Ford Motor Company Swot Analysis

Ford Motor Company SWOT Analysis Strengths †¢Timely acquisition of capital makes Ford more financially sound than the other Big Three carmakers. †¢Product line is respected by industry experts and is qualitatively seen to be a step above many of its competitors. Recent surveys place Ford in a tie with Toyota for greatest customer satisfaction, a significant improvement from five years ago. †¢Have a global market presence, with worldwide brand recognition and a particularly strong presence in Europe. †¢Is perceived to be a thoroughly â€Å"American† brand, which helps Ford among certain groups of consumers. U. S. market share, after years of decline, has stabilized in recent years. †¢The Ford F-series pickup remains the most respected commercial truck available; despite demand shifts, profitability on this line should remain high. †¢Ford has had great success, particularly when compared to its competitors, at renegotiating labor contracts with the UAW. Weaknesses †¢Poor Profitability: Ford still loses money on many automobile lines, particularly within the United States. †¢Importance of single components source (Visteon). The automotive market is highly competitive with large fixed costs. In addition, the market demands continual long term planning and research and development. †¢Very little market penetration within China and India. †¢Global excess capacity for the automobile industry is estimated to average 30. 5 million vehicles per year from 2009-2011. 9 †¢Ford is selling a durable good during the most severe economic downturn in recent history. Opportunities †¢Ford has recognized the importance of small, fuel efficient vehicles and is actively transitioning into this market.Of particular interest is Ford’s ‘EcoBoost’ technology, which the company claims will result in 20% greater fuel efficiency and 15% fewer CO2 emissions. †¢The ‘One Ford’ vision has th e chance to generate significant margin increases for Ford’s smaller line of vehicles. Of particular importance is the Ford Fiesta, which was recently released in Europe and China and is slated for an early 2010 release in North America. The ‘One Ford’ vision appears to be a coherent strategy for Ford to adopt given its changed role within the industry. Ford is perceived to be the most stable ‘American’ car manufacturer because it has not been forced to take bailout money, leading to slight increases in market share. †¢GM and Chrysler flexibility is limited by government involvement in their debt situation, putting Ford as a competitive advantage. †¢In the event of a GM or Chrysler bankruptcy, Ford has placed itself in a position to steal market share—at least in the short term. Threats †¢While not in need of a government bailout, poor financial results are straining Ford’s capital.Cash burn continues unabated, and estima tes indicate Ford may be forced to seek government financing by early 2010 unless sales stabilize. †¢While Ford is readjusting production, truck sales are falling rapidly and Ford may not be able to shift production quickly enough to meet changing demand. †¢Bankruptcy of Visteon or other parts supplier could cause severe disruption of supply chain. †¢While Ford has too many dealers at this time, it should remain wary of too many closures. In addition, because Ford Credit provides financing for most dealers it must be careful to avoid holding the bag when dealerships close.

Changing Landscape of Health Care Essay

â€Å"We do not have a health care crisis in this country – we have a health crisis with a health care system incapable of dealing with it.† ~ Mike Huckabee, Former Governor of Arkansas â€Å"We have to move from illness to wellness. Businesses will have to invest in wellness. There is no choice. It’s not philanthropy. It’s enlightened self-interest.† ~ Shrinivas M. Shanbhag, Medical Adviser, Reliance Industries, India â€Å"Our vision should be to have the healthiest people, not just the best health care, in the world. With prevention and wellness as the cornerstone of our health policy, we can be number one in both.† ~ Newt Gingrich â€Å" Shifts taking place The healthcare industry is approaching an exciting model shift in patient engagement as we move away from being a mostly provider driven industry to a consumer driven one. Much like the financial, music, and publishing industries in the past, healthcare is becoming a mobile, consumer -driven industry. In this consumer driven model, patients drive healthcare industry spending and can receive and transmit health-related data in real-time. The main causes for this shift are the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and changing health insurance coverage. These changes have allowed for greater access to, and demand for, health information through smartphones and patient portals. The use of mobile medical devices and technology also empowers patients to take on and share responsibility for recording and transmitting their own health-related data. Under the Affordable Care Act, health insurance exchanges now give patients the option to shop and compare plans in order to determine which has the best value for their individual needs. Being able to compare plans metrics such as premiums, copays, and direct payments side-by-side creates greater cost transparency than ever before in healthcare. These cost transparency and the ability to ultimately determine  which coverage is right for them gives patients the power to become active healthcare consumers, rather than passive participants in the current system. As healthcare consumers, they expect to have the best quality of care and value the customer experience above all else. Under this new model, patients are empowered to closely monitor their healthcare spending and their own health, interact with the healthcare system outside the hospital walls, and employ the use of technology to improve their conditions. Current and potential challenges Americans have seen a raise in health care expenses during the 1980s, the results were extensive; managed care were assumed by employer-sponsored health plans. To a certain extent, managed care methodologies were implemented for some Medicaid and Medicare enrollees. During the 1990s, new Medicare reimbursement policies and the well-known acceptance of managed care plans had noticeably reduced the growth rate of health care expensive. All available studies show that Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) and other managed care plans have provided health care of equal or better medical quality to out-of-date covered insurance plans at a lower cost. While the country’s economy grow stronger during the late 1990s, anxieties about overall health care costs diminished, â€Å"and the public became less willing to accept restrictions on the enrollee’s choice of physician and the physician’s treatment choices† (Luke, 2001). Health care recipient’s outlook à ¢â‚¬Å"turned against the concept of managed care as a result of backlash from both physicians and consumers.† (Luke, 2001) How health care is handling challenges. Many of the challenges Academic Medical Centers (AMCs) face in the current environment are well understood and widely recognized even if the solutions are not. Faster provider consolidation, both horizontally and vertically, over the past several years is reshaping the competitive landscape. Community-based providers are gaining the size and strength to drive market dynamics and negotiate on equal or better footing with payers. Competitors are also gaining new competencies, keeping and caring for more patients themselves. This has begun to impact AMCs’ referral streams and their ability to maintain market share. There are already a growing number of markets across the country where AMCs are experiencing flat-to-declining inpatient volume growth and losing their dominant market position to large,  evolving systems. Government and commercial payers are aggressively advancing value-based payment methodologies and steering patients to lower cost providers. AMCs which tend to have higher costs-to-serve than their community-based counterparts will face difficulty competing for services others also provide at acceptable levels. AMCs looki ng to thrive in this environment need to find ways to coordinate with other types of providers across the continuum to reorient the site of care to more cost effective settings and control quality, variation and outcomes. AMCs also need partners along the continuum to position themselves as primary contracting entities under population health or risk becoming â€Å"commodity† providers in their markets. AMCs must contend with unprecedented financial pressures as healthcare reform rolls out over the next several years. Conclusion Today, health care costs are on the rise. The US spends considerably more on each person for health care than are other developed countries, there are no obvious progress in the healthcare outcomes. Assessments show that in the next 30 years, health care costs will again rise at a rate faster than that of the economy. The impact of an aging population will further reflect the rising cost of health care, by the year 2030, more than 20 percent of individuals 65 years or older. At that time we will be headed for another crisis. â€Å"However, the environment has changed: As a result of the experience of the last 10 years, the public is now less willing to accept changes to the health care system, and the concept of managed care has negative connotations. Consequently, the crisis may potentially be even worse than that we experienced a decade ago if we are unable to find ways to control health care expenditures†.(Luke, 2001) References Khan, F. (2014). The Shift to Consumer Driven Healthcare. The future of patient engagement. Retrieved from: http://healthcare-executive-insight.advanceweb.com Luke, R. T. (2001). Health care in the United States: current and future challenges. Retrieved from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11729444 Peterson, H. (2014). Becker’s Hospital Review. Challenging Healthcare Landscape Fertile Ground for Academic Medical Centers. Retrieved from: http://www.beckershospital review.com/strategic-planning

AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE - Essay Example Thinking of the possible strategies and reforms to mitigate the problem, I came up with the accurate suggestions and critical thoughts on Medicare, which I would share within the following reflection. As it has been mentioned in the case, the Rosalyns preexisting condition of ulcer restrained her from receiving due to the few compounding circumstances: first, she was divorced, second, her annual salary at the gift-wrapping company of $19,000 was insufficient to cover medical care and the employee did not provided any sort of medical coverage for her, the last, but not the least, a â€Å"relatively innocent† disorder, an ulcer, made so far expensive medical insurance to cost like a sort of luxury. Obviously, if Rosalyn was not rejected at first, her cancer would not metastasized into womans hips and she would not break her fragile hip bone. The woman died a decade after her surgeries. In the aftermath of Rosalyns case, it may seem that costly medical advantages seem to be a kind of unattainable service even for those, who are, like, Rosalyn, in desperate need for emergent medical assistance. It is impossibly cruel to make someone suffer, witness how their health state progressively deteriorate. What make things feel even worse, is that getting sick for average middle-aged employed American citizen is a sort of fatal disaster. Rosalyns case seems to be outrageous, if observed through the lens of distributive justice theory. That concept is related to the fair distribution of existent resources amidst diverse members of the society. That justice is grounded on the total amount of goods to be allocated, the procedure and distributive pattern. In the health care settings, like in any other field, distributive justice is expected to work for the good of patients. Allocation of medical services, thereof, should be based on the criteria of need, equity and equality. Currently, the United States of America maintains a patchwork system of five

The development of teaching physics through modeling as pedagogical Essay

The development of teaching physics through modeling as pedagogical method in the United States - Essay Example In 1821, when the first public high school in America opened, physics was already a part of the curriculum. By1886, Harvard College established a physics laboratory to improve the physics teaching establishment (Hurd, 1969). We may wonder how physics was taught back then. What caused the development of modeling? The purpose of this literature review is to understand the modeling method that is being applied in physics classrooms today, how this method developed and how physics teachers are being trained to have more effective teaching methods into the future. In scientific terms, a model is a representation of a phenomenon initially produced for a specific purpose. As a ‘phenomenon’ is any intellectually interesting way of segregating a part of the world-as-experienced for further study, models are omnipresent. Teaching science as inquiry is among the most important science standards to be passed to future generations. Modeling is part of teaching science as inquiry beca use it enhances students’ critical thinking skills. For this reason, teachers, such as physics teachers, who play a big role in applying inquiry in the science classroom must be knowledgeable in modeling techniques to encourage students to think critically in areas of inquiry. Modeling constitutes a complete open learning environment appropriate for students 11-17 years old. It supports students as well as teachers during learning/teaching activities.

Why do we study the classical theorists Of what use are such concepts Essay - 1

Why do we study the classical theorists Of what use are such concepts as Clausewitzs trinity - Essay Example Their findings have enabled us to understand some concepts faster as opposed to if we were to start from square one. Generally, the works of classical theorists help us take in and process an otherwise a large quantity of knowledge (Ritzer 2003). Concepts such as Clausewitz’s concept of a trinity have proved to be very useful to both theorists and practitioners. The concept has helped students to focus on critical aspect of life that could have been obscured with the experiences of the world that keep on changing. The Clausewitz’s concept of a trinity is an interactive set of three elements which drive the events taking place in a war in the real world. The three elements or forces include people, government and armed forces. Clausewitz’s concept of a trinity has greatly influenced the current strategic theories and policies of war. The concept has familiarized students of military art with the events of war. The theory has stood the test of time and is still being applied in war situations today (New 1996). New, Col Larry D. "Clausewitz’s Theory: on War and Its Application Today." Airpower Journal , 1996. HYPERLINK "http://www.airpower.au.af.mil/airchronicles/apj/apj96/fall96/new-lar.html"

Human Rights Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Human Rights - Essay Example Previously and even now in many places, people are not aware of their rights and are not even aware of what their country’s constitution has promised them or the benefits that have already been highlighted for them. Many people take life and the treatment they receive in its stride and just hope that one day things will look up for them. Many people today are victims of biasness, prejudice, unfair and unequal treatment due to several reasons. Surprisingly, while we perceive the world to be a progressive place and a tolerant environment for diversity, there are very visible signs of an abuse of human rights in some of the most progressive and successful nations of the world (Buchanan, pg. 80-82, 2005). The problem or the issue that prevails is that no one seems to be standing up for such clear biasness and mistreatment in society. Today’s world does not show the determination, bravery, and diligence of people such as Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks, and many other peop le who have taken a stand for an issue of human rights (Donelly, pg. 25, 2003). While the issues relating to human rights are numerous and biasness may exist based upon gender, age, ethnicity, skin color, religion, nationality, social status, sexual orientation, beliefs, values, lifestyle, and many other categories, the people of the 21st century do not seem to be taking a very active stand against such mistreatment and intolerance expressed towards individuals in different positions all over the world. The belief that all human beings are equal and should be given equal treatment is no more prevalent. In fact, inequality is promoted and exposed openly on various occasions. Attitudes of ethnocentrism and self centeredness show that people are apathetic towards what state other human beings around the globe are in. Their main concern is being the best for themselves and for their own good and are not even minutely concerned about how people are being treated around the world. The onl y time they will show a slight bit of concern, is when one of their basic human rights is denied to them. Many humans across the globe are denied the right to freedom, equal opportunities, food, shelter, education, and a proper place in society. They may also be denied the right to express their opinion, travel the world, or practice their own religion. However, many people think that human rights are a relative term and vary with the perception of an individual. While some people may perceive something as a basic right, other people may perceive it as a luxury. The dilemma today is how to bridge the gap between these two divergent ways of life and to enable all people in the world to be treated equally (Rieser & Mason, pg. 75-80, 1992). The aim of this paper is to discuss the issue of human rights that prevails around equality and diversity. The saying that â€Å"beauty lies in differences† is very true in every regard as if everyone was the same, then the world would be a v ery boring place. Beauty is discovered through different colors, genders, personalities, ethnicities, languages, lifestyles, and any other differences which may set someone apart from another person. If everyone was the same, beauty could not be found as there would be no basis for someone to be better at something than the other or someone possessing a certain skill or feature that would set them apart from others. To be beautiful is to be different and according to the Human Rights law of many progressive countries, everyone has a right to be who they are and deserve just as much as any other person as long as they are not harming any other individual unfairly to attain that benefit (Donelly, pg. 15-16, 2003). Underdeveloped countries such as countries in Africa and Asia have no particular

Should Morbidly Obese Kids Be Taken from Their Parents Essay

Should Morbidly Obese Kids Be Taken from Their Parents - Essay Example This paper provides the summary and response to the article written by gaelle faure, â€Å"Should Parents of Obese Kids Lose Custody?† published on Time.com on Friday, Oct. 16, 2009 (faure) Western world is facing the critical question,† Should morbidly obese children be taken from their parents?† at present. Reports from Scotland, California, New Mexico, Texas and New York, as well as Canada have shown that because of a childs obesity the parents lost the custody of their children. Because of child privacy laws, many such incidents have been kept as secrets whereas only few of them have been published. The above issue has first appeared in public debated issues, two years before with a British television documentary about Connor McCreaddie, an 8-year-old who weighed more than 200 lbs. and was at risk of being taken from his mother by authorities. It is an accepted fact that removing children from their parents remains a last resort, but obesity experts are increasingly debating whether doing so can boost a childs chances for a healthier life. Childhood obesity can cause physical problems like Type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance, high cholesterol orthopedic problems, and mental problems due to hypertension, sleep apnea and early puberty. The major reason for over weight is overeating itself. Even though, parents have a major role in making their children obese, other issues like genetic predisposition and socioeconomic status and environmental factors, like whether children have access to parks and playgrounds are also major reasons for child obesity. As per Tam Fry, chairman of Britains Child Growth Foundation, if the parents refuse to address the child obesity issue, then they should be put in the care of professionals — with the provision that parents may visit, till the steps are taken to alter the familys diet so that the child may eventually return to a

Jia-Mo Chen, Cello Post Graduate Recital Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Jia-Mo Chen, Cello Post Graduate Recital - Essay Example The music has a refreshing expression of glittering passion with a meditation on modern civilization. The cello has marked dynamic extremes and textural imagination in dramatic musical presentation. The music is moving toward and its music skillfully drawing the East and West and creates real music for the society. The sound was delight in every way that allows fascinating ideas and new sounds with complex textures. The version of Bach cello is the finest and it is musical from end to end and the sound is gorgeous. Surprisingly, it is the most beautiful cuts of cello music ever recorded and its sound and production quality were the best on studio monitors with a nice room sound and good mastering work. The playing is so refined, balanced, and non obtrusive and the interpretation provides much feelings as the listeners don’t like being over sentimental and mannered. The sound is wonderful and it contains beautiful tones produced by a cello. The composition and sound has elegant phrasing and balanced interpretations. Shostakovich’s music is a study in sharp and from the lyrical opening of Allegro non troppo that brings the final Allegretto. It harmonizes discordant raw materials of human emotions. The music of Shostakovich has kinetic quality that suggests manic perpetual motion machine. Its principal theme conjures images and the Largo derives searing intensity from the sequence of slow motion gestures on stasis. Shostakovich’s music has many styles and the Cello has conservative harmonic language and it is particular with broad lyricism.

Practical Project Assessment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Practical Project Assessment - Essay Example The basic idea here is to explore the various elements that compose a horror film and how these ideas may have evolved into current film making practices. The current project starts out with a clear opening image that has been extracted as a long shot except that the image has been processed to provide a certain gloom. The image has been darkened on purpose to portray a large building that is surrounded by empty trees. The camera has been kept at a low angle to look into the building’s top to provide an overwhelming sensation. The contention here was to exaggerate the size of the building and to make it appear as dark as possible. The lower right hand corner of this image is particularly dark and portrays a sense of fear of the unknown. This can be compared with ease to the manner in which typical Hollywood horror films tend to open up – an overwhelming scene of darkness is portrayed that provides the viewer with an automated response that the current film is based on h orror (Carroll, 2010;; Bennett & Beirne, 2011). In addition, the title of the project â€Å"Roommate† has been displayed in the lower reaches of the screen using a contrasting colour and capital letter only. This is intended to provide a stark contrast to the dark and gloomy background to make the inscription prominent (Carroll, 2010; Davis, 2010). The project has been provided with a sinister audio track from the very beginning which is interrupted at 0:02 for a thunder sound effect. This is followed by an inversion of the screen’s colours at 0:06 and 0:07 to portray lightning. The inverted colour screen has a shadowy figure portrayed in all white at the lower right hand side of the screen depicting a ghost. This was meant to provide the audience with a clear idea that this project is a horror film woven around ghosts. However, there is a technical error in the manner in which the lightning and thunder have been portrayed. Typically, lightning is seen first and thunde r is heard later while in the current project this has been reversed. However, it could be argued that the use of lightning and thunder is a common technique used in films to introduce sinister objectives (Landau & White, 2000; Glick, 2011; Landau & White, 2000). Thunder and lightning have been used as early as Frankenstein (1937) right down to modern day classics such as Edward Scissorhands (1990) to portray sinister elements. Most horror films are woven around the concept of thunder and lightning that is also utilised to indicate accentuation as well as climaxes in these films (Mackendrick, 2005; Rosenthal, 1980). The current film is essentially a composition of images taken from the previous term that have been placed together sequentially. As the film opens up, the protagonist is shown walking into a dorm room with clear lightning that tends to reveal the mise en scene very clearly. The dorm room has been portrayed as realistically as possible keeping the element of scattered be longings and student clutter in place. The protagonist’s makeup has been kept minimal and the costume in use is a simple pyjama with a sweater to portray an average student lurking around in a dorm. The protagonist approaches a laptop placed on the table and the camera’s focus changes over to the laptop’s screen. The transition from the protagonist’s face to the laptop screen is a straight cut so that it resembles contemporary practice (Rosenthal, 1972). The other option was to

Equity and Trusts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 3

Equity and Trusts - Essay Example Jeremy Fanshawe, being a the trustee of the estate of his late father with sole beneficiary as his son, Kelvin as well as trustee of a small family trust or â€Å"joint trust† where the beneficiaries are his ex-wife Lydia and their adopted daughter Miriam, has a sensitive role in not only ensuring that the trusts are managed effectively but also beneficiaries received their share. As trustee, he has the fiduciary duty to enforce the agreed contents of the contract he has signed with his late father as well as the small family trust or joint trust2. Under the UK law, he is required a duty of care which is Part 1 of the Act wherein as trustee, Jeremy is expected to be reasonable3: (b) if he acts as trustee in the course of a business or profession, to any special knowledge or experience that it is reasonable to expect of a person acting in the course of that kind of business or profession†4. This would require Jeremy to have prior knowledge and sufficient effort exerted to determine the viability of conducting the business about purchase of art works by the artist Farrah Foster as an investment. Whilst his first purchase, a painting, indeed increased value from  £13,000 to  £26,000, the manner of which this â€Å"investment† has been undertaken without clear purpose and process.  £20,000 worth of money was transferred from the joint trust account to his personal current account. Section 2 of the Schedule specifies that â€Å"when exercising any corresponding power, however conferred† 5 under Compounding Liabilities. On Part II Investment Section 4, it was required under Standard investment criteria, the trustee upon exercising power of investment, whether arising under this Part or otherwise, the trustee must have expertise to the standard investment criteria6. On the same manner, The Act also provides that: â€Å"Application of duty of

Capstone Project Essay Example for Free

Capstone Project Essay There is no more need to fight crowds, find a parking spot, and deal with traffic. The high street and mail order systems still have a place in the mix of purchase routes; however it is no longer the only method of making purchases. The Internet revolution has seen a massive increase in the long distance purchases made by consumers, as geographical barriers are no longer as important as they were. The lack of geographical importance has influenced the strategy of Internet companies. One of the first companies that took advantage of this was the online bookshop Amazon. om. Amazon. com is an organization that offers a broad range of services to consumers and is considered an online leader of pure-plays pure online merchants. Amazon. com was founded in July of 1995 with a mission to fully utilize the Internet to make book buying fast, easy, and all in all, a very enjoyable experience. They currently have 29 million customers in 160 different countries, making Amazon. com one of the leading online merchants. It is rated third in business-to-consumer online revenue as of June 20, 2000. Amazon. com represents the ideal e-Commerce company. It was one of the first to demonstrate the potential for virtual upstarts and turned the market on end even leading the bricks and mortar companies. Analyze the company’s mission and vision statements against the performance of the organization. Then, evaluate how well the company lives out its mission and vision statement. Provide support from the organization’s performance in your evaluation. Amazon’s company mission and vision statement is to continue to offer quality products and services using the best technology available and at a reasonable price. This results in highly loyal customers, while maintaining shareholders interest and company profits in mind. We also want to expand geographically, increasing the number of customers and to keep improving our main competitive advantage infrastructure. By working hard and having fun we seek to offer the best working environment to our employees, promoting career opportunities, and to increase our responsibility towards environment and the society. (www. amazon. com). In basing that off of the performance of the company it can be concluded that they are living out their mission statement. As more retail categories get added, the opportunity will only expand Assess how the organization’s strategic goals link to the company’s mission and vision. The strategic goals of Amazon. com are very simple they work off of six basic principles which are the freely proffers products and services, the use a customer friendly interface, the company scales easily from small to large, they exploit its affiliate’s products and resources, the use existing communication systems, and finally Amazon utilizes universal behaviors and mentalities (www. arketingplan. com). Most of the marketing the Amazon does is indirect marketing where you probably will not see allot of ads for the company on billboards or during the commercial breaks of televisions shows, the company uses allot of online ploys and has very good relations with other partners they use these strengths to market themselves to a great amount of people. This goes hand in hand with their mission statement and vision which is increasing the number of customers and to keep improving our main competitive advantage, since the majority of society uses the internet for all of the business needs, this will work to the advantage of Amazon as they can link up with several of their business partners and even provide links on those pages that will take a potential customer directly to the website. Amazon rarely uses the offline marketing process; they use the motto â€Å"Since most people shop online that is where they will be†. (www. arketingplan. com). Also Amazon has a convenient way for customers to make their purchase more effectively and efficiently which is part of the marketing strategy of them focusing on being customer friendly. Amazon uses a streamlined ordering process that applies the most advanced technology to allow the customers to better navigate and explore online. Amazon uses a one click option once you have everything that you need, you place them in your basket and you pay for everything all at once without having to do multiple orders which make it convenient for the customers. Analyze the company’s financial performance to determine the link between the company’s strategic goals, strategy, and its financial performance. Detail your findings. One of the main strategic goals that Amazon has set with the company is offer quality products that bring in profits that sentiment is identified in the mission and vision statement and over time this company has been able to maximize their profits and minimize their expenses through the North American market as well as the international market as well. The earnings statement shows that Amazon has found a way to have increased sales performance through both of their selling markets. The North America segment consists of amounts earned from retail sales of consumer products (including from sellers) and subscriptions through North America-focused websites such as www. amazon. com and www. amazon. ca and include amounts earned from AWS. This segment includes export sales from www. amazon. com and www. amazon. ca. The International segment consists of amounts earned from retail sales of consumer products (including from sellers) and subscriptions through internationally focused locations.

Phonics in Early Years Teaching

Phonics in Early Years Teaching Reading is important and motivates students to communicate and think critically and empowers them to learn a variety of lessons. Students in primary schools are still weak and not interested in reading either English or Malay books. They fall short in exams as they have not mastered reading skills and if this weakness is not rectified early, it will be disastrous for a student at secondary level. Reading is a complicated process more accurately described as a number of cognitive processes happening at the same time Hjh. Hasnah Kula , the Senior District Education Officer ( Brunei III ) emphasized how important reading ability in Brunei is and this ability needs to be cultivated from the early years (Primary school) . Reading is about understanding written texts. It is a complex activity that involves both perception and thought. Reading consists of two related processes: word recognition and comprehension. Word recognition refers to the process of perceiving how written symbols correspond to ones spoken language. Comprehension is the process of making sense of words, sentences and connected text. Readers typically make use of background knowledge, vocabulary, grammatical knowledge, experience with text and other strategies to help them understand written text. Teaching struggling readers to read takes time and patience. Many teachers are concerned about the numbers of elementary children who struggle with reading. Such concerns are warranted. Studies indicate that when students get off to a poor start in reading, they rarely catch up. Struggling readers encounter negative consequences such as an assignment to special education classrooms or participation in long-term remedial services. Further, as they progress through the grade levels, the academic distance from those who read well grows more pronounced (The Learning First Alliance, 1998; Rashotte, Toregesen, Wagner, 1997; National Reading Panel, 1999; Torgesen, 1998). Why do some students struggle with reading and what can be done to increase their success? These questions plague teachers and parents and are ones that compelled them to search for answers. 1.1 Background of the study Decoding is the ability to apply the knowledge of letter-sound relationships, including knowledge of letter patterns, to correctly pronounce written words. Understanding these relationships gives children the ability to recognize familiar words quickly and to figure out words they have not seen before. Although children may sometimes figure out some of these relationships on their own, most children benefit from explicit instruction in this area. Phonics is one approach to reading instruction that teaches students the principles of letter-sound relationships, how to sound out words, and exceptions to the principles. Therefore, appropriate early direct instruction seems to be the best medicine for reading problems. Reading is not developmental or natural, but is learned. Reading disabilities reflect a persistent deficit, rather than a developmental lag in linguistic (phonological) skills and basic reading skills. Children who fall behind at an early age (K and grade 1) fall further and further behind over time. Longitudinal studies show that of the children who are diagnosed as reading disabled in third grade, 74% remain disabled in ninth grade (Fletcher, et al., 1994; Shaywitz, Escobar, Shaywitz, Fletcher, Makuch, 1992; Stanovich, 1986; Stanovich Siegel, 1994). Lack of phonemic awareness seems to be a major obstacle to learning to read (Vellutino Scanlon, 1987a; Wagner Torgeson, 1987). However,in Brunei , it was only in Year 2009 that the phonics approach for teaching reading was introduced . It is one of the approaches that is included in the new educational system,known as the SPN21, where the phonics approach needs to be implemented in teaching reading and writing to Preschool and Year 1 students . The action was also taken in response to a national report which indicates that about 76 percent of students in Year four and 44 percent of students in Year six had not learnt the basic literacy skills in Brunei ( National Study of Student Competencies in Mathematics and English , 2008). In an effort to introduce teachers to the phonics approach, the Ministry of Education had conducted workshops especially for the English language teachers which aims to provide them with the phonics approach knowledge and how it is taught . 1.2 Statement of the Problem Having an effective teaching instruction such as the phonics approach to teach reading in a classroom would be a relief for any teachers who face problems with students who are unable to read . However, not all students could achieve the same level of reading in a classroom even though the same approach was used and was found to be effective with others. While most students are ready to read on a higher level, effective classroom teachers might recognize that some students are lagging in reading skills. Those students who are not strong readers often are not as successful as they could be in a given content area. Their progress is slow without the help of an observant and effective teacher. This is where a remedial reading program is needed to help these struggling readers to read . In most schools in Brunei, children who have problems in reading are placed in a remedial program through a pull-out system (students are taken to a special room during a particular lesson for a remedial session ) which is run by a special education teacher . However, the remedial lessons were usually implemented for teaching reading in Bahasa Melayu and as a result the reading problem in the English language remains . As for the school in this study,the remedial reading session was run on the initiative of the English language teacher during the English lesson itself. This was seen to be ineffective because this respective teacher found it difficult to provide extra time during the lessons to help these difficult readers because the teacher would also need to deal with some other average students who might need help during the lesson . Therefore,the remedial reading sessions were not consistently done with these difficult readers. A successful remediation requires direct, intensive intervention with an effective program. Effective remediation is not teaching down to a lower level, helping the students learn ways to manage his reading difficulties, or continuing practice of impaired reading. Effective remediation directly builds necessary skills so the students acquire the necessary skills and can advance. To read proficiently the student needs to convert print to sound and develop phonologic processing pathways. ÂÂ  After fundamental phonemic processing is established the student needs to build advanced skills. Effective reading remediation programs directly develop all skills necessary for proficient reading. Phonics could be useful to teach reading to difficult readers in the Primary school, especially in terms of getting them familiar with the sounds of each letter. Moreover, they need a program which can help them to read in a short period of time so that they might not fall back too far from other students of their levels. Ignoring them and hoping that somehow they would catch up and be able to read like their fellow classmates is likely to create problems in the future. 1.3 Purpose of the study This study aims at achieving the following objectives : To explore the implementation of the remedial reading program using the phonics approach for difficult readers in a Year 4 class. To measure the reading achievement of these difficult readers within 3 weeks of daily remedial sessions (30 minutes per day). To promote a suitable time (outside the classroom lesson) for the teacher to run a remedial session with the difficult reading students. 1.4 Research Questions How is the remedial reading session in the school being conducted? How much is the phonics knowledge being included in the program? What is the impact of a constant reading remedial session with difficult readers on their reading performance using a Synthetic phonics approach? To what extent would a morning session hours (before the classroom lesson) and recess hours could be spent for remedial reading session . How much could the students improve from these sessions? 1.5 Significance of the study One of the major struggles of the primary school teachers is how to identify the most effective ways to teach their students how to read, especially with all the different learning styles among children. Children come to school with varied reading abilities and literacy experiences. All children have the ability to learn to read but at different rates and in different ways (International Reading Association, 2000; Moore Whitfield, 2009). It is essential for a teacher to have a comprehensive knowledge of the reading process, the ability to observe and assess a students strengths and weaknesses, and the ability to adapt ones teaching in response to the learning needs of the students (International Reading Association, 2000). It is the responsibility of the teachers to provide reading instruction that meets the needs of these diverse students. Teaching students to read is one of the most challenging things in teaching because teachers would need to be alert with their teaching approaches or instructions so that they meet each and every children needs in learning to read .And while many children follow a typical pattern while learning to read that allows their individual differences to be met with one program, those who do not follow that pattern often fall behind. Many remedial programs are simply a slower version of reading programs used for typical students, but these dont necessarily work for atypical learners. Thats why it might be more effective to develop remedial programs for specific students. Therefore, throughout this study, it was hoped that the result of the research can be beneficial for English teacher in structuring a remedial program for their difficult readers and to get them to reflect on their efforts in helping the these students to learn reading . It was also hoped that the results would be able to make the teachers, school administrator and the curriculum developers of the school under study to realize how important a synthetic phonic approach is to be included in the remedial program . 1.6 Limitations of the Study This study however has its limitations . These include the length of research time , small samples used and also the different reading difficulties of the participants . The sessions were conducted over a three-week period only where the participants were taught five times in a week ( 2.5 hours in total) . The study only involved two students from a Year 4 class in a selected school in Brunei Muara District (small sample size) . The reading difficulties of the participants might be different from others because difficult readers might have so much difficulty in applying the phonics skills and therefore this might vary the instructional approach used in this study with other settings. Thus , the findings of the study should be interpreted with these limitations in mind . 1.6 Definition of Terms The terms below were used in this study: Letter- sound relationship : Skills associated with sound-letter knowledge: the awareness of how spoken sound and written letters relate to each other in the English language the names of letters and the sounds associated with them the ability to recognize words previously seen the ability to apply knowledge of how sounds and letters are related to each other to figure out the pronunciation of words not seen before, which is known as decoding (Shedd, 2008) Phonemic Awareness This skill involves the ability to manipulate and understand sounds, and the relationship between sounds and words. For example, children learn to recognize that two words sound alike (or rhyme), and can identify the first or last sound in a word. They are able to manipulate sounds in words to make up new words (eg might without the /t/ sound is my), and recognize that sentences are made up of separate words. (http://elr.com.au/phonological/design.htm#a03) Difficult Readers Students with the following reading problems : difficulty in matching sounds and letters has trouble in reading and spelling phonetically decode in a very laboured manner Remedial Lessons Lessons conducted especially to help low achieving students which is designed to help these students to improve and simplify their learning difficulties and to catch up with other fellows of the same levels. Phonics Teaching reading by training the students to associate letters with their sound values.

Bajaj Auto Limited | Analysis

Bajaj Auto Limited | Analysis The global economy and the market are growing faster than ever. The current business situation is in a state where they need to reshape their ideas constantly. The change has become so inevitable that without it a company couldnt survive in this competitive world. Change is the process of taking a company from current position (state) to a desired or expected position (state) and at the same time dealing with the problems that arise in the process, then change is about the management. (Gill, 2003). Change is something that cannot force upon, it is a gradual process of transformation that can affect the entire structure. Change management is an organized, methodical application of the knowledge, tools, and resources of change that provides organizations with a key development to achieve their business strategy. But change management is not a distinct discipline with rigid and clearly defined boundaries (Burnes, 2004). Organisations may not get their desired outcome if the change management is not effective. With effective management of change we can easily achieve a better turnover, expand the business, reduce cost of sales, maximise profit and even retain the same employee satisfaction. There are two angles in which a change can be viewed one from the management who are implementing it and another form the employees who undergo it. In the past, the affect of change agents on a business organization was very small but as and when the business transactions started to happen on global basis, the agents that could lead into organizational change also increased. The affect of a change can be felt in global way just like the current financial crunch that is happening around world. Brief History of Bajaj Auto Limited The Bajaj Group is one of the top 10 business organisations in India. The Bajaj Group has a wide range of industries such as, Bajaj Auto Ltd, home appliances, lighting, iron and steel, insurance, travel and finance. But the groups main focus is Bajaj Auto which is ranked as the worlds fourth largest two- and three- wheeler manufacturer and is well-known in over a dozen countries in Europe, Latin America, the US and Asia. Jamnalal Bajaj founded Bajaj Auto Ltd in the year 1926, which did mainly import and sell two or three wheelers. In the year 1959, the company secured a license from the government of India to manufacture two and three wheelers. From this license, the company started to grow and in the same year, it went in collaboration with Piaggio to manufacture scooters and marketed under the brand name Vespa. By the end of the 10 year agreement with Piaggio, the company started manufacturing its own scooters under the brand name Chetak which pushed the Indian market to top boom and stayed as market leaders in scooter industry for a long period in India. The scooter made a strong brand image among people especially the middle class families who longed to have their own transport which was economical, durable and easy to maintain which was the key factor for their dominancy in market. The cost of motorcycles was 30% high when compared with scooters, so common people prefer it. Another factor for the market dominancy was the restriction for international brands in the Indian market. Hence the company faced no much competition. After the effect of globalisation when international organisation started to enter the Indian market, the competition faced by Bajaj was severe. The international companies had invested a lot in Research and developments and had better features and fuel efficiencies and this started to trouble the Bajas rule over the Indian market. When the price gap between motorcycles and scooters narrowed consumers started to shift to motorcycles because they were more able to travel on a terrain and had much greater ground clearance. When banks started to give loans to own vehicles it was a dream come true for most of the Indians and thus the consumer preference shifted to motorcycles rather than scooters. To conclude the situation created because of the companys lack of interest in RD, the turn over market dominancy and overall market value of the company starts declining constantly. (Source: www.bajajauto.com) Changing Scenario In the early 1990s, the market saw a great recession in the Indian two wheeler sector; overall sales of two-wheelers declined by 15% in 1991 and 8% in 1992. This period also saw a steep rise in fuel prices, which resulted in consumers placing greater emphasis on fuel efficiency when purchasing a new two wheeler. Fuel efficiency of scooters were comparatively less with motorcycles. When banks started financing for buying new vehicles common people shifted to motorcycles which can save a fortune in fuel. Japanese companies like Honda motor co. ltd (Honda), Suzuki and Yamaha started their operations in India through joint ventures with Indian companies like hero Cycles ltd, TVS, Escorts, etc. All these joint ventures were in the motorcycle segment. The foreign firms came with the latest technology and efficient production systems, which dramatically improved the quality of motorcycles available in the Indian market. Soon the foreign companies started introducing more new models with contemporary technology, styling and greater fuel efficiency. Then, the entire Indian market witnessed a change that was not at all foreseen by the company. The consumer preference shifted from scooters to motorcycles, which affected the company drastically in a much big way. This was because the difference in the ratio of youngsters and mature adults. In addition the motorcycles became cheaper, more fuel-efficient and was capable to ride with ease in any terrain. The arch rivals, Hero Honda was the company the Bajaj had to compete, but it was in vain as Bajaj had not once thought of modifying their scooters or thought of bringing new motorcycles into market and ultimately Bajaj had to give up its throne of the largest two wheeler company. The model Bajaj was rolling out of the company was a geared scooter. In the year 2005-06 with the entry of gearless scooters Bajaj lost its dominance over the Indian market to the gearless scooter named Activa from Honda, which was more comfortable for old people as well as women and even men have started to use Activa for their short errands because of its ease of use. Forces of Change Organisational change is triggered by performance falling below expectations or aspiration levels (Nilakant Ramnarayan, 2006) or change is initiated by disconfirmation. Forces of change can be two types: the external and the internal. External Forces Consumer preference In the 1990s, the Indian two wheeler market witnessed a shift in consumer preferences. License Raj The private investment was extensively regulated by the government through licensing. All the important business decisions like the entry of a firm into an industry, capacity expansion, choice of product, capacity mix and the technology were controlled by the government in an attempt to prevent concentration of economic power. This was referred as License Raj. Also there was a change in emission norms. Poor conditions of the road The conditions were really bad at that time. The consumers need a vehicle with strong reliability and fuel efficient. Poor conditions of the transport system The suppliers had a hard time for supplying materials. Also the growth was partly attributed to the inefficient public transport systems in the countrys towns and cities, which led to a greater demand for personal transport. Internal Forces Companys inability to force the market and shift in the trend patterns BAL had been slow in reading the demand pattern and how to cater to the changing consumer tastes and preferences. Company was not interested in RD It was believed that the dramatic shift happened because BAL did not pay sufficient attention to design, research and development and consumer satisfaction. No additional features Motorcycles with better ground clearance, stronger suspensions, and larger wheel bases, performed well on the village roads. Also the fuel economy was an added bonus No other brand of scooters No young and fresh minds in the companys management Change Models The format and the procedure by which a change has been made in a particular scenario is known as the change model. Change models are tools for driving change forces in an organization. Managing the complex process of change mainly involves managing a set of activities, in which each of the activity is crucial for the overall success of change. The change process involves translating the need for change into a desire for change, and deciding who will manage the change and creating a effective workable relationship. Change Model applied in Bajaj Auto Ltd Change Models provided by Kurt Lewin (1951) and V. Nilakant S. Ramnarayan (2006) is one of the prominent change models followed in the present world. The best model suited for the current scenario is the combination of both of these models by above authors. It can be divided into three phases: The first phase involves preparing the people for change with the focus on getting them to let go of what is familiar. The second phase involves taking the steps that actually implement the change. The last phase involves returning the organization to a stable state again based on the new culture. The first stage according to Kurt Lewin, in order to implement a change is Unfreezing and most of the cases it will be done by the change agent. In this scenario, Rahul Bajaj, the chairperson of the company is the change agent and this stage involves alerting and communicating the problems, performance gap and need for change to the internal customers/employees. It is basically modifying the current situation in order to achieve the proposed change by proper communication and understanding to the restrainers of change which helps to reduce the resistance and it is the best strategy for change. The second stage involves the application of the change model provided by V. Nilakant and S. Ramnarayan. It mainly highlights the importance of leadership in the process of change. The task of appreciating change requires the leader to understand the forces of change and prevailing mindset inside the organisation, where as task of mobilising support require leaders to facilitate the idea of change. In the same model, task of executing change involves creating the right structure and processes in an organisation, which is crucial and very important for the vertical and horizontal communication within the organisation, which ensures that employees are highly focused during the change process. Building Change capability involves empowering employees and making them believe in their own abilities to face new challenges; undertake and complete new tasks. Above all, high emphasises is placed on leadership in the organisation which is the driving force of the above tasks, which also plays a vital role in creating and sustaining change within an organisation. Managed Change, is a data-driven process that guides the project teams, internal change agents and sponsors to follow as they just need to follow guidelines through simple projects or complex initiatives. The third stage is refreezing stage which stabilizes the organisation at a new state of equilibrium. The main point about this stage is that new behaviour must be, to some degree, congruent with the rest of the behaviour, personality and environment of the learner or it will simply lead to a new round of disconfirmation (Schein, 1996). In organisational terms, refreezing often requires changes to organisational culture, norms, policies and practices. (Cummings and Huse, 1989) (Source: Bernard Burnes (2004) Managing Change (Fourth Edition) Prentice Hall) Application of change model in Bajaj Auto Ltd Unfreezing Stage: After dominating the Indian two wheeler market for three decades by the end of 1999 BAL realised the change in consumer preference from scooter to motorcycles with four stroke engines and predictions was that this trend will continue in a higher scale. There was a 41% fall in scooter sale in 2001 which was a real threat for the existence of BAL. Also a new set of emission norms (equivalent to Euro II emission norms) came into effect in 2000 for petrol two stroke engines. As a result, scooters with two-stroke engines fell out of favour. Applying the change model proposed above, Bajaj Autos was losing its market share due to change in consumer preferences, development of new market segments and availability of better products and scooters manufactured by their competitors. In first step, Chairman of company Rahul Bajaj which is change agent as well identified the need for change as suggested by Kurt Lewin, he unfreeze the current situation by making employees aware of problems, performance gap and need for change. Simultaneously, he empowered and provided new leadership roles to younger generation such as Rajiv Bajaj (Managing Director). In an attempt to regain market share, the company increased its production of motorcycles by 67.6% in 2001 even as the production of geared scooters fell by 44%. By 2001, the company was manufacturing as many motorcycles as geared scoters. Moving/Changing Stage: This is the stage where the leadership qualities of a change agent play an important role in success of the change. Change agent in our scenario Rahul Bajaj who is the chair person of the company analysed the present market environment and figure out the importance of change to retain the market share and to bring the company back in the path of success. He figured out the customer demands through surveys and categorised the production in different segments such as executive segment, cruiser segment, premium segment etc. He also introduced youngsters into the company and gave them more authority in order to create innovative ideas which were very important for the competitive market. He also invested a huge amount in RD and also for design. This completely changed the product portfolio of Bajaj Auto Ltd. Within a short time after these changes new version motorcycles launched in every segment such as Boxer and Caliber in executive segment, Eliminator in cruiser segment and Pulser Ave nger and Discover in premium segment which was a huge success in the Indian motorcycles industry. This transformation of Bajaj from scooters to motorcycles created a huge impact on the mind set of the public especially the new generation who were looking for more performance and stylish bikes. The turning point in this change process was the introduction of the product Pulsar and DTSi technology which help them to capture the two wheeler market under their name and to overcome their rival Hero Honda. They also tried to resurrect scooter sales. While sale of geared scooters were falling, the gearless scooter has been growing. The purchasers of gearless scooters were mainly teenagers, women and older people. So they started production of gearless scooters in 2000 under the name Saffire which was a great success with its new technology and design from Tokyo RD a Japanese design firm. They also give great importance to improve the mileage because it was an important specification for choosing a new model in the market. As per the model suggested the change agent was successful in motivating people, engaging people and developing the capabilities in an economical way rather than going for a complete reconstruction of the organisation. They appreciated the change happened in the organisation, build up the change capabilities, mobilise support and execute the change in the right time and right manner. Refreezing Stage: This is the stage where the company returns to a stable state based on the new culture. It mainly deals with changes to organisational culture, norms, policies and practices to cope up with the change for a smooth running of the day to day routine of the organisation. When Bajajs motorcycles were becoming popular the scooter sales were really down because of the competition in market. They analysed the market deeply and made apt changes. Meetings and sessions were arranged to discuss the unpleasant fact about new competition and flat earnings. So they were forced to phase out several models including the Spirit, the Sunny Spice, the Legend NXT 2 and the Bravo. The Saffire, suffered from several technical problems. Its sales too failed to pick up so they did modifications and was replaced by the Wave in 2005. In 2004, they also upgraded their old model Chetak with a new four stroke, 125cc engine, with a promise of greater comfort, superior performance, and better mileage. In June 2006, the company announced its plans to raise production capacity from 3.5 million units to 5.1 million units a year by 2009, of which the capacity for two-wheelers was to be 4.6 million units. According to their plans, they recently launched a 220cc variant of it popular Pulsar motorcycle. In 2004 Bajaj auto changed their old logo and created a new logo and brand line to renew its new brand identity. This proves that a vision says something that helps clarify the direction in which an organization needs to move (Kotter, 2007). These visions and their accomplishments stabilised the organisation at a new state of equilibrium. Change Agent The person who has the handed the management of the change is known as the change agent. The facilitator who is in-charge of the change in particular section where the change is needed is known as the change agent. (Mc Calman and Paton 1992). Their task also includes circulate information, identify problems, strategy development, monitor the progress and problems and reporting to the management. To introduce a change the change agent must have a vision and direction and the capability to make people to follow their direction and understand their vision. (Clarke, 1994). In this case study, the chair person of Bajaj Auto Limited Mr. Rahul Bajaj is the change agent who proved to have a great compassion towards changes in market conditions. He also proved to be an efficient change agent by handling different difficult situation easily. According to the changes in market conditions he changed the brand names to make them more localised and classified the motorcycles in different sections so they can penetrate the market more easily. His adherent Rajiv Bajaj also played a very important role in this change scenario who had a major role in designing and marketing their icon model Pulsar which help the company to acquire a major share in market. Pulsar was selected as Bike of the year for continuous 4 years and he was selected as the Automotive man of the year 2005 by Auto car Professional, bike India and NDTV India respectively. Timely actions taken by change agent like implementation of changes in policies, production and technology and final stage of in tegration help them to achieve the worlds 4th and Indias 1st largest producer of two and three wheelers. Analysis and Recommendations: In this scenario Bajaj Auto Ltd handled this particular situation incredibly but there were certain instances where they could have done even better. The Indian two wheeler market was dominated by scooters till 1990s and motorcycles came as new favourites. Bajaj was the market leaders till that time later their sales declined because they did not pay attention to design, R D and customer preference. They also didnt give much importance to marketing while the competitors were keen in increasing the sales through advertisements. Rahul Bajaj later admitted that they had been slow in reading the demand pattern and failed to anticipate customer behaviour. They also didnt participate in any social responsibilities and failed to build a trusting relationship with customers, employees and society. But they handled the whole situation sensibly with the proper implementation of change models and the powerful leadership under the change agent Rahul Bajaj. Conclusion This scenario clearly shows that change is a continuous process and a proper identification and implementation of a change results in organisational growth. Success of change depends on choosing the perfect change model with fewer resources and can create maximum outcome. An organisation should anticipate the need for change, utilise the resources effectively to attain this mission and must integrate this effort into the planning process. Change agent also has an important role where the desired result depends on how he manages the particular change. To conclude change is an essential aspect in growth and development and the overall success depends on how we tackle the change effectively. References: Bernard Burnes (2004) Managing Change (Fourth Edition) Prentice Hall Bob Hamlin (2001) Organisational Change and Development (First Edition) Prentice Hall B.L Marquis C.J Huson (2003) Leadership Roles and Management (Fourth Edition) Philadelphia, Lippincott Colin Carnall (2007) Managing Change in Organisations (Fifth Edition) Prentice Hall John Hayes (2007) the Theory and Practice of Change Management (Second Edition) Palgrave Macmillan, New York L. B. Fossum M. G. Crisp (1989) Understanding Organizational Change: Converting Theory to Practice (First Edition) Thomson Crisp Learning R. Woolfe W. Dryden (1996) Handbook of Counselling Psychology (First Edition) Sage Publications T.G Cummings C. G. Worley (2001) Organisation Development and Change (Sixth Edition) South Western College Publishing, Ohio V. Nilakant S. Ramnarayan (2007) Change Management (Second Edition) Sage Publications, India http://www.bajajauto.com/1024/aboutbajaj/awards.asp (Electronically Accessed on November 14th 2008). http://www.domain-b.com/companies/companies_b/bajaj_auto/20060313_invest.html (Electronically Accessed on December 06th 2008). http://www.domain-b.com/companies/companies_b/bajaj_auto/20050201_growth.html (Electronically Accessed on November 24th 2008). http://www.honda2wheelersindia.com/default.asp (Electronically Accessed on December 16th 2008). http://www.india-today.com/btoday/20010916/cover.html (Electronically Accessed on January 04th 2009). http://news.moneycontrol.com/india/news/management/bajajautobajajgroup/howhamarabajajbecamesignindependentindia/market/stocks/article/230375 (Electronically Accessed on November 03rd 2008). http://www.rediff.com/business/2000/jan/18bajaj.htm (Electronically Accessed on November 28th 2008). http://sify.com/finance/fullstory.php?id=14579309 (Electronically Accessed on January 08th 2009). http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/catalyst/2004/08/05/stories/2004080500020100.htm (Electronically Accessed on October 29th 2008). http://www.tribuneindia.com/2002/20020422/biz.htm (Electronically Accessed on December 11th 2008).

Taiwanese National Health Insurance Card :: Insurance Coverage Taiwan Essays

Taiwanese National Health Insurance Card Taiwanese government has been providing health insurance coverage to all its citizens since 1997. Initially, the National Health Insurance Agency managed and tracked citizen's medical usage via four versions of paper national health insurance card. The health insurance card, the newly born handbook, the pregnancy handbook, and major disease/handicap certificate. Whenever a citizen visits health clinic, the visit is recorded on the back of the appropriate ID. When the card is full, the citizen exchange the used card for a new one at the local NHI office. The NHI also receive medical records from medical establishments when they file for claims. Starting July 2003, the health insurance agency began its modernization process. It started consolidating four paper versions with the digital version-- a smart card containing IC chip. By Jan. 1, 2004, the entire country was upgraded to the digital NHI card. The goal of the modernization process is to reduce the NHI's operational overhead so that more resources may be directed toward medical care. It is expected to save over 42 billion NTD or roughly 1.2 USD over the period of seven years.5 In addition, visits to the health care provider will be more convenient, as patients no longer need to bring multiple ID/handbooks with them to medical facilities. And there will be no need to visit local NHI office for new ID cards. For health care providers, the digital card provides a electronic infrastructure that allows them to streamline the claim filing process avoiding mistakes. It also allow NHI to provide a more efficient collection mechanism to gather accurate information regarding ove rall citizen's health and disease statistics. Despite its well intention and the ambitious plan, the modernization plan has serious ethical consequences. When the modernization process is completed, the NHI will has the most extensive online database of Taiwanese citizens. The database will contain nearly every citizen's medical record for his or her entire life. It will also contain the most up to date personal information such as home and work addresses. Because of the extensive nature of the database, if the database is misused, the consequence will be severe. Furthermore, Several human rights advocacy group has pointed out the infrastructure is insufficient to protect citizens' privacy rights as well as the lack of will on government's side to protect individual's personal information. And there is fear that there is risk that the leaked medical information can be used to persecute a specific segment of the population.

The Tree of Knowledge in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley Essays -- Franke

The Tree of Knowledge in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley warns that with the advent of science, natural philosophical questioning is not only futile, but dangerous. In attempting to discover the mysteries of life, Frankenstein assumes that he can act as God. He disrupts the natural order, and chaos ensues. Mary Shelley goes to great lengths to emphasize the beauty and order of life when man engages in à ¬naturalà ® pursuits. She idealizes Frankenstein's home life: à ¬I feel exquisite pleasure in dwelling on the recollections of childhood, before misfortune had tainted my mindà ® (38). His family is orderly and wonderful. Clerval's à ¬presence brought back to my thoughts my father, Elizabeth, and all those scenes of home so dear to my recollectionÃâ€"I felt suddenly, and for the first time during many months, calm and serene joyà ® (58). Shelley also stresses that man should feel at one with nature, not at odds with it: à ¬When happy, inanimate nature had the power of bestowing on me the most delightful sensationsà ® (68). Certain occupations allow man to be at one with nature and his fellow creatures. Shelley feels that science should be useful and beneficial to mankind. Clerval, a clearly pure and benevolent character, studies languages. He loves poetry. These disciplines allow man to help others and glorify nature without questioning it. In childhood, Frankenstein's studies contained à ¬bright visions of usefulnessà ® (38): à ¬I betook myself to the mathematics, and the branches of study appertaining to that science, as being built upon secure foundations, and so worthy of considerationà ® (41). But Frankenstein's interests soon turned away from mathematics; he speaks of his change of mind as i... ...gnorant art thou in thy pride of wisdom! Cease; you know not what it is you sayà ® (194)! Frankenstein has finally learned his lesson. Or has he? After his excruciating pains and hardship, Frankenstein's dying words are: à ¬I have myself been blasted in these hopes, yet another may succeedà ® (210). Unless Frankenstein is referring to beneficial, pragmatic scientific knowledge, then he has not yet acknowledged that man cannot know the secrets of nature. Shelley means his final words to be a warning to the reader. Man's growing ambition and intellect will render him desperate to discover the deepest mysteries of lifeà ³it is a difficult task to halt this ambition. But this ambition is greater than man's intellect. He can never know all, though he aspires to heaven. Until he realizes his limitations, the spread of science can only lead to chaos and destruction.

Increase in Customer Influence on Businesses Essay -- Business, Logist

Increase in Customer Influence on Businesses and its Resultant Effect on Workers and Managers Introduction So many factors have come together to make today’s business environment very competitive and flexible at the same time. Customers now play a significant role in the production and delivery of both goods and services in the global market. Globalization has also made it possible for comparisons to take place between and amongst different markets, giving the customers knowledge (power) to make choices and demanding more value for their money. This stance of the customer goes a long way to determine the performance of organizations; this is because without the existence of customers to patronize the goods and/or services offered by businesses, there will be no need for these businesses to exist. Customer influence on businesses More often than not, studies have examined the relationship behaviour between businesses and their customers from the business perspective with little or no attention to the customers’ perspective. As stated by Keillor et al (1999), for businesses to succeed in a highly competitive market environment, they must fundamentally understand and satisfy customer needs. Heskett et al (1993, 2003) as sited by Maxham J.G et al (2008) posited that the profit and revenue growth of an organization are a function of customer loyalty which stems from customer satisfaction. The key demands from customers as stated by Heskett and his colleagues are high quality goods/services and satisfactions. For customers to remain loyal to an organization, they must experience good value for their money and satisfaction. Akin to the performance and productivity level of an organization is the performance of the manager... ...ple Resourcing: contemporary HRM in practice. 4th ed. London: Prentice Hall International Shenkar, O. & Luo, Y. (2007) International business. 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Wu C.H et al (2008) Structural relationships among organization service orientation, employee service performance and consumer identification; the service industry journal vol 28(9) available from: http://ehis.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=04c840d7-ec91-4485-bb27-258e51dc1864%40sessionmgr111&vid=1&hid=116 Maxham J.G et al (2008) The Retail Value Chain: linking employee perceptions to employee performance, customer evaluations and store performance. Marketing science journal, vol 27 (2) available from: http://ehis.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=e3d4fad3-61ea-4147-8854-dac1e71b41bf%40sessionmgr111&vid=1&hid=116

Childcare Level 2 Unit 1 Assignment

CACHE Level 2 Award/Certificate/Diploma in Child Care and Education Question 1 D1: An example of a statutory provision for children under 5 years is a nursery. A nursery helps children learn to communicate, reach a certain level of independency and helps the children understand the stuff e. g. numbers, colours, fruits, animals etc. It also allows children to learn new things in a fun environment and at their own pace. A nursery helps to get children into a routine of a classroom.Nurseries often have designated times for different activities and helps the children learn the patience for sitting still and listening in a group. An example of a statutory provision for children of 5-7 years would be a GP. A GP does regular checks to ensure the child is well and healthy. When visiting the GP the doctor would examine the child to make sure everything is how it should be, such as: the child’s weight, height, whether the child is feeding properly, ensure the child is making positive pr ogress etc. D2: A private provision for children under 5 years would be a playgroup.A playgroup is quite different to a nursery but they still have their similarities. A nursery has to educate whereas a playgroup provides a social group, doesn’t have a strict structure and also doesn’t have a curriculum to follow. A private provision for children aged 5-7 years would be after school clubs. The children can benefit from after school clubs because of the range of activities/services they can provide such as; many sporting activities, a safe environment, a chance to learn about their own interests and also to build on their social skills.Question 2: D3: A midwife is a highly skilled, trained professional who provides advice and care for expectant mothers. A midwife organises and carries out tests and scans during the pregnancy to check mother and baby are healthy. She offers advice and support for the mother – to both her body and her feelings. From the onset of la bour the midwife is present to assist and advise the course of the birth itself, from helping the mother through her contractions to delivering the baby.Once the baby has been born, the midwife will help the new mother to adjust. The midwife can advise and assist with her experiences of knowledge. Further support and guidance is provided for the mother by the midwife while she recovers from birth. Question 3: D4: There are many ways on how to keep information safe. The two most effective ways are; to use a filing system if any information is only on paper. The papers should be stored in a locked filing cabinet or cupboard with a key that only the staff can use.If any information is stored electronically then it should always be password protected with a high security password and which will only be known by authorised personal. The most basic way is for staff and families to not gossip outside the setting about anything from their own information or information about the setting. D7 : Every child has different needs whether it’s a disability or a medical issue there is always that chance of a child being slightly different in a way that they may need more help or assistance. For example; if a child is HIV positive no body needs to know this information.If they need medical help the first aider must always wear gloves regardless of what has happened. If the staff, children or family knew a child was HIV positive they may act different towards that child which is extremely unfair. Every one should be treated the same no matter what their condition may be. C1: There are many examples of when you should refer information about children and families to a professional in your setting. Two examples of common scenarios are; †¢If you notice an unusual mark on a child’s body or if they ention something on their own accord. In many cases, any unusual mark has a reasonable explanation such as; the child was running around their home, fell and bumped thei r head on the floor or a hard object. But any mark that didn’t happen in you setting should be reported because children are extremely vulnerable and easily manipulated. Sometimes the family/carer of the child may be hurting them so its important to report any signs as early as possible so that the case can be looked further into without the possible abuse escalating. If a child is extremely disobedient, rude majority of the time, uncontrollable on a daily basis or maybe if the child isn’t developing properly it should be reported because the child may have a certain medical condition such as; autism or ADHD. The first signs of this usually show in young children and it is important to know exactly what’s going on so you don’t address the child in the wrong way or jeopardise the child’s learning. A1: It is extremely important to ensure confidentiality so that no staff, child or family member gets excluded in any situation.In a nursery everyone is w orking in best interest of every child, if a child has a certain disability or medical condition that everybody found out about, that child has a high chance of being treated differently and very unfairly. There are many examples of personal records which must be kept confidential such as; registration and admission forms, signed consents, information concerning the child and/or family, reports from meetings concerning the child from other agencies, observations from the staff on any confidential matter involving the child e. g. development concerns or child protection matters, incident and accident logs. If a family member finds out that something has been said about their personal life or has overheard something about their own child all trust from the family and the nursery will be broken, the information could be a small part or a very important note, regardless, nurseries have policies that state; nothing about a staff member, child or family should be mentioned unless its some one of higher importance, unless someone has concern about a particular child and on a ‘need to know basis’.In a nursery setting it is a professional responsibility to keep all information confidential. If a member of staff were to expose any confidential information it could result in them losing their job and in some cases, banned from having the same job. As a student going into a nursery for your course placement setting you must sign a Data Protection form. If you fail to keep any information confidential and decide to gossip outside of the nursery it could result in you losing your college place and not being allowed to study childcare. In most settings the policy is simply that no one other than the parents, manager or supervisor and any other authorised person is able to view the children’s records† Tassoni. P (2005) (page 74) Question 4: D5: When preparing for placement you should ensure you are fully aware of your setting; B1: In your setting, the first impressions you make are always extremely important. On your first day in the setting you walk in looking a mess, come in late, walk around with an attitude your supervisor will think that you don’t want to be there and he/she will speak to your college tutor and that means your college placement may be jeopardised.If you walk in to your setting on time, dressed suitably, have a hard working attitude and have everything organised your supervisor will realise that you want this opportunity and try help you as much as they can which isn’t a requirement from them. If you do everything in your power especially on your first day you will learn a lot, get on with everyone and get the best out of the course you possibly can. You never get a second chance to make a first impression so what you do when it comes down to meeting anyone is important and in your placement if arents see you not acting like you want this chance they wont want you around their child, they wonâ €™t be polite they will just act how you did. The best way in a nursery to make everyone know that the course is exactly what you want is to get in to the placement 15 or 20 minutes early, sit down talk to your supervisor so that when the parents come you are ready to stand there with a smile and greet them. B2: Showing a positive attitude when working in a childcare setting is important because it shows the staff and families of the children that you are committed and that you know what is expected of you.There are many ways to show this such as; †¢Be responsible and reliable †¢Team work †¢Good communication †¢Non-judgmental †¢Avoiding negative attitudes †¢Being appreciative †¢Enthusiasm †¢Look for opportunities to have fun without over exciting the children †¢Resist sarcasm Showing staff and families you have a positive attitude towards helping, teaching and also learning allows them to trust you and they still feel safe leaving the ir children with you.If you don’t have a positive attitude while being in your placement and the parents aren’t happy they may wish to take their child out of the nursery and put somewhere else which wouldn’t look good for you. Whether you have issues at home, relationship issues or you are stressed out from college you should never under any circumstances take that into your placement. Your supervisor may not know you have personal problems and you may take something out of context.When entering your placement you should be mature and responsible enough to realise it’s not the placements fault, it’s not the children’s fault so the best thing to do is smile and enjoy your day. Question 5 D6: Every child is different, whether it be religious beliefs, gender, race etc but there are many ways you can teach a child that everybody is different but we all are the same (D7). Teaching children about different countries and languages is a good way to get them to accept other individuals.Personally, the easiest way for me is to teach them about different religious holidays such as Lent or Eid. It shows the children that everybody has different beliefs, that everybody does different things but at the same time everybody is the same. D7: Every individual is a unique person but in life this isn’t always accepted by everyone. A nursery for instance has a very diverse and inclusive environment; they accept all children regardless of their gender, race, background, physical abilities and religious beliefs which is extremely beneficial in this day and age.Adults are trying to teach children that no matter how different an individual looks or acts, everybody is equal and everybody should be accepted, everyday people learn to be inclusive and accept any individual. Question 6 A*: I am a visual learner and my learning style is most enjoyable when it comes to being in my placement setting because I can watch the children play whilst learning at the same time. There are many different examples of what I can do to learn my own way such as; †¢Mind-mapping and brainstorming †¢Collages, posters and cartoon drawings Using different coloured pens and highlighters to highlight key points in study notes †¢Using symbols to help me remember things †¢Videos and CD ROMs †¢Use flow charts to see the sequence of things I find it hard to learn by sitting in a classroom and getting spoken to which is why I highly enjoy placement because no matter how busy my day is I will always learn as I go along and I will always remember everything that happened in that day whereas when I’m sitting in a classroom I lose focus easily, I am easily distracted and I don’t take note of what’s being said by my teachers.I have always enjoyed learning visually; it’s a fun and very effective way to learn. My study strategies are quick and simple. All I have to do is highlight important informatio n which I know I will need to remember or put symbols in my margin so I know what bit to start from. Even when it comes down to planning activities I find it easy to mind map anything that needs to be done. D8: Tassoni, P (2007) CACHE Level 2 Childcare and Education (4th edition) Heinmann Tassoni. P (2005) (page 74)

Behavioral scientists Essay

Gang violence is a social phenomenon that has caught the interests of behavioral scientists, psychologists and other related fields. At the forefront is the fact that gangs are social groups that have exclusive rules and strict codes of brotherhood which can actually provide the need for belongingness and affiliation as well as security in the harsh life in the city streets. Surprisingly, gangs have been associated with violence for the longest time, the term gang is already perceived as negative and that at present, gang is synonymous to violence, criminal acts and substance abuse. People join gangs for various reasons but it has been found that adolescents who have been victims of abuse, have dysfunctional family systems, school drop-outs and those in foster care generally join gangs more than the normal teenager. Thus, the final project is geared towards bringing about behavior change for adolescents at risk of joining gangs and or has a tendency for violence. Before drawing up a concrete behavior change program, it is important to examine how this could be brought about by factors like motivation and cultural awareness. Motivating people to change is not an easy feat, generally, if a person is set in his/her ways, then asking them to change something that they do not perceive to be evil or negative is a futile act. Central to the concept of motivation is that the goal offered to the individual must be meaningful to him/her, one that is personally desired and can be owned as a personal decision. This is where choice comes in, when a person is confronted with a choice; his/her reaction to it depends on their circumstances and present state of mind (Iyengar & Lepper, 1999). In this context, choosing to change their behavior should come from their internal desire to change, to become better and to be removed from their present difficulties. For example, if the behavior that is targeted to be modified is expressions of anger, it makes sense to the person to change this if he/she can realize that his/her actions hurt other people and that it also causes people to avoid them and hence lead to feelings of isolation and loneliness. Gangs are often formed around cultural groups, that is one gang can be comprised of Latinos, others are blacks, and others Asians and or whites. Thus, a program for behavior change should also consider the different cultural underpinnings of the gang and its members, if the gang is made up of black Americans, then asking them to join a program geared towards changing them, might be construed as culturally motivated, they have to be changed because they are blacks. There is much emotionality when it comes to culturally specific gangs and it cannot be denied that emotion may get in the way of participating in a program that is designed to change them (Markus & Kitayama, 1991) Motivation is also said to be affected by culture, one has to be able to correctly identify the cultural background of the gang or the participants of the project so as to provide a more culturally relevant and sensitive program. Lastly, motivation can be defined as extrinsic and intrinsic, it has been generally accepted that intrinsic motivation is more positive, more important and influential than extrinsic motivation thus the behavior change program should appeal to the intrinsic motivation of the participants. Intrinsic motivation is the feelings and behavior that drives the person to act in a certain way or to commit to a behavior change program. Internal means that it is something personal and valued by the person, it can be the desire for self-awareness, confidence and achievement, whereas extrinsic motivations are physical and tangible like prestige, money and awards (Sansone & Harackiewicz, 2000). The behavior change program should be designed to spark the intrinsic motivation of the participants, thus conducting an orientation seminar will introduce the participant to the program and letting them experience how good it is to be able to know who they are, to know that they mattered and someone cared for them would facilitate rapport and trust between the researcher and the participant. If the concepts of choice, culture and motivation will be adequately examined and integrated into the planned program, then surely the project would be a success. References Iyengar, S. & Lepper, M. (1999). Rethinking the role of choice: A cultural perspective on intrinsic motivation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76, 349-366. Markus, H. & Kitayama, S. (1991). Culture and self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review, 98, 224-253. Sansone, C. & Harackiewicz, J. (2000). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation: The search for optimal motivation and performance. San Diego: Academic Press.

Whaling: A Narrow Vision of the Future

Whaling is a controversial issue today. Thousands of ecological organisations vote for an international ban on whaling to give whale populations a chance for a rebound. The current paper discusses the pros and cons of an international ban on whaling. The paper seeks to prove that there should be no international ban on whaling, as long as whaling benefits economies and medical research. The paper tries to deny an assumption that a moratorium on whaling can give whales a chance to rebound sufficiently and, instead, promotes an idea that legalisation of whaling will facilitate monitoring and managing whaling operations all over the world. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 4 Whaling: A Brief Insight 4 An International Ban On Whaling: The Benefits of Legalisation 6 Whaling: A Never Ending Debate? 8 Conclusion 10 Recommendations 10 References 11 WHALING: A NARROW VISION OF THE FUTURE Introduction Whaling is a controversial issue today. Thousands of scientists and ecological organisations argue for an international ban on whaling and view such a ban as the only way to restore whale populations in global marine ecosystems. Thousands of others are confident that an international ban on whaling will not benefit animals: the decreasing number of whales is the reflection of the natural processes which no ban can stop. The history of whaling dates back thousands years ago. People hunted whales as long as they had boats and could sail. Today, whaling has become a convenient object of speculations and no one has been able to justify the need for an international ban so far. Objectively, there should be no international ban on whaling because whaling benefits economies and medical research, and legalisation of whaling will facilitate monitoring and managing the number of whales hunted and killed for commercial purposes. Whaling: A Brief Insight Whaling is a controversial issue today. Thousands of ecological and animal rights organisations argue that an international ban on whaling is necessary to give whales a chance to restore their populations. The estimated number of Blue Whales today is less than 3500; in 1931 alone, almost 30,000 Blue Whales were killed for commercial purposes. The current population of Blue Whales represents less than 1% of the total number of whales killed between 1910 and 1969. However, it was not before 1966 that an official moratorium on commercial whaling was provided, to afford a good beginning on the long journey to recovery. Whaling dates back to the times when humans started to build boats – thousands of years ago, whaling was one of the most widely used forms of hunting. For thousands of years, whales had served excellent sources of food, wax, and oil. Hunters valued them even more for their size and the quantity of various resources they could provide at once. Only by the middle of the 1870s did whale oil products give place to oil products based on petroleum and since then, whales have been mostly used for meat. Today, Japan and Norway are considered as the biggest threat to whales – these countries, plus Iceland, seek to lift the ban on whaling by all possible means. More importantly, these countries continue hunting whales despite the moratorium on whaling brought in in 1986. Norway is hunting whales in the North Atlantic; American Eskimos and Russian northern aboriginals are allowed to hunt whales in small quantities to meet their needs for food. Japan actively engages in whaling, to pursue the needs and goals of medical research. Notwithstanding the potential benefits of the ban on whaling, this ban is likely to cause serious economic difficulties. Today, no international ban on whaling should exist, because whaling is associated with significant economic benefits, because whales serve the needs of medical research and, finally, because legal whaling will facilitate monitoring the number of whales hunted and killed for commercial purposes. An International Ban on Whaling: The Benefits of Legalisation That whaling is the source of both direct and indirect economic benefits is difficult to deny, and there should be no international ban on whaling, to let different countries meet their economic needs. The inner markets for whale products are too small to support the countries like Norway and Iceland. The latter continue hunting whales, according to the quotas that had been set by the International Whaling Commission. Japan and Norway fail to meet their sales targets and lose significant financial resources due to the small quotas and the lack of hunting opportunities. In 2008 alone, Japan lost more than $20 million â€Å"whaling† dollars, which could have been directed to support various economic social programmes; in the similar fashion, Norway is experiencing difficulties with its whale product markets. Given the difficult economic situation, whaling could become an excellent opportunity for countries like Norway and Japan to generate additional jobs and to use whale products as an extremely valuable export item. Before the moratorium on whaling in 1986, the share of whale products in Norwegian exports accounted for 2 percent of all marine products and, simultaneously, for more than 70 percent of the total merchandise products on average. There should be no international ban on whaling, because it limits economic opportunities of sea countries and does not give them a chance to improve their economic situation. Whaling is the source of numerous indirect advantages. Indirect benefits of whaling arise from the link between commercial whaling, the size of natural whale populations, and the size of fish stocks. Because whales are the largest consumers of fish stock in the North Atlantic, they threaten the stability of numerous other fish stocks, including krill and cod. Although the relationships between whales and other fish populations are increasingly complex, scientists assume that whale stocks around Iceland could lead to the 10 percent decline in other fish stocks, including cod stocks. Given that the annual sustainable yield of the cod stock is no less than 350 thousand tons, a ban on whaling could cost Iceland 35 thousand tons of cod stock every year – a number too significant for a small country like Iceland. There should be no international ban on whaling, based on the premise that whales were and remain an important object of medical research. Whales are equally important for human and animal research, and it would be fair to say that an international ban on whaling will significantly reduce the existing medical research opportunities. As a result, an international ban on whaling will wane the hopes of those who seek a cure for the most difficult diseases. Since the middle of the 20th century, whales had been hunted and used for their hypophyses. The number of whale hypophyses dropped with time and their popularity declined, but they made a profound contribution to the development of medical research and pharmacology. Whales’ pancreases were extensively used in the production of insulin. Whales used to be an effective source of growth hormones for people; the hormones were extracted from whales’ thymus glands. Today, the world must think twice before an international ban on whaling becomes a reality. The world must avoid banning whaling activity in the future, to give medical researchers sufficient opportunities to pursue their research goals. Although the topic of animal research is increasingly controversial, it is not within the scope of this paper to discuss the pros and cons of such research. Simultaneously, it is clear that despite all limitations, researchers will continue to apply to the benefits of animal research, to enhance the efficiency of their research operations. In the current state of medical knowledge, whales present a valuable opportunity to help people with complex diagnoses. In general terms, any ban on whaling is likely to result in significant negative changes and serious losses, both economic and scientific. Nevertheless, ecological and animal rights organisations continue asserting that such a ban is necessary to restore the number of whales in natural marine ecosystems. Whaling and Nature: A Never Ending Debate? That whale populations decline and need a chance to restore their number is the central argument ecological organisations use to support the need on an international ban on whaling. Needless to say, whale populations do decline but whether whaling is the direct cause of ecological problems is difficult to define. The current state of research provides compelling evidence that the decline in the number of living whales is natural, and no ban can change it. The argument in favor of an international ban on whaling exemplifies a recurrent conflict between perception and rhetoric, and while more and more scientists vote for an international ban on whaling, even more scientists and organisations come to recognise the irrelevance of such a ban. The fact is in that scientists lack scientific evidence to prove that whale populations, including Atlantic humpbacks, can rebound sufficiently due to an international ban on whaling. Another question is in whether an international ban on whaling and, as a result, the growing number of whales is likely to misbalance the global marine ecosystem. Throughout the last centuries, the number of whales had been constantly declining. Whether more whales work for the better or the worse of the ecological system is still the issue of the major concern. The historical data regarding the number of whales that lived in the international ecosystems and were hunted throughout the last two-three centuries implies that whales living in super-abundance do not benefit ecological systems but, on the contrary, can â€Å"eat out the oceans as fast as they can go†. Scientific assumptions about potential extermination of whales are based on numbers – scientists believe that the rapidly declining number of whales during the last two centuries indicates the threat which whaling poses to the stability of whale and other fish populations in various marine ecosystems. However, before an international ban on whaling becomes a reality, scientists must decide what natural effects it will produce and whether it is worth banning whaling for the sake of insignificant changes in whale populations. Moreover, it would be fair to assume that even in case of such a ban, countries will continue their whaling activities; and not a ban but legalisation of whaling will give ecological organisations better opportunities to manage and monitor various whaling activities. Murray (2010) is correct, saying that the resumption of limited legal whaling will help organisations reign control of the practice and will, ultimately, save the lives of almost 18,000 whales every year. If ecologists seek effective means to restore whale populations, there is no way for them better than making whaling legal, acceptable, and widely spread. Conclusion Whaling is a controversial issue today. Thousands of ecological organisations vote for an international ban on whaling, to give whales a chance to restore their populations. There should be no international ban on whaling. Whaling is the source of significant economic benefits. Whaling benefits economies through more jobs and higher export profits. Indirect benefits of whaling imply an opportunity to preserve numerous fish stocks, including krill and cod, which whales consume in thousands. Whales benefit medical research and give a hope to cure the most complex human diseases. That the number of whales gradually declines is not necessarily the result of whaling but a natural process which no ban can stop. Legalisation of whaling will facilitate monitoring and managing whaling operations, and if ecologists seek effective means to control whale population there is no way for them better than to make whaling legal and acceptable. Recommendations Whaling should be legalised. Governments and ecological organisations must develop a system of quotas and limits to the annual number of whales available for hunting. A system of monitoring must be developed to control the number of whales killed for commercial purposes and the changes in whale populations in various ecosystems.