A Review On Nature Vs Nurture

A Review On Nature Vs Nurture For decades it has been debated that humans intelligence, behavior, and socioeconomic status are determined by the surrounding environment a human grows up in rather than the genealogical history they are born with. While humans may inherit physical traits from their biological parents, there is no reason genes should affect intelligence or behavior. It can be argued that human intelligence and behavior is passed down generations through genes, but there is evidence countering such theories. I firmly believe that humans come into this world as a blank slate and that behavior is formed as well as influenced by the surrounding environment in which they are raised. I will present both sides of this argument and provide both scientific and personal evidence. While both sides hold valid claims and possess good supporting evidence, the nurture simply more logical. This commonly known argument is known as the debate between nature and nurture. In this debate, nature argues that behavior and intelligence are affected genetically and that a person is able to maintain their minds ability solely through what they are born with. Those backing this belief in this case are known as nativists. Nativists in one way or another assume that human characteristics as a whole are a product of evolution. This debate only began over a century ago when Charles Darwin brought up this theory between the environmentalists and nativists. Darwins cousin, famous English scientist Francis Galton (1822 -1911), believed that intelligent families brought up intelligent children. Galton was the most famous explorer of human intelligence and made important contributions to criminology, physical anthropology, and meteorology. He made the most significant contributions to both psychology and genetics. Galton was convinced that intelligent humans came from families which possessed other intelligent family members. Professions of art, science, and politics often ran in those families that he observed. Galton theorized that people had the potential to produce a highly gifted race of men by judicious marriages during several consecutive generations (Neill, Nature vs Nurture in Intelligence). He called this eugenics. He also argued that intelligence was bred and not trained, siding with nature. Though arguably, Galton was raised through means of great wealth as his father Samuel Tertius Galton was a prominent banker. His family contained rich bankers and gunsmiths. There is no doubt that his family had easy access to high education. In his time, good education and the idea of attending a great college usually happened to wealthier folks. So it could instead be said that intelligent humans actually came from families who possessed great wealth and were actually able to afford a quality education. After World War I, several psychologists started to reconsider their nativist views and sought intelligence to be influenced through environment rather than through genealogical history. At the time African Americans were given IQ tests to compare with that of whites for a mass study. The end results showed that African Americans from Illinois scored higher on IQ tests than whites from nine other southern states. Through this analysis some scientists found it difficult to make peace with the basic idea that whites were intellectually superior to blacks. Evidence soon seemed to support a closer link between intelligence and social class, rather than race and intelligence. Following in the 1960s, the focus of an individual pertaining to hereditary studies began to shift towards social determinants. The idea started to move away from the nature and genetic outlet to the environmental and nurture end. In this case, nurture refers to the surrounding environment. Environment plays a huge factor as it may be the air we breathe, water we drink, food we eat, people we speak to, people we see, etc. Parents arent the only aspect of environment. There is also the surrounding culture. After this general idea began to be widespread, America reformed its public education and improved poor living conditions with welfare in order to better the environment. Talk of nature playing a role in contributing to any individual differences, especially intelligence, became minimalized through the present political stance. However, evidence of the differences in intelligence between racial and socioeconomic groups did not dissipate. In 1994, the Bell Curve controversy began. Richard J. Herrnsteins and Charles Murrays The Bell Curve swung the idea of nature back into the minds of the general public. This 800+ page book re-ignited the nature vs. nurture debate and generated massive controversy in sociology, education, psychology, and politics. It implied that an individuals intelligence, which was partially inherited from both biological parents, would determine that individuals socioeconomic background and future life experiences. So it claimed that your IQ could determine your job, annual income, education, criminality, relationships, and socioeconomic status. Now this is where the debate gets really heated. Readers from the left viewed the authors as racist scientists, un-American, and the book as a complete joke. Then you have the readers on the right seeing the authors at brave, powerful and respectable scholars. The nurture end of this debate claims that the behavioral differences and psychological characteristics that emerge from infancy to childhood are the simple result of learning. It leans towards the idea of how a human raised and nurtured affects solely the psychological aspect of childhood development. The only thing that biology here has to do with this is with the physical maturation of the human. Those with strong views on nurture in this debate are known as environmentalists. Environmentalists believe that the human mind at birth arrives into this world as a blank slate and that future actions along with personality and intelligence are gradually nurtured as a result from experience. Intelligence is very important to this debate. Nativists say that differences in intelligence are determined through means of certain smart genes that are being passed down generations -wealthy ones at that, if anything. Some environmentalists believe that differences in intellectual ability are a result of certain social inequalities relating in access to opportunities and material resources. For example, if a child is raised in a ghetto neighborhood, the likelihood that they will earn a good score on an IQ test is rather low because they were denied the exact same life chances that other more privileged members of society had. This is why the nature vs. nurture debate gets heated, and its understandable too, because what starts as an attempt to understand how the neighborhood that a child is raised in or the public school that they attend is able to determine the causes of behavioral differences can sometimes get into a politically motivated dispute about distributive power and justice in society. Thankfully I was raised in a nice neighborhood that consisted of friendly neighbors and calm locals. I had a good friend who lived two houses down and we would go to the same school together almost every day. His parents had college degrees and earned a good average living. I always thought he would turn out to be something big since he was very bright. Later I guess he moved in with his aunt in some other town because his mom and dad were fighting and arguing a lot. They ended up getting a divorce I figured, as the home he used to live in began to welcome moving trucks at the garage door. Last I saw him, we were both 12. The next time I saw him was when I turned 17 and it was on the local county news. He had assaulted a liquor store clerk and attempted to rob the place for a gang initiation. I wasnt so sure it was the same person because of the generic name until it was later confirmed through Facebook that evening. I looked through at his location, friends, and education and not surprisingly, he had moved to a very low income neighborhood that held a bad reputation that was located nearby downtown. So how could it have been that such an environmental shift affected his lifestyle s o drastically? He befriended gangsters and he lost interest at the public school that he attended nearby. When we were younger we went to the exact same school and lived in the exact same neighborhood. I surely did not turn out that way. I cant think of any one of my neighbors who had such a tragic change like that happen to them and affect them harshly. I always said that it was merely his environment. If parents talk, read, and listen to their kids, then they tend to do well academically and are very bright. If parents provide firm and flexible rules, then their children tend be to be well behaved. If parents treat their kids harshly then they tend to be anxious, aggressive and stressed out. A child can also acquire bad habits from their surrounding environment. Today in society, our environment isnt just about our families and friends. We have cellphones, television, music, and social networking which influence us in different ways. Todays youth is just a button away from sending a text message, searching the internet, or turning on the television. To conclude, the debate between nature and nurture consists of two ideas, both with much supportive evidence and criticism. The belief that nature is responsible for human intelligence, behavior and socioeconomic status is interesting, but does not convince me that those characteristics can be inherited. All I can see inherited are merely physical traits that appear through maturity. Nurture seems more plausible as it brings up the idea that a humans surrounding environment affects not only its intelligence and behavior, but its social life as well. This debate is still very current today as scientists battle over how much human intelligence and other behavior are determined by genes and how much by the environment.

How Shelley and Fowles Present the Socially Excluded Essay -- Frankens

How Shelley and Fowles Present the Socially Excluded Men are numbered among beasts who renounce society, whereby they are destitute of laws and the ordination of civility. Hence this ensures that men, in creation are best, but when averse to justice and the law, are the worst of all creatures. (p.36 intro The Tempest by William Shakespeare, edited by Frank Kermode 1961) For the purpose of this essay, I shall focus my comparison on Victor and Clegg and analyse the language they use. I will also explore the form and structure used and give a personal response which will include some commentary about the novels in terms of their social/historical and literary contexts. People's behaviour in social roles makes possible the life of a society and its members. Social roles are learned from culture, which defines how they should be performed. They are not instinctive. However, people learn many roles during childhood by observing their parents and other adults. But on the other hand problems may result if the demands of one role interfere with those of another. This situation is called role conflict. Victor and Clegg are excluded by society primarily because they have transgressed society's boundaries, that is to say, Victor plays God and creates "a new species which would bless him as its creator" p.52 ; his male monster is built from old body parts and strange chemicals because he is determined to learn about "the secrets of heaven and hell"p.37. Ironically, Victor creates a "hideous wretch" p.73 which is "an outcast in the world forever" p.129. However, this "filthy daemon" p.73 is initially gentle and has a kind, baby-like nature, just like normal humans. Paradoxically, the monster is actually ... ...is a creation abandoned and shunned by society and Victor his creator. Therefore Shelley's use of letters enables the narrative to shift from one character to another while remaining within the conventions of the standard novel. Letters are also used to good effect as a means of social interaction because characters are frequently out of immediate contact with one another. Walton never encounters his sister in the novel; his relationship with her is based wholly on the use of letters. The same goes for Victor as he often isolates himself from his loved ones but he does receive letters from Alphonse and Elizabeth and this marks attempts to connect with him. Again, the monster uses written communication in order to develop a relationship with Victor when, at the end of the novel, he leads him northward by means of notes on the trees and rocks he passes.

Macbeths Ambition :: essays research papers

Macbeth’s Ambition Political ambition undermines man’s loyalty. In the play, Macbeth decides to kill his king because of his ambition for position. At the beginning of the play, he portrays himself as a noble person. He fights in the battle against Norway and proves his loyalty; however, as soon as the witches prophesize that Macbeth “shall be king hereafter'; (1.3.53), he is not longer trustworthy. Ambition for power starts creeping into his head. After Macbeth’s internal conflict over whether or not to kill Duncan, he decides to do it quickly (1.7.3) in order to hasten the predictions. He decides to kill the king because he wants to extend his power all over the country by becoming the new monarch. He desires to be more wealthy and respected by the nobility as well as by the common people. Becoming king represents the highest rang in the political pyramid. The act of murdering is the only way to make his dreams come true because Duncan’s fair and prosperous rule over Scotland experience the support of the whole population. As Malcom and Donalbain fly to England, he automatically takes possession of the throne. Macbeth displays political ambition first of all because of his wife. After she reads her husband’s letter about his meeting with the witches, she suggests for Macbeth to kill Duncan so she could be queen. At the beginning Macbeth hesitates to talk about such a thing and even lists the reason not to kill: he is his king, his uncle and his guest. Not completely sure about it and victim of his own desires for power he finally accepts Lady Macbeth’s plan for murdering the ruler of Scotland. This decision portrays Macbeth’s dirty morality and easily manageable personality. Macbeth’s character is a clear example of how ambition corrupts man’s personality. After a brief period of hesitation, he finally decides to take the infamous way of murder in order to make his political desires come true. His ambition, stronger than the moral and social condemnation of killing, becomes his sole motive. The American philosopher David Young goes further in this analysis and sees in Macbeth how “the act of regicide is a ready means of illustrating the genesis of tragic structure in struggles for power'; (Young 318).

Vote For Snowball: The Kosher Porker

Tulip Serbin Plansinis Vote For Snowball: The Kosher Porker At a time when food and spirits were low, a certain candidate stepped up to the hay mound to lift up such grief and depression. In his actions and improvements to better the farm, he made the harvest more productive, and led victory through a tough battle. No one would be a greater leader than Snowball. He supported animals’ rights, a continued revolution, and productivity. Shortly after the rebellion of Mr. Jones, to signify this exciting new change to the society of human kind, Manor Farm was quickly changed to Animal Farm.By Snowball changing the name of the farm, it now indicated that this farm was run and operated by animals. Not only did this show farmers the strength of the animals, but also the effecting power they could have. Snowball’s dream was to have every farm run and operated by animals. Snowball was very persuasive. Snowball persuaded the animals with the simple sentence, which said, â€Å"Sure ly, comrades, surely there is no one among you who wants to see Jones come back† (Orwell 52)?To put his plan of a continued revolution in action, he then sent pigeons to all the neighboring farms to spread the word of the rebellion, hoping to get other animals thinking of the same idea. Also, the Beats of England song was being highly recognized and sung by animals and humans alike. Snowball was definitely a highly determined pig, and knew how to popularize his farm and its effecting power. Nothing could be more superior in a leader, than being â€Å"for the people†.Snowball was for the Animals’ Rights, and showed it prominent ways. During Old major’s speech, he came up with the idea of Animalism, where animals are highly acknowledged, and humans are shunned from the animal world. Snowball was the first pig to take any action in improving upon Animalism. Old Major had a long list of rules and regulations for the animals if a rebellion was to take place. Sn owball elaborated the long set into The 7 Commandments. The commandments were then written on the barn so that all the animals could see them.By doing this, all the animals knew what they could and couldn’t do. Every person (or animal) likes to patriotic to their cause or country, and snowball helped them raise their patriotism by making a flag. An organization or town or anything that has a leader†¦ could not be a professional name until a flag is made. By making this flag, it published and popularized again the power the farm had. Snowball also came up with very good ideas. The most important idea was the idea for the building of the windmill.In the story he said, â€Å"I do not deny that to build this would be a difficult business, but you would decrease your working time, and it would provide luxury to all animals† (Orwell 65). Snowball also liked to get involved. One example is he fought himself in the Battle of the Cowshed. By using Julius Caesar’s ta ctics he led his farm to victory. He knew how to lead animals very well. In the text he said, â€Å"War is War. The only good human being is a dead one† (Orwell 59). Snowball showed immense courage and definitely earned the animals’ respect for it.Snowball knew how to listen and treat the animals to their own wants and needs. Snowball knew how to get the â€Å"hay† rolling. Snowball was very productive. In order for the animals to have some say in the matter, he made up the idea of The Committees, which included The Egg Production Committee for the chickens, The Clean Tail Committee for the cows, and Whiter Wool Committee for the Sheep, plus many more. Although, the committees didn’t go very far, showing the animals that he (a pig) was letting the animals in the â€Å"in crowd† , showing something no other pig was able to do.Also, Snowball made the harvest successful. In the story he said, â€Å"Now, Comrades, let us make it a point of honor to ge t in the harvest more quickly than Jones and his men did† (Orwell 43)! Snowball was determined to make it a point that the animals could accomplish far more than Jones could do. By saying that quote, he got the animals excited to participate in the â€Å"challenge† of â€Å"Beat Jones in the Harvest†. Snowball also taught the animals education.Although some animals couldn’t get passed the 4th letter in the alphabet, every animal on the farm was literate. Indeed, they did beat Jones in the harvest thanks to Snowball’s supervision and Boxer’s hard work. Snowball supported animals’ rights, a continued revolution, and productivity. He also was involved in getting work done, such as fighting in the Battle of the Cowshed. He also knew how to get the work accomplished, but in a way that benefited everyone. Snowball in the end knew how to win the â€Å"popular vote† by â€Å"being for the animals†.

The Council of Trent

The Council of Trent (Latin: Concilium Tridentinum) was the 15th-century Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. It is considered to be one of the Church's most important[1] councils. It convened in Trent (then capital of the Prince-Bishopric of Trent, inside the Holy Roman Empire, now in modern Italy) between December 13, 1545, and December 4, 1563 in twenty-five sessions for three periods. Council fathers met for the first through eighth sessions in Trent (1545-1547), and for the ninth through eleventh sessions in Bologna (1547) during the pontificate of Pope Paul III. 2] Under Pope Julius III, the council met in Trent (1551-1552) for the twelfth through sixteenth sessions. Under Pope Pius IV the seventeenth through twenty-fifth sessions took place in Trent (1559-1563). The council issued condemnations on what it defined as Protestant heresies and defined Church teachings in the areas of Scripture and Tradition, Original Sin, Justification, Sacraments, the Eucharist in Hol y Mass and the veneration of saints. It issued numerous reform decrees. 3] By specifying Catholic doctrine on salvation, the sacraments, and the Biblical canon, the Council was answering Protestant disputes. [1] The Council entrusted to the Pope the implementation of its work; as a result, Pope Pius V issued in 1566 the Roman Catechism, in 1568 a revised Roman Breviary, and in 1570 a revised Roman Missal, thus initiating what since the twentieth century has been called the Tridentine Mass (from the city's Latin name Tridentum), and Pope Clement VIII issued in 1592 a revised edition of the Vulgate. 4] The Council of Trent, delayed and interrupted several times because of political or religious disagreements, was a major reform council and the most impressive embodiment of the ideals of the Counter-Reformation. [4] It would be over 300 years until the next Ecumenical Council. When announcing Vatican II, Pope John XXIII stated that the precepts of the Council of Trent continue to the m odern day, a position that was reaffirmed by Pope Paul VI. [5] The Council of Trent The Council of Trent was an ecumenical council convoked by the Church in 1545 and ran until 1563. It was convoked by Pope Paull III but continued by Popes Julius III and Pius IV. The purpose of the council was to address the grwonig threat presented by the rising Protestant movement which was rapidly spreading all over Europe, winning believers to their side and threatening the very existence of the Catohlic Church and faith.It was convoked when the Church realized that the Reformation was a serious threat as it involved several secular leaders whom Martin Luther had won over to his side and it was no longer a mere theological debate but had social and political implications at this point in time. In a way, the Council had somehow succeeded in getting the Church from its â€Å"medieval† image and bring it into the modern times which would be followed up by subsequenct councils, the First and Second Vatican Councils (McNally 36). The Council addressed the issues that spurred th e Protestants into action.One particular issue that the Council did address was the apparent corruption in the Church as an institution including the sale of indulgences which triggered Luther's â€Å"rebellion† (Mendham 317). The Council abolished several of these illegal practices and introduced or recommended disciplinary reforms providing a provision governing the conduct of the religious, particularly those belonging to monastic and mendicant orders where they â€Å"shall order their lives in accordance to what is prescribed by the rule which they have professed.† The result of this was it checked corruption in the Church and helped restore â€Å"back to basics† policies where the religious were reminded to uphold the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience that they took upon entering the orders after years of strife affected the Church leading it to be infiltrated and influenced by political figures which changed its direction and led to the near-loss of its credibility. In addition, it also led to further education of the clergy and the codfication of religious orders (Roman Catholic Church, Session 25; Fisher 402).But this was the only â€Å"correction† the Church made. The rest were reaffirmations of other church traditions that hardly changed at all. These were considered part of Church traditions which Protestants opposed, believing that they were â€Å"invented† by Catholics as Protestants subscribed to â€Å"sol scriptura,† relying on the Bible as their source of â€Å"tradition. † Among them were the sacraments where Protestants found most of them â€Å"unecessary† yet the Church upheld it.They clarified the issue on the saints and the Blessed Virgin Mary by stating that they are only to be â€Å"venerated,† not â€Å"worshipped,† something Protestants accused Catholics, charging that this was bordering on idolatry or paganism, as well as stressing the necessity of good works to go with one's faith rather than relying on faith alone. They made use of the Bible in defending the practice of the sacraments, stating they were not inventions and were stated in Scripture though implicit (Madrid 111).Another issue that was upheld was the infalliability of the Pope. Notwithstanding the scandals that undermined the image of the papacy, the Council upheld the Pope's place as the Vicar of Christ and the head of all Christendom. It can be inferred here that there was still the need of a leader who could transcend spiritual and secular realms, especially during this time when Reformation brought more upheavals and instability (Luebke 45, Madrid 44-53).As an epliogue, this was addressed once again in the Second Vatican Council in 1963 and the infallibility issue was resolved once and for all here. In conclusion, the Council of Trent cannot be entirely credited in ensuring the survival and continued existence of the Catholic faith but was rather part of the Counter-Ref ormation that had somewhat checked the spread of Protestantism.It was able to uphold and defend the traditions the Church regard as part of professing one's faith, thereby throwing back the accusations Protestants hurled at it for being on the wrong side of faith. As a parting shot, Catholic apologists in the Council of Trent and beyond, have riposted Protestant arguments by stating (ironically) that there existence was because of the Church and had there been no Church, they never would have existed at all. Works Cited Fisher, George P.The Reformation. Bibliobazaar, 2009. Madrid, Patrick. Where Is That in Tradition? Huntington, Indiana: Our Sunday Visitor Publishing, 2002. McNally, Robert E. , SJ. â€Å"The Council of Trent, The Spiritual Exercises and Catholic Reform. † Church History 34. 1 (1965): 36-49. Medham, Joseph. Memoirs of the Council of Trent. London: James Duncan, 1834. Roman Catholic Church. The Council of Trent. 1545. Hanover College. 14 Aug. 2010 .

Financial Crisis Impacts on the Employees' Motivational Aspects Research Paper

Financial Crisis Impacts on the Employees' Motivational Aspects - Research Paper Example Based on the responses of these employees, who belonged to different levels in the two organizations, the research concluded that there was indeed a lowered morale and motivation during the crisis. The reason for this was lack of resources and tools available to perform work at optimum levels, lack of incentives and motivators, lack of managerial support and fear and insecurity.The research also found that the managers can help alleviate the situation by taking a more dynamic role, making themselves available to the employees, setting clear targets, giving clear directions and guidance for achieving targets, and by showing their support and commitment to the employees. The managers can encourage employees, even when there are no external motivators, by simply showing their concern and by being honest and open with them.The research, therefore, concluded with a list of these recommendations that the organizations can follow in order to keep their employees motivated even during the cr isis.The economic and financial crisis of 2008/9 led to massive changes in the understanding of how business and organizations needed to be run. While there were very drastic implications for all, like job losses, pay cuts and loss of benefits and incentives, there were also several lessons that were learned about people management and work culture. Though the crisis may well have receded, there is widespread unemployment and loss of investor confidence that is dampening any prospects of growth. Employees have been seeing a downturn in their prospects due to non-availability of alternative jobs as well as due to lack of interests that their organization may be showing in retaining them.

See the description Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

See the description - Essay Example It is through these processes that the supply chain gets completed and helps to meet the demand of the consumer. When managed properly these stages help the firm to minimize costs and maximize profits. Firms like United Price Service (UPS) and FedEx are a very important part of the supply scale. They are a vital component in the distribution of products and services of a firm and help to contribute to supply chain improvements. Supply chain improvement is required for the better functioning of the firm as it helps them to stabilize their costs and satisfy their consumers. Some important areas in the supply chain improvement are: process, measurement, information management and technology (http://www.intercai.co.uk/library/pdf/supply_chain.pdf). For this the factors important are the velocity by which the supply chain functions to transport the end product to the consumers. Also what is important is that the product reaching the consumer is correct and meets the customer’s needs on time. UPS, which has been in existence since 1907, is one of the largest package delivery firms in the world with regular access to around 200 countries in the world. Similarly FedEx is another huge distributor business and again one of the leading firms in the business. Such transporting businesses not only play an important role in package delivery for people, but they also act as a medium of delivery for huge firms which use such transportation companies to deliver their products to customers anywhere with maximum speed. This is an extremely vital component in the supply chain of any firm which wishes to maximize its access areas and profits. These firms also provide many IT services to both the firms and the consumers. One of the major services is transportation. Any person anywhere in the world can buy products of any multinational company; like laptops, printers, cell phones, etc. and have them delivered at his/her

STROKE Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

STROKE - Assignment Example The effect of stroke on a person depends on the region of its occurrence in the brain and the extent of the damage. A stroke can occur to any person. In some affected individuals, there is total recovery while others may have some form of disability. However, a stroke can be prevented. The paper will discuss the signs and symptoms of a stroke. It will also demonstrate how stroke differ from transient ischemic attack (TIA). It will also include tests as well as a type of referrals or consults. There are various signs and symptoms of stroke. The first main symptom for the disease is numbness or weakness. Numbness is evident in the face, arm or leg and usually is felt on one side of the body (National Library of Medicine (NLM), 2015). The other symptom is confusion and challenges on speaking as well as lack of proper understanding of speech. There is also a problem in seeing in one or two eyes. The affected person may also experience challenges in walking, feels dizzy, and may demonstrate loss of balance or coordination (NLM, 2015). The individual may also experience a persistent headache with no identifiable cause. There is a difference between stroke and transient ischemic attack (TIA). In TIA, blood flow to some areas o f the brain is only stopped for a short duration (National Stroke Association, 2014). As it the flow stops temporary, the symptoms may be like of those experienced in stroke. However, the symptoms last only for a day or less (National Stroke Association, 2014). The other difference is that TIA does not lead to any permanent damage in affected person (National Stroke Association, 2014). However, the signs should be a warning of an impending stroke. The initial workup of a patient with a possible stroke is a crucial process. It entails carrying out a physical assessment (NHS, 2014). The doctor will try the best to establish about the symptoms. Also, various tests will be done to help confirm the diagnosis as well as determine the

Business planning Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4750 words

Business planning - Assignment Example Contributing to competitive edge 14 5. Marketing Research 15 5.1. Targeted customers 15 5.2. Market Share 16 6. Marketing Strategy 16 6.1. Marketing Mix strategy 16 6.2. STP Strategy 18 7. Processes 19 7.1. Quality Control 19 7.2. Equipments 20 7.3. Policies 20 8. Personnel 21 8.1. Management team 21 8.2. Organizational Chart 21 9. Finance 22 9.1. Financial Projections 22 Conclusion 23 References 24 1. Executive Summary ‘The Fresher’ is an exciting start-up logistic business with unique approach to helping large scale supercentres and hypermarkets across London to provide its customers with freshest fruits and vegetables than those that are presently available in large retail outlets. The business idea behind this start-up is that customers across London are extremely concerned about fresh, natural, genuine and quality fruits as well as vegetables distributed by both large and small scale retailers, but they hardly get satisfied. The Fresher takes it not only as an oppor tunity to be commercialized, but also as a social responsibility to meet customers’ specific need for farm-fresh goods. In today’s highly competitive business contexts, marketers need to think strategically to develop certain strategies to help them achieve competitive advantage and to survive in the market. It is also required for a start-up business to be successful. ‘Going global’ is a very significant and effective strategy for that it widens the market potential and helps the firm grab further marketing opportunities. The Fresher begins its business from farmers across different countries and extends its services to local retailers in London to provide farm-fresh goods, and therefore, it not only goes global but also comes back to local to gain maximum advantages of logistics. The Fresher’s market involves customers who come to large as well as small to medium sized retailers to buy fruits and vegetables. The Fresher is going to bring wide vari ants of foreign fruits and vegetables that were never before available in London market and this adds up to the market potential of the company. The financial projections show that the company will generate quite impressive profitability within the first year. Strategic marketing activities, extensive R&D, integrated communication and promotion activities will help the company build a strong brand image among its customers. 2. The Industry 2.1. The industry Overview For the last two decades, fresh fruits and vegetables represented the most important product category in the UK market. According to United Nations Publication (2003, p. 231), out of the total turnover of the organic food in UK, 33 or more percent are generated by fresh fruits and vegetables in 2001 and more than 85 percent of all the organic fruits and vegetable sales were taken place in supermarket chains. As of 2006, fruits and vegetable represented 27 percent of UK’s organic food segmentation and 75 percent of the organic food sales were carried out by Supermarkets (UK Organic food, 2006). Almost all the large scale retailers, mainly Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose already offer core assortments of organic fruits and vegetables. UK’s fresh fruits and vegetables market has been valued as worth an estimated ?9.52 billion in 2010, with an increase of 4.3 percent from the previous year figures despite the fact that the market has been severally affected by rising food-price inflation. The industry in 2010 reported an increase of 29.5 percent total turnover in comparison

APPLE COMPANY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

APPLE COMPANY - Essay Example Through a review of literature from diverse sources, the reports bring forth the findings on the business interventions the company has adopted in order to remain ahead of competition. Two main aspects characterize the strategies developed by Apple Inc, these are innovativeness and product diversification. These two strategies have been put in perspective in this report. In addition, conclusions are drawn from the findings and recommendations made. The company has adopted a differentiation strategy that has the following advantages; Increased competitiveness Uniqueness Flexibility Limitations of the strategy; Increased chances of imitation Uncertainty of the future Recommendations Rebranding Being cautious of customer needs Evaluation of long term and short term goals Introduction Background Apple Inc is the second largest multinational company in the information technology sector all over the world in terms of revenue. It is known for its electronics, software, and personal computer s. Their products have been admired the world over, the Fortune magazine has ranked it the most admired company in the world from 2008 to 2012 (Fisher 2008); (Colvin 2009); (Fortune 2010, 2011 and 2012). The company utilizes diverse means to reach out to their customers, including having retail stores, online stores, and selling to wholesalers among other ways. Objectives This report endeavors to: 1. Identify the strategies that have kept Apple Inc ahead of competition. 2. To analyze the business strategy developed by Apple Inc in an attempt to elucidate what makes them unique. 3. Develop a critical view and evaluation of the competitive strategies by Apple Inc 4. Analyze the limitations and the strengths of the strategies adopted by Apple. 5. Establish creative recommendations that will see the company stand the torrents of competition and change. Business Strategy A company ought to stand the dynamics of the business world through gaining a competitive edge over the rest. It is of essence that a company should establish a business strategy. According to Johnson et al (2011), a business strategy involves a long-term focus to achieve a competitive advantage through utilization of available resources and competencies to the attainment of the stakeholders’ expectations. Being ahead of competition brings forth differences in the customer’s perception of a particular product hence the willingness to purchase (Martin and Thompson 2010). A company that remains on top in terms of competitiveness must embrace change and must provide better services or products to the customers compared to the competitors. Such a company will remain profitable. Competitive advantage A competitive advantage is achieved through a business strategy that may affect part or the entire workforce (Romaniuk, Sharp and Ehrenberg 2007). The board of directors together with the entire management team has the responsibility of foreseeing the development and implementation of business strategies that will help the organization to remain profitable. Apple’s Competitive Advantage Apple is a company has grown to a multinational with a great reputation across the world. In its path innovation strategies, product diversification and acquisitions have contributed greatly to its success. Despite some lapses in the management at some point, Steve jobs took over the company to steer it to become a leader in the industry (Nair & Leng 2012). Findings Apple Inc stands

The Importance of Branding in Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Importance of Branding in Business - Essay Example Furthermore, the discussion between these five industries will analyze class, category, forms, and brands that exist within each; helping the reader to gain a further level of interpretive understanding that relates to the way in which these entities compete and exist within the current environment. Through an analysis of these metrics, the author will be able to provide the reader with a more in-depth analysis of the way in which previous scholarship has provided these markets with invaluable tools for understanding the importance that branding plays with respect to attracting customers defining consumer choice, substitutability, and competition that exists within each one of these. Though it might be understood that competition is guaranteed, the reality of the fact is that differing levels of competition create unique opportunities and help to define markets that would otherwise be incorrectly categorized. The first article that will be analyzed is entitled, â€Å"From Roots Culture To Sour Fruit: The Aesthetics Of Fashion Branding Cultures in Canada." As such, the research begins with discussing the impact of class and category of this particular industry is that of consumer goods relating to fashion. However, the article quickly delves into issues of measurement with respect to the extreme diversification that exists with respect to the forms and brands of actual industries that compete within this sector. The article further denotes that this extreme competition creates an extremely differentiated hierarchy of brands and allows for an extreme level of differentiation between these offerings to be exhibited to the end consumer. Price and quality further help to define what markets will be approached and what consumers will be courted. The core boundary that exists, and is defined by the research, is with regard to the strategic players in this market and how they react to price, pre stige, and quality.  

Everyone should get check-ups regularly Essay Example for Free

Everyone should get check-ups regularly Essay Through time people have become more and more afraid of physicians. This results in fewer and fewer doctor or dentist visitations. This is not a good habit to fall into. Everyone should get regular doctor and dentist check-ups. The reason for this is to prevent loss of teeth, diseases, and many other things. Firstly, if you started to loose your teeth this would be a very unattractive thing. Many people try to pull this look off and they just cannot do it, very much like the mullet. Why not just go to the dentist every six months for a regular check-up and have your teeth cleaned, x-rayed, and examined so you do not have to have your food in smoothie form because you cannot chew your food with your two teeth. Some more motivation to go to the dentist might be that with those two teeth chilling with all those gums you do not have a very good chance getting a date, a girlfriend, or a wife, unless the girl you are seeing only has two teeth also, then in that case it is all good. Secondly, you should not just wait until you get sick to go to the doctor. You should go at least once a year for a full physical and check-up. Many people let it go until it is too late. This is the case for many things like heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, lung disease, glaucoma, macro-degeneration, and cancer. These are diseases that cannot be let go, and if let go, could cause death, blindness, or other more severe diseases. Many of these diseases can be eliminated or slowed down if caught at an early stage and may save or extend your life just by getting regular check-ups and physicals. Thirdly, men and women should both go and see their respective genital doctor. Many lives could be saved every year if men and women alike would go get these check-ups to avoid getting testicular cancer, which is becoming more and more prevalent, ovarian cancer, breast cancer, which men can even get, and other diseases which are tied together with peoples private parts. No one should be ashamed or scared to go and see these doctors; no one  should ever be ashamed or scared to try to keep and maintain him or her a healthy body and lifestyle. In conclusion, everybody, grab your wallets, HMO cards, blue cross ? blue shield cards, and head to your nearest dentist or doctor to get your check-ups and physicals. You do not have to hardly anything but sit there and smile. So, open your mouth, stick out your tongue, bite down on this, lift your arms over your head, turn your head and cough, lift up your shirt, drop your drawers, touch you toes, look into the light, and brace yourself Ethel cause that stethoscope is kind of cold. And please do not forget to brush your teeth and before you go to any of these places because dentists and doctors like to see you but do they really need to smell you as well?

Attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Africa

Attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Africa The developing economies of Africa must on their part make deliberate and sustained efforts to attract the much needed inflows of foreign investments. To achieve this, the enabling economic, financial and political environment for such inflows must be created. An economy that is exposed to higher levels of political instability, economic uncertainties and financial risk will not be able to gain the confidence of investors. These risk factors if not well mitigated with a great degree of transparency and accountability could serve as barriers to both local and foreign investments. According to Banz and Clough (2002), the major reasons among many others for not investing in developing economies are the lack of transparency and poor governance policies. Therefore, Nigeria and other developing economies of Africa must work towards an environment that has a relatively reasonable economic risk, ensure political stability and demonstrate moderate financial risk to attract foreign capital inf lows especially in the form of equity investment. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) markets to which Nigeria belong have of recent experienced some legal, regulatory and supervisory changes resulting into increased transparency in the operation of their markets. The liquidity of the markets have increased and operations also liberalized to attract more foreign investors. The Nigerian economy is the largest of the 15 member body and has a lot of political and economic influence over the other members. Conscious efforts have been made by the various member countries to partially open up their economies, through systematic privatization programs, overhauling of their legal and financial institutional infrastructures and use of modern trading platforms have resulted in real development of their markets and manage to attract some foreign direct investments (FDI) to them. Nigeria is currently the biggest economy in Africa after the recent rebasement of its GDP, thereby beating South Africa to the second place ((Magnowski, 2014). The petroleum sector accounts for roughly 80% of fiscal revenues and 90% of export earnings (World Fact book).The country is also one of the major exporters of petroleum, and plays a significant role in OPEC (OPEC Annual Statistical Bulletin 2013). To diversify its economy Nigeria is encouraging the growth of their private sector by offering some incentives to private sector equity investors who are willing to invest in the country. The country has an increasing GDP of $422.6bullion, $450.4billion and $502 billion for the years 2011, 2012 and 2013 respectively, and diminishing foreign debt stock of $15.73 billion and $13.4 billion for 2012 and 2013 respectively. There is also an increasing Foreign Direct Investment of $7.444 billionand $9.212 billion for 2012 and 2013 respectively (World Fact book: World Bank). The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) is the second largest exchange in Africa; it was established in 1960 to provide listing and trading services among others. Its activities are regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the country. The value of publicly traded shares stood at $50.88 billion, $39.27 billion and $56.39 billion for 2011, 2012 and 2013 respectively. Despite all the above mentioned strong economic fundamentals or good indicators, Nigeria has been plagued by several daunting challenges, notable among them are the issues epileptic power supply, inadequate infrastructures, insecurity, endemic corruption, increasing rate of unemployment and its heavy reliance on petroleum products (Global edge, 2014; World fact book). These factors pose some uncertainties about the Nigerian economic and stock market outlook. Nevertheless, the Nigerian economy is still growing. Fortunately, the government is also conscious of some of these teething problems. Programs are initiated to diversify the economy in the areas of agriculture, power, telecommunication, transport and other services. These efforts seem to be yielding the desired results as evidenced in the country’s 6-8% per annum pre-rebasing growth rate. With these measures a seemingly conducive economic environment is created which could be exploited by investors. This therefore, presents reasonable economic risk. There is also institutionalized democracy leading to political stability in its own form in terms of the country’s ability to carry out declared programs. Nigeria is also able to finance its commercial and trade debt obligations and has at no time defaulted in payment of its external financial commitments; thus demonstrating relatively moderate financial risks. These indices send strong signals in terms of information content about Nigeria’s overall economic health to domestic, international investors and rating agencies among others. Therefore, it will be of interest to empirically explore how these factors (economic, financial and political risks) when taken together or separately can affect the country’s stock market performance and vice versa. Country risk ratings assess the probability of a country’s default on its debt from a variety of perspectives: from socio-economic condition to growth in the real gross domestic product (GDP), government stability to corruption, to exchange rate stability among others. The objective of this paper is to empirically investigate the short and long-run relationships between Nigeria’s country risk ratings; political, economic, and financial components and its stock market in order to provide further information for current and potential investors to enable them make better informed investment decisions. In our knowledge this is the first few studies of this nature conducted on an emerging economy like Nigeria. Our main instrument of investigation is the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach formulated by Pesaran and Pesaran (2009) and Pesaran et al. (2001), to empirically investigate the relationships. The ARDL method is adopted because of its econometrics techniques. One important advantage of the ARDL model over other traditional approaches is that it can be used in time-series data irrespective of their order of integration, whether I(0), I(1) and/or fractionally integrated (Pesaran and Pesaran, 2009). The ARDL approach can also test for cointegration by the bounds testing procedure and can estimate the short-run dynamics and long-run relationships. The rest of the paper is organized as follows; section two discusses related literature. Section three explains the methodology adopted in this paper. Section four presents the ARDL procedure and discusses its empirical findings. Conclusion and implications are given in section five. The globalization of trade and financial markets in the past years has created huge investment opportunities and its attendant risks. It has therefore, becomes inevitable to know the credit worthiness of participating players. The motive behind such an assessment of the economic and financial condition and sometimes political stability of a country is to be able to evaluate the country credit risks involved in doing business or investing in such a country. Any event in a country that will affect not only the prospect of profitability but also restrict the movement of capital in the form of profits, dividend etc is worth evaluating. The need for such critical evaluation of credit worthiness of countries has resulted in the establishment of several rating agencies such as Fitch, Moody’s and Standard Poor among many others. These risk ratings are considered as indicative of possible future default. A higher rating is seen as a lower risk of default, while a lower score indicates a higher risk of default. Though the primary significance of ratings is due to their impact on interest rates at which countries source for funds in the international financial markets, studies have also shown its influence on stock market movements. This argument is linked to the influence of country credit risk ratings on the inflows of Foreign Direct Investments (FDI), into the host’s economy, especially through equity shares investments. There is no scarcity of research papers on sovereign ratings and their critical roles for encouraging and facilitating investment flows especially in developed economies, but there is paucity of studies conducted on the impact of these ratings on movements of national stock markets, particularly for emerging markets such as Nigeria. Some of the early studies by Erb et al (1995, 1996a, 1996b) show that there is association or relationship between country credit risk (i.e. the risk of a country’s inability to service its external debts) and returns on equity investments. The existence of relationship between country credit ratings and stock market returns was confirmed in the early work of Erb et al. (1996a) using data that cut across boundaries. As a follow up to their earlier work, Erb et al. (1996b) investigated the influence of economic, financial and political risks on expected fixed income returns. They show that there is relation between the country risk measures and world bond market expected returns. For the ICRG economic variable, they find positive and significant signs in unhedged, local, and foreign exchange portfolio returns. They also show that the country risk attributes are significant to the real yields of fixed income securities. Kaminsky and Schmukler (2001) also examine the influence of sovereign ratings and outlook changes on the sensitivity of emerging financial markets. They find that these variables have substantial influence on both bond and stock markets. A domestic downgrade is associated with an average increase change rate of two percentage points in bond yield spreads and a decrease of one percentage point in stock returns. SubaÃ…Å ¸Ãƒâ€žÃ‚ ± (2008) expressed a contrary view, stating that in most cases news of a downgrade is often anticipate earlier before its announcement; therefore the potential negative effect of such information on stocks and exchange rate returns is diluted. The impacts of rating changes on both bond yield and sovereign debt have been tested severally by many authors. Reisen and Maltzan (1999) using the three main rating agencies, find that there is mutual interdependencies among rating changes and changes in bond yield spread. The study by Cantor and Packer (1996) also reported similar findings. Among several authors that have provided valuable insight into the influence of rating changes on sovereign debt and corporate securities are Hand et al. (1992) and Richards and Deddouche (1999). The degrees of sensitivity in all these studies tend to vary probably because of the methods used for the country risk analysis. Hammoudey et al. (2011) using emerging economies; Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (commonly referred to as the BRICS countries) establish various degrees of sensitivities of these countries’ stock markets to their respective country risk ratings. China is most sensitive to all the risk variables, followed by Russia, while all the BRICS countries show moderate economic risk sensitivity. The spillover effect of sovereign debt rating changes on national stock markets and international debts is also confirmed by various authors, among them are Ferreira and Gama 2007; Li et al 2008. This situation is common among countries that share common economic features and unrestricted Evidence of flow of information. Common border also suspected to play a significant role. Regional stock market movements are also influenced by country credit risk rating news. This development is consistent with the study by Christopher et al. (2008), stating that there is a positive relationship between the two factors. While Brooks et al. (2004) in their study, though under a different setting did not find any sensitive association among the two variables. Turkey’s stock market index also seems to have association with its economic, financial and political risk ratings. Using Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model, Sari et al. (2013) established a steady long-run relationship among the stock market and some of the risk variables. There are many leading commercial publishers of country and political risk analysis, but data for this study is sourced from the International Country Risk Guide (ICRG) economic, financial and political risk ratings for Nigeria covering the period 2001 to 2013. The ICRG rating system is made up of 22 variables representing three major components of country risk, namely economic, financial and political. These variables essentially represent risk-free measures. There are 5 variables representing each of the economic and financial components of risk, while the political component is based on 12 variables (Hoti, 2003). The specified allowable range for each factor reflects the weight attributed to each factor. A higher score indicates a lower risk and vice versa. The stock market returns variable is obtained by taking the first logarithm difference of the monthly stock of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) for the period earlier specified.s