Importance of Gwadar Port for Pakistan

Selection of Gwadar for construction of Deep Sea Port. While carrying out feasibility study for development of Gwadar port both Karachi and Bin Qasim were also considered for such development but found not attractive to major shipping agencies due to remoteness from main shipping routes, limitations of draft and comparatively long turn around time. Due to these reasons Gwadar was selected as the site for 3rd commercial port for Pakistan. Geo-Strategic Importance Gwadar port is located about 267 NM West of Karachi. Because of its ideal location at the mouth of gulf and opposite strategic choke points of Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman the port is visualized to become a regional hub serving incoming and out going commercial traffic of Middle East and Gulf countries. The new port of Gwadar will supplement Karachi Port and Port Qasim. It will attract transit and trans-shipment trade from over twenty countries including Srilanka, Bangladesh, Oman, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iraq and Iran. These countries may open their warehouses in Gwadar for export of goods and storing of imported goods for later shipment to their countries. Non Quantifiable Benefits of Port. Details of indirect non quantifiable benefits which the people of region will get and would accrue to the national economy from this port. Duty Free Port & Free Economic Zone/Incentives. Keeping in view the significance of Gwadar port, the government has declared Gwadar as a Duty Free Port and Free Economic Zone. A separate allocation of one billion rupees was made in the budget for the fiscal year 2004-2005 for the construction of the export zone and Gwadar industrial city. This has greatly accelerated the pace of development in the area. The other incentives announced by Govt are summarized as under: Positive approach towards private sector involvement. Infrastructure development on BOT/BOO basis. 100% profit repatriation. Tax holidays for ten years from date of commencement of commercial operations. 100% profit repatriation. Ownership rights. Flexible labour regulations. Subsidy on utilities. Complete exemption from duty & sales tax on imported plants & machinery for 10 years. Capital gains will be exempted from tax for 5 years. No local octroi or export tax leviable by local Govt. Access to CARs. Gwadar Port located in proximity of Arabian Gulf and Central Asian Republics provide it unique opportunity to serve both. Pakistan needs to capitalize on them through better diplomatic ties with Arab states and CARs. It is therefore anticipated that oil reserves and other resources of CARs would gradually become the focus of world attention in coming years. However, in case of â€Å"exports to and from CARs† a peaceful and stable Afghanistan is must. The port will also help in promoting trade with Gulf States possessing 63% of world’s oil reserves and will prove instrumental in promoting trans-shipment essentially of containerized cargo besides unlocking the development potential for hinterland. The most important factor that makes Gwadar Port strategically unique is the location with respect to other major ports in the region, which are all located on the other side of the sea. Gwadar port being towards north can easily provide services and facilities to CARs, Afghanistan and China. Upcoming Fishing Harbour/Industry. Planned fishing harbour/industry linked with this port will facilitate efficient exploitation of our 960 KM of long coast which would give boost to fish and crab exports and would promote food processing industries as well. Gwadar could also be a potential source of gas and oil exploitation. [1] These areas clearly indicate the vast potential which should be exploited and will help contribute towards national economy. Instability in Gulf. Gulf region and CARs contain one of the largest oil and gas resources of the world respectively. Gulf countries in particular, have capitalized on it by constructing major commercial centers with bulk port facilities. Pakistan, could not cash on this opportunity earlier due limited resources which Gulf countries did and so have well established ports these days. Gulf presently is badly exposed to world due instability in region and in case of blockade of Gulf due to any reason, the Gwadar port would become more important due to only choice left. Beside this, sour relations of Iran with western countries and her territorial disputes with Iraq are enough reasons for international community to opt for Gwadar rather than any Iranian port in future. Gwadar Port is therefore expected to act as a vital link to China, Afghanistan and Central Asian Republics throughout the year. Due to these factors Gwadar is going to be the necessity of major shipping competitors as it is the most efficient route to Indian Ocean for world markets. Gwadar Port can therefore become a viable option for wor ld community due to the following reasons: It is not within Gulf, thereby reducing chances of being blocked. It provides shortest access to the land locked Afghanistan and CARs. It is located in close proximity of other regional ports of the Gulf. Trans-shipment of Bulk Cargo. Oil Storage, Refinery and Petrochemical related industries/installations. Export processing and Industrial Zone. Export of minerals and live stock. Services ie hotel accommodation, tourism etc. Fishing industry. Ship repairs and Ship building. Construction of Warehouses and Storages. Beach Industries. Port Related Facilities. Construction of under mentioned facilities/industries is directly linked with the construction of Gwadar Port and will provide employment opportunities for its locals and the region. Trade pact with Tashkent. Considering importance of trade from CARs vis -a-vis up coming Gwadar port. Govt of Pakistan (GOP) has very rightly concluded a trade pact with Tashkent. In this Pakistan and Uzbekistan have agreed to enter into a trilateral transit trade agreement with Afghanistan to benefit from the Gwadar port facility and land routes. As per the joint communique issued after meeting of reps of both sides on 29-30 Dec 2005, a ‘Joint Ministerial Commission’ has been formed to formulate details/trade quantum and the modus operandi. Development Plans/Investment Opportunities For Balochistan By making Gwadar the pivot of regional trade, Pakistan will also attract considerable investment into its most under developed province. These funds will allow construction of roads and railways, linking the coastal region with rest of the Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan and will also, facilitate cultivation of vast regions and exploration of natural resources. This would ultimately help socio-economic uplift of locals through various development projects. The government on 3 October, 2004 has also announced Rs 3. 00 Bn grant for speeding up development activities for overall uplift of Balochistan. Beside these the development of Gwadar port would also benefit the overall economy of province/country and will unlock its potentials. It is anticipated that around 2. 5 million people will get jobs with start of this project. The government is setting technical training centres in area to train people. Although Gwadar is comparativ ely free from tribal influence, however people of area have two major concerns in their minds. Firstly, influx of people from rest of the country may throw them in minority. Secondly, local population lacks in education and other skills, which may affect their career prospects. They have a fear that people coming from other areas may grab the major share of economic opportunities. General public therefore show a resentment against government policies in form of bomb blasts and demonstrations/destruction of sui gas installation etc, however once economic lifts become visible then people would certainly realise their short sightedness. Oil Factor and the Alternate Port. Pakistan’s present population is arround160 Million. With the present growth rate of population, the country’s oil needs are increasing continuously as well. The fact that our dependence on POL gets further compounded as most of our defense needs are also met through it. National oil reserves are also dependent on the continuous POL from abroad. The war stamina depends on the availability of POL to armed forces for effective fighting. Therefore, keeping in mind the importance of SLOCs for provision of uninterrupted oil supply, Gwadar port would provide much-needed alternate for Karachi/ Qasim ports.

Country Factbook Between Seden and Denmark on Organic Food Industry Essay

1. Executive summary The organic food industry is suitable for business investments in both Sweden and Denmark due to several factors. First of all, efficient local intermediary firms and certain broader macro-level institutions facilitate business and provide location advantages. Moreover, studying the business/industry culture can be used to gain insights in the business environment of Sweden/Denmark in the field of organic food. However, the complex natures of harvesting organic goods make it impossible to indicate the best location for production, as this depends on the particular product being produced. As a result, demand and supply across Sweden and Denmark are met by means of a widespread retail sector, intra-industry trade and export. Only by making an estimation of sectorial breakdown and its counterparts an (somewhat) informed investment decision can be made. Either way, it is evident that organic food industry as a whole has gained popularity due to several reasons. One example is that CSR profiles of firms have become an customary element in the product purchasing decision in recent times. It can be said that recent developments in technological- (information technology revolution) and political nature (subsidies) have contributed to this trend, documents playing an important role in particular. Since culture consists of documents and culture is more available to document analysis today it has been our choice in our data collection method. In turn, for data analysis we have made use of coding, series of events and semiotics. It is these that have allowed us to assess macroeconomic performance of Sweden and Denmark as well as its historical developments, socio-cultural conditions and the nature of competitiveness in the organic industry field. Despite the fact that Sweden and Denmark share many similarities in each one of these areas there are some differences. However, these are considered to be subtle and highly context-dependent. Therefore, we would also not like to answer our research question, ‘’How and why do the organic industry conditions differ between Sweden and Denmark? ’’ in this section, but hope that you will find an answer what is best for you in the pages of the remainder of this report. Ultimately, we will provide major findings of comparisons and recommendations, based on our views and experience gained during our research. It might be possible to ‘’tweak’’ this information in such a way in making it applicable for your particular business scenario or business plan. 2. Introduction This section is meant to state the goal, relevance and purpose of our Factbook. Furthermore, it will give rise to our lead question, being ‘’How and why do the organic industry conditions differ between Sweden and Denmark? ’’ To boot, we hope to achieve appraisal and recognition for our deliverables from whom ultimately might use and/or buy our Factbook. Like the CIA Factbook, our focus is on the industry. However, it is important to note that we have tried to achieve more than the already existing Factbooks, as they are often too comprehensive or lacking in value. We have tried to overcome the first problem by linking theory to application and writing about it. In this, our main challenge has been to take into account all aspects that somehow matter for the bottom line, the profitability of an investment project. Yet, since profitability is a relative term it might be better to speak of opportunity costs. This terminology is crucial to understand for correct business decision making to take place and also forms the backbone for our final recommendations in our Factbook. Moreover, Pugel (2009) has showed that many industries incur rising, rather than constant, marginal opportunity costs. For instance, efforts to expand Denmark/Sweden organic wheat production would fairly quickly run into rising costs caused by limits on (1) how much more land could be drawn into wheat production and how suitable this additional land would be for wheat production, (2) the availability of additional workers willing and suitable to work on the farms, and/or (3) the availability of seeds, fertilizers, and other material inputs. As for the second problem, we focus mostly on institutionalism and culture as they are lacking in other country Factbooks. Examples of institutions that can facilitate business in Sweden and Denmark are efficient local intermediary firms and certain broader macro-level institutions, both being considered to be generally available location advantages (Verbeke 2010). Concerning culture, we are particularly interested in business/industry culture. This is based on logic that our analysis is mainly on the industry level. Furthermore, Hollensen (2008) has showed that business/industry culture of business behavior and ethics is similar across borders, i. e. expected to be the same for Sweden and Denmark. By learning about the industry culture the decision maker will be aware of important ‘rules of the game’ (Hollensen 2008). Concerning the purpose, this Factbook is meant to facilitate a document that will be considered important for decision makers, i. e. policy makers but especially business investors. From an investment perspective, several hierarchical modes (domestic-based sales representatives, mergers and acquisition, alliances, greenfield) are possible. However, retailer alliances and mergers and acquisition are most popular. To illustrate, in the case of Sweden retailer alliances control 90% of the food retail stores (http://www. snee. org/filer/papers/193. pdf). Furthermore, because the organic food market in Denmark and Sweden and Europe in general is rather fragmented, mergers provide benefits and interest to investors through economies of scale (http://www. nytimes. com/2011/05/24/business/global/24organic. html). Lastly, market growth, political support and complimentary resources in both Denmark and Sweden stimulate and attract business investors. These and other issues will be elaborated in the remainder of this report. All in all, we will provide the examiner with information of which we believe to be relevant for decision makers and can be used for deciding which company, or which industries of this company, to invest in. Hereby, we have tried to identify the major dimensions relevant to comparative country studies. These have been chosen carefully and matter for the organic food industry and a wide spectrum of business within this industry. In turn, these dimensions can be used to compare the countries Sweden and Denmark. Ultimately, the contents of this Factbook are meant to stay closely connected to the country set Sweden/Denmark and it’s organic food industry, yet still is general to the extent that it allows applying the information to a concrete business case. With the final product of our Factbook we hope to have provided the reader with a clear understanding of the conditional differences between Sweden and Denmark and as such an answer to our research question. Concerning the structure of the remainder of this paper, we will subsequently discuss: methods and frameworks, introduction to organic food sector, methods and frameworks, country comparison, major findings of comparison and recommendations and the bibliography. 3. Methods and frameworks 3. 1 Method for Factbook compilation As method for our Factbook compilation we have opted to first focus on the country and then on the region. It can be described as a region-based compilation (RBC) technique. For example, if you look at technology, technology is taking place in Eindhoven in The Netherlands and not in Delfzijl. If you are going to do something with energy then you end up in Delfzijl rather than in Eindhoven. However, making such a comparison for Sweden or Denmark in terms of organic food proves difficult. To explain, people that argue that organic food is simply being harvested on the most fertile agricultural land are likely to mix up terms. That is, fertility should be clearly set aside from productivity or even best land. Indeed, you can have a highly fertile area but deficient in its use do its limited crop sizes. Moreover, a certain area of agricultural land might be appropriate to harvest a particular organic product, but is less appropriate or least suitable for other organic products. Lastly, in general organic material levels go up as you go north. But productivity does not necessarily follow the same trend because the same shorter season and lower temperatures that helped build and maintain that organic material, limits growing seasons and crops growth. In order to prevent complexity we have decided to focus more on the retail sector of Sweden and Denmark than the production sector. The retail sector will include exports as over 70 percent of the exports of industrialized countries are shipped to other industrialized countries, and nearly half of total world trade is industrialized countries trading with each other (Pugel 2009). Sweden and Denmark are no exception, as they are known to have an established intra-industry trade relationship. Besides physical locations we also like to discuss official statistics as another compilation issue. The main issue is that official statistics often rely on incomplete information and therefore involve estimation. In our report we have made use of two types of estimation, sectorial breakdown and its counterparts. We have chosen to select these two types in order to facilitate the decision maker with a reflection opportunity of a wide variety of activities he/she might be interested in. Furthermore, in an attempt to ‘standardize’ statistics we will use figures of the Central Statistics Office (or a comparable source) as much as possible for both Denmark and Sweden. We believe it is advisable to use comparable or equal sources between the two countries as it strengthens the reliability of our research. Based on previous experience and narratives we believe the Central Statistics Office (also known as Central Statistics Bureau) is one of the most easily accessible and reliable sources to be found on the Internet. Furthermore, in order to prevent possible ambiguity we will use equal terminology for both countries as much as possible, including definitions of sectors and instrument categories. Moreover, we would like to briefly discuss the overall structure of the Factbook. First of all, the executive summary is meant to provide background information on the topic of organic food as an industry and can act as a quick-review guide of what the examiner is likely to expect in the report. In this, the executive summary contains several main ideas reflected in the report itself. Furthermore, the introduction discusses more distinct the Factbook and the underlying principles. Then, data collection and data analysis show arguments for the choices we have made in conducting our empirical research. As to the chapters that follow, these are simply a representation and a more in-depth analysis of what has been announced in the previous chapters and act as to share our findings in terms of describing legal, political, environmental, institutional and cultural dimensions. Lastly, we finalise our report by concluding with major findings of comparisons and recommendations. 3. 2 Prime theories and approaches There are different theories to be utilized for compiling this Factbook. One of the main drivers for organic farming is environmental reason, which are often associated with care for the environment. Moreover, it can be argued that the choice for buying ‘’organic’’ is also driven by social cultural reasoning, having this care for the environment being embedded as part of the culture. Indeed, this is mainly the case in the Western market where awareness towards environmental issues has risen in recent times. It is terms like corporate responsibility and sustainability that have become a part of the decision making process of Western consumers as to what to buy and to whom to buy it from. In this, environmental and socio-cultural values have become an important facet in the decision making process of the consumer in general, the organic food industry being no exemption. In an attempt to verify and examine these trends we will make use of theory of Schwartz (1999) combined with the theory of planned behaviour to determine if organic food consumption offers potential for business investment to take place. As we shall see later on, Schwartz his cultural values can be used to assess the main characteristics of the average Swedish and Danish inhabitant and how these assist in making inferences about core values, behaviour and its relation to the organic food industry. In order to find more specific similarities and differences we have made use of the framework as proposed by S. Ruiz de Maya et al. (2011), who offer us a theoretical approach to the organic food industry from the consumer side. It is this that provides us with socio-cultural factors and helping the investor to decide whether Sweden or Denmark is more ‘suitable’ to invest in, depending on a particular context. In addition, the PESTLE analysis will also be utilized in this report. It is important to note that we will not be focusing on the whole framework but on the political, social and legal factors provided. By examining the political factors we can determine how these influence the organic food industry. For instance, some administrations can be beneficial for the organic food industry. For instance, by stimulating farmers to dedicate more land for organic farming and usage of organic food in government institutions. However, in another term a different administration might not be so favourable to organic farming and food, which could lead to a different situation. For example, abolishing organic farming grants. As mentioned before, the social side of organic food consumption is important. Health and environmental issues have become more important for the general public. Furthermore, the investor should keep in mind that views concerning organic food can change. These factors can have an influence on the demand. Last aspect is the legal aspects. For example, determine the definition of organic food and who or how they uphold this standard. This factor is related to the political part of the PESTLE analysis. Legislation concerning organic food is important for the Factbook. There can be differences between Denmark and Sweden concerning organic food industry. 3. 3 Method for data collection and analysis. This section will discuss our chosen method for data collection and analysis. We will start by addressing the data collection technique, after which the data collection analysis approach will follow. First of all, it can be said that our study involves both qualitative research (a focus on text) and quantitative research (a focus on numbers). However, since institutionalism and culture are clearly more qualitative we have opted to focus on qualitative data collection techniques. In the end, we have made use of solely documents as a qualitative data collection technique. Although we would have liked to include interviews and fieldwork in our research, we experienced that it is difficult, if not impossible, for us to carry out these activities successfully. First, we could not find any suitable individuals or focus groups being knowledgeable about our subject. Second, we do not believe ourselves to be proficient enough in fieldwork as to ensure reliable and valid results. Moreover, the duration of the necessary fieldwork was also expected not to fit within the given timeframe set to create the Factbook. In either case, there are some advantages of using documents as opposed to interviews and fieldwork. For example, documents are relatively cheap and quick to access (Payne & Payne, 2004). It is usually much easier to obtain data from documents than from interviews or fieldwork. Also, if there are many documents on a subject, which we believe to hold true for our case, triangulation is possible to study developments over time. In terms of sources of data, our research is limited to secondary data only. Indeed, we did not make use of any unpublished data being gathered directly from people or organizations. Instead, we have made use of published books, webpages, newspaper articles and journal articles. Somewhat surprisingly, we found that these sources were able to provide us with sufficient empirical data for our research, especially with regard to culture related aspects. Concerning the latter, we would also like to refer to Altheide (1996), who said that documents are studied to understand culture. He has pointed out that a large part of culture consists of documents. Furthermore, he has showed that culture is more available to document analysis today because of the information technology revolution. (Altheide, 1996). Finally, in order to assess the quality of the documents used, we have made use of four criteria as proposed by Scott (1990): (1) authenticity, (2) credibility, (3) representativeness & (4) meaning. Concerning the method for data analysis, we have chosen to make use of several approaches for analyzing qualitative data. Probably the one being used the most is coding. We have chosen this approach primarily because it is one of the easiest ways to analyse qualitative data. In addition, it offers many advantages. For instance, it allows reducing the size of the data and is useful for retrieving, organizing, and speeding up the analysis (Miles & Humberman, 1994). Although this method has been used throughout the entire report, it has been particular helpful in our literature review on the organic food industry, as making use of buzzwords has helped in defining the scope of our research. Moreover, it was found helpful for the executive summary and the introduction, as these are more restricted in terms of length. Here coding has acted as an instrument to make distinctions between either ‘too detailed’ or ‘too general’ more easily. Another data analysis approach we have made use of is series of events. We have made use of this approach as we considered it to be helpful to compare relevant historical developments for our industry. Listing a series of events by chronological time periods and subsequently assigning events to categories has helped to identify similarities and differences over time. As such, it allows us to pinpoint more precisely when historical developments have been most evident and how it has changed the view of the industry. Due to its very nature this approach was utilized in the historical developments section of our report. Lastly, we have made use of semiotics, which is concerned with the meaning of signs and symbols. For business and management research, semiotics is most useful in marketing, management, consumer research and information systems. This is because in these segments, signs are very important. For example, form of brand names and logos are considered to be highly important. In our view semiotics also play an influential role in the organic food industry. Currently, there is some debate about the future growth of the organic food industry; it either being with brands or retailer private labels. It has been argued that large food retailers are taking advantage of the ‘organic’ brand without making any of the associated investment. While the industry has been built by certification agencies and pioneering brands, their presence in terms of logos and brands is diminishing in supermarkets and mainstream retailers (http://www. organicmonitor. com/r0811. htm). As such, investment scenario’s in the organic food industry are less clear-cut than in the past and require careful examination of conventions governing the use of signs and sign systems. In our report, semiotics has been found crucial to explain the socio-cultural and market/industry conditions more fully. 4. Introduction sector/industry In order to provide the examiner with an introduction of the organic food industry, general trends, definitions and boundaries will be discussed. To boot, the European organic food market has a total revenue of $24. 7 billion in 2010, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8. 9% between 2006 and 2010 based on research of DATAMONITOR (2010). The European organic food market grew by 6% in 2010 to reach a value of 24. 7 billion and it is predicted that in 2015 the European organic food market will be worth $36. 8 billion, an increase of 48. 8% since 2010. According to UNCTAD, organic agriculture is defined as a holistic production management whose primarily goal is to optimize the health and productivity of interdependent communities of soil, life, plants, animals and people. Moreover, According to Chen (2009) organic products are goods that respect the environment and that are manufactured without the use of synthetic pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilizers, growth hormones, antibiotics or gene manipulation. By viewing the production side, organic producers should combines best environmental practices, a high level of biodiversity, the preservation of natural resources and application of high-animal welfare standards, providing higher quality products to respond to a certain consumers’ demand. Nowadays, the concern of Western society on how products may be profoundly harmful to the environment has led to a higher demand for organic products, sustainable business activities and stricter regulations from national governments (Gurau and Ranchod, 2005). Due to this increasing concern and higher demand in European countries, it can be argued that the organic food industry is becoming a more interesting and challenging sector for investors to invest in. Furthermore, organic food industry generates revenue as the second largest market within Europe and is continuously growing. However, some boundaries as to this sector do exist. Three main boundaries we found to be of importance are price premiums, quality and availability and time factor. Of these three, price premium is expected to be the most important. This is due to the fact that organic food more often than not requires another form of processing and is more difficult to conserve. Moreover, the costs of quality control are also expected to be higher as no pesticides are used as to protect large crops. As such, it is rational that the price is more expensive than conventional food products. In effect, consumers with lack of knowledge will reconsider buying organic products because of this simple fact. Considering quality of the organic products, consumers believe that by charging a higher price this is equivalent to a higher quality. This view is based on the rationale of human beings, sometimes depicted in phrases such as ‘pay more, get more’. Whilst this ‘rule’ not always holds true, our (inner) convictions and background study has verified that this is in fact the case in the organic food industry. An example of the organic food retail sector is that high priced restaurants tend to favour organic (natural) ingredients. Based on the above, the organic products will meet consumers’ expectation by providing the products above the conventional product’s standards, with a price tag to match its difference in quality. The last constraint we would like to discuss is availability and time factor. The availability of organic products do not vary as much as that of conventional products. As organic products are often less well exposed, they are more difficult to find in stores. This is an important consideration and largely influences issues such as sales expectations, storage costs and risk of decay. Furthermore, in the following part we will discuss and analyse how the conditions of organic food provide the investor with a broader view of the organic food industry. In this, we will consider four conditions as factors being relevant for organic food: political-, cultural-, legal- and labor systems. 5. Country comparison 5. 1 Macro-economic indicators A country comparison on macro-economic indicators can be considered to be beneficial for decision makers as it gives them food for thought on the expected macroeconomic performance of that country, i. e. the behavior of a country’s output, jobs, and prices in the organic food industry in the face of changing world conditions. This judgment call about performance is basically what drives most macro-economic analysis. It can be used to assess issues such as how well a country’s economy is performing and how close it is to achieving broad desirable objectives, such as stability in average product prices (no inflation) and low unemployment (Pugel 2009). The most relevant macro-economic indicators for the organic food industry are considered to be economic indicators and financial indicators. Demographic indicators do not seem important to us as research has shown that gender or age does not have any significant effect on whether people decide to buy organic food or not (http://newhope360. com/organic-consumers-share-values-not-demographics). In order to ensure reliability we have chosen to attain all figures of these indicators from one source, namely De Grote Bosatlas (2002). Fig. 1 STATISTIEK EUROPA (part 1) Fig 2. STASTIEK EUROPA (PART 2) From figure 1 we can infer that Denmark had a higher agricultural contribution in terms of percentage towards the GDP. Moreover, Denmark has a substantial higher percentage of agricultural grounds (62. 4% versus 7. 9%) Furthermore, Denmark has a higher contribution to GDP per capita. Besides, inhabitants from Denmark are slightly wealthier than those in Sweden, when looking at GDP. Lastly, Denmarks development of the GDP in 1990-1999 has risen more than was the case for Sweden. Then, from figure 2, we can infer that Denmark has a stronger economy than Sweden, but only by a small margin. Furthermore, inflation rate for Denmark is lower, yet also again only by a small margin. Moreover, Denmark has more government spending in terms of percentage of GDP. Concerning education, Denmark spends more in terms of percentage of GDP. Besides, Denmark inhabitants generally enjoy a higher purchasing power than is the case for Swedish inhabitants. It also shows that more Danish people are working in both the agricultural and industrial sector than Sweden, these tend to work more in the service sector. Lastly, Denmark has a lower percentage of the work force being unemployed. From this preliminary analysis we can infer that in terms of economic indicators investments in Denmark are likely to require a higher yield on an investment than were the case of Sweden. This assumption is made based on the simple fact that as for many elements Denmark performs better than Sweden on compared elements. The same holds true in terms of financial indicators. Although the data may be easily said to be ‘outdated’, we believe this is not quite the case. That is, our analysis on historical development has not provide any conclusive evidence as to not believe that the relationship of these economical and financial figures to be that much different as they are today. Yet, since we do not know when the actual investment is to take place it is always advisable to check the results of a more recent research. Although we would have loved to use a more recent version of De Grote Bosatlas ourselves, we could not find ourselves in the position to get access to one during the course of this research. Luckily, we were able to find a recent figure for gross domestic expenditure on R&D as a percentage of GDP that verified our assumption. [pic] From the figure above it can be concluded that Denmark spends between 1. 01% and 2. 00% of its GDP on R&D activities. Sweden on the other hand spends a little more with 2. 01% and above. This corresponds with our financial records of the Grote Bosatlas, where government spending in Sweden was higher than that of Denmark in general. Furthermore, since the R&D expenditures on R&D as a percentage of GDP are larger than that of most other parts of the world, we expect no real problems for investors in this area. Background information as to why Sweden and Denmark support expenditures on the organic food industry is discussed extensively in both the chapters about socio-cultural conditions and market/industry conditions. 5. 2 Historical developments relevant for the industry. The issues with the environment have many different facets. These range; from deforestation, loss of biodiversity, pollution and many others (EBS 295, 2008). The attitude concerning these issues by the general public can change over time. Values change over time and this applies for the public perception of organic food as well. Likewise, one could say that the organic food industry is driven in a sense of improving and protecting the environment. In addition, consumers also attitude towards the environment also contribute in how they value organic food. Furthermore, not only concern for the environment but also growing awareness by the general public concerning their food and the production involved. These issues related to food production range from; health, food safety and animal welfare. (Sippo manual, 2011) The origins for organic farming in both countries are similar. In the same manner consumers started become more aware of the environment. Farmers also become more aware and began with organic farming. Both countries have had organic farming since early eighties in the general concept of the term organic farming. If we take into account the establishment of organizations concerning organic food then Denmark was a few years earlier with the founding of Danish Association of Organic Farmers in 1981. The Swedish counter part is called the Ecological Farmers Association, which was founded in 1985. Both organizations are private initiatives of organic farmers organizing themselves. (http://www. fao. org) Since the 1990’s the governments of both Denmark and Sweden have introduced various regulations concerning the organic food industry. These regulations include assigning certificates that label products as organic. In addition, the European Union also implemented regulations concerning the organic food industry. Likewise, the organizations that control and label organic foods also found their origins in late eighties early nineties. In Denmark the first organic food legislation was implemented in 1987. The government assigns the O logo to organic food. (www. fvm. dk). This state approved logo is only given to products that are conforming to the standards of â€Å"organic† as stated by Danish regulations. In addition, in Denmark only state approved farms may carry the â€Å"organic† label. In Sweden the organization that is tasked with the certification of organic food is called KRAV. Founded in 1985, this organization was formed from the Ecological Farmers Organization in order to standardize the various interpretations of the term â€Å"organic farming† and bring both farmers and food producers together. (Gunnar Rundgren, 2002) However, it should be noted that the KRAV organization is a non-governmental organization. While, it’s Danish counterpart is part of the Ministry of Agriculture. 5. 3 Socio-cultural conditions Cultural systems From the point of view of the investor, it is important to know the differences and similarities between the two countries Denmark and Sweden. In this section, we will focus on this in terms of cultural assessment. In order to describe the cultural systems of both Denmark and Sweden we have made use of five cultural dimensions as proposed by Schwartz (1999): harmony, egalitarianism, effective autonomy, mastery, and conservatism. It is these cultural dimensions that will help to describe each countries culture and detect any important similarities and differences. The cultural values focus in the article of Schwartz is on the national culture. The national culture being introduced for heterogeneous nations refers primarily to the value culture of the dominant, majority group. In this case, Schwartz tries to interpret the value priorities that characterize a society by aggregating the value priorities of individuals (e. g. Hofstede’s framework). It is depicted that individual value priorities are a product of both shared culture and unique personal experience. Moreover, Schwartz has placed his list of researched countries into different segments (clusters). Denmark and Sweden put in the first group (cluster), Finland and Italy in another, Spain as a third group and Germany, Greece and the United Kingdom in a fourth group.

Capital Structure Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Capital Structure - Essay Example 1963. 441-442). Many theorists didn't like their theorems but finally did find evidence in their applicability in many cases. Stiglitz (1969. pp784) however emphasized that the theorem was framed with some limitations in mind pertaining to existence & distribution of risk classes, competitiveness in the markets and clarity of effect of bankruptcy on the validity of the theorem. Stiglitz (1969. pp789) proved that under given risk classes the primary objective of firm management is to maximize firm value and hence they shall tend to choose the most appropriate capital structure that can achieve maximum value of the firm given certain implying factors that vary from firm to firm. But what could be such implying factors Let us focus on another empirical generalization established by Borch (1969. pp6-7) regarding conflict of interest in firm capital structure. If an organization has started with a capital and have achieved value addition over the capital, the shareholders will expect divi dend payments from the value addition. Payment of dividends to shareholders will conflict with the interest of creditors as the latter would like to continue with long term interest payments. Hence, the creditors will tend to establish certain terms of agreement that indirectly impacts the dividend policy of the management thus affecting the capital structure of the organization as non-payment of dividends may end up reducing shareholder interest and hence can reduce equity financing. Another factor that affects the Capital Structure is the rate regulation by regulatory commissions. Spiegal and Spulber (1994. pp424-425) proved that rate regulations generates an incentive for the regulated firms to increase their debt levels. Thus regulated firms tend to have high leverages than unregulated firms. Chaganti & Damanpour (1991. pp488-490) and Brav (2009. pp265) argued that the firm's ownership determines capital structure to a large extent. Institutional investors or managers tend to reduce debt to equity ratio whereas shareholders that are "sensitive" to changes in performance tend to increase debt to equity ratio. This may be described using agency theory that the owners willing to take higher risks to maximize shareholder value will tend to reduce leverage while the owners willing to take lesser risks to maximize shareholder value will tend to increase leverage. Balakrishnan and Fox (1993. pp7-8) related firm Capital structure with asset specificity in which the investments are made. They argued that the firm's leverage would be positively related to investments in tangible assets or redeployment of existing assets but would be negatively related to investments in intangible assets. For example, a firm investing heavily in R&D will be more inclined towards equity finance because the outcome of R&D is normally intangible assets that do not form promising collaterals for debt

The Workplace Diversity of MNCs Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Workplace Diversity of MNCs - Research Paper Example As from Catherwood Library (2010) â€Å"Workplace diversity is a people issue, focused on the differences and similarities that people bring to an organization. It is usually defined broadly to include dimensions beyond those specified legally in equal opportunity and affirmative action non-discrimination statutes. Diversity is often interpreted to include dimensions which influence the identities and perspectives that people bring, such as profession, education, parental status and geographic location†. Problem: Expatriate Recently most of the organizations who are working in different countries want to keep a good amount of diversity in the organization. That is the reason they employ people from different countries with different cultural background, language, religion etc. The organization has to deal with people and it’s very common that where there are individuals coming from diverse backgrounds, there are high chances that conflicts can arise at any time. The iss ue that women employees are lesser in number at the organization is also a diversity problem faces by many organizations. Because if there is no equal number of gender then business towards the better number of gender is going to happen and small least number of gender will be suppressed by the greater number and they will not feel comfortable working there. That is also in general not good for the organization. (Mor Barak, 2010, p.4) Diversity in the workplace mainly encircles people from diverse cultural backgrounds, language, gender, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religious belief and other values. Diversity is also reflected when people belong to variety of educational fields, work experiences, personality, socio-economic context, marital status etc. (Vissa, 2013) For instance, often in the European work culture, people address their seniors by their names without adding any â€Å"Sir† at the end of the name and this practice is regarded as friendly and warm by the p eople of Europe however the person belonging to Asian culture would find it insulting if his junior addresses him by name. Language also creates a major diversity factor, as it is considered to be the primary tool for communication. Most of the organization lack of proper number of and quality human resource staff to handle these issues. These are the problems regarding expatriate currently facing by most of the MNCs (Multi-National Companies). Solution: Using diversity in positive manner As we can see that the organization has introduced several policies supporting the diversity within the workplace therefore it is must for them to maintain a conflict resolution system. The organization should create an environment of tolerance and understanding in the team. They should also encourage the employees to adopt this mindset, to challenge their belief system and to be open-minded enough to hear each of the members’ view. It will help members realize that there isn’t only o ne way of thinking. The managers need to accept that they can’t make everyone think and act like they do (Esty, 1995, pp 12-14). They need to be attentive to verbal and nonverbal cues that might course tension.  Ã‚  

The Jewish museum by Daniel Libeskind Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Jewish museum by Daniel Libeskind - Essay Example Architecture has developed and grown throughout history and in the last few decades some very exciting things have been happening. One of the most renowned architects in the 20th and 21st centuries is Daniel Libeskind. Many of his projects have been the reason for Libeskind to be accepted as one of the most creative architects of our generation. His buildings will exemplify distinctive characteristics for someone who admires them. A person sees these works and realises that only a master architect is behind all these attractive buildings. Daniel Libeskind was born in 12th of May, 1946, in Lodz, Poland. He was born at a difficult historic period for his country but also for the entire world, because he was born in a post-war period. Daniel was the second child of Nacham and Dora Libeskind. Both of his parents were Polish Jews who had survived the Holocaust. From a very early age, Libeskind showed that he was inclined towards Arts. At the age of eleven, he and his family immigrated to Tel Aviv, Israel. In Israel he began learning piano, on the America – Israel Cultural Foundation Scholarship. Due to his musical studies he learned how to perform on a stage without making mistakes. This was a significant influence for him for his later way of working. In 1959, Daniel won an America – Israel Cultural Foundation scholarship, after which he and his family, decided to move on to the United States. That was the beginning of his engagement with architecture.

Final exam study sheet Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Final exam study sheet - Research Paper Example Explanation- This is an ironical statement and also the mostly used in the entire story since it is the only answer that Bartle by provides for every question asked regardless whether he is to anything or not. Using the word ‘prefer’ does not necessarily mean that Bartleby would do as expected despite what he claimed to prefer. Quote two (unreliable narrator)-Dead letters! Does it not sound like dead men? Conceive a man by nature and misfortune prone to a pallid hopelessness; can any business seem more fitting to heighten it than that of continually handling these dead letters, and assorting them for the flames? Explanation- In this quote, it is evident that the narrator has ways of involving his audience through asking of questions hence providing a chance for them to flow with him. He uses this technique in explaining the reasons behind the character traits of Bartleby and the reason that led to his job dismissal. Quote one (feminism)-â€Å"But now there was a dull stare in her eyes, whose gaze was fixed away off yonder on one of those patches of blue sky. It was not a glance of reflection, but rather indicated a suspension of intelligent thought.† Explanation- The above quotes explains facts on feminism whereby the author shows the different reactions among women on receiving sad news. The reaction of Louise shows how deeply the news reached to her and the mannerisms in which her reaction was different from that of other people. In her gaze, there is a difference that can be considered shrewder and even incredibly active. Explanation-this quote is ironical in that the previous day before the news were brought Louise prayed that life would be long yet it is during this time that her loved ones die. Also, in the prior days she had always prayed that her days would be shorter. Explanation- This quote is ironical in

Death Penalty (philosophy) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Death Penalty (philosophy) - Essay Example At the end of the film we are presented with what really occurred. The movie’s plot led to the fact of the coercion of two people with nothing to lose and a point to prove. David and Constance plotted to make the ultimate sacrifice by giving up their lives to make the ultimate statement and vindicate their advocacy. So we are faced with the concept of the more than probable possibility that innocent people do end up getting capital punishment for something they are innocent for. The film seems foolish yet enlightening at the same time. Such is the case of the argument against capital punishment. Den Haag argues that capital punishment is imposed on people who committed crimes to summon their guilt which is something that is believed to be personal. That it is not an issue of race or of equality but rather a moral penalty that is nothing but the mere issue of justice. We are again back to the concept that it is a major conflict on the evident fact of commonly supposed racial injustice. It reverts back to the matter of discrimination which is a delicate topic to argue about and would not be sufficiently substantiated on this paper. He is convinced that justice does not hold bearing over inequalities in distribution (Den Haag, par.7). Let me call it the â€Å"OJ Simpson Syndrome.† What Den Haag proposes in that argument is the age-old assumption that more African-American convicts end up on death row than white people. With the risk of sounding racially insensitive of the times, it seems that this is not the case anymore. It was the basic argument for the absolution of OJ Simpson. He represented the thousands of innocent people executed before him because of the color of his skin. Let us no longer delve on whether or not he is guilty as this is an issue all on its own. This became subordinated because of the hype that surrounded the case. He in turn became a representation of all the injustices committed

Typical Lesson Plan to Use for an English Class Case Study

Typical Lesson Plan to Use for an English Class - Case Study Example Ask the students to provide as many words as possible from the following phonic combinations after providing a few examples. The next part involves the student extracting phonic sounds from a given list of words. Actually, it was a lot more personal and took a lot more time. If one needed to get in touch with someone immediately the telephone was the way to go. It seems in today's world everyone has to get to everyone right away. " (J. G. Fabiano) Instructions for Phonics Exercises. Here are a group of phonic sounds. Ask the students to provide as many words as possible from the following phonic combinations after providing a few examples. While the mistress of the home is gradually subsiding from the first stage to the second, take a look at the home. A furnished flat at $8 per week. It did not exactly beggar description, but it certainly had that word on the look-out for the mendicancy squad. In the vestibule below was a letter-box into which no letter would go, and an electric button from which no mortal finger could coax a ring. Also appertaining thereunto was a card bearing the name "Mr James Dillingham Young." Questions: What is intended by the phrase â€Å"when the income was shrunkâ € ? What does â€Å"flung to the breeze† mean in the context of this article? Named 3 words ending with the same last 3 letters of the word commencing on the third line, of the third paragraph. (Tutors notes: ‘beggar’ is the word in question) How many syllables are there in the word, â€Å"Dillingham†. What are the phonic sounds in the word, â€Å"sniffles†.

An Analysis of Immigration in Constitutional Law-Arizona SB 1070 Research Paper

An Analysis of Immigration in Constitutional Law-Arizona SB 1070 - Research Paper Example During its introduction to the Arizona Senate, this legislation aroused a lot of reactions, both support and rejection for its breadth and strictness in curbing illegal immigration. In fact, in recent historical times, the Arizona SB 1070 is perhaps the strictest of U.S immigration laws. Consequent to its strictness, the legislative Act did not only receive domestic reactions but also international attention and criticism. As a matter of fact, the Arizona SB 1070, like the other anti-illegal immigration laws faces a lot of challenges with regard to civil rights, constitutionality, legislatively, and enforceability. Id. Moreover, the law also faces serious social issue challenges. For instance, concerning civil liberties, the law has been opposed due to its condition that 14-year old aliens staying in the country for more than thirty days should register with the government and must possess their documents wherever they go. The legislation has also been criticized for promoting racial discrimination and profiling. As a result of these controversies, which resulted in different types of boycotts, the law was amended in the first week of its being signed into law. Id. This paper explores immigration in constitutional law in the United States, specifically focusing on the Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act (Arizona SB 1070). ... Beginning in the 1790 when the Congress passed the racially instigated Naturalization Act, which categorized citizens as whites, a lot has happened concerning citizenship and immigration in the country. Fortunately, these racial laws were rendered unconstitutional after the Civil War when the Naturalization Act was successfully challenged. In 1952, the McCarran-Walter Act, also known as the Nationality Act of 1952 was established as the basis of all immigration and citizenship laws in the U.S. Though the law initially restricted the number of immigrants of a given nationality moving into the U.S every year, this was later changed when the Congress passed a law giving preferences to skilled immigrants. More developments would come in the subsequent decades when immigration laws allowed certified refugees and others who flee to the U.S for one reason of the other to have immigrant status. Id. Nonetheless, controversies have remained part of U.S immigration laws, as attested by the Immi grant Reform and Control Act of 1986 and the Immigration Act of 1990. Those pitted against one another in these controversies are federal and state governments, socioeconomic and political classes, and civil right activists. For instance, civil right groups opposed the California's Proposition 187 of 1994, which proposed to deny illegal immigrants schooling and medical care, which seemed to have targeted immigrants of Mexican and Latin American descent. Id. Civil right groups asserted that while the government failed to improve poor working conditions that only Latin American and Mexican laborers could work on, it insisted on denying these immigrants their rights such as education and health while they worked

Reflective Independent Learning Essay Example for Free

Reflective Independent Learning Essay 1. A critical part of being an independent learner is reflecting on your learning. Go to the following link from the University of Hull and learn more on how to be a reflective learner: University of Hawaii Reflective Learning 2. Being an independent learner is a guiding principle for university learning and success. Clearly, learning independently is a complex activity that involves many things but crucially it requires the ability to take responsibility for and to reflect on your learning so that you can achieve the goals that you set for yourself. Find out more about what it means to be an independent learner and how you can improve in this area by going to the following link and reading this article from Hull University: Study Advice 1. Write a short paragraph answering the following questions: a) Describe several things that you have done or are doing at university that would be defined as independent learning. b) Being motivated, confident and reflective were highlighted in the article as key to independent learning. How do you rate yourself in these areas? c) Referring to the articles above, describe how you can improve your independent learning. One of the important things that I use and I define as independent learning is portfolios. I use them not only for all my classes but also for everything I take a picture of or draw or write or even tutorials that shows how to make things. I consider that very important because it helps me to remember everything I did and I liked, so every time I take my portfolio and browse it, I remember all the good and positive things I did and that make me happy. In my opinion, motivation, confidence, and reflection are the fundamental keys to be an efficient independent learner because they give energy that make you feel that you want to do something that you like. And when you do something you like it gives you motivation and confidence. It‘s a kind of cycle that never ends. And personally I think those three elements are what keep artists doing the good work. In my case I use normal portfolios, but the negative thing about that is that a certain time I will end up having many portfolios which will take a lot of space.

Underrepresentation Of Women In Science And Engineering

Underrepresentation Of Women In Science And Engineering Women run the risk of lagging behind in the fields of science and engineering. A wide gap exists between men and women in these fields. Women tend to have overrepresentation in social sciences and humanities, and underrepresentation in science and engineering. Although the number of women in the fields has grown steadily, women remain underrepresented at high levels of these professions. Social norms, culture and attitudes, play a significant role in undermining the role of women in the aforementioned fields. In many cases, the achievement and excellence of women are measured using male oriented standards. Even for those that excel, their salaries are in many cases dissimilar with their male counterparts. However, countries can use several recommendations that can help boost the presence of women in these fields. Inclusion of women in science and engineering is a crucial factor that can significantly accelerate technological advancement in the contemporary society. Discussion Underrepresentation of Women in Science and Engineering There is a marked underrepresentation of women in science and engineering although the contemporary society needs technology most society. Science and engineering are historically According to statistics revealed by Blasdell (19); over 50 percent of the population is composed of women of whom 44 percent is in the workforce but only 13 percent in science and engineering. Recruitment of women in science and technology can help mitigate the drain of engineering talent through the provision significant resources. However, several barriers impede this inclusion and / or advancement of women in science and engineering. Challenges and Reasons for Underrepresentation Social norms and culture come as the most significant factors impeding the advancement of women male dominated professions. Traditions, values and styles lean and suit the male gender has shaped the culture in SET fields. The culture is not suited for the needs of women in social and learning environments. From time immemorial, women are regarded as caretakers where their work is fundamentally taking care of their families. This social norm leads to a stereotypical view on women where many men regard the abilities of women in these fields negatively. As documented by Bystydzienski (24), many men respond negatively on the capability of women to excel in technical (science) and engineering fields. The societal norms dictate that a woman cannot be successful as a mother and a wife while in these career paths. According to the International Labor Organization, science and engineering are associated with pervasive gender roles that encourage women to engage in soft subjects (hawks and Joa n 250). This undermines the excellence of women in the aforementioned fields. Additionally, women who take SET careers are associated with a loss of femininity in their societies (Hall 82). This impedes their development in the fields since they may feel that their intuitive and imaginative styles do not fit to scientific research. Female stereotyping also is a key element among social norms that impede the accomplishments of women in SET. Women scientists are usually featured as atypical women and atypical scientists. This implies that, not only is their deficiency in science attacked, but also their gender identity. Female norms are more associated with collaboration than competition. However, the societal norms set by men are more competitive than they are collaborative. However, women are oriented towards win-win settings (Bystydzienski 39). The competitiveness and desire to prove oneself significantly impedes the desire of women to advance in these career fields. Legal systems to a lesser extent than norms affect womens excellence in science and engineering. In several countries, anti-discriminatory laws require that universities offer differential entry conditions for women. However, the weakness of the legal systems in several other countries (especially developing ones) has left women at a disadvantage in the inclusion of science and engineering programs. Legal trends encourage institutions to alleviate discrimination and other institutional norms and practices that bar women from engaging in SET courses. However, with high levels of female stereotyping in different societies, women still lag behind in their advancement, in these fields (Steel and Emily 91). Female Dominant Science Fields Although few women re found in the engineering field, there are other science fields where there is a sizable number. Nursing is one of the most prominent science professions where women are found. Nursing, as a science, attracts a significant number of female students. Additionally, this field has also been stereotyped, and it is more associated with women than with men. One factor that leads to a high number of female nurses is the negative attitude that a man will look unmanly if he joins the course. Hawks and Joan (257) add that women are capable of interacting better with other people than men are. This implies that women can interact with patients more efficiently in hospitals than men can. Additionally, nursing combines feminine values with professional values of support and care. Furthermore, women are at an added advantage of taking nursing courses since in many cases, men are excluded. Academic Achievement of Women in SET The academic achievement of women in science and engineering remains low. The achievement of women in the fields falters especially immediately after the entry in the first year in universities. According to Hall (102), of the 40 percent of the students who entered university in 2010 in USA, 11 percent were female. Once they join institutions of higher learning, their performance may also deteriorate significantly. Lack of confidence in their capability to balance family responsibilities and science career significantly influences their academic achievements in the fields. Additionally, the portrayal of science and engineering male-oriented courses exacerbate their fears of their excellence. Additionally, in undergraduate science and engineering classes, women in many cases feel isolated. They also feel resented by their male counterparts since they think that their opinions are not respected by their male counterparts. Furthermore, women who have high levels of confidence in science and technology classrooms elicit negative responses from their male counterparts. According to sociologists, women also express lower levels of self-esteem than men in these fields do. The combination of these effects affects the academic achievement of women negatively. Many women will tend to mask their academic abilities to evade alienation and ensure that they achieve social success. Hawks and Joan (108) add that women win acceptance through the loss of personal terms. As he observes, women who achieve highly in these fields are likely to lose their gender roles. To avoid this, women recede to standard gender roles. In such a situation, women do not ask many questions or explore alternative option, but rather, they pursue and follow what they are taught. This significantly affects their academic achievement and thy end up lagging behind their male counterparts. To exacerbate the situation, even with their assumption of standard gender roles, the presence of women in a science o r engineering class draws a lot of attention (Steel and Emily 125). This inundation with social attention creates uncomfortable learning environment that may interfere with their academic achievement and/or progress. In America, women currently earn approximately 41 percent of PhDs in SET fields but make approximately 28 percent of the workforce in these fields. As observed by Nut, the low number of women involved in the workforce is because of high dropout rate in SET field. Decreasing the dropout rate of women in SET careers is significantly essential in the pursuit for gender equality since women in SET jobs earn approximately 35 percent more than in non-SET fields (Blaisdell 24). Cross-gender Disparity in Salaries Albeit the fight for equality in all fields of life, there still exists a wide disparity between the salaries of male and women workers. In the fields of science and engineering, this disparity is highly pronounced. Data collected through the census in the United States depict a significant dissimilarity between the workers in these fields. In 1999, the average salary for female scientists and engineers was almost 22 percent less than that of their male counterparts. However, this was regarded as a significant increase since this reflected a 25 percent increase from the figures posted in 1993. In 1999, among scientists and engineers who had held their degrees for less than 5 years, women earned 83 percent of what men earned. Salary differential at this time depended on the field. In life sciences, women earned 23 percent lesser than their male counterparts while in, computer science, the difference was 12 percent. However, the difference has reduced over the years. In 2009, independe nt surveys by Glassdoor revealed that women earned approximately 93.7 percent of what men earned. This applied for those who had zero to three years of experience. For scientists and engineers who had more than ten years of experience, women earned approximately 89.1 percent of what men earned. Another survey conducted in 2012 reveals that the gap is steadily being close, albeit at a significantly slow pace. Women scientists and engineers with zero to three years of experienced earned 95.2 percent of what their male counterparts earned. For those with over ten years of experience, women earned 92.6 percent of what men earned. Albeit the underrepresentation, it is evident that the salary gap is being closed. Factors such as emphasis on equality between men and women play a noteworthy role in changing these dynamics. Additionally, stereotyping and discrimination are diminishing, and these fields are now more cross-gender than they used to be several decades ago (Hall 124-130). Cross-cultural Differences in Status of Women in SET The status of women in science is in many cases vary from culture to culture. This is because the norms observed by one culture may be different from those of another culture. Studies conducted by Blaisdell (29) indicate a wide disparity in the way different cultures uphold women in science and engineering. These differences are more pronounced in societies that have stuck to their traditions than in the modernized societies. Among the African Americans and other black societies, gender roles are highly emphasized. This implies that women are expected to take care of their families while their male counterparts act as breadwinners. On this note, women need to maintain their femininity in these societies. In these societies, a career in science and engineering is highly associated with a loss of femininity. In this regard, women are regarded negatively in these societies once they take to science and engineering. This cultural stereotyping has significantly contributed to a few black women getting involved in science and technology. Through women empowerment, the number of women taking careers in science and technology in several other cultures or societies has increased. Western cultures are becoming more liberal and, thus, more women are being accepted into these male dominated careers. This increase can be attributed to less strict cultural norms, constitutions promoting equity and discouraging discrimination and government strategies promoting inclusion of women. According to statistics posted by the United Nations (quoted in Blaidell 30), the Asian communities (especially in the United States) have the highest number of women scientists and engineers. Among the Asian communities, SET (science, engineering and technology) courses are considered part of the community. Although their culture also emphasizes on gender roles on women, they show significant liberalism regarding women engaging in science and technology. The above observation indicates that, in soc ieties where cultural norms, discrimination and stereotyping are high, number of women entering into the field of science and engineering is less and vice versa. Opportunities for Women in SET Regardless of the challenges, women engaging in SET fields have a multiplicity of opportunities. In the United States, the government has increased its effort in having women included in Set programs. Through affirmative actions, the entry standards for women into university in SET fields are lower than for men. This is encouraging an additional number of women engage in science and engineering. Additionally, other governmental and non-governmental research centers are including more women than it was a few years ago. Additionally, these institutes engage in campaigns and trainings to raise the number of women in science and engineering. For example, through the Executive Office of the President, NASA was involved in a national convention to encourage girls and women to engage in SET. Through their presence, girls had hands-on experience on NASA activities to inspire them in pursuing SET careers (Steel and Emily 200). Recommendations Based on the challenges facing women in SET, a lot remains undone. Several recommendations can help increase the presence of women in SET. First, the culture and social norms should be redefined to have an increased number of women in SET. As noted by Bystydzienski (209), women need first to adjust to the system with the system in which they have modest prior knowledge. In this regard, women need to develop coping strategies to have high representation in this field. Additionally, the cultural and social norms of the modern societies should change. Stereotyping and discrimination at entry level in universities are some of the most significant challenges for women wishing to engage in SET courses. With government strategies, discrimination and stereotyping can be reduced thus increasing the number of women in SET. Furthermore, a change in the competitiveness in SET can help increase the number of women. According to Blaisdell (21), dissatisfaction and intimidation arise among women wh en faced by competitiveness at work. To mitigate this problem, group activities and non-threatening environments should be encouraged. Additionally, standards for assessment should be reduced to help women feel integrated. Furthermore, connected teaching can help integrate women in science and engineering. In connected classes, truth is constructed through consensus, but not conflict. This helps reduce intimidation among women. Conclusion Inclusion of women in science and engineering can help in the growth of innovation. However, women are significantly underrepresented in SET fields. Social norms and some oppressive legal systems have been found to contribute to this underrepresentation. Even for women who advance in these careers, a marked disparity exists between their salaries and those of their female counterparts. However, women, through government efforts, have a multiplicity of opportunities in advancing in these fields. As identified, several strategies can be used to allay the challenges women face in SET fields. The inclusion of women in SET fields is crucial for growth of innovation thus additional women should be encouraged to join SET courses.

Ecstasy :: essays research papers

â€Å"Ecstasy† Damages the Brain and Impairs Memory in Humans   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In an article that was found at NIDA NOTES on the Internet, titled â€Å"Ecstasy â€Å" Damages the Brain and Impairs Memory in Humans, discusses the horrible effect that this popular drug has on the human body. In a supported study conducted by NIDA, it had shown the direct evidence the use of MDMA, which is also known as ecstasy has on causing brain damage. Using brain-imaging techniques the study had found that MDMA harms neurons that release serotonin, which is a brain chemical that plays a very important roll in regulating memory and our other functions. In other studies researches have found that people who do this drug have memory problems only two weeks after doing the drug. MDA does change your brain and the consequences are harmful. This is mainly for young people who are using the drug the most heavily. In a brain imaging study, researches took brain scans of 14 MDA users who had not used any psychoactive drug, including MDA for th ree weeks. Brain images were also taken of 15 people who had never used MDMA. In the people who had used the drug the images had shown a significant reduction of the number of serotonin transporters. The results were that the people who had used MDMA lost more of these then people who had never done the drug before. The lost of memory was also tested on MDMA users. 24 MDMA users and 24 people who had never done the drug before were tested for memory. Compared to the non-MDMA users the MDMA users had significant trouble in visual and verbal memory. The side effects are growing, and it was proven that use of this drug could damage your brain and give you server memory loss.

Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe Essay -- Moll Flanders Defoe Essays Pape

Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe Moll Flanders was a product of her vanity and pride. She devoted her entire life to achieving some sort of wealth and social status. Her pride encompassed her entire life and affected all of her life decisions. Moll sacrificed many things, including love, religion, self-respect, and peace of mind, in order to attain a sort of affluence. Eventually, Moll achieves her desires and retires a gentlewoman in America, but her journey definitely took a serious toll on her life. In the end, one must ask the question of whether Moll's lifestyle and decisions were the right ones. Did the ends justify the means? Did Moll's chosen path lead to a life of satisfaction or did the pain, paranoia, and emotional trauma that came along the way extract a price that is much greater then the wealth that she eventually achieved? The answer is that the suffering that Moll experienced was not worth the final outcome. Although Moll reached her goals in the end, she would have had a more fulfilling and gratifyi ng life had she suppressed her vanity and price and accepted her role in society and lived accordingly. Moll began life in the low class. Not much nobility or status was expected of the orphan born in Newgate Prison, and in English society, there was little chance for Moll to escape this class. But Moll had the blessing of the kind "nurse" who raised her, kept her out of the dreaded servitude, and found a high class family for Moll to live and grow up with. Moll was a beautiful girl and thanks to her "nurse" and this family, she was well along the road to truly becoming a gentlewoman. Had events continued flawlessly from here, Moll might have achieved her goal without any pain, suffering, or remorse. Unfortunately, this was not to be the case. Moll's problems began with her relationship with the eldest brother. Her vanity and egoism allowed her to be seduced thus creating a serious conflict when the youngest brother sought her hand in marriage. Moll soon faced the dilemma of marrying Robin or faring for herself. Opting for financial security, Moll married a man whom she did not love. After Robin's death, Moll once again sought to marry a well to do man. She did just that and lived extravagantly for a few years until her husband was imprisoned for his debts. Once again, Moll was placed in a position of faring for herself or marrying... ... right, it was still an unnecessary risk. Moll and Jemmy had enough money to survive comfortably on. Was a little extra money worth risking her family and the only man she truly loved? Once again, Molls vanity and pride risked the happy life that she had found. We have seen how Moll let her vanity and pride shape her life. She found what she wanted in the end, but it took a mighty toll. She suffered through numerous relationships, each one leaving her in a position worse off then before. She had to deal with the constant paranoia and fear that is associated with being a thief. Yet she couldn't give up that lifestyle. She even had to face down her own death when she was sentenced to the gallows because of her actions. Moll made it through all of this and finally seemed to find happiness. But once again she was willing to risk all that she had in order to satisfy her vanity and greed. Moll had several opportunities to suppress her vanity and turn her life in a more positive direction. Doing so would have prevented a lot of pain and trauma. Unfortunately, Moll was never capable of overcoming this pride and thus had to suffer all the ill effects that were associated with it.

Relationship Between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth Essay

Almost every relationship has those critical arguments or confrontations and requires communication as well as collaboration to overcome its challenges. This is the case between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth where two different personalities and characteristics begin to clash against one another and push each other to their limits. As the play progresses, Lady Macbeth’s motives and desires are revealed and as a result, her aspirations get the best of her and starts to influence her husband Macbeth to take the path of potentially being king which ultimately involves elements of death, fraud, and exploitation. Throughout act one of â€Å"Macbeth†, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth share a controlling yet cooperative relationship. Lady Macbeth plays a very significant role in influencing Macbeth to choose the path towards higher royalty. Her own ambitions of being queen alongside her husband motivated her to plot a wicked act to overthrow or maybe even kill the king. Lady Macbeth first realizes the possibility of being queen in act 1, scene 5, lines 14-15 in which she states, â€Å" Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be what thou art promised. When she hears of the news, she immediately begins plotting to gain her husbands desire to be king but while doing so, she questions Macbeth as well as his abilities and personality. Lady Macbeth’s first instinct is to act with cruelty rather than loyalty, revealing her dark nature which go to beyond measures to obtain her desires. Also, starting from line 15 of Act 1, Scene 5, Lady Macbeth states, â€Å"Yet do I fear thy nature; it is too full o’th’milk of human kindness to catch the nearest way†; in other words, Macbeth is a good-hearted man. She knows her husband too well to believe that he would be willing to do any wicked act such as murder especially against the king. As a result, she resolves to convince her husband to do whatever is required to seize the crown. She also believes that by putting her femininity aside, she can possibly do any of the darkest and most wicked acts to possibly seize the crown. Lady Macbeth plays the dominant character throughout the opening scenes, in which she asserts her ambition for her and her husband to gain hierarchic status. Her best bet is to try to influence Macbeth is by questioning his anhood. Through parts of act 1, scene 7, Macbeth gives her his reasons why he shouldn’t kill the king: karma, being the king’s host, being loyal as his subject, the king being humble leader, and compliments given to him by the king made him look favorable in the eyes of the people. It is fair to say that Macbeth does have ambition, but at this point in the play, his conscience is str onger than ambition giving him less motivation to kill the king. As a result, Lady Macbeth repeatedly questions his manhood in the hope that he will defend himself by carrying out the murders. It seems to me that Macbeth has a mental struggle with his masculinity, because Lady Macbeth deprives him of it when he is at his lowest moments and then try to win him over by giving him compliments and expletive comments for example in act 1, scene 7, lines 49-59 in which Lady Macbeth states, â€Å"When you durst do it, then you were a man; and to be more than what your were, you would be so much more the men†¦.. Does unmake you. I have given suck, and know how tender ‘tis to love the babe that milks me. I would, while it was smiling in my face, have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums and dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you have done this. † Basically, she dares him to commit the murder, using words that taunt rather than persuade in which it frightened and shocked Macbeth so much that he, as a result gives in to her orders. At this point we see Lady Macbeth as a persistent and strong women, while we see Macbeth as her indecisive and cowardly husband in which Lady Macbeth’s uses her strong characteristics to undermine Macbeth’s in order for him to cooperate with her ideas. Under her spell, all of Macbeth’s objections seem to evaporate and he is left only with a weak â€Å"If we should fail? † which is in line 58 of act 1, scene 7. Macbeth is not a good man at this point in the play, but he is not yet an evil one; he is tempted, and he tries to resist temptation. Macbeth’s resistance, however, is not effective enough to stand up to his wife’s ability to manipulate him. We finally get a sense that Macbeth is willing to do what his wife asks of him. She acts as a catalyst for Macbeth to commit treason by disregarding his rational, moral arguments and challenging his manhood.. As a result, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth cooperate and plot to get the servants drunk, and during that time Macbeth and Lady Macbeth would kill King Duncan and frame the drunken guards. In line 79-80 of act 1 scene 7, Macbeth states, â€Å"I am settled, and bend up each corporal agent to this terrible feat. † Since Macbeth succumbs to Lady Macbeth’s wishes, Shakespeare re-confirms just how close the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth is and that she has the power and he listens to whatever she has to say whether if it’s for his own good or not. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth share a very complex relationship between each other. Lady Macbeth is a complicated woman in the beginning of the play; she was strong and courageous, yet deceitful and problematic. Lady Macbeth endangered Macbeth’s life because had it not been for her influence and motivation, Macbeth would not have been so thirsty for the crown as well the overthrowing of those who currently held it. Lady Macbeth is Macbeth’s soulmate as well as other half, and in doing so she controlled him and his brain, convincing him to do the most wicked acts. If it wasn’t for her, who knows what fate would have brought to Macbeth and his legacy.

Changes in Business Environment

Anyone who is familiar with the major organizations in their area probably has observed firsthand how dramatically the business environment has changed in recent years. These changes have had a significant impact on organizational efforts to be successful. In practically every instance organizations have tried to more clearly identify and then focus on factors that impact their success. One factor that seems to be receiving more attention than any other are the people who work for organizations. What organizations are realizing is that their likelihood of sustained success is most dependent on learning to get the maximum out of their employees. Such a realization has had a significant impact on the practice of human resources management (HRM). What's more, business forecasters predict that the role of employees, managers, and HRM personnel are likely to see more changes in the decades ahead. Thus, individuals entering the business environment today (and tomorrow) require both an understanding of the importance of human resources and effective HRM to organizational success. As we move further into the twenty-first century, it's becoming absolutely clear that the effective management of an organization's human resources is a major source of competitive advantage and may even be the single most important determinant of an organization's performance over the long term. Organizations have started to realize that their success is dependent on their ability to attract, develop, and retain talented employees. Robert Reich emphasizes this point when he suggests that in the future, the organization's ability to attract, develop, and retain a talented workforce will be a critical factor in developing a high-performance organization. The long-term, sustained success of an organization in today's changing and challenging business environment involves top management's commitment to designing and implementing HRM programs geared to developing both high-performing employees and organizations. This means that top management anticipates the future need for employees and develops specific plans to obtain, develop, and retain the type of employees who meet the needs of a high-performing organization. Only by anticipating and working toward the development and retention of the right type of employees can any organization expect to be successful in a global, dynamic, and continuously changing competitive environment. An important element of organizational success is an HRM strategy where every manager is an HRM manager. For example, every manager must be expected to set goals for the development and satisfaction of employees. Second, every employee is viewed as a valuable resource, just like buildings and equipment. The organization's success is dependent upon high-performing employees, and without such employees there is no competitive advantage for the organization. Finally, through effective HRM programs the organization's goals are successfully integrated with individual employee needs. It is the thesis of this paper that HRM will continue to be an important element in achieving organizational success in the years to come. What makes one organization successful whereas another fails to make use of the same opportunities? For our purposes, the key to continued survival and organizational success lies not in the rational, quantitative approaches, but increasingly in a commitment to things like people, employee involvement, and commitment. Success for the organizations of today and tomorrow is being increasingly seen as dependent on effective HRM. Effective HRM positively affects performance in organizations, both large and small. Human resources management is the term increasingly used to refer to the philosophy, policies, procedures, and practices related to the management of an organization's employees. While a great deal of research has been devoted to identifying the sources of workplace stress and its links to adverse health and organizational outcomes, little has been done to focus on interventions to improve working environments. In reviewing the practice overall of stress prevention and intervention at the workplace, three conclusions may be drawn. First, although there is a considerable amount of activity in the field of stress management, â€Å"it is disproportionally concentrated on reducing the effects of stress, rather than reducing the presence of stressors at work. † (Kahn & Byosiere, 1992) To put it differently, stress management activities focus on secondary and tertiary prevention, rather than primary prevention. Whereas the latter involves interventions aimed at eliminating, reducing or altering stressors in the working situation, the former two are aimed at the effects of stress, with secondary prevention concerning the helping of employees (who are already showing signs of stress) from getting sick (for example, by increasing their coping capacity); and tertiary prevention concerning treatment activities for employees with serious stress-related health problems (for example, stress counseling/employee assistance programmers, the rehabilitation after long-term absenteeism). Second, most activities are primarily aimed at the individual rather than at the workplace or the organization, in other words, a worker-oriented approach, for instance, by improving employees' skills to manage, resist or reduce stress, as opposed to a job or organization-oriented approach, for instance, by job redesign or in some way changing the corporate culture or management style. Moreover, as Kahn and Byosiere (1992) conclude in their literature review: ‘Even the programs that aim at stress inhibition tend to address subjective rather than objective aspects of the stress sequence; almost none consider the organizational antecedents (policy and structure) that intensify or reduce the presence of objective stressors' (p. 633). A third peculiarity in the practice of stress prevention concerns the lack of a systematic risk assessment (‘stress audit', identifying risk factors and risk groups) as well as of serious research into the effects of all these activities (Kahn and Byosiere, 1992). In the words of Kahn and Byosiere (1992): ‘The programs in stress management that are sold to companies show a suspicious pattern of variance; they differ more by practitioner than by company. When practitioners in any field offer sovereign remedies regardless of the presenting symptoms, patients should be wary' (p. 23). Against the background of (1) clear evidence of the relationship between psychosocial work characteristics and health , (2) national and international legislation that put the emphasis on risk assessment and combating risks by changing the stressful situation, and (3) the basic idea of prevention, that is, eliminating the stress producing situation (prevention at the source), the current practice of stress prevention and intervention seems disappointing. Given the current status of stress prevention, a question that deserves attention is why it is that companies express a preference for ‘post hoc' individual-directed interventions, as opposed to primary or job/organizational interventions. At least four factors seem to contribute to this rather one-sided ‘individual'-oriented approach : 1 Senior managers are often inclined to blame personality and lifestyle factors of employees who are absent from work or report health complaints, rather than the job or organizational factors, for which they are responsible. Senior management also often point to the potential role of stressful life events (family problems such as a divorce or the loss of a beloved), or responsibilities and obligations in the family life (raising children for example). Of course, on the micro-level (i. e. on the level of the individual employee) stressors at work are often accompanied by stressors in one's family situation, but because of the mutual influence and spill-over between both domains, the causes and consequences can hardly be disentangled. Furthermore, holding individual characteristics responsible for differences in experienced stress, one cannot explain why some occupations show significantly more stress complaints and higher sickness absence rates than others. A risk attached to this view is that the employee is regarded as being ‘guilty' of his or her own health problems, that is ‘blaming the victim', with the potential threat in the workplace being overlooked. 2 The second reason may be found in the nature of psychology itself, with its emphasis on subjective and individual phenomena. Many psychology-oriented stress researchers are primarily interested in stress as a subjective and individual phenomenon. To some extent, this may be a legacy of the strong tradition in psychology to focus on individual differences (i. e. differential psychology), and on individual counseling and therapy (i. e. clinical psychology). In this context, a warning seems appropriate against ‘psychologism', that is, the explanation of (a sequence of) societal events from an individual-psychic point of view. Because of this orientation, the potential impact of more ‘objective' or ‘collective' risk factors in the work situation (e. . poor management, work-overload and bullying), may go unnoticed and untreated. In stress research, there is a gap between what ‘theory' preaches (that is, properly designed longitudinal studies, involving a randomized control group, collecting both subjective and objective measures that are analyzed properly with statistical techniques), and what is possible in practice. One of the main reasons for this gap is the difficulty of conducting methodological ‘sound' interventions and evaluation studies in an ever-changing organizational environment. In the 1990s, not only the context of work is rapidly changing, but also ‘work' itself. Work organizations are in a constant state of change, due, in part, to new production concepts (for example, team based work, lean production methods, telework), ‘the flexible workforce' concept, the 24-hour economy, the increased utilization of information technology, and the changing structure of the work force (for example, more women working). These changes clearly affect the work behavior of employees, work group processes, as well as the organizational structure and culture. As a consequence, it is practically impossible to find two companies with comparable stress problems at the beginning of any intervention programme, of which the control company agrees not to undertake any action for a period of three or four years (the period a researcher might like to choose for an intervention project). A related problem is that it is often not in a company's interest to facilitate ‘sound scientific research' in the context of an ongoing business, involving interlopers from outside (i. e. researchers) and detailed data collection on the scene of sometimes confidential information. Senior managers can regard research of this kind as a nuisance to the primary organizational processes and objectives. 4 A fourth factor may be found in the discipline segregation within stress research, with a tendency of researching to neglect the collection of more objective data on the impact of stress and its prevention. Work and organizational psychologists concentrate primarily on ‘soft' outcome variables (e. g. motivation, satisfaction, effect and health complaints), and are well-known for their questionnaire-oriented approach. Traditionally, it has been observed that stress researchers are reluctant to co-operate with economists. For instance in order to study the potential ‘hard' outcome measures (that would include productivity, sickness absence rates and accident rates), as well as the financial effects of interventions. To put it differently, a history of gaining empirical insight in costs and benefits is merely lacking in stress research. Research in the field should in the future include some of the following: first, stress researchers should not only address ‘soft' outcome variables (for example, motivation and satisfaction), but extend their focus to also include ‘hard' outcome variables (for example, productivity and sickness absenteeism). Whereas work and organizational psychologists have often stated that an adequate stress prevention programme may positively affect productivity and sickness absenteeism, until now they have not laid down a sufficiently strong empirical foundation for this position. For too long, stress prevention advocates have based their arguments on a moral or humanistic appeal to the good employer (that is, on ‘industrial charity'), or on legal regulations (for example, working conditions legislation). It is beyond doubt that these are important and strong arguments. Still, it may well be that they are not enough, since these arguments are not those that primarily affect senior management, who are more ‘bottom line' driven. Second, in order to increase the impact of stress prevention in the workplace, more emphasis should be placed on such factors as the quality of product and services, organizational flexibility, continuity, absenteeism, productivity, labor market facets and improved competitivity; and for there to be a multi-disciplinary approach rather than the traditional mono-disciplinary one (for example, co-operation with economists and ergonomists). And finally, the demonstration of examples of good preventive practice is considered as a sine qua non for developing effective stress prevention procedures and for the involvement of both social partners in this field (i. e. employers and employees). Stress has always been a topic of concern for business and industry. Health educators, in response to this concern, have offered a variety of stress management or stress reduction programs. However, McGehee points out that her discussion is not about what stress is or how stress can be managed or the latest research in stress management. The literature on these topics is profuse and easy to locate. Rather, she is concerned with the nature of stress management programs inside companies that have decided to make stress management a part of their employee development. Her discussion includes the reason behind a management program, the format of stress management programs, the selection of a stress management program, work issues and stress management, and the management of the stress response. Although stress has been a constant concern, a serious and growing problem in industry today is burnout. Klarreich relates his health education program on burnout, which was extremely well received in his organization. He describes the nature of burnout, the myths associated with this phenomenon, and the societal and familial influences that contribute to this problem. He delineates a number of steps to â€Å"put out the fire. † These include self-appraisal, alteration of expectations, communication to establish social support, and determination of a behavioral option. He indicates that the healthy employee of the future will be a â€Å"hardy employee. † Achieving excellence in the workplace has become the passion of most North American corporations. Pulvermacher presents a unique health education program, which he delivers as a workshop, to many corporate employees. He states that pursuing excellence requires the application of several fundamental skills. He reviews effective goal setting strategies, methods for avoiding the trap of perfectionism, techniques for managing self-defeating attitudes and beliefs, harnessing stress advantageously, increasing one's self-discipline, managing conflict constructively, and communicating effectively. A variety of reasons for implementing stress management programs are ascribed to by the companies currently doing so. The major reasons include reducing health costs, improving productivity, and boosting employee morale. In many cases, stress management is part of a wellness program. Stress-related disorders, including certain headaches, stomach disorders, chronic muscular pain, cardiac and respiratory conditions, and psychosomatic complaints have been linked to a large percentage of doctor's office visits and hospital tests and admissions. One goal of stress management programs is to provide alternate ways to respond to stress, to prevent potential disorders, and ultimately to reduce health costs. Stress level has been found to be linked to worker productivity. At moderate amounts of stress, performance is at its highest. Stress in moderate amounts, such as from reasonable deadlines, a focus on quality, rational performance rating systems, a system of accountability, often motivates performance. When stress rises to higher levels and a number of stressors are affecting the individual, performance deteriorates. At times of high stress, an individual is not as effective in solving problems, and on-the-job performance is negatively affected. The goal of stress management programs in this case is to provide ways in which employees can cope better with increasing stress and continue to perform well on the job. Stress management programs are usually popular with employees. Attendance at talks and workshops shows that the topic is a popular one. Many companies decide to implement these programs as morale boosters because they â€Å"can't hurt anything. † Stress management has become an integral part of most preventive medicine programs. These programs attempt to include education and training in a variety of ways so that the employees can safeguard their health.