Professionalism Essay Example

Professionalism Essay Example Professionalism Essay Professionalism Essay Over the last two hundred years nursing has changed on so dramatically In so many ways. While I was researching for this paper I had a hard time choosing Just five changes but I did narrow it down to: job duties, public image, education standards, nurse patient ratios, and technology. Job duties: This one I found so very interesting; we have come so far. Nurses were first known as handmaidens. Their role was limited to doing exactly what the doctor told them. Typical duties included: cleaning of the patients areas, sweep/mop floors, making beds, laundry, giving patients food, help patients in/out of bed, and occasionally help with bandages. Nurses in the sasss were a lot like a maid In my opinion. Today nurses are a lot more Involved in the patients actual care. The nurses duties include assessments, development of a nursing plan, patient/family teaching, medication education, and many other hands on duties. Nurses are given a lot of responsibility today, they are no longer the doctors handmaiden. Public Image: The public Image of a nurse has changed, In my pollen, for the better In recent years. From all the reading I did while researching for this paper it almost sounded as if this was a job that woman who could find a husband would have, or maybe Just until they found a husband. If fact, for many years nurses were not allowed to be married or have children as it was thought these would be a distraction. Nursing has become a highly respected profession today. Nurses are viewed as more than the doctors handmaiden by society. Nurses are highly educated professional who advocate for their patients. According to Gallup poll, nursing has been rated the number 1 for honesty and ethical standards for the 1 lath year in a row. Education Standards: In the sasss medical training throughout the United States was still largely through apprenticeships. In 1860, Florence Nightingale founded the first professional nurse training school in England. I think this was the start for the push in the united States as well. Dorothy Dixie fought for women to be allowed to treat men during the Civil War. At first there were certain parameters, but those soon went by the wayside as the need for nurses increased. Throughout this time the education required was increasing as well. In 1873, the first educational programs for nurses in the United States were established in New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. The education requirements today are much higher. Some employers will accept two year degree but more and more a moving to require a four year degree. These degrees are meant to make sure the nurse Is well educated In many areas. Nurses now are expected to now when an order, medication, or dosage Is wrong and be able to effectively communicate that with the doctor to ensure the patient receives the best possible care. Nurse to Patient ratio: Until ten very late Into ten early z nurse to patient orators were completely unregulated. Only thirteen states currently have legislation about staffing ratios and those laws are very vague. Nurse to patient ratios are important for so many reasons. A few of those reasons are safety for the patient as well as the nurse, quality of care given to the patient and patient satisfaction. Technology: Technology has changed the face of nursing dramatically. Gone are the days of black and red pens, along with paper orders and written MARs. Patients are assigned a MR. (medical record number); this number will bring up all of their medical records that are within that specific health system. If a patient signs the Care Everywhere consent, certain health systems can link to each other. This technology gives providers a greater look into the patients history. This is Just a small touch on the many ways nursing has changed in the last two hundred years.

Facts About the Solar System

Facts About the Solar System Welcome to the solar system! This is where youll find the Sun, the planets, and humanitys sole home in the Milky Way Galaxy. It contains planets, moons, comets, asteroids, one star, and worlds with ring systems. Although astronomers and skygazers have observed other solar system objects in the sky since the dawn of human history, it has only been in the past half-century that theyve been able to explore them more directly with spacecraft. Historical Views of the Solar System Long before astronomers could use telescopes to look at objects in the sky, people thought that the planets were simply wandering stars. They had no concept of an organized system of worlds orbiting the Sun. All they knew were that some objects followed regular paths against the backdrop of the stars. At first, they thought these things were gods or some other supernatural beings. Then, they decided that those motions had some effect on human lives. With the advent of scientific observations of the sky, those ideas vanished.   The first astronomer to look at another planet with a telescope was Galileo Galilei. His observations changed humanitys view of our place in space. Soon, many other men and women were studying the planets, their moons, asteroids, and comets with scientific interest. Today that continues, and there are currently spacecraft doing many solar system studies. So, what else have astronomers and planetary scientists learned about the solar system?   Solar System Insights A journey through the solar system introduces us to the Sun, which is our nearest star. It contains an amazing 99.8 percent of the mass of the solar system. The planet Jupiter is the next most-massive object and it comprises two and a half times the mass of all the other planets combined. The four inner planets- tiny, cratered Mercury, cloud-shrouded Venus (sometimes called Earths Twin), temperate and watery Earth (our home), and reddish Mars- are called the terrestrial or rocky planets. Jupiter, ringed Saturn, mysterious blue Uranus, and distant Neptune  are called gas giants. Uranus and Neptune are so cold and contain a great deal of icy material, and are often called the ice giants.   The solar system has five known dwarf planets. They are called Pluto, Ceres, Haumea, Makemake, and Eris. The New Horizons mission explored Pluto on July 14, 2015, and is on its way out to visit a small object called 2014 MU69. At least one and possibly two other dwarf planets exist in the outer reaches of the solar system, although we do not have detailed images of them. There are probably at least 200 more dwarf planets in a region of the solar system called the Kuiper Belt (Pronounced KYE-per Belt.) The Kuiper Belt extends out from the orbit of Neptune and is the realm of the most distant worlds known to exist in the solar system. It is very distant and its objects are likely icy and frozen. The outermost region of the solar system is called the Oort Cloud. It probably has no large worlds but does contain chunks of ice that become comets when they orbit very close to the Sun. The Asteroid Belt is a region of space that lies between Mars and Jupiter. It is populated with chunks of rocks ranging from small boulders up to the size of a big city. These asteroids are left over from the formation of the planets.   There are moons throughout the solar system. The only planets that do NOT have moons are Mercury and Venus. Earth has one, Mars has two, Jupiter has dozens, as do Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Some of the moons of the outer solar system are frozen worlds with watery oceans beneath the ice on their surfaces.   The only planets with rings that we know of are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. However, at least one asteroid called Chariklo also has a ring and planetary scientists recently discovered a tenuous ring around the dwarf planet Haumea.   The Origin and Evolution of the Solar System Everything that astronomers learn about solar system bodies helps them understand the origin and evolution of the Sun and planets. We know they  formed about 4.5 billion years ago. Their birthplace was a cloud of gas and dust that slowly contracted to make the Sun, followed by the planets. The comets and asteroids are often considered the leftovers of the birth of the planets.   What astronomers know about the Sun tells us that it will not last forever. Some five billion years from now, it will expand and engulf some of the planets. Eventually, it will shrink down, leaving behind a very changed solar system from the one we know of today.

Identify at least three types of project procurement contracts Essay

Identify at least three types of project procurement contracts. Describe each and discuss the risk associated with both the buyer and the seller - Essay Example This contract settle the costs incurred by the seller and a pre-determined fee above the actual costs which represent the profit enjoyed (Carstens, Richardson & Smith, 2013). The seller therefore embarks on a project without limitations to expenditure but files all expenses incurred to be passed on to the buyer. This contract exposes the buyer to more risk than the seller because valuation will contain all expenses despite cases of poor workmanship and material resource mismanagement. An example of risk is where the buyer only receives receipts of purchases that are subject to negligence of the seller who may overlook good pricing of commodities in favor of convenience. Time and Material Contracts contain elements that are characteristic of the Cost Reimbursable Contracts and The Firm Fixed Price Contract. The contracts are best applied in cases of ambiguity or unclear statement of work (Carstens, Richardson & Smith, 2013). An example is where the workers need to be increased for shorter executions with an aim of meeting challenges previously unforeseen on the project. Alternatively, engagement of experts on certain aspects of work may require such contracts. This type of contract shares the burden of risk between the sellers and buyers. The risk falls more on the partner who requires the adjustments beyond basic agreements of project procurement contract. However, most cases call for open ends on buyers cost increase during periods of

What you have learned about writing, and possibly reading, from this Essay

What you have learned about writing, and possibly reading, from this course( english academic communication - Essay Example Furthermore, English is my second language, and learning such skills was very challenging, but with the knowledge and skills that I was presented with in this course, I now have a deeper understanding of how to write more confidently. There are many different academic referencing styles in English essay writing. APA style format stands for the American Psychological Association. This style focuses on how to make the essay more organized and neat. This was the first element which I learned during the academic communication class. APA style has an easy format steps to follow in essay writing, such as using font size 12, double spaced, and a page header. Moreover, APA style paper should include four principal sections which are: title page, abstract, main body, and references. Secondly, writing an essay requires a long time so that a research can be done like finding information and ideas about the essay topic. I learned from the course how to find resource from books and websites. This helped me to write perfect sentences describing my ideas using examples. During the course I obtained knowledge how to write references and demonstrate which source the ideas I used are borrowed from. Thirdly, as mentioned earlier, English is my second language and it was hard for me to find appropriate vocabulary and write grammatically correct essays. The academic communication course taught me lots of new vocabulary and also improved my grammar skills. I can now apply the learned in this course and I am confident that I can correct my grammatical mistakes faster. I read through the text several times, as my professor had instructed me to. I try to read my essay professionally applying the strategies I learned during the class. In conclusion, I would like to point out that writing essays requires more skills than I previously thought. Students need to understand how to improve their writing abilities before the start of an academic course. I choose APA referencing

The Effects of Video Games on Children Essay Example for Free

The Effects of Video Games on Children Essay â€Å"Technology is a useful servant but a dangerous master,† says Norwegian politician Christian Lous Lange (1930, no page). Indeed, technological progress made a step forward in humans’ civilization, changed people’s lives and brought new innovations. Virtual reality, as a part of this progress, gave an opportunity to have a look at the world built on imagination with a possibility to be involved in all actions happening there. Computers, PlayStations and other gaming platforms allowing people to interact with a virtual gaming world are becoming popular today, especially among children. Definitely, some video games positively impact on children’s learning skills at schools or colleges, even showing better results in their education. However, these games are one of the controversial issues existing presently. On the level with researchers revealed positive sides of virtual gaming, there have been conducted many other types of research, which discovered some negative effects caused by virtual games. On the one hand, the positive effects of digital games can be linked with an academic education of children. These games can teach young people some subjects at schools or universities, for example, algebra and geometry (Corbett et al., 2001). One of the reasons for this can be that children act actively while playing video games instead of just listening or watching, which make computer games good teachers. Moreover, a practice of video games for educational purposes may be helpful for migrant children. There are several reasons for this such as the possibility to change languages, an opportunity to repeat tasks which were difficult for international students and other reasons. For instance, this practice was successfully used by the Pennsylvania Department of Migrant Education to teach international students (Winograd, 2001). Turning to the negative effects, a serious concern about digital games attributes to violent games, which are gaining popularity among children, whereas educational and challenging games are becoming less popular. Perhaps the most problematic issue connected to the violence in games is the formation of aggression in children’s behavior. According to Park (2014), new research has proven that those children who are addicted to sit hours playing video games are more likely to act themselves in a hostile way than those who are far from spending lots of time in front of gaming platforms. Shooting at people and killing them, acts of stealing and kidnapping, and a clear vision of bleeding profusely – all these factors are responsible for the appearance of kids’ aggressive attitude towards other people. But aggressiveness is not only problem. Other behavioral problems are also caused by violent games such as making some actions normal whereas they are abnormal. For insta nce, well-known game â€Å"Grand Theft Auto† gives a clear vision of actions which are terrible in reality, such as hiring prostitutes and murdering them to take money back, killing pedestrians by driving on the sidewalk in GTA world, carrying out an attack on people randomly and others (Wendling, 2014). In fact, the history shows that over 125 million of duplicates of GTA were sold which makes this game one of the best sellers (Video Game Sales Wiki, 2013). Additionally, demented activities in some video games are awarded with virtual money, reputation and some points, which can spur on children to realize abnormal and even criminal actions in real world. In 2013 two girls from Italy murdered one man and stole his money and then told the police that they felt as playing GTA while committing the crime (Corriere Della Sera, 2013). There can be observed other negative effects too related to behavioral problems caused by violent games. More studies should be undertaken to analyze all these effects in order to minimize negative consequences carried by them. Similarly, we have to concern about non-behavioral effects of virtual games on children as well. First of all, video games lead to deterioration of children’s social skills. According to studies made by a group of specialists, there was found that children addicted to playing games displayed a lower level of social skills compared to normal students (Zamani et al., 2010). The reason for this can be that young people devote their free time to video games instead of talking with coevals and friends, which, obviously, arouses different troubles with communication. The research concluded that children having exposure to playing games avoid communicative relations (Zamani et al., 2010). The explanation concerning why children continuously play video games wa s given in the research: video games are more enjoyable, inform about others, help some children to feel themselves not alone, somehow make children forgotten about existing problems, and video games give an opportunity to participate in game actively and directly (Zamani et al., 2010). Social skills are important in the formation of individuals since relationships and interactions with other people built on communication are pivotal. However, negative effects of video games on children’s social skills continue to worry the majority of people, especially parents. Furthermore, health problems caused by video games are one of the major problems to concern about. Since children may seat sufficient time controller-in-hand, they spend less time on physical activities. Hence, obesity may be a great threat to their health problems. Accordingly, one research indicated that children who play virtual games more than 1.5 hours are more inclined to have obesity problems than those who spend less than 1.5 hours (Rehbein et al., 2010). In addition, vision problems triggered by sitting hours in front of the monitor may serve as another example for health-related problems about video games. Parts of the eye such as pupil, cornea, and iris are vulnerable for long viewing on electronic devices, contributing to eye strain (Gillespie, 2002). Thus, this may have negative outcomes such as deterioration of children’s vision. Another example of health problem caused by computer games is an epileptic seizure. That is why all video game industries are obliged t o have epilepsy warnings on goods they produced in order to prevent this illness. There are more health problems triggered by video games, especially, among children as â€Å"developing† population, since they have recently started their growth in both physical and mental characteristics. In conclusion, technology is not a good or bad invention, it depends on people in what way they use it. Similarly, virtual games have many positive effects in education even giving a better performance of students in academia. Many types of research have proven that interactive computer games are good teachers and may be helpful for migrant students, because of an active interaction with the virtual gaming world, language changing possibilities for international students and repetitiveness of tasks. However, other researchers have shown that violent games may cause some behavioral and non-behavioral problems, which represent a great danger for young people. Behavioral problems include aggressiveness in children, caused by violent actions in the game and non-behavioral problems include deterioration of children’s social skills, as a result of lack of communication. Additionally, health-related problems are also one of the negative effects of video games. Illnesses such as the d eterioration of the eyesight, caused by an extensive viewing of the monitor, obesity, which is triggered by a lack of physical activity, epileptic seizure, and many other health problems, are things which needed to be concerned about by everyone. Finally, even though video games have more bad consequences on children rather than positives, with an effort to get rid of negative effects we should save positive effects of video games.

Internet Essay - Freenet, Survey and Implications :: Free Essays Online

Freenet: Survey and Implications      Ã‚  Ã‚   Abstract:   Freenet is a peer to peer file sharing network protocol, first conceived by Ian Clarke, and designed to meet several goals: scalability, anonymity of both publishing and reading, and immunity to all but the most determined denial-of-service (DOS) attacks, whether legal or technological in nature.   This paper briefly examines some of Freenet's predecessors, examines how Freenet attempts to achieve its design goals, and examines the implications of a fully functional, world scale Freenet.    Keywords:   Freenet, peer-to-peer, p2p, open source, file sharing, Ian Clarke, copyright, censorship, intellectual property.    Historical Background:   Peer-to-peer is an idea as old as the internet.   From the first days of Arpanet, it was recognized that arranging computers in an anarchic, rather than hierarchal configuration offered far greater scalability and reliability.   (Brand, 2001)   Once the internet began to be widely implemented, it also became clear that to a great degree, it also offered anonymity.    Approximately two years ago, Shawn Fanning released the Napster client beta.   Napster usage immediately began to increase at an exponential rate, and new users signed up almost as soon as they heard about it.   (Napster, 2001).   Until that time, the internet had been moving increasingly towards a central server model, away from the original idea of a collection of peers.   (Shirky, 2000).   Indeed, Napster also uses a central server, although it is only to create an easily accessible catalog of all files available at any particular moment.   All actual file copying takes place directly between two client machines, and it is also the clients who decide what, if any, content is available to the network. (Napster, 2001)    Although Napster was, and remains immensely popular, it was also recognized that it was not the type of program that powerful intellectual property providers were going to accept easily.   In fact, a matter of months after release, and soon after incorporating, the brand new Napster, Inc., was sued by the Recording Industry Association of America. (Napster, 2000).    However, it was quickly recognized that Napster was only vulnerable to legal attack because a central entity was required to run the indexing servers.   Nullsoft, who created Winamp, a popular Mp3 player for Windows, soon released Gnutella, a proof-of-concept design that built upon the Napster idea by sharing all types of files, not just Mp3s, and needed no central servers at all.   Although Gnutella remained on the Nullsoft website for only 24 hours before parent company AOL removed it, it was quickly disseminated to much of the internet, reverse engineered, and new clients based on the original protocol were released.

Evaluate the social and economic impacts of the ‘One Child’ Policy in China Essay

Evaluate the social and economic impacts of the ‘One Child’ Policy in China In the year 1979, China was suffering a severe increase in population, and because of this Deng Xiaoping (leader of the communist party of China) introduced China to an anti-natalist policy called the ‘One Child’ policy. An anti-natalist policy aims to decrease the crude birth rate and the total fertility rate in a country in order to slow the population growth . This policy generated many social and economical impacts and in this essay I will talk about the social advantages of the policy, the social disadvantages, the economical advantages and finally the economical disadvantages. Firstly, the ‘One Child’ policy has created social advantages in China, since the population growth rate decreased. Due to the fact that the ‘One Child’ policy restricts women from only having one child in urban areas (there are some exceptions, like twins, lived in a rural area, if your child died then you can have another), this slowed down the crude birth rate and the total fertility rate. If China’s population kept on growing at the same rate like it was before any policies were introduced they would have encountered problems with resources. Resources are limited and China only has a certain amount of land, food, natural resources and water. This policy lowered the pressure on the limited amounts of resources and enabled people to have enough food and water to have a good enough quality of life and not live in fright, that one-day there wont be enough food and water. Furthermore, if a couple follows this policy, they would be offered some incentives. These incentives include that they would have access to health services and the child would have an education . This is a great advantage because the child will have an education and can learn and develop as a person and hopefully have a higher chance of succeeding in life. Also, access to health services is a great benefit because some families wouldn’t be able to afford health services. It will make sure that the family will be healthy and hopefully live longer. Women will receive education about having a child and will receive free contraception. With this, we can say that the ‘One Child’ policy created social advantages to people living in China. Secondly, the ‘One child’ policy also has produced social disadvantages in  China, like a gender imbalance and other social problems. Only having one child in a family can create some social problems with the child. Individuals who grew up, as single children as a result of China’s policy were considerably less trustworthy, more risk-averse, less competitive, more pessimistic, and less conscientious individuals . Their social skills will be poor with other children since they have no siblings at home. The parents usually spoil the child since it’s the only child they have, this is how the name the ‘little emperors’ was created for an only child. Additionally, the male to female ratio has drastically leaded towards the male side. This is because parents prefer to have a boy rather than a girl because when the parents get older, they will have to depend on their son’s wife to take care of them. If they had a girl then they wouldn’t be able to move in with their daughter because the daughter will look after her husbands parents rather than her own parents. This has a created a gender imbalance (for every 6 boys born in China, there are 5 girls) in China and has caused many older men to have no partner due to the simple fact that there aren’t enough women for the amount of men. In addition, there are some cases where unwanted girls are abandoned or aborted even though it is illegal in China. These children will have to be adopted or go to an orphanage. Child trafficking is at a record high in China and for the purpose of exploitation, which is a human right violation. Since there is a fall in the crude birth rate and total fertility rate there is going to be a greater gap between the younger population and the ageing population, which will mean that China could become a ageing population instead of a stable population. As we can see, China’s ‘One Child’ policy has made many negative social impacts in China. Thirdly, economic advantages of the ‘One Child’ policy are seen in China with a clear economic growth in China. It costs quite a lot to raise one child and it’s not easy to raise another child and therefore families will save money by only having one child. It is also believed that the ‘One Child’ policy is benefitting the economic future of China because it aids to improve the living standards and saves a lot more resources as I said before. Furthermore, the policy also reduces unemployment in China because there will be more jobs available to people since there will be a decrease in population. This will allow most people to have a job and earn more money  and therefore their standards of living will be better. The ‘One Child’ policy has had some positive economic impacts on China and the living quality for the Chinese. Fourthly, the ‘One Child’ policy has generated negative economic impacts on China. Older generations are dependent on the younger generations. The one child that is economically active is going to need to take care of his/her parents. However, if the one child is unable to take care because they don’t have a job, his/her parents will then face a very tough end of their life with very few resources. Also if you do have more than one child then you will receive a fine of a certain amount (depends on which province you live in), which can affect the family. The ‘One Child’ policy has so far created these negative economic problems on China. In conclusion, the ‘One Child’ policy has generated positive and negative social and economical impacts. I think that the policy is doing what it should be doing to China’s population, which is lowering it and slowing down the growth rate. China would be close to 2 billion people right now if the policy wasn’t introduced in my opinion, instead of its current population 1.3 billion . Word Count: 1063 Bibliography allgirlsallowed (Director). (2011). Statistics About Gendercide and the One-Child Policy [Motion Picture]. Fozzard, H. (2011, May 18). One Child Policy Incentives: Support for the Family. Retrieved October 1, 2013, from shenzhenparty: www.shenzhenparty.com/abpo-one-child-policy-incentives-support-for-the-family Google. (2012). china’s current population. Retrieved October 1, 2013, from Google: https://www.google.ch/search q=china’s+current+population&rlz=1C5CHFA_enCH545CH546&oq=chinas+current+po&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l5.4406j0&sourceid=chrome&espvd=210&es_sm=91&ie=UTF-8 Guinness, P. (2011). Patterns and Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Monash. (2013, January 11). The effects of China’s One Child Policy on its children. Retrieved October 1, 2013, from monash.edu: http://www.monash.edu.au/news/show/the-effects-of-chinas-one-child-policy-on-its-children Schwarz, T. (2010, October 5). Anti-natalist Policies. Retrieved October 1, 2013, from Geography IBHL: http://zisgeography.wordpress.com/2010/10/05/anti-natalist-policies/

Haw Par Value Chain & Financial Ratios Analysis Essay

1. PART ONE 1.1 Introduction Haw Par Corporation Limited is a multinational corporation engaged in healthcare, leisure businesses securities and real estate investment, among which we will mainly focus on Haw Par’s traditional business sector-the healthcare segment, which includes 9 subsidiaries (Annual report, 2010). Based on revenues generated and locations of manufacturing facilities, two prominent geographical markets, Asia and America, are selected for discussion. We will look into the competitive environment of the corporation, and the generic strategies adopted to survive in the environment. Then we will investigate operations within Haw Par by analyzing its value chain activities, and propose improvements to enhance its competitive advantages. Lastly, we will identify the top risks imposed to the corporation. 1.2 Competitive Environment – Michael Porter’s Five-Forces Model 1.2.1 Threat of New Entrants Initial capital requirement of entering the healthcare industry is high, including investment in property, plant, equipment and research and development. Moreover, compliance burden with various regulations is heavy, as illustrated by the warning letter received by Haw Par from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the US. Besides, its scale of business, well-establish brand and distribution network are difficult to imitate. Thus, the threat of new entrant is low. 1.2.2 Threat of Substitute Currently, Haw Par’s healthcare products mainly consist of traditional herbal medicines and newly developed chemical products. The substitutes of herbal medicines are mostly western chemical medicines. We can see that Haw Par is actively responding to the challenge of chemical medicines. However, the existing pharmaceutical companies are very strong, and their products are more competitive on the whole. Therefore, the threat of substitutes is medium. 1.2.3 Bargaining Power of Buyers The products of healthcare division are mainly traditional Chinese medicine oil and its related products, as well as muscle rub, spray and gel (Hoover’s, 2011). As the products are generally medications for daily use, the majority of buyers are individual consumers. Hence, the buyers’ bargaining power is weak. However, if the buyers’ group is large, for example, wholesalers or retailers, the bargaining power of buyer could be moderate or high (ME Porter, 2000). 1.2.4 Bargaining Power of Suppliers Due to Haw Par’s broad product lines, it would have contracted with vast suppliers for the procurement of various crude materials. The main ingredients are common Chinese medicines (Alternative Health Supplies, 2005). The company may choose from a wide range of suppliers. In general, bargaining power of suppliers is low. 1.2.5 Industry Competitors Haw Par has distinguished itself from small and medium size medicine oil businesses by its branding and broad market distribution, yet it is still involved in intense competition with business of comparable market share, for example, Biosensors International and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Limited which is a main competitor both in Asian and American market. In 2010, Sun Pharmaceutical’s deal with Taro Pharmaceutical Industries boosted Sun’s dermatology and topical products in U.S which might deeply affect Haw Par’s extension market. Generally rivalry among existing firms is high (Hoover’s, 2011). 1.3 Competitive Strategies – Michael Porter’s Three Generic Strategies The general global economic climate took a favorable turn in 09-10, boosting the consumer confidence. On the other hand, the competitive environment of the business is challenged by the intense competition and rising costs (PM Danzon, 2000). To enhance the performance of the business, Haw Par had responded â€Å"by introducing more products that will appeal to a larger group of consumers and by conducting more intensive marketing† (Wee Cho Yaw, 2010). The generic strategy adopted by the business is focus differentiation. The business focused on selective markets and products to raise entry barrier. For example, Haw Par launch a new product in 2011—Tiger Balm Active Muscle Rub which focused on a certain buyer segment—sporting enthusiasts. It also endeavored to distinguish itself by branding as well as adding uniqueness and value to products. One such example comes from Tiger Balm Medicated Plaster, a product with combined functions of energizing body and relieving pains. To do branding, Haw Par increased popularity by sponsoring public events such as marathons in Singapore, and advertising in national magazines in America (Haw Par, 2010). Besides, it also undertook social responsibility by contributing to charities, such as organizing the fundraising event â€Å"The Tiger Balm Record Roar† which supported the Society for the Physically Disabled (Haw Par, 2010). This focus differentiation strategy helped lower the degree of substitutability of other companies’ products and reduce the level of competition. 1.4 Top Three Business Risks The top risk was the intense competition from existing companies, as this would directly affect the percentage of market share owned by Haw Par, and hence its profitability. The second risk was the rising cost of raw materials, which was also an industry-wide problem that might limit a company’s development. Another risk was the failure of compliance with regulations, which had only emerged in the US market, but certainly reflected defects in Haw Par’s internal control. 1.4.1 Intense Competition from Existing Companies Haw Par Corp Ltd faced strong competition from a number of multinational corporations. According to the Competitive Landscape Singapore, in 2011, Haw Par ranks the third in the healthcare sector for market capitalization. The companies listed in Appendix 1 are the major competitors of Haw Par Healthcare Limited in Singapore. Besides, although Haw Par’s healthcare products were distributed to 150 countries via 70 distributors, it still faced high risk from competitors which could render its market share shrink in the health-care area (Haw Par, 2010). To mitigate this risk, Haw Par managed to boost its market shares through improvement of Tiger Balm brand by advertising, sales promotions and the extension of manufacturing line. Another strategy adopted was to diversify product line to broaden customer choices so that consumers would be more likely to choose Haw Par’s product and hence this risk would be minimized. 1.4.2 Increase in Costs of Raw Materials Due to upwards general inflationary pressure, unit price of herbal materials for traditional Chinese medicine was expected to rise. Haw Par also expressed serious concerns in its annual report on rising costs of raw materials and operating activities that would erode its profitability in healthcare sector. This would be one of the reasons why gross profit slipped 3.52% while net profit raised 88.50% in 2010, compared with 2009. To neutralize the negative impact, Haw Par put emphasis on expanding its product portfolio to cater for more customers (The edge, 2011). 1.4.3 Failure to Comply with Regulations and Provisions When Haw Par was expanding its market in foreign countries, it faced challenges in conforming to the different regulations and standards. For example, an inspection on Haw Par’s manufacturing facilities by FDA, discovered â€Å"significant violations of Current Good Manufacturing Practice regulations for finished pharmaceuticals† (FDA, 2010). Failure of conforming to regulations would pose a potential threat of being banned in specific markets, which would negatively affect revenue, brand image and social acceptance. To mitigate this risk, Haw Par shall immediately review the unqualified production and procurement practice while proposing appropriate remedies. Furthermore, Haw Par shall also seek opportunity to make appeal to the public so as to restore and conserve its corporate image. 1.5 Value Chain Activities – Primary Activities 1.5.1 Inbound Logistics For Haw Par’s health-care segment, inbound logistics contains management of raw materials, inventory control, warehousing and even returns to suppliers. Efficient inventory management system is an essential factor in boosting profits for Haw Par, by enhancing efficiency and thus reducing expenses. 1.5.2 Operations In the operating process, value is created through transforming the raw materials into final products. Unfortunately, Haw Par Healthcare was warned by FDA about mislabelled products and inadequacies (FDA, 2010). In this case, Haw Par failed to show itself â€Å"to be capable to detecting potential impurities†. Therefore Haw Par Healthcare should improve its testing and packaging operations, so as to maintain its product quality to secure current market position (CBS Interactive, 2010). 1.5.3 Outbound Logistics Though possessing a worldwide distributing network covering 70 countries, Haw Par continued expanding its markets. Nevertheless, Haw Par’s healthcare manufacturing facilities were centralized in its major markets, so as to reduce the costs and improve the overall efficiency. 1.5.4 Marketing and Sales Haw Par focused on marketing activities to boost sales and build brand image, as discussed in competitive strategies. According to the General Manager Ah Kuan Han, Haw Par would intensify substantial advertising activities to enlarge consumer bases (The Business Times, April 1st 2010). According to the horizontal analysis of income statement, the sales and marketing expense increased by 6.00% in 2010. Furthermore, with the already widespread fame, Haw Par was striving to expend its market in UK, America, Caribbean and other parts of world through its comprehensive marketing and sales strategies (The Business Times, 2009). 1.5.5 Service Haw Par has built the Tiger Balm website to facilitate serving its customers. The website provides a wide range of information about its products. Haw Par also provides experience sharing service on its website, through which past users can share their experience with others. 1.6 Value Chain Activities – Support Activities 1.6.1 General Administration A strong and effective board of directors would bring Haw Par to success, by supporting the whole Haw Par Corporation through the activities including planning, general management, risk management, and so on. Good management and information systems would increase operating efficiencies as well as improving the company’s image. 1.6.2 Human Resource Management Haw Par has been recruiting a large pool of staffs. More significantly, Haw Par emphasized on maintaining high quality employees, as evidenced in its advertisement of hiring o-level and above diploma holders as laboratory technicians. (Jobstreet.com, 2011) 1.6.3 Technology Development Haw Par has been actively engaged in technology development, indicated by its â€Å"launching of line extensions on a slate of new products that would address lifestyle needs of modern consumers† (Haw Paw, 2010), which would secure Haw Par’s long term competitiveness in the market. Yet Haw Par shall continue its efforts in innovation to further strengthen market power and improve efficiency. 1.6.4 Procurement As the ingredients of Haw Par’s product are mainly traditional herbs supplied from China, India and Malaysia, the cost of materials from these suppliers is relatively low. However, the procurement activity still needs to be further improved. As mentioned above, Haw Par received a warning letter from FDA which identified a problem of unqualified suppliers. Thus, apart from outsourcing cheaper raw material from suppliers, Haw Par should keep monitoring its suppliers regularly to ensure reliability. 2.2 Financial Ratios Analysis The following sessions will assess the profitability, liquidity (including operating efficiency) and solvency of Haw Par in 2009 and 2010, and account for any substantial fluctuation emerged, through analyzing relevant financial ratios respectively. One of Haw Par’s major competitors – Sun pharmaceutical industries Ltd. is also referred to for comparison. 2.2.1 Profitability Analysis Ratios adopted here include net profit margin, gross profit margin, return on assets, return on equity and earnings per share. The net profit margin of Haw Par nearly doubled from 46.10% to 86.90%. Such a rise is aligned with the increase in sales revenue from $124m to $130m, mainly due to the recovering global economy. As the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stated, the world real GDP growth is 1.4% and 2.5% for 2009 and 2010 respectively, while for Asian countries the growth was estimated to be 5.5% and 7.0% (Michael Mussa, 2009). As an Asian company, Haw Par has benefited greatly from the economic recovery. However, the gross profit margin displays a slight decrease from 58.25% to 56.20%. This can be partially attributed to rising material costs and operating expenses. Haw Par reported a 7.51% increase in costs of sales while Sun Pharmaceutical reported a 28.3% rise in the costs of sales. Consistent with the trend shown in profit margins, the return on assets, return on equity and earnings per share ratios are also nearly doubled, owing to a better economic environment. Though the total assets and owners’ equity increased due to the market expansion in America, the increase is insufficient to offset the effect of a strong rebound in net income. In short, ratios concerning the profitability manifest a rising trend, and thus we conclude that Haw Par’s profitability has improved from 2009 to 2010 by tapping the opportunity of the warming global economic climate. It also outperformed its competitor, Sun Pharmaceutical, which reported an 8.62% fall in income from operation in 2009-2010(Sun Pharmaceutical, 2010). 2.2.2 Liquidity and Efficiency Analysis Ratios adopted here comprise of current ratio, quick ratio, assets and fixed asset turnover, inventory and receivable turnover, average days in inventory, and average days of receivables. Quick ratio and current ratio are used to assess group’s ability to pay the current liabilities due within one year. The current ratio of Haw Par dropped from 12.57 to 12.09 because of the fair value losses in its investment in United Overseas Bank Limited and disposal of available-for-sale financial assets (Haw Par, 2010). However, the quick ratio, a more stringent measure on liquidity, indicated a rise from 2.70 to 3.31. The contradictory result is actually justifiable on the basis of the very reasons just mentioned. Due to an increase in cash and net accounts receivable, the quick ratio increased, it can be concluded that Haw Par demonstrated a greater capability in meeting its short term bond obligations. The assets turnover and fixed assets turnover ratios assess the group’s ability to generate revenue for each dollar invested in assets and fixed assets respectively. Haw Par’s assets turnover experienced a slight drop from 0.07 to 0.06, while its fixed assets turnover increased from 2.73 to 2.91. Possible explanation would be the group’s heavier investment in subsidiaries and inventories, which increased the total assets, resulting in lower asset turnover ratio. Since the fluctuations on both indicators are insignificant, it is unconvincing to say that Haw Par’s management efficiency improved. The inventory turnover ratio and average days in inventory assess how fast the company is selling its inventories. From 2009 to 2010, the inventory turnover declined from 8.19 to 7.41 and average days in inventory lengthened from 44.59 to 49.29. This is attributed to a 52.30% increase in inventory. These two indicated that Haw Par’s inventory management became less efficient. However, Haw Par might have accumulated inventory purposely to counteract the negative impact of rising raw material costs. The receivable turnover and average days of receivables both indicated the improved efficiency in collecting receivables. While the receivable turnover rose from 6.17 to 6.99, the average days of receivables fell accordingly from 59.20 to 52.23 days. It is discussed earlier that sales revenue increased sharply. Besides higher sales revenue, another factor accounting for this may be a better economic situation under which fewer customers face liquidity problem. In all, though its current ratio decreased slightly, Haw Par still retains its ability to cover short-term debt. However, there is still room for Haw Par to enhance its operating efficiency. It may improve the inventory and receivable management system to boost its business performance. 2.2.3 Solvency Ratio Analysis Ratios adopted for solvency analysis are debt to assets and cash acquisition. The debt to asset ratio reflects the degree of reliance on creditor finance. Haw Par’s debt to asset decreased from 0.047 to 0.045, indicating Haw Par’s improvement of financing strategy by financing more on equity. Two possible explanations for that change may be: (1) Sufficient cash flow allowed Haw Par to rely less on loans. (2) The promising trend in economy helped restore confidence of shareholders who in turn invested actively, as evidenced by the rise in share capital. The cash acquisition ratio nearly doubled from 5.92 to 9.40. The numerator, net cash from operation, plummeted by more than half; however, the denominator, cash paid for PPE, fell more dramatically by two thirds. The two fluctuations as a whole resulted in a rise in cash acquisition ratio, giving a positive indication on Haw Par’s solvency situation. As the two ratios suggested, it seems plausible that Haw Par has improved its solvency. However, its competitor Sun Pharmaceutical, with the debt to assets ratio of merely 0.026, has outperformed Haw Par in solvency. It is still possible for Haw Par to improve further. 3. CONCLUSION To conclude, though benefited from the overall economic recovery, Haw Par was also surrounded by risks and challenges in the competitive environment. However, it has been actively engaged in product innovation and adopted pertinent strategies, especially in marketing sector. Haw Par’s responses were fairly effective in tackling the above-mentioned problems, as proven by its successful financial year. So far, Haw Par has been tapping the benefits of economies of scale, enjoying the opportunities in the emerging Asian market and taking advantage of the global economic recovery. Yet in the contestable market where the barrier to entry is minimal in the long run, Haw Par should continue to strive hard so as to maintain its competitiveness in the ever-changing business world.

Trifecta Not Always Appropriate

Trifecta Not Always Appropriate Trifecta Not Always Appropriate Trifecta Not Always Appropriate By Maeve Maddox Libby Lewis wonders about the different meanings of trifecta.: I had a student use it in a paper addressing racial discrimination: the United States ever growing trifecta of white, black, and brown. another student cited an article from MuscleMag magazine entitled Your Tri-Fecta for success.Can this word be used as a general reference to any trio? First lets look at the term perfecta. The OED identifies the gambling term as chiefly U.S. and defines it as a bet that requires the bettor to predict, in the correct order, the first and second finishers in a race. In New York state, this kind of bet is called an exacta. The OED entry for trifecta identifies it as a betting term used principally in North America, Australia, and New Zealand. Its a recent (1971) addition to English and derives from American Spanish perfecta which is a shortening of quiniela perfecta, perfect quiniela. Quiniela, game of chance. Entertainment writers were probably the first to use the word trifecta to mean any three awards won by an artist: Joe Lovano hit the trifecta at the Jazz Awards, with wins for tenor saxophonist, small ensemble and record of the year, but pianist-composer Vijay Iyer walked off with musician of the year honors They may also have been instrumental in turning trifecta into a mere synonym for three or trio. How’s this for a musical trifecta: the intriguing guitarist Charlie Hunter, the swinging Vanguard Jazz Orchestra and the imposing saxophone/drums/bass trio known as Fly. Some writers use trifecta in any context in which three of anything figure: Marchesa actually had a trifecta of successes. Marchesa is a fashion house and three women wore its designs to the Emmy awards. Jerrod Niemann Completes a Country Music Trifecta Niemann is going to play at the Grand Old Opry. Hes already played at two other venues on his wish list. Blue Spur eatery up for awards trifecta The restaurant has won the award twice before. MGM Recipients Achieve MacArthur Trifecta Andrea Ghez won the Maria Goeppert Mayer Award in 1999. She was the third woman to win this award, hence the trifecta in the headline. Its probably a reasonable extension of the word trifecta to use it to refer to the winning of a trio of awards as here: McMurray gave Ganassi his first Daytona 500 win in February. In May, Dario Franchitti won the Indianapolis 500 in one of Ganassi’s cars. On Sunday, Ganassi hit the unprecedented trifecta. No other car owner has won all three major races, much less in the same year. Used willy-nilly to mean three of anything, however, it smacks of lazy writing. Its use is especially inappropriate in this New Republic piece about the automotive industry: GM, Ford, and Chrysler are taking precisely the sorts of steps everybody says are necessaryor, at least, they were taking those steps until an unexpected trifecta of high gas prices, vanishing credit, and a deep recession hit. The word trifecta implies winning. High gas prices, vanishing credit, and a deep recession hardly fit the connotation. Here are some other three words to consider, depending upon the context: trio triple triad trilogy tripartite triplet troika Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Misused Words category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Compared "to" or Compared "with"?What is Dative Case?Drama vs. Melodrama

Trifecta Not Always Appropriate

Trifecta Not Always Appropriate Trifecta Not Always Appropriate Trifecta Not Always Appropriate By Maeve Maddox Libby Lewis wonders about the different meanings of trifecta.: I had a student use it in a paper addressing racial discrimination: the United States ever growing trifecta of white, black, and brown. another student cited an article from MuscleMag magazine entitled Your Tri-Fecta for success.Can this word be used as a general reference to any trio? First lets look at the term perfecta. The OED identifies the gambling term as chiefly U.S. and defines it as a bet that requires the bettor to predict, in the correct order, the first and second finishers in a race. In New York state, this kind of bet is called an exacta. The OED entry for trifecta identifies it as a betting term used principally in North America, Australia, and New Zealand. Its a recent (1971) addition to English and derives from American Spanish perfecta which is a shortening of quiniela perfecta, perfect quiniela. Quiniela, game of chance. Entertainment writers were probably the first to use the word trifecta to mean any three awards won by an artist: Joe Lovano hit the trifecta at the Jazz Awards, with wins for tenor saxophonist, small ensemble and record of the year, but pianist-composer Vijay Iyer walked off with musician of the year honors They may also have been instrumental in turning trifecta into a mere synonym for three or trio. How’s this for a musical trifecta: the intriguing guitarist Charlie Hunter, the swinging Vanguard Jazz Orchestra and the imposing saxophone/drums/bass trio known as Fly. Some writers use trifecta in any context in which three of anything figure: Marchesa actually had a trifecta of successes. Marchesa is a fashion house and three women wore its designs to the Emmy awards. Jerrod Niemann Completes a Country Music Trifecta Niemann is going to play at the Grand Old Opry. Hes already played at two other venues on his wish list. Blue Spur eatery up for awards trifecta The restaurant has won the award twice before. MGM Recipients Achieve MacArthur Trifecta Andrea Ghez won the Maria Goeppert Mayer Award in 1999. She was the third woman to win this award, hence the trifecta in the headline. Its probably a reasonable extension of the word trifecta to use it to refer to the winning of a trio of awards as here: McMurray gave Ganassi his first Daytona 500 win in February. In May, Dario Franchitti won the Indianapolis 500 in one of Ganassi’s cars. On Sunday, Ganassi hit the unprecedented trifecta. No other car owner has won all three major races, much less in the same year. Used willy-nilly to mean three of anything, however, it smacks of lazy writing. Its use is especially inappropriate in this New Republic piece about the automotive industry: GM, Ford, and Chrysler are taking precisely the sorts of steps everybody says are necessaryor, at least, they were taking those steps until an unexpected trifecta of high gas prices, vanishing credit, and a deep recession hit. The word trifecta implies winning. High gas prices, vanishing credit, and a deep recession hardly fit the connotation. Here are some other three words to consider, depending upon the context: trio triple triad trilogy tripartite triplet troika Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Misused Words category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Compared "to" or Compared "with"?What is Dative Case?Drama vs. Melodrama

The 10 Biggest Mistakes of Unsuccessful People

The 10 Biggest Mistakes of Unsuccessful People Sometimes being successful is a simple matter of not being unsuccessful- not making the kind of blunders and mistakes that unsuccessful people make. If it’s too daunting to try and mimic someone else’s success, try simply avoiding other people’s failures. Here are 10 traits that describe people who rarely, if ever, get ahead. If one or two of these sound like you, see if you can tweak your habits. If you’re guilty of more than half, you’ve got problems, but at least you’ll know what needs to change!1. They’re  prone to distractionIf you can’t focus on the task, problem, situation, or conversation at hand, you’re going to fail at something, sooner or later. Don’t pick up your phone in the middle of a meeting. Don’t start checking Facebook when you should be finishing that report. Single-task until you get a single thing done. Then do the next thing.2. They’re  all talkSure you’ve got great p otential, lofty goals. Do yourself a favor and don’t broadcast them. Try keeping your cards closer to your chest. What you can broadcast is meeting those goals or achieving that success. Share when you’ve done something, not just when you’ve decided to think about doing something.3. They’re bad companyIf you want to be successful, hang out with successful people. If you want to get in shape, hang out with people who value fitness. Sometimes it really does matter who your friends are.4.  They’re always negativeDon’t be a hater. And don’t let small day-to-day annoyances get you so down that you become that person that’s always complaining. Try to accentuate the positive, even in sucky situations.5. They procrastinateDon’t delay doing anything unless you’re certain you could do it better if you did it later. Otherwise, you’re just stalling. Get it done.6. They don’t listenYou’re not the only on e in the world. And your success is not the only important thing in the world. Listen to the people you love, and they will love you back. Spread the love around.7. They’re lazyThere’s a difference between being tired and being a blob. Try to make sure you’re not constantly talking yourself out of doing things (work, going to the movies, exercise, helping a friend) because you just don’t feel like it, rather than a legitimate excuse. Try to always be doing something better with your free time.8.  They don’t want to learnThe day you stop learning is the day you fail forever. Keep an open mind about the things you don’t know, and keep pushing yourself. Be humble in the face of a world full of new information- and let some of it inspire you to greatness. Hard work is good for you.9. They’re just  meanPlenty of not nice people make it to the top. That doesn’t mean you will. Not being nice means you will acquire enemies, rather than allies. Be kind. Make friends.10. They’re quittersIf you give up, then, well, you don’t deserve success. Next time you hit a roadblock, try running through this list and see if there’s anything more constructive you could be doing- learning something new, making an ally, thinking positively, then find your way around the roadblock and keep going forward.

Media representations and the palestinian experience of the intifadas, Research Proposal

Media representations and the palestinian experience of the intifadas, an oslo accords - Research Proposal Example The force with which the Intifada started and carried on for the last eight years shocked not only Israel, but indeed, all countries of the world. One of the consequences of this first Intifada was the international conference in Madrid. No matter how regularly the negotiators conversed in Washington and elsewhere throughout this time, Israel did not attempt to fulfill the fundamental requirements for peace. United Nations resolutions 242 and 338 were unexpectedly not suitable for Israel, not to mention Resolution 194, which demands for the right of refugees to come back. The Madrid Conference served to redirect the increasing public consciousness of Israel as an occupying authority with an aggressive, tyrannical, expansionist, colonialist, and racially prejudiced character. Two years later, the world was taken by shock at the declaration of the Oslo Accord, signed in September 1993. Whereas the world was deceived by "peace myth," the reality was something rather different. The main intention of Oslo was to kill the Intifada and to guarantee that Israel acquired as many political benefits as likely, all the while changing its identity into that of a peace-making country. Israel did not withdraw from the taken territories, as it had been decided upon at Oslo. Hebron was separated. An immense span of land was confiscated. Jerusalemites were strained to give up their residency rights. Settlements augmented at breakneck speed, which constructed the notion of Israeli pulling out almost impracticable. Lastly, Palestinian lands were divided into areas A, B, and C, constructing easily- controllable and easily-suppressible bantustans. Provided with all the confusion, the majority of Palestinians were waiting tolerantly for Oslo to bring back their national freedom which was lost over three decades ago. They were waiting for Oslo to carry peace as well as prosperity. They were expecting to see how they could at last move without restraint within and outside the

Three questions on sexual harassement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Three questions on sexual harassement - Essay Example For her statement would indirectly convey that she did not face serious sexual harassment, and thus she might not file a complaint if the related investigator finds such scenario. As per the The Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA), it is clearly mentioned that different pay to men and women working under similar situation and possessing similar qualification falls under sexual harassment. Because here it is proved that the only reason for such discrimination is made on the basis of different gender (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, n.d.). But if it is proved that the salary has been differentiated based on qualification, then Jolene Carter shall not get a positive result from her complaint. On the same context, if it is found that there were no other reasons strong enough for such difference, it shall be accepted that her allegation can be considered as true. US Department of Transportation, (2001). Preventing Sexual Harassment. A Fact Sheet for Employees. Retrieved Online on October 25, 2010 from http://www.dotcr.ost.dot.gov/Documents/complaint/Preventing_Sexual_Harassment.htm U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, No Date. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Laws, Regulations, Guidance & MOUs. Retrieved Online on October 25, 2010 from