Characterisitics of Business Leadership Vera Wang

CHARACTERISTICS OF BUSINESS LEADERSHIP: VERA WANG Describe the business leader’s primary business or businesses, highlighting how the leader got started and analyze the leader’s three (3) major business challenges in establishing and/or running the company. Vera Wang began her career in the fashion industry in 1971, working her way up the corporate ladder to Senior Editor for Vogue. In 1987, she began working for Ralph Lauren, dealing primarily with accessories. In 1987, out of frustration with the lack of options to suit her sophisticated taste, she designed her own wedding gown, commissioning a seamstress to assemble it. This inspired her to launch Vera Wang Bridal House Ltd., in the Carlisle Hotel on Madison Avenue, New York City.†¦show more content†¦Her plan is to make her product â€Å"widely known and widely worn†. The Ready-to-Wear line is exclusively featured at Kohl’s department store, affordable to the less wealthy customer. Challenge No. 3: Another challenge Vera Wang has faced is the shorter turn around times between shipments of new lines. She’s had to adjust her line of thinking and operations to suit the need for a new line, every couple of months, rather than the twice a year that it once was. This also reduces the time to select which pieces will be successful, in each new line, increasing the risk for poor sales, should they make the wrong choices in these selections. Not only is selection of pieces important (as trends and climate vary by area), but they are allotted less time to make such decisions as what sources for material they will use, where different components will be made and assembled and what path of shipment will be utilized. CHARACTERISTICS OF BUSINESS LEADERSHIP: VERA WANG Analyze this business leader’s leadership style and discuss how he or she has adapted to cultural differences and how he or she operates the business effectively in global markets. Her leadership style reduces the pains, somewhat, in the challenge just mentioned. She’s been quoted as stating, â€Å"You’re only as good as your team†. Executives, who work for her, assist her in making these decisions. These

Taking a Look at Math Anxiety - 577 Words

Math anxiety maybe unknown to many people and yet many more suffer from it. Math anxiety is defined as the feeling of tension and anxiety that interfere with the manipulation of numbers and the solving of mathematical problems in a wide variety of ordinary life and academic situations (Curtain-Phillips). Other studies suggest that math anxiety not only causes one to feel anxious in a mathematical situation but also causes a person to completely avoid a situation because of the ones insecurities of the subject (Math anxiety,). What can be done about it? What do I need to know? What is relevant? These feelings and tendencies all stem from somewhere, therefore knowing where it originates and what the facts are will ultimately help one to cope and in some cases prevent math anxiety. Anxiety in the subject of math is said to be caused largely by failure in the years prior to the realization of math anxiety. It has been said that due to the methodology of teaching math learners grow to be more anxious and less confident in their math skills. Methods such as imposed authority, public exposure and time deadlines tend to have a negative effect to today’s generation of learners (Curtain-Phillips). Also because of math’s serious nature, many argue that humor is necessary to lighten the atmosphere. Young children are entertained by cartoons and jokes and therefore experts promote their use for discussions or to introduce a concept. Furthermore teachers are being made toShow MoreRelatedStatistical Differences in Anxiety Essay1320 Words   |  6 Pagesfive academic anxieties (Test Anxiety ~ Math Anxiety), on the average (mean) of Score, Math Anxiety had the lowest Mean score (Funk, 2009). These results are difficult to believe given Funks previous res earch and mention about the majority of adults returning to having such high level of math anxiety upon returning to higher education (Funk, 2009). However, the reason for the scores results from how the results were contrived. The mean is an average of the five common anxieties found in the adultRead MoreBenefits Of Studying And Learning Mathematics Essay1681 Words   |  7 Pagesmathematics course†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (p. 4). Deficiencies in math skills occur for a variety of reasons. Today, more than 50% of all college students are over the age of 24 (Center, 2016) and need to improve or change their job skills. Those same students may never have had a college preparatory course. Many veterans returning to civilian life did not complete algebra 2 or higher in high school (Molina Morse, 2015). Finding new ways to help students brush up on their basic math skills, while getting them ready forRead MoreRaising A Confident Female Child1126 Words   |  5 Pageseverything (or ever yone) who will make her question herself, but you an minimize their effects. Since kids will emulate what their parents do, it’s important to introduce your children to powerful women. As your daughter looks to her social environment to figure out how to act, talk, look, and relate to the world, there is a better chance she will develop strong habits early on in her development. There is no denying that in this age of social media, we’re inundated with unrealistic images of womenRead MoreStandardized Testing is not a Gauge of a Student ´s Knowledge Essay904 Words   |  4 Pagesbecome so common that there are now instructions on how to deal with it. It is no longer just taking the test for students, but learning to preform under the stress and anxiety brought by the test. â€Å"Critical thinking cannot be tested accurately using standardized tests. Also many students who have grasped the main topics and concord the materials have not scored well on these tests due to stress anxiety.† A student is made up of more than just a number, for each student has creativity and personalityRead MoreGifted Program Research Paper953 Words   |  4 Pagespractice. Particularly when the only test used, the CogAT, is a timed test. Many of the affective characteristics of gifted students, like perfectionism, anxiety, stress, and sensitivity put them at a d isadvantage when taking these timed tests, and their abilities may go unrecognized. Consequently, these students are rarely even given a second look if their CogAT scores don’t meet a certain threshold. The only recourse a student has (aside from the appeals process which I’m fairly certain most parentsRead MoreThe Positive Effects Of Owning A Pet Essay1301 Words   |  6 Pagesto stress and anxiety relief. Animals also provide socialization and relief from complete isolation. Owning a pet has also been linked to improved weight control. As a pet owner, it makes sense that having an animal love you unconditionally could make life a lot easier to live. After all, many of us struggle in our everyday lives to maintain relationships, earn a living, raise children, or just trying to get through the day. Pets can add a companion that doesn’t care what you look like or if youRead MoreI Have An Adequate Amount Of Maths Skills875 Words   |  4 Pagesamount of maths skills and understandings that will be expanded on and improved throughout the course of this unit, to assist in everyday life, and to be able to teach it to primary school aged children. I have learnt all the basics of maths and can retract most from my memory when I need to, which is evident in the Maths Competency Test (MCT) score. I have the basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division skills which do help me with percentages, averages and general everyday maths. 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I had always loved the freedom of my parents being able to choose what curriculums and subjects we did. Also I had always excelled at most subjects, but math and never seemed to be a problem for me, until now. I desperately wanted to enjoy my math likeRead MoreWhy Do Filipino Students Hate Math1494 Words   |  6 PagesWhy do Filipino students hate math? by jhay on June 16, 2009 X Welcome Googler! If you find this page useful, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic. Yesterday, I expected the first meeting of my statistics class to be the start of a boring and tormented semester of taking another math subject. My hatred or lack of enthusiasm in math as a subject stems back to my high school days spent being humiliated in front of class by a teacher who forced us to do manual calculations

Culture of Kazakhstan Free Essays

â€Å"Culture is a process for identity of living creatures and cultural evolution raises the identity of society, benefit goes to its individuals. Culture is the domain of human activity associated with self-expression of a person, a manifestation of his subjectivity. That’s why every culture has additional features, as related to both the `creative person, and everyday practice, communication, reflection, generalization, and his daily life† (Religious Studies:Textbook / Ed. We will write a custom essay sample on Culture of Kazakhstan or any similar topic only for you Order Now MM Shakhanovich. – St. Petersburg. Peter, 2006). On our planet, there are so many different countries with their own traditions, customs and culture, The relationship between these cultures and people rather strained, so there are national characteristics, specific to each nation. Actually, it’s not a secret that, traditions that are normal for Europeans, is totally unacceptable for Asian people. After the failure of etiquette, tradition and cultural heritage of the country, can lead to various conflicts. The uniquences of individual nation, lies precisely in its cultural characteristics that are unique to him. ( Every culture 2011) â€Å"Kazakh ethnic group, held a long period of formation, in which participated many tribes and nations, has an important place in the history of Eurasia, and one of the oldest ethnic groups. It is the successor to the cultural heritage of all nations who took part in its formation, so that the Kazakh people – one of the richest n ations in cultural terms. Kazakh culture until the twentieth century was a nomadic†. (Every culture 2011) According to the Kazakh traditions, guests are treated to the Kazakh national cuisine for dastarkhan (dinner table) in yurt. Yurt, adapted to nomadic life and a very effective tool in the process of nomadic meets all the requirements of the nomadic lifestyle can be easily disassembled and quickly installed a new location. Kazakhs have a lot of different traditional events, like Nauryz, or Spring Festival, Shildehana and so on. Nauryz falls on the vernal equinox. On this day, every woman cook a special dish, â€Å"Nauryz kozhe†, which consists of seven types of products: Siberian millet, wheat, rice, barley, millet, meat, and kurt. People go from village to village, eat this food, sing the song â€Å"Nauryz†, hug, congratulate each other a Happy New Year and wish a good offspring in the new year and prosperity at home. â€Å"Shildehana† – celebrated on the birth of son, wealthy people inviting people and organized contests of singers, trick riding on horseback. Also Kazakhstan like all countries where the spread of Islam, it was customary to   religious holiday – â€Å"Eid†. In this celebration, the sheep and lambs are sacrificed in the name of God.. The meat is given to the poor, and partly used for the family. An obligatory ritual of the holiday is a common prayer in the mosque prior to sacrifice. In this day of celebration in every home preparing a meal, all congratulate each other. At that time, â€Å"the more you learn about French traditions and culture, the more you will be interested in. France has a long and varied history to draw upon, and countless legends and customs have been passed from generation to generation. In addition, each region of France is quite unique†. Easy-french 2011) They expect guests and foreigners to behave in the same manner that they do. The French are all about preserving their culture and being individualized. â€Å"France is culturally vivid and varied phenomenon. Various times, manifest in the architecture of France, calling each other, also appear the picturesque outline of the locks, bridges, towers† (Everyculture 2011). When the French come off the art, they are happy to deal with such sports as football, rugby, basketball, cycling. Bycicle race tour in France popular all over the world. Traditional games such as bowls, are also very popular. â€Å"France is a secular state. The main religion is Roman Catholicism, but it doesn’t play a leading role in public life and experiencing a relative decline. Islam is the second most common religion, followed by Protestantism and Judaism† (Yakovlev, EG Aesthetics: A. Tutorial. – M. : Gardariki, 2003). So, people can notice, there are a lot of differences and similarities between European and Asian countries. In general, the greeting in both countries absolutely different. For instance, in France, â€Å"when people greet each other, they shake hands or embrace with a kiss on both cheeks . Kissing is only done when two people are close friends or relatives. For the most part, the embrace is done only the first time in a day in which one sees someone and is not repeated again until one says good-bye† ( Every culture 2011). Likwise in Kazakhstan, if you know the person very well, you should greet with a kiss on one cheek once and shake hands. Notably, in both countries, almost the same greeting. How to cite Culture of Kazakhstan, Essay examples

Clausewitz and the Nature of War Essay Example For Students

Clausewitz and the Nature of War Essay In seeking out the fundamental nature of Clausewitzs own mature theories, perhaps the best place to start is with some of the most common misconceptions of his argument. Such misconceptions are almost always the product of writers who either never read On War (or read only the opening paragraphs or perhaps a condensation) or who sought intentionally (for propaganda purposes) to distort its content. The books specific arguments are very clearly stated and rarely difficult to comprehend. The first of these misconceptions is the notion that Clausewitz considered war to be a science. Another (and related) misconception is that he considered war to be entirely a rational tool of state policy. The first idea is drastically wrong, the second only one side of a very important coin. To Clausewitz, war (as opposed to strategy or tactics) was neither an art nor a science. Those two terms often mark the parameters of theoretical debate on the subject, however, and Clausewitzs most ardent critics (Jomini, Liddell Hart, the early J. F. C. Fuller) tended to be those who treated war as a science. As Clausewitz argued, the object of science is knowledge and certainty, while the object of art is creative ability. Of course, all art involves some science (the mathematical sources of harmony, for example) and good science always involves creativity. Clausewitz saw tactics as more scientific in character and strategy as something of an art, but the conscious, rational exercise of military strategy, a term much beloved of theorists and military historians, is a relatively rare occurrence in the real world. It has become our general conviction, he said, that ideas in war are generally so simple, and lie so near the surface, that the merit of their invention can seldom substantiate the talent of the commander who adopts them. *2 Most real events are driven by incomprehensible forces like chance, emotion, bureaucratic irrationalities, and intraorganizational politics, and a great many strategic decisions are made unconsciously, often long before the outbreak of hostilities. If pressed, Clausewitz would have placed war-making closer to the domain of the arts, but neither definition was really satisfactory. Instead, war is a form of social intercourse. The Prussian writer occasionally likened it to commerce or litigation, but more usually to politics. *3 The distinction is crucial: in both art and science, the actor is working on inanimate matter (or, in art, the passive and yielding emotions of the audience), whereas in business, politics, and war the actors will is directed at an animate object that not only reacts but takes independent actions of its own. War is thus permeated by intelligent forces. War is also an act of force to compel our enemy to do our will, but it is never unilateral. It is a wrestling matcha contest between independent wills, in which skill and creativity are no more important than personality, chance, emotion, and the various dynamics that characterize any human interaction. When Clausewitz wrote that war may have a grammar of its own, but not its own logic, he meant that the logic of war, like politics, is the logic of social intercourse, not that of art or science. This approach may seem to violate our usual concept of war, with its focus on clearly defined forms of victory and defeat, but it corresponds well to our actual experience. For example, which of the following provides a better metaphor for the outcome of the war with Iraq? 1. Finishing a long, grueling, dangerous engineering project. 2. Completing a great painting or symphony. 3. Winning an argument with ones spouse. Writing in German, Clausewitz used the word Politik, and his most famous phrase has been variously translated as War is a continuation of policyor of politicsby other means. For the purpose of argument, he assumed that state policy would be rational, that is, aimed at improving the situation of the society it represented. He also believed along with most Westerners of his era that war was a legitimate means for a states advancement of its interests. This is often taken to mean that war is somehow a rational phenomenon, and Clausewitz is convicted of advocating the resort to war as a routine extension of unilateral state policy. In fact, the choice of translation for Politikpolicy or politicsindicates differing emphases on the part of the translator, for the two concepts are quite different. Policy may be defined as rational action, undertaken by a group which already has power, in order to maintain and extend that power. Politics, in contrast, is simply the process (comprising an inchoate mix of rational, irrational, and non-rational elements) by which power is distributed within a given society. *4 And war is an expression ofnot a substitute forpolitics. Thus, in calling war a continuation of politics, Clausewitz was advocating nothing. In accordance with his belief that theory must be descriptive rather than prescriptive, he was merely recognizing an existing reality. War is an expression of both policy and politics (see relevant cartoon), but politics is the interplay of conflicting forces, not the execution of one-sided policy initiatives. The actual word Clausewitz used in his famous formulation is Fortsetzungliterally a setting forth. Translating this word as continuation, while technically correct, evidently implies to many that politics changes its essential nature when it metamorphoses into war. *6 This impression is contrary to Clausewitzs argument. War remains politics in all its complexity, with the added element of violence. The irrational and non-rational forces that affect and often drive politics have the same impact on war. On the side of rationality, it is true that Clausewitz argued that a party resorting to war should do so with a clear idea as to what it means to accomplish and how it intends to proceed toward that goal. The connection of war to rational political goals meant that wars could not be made to follow some fixed pattern; the conduct of wars would have to vary in accordance with their political purposes. His definition of strategythat it was the use of combats for the purpose of the warhas been criticized for overemphasizing the need for bloody battle, but its key point is the purpose of the war. If war was to be an extension of policy, that is, a tool of policy, then military leaders must be subordinate to political leaders and strategy must be subordinate to policy. As the Moltke-Bismarck clash demonstrated, this poses practical organizational problems. Like many of Clausewitzs teachings, his solution was not a simple prescription but a dualism: The military instrument must be subordinated to the political leadership, but political leaders must understand its nature and limitations. Politicians must not attempt to use the instrument of war to achieve purposes for which it is unsuited. There is thus a gray area between soldiers subordination to political leaders and their professional responsibility to educate those leaders in military realities. Exactly whose responsibility it is to sort out that ambiguity is a constitutional matter of some importance. Clausewitz did little to clarify it. In his original manuscript, Clausewitz said If war is to be fully consonant with political objectives, and policy suited to the means available for war, the only sound expedient is to make the commander-in-chief a member of the cabinet, so that the cabinet can share in the major aspects of his activities. This was altered in the second German edition (1853) to say so that he may take part in its councils and decisions on important occasions. *7 Whether the change resulted from well intentioned editorial intervention (for the original edition is full of inconsistencies, obscurities, and obvious editorial errors) or more sinister motivations is unclear. This minor editorial subversion certainly was not the cause of later German strategic errors, as some have implied. *8 This constitutional question aside, it is clear that Clausewitz demanded the subordination of military to political onsiderations throughout a conflict. As he said in 1831, He who maintains, as is so often the case, that politics should not interfere with the conduct of a war has not grasped the ABCs of grand strategy. *9 Policy considerations also can demand actions that may seem irrational, depending on ones values. Clausewitzs desire that Prussia turn on Napoleon before the 1812 campaign would have demanded virtual state suicide in the short run, but he felt that the states honorand thus any hope for its future resurgencerequired it. Clausewitz saw both history and policy in the long run, and he pointed out that no strategic decision is ever final; it can always be reversed in another round of struggle. This side of Clausewitz is uncomfortable for modern Anglo-American readers because it reflects a romantic view of the state as something that transcends the collective interest of its citizens. It provides a philosophical basis for apocalyptic policies like Hitlers and Japans in World War Two. Most modern readings of Clausewitz, including my own, tend to skate over such aspects of On War. They are simply too alien to the spirit of our age to have much meaning. So much for the rational control of war. On the other hand, Clausewitz lived during the transition from the 18th-century intellectual period called the Enlightenment (which stressed a rational approach to human problems) to the age of Romanticism (which was ushered in by the disasters of the French Revolution and stressed the irrational, emotional aspects of mans make-upincluding nationalism). His world view reflected elements of each. His vision of war thus falls also very much into the domain of the non-rational and even the irrational, in which strictly logical reasoning often plays no part at all and is always apt to be a most unsuitable and awkward intellectual tool. *10 Because the flow of military events is uniquely shaped by the specifics of every situation, from its politics and personalities to the terrain and even the weather, the course of war is never predictable. One of the most important requirements of strategy in Clausewitzs view is that the leadership correctly establish kind of war on which they are embarking. *11 This is often understood to mean that leaders should rationally decide the kind of war that will be undertaken. In fact, the nature of any given war is beyond rational control: It is inherent in the situation and in the spirit of the age. Good leaders, avoiding error and self-deception, can at best merely comprehend the real implications of a resort to violence and act accordingly. Fu rther, a war often takes on a dynamic beyond the intentions of those who launched it. The milkman and the catalogue man EssayAs a total phenomenon its dominant tendencies always make war a paradoxical trinitycomposed of primordial violence, hatred, and enmity, which are to be regarded as a blind natural force; of the play of chance and probability within which the creative spirit is free to roam; and of its element of subordination, as an instrument of policy, which makes it subject to reason alone. The first of these three aspects mainly concerns the people; the second the commander and his army; the third the government. The passions that are to be kindled in war must already be inherent in the people; the scope which the play of courage and talent will enjoy in the realm of probability and chance depends on the particular character of the commander and the army; but the political aims are the business of government alone. These three tendencies are like three different codes of law, deep-rooted in their subject and yet variable in their relationship to one another. A theory that ignores any one of them or seeks to fix an arbitrary relationship between them would conflict with reality to such an extent that for this reason alone it would be totally useless. Our task therefore is to develop a theory that maintains a balance between these three tendencies, like an object suspended between three magnets. Let us analyze this quotation in detail: In arguing that war is more than a chameleon (an animal that merely changes color to match its surroundings, but otherwise remains identical), Clausewitz is saying that war is a phenomenon that, depending on conditions, can actually take on radically different forms. The basic sources of changes in those conditions lie in the elements of his trinity. The Clausewitzian trinity is often misrepresented as comprising the people, the army, and the government. Look more closely and you will realize that it is really made up of three categories of forces: irrational forces (violent emotion, i. e. , primordial violence, hatred, and enmity); non-rational forces (i. e. , forces not the product of human thought or intent, such as the play of chance and probability); and rationality (wars subordination to reason, as an instrument of policy). Clausewitz then connects each of those forces mainly to one of three sets of human actors: the people, the army, and the government. We should stress the word mainly, because it is clear that each of the three categories that constitutes the actual trinity affects all of these human actors to some varying degree. 1. The people are paired up with irrational forcesthe emotions of primordial violence, hatred, and enmity (or, by implication, the lack thereof). 2. The army and its commander are paired up with the non-rational forces of chance and probabilitythey deal with those factors under the creative guidance of the commander (and creativity depends on something more than mere rationality, including, hopefully, the divine spark of talent or genius). The government is paired with the rational force of calculationpolicy is, ideally, driven by reason. This corresponds to the famous argument that war is an instrument of policy. Thus, when Clausewitz speaks of war as a total phenomenon, he is not talking about war in the abstract (absolute war), nor about war in theory. He is talking about real war, war as we actually experience it, and he is describing just why it is that war is so dynamic, so unpredictable, so kaleidoscopic in its appearance. The concluding imile in this excerpt from On War is a nearly exact analogy: Clausewitz is saying that theory must be, as war is, like an object suspended among three magnets. He is referring to the observed scientific fact that such a pendulum, once set swinging between three centers of attraction, behaves in a nonlinear mannerit never establishes a repeating pattern. As it enters a phase of its arc in which it is more strongly affected by one force than the others, it gains a momentum which carries it on into zones where the other forces can begin to exert their powers more strongly. The actual path of the suspended object is never determined by one force alone but by the interaction between them, which is forever and unavoidably shifting. The trinity also provides us with clues as to what Clausewitz meant by Politik, for the only element of the paradoxical trinity which makes it unique to war is that the emotions discussed are those that might incline people to violence, whereas politics in general will involve the full range of human feelings. The policy aspects are those argely connected with rationality, whereas politics encompasses the whole trinity. The trinity metaphor, as given here, therefore serves to sum up much of Clausewitzs approach to war. In itself, however, it leaves out the fact, strongly emphasized elsewhere in On War, that war is always an interaction between opposing forces. That is, this trinity exists on both sides, thus further complicating the picture. An approach to theory which denies or minimizes the role of any of these forces or the interaction between them is, therefore, by definition wrong. The soldier who expects the events of war to unfold in any other way is doomed to be surprised, disappointed, and frustrated as events are forever spinning off on unpredictable trajectories. So what, then, was Clausewitzs strategic prescription? Various writers have argued that Clausewitz was the advocate of a particular style of war, held by some to be that of total or absolute war (terms that represent quite different concepts), and by others to be that of limited war. In fact, the mature Clausewitz advocated neither. Rather, he called for state policy to choose a form of war, consistent with its goals and the situation, from somewhere along the limited-to-unlimited continuum of real war. Although the younger Clausewitz of the Instruction for the Crown Prince tended towards a firm prescription of decisive battle, the mature Clausewitz of On War did not. To seek decisive battle did not, after all, make sense for a party who could expect to lose. Readers easily detect that Clausewitz had some emotional attachment to war in its more powerful form as a result of his own experience with it, but intellectually he was quite clear on the validity of either. The philosophers students are shown how to analyze a military problem, but left quite on their own as to what to do about the ones they actually face. Other writers have claimed that Clausewitz was an advocate of concentric attacks, in contrast to Jominis advocacy of interior lines. In fact, Clausewitz spent more time discussing concentric operations in part simply because Jomini had already done so good a job explaining the opposite approach. The choice of either would depend, as always, on the specific situation. Clausewitz did provide some guidance in choosing military objectives. Perhaps most important was the idea of focusing ones military efforts against the enemys center of gravity (Schwerpunkt), which has become an important concept in American doctrine. Clausewitzs use of this term is problematic, however. He often used it in very general terms to mean something like the main thing or the key point at issue. He used it in tactical discussions to denote the main line of attack. When applied to operations or strategy, however, the term assumed a more narrow definition. The center of gravity was the most important source of the enemys strength. Operationally, it usually appears as the key enemy field force. Strategically, it is most commonly the enemys military forces as a whole or in part, but it can be his capital or something less concrete, like the common interest of an alliance or even public opinion. The term comes from Mechanics, and Clausewitz was clearly trying to use a scientific metaphor to force the reader to focus on key considerations rather than frittering away his energy on peripheral concerns. Unfortunately, Clausewitzs statement that A center of gravity is always found where the mass is concentrated most densely is scientificly incorrect, and the metaphorwhile useful and interestingsuffers accordingly. In any case, as usual with Clausewitz, the correct identification of any center of gravity would have to be consistent with the character of the situation and appropriate to the political purposes of military operations. To seek for an all-purpose strategic prescription in Clausewitzs discussion of the center of gravity will therefore lead to the usual frustration. The rigid prescription simply is not there. Destruction of the enemy army is not the fixed goal of Clausewitzian strategy. A superficial reading of On War may, however, leave the reader somewhat confused on this point. Clausewitzs definition of strategy emphasizes battle, and he states quite clearly, time after time, that there is only one means in war: combat. The subtlety that one must be aware of here is that by combat Clausewitz means not only the actual bloody clash of armed men on the field of battle but also potential or merely possible clashes. *21 Since there doesnt seem to be enough space for the rest of my essay you can mail me to get the full annotated thesis.

Hamlet Essays (2294 words) - Characters In Hamlet, Fiction

Hamlet In William Shakespeare's Hamlet, the protagonist exhibits a puzzling, duplicitous nature. Hamlet contradicts himself throughout the play. He endorses both the virtues of acting a role and that of being true to one's self. He further supports both of these conflicting endorsements with his actions. This ambiguity is demonstrated by his alleged madness, for he does behave madly,only to become perfectly calm and rational an instant later. These inconsistencies are related with the internal dilemmas he faces. He struggles with the issue of revenging his father's death-vowing to kill Claudius and then backing out, several times. Upon this point Hamlet stammers through the play. The reason for this teetering is directly related to his inability to form a solid opinion about role playing. This difficulty is not present, however, at the start of the play. In the first act, Hamlet appears to be very straightforward in his actions and inner state. When questioned by Gertrude about his melancholy appearance, Hamlet says, "Seems, madam? Nay it is. I know not 'seems.' (1.2.76). This is to say "I am what I appear to be." Later In Act I, Hamlet makes a clear statement about his state when he commits himself to revenge. In this statement the play makes an easy to follow shift. This shift consists of Hamlet giving up the role of a student and mourning son. Hamlet says, "I'll wipe away all trivial fond records, All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past, That youth and observation copied there, And thy commandment all alone shall live Within the book and volume of my brain" (1.5.99-103). Hamlet is declaring that he will be committed to nothing else but the revenge of his father's death. There is no confusion about Hamlet's character. He has said earlier that he is what he appears to be, and there is no reason to doubt it. In the next act,however, Hamlet's status and intentions suddenly, and with out demonstrated reason, become mired in confusion. When Hamlet appears again in act two, it seems that he has lost the conviction that was present earlier. He has yet to take up the part assigned to him by the ghost. He spends the act walking around, reading, talking with Polonius, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and the players. It is not until the very end of the act that he even mentions vengeance. If he had any of the conviction shown earlier he would have been working on his vengeance. So, instead of playing the part of vengeful son, or dropping the issue entirely, he hangs out in the middle, pretending to be mad. This is shown when he says to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern "I know not-lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of exercise" (2.2.298-299). Later he tells them that he is just feigning madness when he says, "I am but mad north-north-west, when the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw"(2.2.380-381). Admitting so blatantly that he is only feigning madness would imply that he is comfortable with it. He also seems to be generally comfortable with acting This is evidenct when he says, "there is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so" (2.2.251-252). Hamlet is saying that behavior shapes reality. It is puzzling that, at this point, Hamlet is comfortable with acting, but not with the role that he said he would play earlier. If he is to play a role, why not the one that his father gave him? When the players come in a short wile later his attitude changes. Hamlet is prompted to vengeance, again, by the moving speech that is given by one of the players. About this speech he says, "Whatis Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba, That he should weep for her? What would he do Had he motive and cue for passion That I have? "(2.2.561-564) In this praise of this players ability to act, Hamlet is saying that, if he were such an actor, he would have killed Claudius by now. This link between vengeance and acting that is present here is what Hamlet struggles with until very near the end. He is then moved to swear that he should kill Claudius when he says, " I should have fatted all the region

Free Essays on Atherosclerosis

One of the many diseases in which fat and plaque builds up in the large and medium sized arteries is called atherosclerosis. This dangerous buildup of plaque may slow down or stop blood flow through the vessels, which is a contributing factor in heart disease. As the vessels narrow from plaque buildup, the heart must work overtime to circulate the blood through the body. Cardiovascular disease, also called coronary heart disease, includes several problematic conditions of the heart, arteries and veins. Disruption of these highways of life within the body can limit the supply of oxygen to many important organs. If an organ does not receive the necessary oxygen, it can be permanently damaged, or actually die. Since heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, research aimed at understanding the causes of this disease could significantly improve life expectancy, as well as the quality of life for those that must deal with the complications of living with heart disease. In addition, millions of dollars in health care costs could be saved annually. Relatively recent research has linked infection with certain bacteria to atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease. Two bacteria that have been associated with these diseases are Chlamydia pneumoniae, which causes upper respiratory infection, and Helicobacter pylori, the bacteria responsible for some types of peptic ulcers. Researchers at the University of Helsinki in Finland discovered that many heart attack patients also had a large number of C. pneumoniae antibodies, suggesting a large immune response. The inflammatory response brought about by the bacteria causes damage to the blood vessels, which further causes plaque to form along the vessel wall. The plaque buildup can eventually shut off the blood supply, or break loose and travel directly to the heart and cause a heart attack, or to the brain and cause a stroke. Helicobacter pylori has also... Free Essays on Atherosclerosis Free Essays on Atherosclerosis One of the many diseases in which fat and plaque builds up in the large and medium sized arteries is called atherosclerosis. This dangerous buildup of plaque may slow down or stop blood flow through the vessels, which is a contributing factor in heart disease. As the vessels narrow from plaque buildup, the heart must work overtime to circulate the blood through the body. Cardiovascular disease, also called coronary heart disease, includes several problematic conditions of the heart, arteries and veins. Disruption of these highways of life within the body can limit the supply of oxygen to many important organs. If an organ does not receive the necessary oxygen, it can be permanently damaged, or actually die. Since heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, research aimed at understanding the causes of this disease could significantly improve life expectancy, as well as the quality of life for those that must deal with the complications of living with heart disease. In addition, millions of dollars in health care costs could be saved annually. Relatively recent research has linked infection with certain bacteria to atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease. Two bacteria that have been associated with these diseases are Chlamydia pneumoniae, which causes upper respiratory infection, and Helicobacter pylori, the bacteria responsible for some types of peptic ulcers. Researchers at the University of Helsinki in Finland discovered that many heart attack patients also had a large number of C. pneumoniae antibodies, suggesting a large immune response. The inflammatory response brought about by the bacteria causes damage to the blood vessels, which further causes plaque to form along the vessel wall. The plaque buildup can eventually shut off the blood supply, or break loose and travel directly to the heart and cause a heart attack, or to the brain and cause a stroke. Helicobacter pylori has also...

The Importance of Immanuel Kant's Works Research Paper

The Importance of Immanuel Kant's Works - Research Paper Example Kant has influenced many other great thinkers of modern times. It was because of the wholeness of Kant’s work that many people from different professional backgrounds identify with him. Kant wrote extensively on political philosophy, moral philosophy, perception, and categories of the faculty of understanding. In this paper we will attempt to outline the main ideas of Kant and then an analysis of his ideas will be followed. We will also discuss the strengths of Kant’s ideas briefly at the end of the paper. Kant wrote extensively on philosophy as he covered different branches of philosophy. He wrote on Metaphysics, ethics, politics, and aesthetics. He was particularly interested in creating a bridge between the rationalist and empiricist philosophies. The major work of Kant is The Critique of Pure Reason. This book holds great value in the field of philosophy as it made important contributions to Metaphysics. In this great book Kant has attempted to solve the problems th at were not previously answered by Metaphysics and philosophy. Kant is known all over the world for these two books and they are also a compulsory read in any philosophy curriculum. In the other works of Immanuel Kant, his works on ethics, aesthetics, and political philosophy are included. Kant wrote Ground Work of the Metaphysics of Morals in which he outlined his moral philosophy. In other books like Critique of Practical Reason and Metaphysics of Morals, Kant has explained his view on ethics and morality. He believed that morals and ethical standards cannot be relative in nature and they should be absolute. He also stressed more on actions and behaviors than the consequences of actions and behaviors. The Categorical Imperative of Kant is a widely discussed and accepted ethical theory. The views o Kant on ethics will be discussed in detail later. Kant also wrote on aesthetics in detail in his books Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime and Critique of Judgment. On aesthetics Kant was of the opinion that our judgment of beauty is not cognitive in nature (Kant, 1). This means that we do not reason and then come to a conclusion about beauty rather it is aesthetical in nature. Such were Kant’s ideas about aesthetics. In the field of politics too Kant contributed heavily as he wrote Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch. The focus of Kant’s political philosophy is on law and on mixed form of government. He is not in favor of democracy as many of his contemporaries but at the same time he is also not in favor of extremely autocratic government. Kant’s political views were mainly aimed at finding ways to end ways and bring long term peace in the world. He was not in favor of wars at all and attempted to give a political philosophy that will end all kinds of war and bring about perpetual peace. Kant's Philosophy The philosophy of Immanuel Kant is complex and covers a wide range of topics. Kant has written on ethics, politics , and on reason and experience. In this section we will talk about each of these three areas in great detail. It is important to understand the social settings as well as the philosophical thought prevalent in the days of Kant in order to understand fully what he is trying to say. Kant was living at a time when enlightenment movement was in its full flow. Philosophers and thinkers had started to celebrate the power of reason and logic in the field of metaphysics and philosophy.  

Policy provision and legislation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Policy provision and legislation - Essay Example One that brings tears into our eyes than a smile on our faces, The human race is suspicious of our own kind that we are willing to spend exorbitant sums of money on the manufacturing and buying weapons of mass destruction and whole scale genocide without even giving it a second thought but find hundreds of thousands reasons and engage in heated debates when it comes to doling out money__ which is peanuts, as compared to the money we spend on tanks, aircrafts and guns__ for the education of our future generations and especially the nursery sector. Writer 2 The politicians in their ecstatic rhetoric at conferences, seminars, public rallies and cabinet meetings give great lectures on children being our most cherished and valuable resource. In fact we refer to them as the future of our nation but when the same politicians are confronted with the question of why they hesitate in adequately investing in our ‘bright future’ are rendered speechless. Further, they are all in unis on and speak in one voice when it comes to safeguarding their privileges and the issue of increase in their salaries and other fringe benefits they are entitled to being our elected representatives but are bitterly divided into factions on questions of child care, may it be health care or education. On this issue they seek the shelter of the umbrella of cliched terms and nomenclatures such as liberals, conservatives, neo-liberals, and the neo-cons. The introduction of an authoritative book on education titled Education Policy, Process, Themes and Impact, edited by Les Bell and Howard Stevenson, begins with this pithy quote: There was a time when educational policy was taken for granted †¦ Clearly that is no longer the case: Today, educational policies are Focus of considerable controversy and public contestation†¦ Educational policy-making has become highly politicized (Olsen et al 2004: 2-3). According to Gerhardt early child rearing is of prime importance in the social a nd cultural life of UK but because of a number of factors, unfortunately, among which political, social and economic factors are predominant the trend in child care, child rearing and child Writer 3 education are not child centered as it should be but instead are work oriented and money-centered. This is the crux of her argument and the main reason for making Britain a fragmented polis. Further Gerhardt is of the firm view that the negligence on the part of all the relevant stake holders, the government, the independent agencies, the teachers and the parents is responsible in bringing UK to this stage where to use a metaphor the early child education and child rearing has been completely neglected. This criminal negligence in not performing the task that is required of each stake holder honestly and with professional integrity and in case of parents criminal in fulfilling their parental duties that UK has been unable to produce good law knowing and law abiding citizens, who on the o ne hand are unaware of their respective rights and on the other hand their duties that they owe to the society, the recent London city riots are a good example. Our educational institutions have miserably failed in producing citizens that are less of an asset and more of a nuisance and liability and thereby are the cause of tremendous tension and threaten to rend to rags the fragile fabric of our polis. The most pertinent question that needs to be answered by all those

Who gets the kids Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Who gets the kids - Essay Example larly forward-thinking State in its consideration of joint custody because as it is noted in â€Å"Joint Custody Blues† the traditional trend of mothers being granted full custody of children following a divorce is being sidelined by contemporary â€Å"egalitarian† views of the family home (Paul 3,7). In a legal joint custody situation, both parents will share in the decisions made about their children in terms of school, bedtime, dating guidelines, etc.; in a physical joint custody situation both parents will actually share the children themselves in that two homes will be provided for them (Paul 3). In either scenario, â€Å"raising kids with joint custody means you have to stay in constant communication with a person you either a) hate, or b) still love and are therefore crushed, or c) both hate and love† (Corcoran, cited in Paul 6). When divorced parents are constantly fighting with each other, be it over parenting strategies or any other matter, children are more likely to be depressed and averse to working with others in school or other groups (Paul 10). To deal with this, some therapists suggest what is called Parallel Parenting; this means that both parents will essentially set up their own households, complete with their own rules, and not interfere with each othe r. There is minimum contact between both parents and the children understand the difference between living at mom’s house and living at dad’s house (Ibid. 11). Court’s will always decide custody based â€Å"in accordance with the best interest of the child† (Law on Child Custody 1), and this will involve taking a close look at the financial situation, health issues, siblings, new romantic relationships formed by either parent and whether there is any history of violence (Ibid. 3). If abuse has occurred between a parent and a child or the other parent, this will take top priority in the eyes of the Court (Ibid. 4). Basically it is the role of parents to â€Å"make the divorce succeed†

Microsofts Stakeholder Analysis

Microsofts Stakeholder Analysis MICROSOFT CORPORATION Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, that develops, manufactures, licenses, supports and sells computer software, consumer electronics and personal computers and services. The company founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen on 4th April 1975 to develop and Its best known software products are the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, Microsoft Office suite, and Internet Explorer web browser. Its flagship hardware products are Xbox game consoleand the Microsoft Surface series of tablets. It is the worlds largest software maker measured by revenues. 1.1THE OBJECTIVES This assignment is going to discuss about Microsoft Corporation stakeholders interests either in conflict or coincide, the mapping exercise and with analysis. Also the Porter’s Five Forces Model on Microsoft relating to competitions among the operators in the same industry and the approach this company adopted on its corporate social responsibility (CSR) and how the approach has been of competitive advantage to the organization. 2.0STAKEHOLDERS A stakeholder is anybody or group that has interest in a project or enterprise who could directly be affected by business operations or its outcomes. They can either be internal or external stakeholders as listed below (Johnson, Scholes Whittington, 2011):- (A).Those that are mostly affected by the business operations and outcomes are the investors, the customers, employees, suppliers and communities at large. According to (R. Edward Freeman, 1984) (B).Those who guide and influence the organization in carrying out the business specifically the government, regulatory authorities, non-governmental organizations and civil societies and the industry organization. According to (Archie B.Carroll, 1991). FIG.1: MICROSOFT CITIZENSHIP REPORT 2013 PG. 7 Microsoft recognizes its bigger responsibility in developing and sustaining relationships with diverse stakeholder groups, both internal and external to the organization. According to Microsoft Citizenship report 2013, stakeholders are categorized into two groups: those who are directly affected by the business operations and outcomes (namely, investors, customers, employees, suppliers, and the community at large) and those who guide and influence us in carrying out our business (specifically, government and regulatory agencies, non-government and civil society groups and industry organization). Investors Pursuant to the Corporate Governance (CG) Manual, it is the duty of the Board to promote and uphold stockholders’ rights such as the right to vote, pre-emptive right, right to timely receive relevant information, right to dividends and the appraisal right. The Board shall ensure that the company remains faithful to its undertaking to make timely disclosures of material information and transactions that could potentially affect the market price of the company’s shares. Customers Customers are important stakeholders at Microsoft Corporation because they are driven force of sales and revenue generation. Organization must provide products that are of high quality and at affordable price. Microsoft continually strives to satisfy its customers’ expectations and concerns regarding quality of service. They commit us to continually improve the way they do things to better serve their customers. Employees Microsoft is committed to the development and welfare of its employees. As the Company sustains its efforts in building a high performance culture to fully respond to the requirements of the new business environment, employees are continuously trained and developed to enable them to achieve excellent performance founded on our Corporate Mission. All employees are required to attend a 5-day training a year which is monitored on a monthly basis. Career development programs are implemented to ensure professional growth through skills and job enrichment opportunities, learning and development programs, performance management and promotion systems. Yearly employees are mandated to go for a 5-day mandatory training requirement. The training of employees are based on the competencies which are analyzed and evaluated every year to ensure that employees are equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge to handle the job. Each employee has its yearly Training Plan to address the gap on the competencies. Employees are compensated based on performance and over-all qualifications. Adequate provisions for medical, health and other essential benefits; and workplace safety are provided to promote employee welfare and well-being. Uprightness and impartiality are observed in conflict resolution. Human Resource (HR) Programs for the employees are continuously reviewed and enhanced to ensure their overall effectiveness and responsiveness. The Company is further committed in sustaining and/or further enhancing the high level of engagement of employees. Guided by the results of an employee engagement survey conducted, focused and deliberate initiatives are undertaken to help ensure employee job satisfaction and motivation. Employee communication is strengthened to keep employees well-informed on significant developments. Employees are likewise encouraged to give feedback and suggestions to Management to further improve on the yearly corporate governance, corporate and operational performance, thereby promoting employee accountability and empowerment. Commendations are given to employees who show exemplary customer service through published emails and the President’s Awards which go with a cash prize to employees who meet the criteria of Customer Service Award, Great Idea Award and Quality Award. Communities Beyond the confines of our boardroom and corporate walls, Microsoft embarks on initiatives to help improve the lives of people in the communities. They do this by embedding corporate social responsibility in its business and engaging her employees through volunteerism initiatives. As a responsible corporate citizen, they contribute to building a sustainable society in partnership with non-government organizations, government institutions, and other civic organizations on projects that promote entrepreneurship, education and the environment. In line with this, Microsoft continued to build on the employee-driven volunteer program, â€Å"Save a Soul for Better Tomorrow: The Boys Town Orphanage in Pasay is one of the most successful Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) endeavors of Microsoft. In December 2012, Microsoft instituted a donation drive among its employees and business partners in support of the relief efforts for Typhoon Pablo victims in Eastern Mindanao. Suppliers Microsoft aspires to maintain mutually beneficial relationships only with suppliers that uphold fairness, accountability, integrity and transparency in their own businesses. Microsoft is using the list of accredited suppliers of Microsoft which serve the requirements of Microsoft, from capital expenditures to operating expenditure items, as well as service requirements. Suppliers are required to undergo stringent accreditation process before they are authorized to do business with Microsoft. Among the criteria used for accreditation are legitimacy of operations, capacity for continuous business operations, quality and prices for goods and services, track record, compliance with regulatory bodies and transparency in relationship. Microsoft purchases, as a general rule, are made on the basis of competitive bidding through accredited and qualified suppliers. Environment As for the environmental responsibility starts from within Microsoft by adopting policies, standards and practices to make our workplace, not just a conducive environment for work, but a place that works toward the betterment of the environment as well. FIG. 2: THE MICROSOFT STAKEHOLDER MAPPING This is a tool of analysis that is use to analyze the level of interest of different types of stakeholders in an organization or in a project. It helps manager to prioritize various opinions, influences and interest to go into any project or business. It will display each stakeholder group interest in a particular project that can influence it either positively or negatively. Different stakeholder groups have different commitment and expectation from the organization, in which the manager has to meet and any conflict should be resolved amicably or diplomatically for the smooth running of the organization and if their opinion is the same, the better for the organization. 3.0 POTER’S FIVE FORCES MODEL ON MICROSOFT CORPORATION fig. 3: PORTER’S FIVE FORCES MODEL ON MICROSOFT CORPORATION (www.doughtycentre.info adapted from core values for the practice of public participation by the international association for public participation – pg.12) This model consists of five threats, which will be outlined and applied to Microsoft’s current situation below: 3.1.THREAT OF NEW ENTRY The threat of entry for Microsoft is relatively low for all of their divisions. In the personal computing business, they have a strong hold of the majority share of operating systems that are used by consumers. Currently, there is really only one main competitor with any real market share, which would be Apple and the Max OS Open source projects such as Linux do not currently pose much of a threat because it is much more of a tech niche market. Creating an OS can take years and requires expansive knowledge of computing. Microsoft has been building off of their knowledge from old versions of their OS’s for years. In this company, all voiced consumer interests and demands are being filled. There would be very little that a new firm could do to differentiate a new gaming console from anything this company currently do or will do with the next generation. It has also been producing these systems long enough to understand how to minimize its costs with the components they choose, leaving little chance for cost advantage. 3.2.THREAT OF RIVALRY The threat of rivalry is relatively low for Microsoft. From an operating system standpoint, there are not many competitors who make operating systems. Because of this, Microsoft does not feel that they need to constantly be surveying a large amount of companies to see what price or sales trends are occurring. Prices are rather static because of this. The only type of differentiation created between operating systems is what software it can run. However, the numbers of software packages that are only available on one platform are getting smaller every year. One thing to mention would be that Windows can be installed on Apple hardware, while Mac OS X cannot be installed on a large majority of non-Apple products (with the exception of building a Mackintosh which would require more knowledge than most casual computer users have.)However, the gaming division of Microsoft is under a high threat of rivalry from Nintendo and Sony. It is standard practice to make large price cuts to game consoles every six to twelve months as production costs decrease, and there is a constant â€Å"console war† going on. As soon as a console is released, a new one begins RD. 3.3.THREAT OF SUBSTITUTES Microsoft’s gaming division has a moderately high threat of substitute. I say this because there are two gaming audiences: casual and hardcore. A hardcore gamer will likely own multiple consoles to make sure they get to play every game they want to due to exclusive titles on separate consoles. This group would likely not contribute to a threat of substitute. However, casual gamers will easily substitute for a Nintendo or Sony console, or even just buy a few games on their smart phone. While Microsoft’s Xbox 360 offers many other services (Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, Last.fm, etc.) these services could be found elsewhere if someone is not interested in the games available on the console. 3.4.THREAT OF POWERFUL SUPPLIERS For both Windows and the Xbox 360, there is a relatively low threat of powerful suppliers. All of the resources that would need to be supplied to Microsoft by outside suppliers are available from a large number of firms. Blank media, circuit boards, processors, etc. are not in short supply in any way. Given the size and brand recognition that Microsoft has and the number of other suppliers available, many suppliers know they would have to offer a good price in order to work with them. None of the items supplied are necessarily unique, and the very few times that a supplier has tried to enter a videogame market through forward vertical integration, it has not gone very well. The only threat a supplier could hold is that the physical items needed by Microsoft are used in a wide variety of electronics. Memory chips, processors, hard drives, DVDs, capacitors, circuit boards, etc. are all used in everything now. However, a large number of game consoles have been sold by Microsoft (66 million units as of 1/9/2012.).This would suggest that the components inside each console would pass as a decent side of a supplier’s business. 3.5.THREAT OF POWERFUL BUYERS Microsoft has had deals with almost every major PC company (buyers in this instance) to include a copy of the latest Windows version as part of the cost of a pre-built PC. This has become expected from people buying non-Apple computers and if a buyer was to decide not to include this, it would probably lead to negative repercussions. There is room for tablets and some netbooks to run versions of IOS or Android OSs, but when some laptop manufacturers tried to switch from Windows being preinstalled to Linux, it did not fare well. The cost of having Windows included is also not a large amount of the cost of the computer, so it does not carry that much weight for the company building the machine. These attributes lead to a low threat from buyers.From a game console standpoint, the threat from buyers is low as well. The console gaming market is a multi-billion dollar industry and there are a large number of retailers who stock Xbox 360s. There is enough of an economic profit from consoles and associated merchandise to validate whole stores dedicated to just selling these items. The possibility of a retailer attempting to develop and distribute their own console is incredibly unlikely due to the cost and barriers. 4.0MICROSOFT – CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY {CSR} FIG.4: MICROSOFT – CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY {CSR} (http://www.businessrespect.net/definition.php by Mallen Baker) Compared to just a decade ago, it is now common for business people to talk about social responsibility and the importance of being good corporate citizens. Many business leaders today consider it critical to engage with shareholders, the communities in which their companies operate, and others affected by and interested in what they do. The diverse activities needed to respond to these expanded duties are widely referred to by the catchall phrase corporate social responsibility. It incorporates a host of concepts and practices, including the necessity for adequate corporate governance structures, the implementation of workplace safety standards, the adoption of environmentally sustainable procedures, and philanthropy. Take Microsoft CSR for example: -According to Microsoft 2013 Citizen Report,the company embarked on various CSR programs some of which are listed below: 4.1.GOVERNMENTS: Microsoft Corporation is working with community-based organizations and NGOs in China to increase employment opportunities for unskilled migrant workers, partnering with law enforcement officials in Canada to develop a customized system that helps police fight computer-facilitated crimes against children, collaborating in Latin America with the Organization of American States and its affiliate The Trust for the Americas to help people with disabilities gain the skills they need to start their own businesses and find employment, or working with leading companies and community organizations in Europe on a grants program to help small and medium sized enterprises improve productivity through technology, their commitment is the same: to make it possible for people to use technology to improve their lives. â€Å"Partnership and collaboration are at the center of how we do business, and that’s also how we work with governments and NGOs. It’s central to our commitment to provide leadership in our industry, to create a safe and secure computing environment, and to advance a worldwide knowledge economy that creates possibilities for hundreds of millions of people previously underserved by technology.† (Steven A. Ballmer Chief Executive Officer in the Microsoft 2013 citizen report). 4.2.CUSTOMERS: As an industry leader, Microsoft recognizes its responsibility to help make the Internet safer and computing more secure. Their ultimate goal is to help create an environment in which adults, children, businesses, and other organizations can enjoy the full benefits of the Internet without concerns about their safety, privacy, or security. Meanwhile, they continue to work toward that goal with the help of government, industry, and law enforcement partners worldwide, and to help consumers and their customers understand what they can do to protect themselves and their systems. Microsoft has done a lot to improve product quality and engineering excellence over the last few years. Every year, 15,000 Microsoft developers, testers, and program managers attend mandatory training on how to write more secure code. They have also integrated security into their software development process. The results have been a significant decrease in the number of security bulletins issued for products like Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 and a significant increase in the security of their esteemed customers’ systems. 4.3.LOCALCOMMUNITIES: Microsoft Local Language Program: This provides people access to technology in a familiar language while respecting linguistic and cultural distinctions. The program aims to empower individuals in local communities to create economic opportunities, build IT skills, enhance education outcomes, and sustain their local language and culture. 4.4.EMPLOYEES: Microsoft is widely recognized as a leading company for offering one of the strongest and most comprehensive compensation and benefits packages in the US. They start with competitive pay, bonuses, and stock awards to eligible employees based on individual performance. Then they add on unique offerings that might surprise you. Here’s a bird’s-eye view: Leading health wellness care: Medical hospitalization: Industry-leading health coverage, more than many other companies offer. Vision care: one annual eye exam and reimbursement for one pair of glasses or contacts per calendar year. 24 – hours health line: receive useful, easy – to –understand information and so much more, including life insurance, disability insurance, accidental death and dismemberment insurance, group legal coverage, dependent and healthcare flexible spending accounts, office ergonomics’ support etc. You can notice that the company is trying to create a good environment at the office by providing all the staff with good conditions to work and develop themselves. I now recall the word of Jack Welch that says: â€Å"The recognition of the contribution of each employee, recognition for each employee the right to have a voice and a role in the success of the company – is the source of true performance. The source from which it can improve not gradually, but significantly† CONCLUSION In conclusion, Microsoft being the foremost organization in the information and technology industry worked at its humble beginning in 1975 by Mr. Bill Gates and his youth mate Mr. Paul Allen which has a rapid growth history and finally became a public quoted company in 1986 and have since remained dominant in the IT industry and is affecting people’s life all over the world positively with business partners globally and also providing aids and rescue services on emergencies through its corporate social responsibility programs and can be regarded as employer of first choice REFERENCES CSR Report. (2012). Microsoft Release 2012 Citizenship Report. Retrieved on February 9, 2012 from http://www.csrwire.com/report/1272/-Microsoft-Release-2012-Citizenship-Report.html Andrews, K.R. (1971), the Concept of Corporate Strategy, Dow-Jones Irwin, Homewood, IL. Blomback, A. Wigren, C. (2009), Challenging the importance of Size as determinant for CSR activities; Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal Vol. 20 No. 3 PP. 255-270; Carlisle, Y.M. and Faulkner, D.O. (2004), Corporate social responsibility: a stages framework, European Business Journal, Vol. 16 No. 4, pp. 143-52. Carroll, A.B. (1991), The pyramid of corporate social responsibility: toward the moral management of organizational stakeholders, Business Horizons, Vol. 34 No. 4, pp. 39-48. http://www.businessrespect.net/definition.php by Mallen Baker http://www.microsoft.com/about/corporatecitizenship/en-us/reporting/ Carroll, A.B. (1999), Corporate social responsibility Garriga, E. and Mele, D. (2004), Corporate social responsibility theories: mapping the territory, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 53, pp. 51-71. Gyves, S. OHiggins, E. (2008), Corporate Social Responsibility: An avenue for sustainable benefit for society and the firm? Society Business Review Vol. 3, No. 3, pp. 207-223; Henderson, D. (2005), The role of business in the world today, Journal of Corporate Citizenship, Vol. 17, pp. 30-2. Hirschland, M. (2005), Taking the Temperature of CSR Leaders, Business for Social Responsibility, San Francisco, CA. http://www.codeproject.com Karnani, A. (2010). The case Against Corporate Social Responsibility. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved on February 9, 2013 from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100.html www.doughtycentre .info – adapted from core values for the practice of public participation by the international associationfor public participation – pg.12 David Thompson. Help employees achieve a work/life balance//URL: http://goo.gl/4Fdh3.28.01.2013. 1

Personal Narrative - My Childhood Memories :: Papers

PAIN! Lots of pain! I thought I was dying! I slammed into the ground my leg now at a very odd angle! I screamed! I heard footsteps running towards me screaming for me to answer, but I couldn't find the energy to do so! I closed my eyes and then I fainted! When I was small about six or seven years of age. I remember playing in our local park, on the biggest climbing frame I had ever seen. I would climb so high I'd swear I could reach the sky. I'd play for hours and hours everyday of the summer holidays. But one afternoon was enough to change my view of my climbing adventures of fun and fantasy forever. The excitement disappeared all because of one accident. The day began as usual with my mum taking me to the park to play on the climbing frame and to feed the ducks. My mum and I walked to the duck pond to feed the ducks. I was having a great time. There were big ducks, small ducks, fat ducks and thin ducks every kind of ducks you can imagine some did look pretty funny I remember telling my mom in Vietnamese as that time she didn’t know the English language very well. After feeding the ducks we headed for the climbing frame. I ran down to the climbing frame my mum in hot pursuit. I pushed through the gate as fast as I could, running towards the climbing frame. I quickly began to climb to the top. I could hear my mum below badgering me to slow down. I ignored her! Oh how I wish I'd listened to her instead. It happened all of a sudden, I lost my grip and fell painfully back down to earth I then recall waking up in an ambulance my head throbbing with pain. I felt my face with my shaking hand. My eyes were all wet, I'd been crying. As I opened my eyes a women peered kindly at me! "Hello," she said, "how are you feeling?"