The Significance of the Bible for Christian Theology Essay

The Significance of the Bible for Christian Theology - Essay Example There are several approaches to the authority of the Scripture, with most of them being inadequate. One theory states that every word in the Scripture is inspired by God. That is a very rigid view that leads to many mistakes and claims of Scripture being inerrant at all instances. This doctrine of the authority of Scripture receives much criticism in this modern day and ultimately turns Scripture’s authority into authoritarianism. Another approach to the Bible as to the historical source also proves to be faulty as, alongside with the benefits it yields; it also diverts the attention to factuality and separates the literary form from the meaning of the text. There is also an approach to the Bible as a literary classic. It might be beneficial to have this approach to introduce Bible to otherwise ignorant group of students, but it hardly generates deep interest in it or, what more, introduces spiritual principle to abide by. Approach to the Bible as to a private devotional text helps to have a personal application of the Scripture, but it tends to put less emphasis on the common and universal. Other theological approach to the Bible is studying it from a viewpoint of it being the â€Å"Word of God†, which also puts certain limitation. God does not have limitations, but the language always has some limitations of expression. Also, language evolves with time and words’ meaning change too, thus proving that language itself cannot be attributed to God, Who is infinite and full of possibilities. (Schneider, 1991, p. 205). Approaching the Word of God only as metaphoric expression, although it is a root and a complex metaphor, includes many meanings such as God’s symbolic self-disclosure, sharing of life and His divine self-giving (Schneider, 1991, p. 216). God has to use symbols for the metaphor. Sneider argues that even from the very ancient times God used â€Å"symbolic self-disclosure† through nature. For Israelites God’s Word became a mean of communication between them and God, and â€Å"made a highly original advance in symbolic interpret ation† by understanding â€Å"their own history as the story of the relationship between themselves and God† (Schneider, 1991, p. 215). They viewed Jesus â€Å"as full and divine revelation of God† (Schneider, 1991, p. 216). From the point of view of God’s Word being metaphoric, the Bible is a symbolic witness of the divine self-gift, and is potentially revelatory. When referring to the Word of God, the reference is usually made to the written word in the Bible, which is understood as the physical object (the book) as well as the text and the message contained therein. The Bible is considered a sacramental object, which at times, leads to distortions such as a temptation to view such objects as magic, taking it out of context or a temptation is to create an idol out it. In actuality, the Word of God is only sacramental when the biblical text is read and interpreted, and that creates the possibility of revelation (Schneider, 1991, p. 220). The Scripture is the unique and sacred book. Another author argues that Gospels tell us about nature of Scripture’s authority and means by which God exerts it, which is the word. The authority of the Scripture therefore equals to the authority of God himself. Its function is didactic - to give the knowledge about God and to lead readers and those who will

Sociology for Social Work Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Sociology for Social Work - Essay Example Applied research on the other hand, as postulated by Pickering (2001), has to do with pursuing knowledge so as to enhance program application or policy assessment. In most instances, social programs are assessed on the basis of their effectiveness in diminishing an experienced problem or in enacting desirable changes. Information retrieved by way of applied research can be inculcated into social programs like the one Ms. W was signed into. It is characteristic of all sociological research to commence with a theory. As such, the research identifies a client, for our case Ms W, whereupon he attempts an explanation, ultimately offering the derived explanation for the exhibited behaviour patterns. As postulated by Frankfort-Nachmias and Leon-Guerrero (2003), the researcher identifies causal relationships between variables. Variables in sociological research are features of individuals or items that ideally can take on two or more values. As sociologists try to explain Ms W’s behaviour they may give a specific explanation regarding the relationship that characterises two variables, for instance, the husbands death and her denial to own her problems. Ms W. denial can be measured according to a variety of variables. These could be her lack of acknowledgment of having paranoid schizophrenia, her s trange behaviour in public as well as her refusal to take medication. The researcher states the relationship that exists between these variables in a hypothesis as Astbury (1996) contends. A hypothesis is a tentative statement which tends to assume to know how the variables relate to each other. A researcher could assume that upon the death of Ms. W’s husband together with the frustration she received from her dealings with the government, she was overwhelmed and thus broke down into paranoiac schizophrenia. Research methods are constituted by a combination of

Attitudes towards homosexuality among university students

Attitudes towards homosexuality among university students In 2006, Answers Corporation explained that homosexuality is a term created by 19th century. The meaning of homosexual is, having a sexual orientation to persons of the same sex (The American Heritage ® Dictionary of the English Language, 2006). Homosexuality includes two groups, which are female homosexuality and male homosexuality. Female homosexuality is described as lesbianism and the male homosexuality is described as gay (Answers Corporation, 2006). At the beginning, some of the psychologists said that homosexuality is a mental illness and put it into the list of mental disorder. However, after some of the studies, they realized that homosexuality is not a mental disorder because it is related to psychological disturbance and is in no sense of mental problem as well. So, homosexuality removed from the list of mental disorders (Tozeland, Loewen, Monteith, n.d.). The factors that lead to homosexuality are critical and discuss by many specialist fields such as psychologists and psychiatrists. View of Psychologists toward Reason of Homosexuality In Robinson study (as cited in Facts about Homosexuality and Mental Health, n.d.), early of the twentieth century, Ellis (1901) argued that homosexuality was inborn and it was not immoral, not a disease, and that many homosexuals made outstanding contributions to society. Sigmund Freud has a different theory of human sexuality from Ellis. He believed that all human beings were innately bisexual. Human beings become heterosexual or homosexual as a result of what they have experiences with other people or environment that surrounding of them. Freud also agreed with Ellis that homosexual orientation should not be viewed as a form of pathology (Facts about Homosexuality and Mental Health, n.d.). He wrote a letter to an American mother in 1935. He said that, people cant get any advantages from their homosexual orientation. But, they were always blamed, discriminated by other people. Actually, homosexuality is not a sin, not an illness as well. He also said that, we need to see it as a sexual function produced by certain sexual development. There are many individuals of ancient and modern times that were respect by us are homosexuality. According to him, it is injustice and cruelty to describe that homosexuality is a crime and sin. He told the American mother that, analysis may let her son feel harmony, peace and full efficiency when her son in the time of unhappy, neurotic, torn by conflicts, and inhibited in the social life whether he remains a homosexual or gets changed (Facts about Homosexuality and Mental Health, n.d.). View of Reincarnation Researchers toward Reason of Homosexuality According to Dr. Ian Stevenson, he concludes that homosexuality is a natural human trait that results from the reincarnation of a person of one gender as a person of the opposite gender. Such people must adjust to their new gender and sexuality at an early age. The difficulty of adjusting relating to the sex change and lead to homosexuality later on in their lives (as cited in Williams, 2006). Reincarnation means the soul occupation a new body after the death of the former body (The Columbia Encyclopedia, 2006). The classic form of the reincarnation doctrine was formulated in India, but certainly not earlier than the 9th century BC, when the Brahmana writings were composed. After the Upanishads clearly defined the concept between the 7th and the 5th century BC, it was adopted by the other important Eastern religions which originated in India, Buddhism and Jainism. Due to the spread of Buddhism in Asia, reincarnation was later adopted by Chinese Taoism, but not earlier than the 3rd century BC (Reincarnation, its meaning and consequences, n.d.). Former girls who are reborn as boys may wish to dress as girls or prefer to play with girls rather than boys. Former boys who are reborn as girls may wish to dress as boys or prefer to play with boys rather than girls. Former men who are reborn as women will be attracted to women and will therefore be lesbian. Former women who are reborn as men will be attracted to men and will therefore be gay (as cited in Williams, 2006). Former means past-life or previous life and reborn mean present lifetime. In many cases the person begins talking about his or her life or lives before the present lifetime, about their previous death and about the time between lives including the planning of the present lifetime (as cited in Williams, 2006). So, Dr. Ian Stevenson concludes that, homosexuality is the stem of reincarnation. Beside of the factors to cause homosexuality, the factors that influence people attitudes towards homosexuality are also very controversial. Different people may bring out different of attitudes, thinking, feeling and behaviors towards homosexuality. The differences can be considered contribute to some of the factors such as personal and social factors. Personal Factors that Influence Attitudes towards Homosexual Age. Have a measure of tolerance of homosexual behaviors from attitude towards homosexuality in 29 nations, such as the nations of Australia, USA, Norway, and others indicated that the higher points of tolerance scored as 100 and the lowest point as 0. The higher the tolerance scored the higher the acceptance of homosexuality. The predicted level of tolerances for young people age 20 would be 53 points. People in middle age have tolerance scores of 43 points by age 40. At age 60, the tolerance scored is about 33 and with 23 points at age 80. It showed that, as the age increasing, the tolerance scored of homosexual was decreasing. The tolerance point of elder was low compare to younger people (Attitude towards homosexuality in 29 nations, n.d.). Beside of the factors of age, the attitudes also influences by religion. Religion background. Different religious will makes a large difference to tolerance of homosexuality. According to a test of measure of homosexual behaviors tolerance, the higher points of tolerance scored as 100 and the lowest point as 0. The higher the tolerance scored the higher acceptance of homosexuality. Ardent believers in a personal God would rate homosexual behavior at 28 points. But, staunch atheists who are totally reject the idea of personal God rate homosexuality at 59 points (Attitude towards homosexuality in 29 nations, n.d.). It obviously showed that, Ardent believers in a personal God was less accepting to homosexuality which rate 28 points compare to staunch atheists who totally reject the idea of personal God which rate 59 points (Attitude towards homosexuality in 29 nations, n.d.). Beside that, church goers are less tolerant of homosexuality than those who are never darken a churchs door. People who are regular going to church rate 32 points, and those who are shunning the church were rating 48 points (Attitude towards homosexuality in 29 nations, n.d.). It is because according to Christians, homosexuality violating some of Gods most basic commandments for humanity. Christians belief in Gods condemnation of homosexuality is claimed to be so important that forcing them to treat gays equally means forcing them to violate their religious beliefs (Cline, n.d.). In nearly all societies throughout human history, religion offers answers to fundamental questions concerning the origin and meaning of things. Religious systems of explanation offer accounts of the creation of the world, as well as specifying the rules for proper behavior-and the consequences for infractions-that have been imposed by the Creator (Gross, 2005). Christianity traditionally forbid sexual relations between people of the same sex and teaches that such behavior is sinful (Gross, 2005). So, religious belief and church attendance have strongly influence on attitudes towards homosexuality in almost 29 nations. Beside of the factors of religion, the attitudes toward homosexuality also influences by faculty of study among students (Societal Attitudes towards Homosexuality, 2006). Faculty of study. Students who studied faculties of Arts or Social Science had more positive attitudes toward gay man compared to Science or Business students. The result revealed that students in the faculties of Arts and Social Science had more positive attitudes towards homosexual compare with students in faculties Business and Science (Schellenberg, Hirt and Sears, 1999). It shows that there are two possible reasons that determined these results. First, students who value traditional sex roles may be the most likely to select programs in faculties of business and sciences where political attitudes are conservative. Second, students with less value traditional sex roles may be the most likely to select programs in faculties of Art and Social Science. It is because they thought the departments are more liberal (Schellenberg, Hirt and Sears, 1999). In academic field, beside the factor of different faculty of study, the educational level also plays a very important role to determine the attitudes towards homosexuality. Educational level. The higher years of education people involve, the higher scored of tolerances people have. The higher points of tolerance scored as 100 and the lowest point as 0. The higher of tolerance scored sign that it is more acceptance of homosexuality (Attitude towards homosexuality in 29 nations, n.d.). The point of tolerances was 34 out of 100 rating by people who with 8 years of education. Those with 10 years of education were rating 38 points and people who have complete 2 years masters degree after 4 year bachelors degree was rating 51 points. So, the gap between the least educated and the most educated is 17 points. (Attitude towards homosexuality in 29 nations, n.d.). This tolerance-enhancing effect of education actually is link to other forces which importantly depend on the independent of age, so the lesser censure of homosexuality among the highly educated cannot be attributed to a changing social climate. The age effects themselves suggest that there is a changing social climate, but the education effects are in addition to that (Attitude towards homosexuality in 29 nations, n.d.). Other than that, gender also likely to have strongly influences on the attitudes towards homosexuality. Many researchers conducted researches that related to gender differences and their attitudes towards gay men and lesbians. Gender. Gender belief system is the pattern of masculine or feminine behavior of an individual that is defined by a particular culture and that is largely determined by a childs upbringing (Answers.com, 2006). Kite and Whitley suggested that men rating the gay men more negative than women, but they were same in the rating of lesbians. Within the male and female, women made approximately equal rating of lesbians and gay men, but mens rating of lesbians were more positive than rating of gay men (as cited in Louiderback Whitley, 1997). According to Kite and Whitley study, it is because people who have strong gender belief system have more negative attitudes towards homosexual because homosexuality violates the norms of that belief system. Also, men held more traditional sex-role attitudes than women. So, in the perspective of men, male should be act more masculine and aggressive. They also strongly hold the traditional sexual orientation which is heterosexuality (as cited in Louiderback Whitley, 1997). Beside that, a study (as cited in Schellenberg, Hirt and Sears 1999.), it also showed that male hold more negative attitudes towards gay men than lesbians, and, they also hold more negative attitudes to homosexual compare with female. Different attitude towards homosexuality is the impact of personal factors. But, the social factors also have certain level of impact on the attitudes towards homosexuality. Social Factors that Influence Attitudes towards Homosexual Media. Dissemination of information about homosexuality in marketing, television shows, and public opinion polls, will affect the attitudes of public toward homosexuals no matter it is accurate or inaccurate. The information of homosexuals will lead to AIDS has strong impact on attitudes towards homosexuality. The perpetuation of homophobic attitudes such as the treatment of people with HIV, moralistic interpretations of people with AIDS, certain conceptions about the methods of HIV transmitted, media representation of AIDS, and even the way in which medicines objectivity reinforces a moral view inimical to gay men, lesbians and bisexuals (Anderson, Fakhfakh, Kondylis, 1999). Many of the researches have approved that some of the factors influence attitudes towards homosexuality. There are also some of the researches conducted by researchers to approve whether the stereotypes of people towards homosexuality is correct or not. Social differences. Social differences in the tolerance of homosexuality are quite large. This can help to explain why people living in different social circles have different perceptions of what the average Australian thinks. For example, 70 years old had left school at the end of year 10, and who holds strong religious beliefs and attends church regularly would rate homosexual behaviors at just 1 point out of 100 or always wrong (Attitude towards homosexuality in 29 nations, n.d.). Stereotypes towards Homosexuality Characteristics. Normally, people would like to believe that gay men are effeminate and lesbians are tomboys while there are some homosexual people who fit these stereotypes. But, actually they are not representative of all homosexual people. So, the stereotypes of characteristics of homosexual people are not correct at all (Tozeland, Loewen, Monteith, n.d.). Duration of relationship. Studies indicate that people would have the stereotypes that homosexual person will not involve in long-term, stable and close relationship with their partners. But, it is not unusual to find homosexuality couples who had been together for over twenty years (Tozeland, Loewen, Monteith, n.d.). Homosexual parents. Some people believe that children of gay or lesbian people are more likely to grow up to be homosexual as their parents. Beside that, people also believe that these children will grow up without appropriate ethical values. In fact, homosexual parents would like to teach their children the values of kindness and charity because they are the victims of hate and discrimination in society (Tozeland, Loewen, Monteith, n.d.). According to Family Research Report (2001), children who have homosexual parents would be expected to do less well than kids in general in school, on the job, in marriage, raising their own kids, and others. Normally, children of homosexual parents cannot do well in sex identity, language skills and mathematics fields compare to children of heterosexual parents. But, children of homosexual parents hold strongly social study than children of heterosexual parents. However, they have tries to be successful in life. So not every child with homosexual parents would be expected to be a failure, nor would every child raised by a homosexual parent be expected to fail. Likewise, not every child rose by a married mother and father would be expected to succeed (Family Research Report, 2001). Religion. The vast majority of the worlds churches take the stance that homosexual acts are a sin. To cite an example of a religious viewpoint, the Roman Catholic Church in a passage from its Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, states, As in every moral disorder, homosexual activity prevents ones own fulfillment and happiness by acting contrary to the creative wisdom of God. Homosexuality is labeled as a moral disorder; it is not regular or acceptable (The Scientific Debate on Homosexuality, n.d.). People believe that Christians are disagreeing homosexuality. Some religious groups interpret certain biblical passages as injunctions against homosexuality, while others view these passages in the light of historical context, much like slavery. Actually, many Christians were condemning discrimination and prejudice. They welcome and affirm homosexual Christians into the body of Christ, with unique gifts to offer (Tozeland, Loewen, Monteith, n.d.). Beside to conduct researches to reveal the stereotypes of people towards homosexuality is correct or not, there also a research on how the public opinion towards homosexuality among different nations. Public Opinion toward Homosexual among Different Nations In study of Societal Attitudes towards Homosexuality (2006), it showed that the result of acceptance homosexuality in Africa and the Middle East are tend to strongly disagree. But, major Latin American countries such as Mexico and Brazil accept homosexuality. At Australia 1999, the result showed that 28% of people think that sexual relations between two adults of the same sex are not wrong at all, 15 % think that it is wrong only sometimes, 9 % think that it is almost always wrong, and 48% think that it is always wrong (Attitude towards homosexuality in 29 nations, n.d.). According to Robinson (2003), Apoll by the Gallup Organization from United State has conducted a research of acceptable of homosexuality in the public. The result showed the percentage of the survey result: do you personally believe that it is acceptable or not acceptable for gays and lesbians to engage in same-sex behavior? as in 1982-JUN, there was 34% people accept homosexuality and by 1992-JUN, there was an increasing percentage which is 38%. In 1992-MAR, there was 44% and by 1997-APR, there was 42%. In 1999-FEB, there was 50 % and by 2001-MAY, there was 52%. There was 51% in 2002-MAY and 54% in 2003-MAY. It showed that the percentage of acceptable towards homosexuality in the United State is increasing by year of 1982 to 2003. The Pew Research Centers 2003 Global Attitudes Survey found that, people in Africa and the Middle East strongly object to societal acceptance of homosexuality. But there is far greater tolerance for homosexuality in major Latin American countries such as Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia and Brazil. Opinion in Europe is split between West and East. Majorities in every Western European nation surveyed say homosexuality should be accepted by society, while most Russians, Poles and Ukrainians disagree. 51% of Americans believes homosexuality should be accepted, while 42% disagree (as cited in Societal Attitudes towards Homosexuality, 2006). Significant of This Study Based on the above introduction, one can see the important of understanding of students attitude to homosexuality. Firstly, according to Lisa Lamar and Mary Kite (1998), it said that males have more negative attitudes towards gay men and this is due to gender roles factor. However, Schellenberg, Hirt Sears (1999), found that males who study in Arts and Social Sciences have more positive attitudes towards gay men. So, this study want to know UTAR Psychology course students attitudes towards gay men is affected by gender roles or the faculties that they have chose. Second, according to research of Brownell, he found that religions are related to negative attitudes towards lesbian and gay men. Malaysia have many types of religions include Islamic, Buddhist, Indian, and others. This study wants to know are there having differences of attitudes between religions in Malaysia or not. This will make us know more about how the attitudes of different religions people towards lesbian and gay men. This can reduce conflict or make different religions people can communicate easily. Third, Many students have confused or varying opinions on homosexuality. It is important for all students to come to terms with what they currently think and feel about homosexuality (Tozeland, Loewen, Monteith, n.d.). This study want to let them conscious about their attitudes towards homosexual and let them decide they want to change it or not. Beside that, through this study, students of psychology course can more concern about issue of homosexuality and conduct or do further research on it. The further research can help public know about homosexual such as why homosexual, what reason to make them become homosexual, and others. Once public know more about the homosexual group, they might change their attitudes towards homosexual as well as reduce their discrimination perception towards homosexual. This study will determine whether the result of this study same with the result of previous researches or not. For this study, it should make a clear distinction of attitudes toward gay men and lesbian women with divide the homosexual to lesbian and gay men. For example, many of previous research conducted research by using the term homosexual but do not divide the term homosexual into gay men and lesbian women. Research Questions For this study, it will explore the gender influences on attitudes towards homosexuality among university students. We would like to understand more about the gender differences of acceptance of homosexuality among university students. Beside that, this study will determine whether the result is same with the result of previous researches or not. The research questions in this study are as follows. First, are there any gender differences in the attitudes towards lesbian and homosexual? Second, is there any gender difference in their knowledge of homosexual? Third, are there any religion differences in their attitude towards lesbian and homosexual? Fourth, is there any religion difference in their knowledge of homosexual? CHAPTER II METHOD Participants 118 Psychology students from year 1 to year 3 in University Tunku Abdul Rahman were selected as the sample of this study. Simple random method was used in the selection. There are 82 females and 36 females. All of the students who participated in the survey are simple random sampling. Materials Questionnaire. The survey conducted using questionnaire (see Appendix 1). All participants completed a 4 pages questionnaire consisting of two sections. Instructions accompanying the questionnaire guaranteed anonymity and confidentiality. The first part is about the respondents demographic such as gender, age, year, race, and religion. The second part is about respondents attitudes toward lesbian and gay. There are 32 questions in this test. In this test, the first 4 questions are asked about the general attitudes towards homosexuality such as a) I know about homosexuals, and b) Sexual orientation is caused by genes, but not the environment (see appendix 1). Question 5 to 18 is asked about the attitudes towards lesbians such as a) Lesbians just cant fit into our society, b) exual relations between two female is wrong, c) Female homosexuality is a sin and, d) Lesbians are sick (see appendix 1). Question 19 to 32 is asked about the attitudes towards gay men such as a) I think male homosexuals are disgusting, b) Male homosexuality is a perversion, c) Sexual relations between two male is wrong and, d) Homosexual behavior between two men is just plain wrong (see appendix 1). Participants had to rate on the Likert Scale (strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree, and strongly agree) according to their attitudes towards homosexual which include lesbian and gay man. Software. SPSS for Windows (12.0) was used for all statistical analyses. Procedures The survey was conducted by using simple random sampling design. A sampling frame, which is the numbered name lists of students from Year One to Year Three Psychology class at UTAR was obtained from the Faculty General Office. All the name of the students were mixed and came out with a new name list (see Appendix 2). A sample size of 118 was selected. The simple random sampling was conducted as follows: A starting point in the table of Random Numbers in the Appendix 4 was chosen using a finger stab. The stab came down at column 6, row 15 at the entry 13916. As the sampling frame ranged from 1 to 301, the left three numbers in each set of five were used when drawing the sample. The number 0 was ignored if that number over 301. The numbers to be included in sampling were been identified by moving across the table from left to right every alternate line started from up and down. The numbers got were highline in yellow color (see Appendix 3). We distributed the questionnaire to the samples that have been selected by simple random method through UTAR lecturers. The survey took between ten to five-teen minutes to complete and then collected back by lecturers after the respondents completed it in the same day. Instructions accompanying the questionnaire guaranteed anonymity and confidentiality. CHAPTER III RESULT Reliability Test There were five dimensions in the questionnaire. First, the dimension of Negative Attitudes toward Lesbians, it consisted by 10 questions which is from question 5 to question 14. The Cronbachs Alpha was 0.81 after questions 5, 7, 9, 13 were deleted (Table 1, pg 16). Therefore, the mean of these 6 items was calculated to represent the respondents negative attitudes toward lesbians. Second, for the dimension of Positive Attitudes toward Lesbians, it consisted by 4 questions which is from question 15 to question 18. There were 0.49 alphas when question 16 was deleted (Table 1, pg 16). For the dimension of Negative Attitudes toward Gay Men, it consisted by 10 questions which is from question 19 to question 28. There were 0.87 alphas when question 20 was deleted (Table 1, pg 16). For the dimension of Positive Attitudes toward Gay Men, it consisted by 4 questions which is from question 29 to question 32. There were 0.64 alphas and none of the questions being deleted (Table 1, pg 16). The reliability alpha of the question 1 to 4 was 0.01 alphas. So, these 4 questions cannot compute as one dimension and will be analyzed individually (see Table 1, pg 16). Table 1 Reliability test Dimension Cronbachs Alpha N of Items Items Negative Attitudes toward Lesbians 0.81 6 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14 Positive Attitudes toward Lesbians 0.49 3 15, 17, 18 Negative Attitudes toward Gay Men 0.87 9 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 Positive Attitudes toward Gay Men 0.64 4 29, 30, 31, 32 I know about homosexual Sexual orientation is caused by genes, but not the environment I have ever thought to myself when I found that an attractive person of the sex was homosexual-what a waste 0.01 4 1, 2, 3, 4 I have ever said, I dont mind homosexuals, as long as I dont have to see it or something similar Gender Differences toward Homosexual Negative attitudes toward lesbians. The results of Independent t- Tests showed that there was no significant difference between gender negative attitudes towards the lesbian, t (118) = 0.08, n.s. , where the mean for the negative attitudes toward lesbian for male students is 2.60 ( SD = 0.81), and 2.59 (SD = 0.71) for female students (Table 2, pg 19). Positive attitudes toward lesbians. The results of Independent t- Tests showed that there was no significant difference between gender positive attitudes toward the lesbians, t (118) = 0.31, n.s., where the mean for the positive attitudes toward lesbians for male students is 3.29 (SD = 0.66), and 3.32 (SD = 0.54) for female students (Table 2, pg 19). Negative attitudes toward gay men. The results of Independent t- Tests showed that there was a significant difference between gender negative attitudes toward gay men, t (118) = 2.24, p Positive attitudes toward gay men. The results of Independent t- Tests showed that there was no significant difference between gender positive attitudes toward gay men, t (118) = -1.520, n.s., where the mean for the positive attitudes toward gay men for male students is 3.11 (SD = 0.80), and 3.30 (SD = 0.52) for female students (Table 2, pg 19). Knowledge towards homosexuality. The results of Independent t- revealed that there was no significant difference between genders in their knowledge towards homosexuality. For the I know about homosexual, t (118) = 0.82, n.s., where the mean for the knowledge towards homosexuality for male students is 2.31 (SD=0.82), and 2.17 (SD=0.83) for female students. For the Sexual orientation is caused by genes, but not the environment, t (118) = -0.890, n.s., where the mean for the knowledge towards homosexuality for male students is 3.28 (SD=1.19), and 4.85 (SD=10.57) for female students. For the I have ever thought to myself when I found that an attractive person of the sex was homosexual-what a waste , t (118) = 0.921, n.s., where the mean for the knowledge towards homosexuality for male students is 2.83 (SD=0.97), and 2.65 (SD=1.03) for female students. For the I have ever said, I dont mind homosexuals, as long as I dont have to see it or something similar, t (118) = 0.403, n.s., where the mean for the knowledge towards homosexuality for male students is 3.97 (SD=0.61), and 3.92 (SD=0.76) for female students (see Table 2, pg 19). Table 2 Gender differences Dimension Mean t-Value p-Value Males Females Negative Attitudes toward Lesbians 2.60 (SD=0.81) 2.59 (SD=0.71) 0.080 0.94 Positive Attitudes toward Lesbians 3.29 (SD=0.66) 3.32 (SD=0.54) -0.31 0.76 Negative Attitudes toward Gay Men 3.03 (SD=0.83) 2.72 (SD=0.63) 2.24 0.027* Positive Attitudes toward Gay Men 3.11 (SD=0.80) 3.30 (SD=0.52) -1.520 0.13 I know about homosexual Sexual orientation is caused by genes, but not the environment I have ever thought to myself when I found that an attractive person of the sex was homosexual-what a waste I have ever said, I dont mind homosexuals, as long as I dont have to see it or something similar 2.31 (SD=0.82) 3.28 (SD=1.19) 2.83 (SD=0.97) 3.97 (SD=0.61) 2.17 (SD=0.83) 4.85 (SD=10.57) 2.65 (SD=1.03) 3.91 (SD=0.76) 0.82 -0.89 0.92 0.403 0.42 0.38 0.36 0.69 Note: * p Religion Differences toward Homosexual Negative attitudes toward lesbians. The results of Independent t- Tests showed that there was no significant difference between religions have negative attitudes towards lesbian, t (118) = 1.46, n.s., where the mean for negative attitudes toward lesbian for Buddhist is 2.65 (SD=0.76), and 2.42 (SD=0.67) for Chris

red river valley :: essays research papers

Red River Valley   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The movie â€Å"Red River Valley,† is a B-western that really portrays the way life was in the early 1900s. The music in the movie really set the moods, and gives you a better understanding of what’s going on. The song that opens up the movie has a fast tempo that is played what sounds like a trumpet. Then we are introduced to Gene Autry and his partner, Frog Millhouse. The two were tending cattle and seemed to be pretty skilled at it. Then Gene and his partner set out to help build a dam to bring water into the dry land. They will take on the task of being ditch guards at the dam.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The cowboy music in the movie starts when Gene and Frog walk into the town’s saloon. There is a band up on stage that is playing a fast tempo song. They are playing with a guitar, piano, harmonica, and other exotic looking instruments, like a bottle that the band member blows into. The men at the saloon are dancing, drinking, playing checkers, and seem to be having a good time. Then Gene and Frog leave the saloon and go to the dam. In the beginning of the scene, a fast pace song that is played with trumpets starts to play, which made me think that the scene would have a lot of action in it. The two men go to work on the dam, but Gene realized that they were set up, and there was dynamite that was about to explode. But he uses his quick wit, and they escape with no harm. After that the two men go back to the saloon to perform on stage. Gene Autry sings and plays the guitar very well up on stage. His voice has a baritone/high pitch sound to it, but he sounds like he has skill. Then after Gene, his partner Frog gets up on stage to perform. Frog uses the whole band and their many different instruments while he sung about his trusty forty-five. The duo was a crowd pleaser, and they left the saloon immediately after performing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Then there is a scene with group of men walking and singing together with shovels. The men sing with a very deep, bass sounding tone. These men are the guys that are working to build the dam, and they are upset because they aren’t getting paid.

A Brief History of Turkish Cinema

The Turkish cinema traced its beginnings from a private show in Paris on December 22, 1895 at the Grand Cafà © by French brothers, Louis and Auguste Lumiere.   Similar such shows came to Turkey at the Sultan’s Court, Yildz Palace and other public ones like that of Sigmund Weinberg at the Sponeck’s Beerhouse in Galatasaray’s Square.In 1914, â€Å"The Destruction of the Russian Monument at Avastefonas† is acknowledged to be the first ever Turkish film.   This was a 150 meter long documentary by Fuat Uzkinav, an army officer.The film â€Å"The Marriage of Master Himmet† was began in 1914 but took long to finish because the actors served in the war of the Dardanelles.   It was finally completed in 1918, when Uzkinav took over from Weinberg, who first worked on the project.   Several other films, mostly on World War I were shot.   In 1922 the first film company was formed.   Muhsin Ertugrul, a theater artist switched to film direction.He mad e a total of 30 films in the entire stretch of his cinematic career.   His important works included the 1923 â€Å"Shirt of Fire† which was about the war for independence, starred by the first female artist, the 1931 â€Å"The Streets in Istanbul, the first film to use a soundtrack, and â€Å"A Nation Awakes† in 1932.The influence of theater can be seen in his films.   Muhsin became a very important figure of the cinema industry.   In the 1950s cinema took its own form.   Lutfu Akad led the pack of new directors.   The theme of   most films of the era was societal problems.   In the 1960s the advent of television had disadvantageous effects on cinema.   Cinematic films during the period dealt with the social and economic themes.  Ã‚   In the 1980s the state supported the cinema industry.   Turkish films earned international recognition.   These films were on social and psychological subjects as well as women’s rights.   The films in the 1990s were fewer but they were of superior quality than before due to advances in technology, training available, international awards and state support.   Theaters and big cinemas emerge, visual aspects were given focus, and outdoor theaters grew.For a while television and videos took the attention away from cinemas, but foreign films from Europe and the US substituted for the lack of local films.   The current status of Turkish cinema strikes a balance with the state’s support of the European Cinema Union and Turkish partnerships with foreign ventures. There is also a noted growth in the number of movie theaters as well as in the positive developments and changes in theater as well.BibliographyTurkish Cinema History.   (2005).   Republic of Turkey Ministry of Culture and Tourism [Internet] Available from http://www.kutur.gov.tr/EN/BelgeGostner.aspx [Accessed 17 November 2008]   

Phisicology

Evidence-Based Strategies Name: Institution: Date: Finding a new life after an abusive marriage and prison sentence is an article that talks about a woman who was a police officer. Her husband used to abuse her physically and psychologically and one day she shot the husband as he was trying to beat her (Finding a New Life, 2014). For two sisters, A family bond tightens in bullet's wake is an article that talks about a fourteen year old Aka Leigh Harriet who is paralyzed from the chest downwards after being shot when she was three years.Her elder sister Ajax David does blamer herself as the cause of the little sister being paralyzed as a result of being shot. She gives many reasons as to why she blames herself for her sister being shot (For Two Sisters, 2014). Describe the major adjustment issues discussed in each story. According to the article on Finding a new life after an abusive marriage and prison sentence does display major adjustment issues. These issues include physical abuse and psychological abuse by her late husband whom the wife killed.The husband used to beat her and this resulted into psychological abuse for the wife which caused used the wife to feel pain as a result of being mistreated. This caused the wife to shoot the husband so that she could be free from the depression. According to an article for two sisters, a family bond tightens in bullet's wake, there are adjustment issues like the older sister Ajax David blaming herself for being responsible for a little sisters who was shot and became paralyzed.This is because Ajax thinks she did not take good care of her sister and she was not careful enough and that's why she was shot. Examine at least three (3) evidence-based strategies from the selected articles that could help the individuals enhance their adjustment skills. One evidence-based strategy is cognitive behavioral therapy. This therapy is normally of two types which are cognitive therapy and behavioral therapy. Cognitive therapy does focus on a person's opinions and attitude and the way they control a person's mood and behaviors.Behavioral therapy focuses on a person's behavior and intends to modify unhealthy behavior patterns. Cognitive behavioral therapy is important because it helps people to solve heir present problems and come up with various ways of solving the issues. Another strategy is the dialectical behavior therapy is used to treat people who have borderline personality disorder which is involved in suicidal thinking and behavior. This therapy helps to teach people new skills to help them deal with their situations in the right way.There will be a change in the way people behave so that there will be few incidences of people suffering from psychological problems. People will be able to control their characters and attitudes in the right way in order to avoid sisters situations. Interpersonal therapy is another strategy that helps in improving communication behavior and the way people communicate with others to help relieve depression. This therapy assists people to interact with other people in the right way and direct a person to change their attitude.This will bring better communication among various families that face the problem of miscommunication with their family members hence families will live free from distress. There will be low incidences of psychological issues happening in families. Recommend the evidence-based strategy that is best suited for the people in the selected articles. Provide a rationale for your response The best evidence-based strategy for people in the above articles is the interpersonal therapy which assists to improve communication between family members and other members.This means that in the article finding a new life after an abusive marriage and prison sentence, communication was the best way in which the problems could have been solved better. If there was better communication between the spouses, then there could be no physical abuse and ps ychological abuse since they could have solved their robbers. This could not have caused the wife to shoot the husband (Cornier, Nurses, & Osborn, 2009). Better communication skills between the spouses could have helped to minimize the anger of the husband so that he could not continue to beat the wife without any reason.This could help the wife to minimize her distress which lead her to kill the husband because of the pain she felt living a life full of distress. For two sisters, A family bond tightens in bullet's wake article communication is the only way that could have helped Ajax David to have no depression as a result of not having to blame herself. This is because she thinks she was responsible for her little sister being shot hence her being paralyzed. If only Ajax David had talked with the little sister after her being shot she could not have felt being responsible of what happened to her sister.

Gay Marriages Essays - Same-sex Sexuality, Sexual Orientation, LGBT

Gay Marriages Essays - Same-sex Sexuality, Sexual Orientation, LGBT Gay Marriages For as long as the institution of marriage has been around, so too has the belief that it represents the union of one man and one woman. Now gay men and lesbians are challenging that institution. They believe that their relationships mean the same in their sphere as heterosexual marriages do in our sphere. Homosexuals would like to see their marriages legalized. In 1991 three gay couples filed a lawsuit, in Hawaii, for denying them marriage licenses. They claim that the refusal amounts to gender discrimination, which violates the Equal Rights Amendment. Judge Kevin Chang ruled, in 1996, that same-sex couples have the right to legally marry. This ruling makes Hawaii the first state to recognize that gay and lesbian couples are entitled, by law, to the same privileges as heterosexual married couples (CNN). Under the Full Faith and Credit clause of the Constitution, this also forces all states to recognize these marriages as far as federal benefits are concerned. Congress has approved a bill, the Defense of Marriage Act, that will allow states to decide whether to recognize homosexual marriages. The second part of the bill would define "for federal purposes" as the union of a man and a woman. Under such a definition gay and lesbians, even if they win the right to marry in Hawaii or elsewhere, would not be able to file joint federal tax returns, claim federal pension, or survivor's benefits, or be allowed to file for green card status (Gallagher 21). I don't feel that marriages between gays or lesbians should be given the same status as heterosexual marriages. Since when do gay people think they can broaden the institution of marriage to include themselves? They shouldn't be able to. The institution of marriage is recognized by the church, homosexuality isn't. I don't feel that gay people have given a reason that carries enough weight for the government to legalize same-sex marriage. Should gay people fight for the right to marry? Gay rights activists say absolutely. Gay couples should be afforded the same benefits as heterosexual couples. The legal status of marriage rewards the two individuals with substantial economic and practical advantages. Married couples can file joint tax returns. Social security provides benefits for surviving spouses and their dependents. They can inherit money and property from one another without a will. They are immune from testifying against a spouse, and marriage to an American citizen gives a foreigner the right to residency in the United States. Another advantage would be health insurance provided by employers. These benefits usually include the employee and their spouse. Employers generally will not include a partner who is not married to an employee, whether of the same sex or not. Very few insurance companies will extend benefits to domestic partners' who are not married (OUT/LOOK 234-235). Gay marriages are highly emotional topics in the 90s. Many people feel that gay marriages would show heterosexual people how much two people can love each other even if they are of the same sex. Homosexual relationships are more than just sex with someone of the same gender. Homosexual relationships include feelings and being able to share those feelings with the person you love. "People have become used to the idea of defining gay people solely in terms of sexual acts," says Gregory Herek, a research psychologist at the University of California, Davis. I think many heterosexuals get very nervous when they have to think of gay people in terms of relationships, because it challenges the way they have always thought about gay people. I find it interesting that the same people who condemn homosexuality as being a promiscuous lifestyle also say they're against gay marriage because they wouldn't want to recognize stable gay relationships, says Herek (Gallagher 24). Rep. Barney Frank asks, "How can you argue that a man and woman in love are somehow threatened because two women down the street are also in love?" Later, he put the question in more personal terms. Frank said he respects the marriages of fellow committee members but added, "I don't understand for a minute how I demean them by living with a man" (U.S. House). Most people, when asked the question "What is your opinion of gay relationships?", their first response encompasses sex, promiscuity and AIDS. When asked about heterosexual relationships they generally answer with love, companionship, and families. If same-sex marriage is made legal, the next generation won't think of it as taboo.

Free Essays on Malls

In this world today, we as Americans live and survive on the presents of malls. Malls now are enacted into our way of living, our ability to consume the standards of social and economic impacts brought on by malls have and will continue to alter the composition of day to day survival. Margaret Crawford’s article (â€Å"the World in a Shopping Mall†) breaks down how the world is placed within a shopping mall, and because of this, the impacts that have resulted from the world being placed in such a situation. The article discusses the foundations or fundamental themes that have causes the World to be in a Shopping Mall. On a regional scale many would not consider how much a mall can impact the particular area that it is placed in. In the article, Margaret refers to the impacts on small towns, historic downtowns, and traditional strip/suburban centers that malls induce. Commercially and economically the construction of malls will either benefit or reduce productivity within an area. Throughout history the developments of malls have successfully been theorized to only be productive, and mall designers have implemented formulas to ensure that malls do not fail. Malls in small towns economically and sociably alter the living conditions. Small towns are modest and potentially set on a way of living, the want and needs of everyday living are localized with in particular area. Specialty shops, such as hardware stores, and grocery stores individualize many of the goods needed. The majority of the income and revenue stays within the area. The construction of a mall within a small town, (summarized by Margare t) will change market values, possibility taking away for the small town. The mall will centralized the customers goods, eliminating the need to visit numerous stores to complete daily shopping, nevertheless, the mall acts as a one-stop shop-&-go development. Now, some malls that were constructed, that have been taking away from the nearby t... Free Essays on Malls Free Essays on Malls In this world today, we as Americans live and survive on the presents of malls. Malls now are enacted into our way of living, our ability to consume the standards of social and economic impacts brought on by malls have and will continue to alter the composition of day to day survival. Margaret Crawford’s article (â€Å"the World in a Shopping Mall†) breaks down how the world is placed within a shopping mall, and because of this, the impacts that have resulted from the world being placed in such a situation. The article discusses the foundations or fundamental themes that have causes the World to be in a Shopping Mall. On a regional scale many would not consider how much a mall can impact the particular area that it is placed in. In the article, Margaret refers to the impacts on small towns, historic downtowns, and traditional strip/suburban centers that malls induce. Commercially and economically the construction of malls will either benefit or reduce productivity within an area. Throughout history the developments of malls have successfully been theorized to only be productive, and mall designers have implemented formulas to ensure that malls do not fail. Malls in small towns economically and sociably alter the living conditions. Small towns are modest and potentially set on a way of living, the want and needs of everyday living are localized with in particular area. Specialty shops, such as hardware stores, and grocery stores individualize many of the goods needed. The majority of the income and revenue stays within the area. The construction of a mall within a small town, (summarized by Margare t) will change market values, possibility taking away for the small town. The mall will centralized the customers goods, eliminating the need to visit numerous stores to complete daily shopping, nevertheless, the mall acts as a one-stop shop-&-go development. Now, some malls that were constructed, that have been taking away from the nearby t...

An overview of US economy

America An overview of US economy The economy is the most important indicator to judge the internal living conditions and social development of any country. It provides information about the development of basic factors like health, education, happiness, infrastructure, living standard, etc. United States is one of the largest economies that has gained huge level of hold on the world economy and controls the world economy through its internal situation. The very interesting fact about the Americas economic growth is that Americas GDP is 26 % of the worlds total economic output. It is clear that US has created its powerful industrial structure and per capita income is also appreciable inside the country. The industrial development is tremendous, and the country has worlds maximum number of a billionaire. Currently per capital GDP of US is $49,800 which is very high. Further, the role of technology within the US economy is also remarkable. Technologically the US has seen highest advancement and development that is suff icient enough to grow the economy as compare to other countries. The external economic factors put the positive impact at each another and lead towards the growth of the economy and the internal economic environment. The US economy is mostly based upon the capitalist economy structure, and the ideology suggests that the privatization is the basis of growth and development of countrys economy. The government has their intervention into only health sector and transportation area. The country has maximum number of private companies who are successful and have earned huge profits all across the world. Even the government buys the required products from private companies. This economic ideology is highly success in US and ensures the proper flow of income and effective utilization of natural resources. The decision making is in the hands of private firms in the US. Here the private companies faced the high level of leverage of such kind of economic structure in expanding their business a nd taking the decisions appropriately. The technological areas have brought down the revolution in entire world and America has become the pioneer of such advancements. The aerospace, computers, communication and information technology, medical, military, etc. these are certain areas where US have surpassed all other countries and have effectively contributed well into economic development. These sectors have become the foundation of countrys rapid growth in oversees as they expand their business and fulfill their needs. IN 90s US has transformed their entire economy as the industrial set up was on the peak and the companies were performing well at international level. While 90s the growth rate was extremely high as the economy grew by 3 4 percent every year. The residents of the country get their own home that was the positive indicator for US economy. After 1975, the household income has been increased by 20 %, and it is something that creates confidence among the people towards the US economy. But another fact is that the people who had less technical skills and educational qualifications they face trouble in establishing their growth in the era of technology. They found obstacles in facing pay rises and other benefits at work place. It determines the unequal distribution of wealth and employment opportunities. At the same time, the US economy has faced huge level of growth in literacy ratio. To meet out the requirement of technology people started to get educated and it just raises the level of employment within the country. Thus, the technology works positively in the long run and negatively in the short run. But its negative consequences are negligible as compare to the positive results. Unequal distribution of wealth is another factor that could be realized in US economy over the recent past or industrial development time. Th e people who dont have good education the employment opportunities are less for them, and it created less earning opportunities. Now the contribution or the role of oil is very significant in US economy. It is to acknowledge that 55 % of total consumption is the oil only. The America imports such huge amount of crude oil for the consumption of residents. The rise in the prices of oil just create a burden on US economy and reduce the GDP growth rate. During 2001 to 2008 the petrol prices were not so stable, and it just create trouble for US economy to handle the situation. At the same time, the financial crisis took place in the entire world and America faced two major problems. One was dampening the housing market, and other was related to the rise in oil prices. It just created the trade deficit and most importantly the value of the dollar was depreciated as compare to other currencies. The fluctuations become very common scenario, and it creates trouble in handling the economic st ructure. Another problem that America started to face is related to high import ratio as compare to export. The US has plenty of natural resources, but most of them have been utilizing for inside consumption. There was very less export, and it just stuck the internal flow of money and capital. The infrastructural development was on the peak that is another indicator for healthy economic structure. Still the infrastructure development of US is appreciable and increasing year on year. The bankruptcy of banks like Lehman Brothers was the worst era for US economy where they found trouble in managing the mortgage prices, investment failures, credit failures and so on. At that time, US faced a high level of issues with respect to their economic structure. The reason behind the economic recession is the socially huge spending habits of people and low saving ratio. It was the actual scenario of US that people earn less, but they spent more than their earning. For the same purpose, banks issued more number of loans, and the amount was so high thus it creates the negative flow of money within the economy and it just lead towards the economic recession. Other than this the expenditure upon the security of the country from outside attack is something that has affected the US economy negatively. The country spent billion dollars every year to protect their territory or boundary. Developing the military equipment and weapons has become a priority of US government, and it just affects the US economy negatively. Various plans have been implemented with respect to ensuring the low level of the trade deficit. The fiscal stimulus for the amount of 787 billion dollars was something that was passed by the president to be used for social welfare and economic structure repairing process. It helped in generating the job, revenue for the country through various processes. The economic structure come into trouble as the US government put their leg into wars with Iraq and Afghanistan and were in search of terrorist groups and their leaders. It also affects the GDP growth rate in recent past. The impact of terrorist attack took place at world trade center could be realized after a long period. The US government faced lots of issues with Iraq and Afghanistan in resolving the problems. It has been estimated that by the 2011, the total cost for wars was near to 900 billion dollars which are very huge amount from economic growth perspectives. Improving the health care se ctor is another prioritized area for concern for US government. To stabilize the US economy and to pass the benefits of American citizens, the government has put various efforts. However in future there are certain problems which could be faced by the US government like lower income people, unemployment, low saving ratio, rapid increment in the pension and medical cost of old age population, energy-related issues, problematic relations with other countries, pressure to create employment, budget deficits etc. Very latest economic data represent the consumer price index at stabilized rate of .2 whereas the unemployment rate is 5.5 percent. Further, the GDP rate is also increasing with an increasing rate and has been reached to 16.77 trillion US dollar. Currently, the US government needs to improve their international relations and have to focus on basic economic components or sectors. They need to grow the agriculture sector and need to increase their export ratio of natural resources. The infrastructure development is required to be maintained within the national economy. Funding to an international organization is required so that the interest could be received, and this long term investment can strengthen the base of US economy. Ahead the openness within the economy is required to be minimized so that the benefits of selling goods internally could be transferred to local manufacturing firms. Other than expenditure on war and acquiring the weapons there is need of spending on social welf are and creating the investment opportunities. The US economy is still very powerful and highly diverse economy, and they have control on worlds economy. The private companies of US have created their reign all over the world and have put a hold on worlds industrial development. They need to perform well on the continuity basis and need to contribute for national welfare rather than individual growth and development. Thus, the US economy has brighter future if the government removes their attention from wars or spending on manufacturing military equipment and spending excessively on security matters.

Marketing case study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Marketing case study - Essay Example The economic down turn had a negative impact on the consumer expenditure and the resultant manufacturers selling prices. The consumer confidence and house building decreased tremendously. The kitchen furniture market reduced rapidly because of house moving. The market value also declined costing the industry more than 250 million pounds. This marketing essay seeks to discuss PEST analysis, target segments and value chain in the industry. PEST analysis PEST analysis is a crucial tool when it comes to marketing process of any organization. It involved identifying economic, technical, political and social influences on the organizational entities. The external factors include uncertainties and risks. Political factors The political or legal set up of the United Kingdom furnisher industry has an immense influence in the mode of regulation that affects the industry. The legislations that are sponsored by the government have the potential to affect the spending power of the consumers. The fiscal policies in the United Kingdom during the recession had a profound effect on the consumer choices in the furniture market (Bruhn & Georgi 2006). The political environment is composed of pressure groups, laws and state agencies that influence the furniture market. The political developments in the United Kingdom have affected all the stakeholders in the furniture industry. Studies show that the legal environment in a market can limit the operations of individuals or organizations (Lopes & Duguid 2010). Therefore, the stakeholders in the furniture industry must understand the United Kingdom’s political system and processes. This is likely to give the stakeholders an enhanced insight into the most profitable business decisions to take in the furniture industry. Government interventions in the running of timber industry affect both the long-term and short term plans of the organization (Lopes & Duguid 2010). The government of the United Kingdom monitors the timber industry to avoid depletion of the forest cover. The government has enacted special legislations that ensure that nature resources are not destroyed for private gain. The furniture market in the United Kingdom is subject to these legislations. The marketing strategy of the timber industry is affected by the government interventions. The government of the United Kingdom has informal and formal rules that play an important role in the timber industry. Some of these laws are the tax policy, environmental regulations and other trade restrictions. Research shows that political stability and tariffs affect organizational profitability (Jerrard & Hands 2008). The government is keen on the role of the forests in fighting climate change. Some of the causes of deforestation include wood extraction, expansion of infrastructure and getting more agricultural land. The government controls the logging process in order to ensure that technology does not lead to compromise in the forest cover leading to neg ative effects on the weather patterns. Technology has enabled the sawyers to harvest up to 4000 tons of timber in a day. Economy factors The economic risks or factors relate to regional trends in the conditions that can have profound effects on timber industry in the United Kingdom. The free market economy, the dynamic inflation rate which is under strict fiscal policies because of the recession and the slow economic growth has a negative effect on the timber and furniture company (Lopes &

Equal employment opportunity laws affecting Essay

Equal employment opportunity laws affecting - Essay Example ights of the workers in any firm in order to ensure that there is a conducive working environment and for that, every person is entitled to equal employment (Lorna, 1968). Many people are denied the chance of getting a job due to various issues like race, gender, religion, age difference, women pregnancies, and also the national origin. As a result, the civil rights acts comes in to help workers from being discriminated. So the employers in this case are supposed to treat all the job applicants and also the working employees the same and not discriminate them with regard to their differences like, race, religion e.t.c. (Kateri, 2007). All employees are entitled to their right pay. For example in US, the fair labor standards act established a minimum wage for the worker. For instance, in July 2010, the minimum wage for all the employees as well as the job seekers was $6.55. All the employers in this case abided to this new law hence you find that all male and female employees are given the right pay due for their input. (Kateri, 2007). This is another law which applies to all people with disabilities in America. You find that many people are discriminated due to their disabilities irrespective of their many credentials in many fields. ADA ensures that any employer or any potential employer cannot discriminate any citizen from getting a job, promotion any good pay on the basis of their disabilities. So, this ensures that all job seekers and the employees have equal employment opportunities. (Kateri, 2007). This law Act ensures that in any employment opportunity, a job seeker cannot be denied a chance due to age differences. This Act tries to prohibit the potential employers from discriminating the job applicants on the basis of their age differences. Pregnancy discrimination Act also prohibits any potential employer from discriminating pregnant women from getting jobs. It ensures that everybody has the right to any job (Lorna, 1968). Equal employment opportunity

Modest proposal , satire Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Modest proposal , satire - Essay Example It is needless for them to secure a well-paying job at the dollar store and idle around watching television, munching their snacks, and getting fat. What they do is blend in and struggle to capture their prey. I like the way animals obey the survival of the fittest concept. If an animal is imperfect, it dies; be it of starvation or sickness. If not, it gets consumed by the strong ones, but still, it died because it was not worth living. This is the reason why imperfect animals are a rare species in this kingdom. They get sick, feeble, and when they are unable to be resourceful to find water or food, or can’t just fight it off, they die. Failure to run fast enough to outsmart or outrun their predators, they are simply killed (Simpson vii). Just like the case for animals, there are human beings who are of little benefit to any individual or to anything. How I wish there was a shopping mall, where 30% of all expired people could be disposed off and leave the fresh ones. What if all useless lives who are being wasted are gotten rid of and a world of perfection be created? Life would be so easy. If someone is too weak to fight off a disease, or if he or she can’t provide for the self or worse off, if such a person is simply stupid, he or she ought to be left alone to die or be killed. Both techniques work but I can suggest that they be ignored to death than being killed because it sounds more humane (Vernay 293). What is the point of leaving a street beggar to continue surviving instead of leaving? Just help by sending him or her to where there is a little comfort! I mean sincerely we spend a lot of cash and so much resources comforting and preserving things that should not even be living. It even gets worse when I think of the way more babies continue to be produced annually. It seems like every one is sleeping around with just everyone. I get pissed of more to see a couple

Media, culture and society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Media, culture and society - Essay Example The BBC is a non-commercial and the most well-known public service broadcaster (PSB) in the UK. However, it was with the launch of the first commercial broadcaster ITV in 1955, which made the government formulate certain rules, wherein, the broadcasters were obliged to show a certain level of local news coverage, arts and religious programming. Later, with the launch of other commercial television broadcasters, the government started PSB channels like Channel 4 and S4C. Channel 4 catered to the minorities and arts, whereas, S4C focused on Welch language programs. Later, Channel 4 went through a restructuring under the Broadcasting Act 1990. Even ITV is attempting to restructure its model by reducing unprofitable PSB programming. The major reason for these PSB channels to restructure is due to the increased competition from the digital and the multi-channel television. Recently, even Ofcom has come up with a consulting paper to decide on what direction the PSB channels should take in the near future. The Ofcom in its report assessed the effectiveness of the designated public service broadcasters - BBC, Channel 3, Channel 4, Five, S4C and Teletext - in delivering the public service purposes set out in the Communications Act in the UK. The report also analysed "how the quality of public service broadcasting can be maintained and strengthened in future." Ofcom set a new framework for PSB that would be adaptable to "respond to and reflect changing technologies, markets, and the needs of citizens and consumers." The Ofcom in its report recommended the formation of a new Public Service Publisher, which would be flexible enough to adapt to the constant changes witnessed in the media industry in the contemporary world. The report also addressed the issue of the governance of the BBC. It stated that the governance framework should "support a well-run, strong, independent and properly funded BBC which operates consistently in the public interest." However, Ofcom also demanded to have a greater clarity between the functions of internal governance, the accountability of publicly funded bodies in broadcasting and of regulation for the broadcasting sector as a whole. The BBC, developed under the first Director General of the channel Lord Reith, had the mission to inform, educate and entertain. Although, being funded by the government, the BBC tried to remain independent from the government's interference, which has made the BBC a respected organisation throughout the world. However, the danger of being influenced by the government and the upper-class society always lurks on an organisation funded by the government. Further, BBC has also earned the reputation for 'cultural paternalism' and being 'popular with the upper-middle-class viewers'. This is also being attacked by the left-wing critics of the media time and again. The first challenges to the BBC's monopoly came in the early 1950s in a report by Ronald Coase, an economist with the London School of Economics and Political Science. Coase in his paper "The British Broadcasting Corporation. A Study in Monopoly" (Coase 1950) identified two clusters of arguments supporting the BBC's monopoly i.e. arguments from technical and efficiency considerations and arguments from programming considerations. Later, former Prime Minister Thatcher, set up the Peacock Commission

Explore how Bob Dylan portrays transient figures in Like a Rolling Research Paper

Explore how Bob Dylan portrays transient figures in Like a Rolling Stone, and discuss how these portrayals contribute to t - Research Paper Example Bob Dylan was growing up personally and evolving his music in the context of the early Beat movement at this time. However, what was an underground movement in the early 60’s rapidly became mainstream with the Beatles and other rock groups gaining mass popularity in 1965. This transition can be seen on Bob Dylan’s album â€Å"Bringing it Back Home† (1965), which included one side of folk songs in the style he had popularized and come to be known by, and the other side featuring Dylan’s first electric guitar based rock songs. (Kemp, 2001) Thus, in the classic song â€Å"Like a Rolling Stone,† Dylan composed a morality tale in the style of an anthem addressed particularly to this division within the movement, discussing the different aspects involved with the mystical and revolutionary path of the underground when it meets the mainstream acceptance and propagation. Eastern Mysticism rooted in Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, Yoga, and Sufism was highly inf luential on the Beat Poets of the 1950’s and forms the metaphysical basis for many of their works of literature. Bob Dylan can be considered highly influenced by the Beats, and also widely read in their literature at the time. This influence can be seen in the counter-culture lifestyle promoted by Dylan in his music. As Dylan biographer Sean Wilentz wrote in a New Yorker article on the Beats titled â€Å"Penetrating Aether: The Beat Generation and Allen Ginsberg’s America,† â€Å"Dylan knew the poems, Ginsberg later claimed. ‘Someone handed me Mexico City Blues in St. Paul in 1959,’ Dylan told him. ‘It blew my mind.’ It was the first poetry he’d read that spoke his own American language, Dylan said—or so Ginsberg said he said. Maybe, maybe not. Without question, though, Dylan read Mexico City Blues and was deeply interested in Beat writing before he left Minneapolis for New York. (Like other Beats and hipsters, his friend Tony Glover ordered a paperback copy of William Burroughs’s Naked Lunch from France, where it had been published by Olympia Press in Paris in 1959 as The Naked Lunch— uncertain whether the book, deemed obscene by American authorities, would clear customs. The book indeed arrived, and Glover lent it to Dylan, who returned it after a couple of weeks.) And Dylan’s involvement with the writings of Kerouac, Ginsberg, Burroughs, and the rest of the Beat generation is nearly as essential to Dylan’s biography as his immersion in rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and then Woody Guthrie. ‘I came out of the wilderness and just naturally fell in with the Beat scene, the bohemian, Be Bop crowd, it was all pretty much connected,’ Dylan said in 1985. ‘It was Jack Kerouac, Ginsberg, Corso, Ferlinghetti †¦ I got in at the tail end of that and it was magic †¦ it had just as big an impact on me as Elvis Presley.’† (Wilentz, 2010) Ro lling Stone magazine states that Bob Dylan was the first musician of the modern era to have his lyrics considered by critics and the public to be works of literature. (Kemp, 2001) In this regard, Bob Dylan can be considered a Beat Poet, and his music concerts were played in venues with audiences made up of

Collective Action for Social Movements Assignment

Collective Action for Social Movements - Assignment Example Although the African-American struggle for civil rights became apparent in the 1950s and 1960s when the most dramatic progress in the battle for equality and justice was made the struggle had been on-going for decades. This struggle would be traced in the actions of people like Ida B. Wells (1862-1931), an African-American journalist, editor of Memphis Free Speech, who became a brave crusader against lynching. In 1895, Ida wrote â€Å"The Red Record† which recorded the number of Africans lynched over a three-year period (Jones, 2011). In her own way, Wells and others who shared her ideas demonstrated resilience in fighting injustice. Other individuals in the early days included Frederick Douglass (1818-1895), an African American a former slave; he had made an eloquent appeal for the African-American struggle (Jones, 2011). In retro respect, before the mostly proclaimed heroes of the African-American civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s there had been other preceding active participants. These prepared ground for future efforts and helped demonstrate the depth of injustice against the African-Americans. In the 1950s and 1960s the civil rights movement took a more pro-active approach and benefited from more informed and aggressive activist who were able to mobilize the African-Americans and to some extent some whites. These individuals included Martin Luther King, Jr., W.E.B. Du Bois, Rosa Parks and Malcolm X. Even though they provided leadership they could not singlehandedly stem discriminative practices existent at the time. Fortunately, they realized this and focused on ensuring collective effort (Ling, 1998). The primary means of agitation was not through boycotts or public demonstration at lunch counters but through discursive methods. Activists largely utilized the black press to create discursive realm of political action. African Americans were able to develop political capacity and formed

Explore how Bob Dylan portrays transient figures in Like a Rolling Research Paper

Explore how Bob Dylan portrays transient figures in Like a Rolling Stone, and discuss how these portrayals contribute to t - Research Paper Example Bob Dylan was growing up personally and evolving his music in the context of the early Beat movement at this time. However, what was an underground movement in the early 60’s rapidly became mainstream with the Beatles and other rock groups gaining mass popularity in 1965. This transition can be seen on Bob Dylan’s album â€Å"Bringing it Back Home† (1965), which included one side of folk songs in the style he had popularized and come to be known by, and the other side featuring Dylan’s first electric guitar based rock songs. (Kemp, 2001) Thus, in the classic song â€Å"Like a Rolling Stone,† Dylan composed a morality tale in the style of an anthem addressed particularly to this division within the movement, discussing the different aspects involved with the mystical and revolutionary path of the underground when it meets the mainstream acceptance and propagation. Eastern Mysticism rooted in Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, Yoga, and Sufism was highly inf luential on the Beat Poets of the 1950’s and forms the metaphysical basis for many of their works of literature. Bob Dylan can be considered highly influenced by the Beats, and also widely read in their literature at the time. This influence can be seen in the counter-culture lifestyle promoted by Dylan in his music. As Dylan biographer Sean Wilentz wrote in a New Yorker article on the Beats titled â€Å"Penetrating Aether: The Beat Generation and Allen Ginsberg’s America,† â€Å"Dylan knew the poems, Ginsberg later claimed. ‘Someone handed me Mexico City Blues in St. Paul in 1959,’ Dylan told him. ‘It blew my mind.’ It was the first poetry he’d read that spoke his own American language, Dylan said—or so Ginsberg said he said. Maybe, maybe not. Without question, though, Dylan read Mexico City Blues and was deeply interested in Beat writing before he left Minneapolis for New York. (Like other Beats and hipsters, his friend Tony Glover ordered a paperback copy of William Burroughs’s Naked Lunch from France, where it had been published by Olympia Press in Paris in 1959 as The Naked Lunch— uncertain whether the book, deemed obscene by American authorities, would clear customs. The book indeed arrived, and Glover lent it to Dylan, who returned it after a couple of weeks.) And Dylan’s involvement with the writings of Kerouac, Ginsberg, Burroughs, and the rest of the Beat generation is nearly as essential to Dylan’s biography as his immersion in rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and then Woody Guthrie. ‘I came out of the wilderness and just naturally fell in with the Beat scene, the bohemian, Be Bop crowd, it was all pretty much connected,’ Dylan said in 1985. ‘It was Jack Kerouac, Ginsberg, Corso, Ferlinghetti †¦ I got in at the tail end of that and it was magic †¦ it had just as big an impact on me as Elvis Presley.’† (Wilentz, 2010) Ro lling Stone magazine states that Bob Dylan was the first musician of the modern era to have his lyrics considered by critics and the public to be works of literature. (Kemp, 2001) In this regard, Bob Dylan can be considered a Beat Poet, and his music concerts were played in venues with audiences made up of

High school student drop out Essay Example for Free

High school student drop out Essay The increasingly high rate of school dropout is worrying all the stakeholders in the education sector including parents, teachers and the government. This is because these people are aware of the challenges that will face students who drop out of school. Although leaders have called on communities, families and schools to make efforts to ensure that students remain at school, the rate at which the students drop out of school is still high. It is therefore important that we analyze the problem with a view of understanding it better, so that we may know how to resolve it once and for all. see more:research paper about tardiness The number of students who complete school in the US has been steadily declining over the years. In fact, over the last decades, this figure has only increased in seven states. In ten states, the percentage of students who did not complete school was 8% or higher, which reflects a disturbing trend. US is currently ranked tenth among the countries in the world which have the highest school completion rates. When a country that is considered to be the superpower is ranked tenth on school completion rates, this shows that there is a major underlying problem. Factors that contribute to the high school student drop out rate. Family cohesion and background. This is one of the major reasons why students drop out of school. Students who come from families where there is violence, abusive homes or poor parental relations have higher chances of dropping out of school, compared to those who come from stable homes. This is due to the fact that such children are more likely to have stress and depression because of the problems that they have. They are also likely to start abusing drugs at an early age, which may contribute to their dropping out of school. Statistics also show that children who come from single parent families are also more likely to drop out of school than those who have both parents. This situation is linked to low self esteem as well as problems that children who come from single parent families face. Early pregnancy. Early pregnancy is a major challenge for young girls, and is a contributor to their dropping out of school. This situation is compounded by situations where the young girls families are not financially stable, or cases where the boy responsible for the pregnancy is either unwilling or unable to support the girl. Many young girls who face this situation usually take breaks to give birth, but fail to return to school due to various reasons. The girls who are not financially well off are forced to drop out of school to take care of their children, while others fear going back to school due to stigmatization. School violence. This is a factor that is increasingly contributing to the dropping out of school by students. School violence has increased in the recent past, and takes various forms. It might take the form of serious security breaches that involve use of deadly weapons, like was witnessed in the 1999 Columbine high school massacre (Rosenberg 2008). It may also take the form of bullying and harassment of students by fellow classmates. Both these forms of violence have the potential to create fear to actual victims, and may discourage them from attending school. In these cases, there is genuine fear for their lives and they may drop out of school. Employment. Poverty or general unemployment of members of the family may make students drop out of school. This is because the students may be forced to work in order to support their family. In these cases, the students may not have adequate time to study due to the responsibilities that they have. Employment opportunities may not only be available to the students who are not well off financially. Some students come from financially stable families but look for employment opportunities so that they might save money. These students are also likely to drop out of school since it is difficult to work and study at the same time. Psychological or personal characteristics. There are certain characteristics that students may possess, which may make them drop out of school at an early age. These may be either physical or psychological characteristics. Psychological characteristics may include low self esteem, mental illnesses, depression and stress, among other problems. In case students have these problems and they are either not addressed early enough, or these students lack learning facilities that accommodate their unique needs, they are highly likely to drop out of school. According to Kenneth (35-39), students may also face physical disabilities that hinder the learning process. Such include blindness, deafness or other physical disabilities. If such students also lack facilities that can handle their needs, they are also likely to drop out of school. Substance abuse. According to David and Wayne (4-8), students who engage in substance abuse have very high chances of dropping out of school. Students who abuse alcohol or other hard drugs such as cannabis, heroin, cocaine or other drugs are likely to drop out of school. This is due to the disciplinary problems that they are likely to face in school as well as the fact that such drugs hinder the learning capabilities. Such students are unlikely to perform well in school, and this has the effect of demotivating them. They are also more likely to face stress and depression, and all these factors work to increase their chances of dropping out of school. Perceived loss of value of school diplomas. The modern business environment has become very competitive, and this is attributed to globalization. Success in the modern world is increasingly based on merit and job performance. Employers are nowadays looking for very high academic qualification when recruiting employees. In this regards, high school diplomas are generally perceived to have lost value, and students need to pursue further education so that they might get employment opportunities in this competitive business environment. Some students therefore opt to drop out of school and pursue other interests due to this perception. Such interests include drama, movies, modeling or the music industry. However, what most students are not aware of is that one has to have basic education in order to be successful in these fields. High school education acts as a platform for pursuing further education and building a career. Limited number of counselors. Statistics point to the fact that the average number of students who are served by a single counselor is 500. In high school, the average number of students served by a single counselor is 285. These counsellors have many tasks to accomplish and have very little time to interact with students. According to Jill (311-317), students who are about to drop out of school may therefore not find someone to talk to and get advice regarding the situation. This is also compounded by the fact that most of these students have poor relations with their parents, since teenagers and parents usually have communication problems. Students therefore opt to drop out of school due to lack of advice on the consequences of making this decision. Solutions to these problems. Counseling. Most students may reverse their decision to drop out of school if they are advised on the consequences of making this decision by someone that they trust. In most of these cases, counselors are the best people to advice the students since there are young counsellors who understand the problems that these students go through. The government should ensure that there are enough counselors to serve all students. Sometimes students may be depressed and they only need someone to share their problems with. When they are unable to find someone, they take drastic steps like dropping out of schools. Counselors will advise students that education is very important for success in life. Safety. The government and all education stakeholders should also ensure that the school environment is safe for all people. There should be adequate controls that prevent and deal with security breaches, either involving deadly weapons or bullying. Some problems like bullying may appear to be petty and they are ignored in most academic institutions. However they are serious problems that should not be ignored, since they have high psychological impacts on the victims. When students can feel safe in the school environment, they will look forward to going to school to learn. After all, these students spend most of their time in schools, and once they feel that they are unsafe, they are likely to drop out of school. Family problems. According to Gail (211-216), it is evident that family problems is a major factor that contributes to dropping out of school. It is a very sensitive issue considering that there is a limitation to which strangers may involve themselves in family matters. It is however imperative that problems such as violence and abuse are reported to the authorities, and these will be addressed through the relevant laws. These problems cannot be condoned, since once students are not comfortable in their own homes, it will be difficult for them to concentrate in class and learn. Other family issues such as parental and child conflict should be addressed through dialog, either between the school administration and the individual families, or through counseling by qualified professionals. This dialog will enable the underlying problems to be identified and solved, so that the children may stay in school. Early pregnancy. This problem is best solved by preventing the issue, rather than addressing it after it has occurred. The young people should be told about the consequences of early sex, especially unsafe sex. These students should be made to understand that in addition to the risk of pregnancy, there is also a risk of contracting STIs such as HIV/AIDS. However, one a girl becomes pregnant, she should be allowed to stay in school until the time to give birth, after which she is given a break. She should resume school after giving birth, as this is very important. Counselors and parents should play a crucial role in guiding girls who are undergoing this experience. The government should also set up funds to help girls who are pregnant and do not have the resources to take care of the baby, and go back to school. Facilities for the handicapped. The government has a crucial role of ensuring that there are learning facilities that will take care of the needs of students who face either physical or mental disabilities. There should also be enough teachers who have been trained on how to take care of the needs of these students. This will ensure that these students learn just like their peers, and that they have equal opportunities in life. Value of diplomas. The stakeholders in the educational sector have a crucial role to play in publicizing the value of the high school diplomas. There should be regular talks between these stakeholders and the students regarding the issue. Students should be made to understand that although the modern world has become very competitive, it is imperative that they obtain at least the high school diploma. The reason is that the diploma acts as a platform in acquiring further employment opportunities and joining a profession. Employment. The government should enforce the laws that bar the employment of young people who are below the legal age. It should also hold regular forums with employers regarding employment of young people with a view of regulating the hours that they work. The employers should also be made to insist that young employees pursue education, since this will be the platform for promotions and advancement in the careers. This will enable that the young people who work have enough time to study. Conclusion and recommendation. The stakeholders in the education sector should join hands in ensuring the the drop out rate drastically reduces, and that each child knows the value of education. The solutions to the problems that have been discussed above should be implemented, so that this objective may be achieved. Above all, students should be made to understand that the high school diploma is a platform for opportunities in life.

Organizational Structure Of Nestle Pakistan Marketing Essay

Organizational Structure Of Nestle Pakistan Marketing Essay Now companies are improving their production by adopting different strategies in which backward integration is one of them. Backward Integration is a type of vertical integration in which a company gets control over its suppliers to improve the efficiency and save the cost which improves its profit margins and make the firm more competitive. Backward integration occurs through acquiring input suppliers, establishing long-term contracts with existing suppliers or investing in new input production capacity through internal corporate growth. The main advantages of backward integration regardless of the industry are decreased marketing expenses, the stability of operations, the certainty of supplies of materials, much control on the distribution of products, tighter quality control, the on time review of fabrication and allocation policies, more control over inventory, and additional profit margins or the ability to charge lower prices on final products. These advantages must be weighed against the disadvantages which normally are disparities among productive capacities at a range of stages of manufacturing, governmental pressure, lack in interest of specialty, the firmness of operations, the extension of the management team and lack of direct competitive influence on the costs of transitional products. Background: This report highlights the comparison of two companies from Pakistan Food Industry the ENGRO FOODS and NESTLE PAKISTAN, which are applying backward integration to enhance their production capability. In Pakistan these are the top most companies which are playing a vital role in the food industry through their dairy and beverage products. Nestle is a subsidiary of Swiss origin company which headquarter is located in vevey, Switzerland. Nestle Pakistan started its operations in 1988 with the collaboration of Milk Pak Ltd in Pakistan which is further took over total control in 1992. In Pakistan, its head quarter is located in Lahore and the company currently operating four production facilities. Two of its factories are located in sheikhupura and Kabirwala while one in Islamabad and one in Karachi. It has also the biggest milk collection operation in Pakistan through which they collects milk from an estimated 190,000 farmers and from their dairy farms located in different areas of Pakistan. Nestle Pakistan is currently the leading food beverage company of Pakistan. While Engro food is another biggest and fastest growing company in Pakistan. In 2005 Engro Foods limited was established and it is 100% owned by Engro Corporation. Engro Foods limited began their operations in 2006 and within 5 years they make realization to their competitor by increasing their market share gradually. At the end of 2010 Engro Foods Limited took control in the market of Ultra High Temperature by launching new products including ice cream, juices, powder milk and flavoured milk which contain great potential to compete in future. The Company is also entering into global markets. Its first mission is that to administer a Halal food business in North America known as Al-Safa, which was recently acquired by Engro Corporation at a total cost of 6.3 mn dollars. INDUSTRY OVERVIEW Recently a seminar Current Status of Foods Industry in Pakistan: Threats and Challenges was held at Lahore on September 07, 2012 in which different analysts of PCSIR and Federal Minister of Science and Technology addresses that food industry in Pakistan has become the second largest industry by participating with 17% share in GDP and in Pakistan it is now become most consuming industry because people spent 42% of their earnings in foods products. And at the end of the session some analysts point out weak point of the food industry that the in appropriate management of food products and the large harvest losses in vegetables, fruits and grain create a food shortage in market. There are several sectors of food industry while some are given below which are related to the project report, we will mainly focus on these. These sectors are as follows: Dairy Juices Ice creams 2.1 Dairy Dairy sector is one of the most important sectors of Pakistan which affects more than 10 mn families. There are a lot of companies in Pakistan who are purchasing milk from farmers for their satisfaction. The dairy industry is providing packed milk to its consumers in the shape of UHT, Pasteurized, Tea Whitener and Flavored milk. The industry is also producing Ice Cream, Yoghurt, Cheese, Butter and miscellaneous food items for childrens.   Milk is the most consumable food item having a life of 4 hours under at a certain temperature level of room. Pakistan is 3rd leading milk producing country in the world with more than 47 billion litters production and 11.30% contribution in GDP and a milk economy that in value terms is 27.7% of the total agriculture sector. According to analysts the milk production is expected to grow at 2% annually, however the processed industry is only 7% of operated milk. The milk, remaining wastages and farmer preservation is 20.7 bn liters of which 1.4 bn goes into processing and the rest is sold as a commodity in retail outlets and through door to door Gawala system. So, there is an immense prospect and +prospective to grow the processed milk business. The processed milk has segmented into three categories namely: Ambient UHT Powder 2.1.1 Ambient UHT As of 2010, Ambient UHT constitutes only 4% of the total Tradable Milk segment. Industry volumes have grown 10% from 2006-2010 and the market size was 790 million liters as of December 2010. 2.1.2 Powder Currently, the size of the branded powder market is approximately 57,000 tons, which uses approximately 540 mn liters of milk and 3% of tradable milk. Powder market size has grown 17% from 2006 to 2010 and it is expected to grow 14% in the next five years due to economy that powder offers as well as its specialize use as growing up and infant nutrition source. Nestle Pakistan is the market leader in this segment. 2.2 Juices The Juices, Nectars and Still drinks market are of 507 Million Liters which has total market value of PKR 31 Billion. This market is subdivided into Juice and Nectar and Value added Still Drinks. Juices contain 100% fruit substance, Nectar contain 25% to 99% fruit substance while still drinks contain 0 to 24 % fruit substance value added still drinks have innovative packaging or addition of pulp etc. Nestle Pakistan is the market leader in this segment. 2.3 Ice Cream The Ice Cream sector of Pakistan has growing constantly and registers a volume growth of 20% in 2010 as compare to 2009. The overall volume of ice cream sold in 2010 was 71 Million liters while the total market value was PKR 8.8 billion. The industry volumes have grown 11% over the last four years. However, it is expected that growth will be higher in next five years on the back of significant investment by the industrys key players. Walls are the market leader in this industry which is followed by Omore. COMPANIES PROFILE 3.1 Engro Foods Engro Corporation Limited initially introduced with Engro Chemical Pakistan which rapidly built their growth in chemical industry and after few years Engro Chemical become Engro Corporation Limited by making diversified investment in different sector like Foods, Energy, Fertilizer and Business solutions. It started operations in 1957 as an Esso/Mobil joint venture which discovered the Mari Gas field near Daharki. Engro food is now becoming the biggest and fastest growing company in Pakistan. From the beginning till date Engro Foods Limited 100% owned supplementary company of Engro Corporation. Engro Foods Limited operations began in the year of 2006 and within 5 years company started to climb the ladder of growth rapidly. It has manage to be the market leaders in Ultra High Temperature (UHT) Industry at the end of 2010 and has launched multiple new products including Ice Cream, Flavoured Milk, Fruit Juices and Milk Powders, that show great potential for future. In order to back these products and to achieve high quality standards Engro Foods Limited made backward integration strategy in which they heavily invested in milk processing and collection infrastructure. The Company has innovated by venturing out of the dairy sector and stepping in the Beverage Industry by launching Olfrute and ice cream industry by launching Omore. The Company is also entering into the global markets. Its first mission is to manage a Halal food business in North America known as Al-Safa, which was recently acquired by Engro Corporation at a total outlay of 6.3 mn dollars. PRODUCTION FACILITIES Dairy Plants Engro Foods has two UHT processing plants which are located in Sukkur and Sahiwal with total filling capacity of 1.1 million liter per day. Sukkur Plant capacity is 400,000 liter per day whereas Sahiwal plant facility is 700,000 liter per day. Engro Foods also has a powder plant at Sukkur with a capacity of 24 tons per day. Covered area of freehold land of Sukkur is 27 acres and Sahiwal production facility is 33 acres freehold land. These production sites are equipped with plant and machinery of European origin. Sukkur Production site started its operation in Feb 2006, whereas Sahiwal plant started its operation in December 2007. Ice Cream Plant The ice cream plant was set up in the same facility as the Dairy Plant. The total manufacturing capability of Sahiwal is 33 acres of free holding land. This provides deliberate advantage to the Company in terms of the supply of raw material, the utilities, and manpower and warehousing. The ice cream plant has total capacity of 22 million liters per annum. Organizational Structure of Engro Foods: President/CEO Secretary Secretary Vice President Manufacturing Vice President Marketing Manager Public Affair Manager Internal Audit Special Projects Vice President HR Vice President HR Compensation Benefits Sales Production Accounting Recruitment Planning development Maintenance Treasury Training development Technical Services Process Engineering Industrial Trade Instrumental/Fleet Purchasing Administration Legal Brands of Engro Foods: The product portfolio of Engro Foods comprises some of the countrys biggest and best selling brands which include: Olpers Olpers Lite Olfrute Omore Omung Omung Lassi Tarang. 3.2 Nestle Pakistan Nestle is basically a Swiss company and their head office is situated in Vevey, Switzerland. And Nestle Pakistan is one of it supplementary company. Since 1988 Nestle Pakistan is working with the alliance of Milk Pak Ltd and within short time period Nestle Pakistan took over Milk Pak Ltd. It is also listed in Karachi and Lahore Stock Exchange. Nestle Pakistan is one of the most prominent company which ensures it place among top 25 companies who are registered at Karachi stock exchange for last couple of years. The Headquarter of Nestle is located in Lahore and the Company operates four fabrication facilities. In which the factories located in Sheikhupura and Kabirwala are producing different products under same umbrella. The other factory is present in Islamabad and one in Karachi produce packed water. Nestle Pakistan now operates the biggest milk collection process in Pakistan. At present, Nestle Pakistan gathers milk from a projected 190,000 farmers. At present Nestle is market leader in dairy and beverage industry of Pakistan because they are very keenly focusing on Nutrition and health by covering almost at all locations throughout Pakistan to serve the consumers. Nestle Pakistan distinct feature is that they are the leaders in Nutrition. PRODUCTION FACILITIES Sheikhupura Factory The factory located at sheikhpura produces many most popular products s of Nestle Pakistan such as  Milkpak UHT milk, Nevista  products,  Nestle pure water,  Cerelac and yogurt. The factory starts operation as part of Milkpak Ltd in 1981. Formerly it produced only UHT milk but in 1988 it had expanded to produce butter, cream, ghee and fruit drinks as well. But with the passage of time Nido powder milk also started to produce in this factory. Kabirwala Factory Milk Pak took over this factory which is located in Khanewal district of the Punjab in 1990. In 1997 Nestle Pakistan got 100% share of that unit.  After acquiring it Nestle upgraded its capacity and in 1992 they added Maggi Noodle  plant to the factory. Over the years past the Kabirwala factory was constantly enhanced as Everyday  tea whitening powder was introduced in 2002 . Islamabad Factory In Islamabad Nestle purchased the AVA water plant in year 2001. And in 2003 Nestle fully owned that unit. Gradually Nestle upgraded and introduced machineries to become more efficient in production through which they was able to provide differentiated products to their consumer with good packaging. Organizational Structure of Nestle Pakistan: Chief Executive Water Group Corporate Affairs Human Resource Supply Chain Milk Collection Agriculture Services Nestle Business Excellence Technical Operations Finance Control Unit Marketing and Sales Division National Sales Management Legal Affairs Technical Purchasing Financial Accounting Corporate purchase Treasury National Brand Management Budget Control Information System Taxation Brands of Nestle Pakistan: Nestle Pakistan has a lot of top most brands of Pakistan which added a lot of value to Nestle Pakistan over a last couple of years like: Milkpak Nevista Nido Everyday Milkpak Cream Nestle Desert cream Nestle yogurt Nestle fruit vitals Nestle Zeera Raita Actiplus Yogurt Nestle Rawaiti Maza Nestle Milo Nestle Nescafe 4. FUNCTIONAL DESCRIPTION OF ORGANIZATIONS (BACKWARD INTEGRATION) Nestle Pakistan and Engro Foods are currently doing backward integration to enhance their production efficiency by creating their own dairy farms and taking control of transportation. Currently they are focusing of creating their own farms to get control over their suppliers. Both the companies are also now directly approaching to the farmers and collecting milk form them as the old concept of middle man and gawala system has start perishing. The main advantage of creating own farms is that both the companies get on time delivery of their material, which help them to enhance their production and deliver their product on time to the end consumers. The details of Engro Foods and Nestle Pakistan farms are given below: 4.1 Engro Foods Dairy Farm Engro Food has selected the Nara Canal due to the presence of its outstanding water, farming land availability and suitable weather for its Dairy Farm. The company has launched a comprehensive vaccination programme with the provision of clean water and balanced nutrition to have infection free, strong and happy animals at all times. The Companys Nara Dairy Farm continued to remain a rich and nutritious source of raw material for its dairy section. The Nara Farm formed over 5.8 mn liters of milk in 2011 with a total herd size of over 3,000 animals. But in 2012, Dairy Farm produced 26,979 liters of milk per day. At March 31, 2012 Dairy Farm herd increased to 3,204 animals. Through it the profit after tax stood at Rs. 5 million versus loss of Rs. 19 million in March 2011, primarily due to higher yield and production. 4.2 Nestle Dairy Farms Nestle Pakistan manages the project under its Agricultural Division. Over 75 professionals are currently associated with these services; intend to help in  increasing the sustainability of the dairy segment in Pakistan. They give the farmers with free technical assistance and veterinary services to build the skills of the farmers in best farming practices and improved livestock management and link them to small businesses and to the dairy market. For this purpose,Nestle has built two demonstrations and teaching  farms, one of which is still under process. The main training facility is the Sarsabz Demonstration and Training  Farm  which  is located on Multan Road, near Okara. The  second training Sukeki Farm,  is under in building process near Lahore. At the farm, there are more than 250 cows, animal huts,  milking machinery, a teaching centre, and hostel for  the farmers, management office and necessary farm equipment and highly qualified instructors  who train farmers on high quality dairy farming and livestock management. Nestle Pakistan has established this training facility over 103 acres of leased land as an investment for the development of  the dairy sector and to  work towards  sustainable farming and an improved rural economy. 5. LITERATURE REVIEW The concept of vertical integration is very old and we saw a lot of academic and legal debates over the costs and benefits of vertical integration. McGee, Bassett and Williamson (1975, 1985, 1989) said that vertical integration is a mean of reducing transactions costs, assuring supply, reducing risk and alleviating the efficiency losses. But on the other side, economists see vertical integration as a means for firms to reduce competition or extract market rents (Scherer, Perry 1978, 1989).Perry, Hart and Tirole (1978), said that most discussions have focused on the effects of forward integration into a competitive product market and little work exists on the effects of backward integration into a competitive input market. However, Knoeber and Thurman (1996) further said that backward integration is of growing importance in many agricultural and natural resource industries. According to Azzam (1996), backward integration occurs through acquiring input suppliers, establishing long-term contracts with existing suppliers or investing in new input production capacity through internal company growth. In some businesses, there is growing concern about the effects of such integration on remaining un- integrated input suppliers. First he said that backward-integrated dominant firm benefits from production efficiency gains. Second he further adds that backward-integrated dominant firm may benefit from a lower acquisition price for externally supplied raw inputs. As per Blois (1972), the biggest advantages of backward integration are to lower down transportation and marketing expense, production or operation stability, timely supplier services, high quality control, necessary revisions in production and execution policies, maintained inventory control, and high profit margin able produces to charge lower prices on finished products. While Williamson (1971) do not consider supply dependability as a necessary advantage and point out the interests harmonization and efficient utilization in process of decision making as the core advantages of backward integration. As per Williamson (1971), backward integration allows management to easily harmonized interest as possible differences can be resigned. As per Lambertini and Rossini (2008), backward vertical integration is indirectly proportional to producers and suppliers. As compare to forward vertical integration, backward vertical integration provides large incentives in investment to the manufacturer. The biggest disadvantage of backward integration for trader is that it discourages them for innovation, on the other hand forward integration discourages producers to innovate. This theory is not parallel to transaction cost theory which does not consider forward and backward integration as a separate concept. Many researchers like Armour, Teece, Langlois, Robertson, Gopala Krishnan, Bierly (1980, 1989, 1992, 1996, and 2001) have stated that vertical integration facilitates the development and implementation of systemic innovations. Further, Armour and Teece (1980) argue that if the innovation at one stage involves adaptation in a preceding or a consequent stage, then the usual ownership of the various stages i.e. vertical integration enables the necessary adaptations and adjustments to be made in a timely and efficient fashion. Similarly Langlois, Robertson (1989) and Langlois (1992) propose that vertical integration is the most appropriate organizational structure for integrative systemic process innovations because the necessary learning and experience proceed faster between functions in a vertically integrated environment. Furthermore, Teece (1996) explains that vertical integration enables the successful development and implementation of systemic innovations by facilitating information flows and coordination and removing institutional barriers such as cost and benefit allocation. Similarly, Gopal krishnan and Bierly (2001) point out that open exchange of information is easier and safer in house than between different organizations because each firm wants to gain more from the innovation and therefore unwilling to share information freely. Teece (1996) however adds that while systemic innovations favour vertically integrated structures from the coordination point of view and some relevant technological or other capabilities needed in the development and implementation of the innovation may exist outside of the vertically integrated firm. Therefore, larger firms may still have an advantage by using their scale to create sufficient momentum and attract smaller firms to get involved with the innovation or simply by being able to secure minority investment positions in smaller firms that have the necessary capabilities needed in the innovation. 6. ANAYSIS 6.1Swot Analysis Strengths Of Engro Foods Strengths of Nestle Pakistan Brand Association: Engro being a renowned and well established brand in fertilizers, infrastructure and IT solutions, it creates a great brand association and consumers can relate to Olpers as a high quality and premium product. This is evidence that Engro Food in its first year crossed 1.4 billion sales figure. Financial Backing: Engro being renowned brand and can attract foreign investors, which enable them to compete with global brands like Nestle. They can afford high costs for research and developments for their current products and in introducing new products. Strategic Relationship: Engro has been creating business relationship with farmers who supply milk to them which enables them to secure the supply and to solve shortage issues. Engro also has created long-term business relationship with distributors this help them to ensure smooth distribution through better channels to make sure that there are no shortages for their product. Research and Development: Engro for Olpers precisely has done strong consumer and product research before launching the product and are continuing this practice post launch. This has helped them to emerge as a strong brand in food industry. To further development and new products, they have engaged various global research partners Mindshare, AC Nielsen, JWT Asiatic and MARS marketing and advertising agency. State of the Art plants: Only Engro Foods has the 3rd generation UHT milk plant in the country. It is the only plant that uses Bactofuge technology to virtually eliminate bacteria and ensure premium quality and hygiene. Parent Company: Nestle has a global presence and is recognized as a huge name worldwide. Nestle Pakistan has a strong support from its parent company, which is the worlds leading processed food and beverage company. Company Image: Nestle has been doing business since many years. It has created an excellent image and reputation in consumers mind all around the world. This helps them to retain market even in unfavorable conditions. High Quality Products: Nestle always ensure to produce good quality products. Nestle being worldwide renowned company creates high quality product to retain that image and to attain consumer loyalty. It cannot compromise on quality as consumers nowadays are more quality conscious. Market Share: Nestle has the highest market share almost in every SBUs line, like as in Milk pack Nestle pure life. Brand strength: Nestle Pakistan has created some very strong brands like Nescafe, Milpak , Everyday, Nestle water and most of these brands have become generic to their product category. When a brand becomes generic it creates a strong presence in minds of consumer. Research Development Team: Research and development is a continuous process at Nestle. It gives updated info on consumer behaviors, changing trends and consumer demands; this helps Nestle to adapt to changing trends. Weakness of Engro Foods Weakness of Nestle Pakistan Packaging: Engro Food is dependent on Tetra Pak for packaging of its entire dairy products. It is the only option for them as Tetra pack has monopoly in packaging sector. This cause higher production costs. Distribution cost: About 85% milk collection centers of Engro Foods are located in Punjab, and its processing facility is in Sind. This huge distance increase distribution cost and increasing overall cost of production. Also it increases the chances of milk getting spoiled due to long travelling time. Narrow Product Line: Since the launch of its first dairy product, Engro Foods has only extended to very few products, where as its competitors like Nestle has diversified and extensive product lines. Owning Red Color: Engro Food like its competitors has not owned colors that identify its products. Colors represent products, like green represents Milkpak. There is no color connection attached to Olpers which creates problems for consumers in remembering the product. Less Proactive: Nestle being a huge company is very less proactive to the demands. Unless competitors initiate a campaign or come up with new strategy, Nestle does not bring changes. Limited Distribution Channel: A major weakness of Nestle is their limited distribution channel as compared to their competitors. Nestle distribute their products to whole sellers in their own factory vehicles. Stock outs: Due to their in-efficient distribution channels, Nestle has experienced stock outs on regular basis. This had adverse effect on companys image and consumer base. It also gives opportunity for competitor to penetrate into market and capture large market share.   Premium Brand: Common men generally perceive Nestle as a premium brand, and have perception that all Nestle products would be highly expensive. Opportunities for Engro Food Opportunities for Nestle Pakistan Government Funding: Government has provided increased funds to farmers. This has allowed farmers to invest in better storage facilities to save milk for longer period of time and to cope bad weather conditions. Awareness: Extensive awareness programs for health and hygiene has created awareness among consumers for the benefits of processed milk. More and more consumers are shifting from loose milk to processed milk. This will create higher demands and consumption of processed milk. This is a great opportunity for growth and to gain more market. Fifth Largest producer of milk: Pakistan is the 5th largest milk production country in the world, the country is blessed four seasons and high quality crop, good species of buffaloes and cows and largest canal system. However it is only obtaining 2500ltr of milk per annum from an animal in comparison with 18000ltr per animal in developed countries. This is a good opportunity to increase production significantly by adopting best practices and modern techniques. Support from Foreign Investors; Government is supporting overseas outlay in Pakistan which is a great opportunity for Nestle to expand its business in Pakistan and to cater large markets. Enhance Distribution Channel: Nestle should work on its distribution channel to make it efficient in order to maintain supply of their products. This will not allow consumer to shift to competitors brand in case of stock outs. Changing Social Trend: Consumers, especially younger generation are hugely influenced by western societies. This has changed the trends for packed ready to use products. This changing social trend has created large demand and opportunity to increase market share. Best Practices and Assistance; Nestle should invest in educating the farmers for best practices and providing them resources and assistance to create greater value and to ensure high capitalization and quality. Threats for Engro Food Threats for Nestle Pakistan Competition: Engro foods biggest competitors like Nestle has been in market since very long. For its brands it might be difficult to penetrate in the market where these brands have created loyalties and presence in mind of consumers. Perceptions and Price Differentials: Consumer preferences and perceptions plays very important role in success of a brand. It is very important for Engro to understand and come up with ways to meet consumer expectations and provide quality that a brand promises. Price factor is also a very important factor, as still consumers prefer loose milk as it is cheaper than processed milk. Economy: Higher inflation rates is eroding buying power of consumers, making products more expensive to use. No Entry Barrier: Industry is growing at rapid rate,  very low entry barriers making it attractive for new competitors. Dependency: Nestle is dependent on whole sellers and super market shelves which can be influenced by the competitors. Loss of Market Share: When the market drenches the loss of the market share of Nestle products is the major threat to them. Differentiated products: Consumers are indifferent to buying Engro products or Nestle. It is a threat to Nestle that consumers can easily shift to Engro products in case of any unfavorable condition. 6.2 Pest Analysis PEST analysis is used to determine and understand external factors such as Political, Economical, Social and technological, and their effect on business. For understanding Nestle and Engro foods position in market, we will carry out PEST analysis to understand the external forces. 6.2.1 Political, Legal Economic Factors Pakistan current fiscal year inflation rate has been grown to 7.7% which decreases the purchasing power of consumers as a whole and which also create higher impact on those products which transform from another products like packed milk powder milk because these is