Indian Education by Sherman Alexie Reading Response

Indian Education Reading Responses 1. The overarching tone of this piece is shamefully miserable. Sherman Alexie conveys this by using negative diction, for example; Alexie begins his first grade excerpt by saying, â€Å"My hair was short and the U. S. Government glasses were horn-rimmed, ugly†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The author uses the word ‘ugly’ to indicate young Alexie lacks in self confidence and is ashamed of his appearance. Alexie continues on saying, â€Å"†¦ in school the other Indian boys chased me from one corner of the playground to the other.They pushed me down, buried me in the snow until I couldn’t breathe, thought I’d never breathe again. † He was miserable since the day he started school, that’s sad. The phrase â€Å"couldn’t breathe, thought I’d never breathe† makes me feel hopeless and vulnerable all at once. As the school years goes by, nothing seems to change except Alexie no longer gets physically hurt. H e still feels ashamed and dejected from his own tribe. He will always be a misfit. 2. Three examples of satire: * Fifth Grade: satirizes young Indians access to drugs as an escape route from their misery.Uses imagery to show the beauty of drugs. There is also sarcasm at the very end, â€Å"Oh, do you remember those sweet, almost innocent choices that the Indian boys were forced to make? † Horatian satire. * Sixth Grade: Satirizes the young Indians who lack in self confidence. He uses Caustic wit when he said, â€Å"Always throw the first punch. † An Epiphany to defend oneself. I believe it is horatian satire. * Eight Grade: Satire that the anorexic and bulimic girls are no better than himself. Hyperbole is used to show both â€Å"grew skinny from self pity. † Juvenilia satire.

Imf -Role for Developing Countries

Introduction: International Monetary Fund (IMF),is a specialized agency of the United Nations, established in 1945. It was planned at the Bretton Woods Conference (1944), and its headquarters are in Washington, D. C. There is close collaboration between it and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Its primary mission is to ensure stability in the international monetary system. The IMF provides policy advice and financing to member countries with economic problems.The organization, using a fund subscribed by the member nations, purchases foreign currencies on application from its members so as to discharge international indebtedness and stabilize exchange rates. The IMF currency reserve units are called Special Drawing Rights (SDRs); from 1974 to 1980 the value of SDRs was based on the currencies of 16 leading trading nations. Since 1980 it has been reevaluated every five years and based on the relative international economic importance of the British pound sterli ng, the European Union euro (formerly the French franc and German mark), the Japanese yen, and the U.S. dollar. To facilitate international trade and reduce inequities in exchange, the fund has limited power to set the par value of currencies. Members are provided with technical assistance in making monetary transactions. In 1995 the fund moved to increase disclosure requirements of countries borrowing money and at the same time created an emergency bailout fund for countries in financial crisis. IMF was criticized in 1998 for exacerbating the Asian financial crisis, through the fund's decision to require Asian nations to raise their interest rates to record levels.During the international financial crisis of the early 21st century the IMF provided loans and access to credit of more than $100 billion to developing countries that were affected by falling demand for their exports and other financial problems. Instead of increasing government expenditure and boosting domestic demand, l ocal employment and economic activity to overcome the recession, the IMF is cutting spending and increasing tariffs and taxes in already contracting economies for the express purpose of maintaining low inflation and fiscal deficit rates, flexible exchange rates, and trade and financial liberalization.In this paper we try to analyze effect of reduced government expenditure for developing countries that sought aid on dealing with currency crisis. We also analyze the reasons behind strict monetary policy prescribed by IMF. Our analysis provides a framework that would help improve IMF’s approach in future. Reasons behind strict monetary policy: IMF claims upon maintaining transparency in setting up operation, but it is actually extremely secretive. In recent years, as criticism about this policy has grown, IMF has made certain parameters of structural adjustment of various developing countries public.Although IMF assumes a dominating role in structuring policies for affected nati ons, it imposes its policies on them rather than involving them in the decision making process. Key structural adjustment measures include: †¢ Privatizing government-owned enterprises and government-provided services, †¢ Slashing government spending, †¢ Orienting economies to promote exports, †¢ Trade and investment liberalization, †¢ Higher interest rates, eliminating subsidies on consumer items such as foods, fuel and medicines and tax increasesThe basic idea of these policies is to shrink the size and role of government, rely on market forces to distribute resources and services and integrate poor countries into the global economy. Also, despite pledges to address the crisis in flexible and innovative ways, the IMF's key objective in crisis loans remained ‘macroeconomic stability' through the ‘tightening of monetary and fiscal policies' with below objectives: †¢   Lowering fiscal deficits and inflation levels †¢   Buffering inter national reserves †¢ Reducing or restraining public spending   Increasing official interest rates or restraining the growth of the money supply †¢   Preventing currency depreciation Structural Adjustments in IMF policy: Structural adjustments have been successful at its intended efforts to diminish the scope of government and to integrate developing countries into the global economy. But they have failed by many other measures. By and large, countries undergoing structural adjustment have not experienced economic growth, even in the medium term. Main Reasons include: †¢ The IMF caters to wealthy countries and Wall Street:Dominating decision power and voting power has made US a largest shareholder of IMF of rich countries. Disproportional amount of power held by wealthy countries translates into decisions that benefit wealthy bankers, investors and corporations from industrialized countries at the expense of sustainable development. †¢ The IMF is imposing a fu ndamentally flawed development model IMF forces countries from the Global South to prioritize export production over the development of a diversified domestic economy. i. e. hift from food production for local consumption to the production of crops for export to the industrialized countries. Small businesses and farmers can't compete with large multinational corporations. Thus the cycle of poverty is perpetuated, not eliminated. †¢ IMF Policies hurt the environment The IMF does not consider environmental impacts of lending policies; and environmental ministries and groups are not included in policy making. The focus on export growth to earn hard currency to pay back loans means unsustainable liquidation of natural resources.This happened with the bailouts of Brazil, Indonesia, and Russia–countries that are renowned for their great biodiversity The IMF bails out rich bankers, creating a moral hazard and greater instability in the global economy The IMF pushes countries to dismantle trade and investment rules, as well as raise interest rates in order to lower inflation. The removal of regulations that might limit speculation has greatly increased capital investment in developing country financial markets. More than $1. 5 trillion crosses borders every day.This capital is short-term, unstable, and puts countries at the whim of financial speculators. The Mexican 1995 peso crisis was partly a result of these IMF policies. Impact of Structural reforms on developing countries and its evaluation: Those developing countries that have experienced the greatest economic successes in recent decades have violated many of the central precepts of structural adjustment. They have protected certain parts of their economy, and they have maintained an active governmental role in economic planning.A review of policies sponsored by the IMF illustrated the basic failure of structural adjustment. Countries undergoing such structural adjustment experienced stagnating growt h rates and saw their foreign debt nearly double-dramatic evidence of failure, since reducing foreign debt is one of ESAF's ostensible purposes. As per reports, the two regions with the most structural adjustment experience, per capital income has stagnated (Latin America) or collapsed (Africa, where per capita income dropped more than 20 percent between 1980 and 1997). The emphasis on exports tends to be socially disruptive, especially in rural areas.Poor subsistence farmers frequently find their economic activity described as nonproductive, and experience land pressures from expanding agribusinesses, timber companies and mines. Pushed off their land, they frequently join the ranks of the urban unemployed, or move onto previously unsettled, and frequently environmentally fragile, lands. Structural adjustment has generally contributed to rising income and wealth inequality in the developing countries, a fact tacitly acknowledged by both recently retired IMF Managing Director Michel Camdessus and World Bank President James Wolfensohn.Consider the Asian meltdown caused in large part by South Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia, which was caused by heavy reliance on short-term foreign loans. When it became apparent that private enterprises in those nations would not be able to meet their payment obligations, international currency markets panicked. Currency traders sought to convert their Asian money into dollars, and the Asian currencies plummeted. That made it harder for the Asian countries to pay their loans, and it made imports suddenly very expensive.The IMF’s usual policy of countries not meeting their balance of payments due to increased value imports and reduced exports was reapplied here. Treating the Asian Financial crisis like other situations, IMF made arrangements for loans to enable these countries to payoff their debts. But IMF placed the condition that the countries would adopt the structural adjustment policies. But th ey failed to understand that the Asian crisis condition differed from this situation.Like, even though Asian countries did not run budget deficits, they were compelled to restrict government spending which further deepened their slowdown. The Fund failed to manage an orderly roll over of short-term loans to long-term loans, which was most needed; and it forced governments, including in South Korea and Indonesia to guarantee private debts owed to foreign creditors. In retrospect, even the IMF would admit that it made things worse in Asia. Malaysia stood out as a country that refused IMF assistance and advice.Instead of further opening its economy, Malaysia imposed capital controls, in an effort to eliminate speculative trading in its currency While the IMF mocked this approach when adopted, the Fund later admitted that it succeeded. Malaysia generally suffered less severe economic problems than the other countries embroiled in the Asian financial crisis. Considering example of Pakist an,   Pakistan is among the most frequent users of IMF loans, having borrowed IMF money 12 times since 1980.However, 10 of these programmes were abandoned midway due to Pakistan’s failure to fully adopt the IMF’s policy recommendations. Undue US interference, inadequate political analysis capacities within the IMF, inappropriate sequencing and over-ambitious agendas given the short loan durations were the main reasons . For example, Pakistan was advised to reduce import duties before it developed alternative taxation measures to cover the ensuing tax revenue shortfalls.This increased Pakistan’s public debt significantly as it had to borrow to cover the resulting fiscal deficits. However, Pakistan must partly share the blame since it accepted the loan conditions. Same happened with for some African countries, which lack both the technical capacities to analyse the IMF conditions and alternative financing options The IMF's structural adjustment prescriptions for countries suffering through the Asian financial crisis were roundly denounced, including by many conservative and mainstream economists and opinion makers.The widespread criticism of the Fund undermined its political credibility. The IMF response has been to make some minor concessions in making its documents more publicly available, limiting its demands that countries liberalize their capital markets (including by allowing unlimited trade in their currency, and permitting foreign investors to invest in domestic stocks and bonds without restriction), and increasing its rhetorical commitment to paying attention to poverty in its structural adjustment programs.But the financial crisis, aggravated due to IMF’sstructural policy, had alreadyled to massive human suffering. â€Å"IMF suicides† became common among workers who lost their jobs and dignity. In Indonesia, the worst hit country, poverty rates rose from an official level of 11 percent before the crisis to 40 to 60 percent in varying estimates. GDP declined by 15 percent m one year. IMF policies exacerbated the economic meltdown in countries hit by the Asian financial crisis.Mandated reductions in government spending worsened the Asian nation's recessions and depressions. And the forced elimination of price controls and subsidies for the poor imposed enormous costs of the lowest income strata’s. In Indonesia, food and gasoline prices rose 25 to 75 percent overnight or in the course of a few days. Although most developing countries are in need of fundamental reform along the general economic principles advocated by the IMF, the problem lies with the specifics of the IMF reform agenda.Thus as per the latest records, most successful East Asian countries have adopted IMF’s principles but have utilized very different specific tools which preserve long-term development, unlike IMF-recommended tools. Instead of widespread immediate privatization, China initially introduced managerial in centive systems in agriculture and industry. This boosted Chinese productivity without the massive economic ruin that the IMF-advised mass-scale privatization caused in Russia in the 1990s.In fact, no developing country sticking entirely to the IMF approaches has achieved the type of success achieved by East Asian countries. Towards growth- and development-oriented fiscal and monetary policies: A more development-oriented macroeconomic policy stance is necessary in order to generate the quantum leap in resources that LICs need to finance large-scale new investments in economic and social infrastructure, which includes the specific MDG (Millennium Development Goals) goals in the health and education sectors, and job creation.Progress on poverty reduction and basic human development has historically required, and continues to require, such a critical degree of spending and investment in the domestic economy. In order to support the achievement of the MDGs, IMF policies need to change: †¢ Support of active use of fiscal policy to for public investments and public spending to build essential economic and social infrastructures. Future revenues expected from the investment should pay off the debt that the government initially incurred. The IMF should encourage more expansionary monetary options that better enable domestic firms and consumers to access affordable credit for expanding production, employment, and increased contributions to the domestic tax base. Monetary policy should thus maintain low real interest rates, rather than ineffectively trying to keep inflation low with high interest rates which dampen aggregate demand and growth prospects. The IMF should permit the regulation of the capital account to confront the continuous inflow, as well as outflow, of private capital from national economies, i. e. ‘capital flight'. Now the question lies, whether the IMF is actually concerned about sustainable development? If yes, then the emphasis should no t be on IMF pushing the countries to adopt its structural policies in exchange of the debt funds. Instead, IMF's influence and power needs to be reduced so it has less say over developing country policies.

“How Should Posco-Ippc Increase Its Footprint in the Automobile Segment?

| Business Management IA| â€Å"How should POSCO-IPPC increase its footprint in the Automobile segment? | Candidate Name: Amrit Shah Session no. 002798011 School: Symbiosis International School Research Proposal: Executive Summary: 199 words Word Count: 1977| | Acknowledgements: I would like to acknowledge and thank: * Mrs. Vaishali Phatak for her support and assistance in helping me with this report * Mr. Bharat Indu Bhattacharya- Electric Steel Dept. Manager of POSCO-IPPC, Pvt. Limited, Pune – for his contribution to the report and his time for the interview. * Mr. Joseph Joe- Automobile Steel Dept. Manager of POSCO-IPPC, Pvt. Limited, Pune- for his contribution to the report and his time for the interview. * Mr. Jacy Kim- General Manager of POSCO-IPPC, Pvt. Limited, Pune- for allowing me to do this report on the company and for providing guidance and help throughout. Executive Summary POSCO-IPPC, a steel distributor for the Korean company POSCO have plans about establishing themselves firmly in the Indian Steel Industry given that they are facing consumer problems from their customers in the Automobile sector. As such this paper analyzes the question, â€Å"â€Å"How should POSCO-IPPC increase its footprint in the Automobile segment? † Primarily, a research question highlights the rationale, theoretical framework, action plan and methodology applied and possible constraints in answering the question. An Introduction enlightens us about the background and basic history related to the company itself and of relevance to the question. Findings and analysis is written on the basis of primary research inclusive of multiple interviews conducted with different managers and secondary research inclusive of mails concerning their expenses over the future prospects by the automobile sector manager that acted as a catalyst in evaluating using both financial (capacity utilization and decision tree) and non-financial methods(SWOT & PEST). The report mainly focuses on the problem of raw material which POSCO-IPPC is currently facing due to which they are not able to meet the increasing demand. Based on the research conducted, it is found that POSCO-IPPC has two options to overcome this problem. One that it could ask POSCO, Korea to supply them with greater raw material and the other that it could ask POSCO, Orissa, a manufacturing unit to supply them with raw material. These options have been evaluated keeping in mind the conditions to find out the most feasible option to give a strong conclusion. Possible solutions are discussed and the conclusion suggests that POSCO-IPPC in order to sustain itself in the Indian Steel Market needs to increase its output and using the financial and non-financial techniques discussed and the best viab1e option would be to increase its raw material supply from POSCO, Korea. Contents Acknowledgements†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦2 Executive Summary†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 3 Research Proposal†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. Introduction†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â ‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 8 Procedure/ Methodology†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 9 Main Results and Finding †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦ 10 Analysis/Evaluation†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 12 Conclusions and Recommendations†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 16 Bibliogr aphy†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 17 Appendix†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 18 Research Proposal Research Question How to increase POSCO-IPPC footprint in the Automobile segment? Rationale POSCO-IPPC, a distribution centre of Korea’s POSCO Steel Company, is a newbie in the Indian Steel market; they have a monopoly in the Electric steel market and they are undergoing problems in the Automobile sector so they should work on capturing more consumers in the Automobile sector so that they are able to stabilize themselves. The research question focuses on the ways POSCO-IPPC should apply to set its footprint in the automobile segment. Theoretical Framework My plan is to utilize both financial and non-financial techniques to evaluate the problems incurred by the management so that they are able to firmly establish themselves in the automobile sector. The report will analyse the problems faced, thus it will try to solve it using the financial techniques of Capacity Utilisation and Decision Tree and non-financial techniques of SWOT and PEST which will analyse the other problems, opportunities and threats. Key Areas of Syllabus Unit 4 – Operations management Decisions * Introducing Operations Management Improving operational efficiency: Capacity, Scale of production Unit 6 – Numerate techniques for business studies * Information for decision making Primary Research: * Interview with Electronic Steel manager Mr. Sharad Indu Bhattacharya regarding the company history, company status, market and other general aspects about the company’s working. * Interview with Automobile Steel manager Mr. Joseph Joe regarding the market stats in Automobile sector, drawbacks, problems and possible implications so as to understand their market in the Automobile sector. Secondary Research: * Some Information and the list of customers of POSCO-IPPC, Pune, India received through mail from Mr. Joseph. * Other background history of POSCO, Korea used and other facts and figures were taken from the internet. Possible Problems:| Solutions:| Managers were not able to understand the true purpose of the interview resulting in very compact answers. | Managers were asked questions in a very narrow perspective which narrowed down to minute details. | Responses from the managers were related to only their departments, unable to give a general view. Requested them to get information from other managers as well. Small interview with a employee and the production manager. | Limited access to detailed information on the customers and the company as the locations are very far and detail information is confidential. | Acknowledged in the conclusion. | Financial Data was limited to a great extent as it was a new company and Data was yet not published. | Estimates have b een taken and where estimates could not be taken, it has been described in words. | | | Action Plan: Date| Task | 18th August, 2008. | Talked on phone with Mr. Jacy Kim who agreed to let me do my project on the company. | 20th August, 2008. | Will take an Interview with Mr. Bharat Indu BhattacharyaWill take an interview of Mr. Joseph Joe Research Question formulated. | 22nd August, 2008. | Planning will be done as to the way this essay needs to go about. Introduction and Research Proposal will be written. | 30th August, 2008. | Data Collection should be done. | 5th September, 2009. | Main results and findings will be written down based on the information gathered from Mr. Bharat Indu Bhattacharya and Mr. Joseph Joe over the days. 13th September, 2009. | Analysis of the data will be done. | 14th September, 2009. | Techniques of Capacity Utilization and Decision Tree will be applied. Will make a SWOT and PEST analysis. Analysis to be completed. | 15th January, 2009. | Recommendations written. Appendices made and attached. | 16th January, 2009. | Executive summary, content page, Action plan| Introduction: POSCO-India Pune Processing Centre Co. Ltd. , established in August 2006 but started its commercial distribution in 2006, and is a highly recognized by all the major companies of India for its great quality of its steel. Although being a newcomer in the Indian Steel Market, it has set its footprint as a Quality and principle based company. POSCO-IPPC is a coil centre for the Korean Steel giant POSCO Steel Limited which is a global producer of crude steel and finished steel goods. POSCO-IPPC involved an investment of 15 million dollars. It is an independent company of its own as it is a joint venture of POSCO (holding 65% of shares. ) and LG (holding 35% of shares. ) POSCO-IPPC is a processing unit which is locally managed. It is a processor-cum-distributor of steel in the electronic and automobile segment. It only plays a small role of slitting and shearing of the raw material as a processor. Its output is 10,000 metric tons per month with an annual turnover of 320 Crores in the previous financial year. It employs 120 people as its working staff out of which 60 are employed as payroll workers and other 60 are in contract. With the import prices and duties of steel and being a newbie in the Indian Steel market, it is facing competition from other distributors like ESSAR, TATA STEEL, JINDAL and other Chinese and Russian companies. In the Automobile sector, there are many problems created due to its high price and lack of output compared to that in the electronic steel sector for it holds monopoly in the sector for many of its products. As the management is highly equipped in its factors of production, it is researching on ways to exploit the Automobile market in order to firmly establish itself in the country. Therefore this report focuses on- â€Å"How should POSCO-IPPC increase its footprint in the Automobile segment? † Procedure/Methodology The Initial research included a detailed interview about the company and its standings with Mr. Bhattacharya-Electronic Steel manager. Another interview was with the Automobile Steel manager- Mr. Joseph Joe about the Automobile sector inclusive of the discussion over the problem mentioned in the research question. Underlining the major aspects in the interview, the questions focused on POSCO-IPPC’s strength, standings in the market, internal and external factors involved for and against production (which created the PEST, SWOT analysis and information for the analysis), and financial status and estimations advising financial techniques to be applied ( Capacity utilization and Decision Tree. The secondary research resulted in analyzing of POSCO Steel’s information and accessing other reports, industry statistics, market information and data via numerous internet sites. This helped in the results and findings, in strengthening the information available and recommendations and conclusions. It should be noted however, that financial data collected is based upon both à ¢â‚¬Ëœactual’ and ‘estimates’, which need further validation. In addition, the validity of this report may be influenced by the apparent subjectivity of some financial data given confidentially issues. Main results and Findings POSCO-IPPC Private Limited is a subsidiary of POSCO, the world's  fourth largest steel producer and one of the most competitive steel companies (World Steel Dynamics 2006) whose products are shipped to over 60 countries around the globe. Aside from this unit, POSCO has also invested 12 billion USD in Orissa which is proposed to produce an output of 12 million ton per annum by 2010. Since 1990, more than Rs 19,000 crores (US$ 4470. 58 million) has been invested in the steel industry of India and there is an increasing trend in its production. See Figure 1) The auto component sector has also posted significant growth of 20 per cent in 2003-04, to achieve a sales turnover of Rs. 30,640 crore (US$ 6. 7 billion)(See Figure 2). Such opportunities in the automobile sector and the Indian economy can help POSCO-IPPC to establish itself firmly. In terms of current market position, POSCO-IPPC brands itself as a leading provider of electric steel in some of the areas in India for not many of the companies have explored the electric steel market. Being a newcomer, it plans to inhabit the automobile steel market, where it still hasn’t managed to set its foot firmly. The company is based upon certain policies and factors which many of the customers are unable to comply with. POSCO is a global player and it supplies and manufactures steel all over the world. It exports steel from South Korea at an international price which is comparatively high in Indian currency so this difference between the prices, leads to a high price charged by the company. Due to the high price, POSCO decided to put a special price (Rs 49000-cold rolled steel) to fit in the market but in exchange for lower supply of steel so this reduces the supply power of POSCO-IPPC. POSCO-IPPC is only a distribution centre and does not manufacture. It is a market-oriented firm and follows the concept of mass customization for it creates the output maintaining to different customers need. It slits and shears steel depending upon the customer’s want. Its main customers are Crompton, LG and Suzlon in the electrics sector and Tata and Bajaj in the automobile sector. It uses batch production to produce an output of 10,000 metric tons per year where 1. 5% of the raw-material is wasted in slitting and shearing. The demand for their steel is a lot higher than their output and their capacity is also higher (35,000 metric tons/year) but the lack of raw-material limits them, due to the special price-low supply factor. Instead of creating more output, their machines are doing job work for other competitors like JINDAL, ESSAR, etc. of 5000 metric tons monthly. Highlighting the difficulty suffered in the case of TATA MOTORS Pvt. Limited Total Requirement of TATA | 30,000 (Demand going up by 7-10% annually) | TATA’s demand from POSCO (for high quality steel)| 5000-7000| POSCO-IPPC’s Supply to TATA| 2000-2500 (Rest to be supplied to other customers. )| POSCO-IPPC’s Cold Rolled Steel Price at the market | Rs. 53-55000| TATA’s pay price to POSCO | Rs. 48000| | | | | (All figures are in metric tons/month) Analysis/Evaluation: The evaluation of different problems which cause hindrances in trade with other companies will be done with the help of certain financial and non-financial techniques. Financial Analysis: I. Capacity Utilization With the purpose of utilizing its capital to the fullest, POSCO-IPPC has two pathways in order to supply more in the steel market and set its foot strongly: a) acquiring more raw-materials from POSCO, Korea. b) Purchasing of raw-material from POSCO manufacturing unit at Orissa, India. Thus, we will analyze the present scenario of capacity utilization in compared with the two options mentioned above. Present Capacity Utilization scenario: The capital utilization is calculated in percentage and the formulae used for it is given below: OutputMaximum capacity? 00 Current Output: 10000 metric tons/ month. Maximum Capacity: 11250 metric tons/ month. Capacity Utilization = 1000011250? 100 = 88. 89% Option a): acquiring more raw-materials from POSCO, Korea: Estimated output: 11250 metric tons/ month Maximum capacity: 11250 metric tons/ month Capacity Utilization = 1125011250? 100 = 100% Option b): Purchasing of raw-material from POSCO manufacturing branch at Orissa in India: Estimated Output: 11250 metric tons/ month Maximum Capacity: 11250 metric tons/ month Capacity Utilization = 1125011250? 100 = 100% II. Decision Tree: Utilizing this approach for both the options and other decisions to be made by the company are evaluated and financially viable decisions are suggested. (Figure 1) (All money values are in Indian Rupees) Key: Decision square Chance node Calculations: (611. 105mn ? 0. 6) + (466. 07mn ? 0. 4) – 500mn = 53. 091mn INR (572. 88 ? 0. 3) + (491. 04 ? 0. 7) – 500mn = 15. 592mn INR Non-financial analysis: India has gone through a considerable change in the production and consumption of Steel in the past 10 years. Driven a booming economy and concomitant demand levels, consumption of steel has grown by 12. 5 per cent during the last three years it has been forecast that the apparent steel use point in India will increase by 11. 8 per cent in 2008. POSCO-IPPC has great opportunities to set their foot firmly in the Automobile sector. The POSCO steel plant is India’s single largest foreign investment project ever. For its part, the Indian government is eager to boost its steel production and attract more foreign investment through such a lucrative partnership. But it also may lead to limiting of foreign ownership and application of protectionism to prevent foreign investment from exceeding its levels. Technology level in POSCO-IPPC is of high standards and helps them with maintaining the quality. The machines brought in are imported but India is a developing county and it has certain problems of electricity which results in regular power-cuts causing hindrances in processing of steel. These load-shedding periods are often covered by the use of generators but these generators prove to be expensive. The steel being imported is affected by any change in the foreign exchange policies and any government/fiscal policies which may affect them. POSCO-IPPC being a new-comer may feel threatened by the presence of multi-national companies as it leads to greater competition and more exploitation of resources. Conclusions and Recommendations: Available management’s perception on the opportunities to establish themselves in the Steel Industry, it does appear that the management should research this further by the help of a market research and research on all of the customer needs. Analysing the written report on the basis of the data supplied, it appears that POSCO-IPPC’s only hindrance is its limitation of supply which if solved will solve many of their other problems. Using Capacity Utilisation and Decision tree, it was understood that if maximum capacity utilisation takes place, it will reduce the price; increase the output; increasing the output will lead to long term relationships with the customers; it will involve maximum utilisation of resources. Maximum capacity utilisation is only possible with the increase in output which can be only done by increase in the supply of steel. There had been two options discussed with the help of decision tree to look for the best and cheapest way to increase the supply by deciding upon the source. The analysis showed that purchasing from POSCO, Korea at the special price is more profitable (53. 091mn INR) but this is only possible if POSCO, Korea agrees to supply them at the special price. The second possible option was from purchasing steel from the other branch of POSCO at Orissa, India but this would prove less profitable (15. 592mn INR) as they would sell it at the selling price in order to save their profits. Other factors which tend to support POSCO-IPPC to set its foot in the Automobile sector include in the non-financial analysis: growing Indian economy and its Steel Industry; Government support; Great Quality Steel; modern technology used with strict disciplinary issues which makes them a good supplier. Recommendations: As such, my recommendations would be: * Undertake further research in terms of specific of customer requirements and problems, by performing a market research and research on the clients, as many of my findings are generic to the company’s knowledge. More accurately determine the precise nature of the costs and profits upon purchasing steel from the sources analyzed in the written report. * Embark upon extensive research as to search other ways to increase the output and also request POSCO, Korea to supply more at the special price. However, my analysis is limited; it does not cover all the aspects of this topic due to the restraints of the data supplied. The re search was not more extensive because the unit was far away and many meetings were not possible with the officials as this would interrupt in their work . With only two personnel interviewed, a wider perspective from other departments must also be obtained . The report is a reference material, the research can be more extensive and proper results can be achieved if access to more data was possible. The Report is still in progress; there are many issues which need to be solved which can be done with the help of the recommendations and more access. Bibliography Books: AS Level and A level Business Studies, Peter Simpson, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2002, Websites: http://www. stratfor. com/analysis/india_poscos_steel_investment_challenge Steel, India Brand Equity Fund, http://www. bef. org/industry/steel. aspx India Steel Industry, Economy Watch, http://www. economywatch. com/india-steel-industry/ India Automobile Industry, Economy Watch, http://www. economywatch. com/business-and-economy/automobile-industry. html Corporate overview, POSCO-INDIA, http://posco-india. com/website/company/corporate-overview. htm APPENDIX: * Appen dix 1: Interview Transcript with Mr. Bharat Indu BhattaCharya * Appendix 1: Interview Transcript with Mr. Joseph Joe * Appendix 3: SWOT Analysis * Appendix 4: PEST Analysis * Appendix 5: Graphs * Appendix 6: Mail from Mr. Joseph Joe Appendix 1: Interview Transcript with Mr. Bharat Indu Bhatta Charya, Electric Steel Dept. Manager of POSCO-IPPC, Pvt. Limited, Pune 1) Good Afternoon, Could you please enlighten us about your company? * Good Afternoon, POSCO-IPPC stands for POSCO – India Pune Processing Unit. We are situated in the Talegaon Horticulture and Industrial Park in the dist. Of Pune. POSCO-IPPC is a coil centre as known by its parent company POSCO, which is a steel manufacturer giant in South Korea. It is the fourth largest producer of steel in the world and its distributors and manufacturing units are spread all over the world. From the start of this company to the present date, POSCO has led to massive advancements in the socio-economic status of South Korea. Coming back to POSCO’s investment in India, this is POSCO’s third investment, the other two being in Delhi and Orissa. Although POSCO is POSCO-IPPC’s main investor but it is an independent company which is locally managed. POSCO entering in a new market planned to establish this processing unit as a joint venture with LG International, where POSCO has 65% of shares and LG international owns the rest 35%. A total 15 million $ was invested in this project and it commercial processing started in 2006. 2) Can you emphasize more on your commercial processing and the working of this unit? * POSCO-IPPC processes the raw material which comes from POSCO, South Korea and distributes it to the customers. By processing, we mean the steel which comes from POSCO is slatted and sheared according to the customers need. We receive our steel in the form of coils, this is one reason for our being known as coil centre, then the coil is put in a machine which slits and shears it based on the dimensions set. This is then packed and sent to the respective customers. Our major customers are Crompton, LG, Suzlon, TATA and Bajaj. Our company produces output for electric steel as well as automobile steel. Although in the electric steel market, we hold a monopoly but in automobile, we are yet to expand our approach. These are the different types of steel we produce: Electric Steel * CRGNO- Cold Rolled Grain Oriented Steel * CRNO- Cold Rolled Non-Grained Steel Automobile Steel * HR ; PO- Hot Rolled and Pickled ; Oiled Steel Cold Rolled Steel * Stainless Steel White Goods * Electro-Galvanised Steel We have 120 people as staff, out of which 60 are on payroll and 60 are on contract. We follow the batch production for our processing unit. Our output is 10,000 metric tons / month with an annual turnover of 320 Crores as of last year. The raw material which comes to us, we add a value addition of 10% and sell it in the market. Our capacity to produce is 135,000 metric tons per annum where as its outp ut is low because of the lack of raw material so the capacity utilization is not up to the mark. So to involve our other machinery, we do job work for other companies of 5000 metric tons. 3) Can you please tell me about the managers of this company? * The managers at all the leading posts in the company are all from South Korea and they have been assigned by POSCO for a fixed period of years for a perfect start in the Indian Steel market. These are very experienced and are strict followers of discipline and quality. The work at POSCO-IPPC is efficient and advancing due to these managers. These are: * Gil Ho Bang – Managing Director Jongyeol Her – General Manager * Jung Chule Kim – General Manager * Woon Tae Jung – General Manager 4) Can you please tell us about the difficulties you are facing as a new company in the Indian Steel market? * We have a monopoly many in the market for Electric steel so we don’t have any problems in that sector but in the automobile sector, our competitors are well established and they have a far greater market share than POSCO-IPPC in the market so it creates pressure on us to create our product better than theirs to stay in the market. Our competitors: TATA STEEL, JINDAL, ESSAR, ISPAT and other Chinese and Russian companies. The two main difficulties which our company is facing are: * There has been a Star Rating which the Indian Government has started on the electric appliances. This effect of BAE Star Rating on the consumption of Electric Steel. * The Automobile sector in India is booming and has a lot of scope so POSCO-IPPC is trying to increase its footprint in the Automobile steel segment. There is a lot of demand for POSCO’s quality steel in the Automobile sector. 5) What is your SWOT? SWOT Strength * Any downfalls can be supported by POSCO-Distribution of quality steel – Inherits a quality name in the market from POSCO- Maintains strict disciplinary levels- Market leader in Electric Steel- Demand for its quality steel in the Automobile sector-Machinery is very advanced and the labour employed are few but skilled. Weaknesses * Not enough raw materials-Is not yet able to firm its stand in the Ste el market-The high price of their product due to the currency of Korea being more powerful – Language/ Cultural gap between India and Korea. Opportunities To increase its output and meet the high demand – Lack of high quality steel in the Automobile market gives them a big opportunity – India encouraging foreign investments- Increasing International trade between the countries- Rate of high economic and the country's economy gradually increasing- Special Reduced Price for the steel. Threats * Price of the raw material is highly dependent on the foreign exchange – POSCO holding a small share in the market is comparatively smaller than its multi-national counterparts -Low output due to lack of raw materials which may result in the loss of customers and a long term relationship. Appendix 2: Interview Transcript with Mr. Joseph Joe, Automobile Steel Dept. Manager of POSCO-IPPC, Pvt. Limited, Pune 1) Good Afternoon, What can you tell me about POSCO-IPPC in relevance to the Automobile market? Good Afternoon, POSCO-IPPC is a subsidiary of POSCO which as you know is a global producer and distributor of high quality steel. So as its parent company, POSCO-IPPC is also known for its high quality in the Indian Steel market. Automobile Company requires high quality steel for the chassis parts of the automobile, usually such parts are imported or substitute quality steel is bought so due to the lack of high quality steel producers in India, there is a lot of demand for the emerging POSCO-IPPC’s Steel. Though POSCO-IPPC has so many opportunities to set itself firmly in the market, it has many hindrances preventing it from doing so. 2) Can you pleases talk about the hindrances in little more detail? * There are many factors which sum up to conclude as a hindrance for POSCO-IPPC. The major ones are: * High cost of POSCO-IPPC’s Steel leads to a discouragement to the Indian customers. * POSCO-IPPC is looking for big customers so they are able to establish themselves by directly targeting at the higher end. * POSCO-IPPC is strict in its payment dates which are not favoured by all its customers for they need a margin to settle their accounts. * Although the main problem is the lack of raw material from POSCO. Due to the Special price-low supply condition between POSCO and POSCO-IPPC, there is low supply of raw materials. The demand is high for POSCO-IPPC’s steel but due to low output, it cannot adhere to every customer’s needs. POSCO-IPPC is capable to produce more output than its current production but due to the lack of raw material, it has to restrain itself and do job production. * POSCO-IPPC’s customers expect a same price and supply surety for three months which is not possible for POSCO-IPPC as it imports its raw material and it is subject to foreign exchange policies and other government policies which affects its price. The supply surety cannot be given due to lack of supply of raw material. * Also the defaulting of POSCO-IPPC’s price and bargaining to pay less price by the customers is discouraging POSCO-IPPC to expand itself so quickly as they are losing on their profits. * But overall, the lack of raw material is a big issue and solving that issue can solve many other problems related and in the course of time, brisk movements of trade will solve other problems too. 3) What can you tell about the special price-low supply condition? POSCO is a global player and it distributes its steel at a common international price (Rs 59000) to the world but as that rate is very high in terms of Indian currency, it would not settle down in the Indian market so in order to satisfy its Indian customers, it reduced the price and this is known as special price (Rs 45000). But as POSCO reduced the rate for POSCO-IPPC, it only did this for a condition and this condition was that POSCO-IPPC will receive only a limited supply from POSCO, Korea. ) Since TATA is one of your major customers in the automobile segment, can you please put light on the company’s relationship with TATA? * Sure, TATA Motors is a major customer of ours and there is a considerable amount of dealings with TATA. Tata itself produces steel but is partly dependent on POSCO-IPPC for high quality steel for the chassis of their automobiles. They need good quality for the outer body of the car for it to be firm and more attractive for which they take the support of POSCO-IPPC. Tata requires 30,000 metric tons/month and the demand is going up by 7-10% / year. Tata demands 5000-7000 metric tons/month from POSCO-IPPC but it can only supply 2000-2500 metric tons/month to TATA for out of its total output, it also needs to supply to other customers in order to remain in the market and also to stabilize it. The customers in the market are also asking for POSCO-IPPC’s steel like General Motors, Volkswagen and Fiat. For which TATA has supported POSCO-IPPC in sending a petition to POSCO to supply more steel. POSCO-IPPC distributes cold rolled steel in the open market at Rs 53-55000; the price keeps on fluctuating, whereas TATA gets it at Rs 48,000 (maximum. ) Thus, such factors are creating hindrances in transaction between TATA and POSCO-IPPC. 5) What is your PEST? * PEST POLITICAL & LEGAL * Central Government encourages the foreign investment- Change in the central Government may result in change in different trade policies – Indian Economy has shown relatively high levels of development, stability and potential growth. -Korea having a high level of percentage of investment in the Indian market Economical * Indian Economy is booming-Growth in its GDP and economic growth-Fluctuations in the exchange rates -Social ties and contacts between India and China is increasing-Expansion of a basic industry is always favoured- Company also gives importance to maximum exploitation of resources. Social * Opened a school for the children of its workers- Helped to develop the village Talegaon -Increase in the capacity of the unit, there will be more employment in the area-Adapt the Indian Culture-It believes in job satisfaction and motivation of its staff Technical * POSCO-IPPC uses advance technology to process its raw material-High dependency on technology-India is a developing country where there is a great problem with electricity so load shedding takes place-Alternative method to use generators during the time of load shedding proves expensive-Supply of diesel in such large quality proves to be a negative factor. Appendix 3: POSCO-IPPC SWOT Analysis Appendix 5 – Graphs Figure 1: Figure 2: Appendix 6: Mail from Joseph Joe This was a mail from Mr. Joseph Joe giving out some information. Investment: 500 mn INR | | | | | | | | | | | | | Probability | | Difference| | Source Company | | Cost Price/ metric ton | | Selling Price/ metric ton| | Quantity Purchased and sold| | Total Revenue| | | | | | | | | | | | | | 0. 6| | Special Price| POSCO, Korea| | Rs 45000| | Rs 55000| | 11111| | 611. 105 mn INR| 0. 4| | No Special Price| POSCO, Korea| | Rs 59000| | Rs 55000| | 8474| | 466. 07 mn INR| 0. 3| | Wihtout O. H. E| POSCO, Orissa| | Rs 48,000| | Rs 55000| | 10416| | 572. 88 mn INR| 0. | | With O. H. E| | POSCO, Orissa| | Rs 56000| | Rs 55000| | 8928| | 491. 04 mn INR| ——————————————– [ 2 ]. Refer to Appendix 1 – Interview with Mr. Bhattacharya [ 3 ]. Refer to Appendix 1 – Interview with Mr. Bhattacharya [ 4 ]. Refer to Appendix 1 – Interview with Mr. Bhattacharya [ 5 ]. POSCO-INDIA, â€Å"corporate overviewâ⠂¬ , http://posco-india. com/website/company/corporate-overview. htm. (20th September, 2008. ) [ 6 ]. Refer to Appendix 5- Graphs [ 7 ]. Economy Watch, â€Å"India Steel Industry,† http://www. conomywatch. com/india-steel-industry/, (20th September, 2008. ) [ 8 ]. Economy Watch, â€Å"India Automobile Industry,† http://www. economywatch. com/business-and-economy/automobile-industry. html, (23rd September, 2008. ) [ 9 ]. Refer to Appendix 5- Graphs [ 10 ]. Refer to Appendix 2 – Interview with Mr. Joseph Joe [ 11 ]. Refer to Appendix 1 – Interview with Mr. Bharat Indu Bhattacharya [ 12 ]. Refer to Appendix 2 – Interview with Mr. Joseph Joe [ 13 ]. Refer to Appendix 1 – Interview with Mr. Bharat Indu Bhattacharya [ 14 ]. Refer to Appendix 6 – Mail received from Mr. Joseph Joe [ 15 ]. India Brand Equity Fund, â€Å"Steel,† http://www. ibef. org/industry/steel. aspx (3rd August, 2008. ) [ 16 ]. SWOT Analysis [ 17 ]. PEST Analysis [ 18 ]. http://www. stratfor. com/analysis/india_poscos_steel_investment_challenge [ 19 ]. PEST Analysis [ 20 ]. SWOT Analysis [ 21 ]. PEST Analysis [ 22 ]. SWOT Analysis [ 23 ]. PEST Analysis [ 24 ]. http://www. economywatch. com/business-and-economy/steel-industry. html [ 25 ]. http://www. economywatch. com/business-and-economy/automobile-industry. html

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International perspective on childhood and childrens health - Essay Example This concept in education system is involved with the child’s rights to education and good living standards (Tony & Mel 1998). These rights encompass their social life, civil liberty and education. It also aims at taking off the notion or establishment of special schools that cater for students with specials needs or disabilities. Therefore, inclusion is a proponent policy that ensures that students with special needs spend a great deal of their time with the rest of the students in the school or education setting. However, this practice varies from place to place as the extent of the special needs at times dictate the extent to which the policy is adopted. Inclusion is taken to be different for mainstreaming and integration (Norwich 2008). These latter concepts concentrate more on the disability aspect of the student’s needs and the way the student should be ready to be adopted in the mainstream leaning facilities. In inclusion the schools have the obligation to incorp orate these students as well as take into consideration their rights to education, social wellbeing and civil liberty. In these schools the curriculum is a general one i.e. not specific to special needs students or the others but rather the content is summative and they learn it together (Margret & Kas 2000). In this system the students achieve equal benefits from education irrespective of the nature of their problems. Education institutions are also obligated to have their facilities in accommodating condition in that all students regardless of their challenges, they are able to derive satisfaction from them. The schools as well as the education policy formulators are required to come up with a curriculum that is all inclusive in the sense that the content in not at all discriminative and the students can learn together. The curriculum developed should put in consideration that students are from different cultural

The global financial crisis-Brand management Essay

The global financial crisis-Brand management - Essay Example One strategy that the companies can use to maintain the unique value of their brands during global financial crisis is by engaging the customers as during these economic downturns excellent opportunities for innovation are provided (Roll, pp6). Customers cut down on consumption during financial crises, thus brands can initiate measures that take off their minds from the difficulties of consumption and focus them on the worthy features of the brand and co-create value with them. This strategy also helps minimize loses and more importantly, it successfully protects the companies brand image and brand equity. Singapore Airlines is a company that perfectly used this strategy to maintain the value of its unique brand. During the deadly SARS breakout in South East Asia when customers were afraid of flying, Singapore Airlines offered its customers very innovative vacation packages that encouraged customers to travel thus maintaining their status (Roll, pp7). Creating exciting customer interactions through activities such as product bundling to enhance value and promotions with creative alliances such as celebrities and travelling can also be used to maintain the unique value of a brand during such situations. This strategy takes off the focus of the customers on price and reiterates the commitment of the brand to engage and value customer support (Gelder, p102) Although this paper has discussed two strategies to be used during such situations, there are other strategies that are equally viable. Financial upheavals negatively impact the trust of customers on a brand. Therefore, during such situations it is the responsibility of the companies to devise new strategies that can maintain the trust of their customers on their brands. Brand differentiation is a very important strategy in today’s competitive market where new products are coming in everyday. In

Using a modified social story to decrease disruptive behavior of a Article

Using a modified social story to decrease disruptive behavior of a child with autism - Article Example There are different methods to using Social Stories, each having their own strengths and weaknesses when used with children. As children with autism are mostly visual learners, various mediums can be used when doing the Social Stories. In some examples, multimedia was used, though the effects of this method were inconclusive, as were many other methods in Social Stories. Just as each child is different in their autism, they will also be different in how they approach and take heed to the Social Stories. While, during the research, the behaviors of these children have decreased, there is still no definitive "one method" that works best. Each child will need to have their own individual Social Stories methods if teachers, parents, and researchers alike want to see any changes in their behavior. The use of verbal reminders throughout the sessions, though, proved to have more of an effective in quickly discouraging misbehavior, as shown through a study by Ivey et al. (2004). However, this method of verbal repetition might not work as well in other methods of the Social Stories, and may not be as effective on children with autism as a whole. Again, what works best for each child depends solely on each child. The use of Social Stories seems to me to be a promising method of instilling in autistic children the proper behavior to use in a social setting, such as in a classroom. Various methods have been tested and have been proven to work and be beneficial to a childs life and education. Unfortunately, as there are many autistic children, there must be equally as many methods of Social Stories, since each child is different in their learning and comprehending, though they do share the common aspect of being visual learners. It is obvious that the Social Stories methods do work, it is just a matter of deciding which method works best for which autistic child. The use of verbal prompts and reminders has shown to be most effective, so

Human resource management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Human resource management - Assignment Example This study attempts to provide detailed analysis of role of human resource management for entire industry in the UK in context with the laws and recommendations are provided to strategically manage the human resource in improved way. This study focuses on HR practices, roles and processes of Hilton Hotel as an example of hospitality industry of the country. As a human resource manager of a hospitality organisation, the role and purpose of HRM is to formulate and execute strategies that are best fit for the organisation so as to achieve efficiency and organisational objectives. A set of multiple HR activities and strategies is briefly discussed as follows: The most important HR function of an organisation is to select right people for the right jobs keeping in view skills, aptitude, motivation, etc for the long run. This is a complete process comprised of several steps designed to filter and choose the right candidate. Hilton Hotel focuses to hire people through testing, interviewing and screening; however it can further improve the process by applying psychometric tools so that the pool of applicants becomes large and candidates are systematically filtered in less time. The existing and new employees need to be trained and equipped according to the dynamic external environment so as to effectively compete in the global and domestic market. Training Need Assessment (TNA) is a process to grasp the lagging skills and potential of the people in organisational context which helps to design training programs effectively. Hilton Hotel has training programs mostly focused around customer services while management training, sustainability and competitiveness training can add value to human capital of the organisation despite keeping a single focus as it is reported that skill gap is 21% in the industry. The employees once selected and trained become an asset for the organisation and they need to be retained to save cost and

Safeguarding Policy for Childminders Essay Example for Free

Safeguarding Policy for Childminders Essay Safeguarding refers to keeping children safe – protecting them from harm/abuse, unsafe circumstances and impaired health/development, ensuring that they have the best possible opportunities in their lives. As a childminder it is my responsibility to ensure the safety and welfare of all children in my care. In doing so, I must:- †¢ Keep a confidential written record of any warning behavioural indicators/changes, signs/symptoms giving cause for concern. I will use body maps to indicate locations of bruising or other injuries to children who arrive at my setting with existing injuries. †¢ Not question children, allowing them to tell me things in their own time and their own way, using their own words. †¢ Ensure confidentiality – not discussing with any other party, particularly the parents of a child I suspect may need safeguarding if that may put the child at risk. †¢ Contact the local safeguarding or Social Services if I have concerns regarding the safety/welfare of a child in my care. †¢ Seek support for myself if I find a safeguarding situation distressing, whilst maintaining confidentiality. Mobile phones and cameras:- Any photographs I take in the course of my childminding work (to be used for the purposes of observing the children and keeping records of their development/progress) will be saved securely (with passwords) on my computer and be unavailable to others to view. Once printed these photographs will be deleted from my phone/camera/computer immediately. Others living in or visiting my home will be informed that, in accordance with this policy, they should not take photographs/videos in my home whilst I have children in my care. Regulatory requirements for safeguarding children in home-based childcare:- To comply with safeguarding regulations, as a registered Childminder I have completed the following:- †¢ Child Protection training. †¢ This Safeguarding Policy which is to be reviewed regularly and shared with parents of all children in my care. †¢ Enhanced CRB Disclosure for all adults (over 16 years) living at the registered property. Signs, symptoms, indicators and behaviours that cause concern in the context of safeguarding:- Physical abuse – bruises in unusual places, of different ages in the same place, of the same shape in different places; outline bruises (hand/belt/shoe prints); bruising of non-mobile babies; fractures; injuries which have not received medical attention; burns; bites; inconsistent accounts of injuries; reluctance to change clothes or uncover parts of body (eg rolling up sleeves). Neglect – dirty skin/hair; untreated headlice; dirty, soiled, ill-fitting clothing or that which is inappropriate for the weather; left alone/unsupervised frequently; lack of medical care/treatment; frequent hunger; frequent tiredness; stealing food; withdrawn behaviour. Sexual abuse – allegations made by child; inappropriate knowledge/play/actions displayed (incl provocative behaviour); speaking/drawing/playing displaying sexual activity; recurrent urine infections; unexplained recurrent stomach pain; severe sleep disturbance with fears, nightmares; eating disorders. Emotional abuse – low self-esteem (incl commenting negatively about self); self-harm; attention seeking/obsessive behaviour; inability to mix with other children; sleep/speech disorders; aggression/depression/extreme anxiety; changes in mood/behaviour (esp becoming withdrawn/unwilling to be away from carer); extreme shyness; nervous behaviour. In the event that I believe (with good reason) that any child(ren) in my care is(are) subject to abuse it is my duty to report this to the Duty Social Worker in my local authority area’s Local Safeguarding Children Board. Under such circumstances it will be necessary for me to share confidential information regarding the child(ren) concerned with OFSTED, Social Services and the Police if requested, superseding any confidentiality agreements held between myself and the child(ren)’s parents. Protecting my own position – I will keep clear records of any injuries sustained by children in my care, as well as any pre-existing injuries they have sustained outside of my care. Unless exceptional circumstances indicate that this would put the child at risk of harm, a child’s main carer will usually be asked to sign my notes as an official record of the injury. This does not indicate any negativity towards or suspicion of the child’s family or personal circumstances, but is intended as protection for myself and my own family/household members against potential allegations made about our treatment of the children in my childcare setting. Carers will also be asked to sign any entry made in my accident book in the event of their child sustaining injury whilst in my care, as a record that I have made them fully aware of the incident and any resulting injury. Useful telephone numbers:- Childcare Services (Access and Referral Team): Duty Social Worker: Police (Pennines): The Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage states that:- â€Å"Registered providers must inform OFSTED of any allegations of serious harm or abuse by any person living, working, or looking after children at the premises (whether that allegation relates to harm or abuse committed on the premises or elsewhere), or any other abuse which is alleged to have taken place on the premises, and of the action taken in respect of these allegations. Registered providers must inform OFSTED of these allegations as  soon as is reasonably practicable, but at the latest within 14 days of the allegations being made. A registered provider who, without reasonable excuse, fails to comply with this requirement, commits an offence.† Should any allegations be made against any member of my household I will report this to OFSTED as a matter or urgency within the prescribed 14 days.

Pestel Analysis Political Factor Management Essay

Pestel Analysis Political Factor Management Essay China automobile industry, the top vehicle superpower in the world has become the backbone in the national economy due to the fast growing of the industry in 2009. Protections and privileges have been set up by Chinese government to the foreign automakers which directly allow those foreign companies have easy access in Chinese automobile industry. Therefore, China is successfully attracted many multinational companies to enter the country such as Ford, and Volkswagen. Economy Factor The open policy have brings the country rapid and continuous economic growth and today, China has playing an important role in the global economic environment. Based on China currently growing economy position, huge market size, and the dominating position in the global economic environment which showed there are high profits potential have attracted big international vehicle manufacturers. Social Factor Firstly, any international firm needs to understand the Chinese concept of guanxi which is completely different meaning from Western concept of relationship. However, it is important for Western organisations to build their own guanxi networks in China in order to smoothen their operations. Finding local partners when begin a business in China is a sensible way. Thus, many of the multinational automobile manufacturers are choose joint venture as their entry mode where it can ease the process in both administrative and political processes, yet, cultural differences may become the obstacles for them to handle. Technology Factor The technologies in automobile industry are keeps upgrading, for example, automobile makers are now designing a car with environmental consciousness in order to protect the environment and they comes up with hybrid cars. Moreover, several automobile companies are using computers system in their car diagnosing problems. Environment Factor The consequences of the growth sales in automobiles are such as air pollution, sound pollution, and of course the global warming due to the overconsumption of oil which is causing the release of CO3 that harm the earth. Nevertheless, the responsibility is not only in the shoulder of China but also the burden of the whole world. Legal Factor China laws and regulations are usually often known as unclear, ambiguous and difficult to understand. However, the government is trying to liberalize the legal and regulatory environment for foreign investors. Michael Porters 5 Forces Threats of Product Substitutions The factor presenting the strongest threat of substitutes in the industry is the second hand car. This may be seen in the face of used automobiles which are sold by dealerships along with new cars. Especially, when it is in the economic recession which directly impact the increase of buying second hand cars and reduce sales in new cars. Public transportation like bus, train, monorail and others are another alternative mode of transport as the substitutes to cars. Threats of New Entrants Due to the economic booming and the rise of demand in purchasing cars in China, thus, it will attract more new entrants in the Chinese automobile industry. A large investment is needed by every new entrant in order to set up necessary facilities in producing large amount of production. The fixed costs are high, and then it will be a major entry barrier for new entrants. Besides, new entrants need to face some authorization processes before launch their new business. However, the lack of transparency in China legal system may bring substantial difficulties for them and it will create barriers too. Intensity of Rivalry As we know that, to involve in automobile industry the fixed costs are high. So, assuming a company wants to leave the industry, their loss of revenues and assets will be high too. Hence, to avoid disinvestment, companies will increase their research and development and invest in marketing in order to attract customers which will increase the intensity of rivalry amongst companies. Besides, international automobile companies not only need to competing each other, but also amongst the local automobile companies. Although it is true that customers might buy foreign cars by the mindset of quality, but, local customers will more prefer local automobiles where their design may fit their needs compare to foreign cars. Bargaining Power of Buyers Dealerships is the key buyers for those car manufacturers, yet, the end-user customers also importance to be counted. The exclusive contractual agreements make the switching costs for the dealerships are extremely high. But, dealerships are vital to those car manufacturers too in the sense of reaching the end consumers. Bargaining Power of Suppliers The bargaining power of suppliers is seem to be high. This is because by the small size of reliable suppliers whose are producing high quality raw materials and readymade components and parts which are no substitutes for all needed raw materials. Michael Porters Diamond Analysis Factor Conditions China is a large population country with its increasing purchasing power has made it as the ideal place for investments. In order to attract international automobile companies, the State council of China has developed a new development outline, called the Outline in March 2009 where it is about industrial upgrading, technological enhancement and promotion of new engines. It is no doubt that China has enough facilities including land capacity and natural resources that able to support every interested company. Demand Conditions Today, there are change in the level of Chinese needs and want which is come along with the increase of purchasing power and disposable income amongst the demographics. Moreover, the improvement in the Chinese lifestyle and economic life of state power risen the private consumption of them. The demand in China was especially heavy for cars that were perceived to be of higher quality than most of those produced by Chinese government and in China only about 20% of people owned car. Related and Supporting Industries China has realized that the reliance on low-end and labor-intensive manufacturing which use mainly imported technology is being no longer sustainable. Therefore, the development of the automobile industry shall involve restructuring of the production and technological advancement. The presented Outline by the Chinese government entails that passenger cars produced with domestically independent brands shall account for over 40% of the total car market, comprising about 10% (around one million) of the whole export production and sales in 2011. A powerful information system aimed at enhancing the Joint Ventures capabilities by better managing the entire value chain of the enterprise, including research, design, sourcing, production, marketing, sales, and service. Firm Strategy, Structure, and Rivalry In terms of market expansion it is a moderate factor influencing rivalry among competitors due to the established powerful brands in the industry, nevertheless some companies engage in more than one segment by utilizing different brands, e.g. BMW and Mini. Rivalry among competitors is also little reduced through a degree of differentiation in few diverse segments within the automobile industry like luxury cars and budget cars. The models offered by Changan-Ford in the Chinese market sold well because they appealed to a sophisticated segment of buyers, who saw Western-designed cars as differentiated because of their overall superior quality, innovative technology and aesthetic appeal. Hofstedes Dimension Social Orientation China scored 20 in the index which is showed that Chinese is a highly collectivist group where they act based on the group majority decision and not themselves. In contrast, United States is a highly individualistic community where this can be proved by they achieved a 91 score. In order to solve the problem between collectivist and individualistic culture, Changan-Ford can held workshops or seminars which are able to educate their employees about the important of teamwork (ie. Team building). Power Orientation By the high score of 80, China is a definitely power respect culture where they will obey to their superiors command and instructions. However, United States scoring a low score in this dimension which is only 40. And this is showed that Americans are practicing power tolerance where they will just follow their leader if they think that their leader is right, whereas the superior will listen to the employees opinion. Therefore, empowerment atmosphere is in the Americans culture. Changan-Ford may benchmark the Toyota lean productions strategy whereby Toyota is believed in bottom-up report and this beside can formalized the process but also can decentralized the organisation. Uncertainty Orientation In this dimension, China has score 30 which is showed that Chinese do not avoid risk and contented with ambiguity. Slightly scores higher score than China, US scores 46 which presented that Americans are risk takers and willing to accept new ideas, innovative products and willing to try new practices. Goal Orientation By the scores of 66, China is proven to be masculine society. Thus, many Chinese will rather sacrifice their family than careers due to they are more eager to be successful in their jobs. Not far different from China, US score 62 on this dimension showed that Americans are masculine society too. Time Orientation Chinese is known as the country that needed longest time to make decision making where persistence and perseverance are normal. This can be proved by they achieved extremely high score in this dimension which is 118 score. Contrast, US scores 29 in this dimension and showed that they are short-term oriented culture. Therefore, Americans make fast decision making than Chinese. The suggestion for Changan-Ford to solve this problem is they may set dateline to all decision-makings that all managers need to make.

Chemistry Report on Explosives

Chemistry Report on Explosives Chemistry Report on Explosives What is meant byoxidation and show how oxidation reactions are used to cause explosions. Oxidation is the term used for the combinationof a substance with oxygen, or in general any reaction where an atom ormolecule loses electrons. This can be shown as: C(s) + O2 (g)CO (g) S=solid, g=gas Gunpowderor black powder is the oldest explosive we know. It is made up of a mixture ofpotassium nitrate (also known as saltpetre or KNO3), charcoal, andsulfur in different proportions. When gunpowder is manufactured today, it ismade with the ratios 7.5:1.5:1 by mass (2). Bothgunpowder and dynamite have within them substances which are readily availableto oxidation. The oxygen which is used for the oxidation is an intrinsic partof the mixture, and is held within them in the same manner that oxygen isstored in the chemical potassium chlorate. Whengunpowder is ignited, this oxidation is extremely rapid, and a large volume ofgas is produced. The gasses are under extreme pressure, which causesthem to expand rapidly. Heat is produced causing the gas particles toaccelerate, creating even more pressure. If the gas expands faster than thespeed of sound, this creates a shockwave. The pressure produced by the gassesis what causes parts of the bomb (shrapnel) to be propelled far and wide atvery high speeds(1). Thespeed at which something oxidises is dependant on its potential to interactwith oxygen. The greater number of unstable electrons that a molecule or atomhas to lose, the quicker it will be oxidised (3). b)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Give an account of thedevelopment of chemical compounds for use in explosives. Describe theadvantages of each new chemical explosive over its predecessors, and describehow the explosives were adapted to make them safer and more effective. (9marks) It is thought that the firstexplosive discovered was black powder, originating in 10th Century China. Itwas used for ceremonial fireworks. In Europe, 1242 saw the formula for blackpowder being published by Roger Bacon. The refinement of the substance closelyfollowed after the gun was invented by Berthold Schwartz in 1300. Around thistime, black powder was being used for removal of rocks, the teqnique was knownas fire setting, but this was replaced with blasting at the beginning of the17th Century. There are records of blasting in America from 1773 (4). The production of black powderwas rapidly increased during the American Revolution. By the turn of thecentury, the commercial production of the explosive had grown from 25 millionto 100 million (2). In 1846, Nitroglycerin wasdiscovered by Ascanio Sobrero. Nitroglycerin plasticizes collodion which is aform of nitrocellulose to form blasting gelatin. This is a very powerfulexplosive. The discovery of this action led to the advancement of ballistite, thefirst double-base propellant and a precursor of cordite. Alfred Nobel built a factory toproduce it in 1861 in Sweden. An advantage of nitroglycerin was its massiveexplosive power, but it was very difficult to transport as it is a liquid,which used black powder to ignite it. It could also freeze and had toxic fumeswhich caused severe headaches (5). In 1867, Nobel accidentallyinvented Dynamite and he went on to patent his mixture. It was a greatdiscovery, being more powerful than black powder, with a higher detonationvelocity which made it much more effective breaking rock as it not only moved,but broke apart the rock Ammonium nitrate was initially synthesizedin 1659 by J. R. Glauber by blending ammonium carbonate and nitric acid. It wasmostly used for fertilizer and blasting and to replace a portion ofnitroglycerin in dynamite (1). Dupont introduced Nitramon in1935. This was seen as a breakthrough. They had safe handling, were inexpensiveand did not cause health problems. It was known as ANFO (AmmoniumNitrate Fuel Oil) when it was developed in 1955. During its production itcaused a large Texas City explosion. It was easy to load and transport andcheaper than dynamite, it is not a Class A explosive until mixed, but itsaction could be decreased by water. Over 2.2 billion pounds of it were producedin 1974. Water gels were developed from researchto solve the water problem with ammonium nitrate products (early 1940s). Themarket was small though as most applications needed a small product and therewas no economical sensitizer was not available. c)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Discuss, with reference to highand low explosives, the ideal features of an explosive reaction, explaining,with examples, how chemical reactions produce energy and how they causeincrease in pressure. (6 marks) There are three categories of explosives: high explosives,primary explosives and low explosives. Gunpowder is a low explosive so thereaction occurs slowly. Expanding gasses are used to propel, not destroy, suchas bullet propulsion from a gun (3). In high explosives, destruction is caused by the expandinggasses, and the extreme pressure causes a shockwave, if the gas expands morequickly than the speed of sound. The shockwave contributes to the demolitionpower of trinitrotoluene (TNT). Primary explosives are intended to explode not burn. Theyare used for fuses and blasting caps to initiate an explosion. Shockwaves are acrucial factor in explosions. It is a wave formed from a zone of enormously highpressure in a fluid, including the atmosphere that travels faster than the speedof sound. It moves from the point of the explosion carrying energy and has a severedamaging effect on solid objects it bounces off (5). In the chemical reaction of the explosion, compounds are brokendown to form various gases. The original chemical compounds (reactants) have muchenergy stored up as chemical bonds between atoms.When molecules break apart, the products (gases) may use some of this energy toform new bonds. Most leftover energy takes the form of extremeheat. d) Describehow UK methods of manufacture of propanone have changed since the beginning ofthe First World War. (3 marks) Propanone isalso known as Acetone, 2-propanone, methyl ketone and dimethyl ketone. It hasthe chemical formula: (CH3)2C=O. Prior to theFirst World War, it was manufactured by hydration of propene from crackedgases. This was revolutionized during WW1 when the chemist Chaim Weizmann showed that propanone could beproduced by the bacterium Clostridium acetobutylicum, this was acontinuation of the studies originally performed by Louis Pasteur showingfermentation was promoted by microbes in the 19th century (2). e) Discuss how attitudes to health and safety in chemicalresearch and industrial chemistry have changed over time. Use examples from thehistory of the development and manufacture of explosives and medicines.(4marks) In modern times, we have a numberof health and safety legislations which govern the manufacturing and use ofexplosives for their various purposes. One example is the 1996 USA Departmentof Commerce directive on the manufacturing of fireworks and explosives (6).There are now very tight regulations ensuring that everyone working in thesector is protected as far as possible. It is also accepted that the companiesinvolved have responsibility to protect their workers from harm and mustprovide safety equipment (3). Historically there have been huge numbers of accidentsduring explosive production. At one gunpowder mill in the early 19thcentury, situated in Roslin, Scotland, explosions killed two men shortly afterthe mill opened in 1805 and three more were killed by 1815. Many more followed.Deaths caused during the manufacturing process would have numbered greatly asthis was just from one of the thousands of mills worldwide during a shortperiod. Old attitudes focused on worker responsibility, were nowresponsibility should be shouldered by the company also. Conclusion Explosions are due to combustionwhich involves the use of the oxidation process. Depending on how available thesubstance is to interact with oxygen will depend on how quickly it is oxidised.The more quickly it is oxidised, the more quickly the gases will expand and themore devastating the explosion will be. References Chang, Raymond, General Chemistry: The Essential Concepts 4th Edition 2004 Kotz, John C., Paul M. Treichel, and Gabriela Weaver Chemistry and Chemical Reactivity 6th Edition 2003 Spencer, James N., George M. Bodner and Lyman H. Rickard Chemistry: Structure and Dynamics 3rd Edition 1999 Infelta, Pierre Introductory Thermodynamics 1st Edition 2005 Smith, E. Brian Basic Chemical Thermodynamics 5thEdition 2004 USA Department Commerce, 009, Manufacture of Fireworks June 2002

Student Uniforms :: essays research papers

Students are always complaining about the dress codes at their school, and totally rejecting the idea of school uniforms, but I feel there are many benefits to this proposal. These days everyone is so concerned about being attractive and popular that they forget the real reason for going to school. The increase in academic performance and school spirit, along with the decrease in violence, is more important than looking cool for your friends. South Carolina school systems have the lowest test scores in the nation. Our students are not daft; they just do not consider schoolwork a top priority. With uniforms for every student, there would be less focus on fashion and more emphasis on education. Our report cards would be posted on the refrigerators for everyone to see, rather than stuffing them in the bottom of our backpacks. The students would be rewarded for their efforts, therefore their self esteem would also rise. Teen violence has reached its peak in our schools. Last year, numerous killings took place at schools around the country, largely due to taunting amongst the students. Uniforms would prohibit the wearing of chains, large pockets for hiding weapons, and gang colors worn to incite fights. Less students would be teased for their attire, and sexual harassment caused by provocative clothing would come to an end. Our schools would provide a more secure environment in which we all could learn. School spirit in South Carolina is extremely lacking, and it shows. Our athletic teams have very limited support, and it affects their performance greatly. A student could be missing on a field trip, and they would not be located for hours because they simply â€Å"blended† with the crowds from other schools. If we were obligated to wear uniforms, we would be more recognizable in public surroundings, and our sense of school pride would blossom. To quote Henry David Thoreau, â€Å"take the earth at your feet, and paint your house that color.† School spirit should shine eminently in all students’ lives; not fizzle out like a dampened fuse. Many students argue about the restrictions on their personal freedom. They do not realize that they could still select their own trendy accessories, and they can wear whatever they desire at home and on the weekends.

Qualitative and Quantitative Research Essay -- Research Methods

Qualitative and Quantitative study designs both can be beneficial in research design. They both provide valuable options for researchers in the field. These techniques can either be used separately in a research study or they can be combined to achieve maximum information. This paper will define the terms qualitative and quantitative; describe the similarities and differences between each; discuss how qualitative and/or quantitative research designs or techniques could be used in the evaluation of my proposed research; and discuss why linking analysis to study design is important. Quantitative studies are primarily numbers based. They deal with large cohort groups as well as analyze large amounts of data. â€Å"A quantitative researcher typically tries to measure variables in some way, perhaps by using commonly accepted measures of the physical world (e.g., rulers, thermometers, oscilloscopes) or carefully designed measures of psychological characteristics or behaviors (e.g., tests, questionnaires, rating scales)† (Leedy & Ormrod, 2010, p. 94). Qualitative studies are slightly different in that they do not use large cohorts and they are not analyzing large data sets. Qualitative studies also look to answer question â€Å"why†. They use smaller numbers but go more in-depth with the small group they have. â€Å"In contrast, qualitative research involves looking at characteristics, or qualities, that cannot easily be reduced to numerical values. A qualitative researcher typically aims to examine the many nuances and complexities of a particular phenomenon† (Leedy & Ormrod, 2010, p. 94). Qualitative and Quantitative studies can be used separately or together in a mixed methodology. â€Å"Mixed methods research is characterized as research... ... Hughes, C. (2006). Qualitative and quantitative approach to social research. Retrieved fromhttp://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/sociology/staff/academicstaff/chughes/h ughesc_index/teachingresearchprocess/quantitativequalitative/quantitativequalitati ve/ Leedy, P. D., & Ormrod, J. E. (2010). Practical research: Planning and design (9th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education Inc.-Merrill McKerghan, D. L. (1998). Quantitative versus qualitative research: An attempt to clarify the problem. Retrieved from http://home.comcast.net/~lady.socrates/qvq.html Rocco, T. S., Bliss, L. A., Gallagher, S., & Perez-Prado, A. (2003). Taking the next step: Mixed methods research in organizational systems. Information Technology, Learning, and Performance Journal. Vol. 21, No. 1. Retrieved from http://www.osra.org/itlpj/roccoblissgallagherperez-pradospring2003.pdf