be expenses beginning in 2016 when an office space is required. Training requires the use of larger meeting rooms for groups of guards which will have to be rented separately. Training cost will be reduced once an office is rented, as the business will choose a space with a conference room or table to hold employee training at the office. Training will be an ongoing expense both due to turnover and due to continued training and check-ins with employees. Licenses and permits will include licenses for new guards to carry firearms and to operate, and continued renewals of licensing and permits for the business each year. Net profit will swing to a net loss in 2016 due to the opening of an office space. Net profit will occur in 2017 again as the business scales up to cover these additional costs.

Walmart Store Analysis

Wal-Mart, â€Å"Always Low Prices, Always.† It is well known that one of the great keys to Wal-Mart’s formidable success is its lower-than-low cost of doing business. Wages in particular are as low as can be. Minimum wages and minimum benefits: that’s the way Wal-Mart stays ultra competitive.This report examines the state of Wal-Mart’s business practices and its effect on the economy. It will describe Wal-Mart as a non-union employer, paying lower wages to their employees than other retail and grocery stores. They do not offer benefits to all employees and most are unable to afford them.Between Wal-Mart’s business practices in increasing their profits and the need to recognize their social and ethical responsibilities, Wal-Mart needs to find a comfortable balance of profitability and responsibility in order to improve their reputation.During the process of writing this report, we found that there was much more information to be discussed about Wal-M art’s unethical business practice than what was reported. We also wanted to point out that although all companies do everything possible to lower their costs and maintain high production rates, Wal-Mart has crossed the line over the years by managing their profits in unethical ways compared to other large corporations who have been ethically and successfully managing their business practices. Information that can be found on Wal-Mart is changing everyday and it was  sometimes difficult to keep up.EXECUTIVE SUMMARYWal-Mart has been recognized as the leader in its industry and the largest company in the nation. With its powerful profit making abilities, Wal-Mart has grown from a local corner store to the money making â€Å"monster† it is today. The company has damaged its reputation over the years due to unethical choices made by its top executives. As a result, its anti-union stance has been singled out on issues concerning benefits, wages, and overall business practi ces.When reviewing Wal-Mart’s financial statements, one would be overwhelmed to see such high performances; but when you are a Wal-Mart employee, it is no surprise why that is true. Employees have been denied opportunities of advancement and pay raises. Lawsuits have been pending against the company with employees claiming they have been denied promotion opportunities in the company due to their gender, and some employees have sued for being over-worked and under paid.Wal-Mart has become so big in its industry, that it has lowered the wages through out the country and has influenced economic change. Since most of Wal-Mart’s employees live below the poverty line, it is difficult for them to afford health insurance when deductions out of their paychecks are sometimes as high as 33%. A Wal-Mart employee who obtains health insurance would have a very difficult time raising a family with this kind of premium. Wal-Mart employees are unable to receive healthcare benefits beca use the cost is too high and their wages are low.As a result, employees face a difficult time deciding whether to sacrifice such a large portion of their pay to obtain health insurance; in most cases Wal-Mart employees persist without health coverage. Deductions for health insurance are higher for Wal-Mart employees than other national retail employees. A Wal-Mart employee pays about 25% more for health insurance than the average retail worker. Wal-Mart has also been opposed by its female employees, who make up two-thirds of its workforce.Women have been discriminated in wage and have been denied any advancement to upper managerial positions – dominated my men. Men make approximately 5%-15% more than women and have a higher chance of advancing to a better position. Dukes vs. Wal-Mart, filed in 2001, was the largest lawsuit against a private employer in the nation and represented 1. 6 million female employees who were discriminated based on their sex. From lawsuits to employee complaints, Wal-Mart has been faced with a great deal of difficulties that have developed through their own unethical business practices.Although every company’s goal is to lower costs and produce large numbers, Wal-Mart has made sky-rocketing profits by unethically hurting its employees and cutting down their wages. Many question why Wal-Mart, the richest retailer in the world, chooses not to provide adequate wages or health benefits for its employees. If Wal-Mart were to reform its health benefits program, raise their product prices by as little as a penny, and create a bias free working environment for women, Wal-Mart would be in better terms with its employees and improve the reputation it sacrificed from the start.â€Å"SAVE MONEY, LIVE BETTER†, NOT ON WAL-MART WAGESINTRODUCTION BackgroundWal-Mart, the large international discount chain was founded by Sam Walton. On May 5, 1950, Walton purchased a store in Bentonville, Arkansas, and opened Walton’s 5 & 10. Little did the small town residents know that they would later become the headquarters for the world’s largest retailer store in the U. S. Through his savvy, and sometimes unusual, business practices, he and his associates led the company forward for thirty years.As Wal-Mart grew into a global corporation it is today, it has dealt with a great deal of criticism by outsiders. Wal-Mart’s ethical citizenship has been questioned numerous times and researched by many. There have been many doubts about Wal-Mart’s business integrity and questions whether their practices are ethical or not. Wal-Mart has faced, and is still facing, a significant amount of controversy over several different issues.Wal-Mart has been caught bribing its employees, discriminating against women, denying its employees of training or promotions, paying low wages, and providing high deductibles for health insurance. Wal-Mart is now paying the consequences and need to become socially responsible in order to maintain a better reputation with society. Although consumers are reeled in with the low prices Wal-Mart has to offer, others feel their ethical beliefs are more important than saving a quick buck.Statement of Purpose The purpose of this report is to examine Wal-Mart’s unethical business practices with a focus on employee wages and high health care deductibles. The report will question Wal-Mart’s aptitude to sell products cheaper than any of its leading competitors and yet maintain making a substantial amount of profit. The report will analyze the unethical practices that have developed through Wal-Mart’s history as a result of focusing on high productivity and profit making strategies.Scope The report will describe Wal-Mart’s unethical business practices that affect its employees. It will examine Wal-Mart’s unethical behavior in conducting business with an overall focus on employee wages.Limitations Time constraints have limited the ex tent of the research. There is a vast amount of information regarding this issue and we are unable to report it all. In addition, no funds are available to conduct primary research.Methods of Research The method of research for this paper was secondary research through databases, internet websites, and books. The research databases of California State University, Los Angeles, will be used to locate articles in current and past publication. The databases used are Lexis/Nexis and  Business Source Premiere. Also libraries, such as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Library at California State University, Los Angeles and Los Angeles Public Library in Porter Ranch, California.The major findings of this study indicate that Wal-Mart being the world’s largest and richest retail chain is setting the standard on wages for retail workers and beyond. Because Wal-Mart has become so big, it has dragged down wages throughout the country. Wal-Mart has become what it is today by selling products at low prices and paying their â€Å"associates† even lower wages. Unhappy Wal-Mart workers complain as much about being over-worked as underpaid. Wal-Mart has its own stated policies at its employees’ expense. Wal-Mart pays it’s â€Å"associates† below basic living wage standards and even below poverty lines.Overworked and Underpaid EmployeesH. Lee Scott Jr. is the chief executive of the powerful corporation we call Wal-Mart. According to Mr. Scott, by selling vast quantities of goods at its trademark â€Å"Every Day Low Prices,† Wal-Mart has single-handedly raised America’s standard of living, saving consumers about $100 billion a year (Bianco 2). They feel that selling vast quantities of low price merchandise gives them the right to act as if they represent the American people. Scott states, â€Å"Wal-Mart also provides good jobs for hundreds of thousands of equally deserving employees, offers even part-time workers generous health insur ance and other benefits† (Bianco 2).He accuses greedy labor unions, inefficient supermarket chains, and other Wal-Mart opponents of distorting â€Å"the facts† to suit their own purposes. Wal-Mart insists on describing themselves as â€Å"pro-associate, not anti-union,† but is quick to suppress any and all attempts to have unions organize in its stores. In his book The Bully of Bentonville, Anthony Bianco describes how Wal-Mart has affected wages beyond their own company: Because Wal-Mart is so big, it has dragged down wages throughout the country.Economists at the University of California at Berkeley  found that Wal-Mart’s expansion during the 1990s cut the income of America’s retail employees by 1. 3 percent-or by $4. 7 billion in 2000 alone. What is more, the depressing effect of Wal-Mart’s expansion on payrolls extended well beyond retailing. According to a 2005 analysis by economists at the Public Policy Institute of California, take-h ome pay per person fell by 5 percent across the board following Wal-Mart’s entry into a country.The evidence â€Å"strongly suggest(s) that Wal-Mart stores lead to wage declines,  shifts to lower-paying jobs (or less skilled workers), or increased use of part-time workers. (4) Today, Wal-Mart is surrounded by controversy, but the greatest is from within. Unhappy employees are quitting and dozens of class-action lawsuits are pending against the company. Managers have been known to force employees to work extra hours without pay; either by eliminating breaks or by having them clock out and keep working â€Å"off the clock†. This is Wal-Mart’s way of saving on costs at the price of its employees. Store managers earn bonuses based on earnings.Since the corporation dictates the inventory and operating expenses, managers’ only control is labor costs. Joyce Moody, a former manager in Alabama and Mississippi, told the New York Times that Wal-Mart â€Å"threat ened to write up managers if they didn’t bring the payroll in low enough†. Depositions in wage and hour lawsuits reveal that company headquarters leaned on management to keep their labor costs at 8 percent of sales or less, and managers in turn leaned on assistant managers to work their employee’s off-the-clock or simply delete time from employee time sheet (ufcw.org).In the late 1990’s Wal-Mart’s annual turnover rate was a remarkably high 70 percent, 40 percent higher than in previous years (Slater 120). Wal-Mart does not see this as being a problem. The constant turnover reduces employees eligible for raises, promotions, benefits, and holds the average wage down. Just another way to keep payroll costs at a minimum.Employee WagesWal-Mart employs 1. 3 million workers in just the U. S. and operates more than 3,400 stores throughout the United States. A full time employee working 28- 40 hours a week at Wal-Mart is paid on an average of $250 a week. Be sides having low wages, those workers who are interested or eligible in obtaining health insurance for themselves or for their family pay high premiums and frequently don’t get the coverage they expect. The majority of Wal-Mart employees live below the poverty line and after making deductions in taxes and insurance coverage, a Wal-Mart employee’s salary is not enough to provide them a standard way of living.â€Å"The 2003 poverty guideline for a family of four is $18,400, $4,256 more than the $14,144 in earnings a full-time Wal-Mart worker earns at $8 per hour†¦ A household of four with a gross income of $23,920 or less could be eligible for food stamps -$9,776 more than a full-time, $8-an-hour Wal-Mart worker would earn in a year. † (www. aflcio. org) These numbers are even worst for part time workers. Today, one-third of Wal-Mart’s employees are part-time workers. They are limited to less than 34 hours of work per week and are not eligible for bene fits and must wait 1 year before they can enroll.Sex Discrimination in the Work PlaceIn addition to Wal-Mart’s low wages, its female workers are more disadvantaged and discriminated against in wage than its male workers. More than two thirds of Wal-Mart’s hourly employees are women and make up most of the lower wage positions which include: working the cash registers, stocking shelves and working the sales floor. Although men take responsibilities in these positions as well, the majority of men who work at Wal-Mart have positions as Management Associates or much higher ranked positions. Seventy-two percent of Wal-Mart employees are female and less than one-third of those women have management positions in the company.With that in mind, the average male employee was paid about $5,000 more in 2001 per year than the average female full-time employee. As Wal-Mart’s own workforce data reveals, women in every major job category at Wal-Mart have been paid less than men with the same seniority, in every year since 1997 even though the female employees on average have higher performance ratings and less turnover than men. (http://www. walmartclass. com).Dukes vs. Wal-Mart is said to be the largest and most famous gender discrimination lawsuit against a private employer and is the largest class-action suit in U. S. history, representing 1.6 million current and former female employees. Betty Dukes was the leading plaintiff in the case and sued Wal-Mart for sex discrimination; she was a fifty-four year old African-American woman who worked as a greeter for Wal-Mart.Factors such as seniority and performance were Wal-Mart’s main excuses and reasons that women earned from 5% to 15% less than men. It is disappointing to see that even the cashier positions, that are dominated by women, have men earning more than women. Wal-Mart not only overworks, under pays and discriminates against women, but it also provides neither childcare for workers or affor dable family health benefits.Unaffordable Healthcare DeductiblesWal-Mart employees are incapable of receiving healthcare benefits available for them because of its high cost and their low wages. Since most of Wal-Mart’s employees are unable to afford these health benefits, most of these individuals either turn to government aided insurance such as Medicaid, depend on their spouse’s plans, or expect to see a doctor in rare and emergency cases with no insurance. It is argued that uncovered Wal-Mart employees are not signing up for medical insurance and benefits because most of them exceed the income ceiling and are not eligible.Wal-Mart provides insurance for over 900,000 employees that are with and with out dependants. Employee premiums range between $143. 54 to $249. 71 per month for family coverage and $33. 04 to $72. 04 per month for single coverage. The National Average of workers covered by employer health insurance is 67 percent, and only 47 percent of Wal-Martâ⠂¬â„¢s employees are covered by the company’s health care plan. That is a huge gap when considering that each percent represents thousands of people.Most Wal-Mart employees have a difficult time deciding whether to attain health insurance or stay uninsured for the sake of saving money. ‘Cynthia Murray, who has worked at a Wal-Mart store in Laurel, Md. , for six years, suffers from asthma, but goes to see a doctor only when she suffers a bad attack. Murray is 50 years old, makes $9. 47 an hour, and says that the Wal-Mart plan that costs $23 a month has a $1,000 deductible, which makes it too expensive for her to use. Another plan subtracts $100 from her paycheck every two weeks.â€Å"I don't think anybody working at Wal-Mart has that kind of money,† says Murray. â€Å"All I'm asking from Wal-Mart is a fair share. †Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (Gogoi). Many Americans question why Wal-Mart, one of the richest companies in the United States, can’t offer affordable health i nsurance and pay a living wage. Comparing Wal-Mart’s employee health benefits and wages to Costco’s employee health benefits and wages, one will notice that Costco not only pays its employees higher than Wal-Mart but their deductions are far less. â€Å"The average wage at Costco is $17 an hour†¦. a full-time worker at Wal-Mart makes $7.50 an hour on average.Costco workers pay just 8% of their health premiums, whereas Wal-Mart workers pay 33% of theirs. Ninety-one percent of Costco's employees are covered by retirement plans, with the company contributing an annual average of $1,330 per employee† (Cascio). Based on these facts, it is easy to say that Wal-Mart employees are giving up a large portion of their paychecks to obtain health care. Wal-Mart employees who do have health insurance and receive coverage are paying more in premiums but receive less for their money; in large corporations this has become a trend.New laws have been passed intended to force large corporations to control employee wages and reduce insurance deductibles. From law suits to employee complaints, Wal-Mart has recently thought of ways to reduce the cost of health benefits. The new plan would charge monthly premiums ranging from $25. 00 for individuals to $65. 00 for a family, making that 45-65% less than what employees contributed in the company’s existing plan. But it is not enough to reform the reputation Wal-Mart has lost or the vulnerable employees they let down.ConclusionsHigh productivity and lowering costs is one of the top and most important objectives in business. Wal-Mart being the World’s largest retailer can afford to pay their â€Å"associates† more than what the minimum wage offers. They are in fact, the richest retailer in the world and yet neglect to provide their employees affordable health care with a livable wage. Even if Wal-Mart was to pass 100 percent of the wage increase on to consumers, the average impact on a Wal-M art shopper would be quite small.Wal-Mart’s choice of action toward employee wages, health benefits, and bias work environment have not only brought an enormous shadow over its employees’ lives but also over its own big business reputation. The injustice decisions made through out the history of Wal-Mart has changed many lives and has forever changed the American economy. In the business world, there is big, and then there is Wal-Mart. Recommendations Based on the conclusions presented above, the following actions are recommended: 1. Retaining â€Å"associates† already on staff would be more cost affective then high employee turnover. 2. Train employees. Give the opportunity to advance and have freedom to associate and organize. 3. Our analysis reveals that establishing a higher minimum wage for large retailers like Wal-Mart would have a significant impact on workers living in poverty or near-poverty. 4. In order to increase employee satisfaction, reforming the cost of health insurance would help keep Wal-Mart in good terms with their employees. 5. If Wal-Mart was to raise their prices by as little as a penny to the dollar it would afford them to pay the higher wages. Higher wages provide the employees opportunity to afford health coverage. 6. Implementing fair employment and labor practices. In other words, â€Å"Obey the Law†.