Epic Rivalry: The Inside Story of the Soviet and American Space Race Essay

Outer space, in a wider sense, can be considered both a beauty and a mystery. From the conception of the universe such as the â€Å"Big Bang Theory†, to the discovery of the different planets through powerful telescopes, nothing proves to be more ambitious than to have â€Å"manned† explorations on outer space. Indeed, when Sputnik was launched in outer space in 1957, it triggered the so-called â€Å"space race† between the America and the Soviet Union. The race began with Sputnik in 1957 and culminated by walking on the moon of Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong in 1969. The book, Epic Rivalry: The inside Story of the Soviet and American Space Race, narrates the space race of these two powerful nations during the Cold War. Written by Von Hardesty, a Smithsonian guardian or curator; and Gene Eisman, it showed how the compelling rivalry had played a significant role in space exploration both with Russian and with the American point of view. The book also showed scores of unpublished, exceptional, and powerful photographs and the apprehensive drama of the two nation’s progress with Soviet Union’s Nikita Khrushchev and America’s John F. Kennedy at center stage. The foreword, written by Sergei Khrushchev, was eventually the son of Soviet Union premier Nikita Khrushchev The title of the book was also significant: the main title, Epic Rivalry, focused on the premature heated antagonism between the United States and the Soviet Union. The duration of the conflict started in 1957 when Sputnik went to outer space up to the Apollo landing on the moon in 1969. The book covered a balance, straightforward, and a chronological assessment of that period including the events during the 1940’s and 1950’s that led to the birth of the Space Age. The central characters of the book were Wernher von Braun and Sergei Korolev, and supported by other astronauts, cosmonauts, engineers, and even politician of that time. The chapters were separated by two and four paged sidebars on topics that were technical such as atomic propulsion, and orbital mechanics. Several photographs were also included, black and white and also of colored nature, upon which some came from Russia and rarely been published. The subtitle of the book, â€Å"The inside Story of the Soviet and American Space Race†, revealed the â€Å"inside stories† behind the space race though some people who lived on that era may know the story behind it. These could be eminent since the book relied on secondary sources such as articles, books, and only a few based on the endnotes can be attributed to primary sources such as interviews, and historical documents. Except for the foreword, written by Sergei Khrushchev who once worked as an engineer in the era of the space program, that offered an inside account of the early Soviet Union’s space program. The narrative point of view of the author had a twofold approach: to restructure the corresponding universes of the Russian and the American space exploration programs, and then to recognize how these two separate nations interacted in a fateful and necessary means. The apparent race became the point of study in a contrasted approach. The author emphasized that both nations had used their corresponding military technology to structure their space programs. The Russian developed their space program in absolute secrecy and concealment, even the long term and specific goals, not to mention their leader in the space program were never divulged, while the Americans remained unfasten and depended on public support except for the military aspects of their space programs. Aside from these, the book also examined the key role of politics and the significant political figures in shaping the route of the space exploration program. The key person on the Soviet side was Premier Nikita Khrushchev who took an ardent interest in the space exploration programs seeing the potential of the propaganda â€Å"space first†. The United States was not as keen at the beginning on the space program with Dwight Eisenhower being hesitant on the expensiveness of the program. The U. S. took cautions on their space programs until John F. Kennedy presided over Eisenhower and made considerable turn-around on their space programs. He eventually pushed through the program when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first manned orbital journey, and with the context of the then Cold War. Thus, Kennedy committed to the U. S. to send the first humans on the moon. His advocacy was clearly supported by Lyndon Johnson and followed by Richard Nixon. Also included on the book were the talented engineers, scientists, and managers whose creative and ingenious works had helped significantly the development of their nation’s respective space programs. Notable were the two main characters of the book: Wernher von Braun who came to the U. S. at the end of World War II together with the group of experienced German rocket technicians. His team contributed much to the advancement of the rocket program of the United States. Afterwards, James Webb together with capable administrators oversaw the space program of NASA. On the other side, Sergei Korolev (also known as the inexplicable â€Å"Principal Designer†) headed the Soviet Union’s space program. Located at the remote area of Baikonur spaceport, he worked also with highly competent and motivated engineers and designers. Both nations eagerly pursued their space programs collectively with missile development and research. The space travelers were also central in the book such as Yuri Gagarin of Russia, Alexei and Titov Leonov of Germany; John Glenn, Alan Shepard, and Gus Grissom of the United States. All of them displayed exceptional skills and courage and therefore gained popularity. The Apollo 11 mission, wherein Glenn, Shepard, and Grissom were the astronauts, had brought almost a decade of space race between the Russia and the United States to a remarkable conclusion. From the standpoint of technological advancement, the book effectively described how the two powerful nations had engaged in a subsequent â€Å"race† towards the space explorations. The different relevant factors were clearly included such as the engineers, scientists, politicians, astronauts and cosmonauts. Though much of the book used secondary sources, there were some primary sources that can be seen on the endnotes and those people who lived on that era would actually now what transpired even not reading the book. There were also some errors such as the statement that the MIR remained in orbit from 1971 to 2001 (Hardesty and Eisman p. 249) or some minor slip-up such as referring to the map of Kennedy Space Flight Center (Hardesty and Eisman p. 159). But nonetheless, the book displayed the relevant story behind the space exploration between two power nations: both in the context of the American and of the Russian point of view. These undertaking started what seemed to be the present space age and will effectively give aspirations and relevant information to the youth of today. Works Cited Hardesty, Von and Eisman, Gene. Epic Rivalry: The Inside Story of the Soviet and American Space Race. Random House Publishing. September 2008.

Forces in International Business

Has its hands in many international product manufacturing. They do are effected on a daily basis by the different forces of international business and ethical issues. These forces were assembled, and one of their ethical issues were evaluated. Forces in International Business There are multiple forces that effect international business.These forces are calculators forces, natural resources and environmental sustainability, political and trade forces, intellectual property and other legal forces, the international and monetary system and financial forces. All of these forces are things that influence Samsung Co. On a daily basis. Along with these forces, Samsung is also tasked by ethical issues that come imposed on almost every international country. These forces are some of the founding forces that international businesses are built on and effected by on a daily basis.Calculators Forces The first of the forces covered is the calculators force. In order to understand what Calculators Forces are, we must understand what calculators is. The Merriam-Webster dictionary describes calculators as a combination of social and ultra factors. (â€Å"Calculators. † Merriam-Webster. ) Dictionary. Com defines it as, â€Å"the combination or interaction of social and cultural factors†. (â€Å"Calculators. † Dictionary. Com) From these two definitions social and cultural are the two big factors. Are hundreds of different ways to define culture, and it's a very broad term.The book, International Business, lays down some good fundamentals about what culture is. The first point that International Business says about culture, is that it is learned, and not born with. This means that Just because you're born somewhere, soonest necessarily mean you will adapt to the culture, but spending a lot of time around people who are immersed in the culture will allow you to adapt to it. This can be a major benefit or drawback. It does allow people to move to new areas of t he world and eventually adapt to their culture, but it can take a lot of time and energy.The second point is that different parts of culture are interrelated. This second is more of a logical relation of culture, it's basically defining that you can't have some parts of culture without others. The third major point that is outlined is that â€Å"culture s shared, patterned and mutually constructed through social interactions†. (Ball, Donald). This point is very interesting, and what defines culture. Throughout the world we see many different cultures, influenced by religion, and regions, and we can see how some cultures have greatly impacted other parts of the world and their culture.Because culture is shared through social interactions, we can actually start to see a lot blending of cultures through the internet. Through the article Blending Cultures via Computer in The International Journal of New Media, it discusses the lending of European art and culture blending into par ts of Chinese Contemporary artists. Without the social interactions through online sources, this is something that would have never been possible. The last major point that is made by International Business, is that culture defines the boundaries of different groups.An example made in that book is how Americans are clock-watchers. A lot of cultures don't follow a similar pattern, and it makes Americans seem to always be in a rush. This makes them appear unfriendly, arrogant, and untrustworthy, because it's not something that's globally accepted. Another interesting point on this topic is how culture varies so much even within a single country itself, and can even vary inside small areas. The best example of this that is very well known, is how people in the younger generation from the bay area in California are known for saying â€Å"hell†.This is something that's only sprung up within the last few years, but is very common in that culture, and saying it outside of even the b ay area of California allows people to determine where you're from very quickly. A huge part of socio-cultural is the constantly changing of customers preference. Samsung was able to capitalize on one of these changes not too long ago, and was able to help turn the phone industry upside down. Before 2007 Monika was the king of the cellular industry, and had complete market dominance, until apple stepped on the scene which completely changed the phone market.They added in a whole new experience to the phone market. † The hysteria surrounding the phone made Samsung sit up and take notice†( Bandit, Rural) Samsung had a share in the phone market, and capitalized on the trend that apple started. They were able to acquire a contract with Google's operating system, android. Monika refused to adapt to the trend, and Samsung was able to take the leap and Jump ahead of Monika in 2011 as the largest market share of mobile devices.The article How Does Socio-cultural Environment Impa ct a Business sums up Samsung success greatly, † Samsung, the minnow when Monika was the shark, is now the largest handset manufacturer in the world, and in the process, has outdone Apple's phone, which many consider to be the innovation on which most modern smartness are modeled. † (Bandit, Rural) Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability. The second major force is natural resources and environmental sustainability. This force can be split into the two different sections of natural resources, and environmental sustainability.Along with those two different sections there is geography which plays a semi-significant part on this force, and also Porter's Diamond to help analyze competitive advantage. Geography has a lot of possible effects on a company. Google gives a great definition of geography, stating that it's â€Å"the study of the physical features of the earth and its atmosphere, and of human activity as it affects and is affected by these, including the distribution of populations and resources, land use, and industries. † (Natural Resources – Google Search) Geography is very broad, and covers everything from topography of a region to climate.These things can have a large impact on how a country defines itself. Mountains can separate a entire section of a country from the rest, thus leading them to having distinct cultures, industries and climate. It can even lead to boundaries such as deserts or forests that act as barriers between two separate regions. (Ball, Donald) These barriers cause different needs based on the area, even though they may simply be in the same country. Porters Diamond helps analyze businesses based on four aspects of a country's economic environment.The four conditions the assessment is based off of are; factor conditions; related and supporting industries; demand conditions; and firm strategy, structure, and rivalry. Porters Diamond from assess the business with a high emphasis on the countries geographical attributes as a core part of its factors, and those with the most favorable diamonds are going to be the most successful. (Ball, Donald) ( Michael E. Porter) Natural Resources play a huge factor into the economic viability of a company, and owe and where a company can be successful.Google does well defining natural resources as â€Å"materials or substances such as minerals, forests, water, and fertile land that occur in nature and can be used for economic gain. † (Non-renewable Resource. † Wisped) In the book, International Business it puts a lot of emphasis on the statement that natural resources are anything that's supplied by nature which people depend on. This book also relates that both energy and unfelt minerals play an important role to business. Energy is used daily without a though, but is a very valuable natural resource, if not the most valuable..There are two major types of energy, renewable, and nonrenewable. A non renewable energy resource â €Å"is a resource that does not renew itself at a sufficient rate for sustainable economic extraction in meaningful human time-frames. â€Å"( â€Å"Renewable Energy. † Wisped) Some examples of nonrenewable energy resources are petroleum, coal, and natural gas. A renewable energy resource â€Å"generally defined as energy that comes from resources which are naturally replenished on a human timescale. † (8) Some examples of renewable energy resources sunlight, wind, rain, waves, and geothermal heat.Environmental Sustainability in business has three characteristics that are widely agreed upon; limits, interdependence, and equity. (Ball, Donald) The first of these three characteristics is limits. Limits is a basic term to serve as a reminder on the reality that environment resources are exhaustible, and that they can become toxic. The previous trend of global warming or global climate change is a great example of a limit, and how it's being impacted. The second characte ristic is interdependence. Interdependence is defined as the relationship between ecological, social, and economic systems. Ball, Donald). This book goes on to define that an effect in one these systems will affect the other two. The last characteristic is equity. Equity is essentially applying limits to interdependence. In order of Interdependence to work, there cannot be large differences in the distribution gains. This essentially means that it isn't viable to go into an area and take extreme profits without eventual resistance. Samsung is a company that takes its social responsibility, environmental responsibility, and sustainability incredibly seriously.In 2013 Samsung released its 2 page sustainability report, regarding topics such as: â€Å"Creating Shared Value and Giving Back with Samsung Products, Social Responsibility: Making Contributions around the Globe, Echo Product, Water Management, and a 50 page green/echo product environmental report† (â€Å"Samsung â€⠀œ Global Harmony. † Www. Samsung. Com) Directly from Samsung engineering website, this is their vision, † Samsung Engineering seeks to improve conditions around the world through our social contribution programs.Company-wide, we utilize our strengths and resources to benefit local communities and help children and families in need. Individually, our employees are encouraged to take part in the many volunteer programs offered by the company. † Since 2006 Samsung has been trying to enhance their energy efficiency, and respectability in their production. They've even implemented a â€Å"Echo-Design Process† to evaluate the echo-friendless of each new product during the development stage. † . In 2012, the company set up comprehensive water conservation plans and expanded its efforts to reduce the consumption of water resources around the world. (â€Å"Samsung – Global Harmony. † Www. Samsung. Com) Samsung has not taken being a leader in loba r technology lightly, they're fully applying a lot pressure to help with the sustainability of their resources, and other resources around the globe. Helping many charities and different organizations to try to help sustain our planet and keep their business profitable. Political and Trade Forces Political and trade forces are Just as important in any country as its culture and environment. This is because of the major impacts that governments can have on firms.A hospitable and stable government can encourage investment and growth despite geographic or weather barriers, or even the scarcity of natural resources. The exact opposite is true as well. A hostile or unstable government can completely kill of almost any possible investments in an area, regardless of the area's natural resources of geography. Some of the major points in the political and trade forces are government stability, and trade restrictions. Government stability can have a huge impact on business.When government sta bility is defined, there are two different possible definitions. Government stability can be defined as the government's ability to maintain itself and stay in power, or it can be defined as the permanence of the government's policies. Ball, Donald) A business is able to be at its most prosperous when the government is able to keep both of these definitions intact. â€Å"Instability on the other hand is when a government cannot maintain itself in power or makes sudden, unpredictable, or radical policy changes.It is hard for business to flourish when government is unstable. † (Ball, Donald) Business can operate under almost any set of rules and restrictions, though some are much more difficult to operate under than others. The biggest issue is when government policies are constantly changing. The reason this is difficult is cause frequent changes cause business difficulties when complying to rules and regulations. This can cause business to have to change their business models or how they operate almost overnight. With changing policies it can potentially grind some firms too halt.Trade restrictions can be one of the biggest problems when operating an international firm. There are a lot of arguments for trade restrictions such as: national defense, sanctions to punish offending nations, protect infant industry, protect domestic Jobs from cheap foreign labor, scientific tariff or fair competition, retaliation, dumping and subsidies. Some of these have a much higher impact than others, but all of these are great arguments towards trade restriction. One of the best of these arguments stems from developing nations requesting barriers on imports of competing products.This allows the developing country to sustain itself and build up it's on infrastructure while developing products that might be common place elsewhere. The argument is that a new industry needs time develop and gain experience before being forced to compete with worldwide competition. Another go od argument is the national defense argument. This argument basically requests hat there are trade restrictions on certain industry imports, and that they're vital for security, and must be kept operating even though they are not competitive with the foreign suppliers. Ball, Donald) The reason for these vital industries are so that during times of immediate war a country wouldn't suffer from unnecessary problems because they're not able to have the proper defense equipment. This could range from guns and tanks, to as simple as shoes. Having an insufficient supply of footwear at times of war can cause a lack of shoes for civilians and soldiers which can lead to unnecessary casualties. These trade restrictions arguments all raise their own valid points and each have their own benefits and negativisms.Ever since the introduction of Samsung smartness they have been in legal battles all over the world with Apple trying to make it legal for them to sell their phones, and not be infringing on copy right laws. Almost every country has had their own legal battle with Samsung and apple with new ones emerging every day. With Samsung being based on South Korea they were able to have a lot of political influence there. In the article , Korea Fair Trade Commission clears Samsung use of tankard-essential patents against Apple, it refers to how Samsung used its power in Korea to basically influence these decisions.With Samsung being a massive part of Koreans market they were able to get their essentials patents against Apple cleared allowing them to continue operation as usual. (â€Å"SAMSUNG ENGINEERING. † Samsung Engineering) Intellectual Property and Other Legal Forces The fourth of the international environmental forces is intellectual property and other legal forces. The best way to sum up this section is given by, International Business, saying â€Å"International business is affected by many thousands of laws and isolations issued by states, nations, and intern ational organizations. The reason this is a really outstanding summary is because not only are international businesses subject to the laws of the countries they operate in, but also the states and even cities they are based in. The other few main points of this section include international legal forces, international dispute settlement, and intellectual property. International legal forces are governed by international laws. International laws can be divided into two subcategories, public international law and private international law.Public international law can be defined as the relations between governments, including laws concerning diplomatic relations and all matters and obligations of those nations. (Ball, Donald) Private international law are the laws concerning the transactions of individuals and companies crossing international borders. (â€Å"Private International Law. † U. S. Department of State) International laws come from several different sources, but the m ain and most important of these are treaties between nations. Ball, Donald) A treaty is basically an agreement under international law, and can also be known as â€Å"an agreement, protocol, covenant, invention, pact, or exchange of letters, and all of these forms of agreements are, under international law, equally considered treaties and the rules are the same† (â€Å"Treaty. † Wisped) Some International organizations have been created to provide a forum to help create treaties between different countries. A few examples of these would the United Nations or the European Union.Handling international laws are great, but without being able to enforce them they lead nowhere, this is where international dispute settlement comes in. Litigation is the process conducted in order to determine and enforce legal rights, this is essentially the investigation process behind laws such as international treaties. This process can be incredibly complicated and expensive, and in additi on to the trial itself the process can require a pretrial. A pretrial is essentially an pre investigation which requires all facts and relevant information to the litigation from both sides to come forth. Ball, Donald) The other part of international dispute settlement is arbitration. Arbitration is a process agreed to by both parties that instead of going to court, they will attend a neutral person or party the makes a binding decision. Legal Dictionary gives a great summary of arbitration, saying † Arbitration is a well- established and widely used means to end disputes. It is one of several kinds of Alternative Dispute Resolution, which provide parties to a controversy with a choice other than litigation.Unlike litigation, arbitration takes place out of court: the two sides select an impartial third party, known as an arbitrator; agree in advance to comply with the arbitrator's award; and then participate in a hearing at which both sides can present evidence and testimony. The arbitrator's decision is usually final, and courts rarely reexamine it. (10) Intellectual property encompasses many different exclusive manufacturing rights. These are patents, trademarks, trade names, copyrights, each which have their own separate meaning and purpose.A patent in the United States is defined as, â€Å"an intellectual property right granted by the Government of the United States of America to an inventor â€Å"to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention throughout the United States or importing the invention into the United States† for a limited time in exchange for public disclosure of the invention when the patent is granted. (11) A trademark or trade name can be defined as, â€Å"A shape, a color, design, catchy phrase, abbreviation, or sound used by merchants or manufacturers to designate and differentiate their products. (Ball, Donald) A copy right is, â€Å"Exclusive legal rights of authors, composers, creator s of software, playwrights, artists, and publishers to publish and dispose of their works† and are protected under the Berne Convention of 1886 which is adhered to by 164 countries. (Ball, Donald) Possibly one of the biggest legal battles regarding intellectual property in history is a battle still being fought today. That battle is Apple Inc v. Samsung Electronics Co. These cases are strictly regarding the design of smartness and tablets.The spring of 2011 apple began litigation over several patent infringements by Samsung. (United States District Court) Eventually the litigation opened up to 19 different cases spanning across ten different countries. (Liableness, Chloe) A basic summary of this case is that apple patented the shape of its phone and the color design and layout of its SO right before the release of the first Phone in 2007. In 2011 Apple opened up some cases against Samsung referring to Samsung breaking patents, trademarks, ND the use of its style over multiple devices. (â€Å"Apple Inc. . Samsung Electronics Co. , Ltd. † Wisped. ) After a few months in dispute apple submitted evidence of side by side comparison between an phone and a specific galaxy model. This evidence turned out to be tampered with which lead to even further investigation. (Liableness, Chloe) Since the cases were opened, there have been multiple trials and appeals. This has lead to some countries fully banning Samsung products, and countries punishing Apple forcing them to essentially pay to Samsung for slandering their name. (â€Å"Apple Inc. V. Samsung Electronics Co. , Ltd. Wisped. ) International Monetary Arrangements and Terrorism International monetary system and terrorism have a large impact on how some international businesses are able to operate. One of the major factors in the international monetary system is Foreign Exchange. The reason why this is a large factory is because most corporations like to do business in their own currency, because then the y don't have to assume the risk that can come with currency exchange. (Ball, Donald). This is prevalent because it can cause major problems when converting to other currencies.Samsung being one of the world largest manufacturers and suppliers of electronics faces themselves working with many different currency on a daily basis. Being the largest Smartened supplier in the world they deal with a large amount of exchanges. This is because some of their phone parts are produced in different nations, and then sold in almost of every country around the world. Ethical Issue One of the probably the biggest ethical issues faced before Samsung is the entire child labor debacle in 2012. In 2012 Samsung was investigated for using illegal labor practices in their Chinese manufacturing facilities.The claims against Samsung were that in some cases were that employees were working 16 hour days, and also that some employees were under the legal working age of 16 years old. (windcheaters. Com) After the investigations were complete Samsung was found guilty of these practices, but that they were not the ones responsible for these practices. They were able to essentially cover their tracks in these cases and switch a majority of the blame. (Grandson, Odin) Samsung probably didn't portray Christian values in this situation, as they were not respecting the laws in that country.This is finitely a large issue in the manufacturing process, as it is able to provide cheap labor for their company. Conclusion Samsung is an international company that is effected by the different international force of business on a daily basis. These forces determine everything from where and when to sell products, how to ship, where to manufacture a long with a multitude of other things. Samsung is also faced with ethical issues. Through the thick and thin Samsung has been able to use these forces to put themselves at the head of the pack becoming a leader in international electronic manufacturing. Forces in International Business Introduction McDonald’s is a corporation from the United States that has done a great deal of business internationally for many years, and is well-known globally. McDonald’s is listed at number 378 on Fortune’s Global 500 list, and brought in over $22 billion in revenues in 2010. Sociocultural Forces Sociocultural forces include the different aspects of understanding that exist in one culture in comparison to another. These aspects include aesthetics, religion, language, education, etc.It is important to remember that culture is not something that is innate to specific persons, but is rather something that is learned through experiencing the culture. Along those lines, culture is also shared between all of the members of the culture, and all aspects of it are interrelated. In fact, group boundaries are caused by culture and set persons feeling towards different actions. The concept that one’s own culture is better than another is called ethnocentrism. Natu ral Resources and Environmental SustainabilityThe second force encompasses natural resources and environmental sustainability. Natural resources are based upon location within the world and advantages that these resources give a nation relative to the rest of the world. Some of these resources are limited, and over time if taken into account can become depleted or cause harm to the environment in another way. The concern for the sustainability of these resources should be of some concern to businesses operating internationally because it affects their decisions and the decisions of those they are negotiating with as well.Economic and Socioeconomic Forces Economic and socioeconomic forces also play parts as forces that affect different countries. The economic forces include different levels of economic development; including developed, developing, and newly industrialized countries/economies. Socioeconomics affect the economies of different countries and regions individually based on their own social norms. Power levels can be defined by the strength of the economy that either a country or a business has as well.This concept is also intertwined with the concept of exchange rates. Political Forces Political forces affect countries and businesses as well. Some political forces include nationalism, national or international conflicts, international organizations, and types of governments such as: communism, socialism, and capitalism. Whether a country is conservative or liberal can also play a part in the politics of a region. Political forces spill into the international legal system too which makes them of great concern to businesses.A major part of political forces in regards to business is trade restrictions or tariffs which cost the business more money to export or boycott their business altogether. Intellectual Property and Other Legal Forces International business can be influenced by concepts of intellectual property and other legal forces as well. One maj or legal force that can influence a business’s decisions is international law. International law is divided into both public and private laws. Public international law revolves around relations between governments including the rights and obligations of sovereign nations.Private international law lords over the transactions made by individuals and companies in regards to international borders. Intellectual property comes from a person or company’s intellect, and these ideas are protected by laws which include the use of patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets. Financial Forces and the International Monetary System Financial forces including the international monetary system which contains financial institutions, agreements, rules, and processes play a major part in the decisions that businesses make in regards to international markets.The value of a country’s currency as well as the exchange rates relative to either their floating currency or their be ing on the gold standard is a huge factor to consider as a business negotiating across borders. Most businesses will hedge their investments in order to protect themselves from losing money due to constantly changing rates of exchange. Labor Forces Finally, the seventh force affecting international business has to do with labor. Classifications such as size and average age of a workforce, as well s unemployment rates, all affect the manner in which an international business reacts to its current and potential workforce. A major issue making its mark on the global economy right now is brain drain, which causes the skilled workers of a developing country to migrate for greater professional and economic reasons. All of these forces must be taken into account when involved internationally as business. McDonald’s Cultural Forces In the book Golden Arches East, the author discusses how when McDonald’s moved their business into the Far East, they were forced to reevaluate the culture there.In Japan especially, the idea that America exists in a class of its own is a type of fantasy that prevails in the fondest thoughts of those who consider it. For Japan, McDonald’s is a symbol of this fantastic culture, and brings in many customers because of this (especially from the younger population). â€Å"From the perspective of the ‘civilizing process’ McDonald’s†¦[has]†¦helped to create an entirely new concept of manners. † (p. 181) says Watson (1997). Through the introduction of fast food into the culture, McDonald’s has introduced an entirely new concept of manners to this culture.The book also discusses how the high amount of rice in the diet there also affected their business decisions. Watson (1997) states, â€Å"’McDonald’s’ has gained ample recognition among Japanese consumers. However, our image is that of a light-meal restaurant for young people. We are not regarded as a place for adults to have dinner. † (p. 164) McDonald’s is not a fast-food restaurant there as it is in the US, but rather a trendy place to get a snack. McDonald’s and the Environment McDonald’s Economic ForcesWages paid to citizens of European countries have a high ratio of variability, and therefore McDonald’s had to adjust their pricing and payment strategies when they entered the European market. (Royle, 2000, p. 158). Royle states, â€Å"[U]nions [in Germany] had to accept the possibility of even lower wage† (p. 158). In addition, executives in many European countries were hired for just a â€Å"fistful of dollars† (Royle, 2000, p. 165). The pricing systems for their menus had to be adjusted based on the expectations that the economy had for them as well.This caused a serious change which McDonald’s had to adjust to in order to achieve success in this new environment (Royle, 2000, p. 167-169). McDonald’s Political Forces Polit ics also holds a great deal of power over wages paid in each country McDonald’s moves its business into. Royle talks about different wages that are required by governments in European countries, â€Å"†¦for example, in addition to the basic Danish kroner per hour, workers receive an additional DKr 9. 15 per hour for any hours worked during Monday to Friday between 6:00 p. m. nd midnight† (p. 163). There are several other stipulations on payment that are made by law that Royle lists throughout the rest of the chapter. In addition, McDonald’s is constantly under fire from several interest groups who are trying to make sure that McDonald’s uses humanely raised and slaughtered animals from suppliers that have shown concern about this. This is another political pressure that concerns McDonald’s as they attempt to meet the cultural standards for the ethical treatment of animals. McDonald’s Legal Forces McDonald’s Financial ForcesMcDona ld’s Labor Forces McDonald’s has a massive workforce worldwide which it uses to expand and maintain its numerous international ventures. Hamburger University is a training program used specifically to train new leaders for the McDonald’s workforce. At a location in Shanghai, China, admission is a competitive opportunity. â€Å"[M]ore than 26 percent of China’s 6. 3 million college graduates were unemployed as of July 1† (Wei, 2011), this means that McDonald’s is able to choose who they want to apprentice at Hamburger University.McDonald’s hopes to grow from 1,300 stores to 2,000 in China by 2013 (Wei, 2011), and Hamburger University will be a major part of meeting the labor requirements for that goal. References Adams, C. (2007). Reframing the Obesity Debate: McDonald’s Role May Surprise You. Journal of Law, Business, & Ethics, 35(1), 154-157. doi: 10. 1111/j. 1748-720X. 2007. 00120. x Ball, D. , Geringer, M. , Minor, M. , & Mc Nett, J. (2009). International Business: The Challenge of Global Competition. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Royle, T. (2000). Working for McDonald’s in Europe: Unequal Struggle?.London: Routledge. Watson, J. L. (1997). Golden Arches East: McDonald’s in East Asia. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press. Wei, M. (2011). Hamburger University Shanghai is Sizzling. Business Week. Retrieved from http://www. businessweek. com/magazine/content/11_06/b42140224816 05. htm http://site. ebrary. com/lib/calbaptist/docDetail. action? docID=10130868 http://site. ebrary. com/lib/calbaptist/docDetail. action? docID=10093669 http://www. businessweek. com/magazine/content/11_06/b4214022481605. htm http://web. ebscohost. com/ehost/detail? id=21&sid=4dbd75e7-4603-4bc6-b27f-659024024242%40sessionmgr12&vid=1&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=bsh&AN=6548577 http://web. ebscohost. com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer? hid=21&sid=1689342b-eff5-4b11-bd46-334cdb6d982f%40sessionmgr4&vid=2 http:/ /web. ebscohost. com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer? hid=21&sid=0d1c68a6-c38a-433c-b083-e62eeb6477a2%40sessionmgr15&vid=2 http://libproxy. calbaptist. edu:2078/ehost/detail? vid=14&hid=19&sid=76bace0c-5005-49d0-bae3-8988a91b1f5e%40sessionmgr13&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=aph&AN=24181440 Reframing the Obesity Debate: McDonald's Role May Surprise You.

The Juice

chapter seven measuring domestic output and national income CHAPTER OVERVIEW News headlines frequently report the status of the nation’s economic conditions, but to many citizens the information is confusing or incomprehensible. This chapter acquaints students with the basic language of macroeconomics and national income accounting. GDP is defined and explained. Then, the differences between the expenditure and income approaches to determining GDP are discussed and analyzed in terms of their component parts. The income and expenditure approaches are developed gradually from the basic expenditure-income identity, through tables and figures.The importance of investment is given considerable emphasis, including the nature of investment, the distinction between gross and net investment, the role of inventory changes, and the impact of net investment on economic growth. On the income side, nonincome charges—depreciation and indirect business taxes—are covered in detai l because these usually give students the most trouble. Other measures of economic activity are defined and discussed, with special emphasis on using price indexes. The purpose and procedure of deflating and inflating nominal GDP are carefully explained and illustrated.Finally, the shortcomings of current GDP measurement techniques are examined. Global comparisons are made with respect to size of national GDP and size of the underground economy. The Last Word looks at the sources of data for the GDP accounts. INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES After completing this chapter, students should be able to 1. State the purposes of national income accounting. 2. List the components of GDP in the output (expenditures) approach and in the income approach. 3. Compute GDP using either the expenditure or income approach when given national income data. 4. Differentiate between gross and net investment. . Explain why changes in inventories are investments. 6. Discuss the relationship between net investmen t and economic growth. 7. Compute NDP, NI, PI, and DI when given relevant data. 8. Describe the system represented by the circular flow in this chapter when given a copy of the diagram. 9. Calculate a GDP price index using simple hypothetical data. 10. Find real GDP by adjusting nominal GDP with use of a price index. 11. List seven shortcomings of GDP as an index of social welfare. 12. Explain what is meant by the underground economy and state its approximate size in the U.S. and how that compares to other nations. 13. Give an estimate of actual 2002 (or later) U. S. GDP in trillions of dollars and be able to rank the U. S. relative to a few other countries. 14. Define and identify terms and concepts listed at the end of the chapter. LECTURE NOTES I. Assessing the Economy’s Performance A. National income accounting measures the economy’s performance by measuring the flows of income and expenditures over a period of time. B. National income accounts serve a purpose for the economy similar to income statements for business firms.C. Consistent definition of terms and measurement techniques allows us to use the national accounts in comparing conditions over time and across countries. D. The national income accounts provide a basis for appropriate public policies to improve economic performance. II. Gross Domestic Product A. GDP is the monetary measure of the total market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in one year. 1. Money valuation allows the summing of apples and oranges; money acts as the common denominator. (See Table 7. 1. ) 2.GDP includes only final products and services; it avoids double or multiple counting by eliminating any intermediate goods used in production of these final goods or services. (Table 7. 2 illustrates how including sales of intermediate goods would overstate GDP. ) 3. GDP is the value of what has been produced in the economy over the year, not what was actually sold. B. GDP Excludes Nonprodu ction Transactions 1. GDP is designed to measure what is produced or created over the current time period. Existing assets or property that was sold or transferred, including used items, are not counted. . Purely financial transactions are excluded. a. Public transfer payments, like social security or cash welfare benefits. b. Private transfer payments, like student allowances or alimony payments. c. The sale of stocks and bonds represent a transfer of existing assets. (However, the brokers’ fees are included for services rendered. ) 3. Secondhand sales are excluded; they do not represent current output. (However, any value added between purchase and resale is included, e. g. , used car dealers. ) C. Two Ways to Look at GDP: Spending and Income. 1.What is spent on a product is income to those who helped to produce and sell it. 2. This is an important identity and the foundation of the national accounting process. D. Expenditures Approach (See Figure 7. 1 and Table 7. 3. ) 1. GDP is divided into the categories of buyers in the market; household consumers, businesses, government, and foreign buyers. 2. Personal Consumption Expenditures—(C)—includes durable goods (goods lasting 3 years or more), nondurable goods, and services. 3. Gross Private Domestic Investment—(Ig) a. All final purchases of machinery, equipment, and tools by businesses. . All construction (including residential). c. Changes in business inventory. i. If total output exceeds current sales, inventories build up. ii. If businesses are able to sell more than they currently produce, this entry will be a negative number. d. Net Private Domestic Investment—(In). i. Each year as current output is being produced, existing capital equipment is wearing out and buildings are deteriorating; this is called depreciation or consumption of fixed capital. ii. Gross Investment minus depreciation (consumption of fixed capital) is called net investment. iii.If more new structures and capital equipment are produced in a given year than are used up, the productive capacity of the economy will expand. (Figure 7. 2) iv. When gross investment and depreciation are equal, a nation’s productive capacity is static. v. When gross investment is less than depreciation, an economy’s production capacity declines. vi. CONSIDER THIS †¦ Stock Answers about Flows 4. Government Purchases (of consumption goods and capital goods) – (G) a. Includes spending by all levels of government (federal, state, and local). b.Includes all direct purchases of resources (labor in particular). c. This entry excludes transfer payments since these outlays do not reflect current production. 5. Net Exports— (Xn) a. All spending on final goods produced in the U. S. must be included in GDP, whether the purchase is made here or abroad. b. Often goods purchased and measured in the U. S. are produced elsewhere (Imports). c. Therefore, net exports, (Xn) is the difference : (exports minus imports) and can be either a positive or negative number depending on which is the larger amount. 6. Summary: GDP = C + Ig + G + Xn E.Income Approach to GDP (See Table 7. 3): Demonstrates how the expenditures on final products are allocated to resource suppliers. 1. Compensation of employees includes wages, salaries, fringe benefits, salary and supplements, and payments made on behalf of workers like social security and other health and pension plans. 2. Rents: payments for supplying property resources (adjusted for depreciation it is net rent). 3. Interest: payments from private business to suppliers of money capital. 4. Proprietors’ income: income of incorporated businesses, sole proprietorships, partnerships, and cooperatives. . Corporate profits: After corporate income taxes are paid to government, dividends are distributed to the shareholders, and the remainder is left as undistributed corporate profits. 6. The sum of the above entries equals national in come: all income earned by American-supplied resources, whether here or abroad. 7. Adjustments required to balance both sides of the account: a. Indirect business taxes: general sales taxes, excise taxes, business property taxes, license fees and customs duties (the seller treats these taxes as a cost of production). . Depreciation/Consumption of Fixed Capital: The firm also regards the decline of its capital stock as a cost of production. The depreciation allowance is set aside to replace the machinery and equipment used up. In addition to the depreciation of private capital, public capital (government buildings, port facilities, etc. ), must be included in this entry. c. Net foreign factor income: National income measures the income of Americans both here and abroad. GDP measures the output of the geographical U. S. regardless of the nationality of the contributors.To make this final adjustment, the income of foreign nationals must be added and American income earned abroad must b e subtracted. Sometimes this entry is a negative number. (Without this adjustment you have GNP. ) III. Other National Accounts (see Table 7. 4) A. Net domestic product (NDP) is equal to GDP minus depreciation allowance (consumption of fixed capital). B. National income (NI) is income earned by American-owned resources here or abroad. Adjust NDP by subtracting indirect business taxes and adding net American income earned abroad. Note: This may be a negative number if foreigners earned more in U. S. than American resources earned abroad. ) C. Personal income (PI) is income received by households. To calculate, take NI minus payroll taxes (social security contributions), minus corporate profits taxes, minus undistributed corporate profits, and add transfer payments. D. Disposable income (DI) is personal income less personal taxes. IV. Circular Flow Revisited (see Figure 7. 3) A. Compare to the simpler model presented in earlier chapters. Now both government and foreign trade sectors ar e added.B. Note that the inside covers of the text contain a useful historical summary of national income accounts and related statistics. V. Nominal versus Real GDP A. Nominal GDP is the market value of all final goods and services produced in a year. 1. GDP is a (P x Q) figure including every item produced in the economy. Money is the common denominator that allows us to sum the total output. 2. To measure changes in the quantity of output, we need a yardstick that stays the same size. To make comparisons of length, a yard must remain 36 inches.To make comparisons of real output, a dollar must keep the same purchasing power. 3. Nominal GDP is calculated using the current prices prevailing when the output was produced, but real GDP is a figure that has been adjusted for price level changes. B. The adjustment process in a one-good economy (Table 7. 5). Valid comparisons cannot be made with nominal GDP alone, since both prices and quantities are subject to change. Some method to sepa rate the two effects must be devised. 1. One method is to first determine a price index, (see Equation 1) and then adjust the nominal GDP figures by dividing y the price index (in hundredths) (see Equation 2). 2. An alternative method is to gather separate data on the quantity of physical output and determine what it would sell for in the base year. The result is Real GDP. The price index is implied in the ratio: Nominal GDP/Real GDP. Multiply by 100 to put it in standard index form (see Equation 3). C. Real World Considerations and Data 1. The actual GDP price index in the U. S. is called the chain-type annual-weights price index, and is more complex than can be illustrated here. 2.Once nominal GDP and the GDP price index are established, the relationship between them and real GDP is clear (see Table 7. 7). 3. The base year price index is always 100, since Nominal GDP and Real GDP use the same prices. Because the long-term trend has been for prices to rise, adjusting Nominal GDP to Real GDP involves inflating the lower prices before the base year and deflating the higher prices after the base year. 4. Real GDP values allow more direct comparison of physical output from one year to the next, because a â€Å"constant dollar† measuring device has been used. The purchasing power of the dollar has been standardized at the base-year level. ) VI. Shortcomings of GDP A. GDP doesn’t measure some very useful output because it is unpaid (homemakers’ services, parental child care, volunteer efforts, home improvement projects). B. GDP doesn’t measure improvements in product quality or make allowances for increased leisure time. C. GDP doesn’t measure improved living conditions as a result of more leisure. D. GDP makes no value adjustments for changes in the composition of output or the distribution of income. . Nominal GDP simply adds the dollar value of what is produced; it makes no difference if the product is a semiautomatic rifle or a jar of baby food. 2. Per capita GDP may give some hint as to the relative standard of living in the economy; but GDP figures do not provide information about how the income is distributed. E. The Underground Economy 1. Illegal activities are not counted in GDP (estimated to be around 8% of U. S. GDP). 2. Legal economic activity may also be part of the â€Å"underground,† usually in an effort to avoid taxation. F.GDP and the environment 1. The harmful effects of pollution are not deducted from GDP (oil spills, increased incidence of cancer, destruction of habitat for wildlife, the loss of a clear unobstructed view). 2. GDP does include payments made for cleaning up oil spills and the cost of health care for cancer victims. G. Noneconomic Sources of well-being like courtesy, crime reduction, etc. , are not covered in GDP. VII. LAST WORD: Feeding the GDP Accounts A. GDP is compiled by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) in the U. S. Commerce Department.Where does it get its data? Explanation follows. B. Consumption data comes from 1. Census Bureau’s â€Å"Retain Trade Survey† from a sample of 22,000 firms. 2. Census Bureau’s â€Å"Survey of Manufacturers,† which gets information on consumer goods shipments from 50,000 firms. 3. Census Bureau’s â€Å"Service Survey† of 30,000 service businesses. 4. Industry trade sources like auto and aircraft sales. C. Investment data comes from 1. All the consumption sources listed above. 2. Census construction surveys. D. Government purchase data is obtained from 1. U. S.Office of Personnel Management, which collects data on wages and benefits. 2. Census construction surveys of public projects. 3. Census Bureau’s â€Å"Survey of Government Finance. † E. Net export information comes from 1. U. S. Customs Service data on exports and imports. 2. BEA surveys on service exports and imports. ANSWERS TO END-OF-CHAPTER QUESTIONS 7-1In what ways are national income stati stics useful? National income accounting does for the economy as a whole what private accounting does for businesses. Firms measure income and expenditures to assess their economic health.The national income accounting system measures the level of production in the economy at some particular time and helps explain the significance at that level. By comparing national accounts over a number of years, we can track the long-run course of the economy. Information supplied by national accounts provide a basis for designing and applying public policies to improve the performance of the economy. Without national accounts, economic policy would be guesswork. National income accounting allows us to assess the health of an economy and formulate policies to maintain and improve that health. -2Explain why an economy’s output is also its income? Everything that is produced is sold, even if the â€Å"selling,† in the case of inventory, is to the producing firm itself. Since the same amount of money paid out by the buyers of the economy’s output is received by the sellers as income (looking only at a private-sector economy at this point), â€Å"an economy’s output is also its income. † 3. (Key Question) Why do national income accountants include only final goods in measuring GDP for a particular year? Why don’t they include the value of stocks and bonds sold?Why don’t they include the value of used furniture bought and sold? The dollar value of final goods includes the dollar value of intermediate goods. If intermediate goods were counted, then multiple counting would occur. The value of steel (an intermediate good) used in autos is included in the price of the auto (a final product). This value is not included in GDP because such sales and purchases simply transfer the ownership of existing assets; such sales and purchases are not themselves (economic) investment and thus should not be counted as production of final goods and services.Used furniture was produced in some previous year; it was counted as GDP then. Its resale does not measure new production. 7-4What is the difference between gross private domestic investment and net private domestic investment? If you were to determine net domestic product (NDP) through the expenditures approach, which of these two measures of investment spending would be appropriate? Explain. Gross private domestic investment less depreciation is net private domestic investment. Depreciation is the value of all the physical capital—machines, quipment, buildings—used up in producing the year’s output. Since net domestic product is gross domestic product less depreciation, in determining net domestic product through the expenditures approach it would be appropriate to use the net investment measure that excludes depreciation, that is, net private domestic investment. 7-5Why are changes in inventories included as part of investment spending? Suppose inve ntories declined by $1 billion during 2003. How would this affect the size of gross private domestic investment and gross domestic product in 2003? Explain.Anything produced by business that has not been sold during the accounting period is something in which business has invested—even if the â€Å"investment† is involuntary, as often is the case with inventories. But all inventories in the hands of business are expected eventually to be used by business—for instance, a pile of bricks for extending a factory building—or to be sold—for instance, a can of beans on the supermarket shelf. In the hands of business both the bricks and the beans are equally assets to the business, something in which the business has invested.If inventories declined by $1 billion in 2003, $1 billion would be subtracted from both gross private domestic investment and gross domestic product. A decline in inventories indicates that goods produced in a previous year have been used up in this year’s production. If $1 billion is not subtracted as stated, then $1 billion of goods produced in a previous year would be counted as having been produced in 2003, leading to an overstatement of 2003’s production. 7-6Use the concepts of gross and net investment to distinguish between an economy that has a rising stock of capital and one that has a falling stock of capital. In 1933 net private domestic investment was minus $6 billion. This means in that particular year the economy produced no capital goods at all. † Do you agree? Why or why not? Explain: â€Å"Though net investment can be positive, negative, or zero, it is quite impossible for gross investment to be less than zero. † When gross investment exceeds depreciation, net investment is positive and production capacity expands; the economy ends the year with more physical capital than it started with.When gross investment equals depreciation, net investment is zero and production ca pacity is said to be static; the economy ends the year with the same amount of physical capital. When depreciation exceeds gross investment, net investment is negative and production capacity declines; the economy ends the year with less physical capital. The first statement in wrong. Just because net investment was a minus $6 billion in 1933 does not mean the economy produced no new capital goods in that year. It simply means depreciation exceeded gross investment by $6 billion.So the economy ended the year with $6 billion less capital. The second statement is correct. If only one $20 spade is bought by a construction firm in the entire economy in a year and no other physical capital is bought, then gross investment is $20—a positive amount. This is true even if net investment is highly negative because depreciation is well above $20. If not even this $20 spade has been bought, then gross investment would have been zero. But gross investment can never be less than zero. 7-7D efine net exports.Explain how the United States’ exports and imports each affect domestic production. Suppose foreigners spend $7 billion on American exports in a given year and Americans spend $5 billion on imports from abroad in the same year. What is the amount of America’s net exports? Explain how net exports might be a negative amount. Net exports are a country’s exports of goods and services less its imports of goods and services. The United States’ exports are as much a part of the nation’s production as are the expenditures of its own consumers on goods and services made in the United States.Therefore, the United States’ exports must be counted as part of GDP. On the other hand, imports, being produced in foreign countries, are part of those countries’ GDPs. When Americans buy imports, these expenditures must be subtracted from the United States’ GDP, for these expenditures are not made on the United States’ prod uction. If American exports are $7 billion and imports are $5 billion, then American net exports are +$2 billion. If the figures are reversed, so that Americans export $5 billion and import $7 billion, then net exports are -$2 billion—a negative amount.For this to come about, Americans must either decrease their holdings of foreign currencies by $2 billion, or borrow $2 billion from foreigners—or do a bit of both. (Another option is to sell back to foreigners some of the previous American investments abroad. ) 7-8(Key Question) Below is a list of domestic output and national income figures for a given year. All figures are in billions. The questions that follow ask you to determine the major national income measures by both the expenditure and income methods. The results you obtain with the different methods should be the same. | | |Personal consumption expenditures |$245 | |Net foreign factor income earned |4 | |Transfer payments |12 | |Rents |14 | |Consumption of fixed capital (depreciation) |27 | |Social security contributions |20 | |Interest |13 | |Proprietors’ income |33 | |Net exports |11 | |Dividends |16 | |Compensation of employees |223 | |Indirect business taxes |18 | |Undistributed corporate profits |21 | |Personal taxes |26 | |Corporate income taxes |19 | |Corporate profits |56 | |Government purchases |72 | |Net private domestic investment 33 | |Personal saving |20 | | | | a. Using the above data, determine GDP by both the expenditure and the income approaches. Then determine NDP. b. Now determine NI: first, by making the required additions and subtractions from GDP; and second, by adding up the types of income that make up NI. c. Adjust NI (from part b) as required to obtain PI. d. Adjust PI (from part c) as required to obtain DI. (a)GDP = $388, NDP = $361 (b)NI = $339 (c)PI = $291 (d)DI = $265 7-9Using the following national income accounting data, compute (a) GDP, (b) NDP, (c) NI. All figures are in billions. | | | Compensation of employees |$194. 2 | |U. S. exports of goods and services |17. 8 | |Consumption of fixed capital (depreciation) |11. 8 | |Government purchases |59. 4 | |Indirect business taxes |14. | |Net private domestic investment |52. 1 | |Transfer payments |13. 9 | |U. S. imports of goods and services |16. 5 | |Personal taxes |40. 5 | |Net foreign factor income earned in U. S. |2. 2 | |Personal consumption expenditures |219. | | | | |(a) Personal consumption expenditures (C) |$219. 1 | | Government purchases (G) |59. 4 | | Gross private domestic investment (Ig) |63. 9 | | (52. 1 + 11. 8) | | | Net exports (Xn) (17. 8 – 16. 5) | 1. 3 | | Gross domestic product (GDP) |$343. | | | | |(b) Consumption of fixed capital | -11. 8 | | Net domestic product (NDP) |$331. 9 | | | | |(c) Net foreign factor income earned in U. S. |-2. 2 | | Indirect business taxes | -14. 4 | | National income (NI) |$315. 3 | -10Why do national income accountants compare the market value of the total outputs in various years rather than actual physical volumes of production? What problem is posed by any comparison over time of the market values of various total outputs? How is this problem resolved? If it is impossible to summarize oranges and apples as one statistic, as the saying goes, it is surely even more impossible to add oranges and, say, computers. If the production of oranges increases by 100 percent and that of computers by 10 percent, it does not make any sense to add the 100 percent to the 10 percent, then divide by 2 to get the average and say total production has increased by 55 percent.Since oranges and computers have different values, the quantities of each commodity are multiplied by their values or prices. Adding together all the results of the price times quantity figures leads to the aggregate figure showing the total value of all the final goods and services produced in the economy. Thus, to return to oranges and computers, if the value of orange prod uction increases by 100 percent from $100 million to $200 million, while that of computers increases 10 percent from $2 billion to $2. 2 billion, we can see that total production has increased from $2. 1 billion (= $100 million + $2 billion) to $2. 4 billion (= $200 million + $2. 2 billion).This is an increase of 14. 29 percent [= ($2. 4 billion – $2. 1 billion)/$2. 1 billion)]—and not the 55 percent incorrectly derived earlier. Comparing market values over time has the disadvantage that prices change. If the market value in year 2 is 10 percent greater than in year 1, we cannot say the economy’s production has increased 10 percent. It depends on what has been happening to prices; on whether the economy has been experiencing inflation or deflation. To resolve this problem, statisticians deflate (in the case of inflation) or inflate (in the case of deflation) the value figures for the total output so that only â€Å"real† changes in production are recorded .To do this, each item is assigned a â€Å"weight† corresponding to its relative importance in the economy. Housing, for example, is given a high weight because of its importance in the average budget. A book of matches would be given a very low weight. Thus, the price of housing increasing by 5 percent has a much greater effect on the price index used to compare prices from one year to the next, than would the price of a book of matches increasing by 100 percent. 7-11(Key Question) Suppose that in 1984 the total output in a single-good economy was 7,000 buckets of chicken. Also suppose that in 1984 each bucket of chicken was priced at $10. Finally, assume that in 1996 the price per bucket of chicken was $16 and that 22,000 buckets were purchased.Determine the GDP price index for 1984, using 1996 as the base year. By what percentage did the price level, as measured by this index, rise between 1984 and 1996? Use the two methods listed in Table 7-6 to determine real GDP for 198 4 and 1996. X/100 = $10/$16 = . 625 or 62. 5 when put in percentage or index form (. 625 x 100) [pic] or 60%(Easily calculated [pic]) Method 1:1996 = (22,000 x $16) ? 1. 0 = $352,000 1984 = (7,000 x $10) ? .625 = $112,000 Method 2:1996 = 22,000 x $16 = $352,000 1984 = 7,000 x $16 = $112,000 12. (Key Question) The following table shows nominal GDP and an appropriate price index for a group of selected years. Compute real GDP.Indicate in each calculation whether you are inflating or deflating the nominal GDP data. | | | | | | |Nominal GDP, |Price index |Real GDP, | |Year |Billions |(1996 = 100) |Billions | | | | | | | | | | | |1960 |$527. 4 | |22. 9 | |$ ______ | |1968 |911. 5 | |26. 29 | |$ ______ | |1978 |2295. 9 | |48. 22 | |$ ______ | |1988 |4742. 5 | |80. 22 | |$ ______ | |1998 |8790. 2 | |103. 22 | |$ ______ | | | | | | Values for real GDP, top to bottom of the column: $2,376. 7 (inflating); $3,467. (inflating); $4,761. 3 (inflating); $5,911. 9 (inflating); $8,516 (deflating). 7 -13Which of the following are actually included in this year’s GDP? Explain your answer in each case. a. Interest on an AT&T bond. b. Social security payments received by a retired factory worker. c. The services of a family member in painting the family home. d. The income of a dentist. e. The money received by Smith when she sells her economics textbook to a book buyer. f. The monthly allowance a college student receives from home. g. Rent received on a two-bedroom apartment. h. The money received by Josh when he resells his current-year-model Honda automobile to Kim. i.Interest received on corporate bonds. j. A 2-hour decrease in the length of the workweek. k. The purchase of an AT&T corporate bond. l. A $2 billion increase in business inventories. m. The purchase of 100 shares of GM common stock. n. The purchase of an insurance policy. (a)Included. Income received by the bondholder for the services derived by the corporation for the loan of money. (b)Excluded. A transfer payment from taxpayers for which no service is rendered (in this year). (c)Excluded. Not a market transaction. If any payment is made, it will be within the family. (d)Included. Payment for a final service. You cannot pass on a tooth extraction! (e)Excluded.Secondhand sales are not counted; the textbook is counted only when sold for the first time. (f)Excluded. A private transfer payment; simply a transfer of income from one private individual to another for which no transaction in the market occurs. (g)Included. Payment for the final service of housing. (h)Excluded. The production of the car had already been counted at the time of the initial sale. (i)Included. The income received by the bondholders is paid by the corporations for the current use of the â€Å"money capital† (the loan). (j)Excluded. The effect of the decline will be counted, but the change in the workweek itself is not the production of a final good or service or a payment for work done. (k) Excluded.A noninv estment transaction; it is merely the transfer of ownership of financial assets. (If AT&T uses the money from the sale of a new bond to carry out an investment in real physical assets that will be counted. ) (l)Included. The increase in inventories could only occur as a result of increased production. (m)Excluded. Merely the transfer of ownership of existing financial assets. (n)Included. Insurance is a final service. If bought by a household, it will be shown as consumption; if bought by a business, as investment—as a cost added to its real investment in physical capital. 7-14(Last Word) What government agency compiles the U. S. NIPA tables? In what U. S. epartment is it located? Of the several specific sources of information, name one source for each of the four components of GDP: consumption, investment, government purchases, and net exports. The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) in the Department of Commerce compiles GDP statistics. The Census Bureau provides survey data for consumption, investment, and government purchases. Consumption figures also come from industry trade sources as does some investment data. The U. S. Office of Personnel Management also provides data on government spending on services. Net export figures come from the U. S. Customs Service and BEA surveys on service exports and imports.

Jurisprudence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Jurisprudence - Essay Example Consequently, keeping in accordance with such traits law and the institutions that aim at implement legal systems in a social context are required to transform them so that the basic issues of individual liberty and equality can be attained or maintained. However, understanding nature of such social change is not an easy method; rather it requires substantial empathetic or farsighted observation so that pulse of such change can be perceived accurately and in this context, relevance of Jurisprudence can be realized. If an attempt is made to analyze the term â€Å"Jurisprudence†, it will be found that the word is a fusion of two words â€Å"Jurist† and â€Å"prudence†: leading a student of law to the realization that scholarly opinion or prudence of jurists is actually known as jurisprudence. According to the legal scholars like Roscoe Pound, jurisprudence is actually â€Å"the science of law† and they have contradicted opinion of legal philosophers like Austin who suggested that jurisprudence is actually â€Å"a philosophy of law† (Pound, 2002, p. 7-11). The historical development of jurisprudence, starting from ancient Greek civilization to modern time is clearly suggestive of the fact that a lot of changes have occurred in the arena of jurisprudential observation regarding society, its transformation and the scope of implementing legal principles within the ever changing scope of social domain. There are several ways that the term â€Å"law† is used i n social context. One of the major ways is that â€Å"It is used to mean the regime of ordering human activities and adjusting human relations through the systematic application of the force of a politically organized society† (Pound, 2000, p. 13). The changing nature of society and scope of legal application alter considerably mainly due to mutual interaction of people, inhabiting within a social domain. According to natural

The Legal and Law Issues in Network Security USA Research Paper

The Legal and Law Issues in Network Security USA - Research Paper Example For any unguarded computer, people might just slip onto the network and retrieve all those information which is not protected. This makes one think about placing a password protection or have a right way of storing things to keep their information safe helps to be safe in the computer world. Sometimes people might ignore thinking their data to be of least importance. But these data can be of high value to those who try to access it and hence it is important to have a way to secure any form of data that is available and saved in the computer. The network security does not mean to lock the computer from accessing internet but it is about the information that is stored in the computer which has to be protected to use it by oneself. The below provided information will help one to know about the need and the issue that has risen regarding the network security. Â   Computer and Networks Computer network are distributed networks of computer that are either strongly or loosely connected whi ch simply means that these computers share a lot of resources from a central computer or only those resources that can make the network work. Usually the security was limited to personal computers before as the problem of virus or other unwanted things were only to that computer used by a specific user. But today, the prospective has changed a lot ass the user can now find the security not only for a single computer but for the whole network. The security is not limited but is expanded to all those computers which come under a network. This is very important to know as it includes all the resources and data that are stored and transit. The work in the computer can be done with or... This report approves that it is important to make sure to use the facility available to overcome such situation. With strict legal system, laws and legislation, people can get the justice they are looking for in a right way. Not all the time the threat is from outsiders, so it is important to monitor people in the office from time to time so that one can be safe from inside as well. The federal legislation for information technology has evolves over past 20 years and people are happy with the justice they are getting till date. This essay makes a conclusion that there are many companies outside USA but working for USA. They might not work in a proper manner when these things happen. This affects the revenue of that country. The national legislation might help within the boundary and this will be left to the company to deal with such situation when they are beyond the boundary. This makes one know every legal aspect of every country which can help them with the network security. Having the best network security is very important and the need to act instantly incase such situation occur might help one in many ways. The company should beware of the ex-employees and what they can do once they are taken out of the job. The authentication they have should be immediately and properly terminated so that they won’t cause any problem later. The company should also know about the current employees and how they might change in case the ex-employee wants them to help him.

Exploiting Competitive Advantages Using Business Strategy Essay

Exploiting Competitive Advantages Using Business Strategy - Essay Example â€Å"Companies with significant market share create a problem for competitors because these competitors will have to rely on "stealing" market share away from the competition; they can't just create a business out of thin air† (Teenanalyst, 2009). A strategy that the company uses to capitalize on its low-cost strategy is aggressively targeting customers through smart marketing campaigns. The use of marketing has helped the company get the word out about the good prices the company offers. On many occasions, the company offers outstanding value through special sales of products. The best evidence that the strategies used by the managerial staff of the organization are effective is the fact that Wal-Mart is the industry leader in the retail industry. The profitability of the company is further evidence of the dominance of the company. The net margin which is a financial metric that illustrates the absolute profitability of an organization is 4% (Walmartstores, 2012). A few year s ago I worked at a company that utilized the niche generic strategy to market its products. â€Å"A business that focuses on a niche market is addressing a need for a product or service that is not being addressed by mainstream providers† (Ward, 2012). ... Most people in this hobby lose several planes each year to crashes. The best proof that the niche strategy used by the company was effective was that during the beta test trials the product received outstanding reviews from the clients. Despite the fact that the company had a good niche strategy and an excellent product WRM failed as a business venture due to the fact that the ownership team did not have sufficient operating capital to move into the commercialization stage of the product. A company that is currently using the generic strategy of differentiation is the automobile maker BMW. BMW sells cars that are different than most cars in the marketplace due to the super quality, performance, suspension, design, and luxury. The differentiation strategy has helped this company build a great reputation and brand value Evidence that the strategy the company uses is effective is the fact that BMW charges a premium price for its products.  

Literature review of five journal articles about The Shortage of Research Paper

Literature review of five journal articles about The Shortage of Qualified Workers - Research Paper Example Increased Demand for Labor: According to Barnow, Trutko and Schede (2010), if demand for labor increases continuously and faster than the supply of labor, there occurs a is equilibrium where some work will not be done. They argue that a special phenomena may occur which would require special skills which making the specialist take time and hence during that period there will be a labor shortage. For instance, after the 2nd World War, a situation occurred where engineers were needed to deal with effect of great shock of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. During that period, the demand for engineers was high than the supply. Rasool and Botha (2010) argued that it is only in time of abruptly that demand of labor supply and demand can cause a labor shortage else people will be there since supply of quality laborers is increasing with population growth. Decreased supply of labor: Hajela (2012) indicates that when bodies entitled to train professionals cannot do so due to lack of the minimum qualification to join the course, there will be a low rate of producing graduates and this will lead to lack of personnel to work on specific positions. If I quote â€Å"Shortage of skills revealed may suggest that the educators do not impart them during training. An implication that would mean that the employees’ lack competences, since they do not have the requisite skills†. This leads to graduates who cannot perform and hence labor shortage. Research by Rasool & Botha, (2011) showed that the literacy rate was 36% and numeracy rate was 35% amongst Grade 3 children. Only 10% of the children scored above 70%. This is a clear show that competent people who get out of school with needed skills are very few. Emigration: According to Rasool & Botha, (2011), emigration is another worrying factor in South Africa for the role it is playing in skills crisis. South Africa is

Gregory Pappy Boyington and the Black Sheep Squadron Essay

Gregory Pappy Boyington and the Black Sheep Squadron - Essay Example This sport later on became his favorite. Wrestling became his favorite past time such that he would usually challenge others for a fight which oftentimes resulted to big ones that left him and the others injured ("Major"). He then continued practicing the sport until he graduated from Lincoln High School ("Colonel"). Moreover, he continued playing the sport even when he got into college in the University of Washington in 1930 ("Major") where he took a bachelor's degree majoring in aeronautical engineering. He became a member of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity in the university. He also joined the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) as well as the swimming team. Continuing wrestling as his favorite sports, he was once a one-time holder of the Pacific Northwest Intercollegiate middle-weight wrestling title ("Colonel"). It was also in the university when he met his first wife whom he married right after his graduation in 1934. Helene, his first wife, gave birth to his first son ten m onths after their wedding. ("Major") Even in college, Boyington had worked during his summer vacations in mining and logging camps in Coeur d'Alene until eventually he was hired by the Coeur d'Alene Fire Protective Association in road construction and lookout work ("Colonel"). Boyington's military career started in college when he served as an ROTC member for four years. He was then appointed as a cadet captain and eventually assigned especially in the 630th Coast Artillery Reserve as a second lieutenant where he actively served his duties for two months in 1934 in Fort Worden, Washington. He enlisted and went on active duty in the Volunteer Marine Corps Reserve for barely a month on June 13 to July 16, 1935. While inactive in his duties, he had become a draftsman and engineer for the Boeing Aircraft Company of Seattle. It was on 18 February 1936 that he accepted an appointment as an aviation cadet in the Marine Corps Reserve, and was assigned to the Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Florida, for flight training ("Colonel"). The transition of Boyington's career in the Marine Corps had been very consistent even when it was at this point when he started to gain his love for alcohol. Being with the other fliers who had been partying hard, he became more and more addicted to alcohol. His alcoholism has also escalated since it was at this point when he had discovered his wife's fooling around. It was then at this point when he had earned and established his bad reputation in the Marine Corps - a hard-drinker, brawler, friendly, yet always ready to wrestle with anybody. However, even with such bad record, Boyington's great skill in flying was noticed in those times ("Major"). In March 11, 1937, he was sent to Quantico, Virginia for Aircraft One, Fleet Marine Force where he was assigned as the Naval Aviator. He was even promoted further to second lieutenant. Then, in order to accept a second lieutenant's commission in the regular Marine Corps, he had to be discharged from the Marine Corps on July 1, 1937. From then on, he was further transferred to San Diego Naval Station after he had completed his studies in Philadelphia. He was among those groups who took over and fixed the problems regarding the different aircraft carriers such as the USS Lexington and the USS Yorktown. He then returned to Pensacola on November 4, 1940 when he was

Humanities (General) Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Humanities (General) - Research Paper Example Above all, it helps in gaining a distinctive insight into individual community, in addition to, the wider global perspective of the world’s diverse cultures. This paper presents a study of two cultural events, the Carnival in Rio de Janiero and the Hogbetsotso Festival in Ghana. In addition, it presents how these events are related to what is learned about ideas, culture and the arts in humanities. These cultural events were experienced through watching internet videos (YouTube), which is an available form of media. In this regard, it was possible to see and hear the events. This paper also presents a description of the main cultural event (the Carnival in Rio de Janiero) as it reflects the culture of origin. This entails the ideas, beliefs and practices of the people. It presents the historical accounts of the cultural event and the similarities it has to another selected cultural event (the Hogbetsotso Festival) in a separate part of the world – Ghana. This is, in add ition to, whether the Carnival in Rio de Janiero event is influenced by other cultures or whether it influenced other cultures. Finally, this paper presents a conclusion of its findings. The Carnival in Rio de Janiero is a 4 day cultural event that occurs annually 40 days previous to Easter – which symbolizes the beginning of Lent. However, the set dates for this cultural event alternate annually with regard to the date of Easter. In most cases, this cultural event is commemorated towards the end of February (Camà µes, 2012). I did not attend this event in person but acquired the opportunity to watch the activities via internet video (YouTube). Though, experiencing the event live would have been more appealing as compared to watching a recorded event, I still managed to acquired a brilliant experience considering that the video recordings were most recent and much more professionally

Research literature review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Research literature review - Essay Example (Waters, 2010). Duddy (2008) says â€Å"women have assumed increasingly indispensable roles in the economy and their contribution to family income has enabled poor families to cope with financial hardship.† Robbins (1999, p. 354) argues that â€Å"women do two-thirds of the world’s work, receive 10 percent of the world’s income and own 1 percent of the means of production.† Caraway (2007) also says that despite the huge influx of women in the workplaces as a result of globalization, the gender inequalities at work have remained largely in tact. Tatchell (cited in Paton, 2005) identifies that unless businesses change their discriminatory attitude towards women, men will continue to dominate and a huge pool of talent will go wasted. More women are working than ever before, but they are ever more likely than men to get low-productivity and vulnerable jobs, with no social protection and basic rights. (International Labor Organization, 2008). Mehrotra (2010) sa ys that in case of increased feminization of workplaces, children may feel neglected and seek stimulation outside the house. Regarding the increase in the number of women in the workforce, work attendance is at chance to be negatively affected since women also have primary responsibility for home and family matters. (Heathfield, 2007). Disagreeing, Joachim (2005) says that the rate of working women who can also be admirable mothers is growing now and it is unfair to suggest that they prioritize their jobs over families. According to Waters (2010), women run many of the world’s great companies, from PepsiCo in America to Areva in France. Feminization has extended from the once infinitesimal feature to a quite considerable and imposing feature obvious in the workplace settings. The increasing encouragement shown from side of the employers to the women is a positive and appreciable trend that no doubt, on one

Kennedys Inaugural speech Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Kennedys Inaugural speech - Essay Example Effective writing is an important tool of expression that bridges the writer to the readers. The other essay that this account also used was that of Jams Tipton. On the first analysis, there are reasons that could account for why some writers repeat key phrases throughout their writing pieces. One reason is to make their pieces coherent. Repeating the use of keywords in an essay is an important means to strengthen its transitions, â€Å"various devices that help readers along through a document† (â€Å"Online Technical†), which are important components of an effective writing piece. On the grounds of its effectiveness, repetition is an effective factor for both comprehension and persuasion, on the part of the readers. However, such effectiveness is arbitrary due to the reason that if not used intentionally, such repetition could eventually frustrate the piece’s coherence (Lybbert and Cummings 35). In Rolly Pelovangu’s essay â€Å"John F. Kennedy Inaugurat ion Speech,† it was written in a formal manner that it is more objective, which avoided the use of contractions. In addition, the essay was more of a persuasive essay which posited the author’s emotions and which formality was appropriate for the purpose of persuasion, as it was said to be the goal of any persuasive essay. Hence, prior to Kennedy’s Inauguration speech which is a political matter, persuasive essays are likely to be developed and formality is also a distinguishing feature.

Carl Robins Essay Example for Free

Carl Robins Essay This case study pertains to an employee by the name of Carl Robins. He has been employed by ABC, Inc as a Campus Recruiter for six months. In early April, during Mr. Robins first six months of employment; he successfully recruited 15 new hires. The new trainees were to report to Monica Carrolls, the Operations Supervisor, as they would be working under her. (University of Phoenix, 2014) This case study analysis of Mr. Robins is in relation to the numerous issues that transpired between April and June 15th. To obtain a clear understanding of the complications that transpired, the company believes that it would be in their best interest to consult a firm to look into the company’s issues and to help solve the problems that have emerged; this may be the most effective method to identify and recommend ways to improve ABC, Inc.’s recruiting of new trainees. I. ISSUES THAT TRANSPIRED The consulting firm came into ABC, Inc. and thoroughly examined background information on the situation. There were many key problems that had been identified during the evaluation. The issues that ABC, Inc. was facing were centered on Mr. Carl Robins, ABC, Inc.’s Campus Recruiter and also on the company ABC, Inc. To begin, Mr. Robins has been with the company merely a short six months. The consulting firm believes that Mr. Robins lacks experience, training and supervision. The firm also believes that ABC, Inc. did not train him properly nor did it provide him with the knowledge he needed to proceed properly with the hiring process. He lacked experience and knowledge of the hiring process and he was still allowed to hire 15 new  trainees for the Operations Supervisor, Monica Carrolls. Although hiring 15 new trainees is great accomplishment for a new employee, this might have been too many employees to be hired at once for a first recruitment. Because he is still new to ABC, Inc., learning about day to day operations, the hiring of 15 new trainees can be overwhelming, even to the most experienced of people. Another issue Mr. Robin’s was facing, was the lack of communication between him and the other employees in the office. On May 15th, he was contacted by Monica Carrolls about the following issues: the training schedule, orientation, manuals, policy booklets, physicals, drug tests, and a host of other issues, which Carl would coordinate for the new hires. Once again, Carl assured the Operations Supervisor, Monica Carrolls, that he would have everything completed and arranged by the June 15th orientation. After further review, Carl had realized that when going through the new trainee files to finalize all the paperwork for the June 15th orientation; applications for some of the new trainees had not been completed. Also, there were no transcripts on file and none of the 15 trainees had been sent for the mandatory drug screen. Another problem Carl had was that the orientation manuals were missing several pages from each of them and he only had three copies of the manuals. Lastly, upon checking the conference room to confirm the date of the orientation, he had not realized that the conference room had been booked for the whole month of June by the Technology Services Department. There are several concerns or issues that need to be addressed and that Carl and ABC, Inc. need to rectify. Below are the listed issues of these concerns that will be discussed. Review of addressed issues: 1. Incomplete employee applications 2. Mandatory drug screens were not scheduled 3. Employee transcripts were not on file 4. Incomplete orientation manuals 5. Shortage of orientation manuals 6. Resource scheduling conflicts II. PROBLEM SOLVING SOLUTIONS After the case review of Carl Robin’s, discussion of possible solutions available to rectify the situations at hand and the proposed solutions that Mr. Robin’s should take have been reviewed. Starting with concerns and issues, numbers one through three, the incomplete employee applications; Carl needs to contact the 15 new hires and make them aware of the absence in their records and have them complete the applications that need to be submitted to the Human Resources Department along with a transcript; they also have to complete a mandatory drug screen prior to orientation. Carl needs to set a deadline for the mandatory drug screens to be completed prior to the June 15th orientation training. On the concerns and issues, number four and five, the incomplete orientation manuals and the shortage of the orientation manuals. The orientation manuals were short by 12; Carl needs to make arrangements with company in house copy person to finish completing the orientation manuals he needs or he must contact an outside company to help rectify the need for the orientation manuals. Carl needs to have a â€Å"Main Copy Manual† made for himself or the next person that is in his position. A hard copy manual is something that should be kept on file, so that pages will not be misplaced and there will always be one on file. Carl seems to lack knowledge of ABC, Inc.’s policies and procedures. He must get to know the material in the company’s orientation manual prior to the July orientation. Reading over the material prior to the orientation and also going over what he will be saying to the new hires with his own supervisor or another staff member might be a good way to go about this. Mr. Robin’s can also make key notes to have for himself during the orientation so he can be prepared prior to the training. Lastly, on issue and concern number six. ABC, Inc. must make arrangements to find a better way to coordinate the availability of the conference room or rooms. By not having arrangements in place for this, Carl currently does not have a place to hold orientation that is to take place on June 15th; due to the Technology Services Department holding training for the whole month of June. Whether the system that they choose be a calendar type paper based or web based, ABC, Inc. should have something in place so errors like these do not occur again. A recommendation of a web based calendar and have one person take control of it is suggested. III. PROPOSED COMPANY SOLUTIONS The proposed company solutions that should take place are: refer all applicants to the Human Resources Department and also for all new employees establish bimonthly or monthly start dates to coincide with the company’s pay periods. Have orientation manuals printed either by an in house copy person or have orientation manuals completed by an outside company. Lastly, ABC, Inc. must set up a calendar system for reserving the conference room and Carl needs to go ahead and reserve this room on a reoccurring basis. It will be easier to cancel the reserved room rather than to go scrambling looking for a room to hold orientation in. A web based calendar controlled by one person is what is recommended. Having upper management hold a meeting to discuss implementing the proposed solutions should be an additional step to take for all corporate management. Also, upper management should meet on a monthly basis to discuss issues that may be happening within the company and use critical thinking skills to help determine what steps they need to take to help their employees better themselves at their jobs. This will bring good morale to the company and will make for a better work environment. CONCLUSION In conclusion, Carl Robins is an employee of ABC, Inc. and has been working for the company for just six months. He holds the position of Campus Recruiter and on his first recruitment hired 15 new trainees. Carl lacked supervision, knowledge and experience and was not ready for such a large task. He was missing applications and mandatory drug screenings that were needed to complete employee records. Carl also did not have proper completed orientation manuals. These issues led to a case study of Carl and ABC, Inc. and proposed solutions were recommended. The recommended solutions are as follows: 1. Refer all applicants to the Human Resources Department 2. All new employees to establish bimonthly/monthly start dates to coincide with pay periods 3. Orientation manuals to be printed in house or by outside company 4. Have a â€Å"hard copy manual† made of orientation manual 5. Set up a web based calendar system for reserving conference room or rooms It is not impossible to overcome these issues, the proposed solutions if set in place should make for a better work environment for the employees of ABC, Inc. References (2014). Case study: carl robins. University of Phoenix.