Law Essay

Administrative Action Are grounds of judicial review so poorly defined that they enable the courts to pick and choose the cases in which they will grant judicial review? Should that be the case? Introduction Substantive Grounds of Review: Unreasonableness Unreasonableness as a ground of review is difficult to define with any clarity or certainty and as a direst result has often been branded as a problem ridden aspect of administrative law.The concept of Wednesday unreasonableness, formulated in the case of Associated Provincial Picture Houses v. Wednesbury Corporation [1948] and further developed in Council of Civil Service Unions v. Minister for the Civil Service [1985] per Lord Diplock was that courts would intervene to correct an administrative action based on the ground of reasonableness only if it was â€Å"so outrageous in its defiance of logic or accepted moral standards that no sensible person who had applied his mind to the question to be decided could have arrived at it. I ndeterminacy as to the definition of Unreasonableness: Poorly defined grounds of review? The concept of unreasonableness as propagated by Lord Greene and adopted by Australian courts is inherently indeterminate. Whether a particular decision is reasonable or not is often nothing more than a question of degree and opinion by the courts. This creates an overt sense of arbitrariness which then calls into question the consistency and subsequently effectiveness of such a ground of review as illustrated by case law.The effectiveness of unreasonableness as a ground of review was blatantly called into question in the case of Chan v Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs where the High Court and the Federal Court differed in opinion as to what constituted unreasonableness which was manifestly unfair. This apparent inability of the courts to reach a consensus on what precisely constitutes the required degree of unreasonableness in order to allow a reversal of the disputed administrative decision calls into question the consistency with which it can be applied by courts.Although subsequent cases (Prasad v Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs/ Luu v Renevier/ Minister for Aboriginal Affairs v Peko-Wallsend) seemed to prefer an expansive interpretation of unreasonableness, in neither of these cases can it be said that the delegate’s decision represented something that was manifestly unfair or overwhelming as required by Lord Greene’s original version. Conversely, it can be argued that the Federal Court simply reviewed the merits of the case and substituted its decision for that of the original one.In these cases although it was difficult to reach the conclusion that the decision was so unreasonable that no reasonable person would have come to them, that is exactly what the courts did. This further prompts arguments that the ground of unreasonableness is so poorly defined that courts can pick and choose the cases in which they grant judicial review . The wider the interpretation of unreasonableness greater the risk that courts are in essence given greater opportunity to conduct a merits based review with the effect being that judicial review becomes less effective as it loses the element of consistency.In light of this realization, this ground has recently come under close scrutiny by both the judiciary and the legislature. Where unreasonableness does exist as a ground of review, both the High Court and the Federal Court have held unequivocally that it must be strictly construed and that the courts must abstain from using unreasonableness as a guise to hear an appeal and so engage in merits review of a case.In the cases of Minister of immigration and Ethnic Affairs v Eshetu and Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs v Betkhoshabeh, the Court established strict constraints for unreasonableness, insisting that it is only to be used in the most extreme of cases and that the review should only extend to the legality of the decision. These cases clearly mark a turnaround from the earlier approach in Prasad. In essence his ground of review has been narrowed so that it is to be used only where there is unreasonableness in the very strict sense of the word such that courts can only intervene where only one possible conclusion could have been reached by the decision maker but was not so reached. Therefore precisely defining this ground of review is impossible due to conflicting needs to reign in unreasonableness as a ground of review as opposed to limiting its scope excessively.Proponents of the restrictive approach advocated in Eshetu would argue that a wider interpretation and application of unreasonableness may eventuate in judicial review extending to the merits of a case and possibly usurping the administrative process. However to restrict unreasonableness as a ground of review to that extent runs the risk of marginalizing this ground to the effect of making it redundant. This then gives birth to the possibility that occasions where judicial review was warranted due to the oppressive nature of administrative decisions would go unchecked.There must be a ground of review that can capture decisions such as that in Chan that would otherwise escape scrutiny. Moreover the arguments for and against a restrictive approach to interpreting unreasonableness do not of themselves remove other elements of unreasonableness as a ground of review that are poorly defined. The requirements for something overwhelming or for the evidence to support only one possible conclusion are no more determinate than those of the concept of reasonableness itself.There still exists the need for courts to engage in an evaluative, value laden inquiry as to the reasonableness (or the extent thereof) of a decision and this necessarily involves delving into the merits of a decision rather than its legality. The test of whether a decision is reasonable then hinges upon whether the evidence has been considered wit h propriety and reasonably and it is precisely this which makes the test one of poor definition.In determining whether the available evidence was reasonably interpreted, even considering the more recent restrictive approach propagated by courts, the courts are essentially disagreeing with the decision under review on an indeterminate ground. The danger of illegitimate judicial incursion into the merits of the decision remains present despite its strict construction. Violating the Distinction between merits and judicial review: Poorly defined grounds of review?Although courts can justify judicial review on the basis of Wednesbury unreasonableness, this justification is limited in that the courts cannot intervene simply because they do not agree with the administrative decision or view the facts differently. The distinction between judicial and merits review requires that courts only concern themselves with the question of whether the decision maker had acted within the confines of hi s power subject to the issues of relevancy, proprietary of purpose and unreasonableness.In no way must they concern themselves with the appropriateness of nor the policy considerations behind the decision in a bid to influence or criticize the policy. To do so would amount to a merits review and this would be contrary to the rule that the final authority on the merits of a decision should be the body vested with the discretionary power to do so by Parliament.The theory behind this is that although Courts have the constitutional authority to review decisions of the other arms of government, there is an ever present danger that they might extrapolate this duty excessively and effectively exercise the power vested by Parliament in the primary decision maker, hence substituting their decision for that of the intended decision maker. This would amount to a radical breach of the doctrine of Separation of Powers due to the courts’ exercise of a â€Å"surrogate political processâ₠¬  in direct and conflictual contravention of the notion of Parliamentary sovereignty.The aggregate effect would be a decay of our established system of parliamentary democracy as the courts are neither democratically elected nor politically accountable. The credibility and legitimacy of both the judiciary (and judicial review) and the Constitutional guarantee against excesses by any arm of the Government would be impaired should such a development occur. However the problems surface when there is attempt to apply the theory to practice. Judicial review, despite the grounds on which it is justified, ecessarily involves a process that is evaluative, with emphasis on examining the merits of a decision. When this is compounded by the fact that a conferral of discretionary powers are done so in language that often lacks clarity and is open-ended, it is not too remote to state that courts, in their attempt to evaluate the reasonableness of a decision, will have to embark upon the path o f a value-laden judgment about whether there was a breach of the confines of the discretionary power.This inherent problem within grounds of review is particularly exacerbated in the case of Wednesbury unreasonableness because, although the enacting statue would include the requirement of reasonableness, it will inconveniently leave out the definition of reasonableness, hence creating more room for an evaluative process by the courts. This then amounts to a process of pitting a contested decision against an ideal standard of reasonableness, a standard which has to be construed by the courts.It is then no surprise that the result is often an opaque and loose standard which tends to veer towards the substantive elements of a decision rather than the procedural elements. The fundamental problem of Wednesbury unreasonableness as a ground of judicial review is that the trigger for raising this ground is the disputed quality of the administrative decision. Hence what this amounts to is an intervention by the courts in lieu of the merits of the decision, hence blurring the distinction between legality and merit.When courts attempt to evaluate the legality of administrative action on the murky grounds of unreasonableness, they risk justifying a merits review as judicial review and hence risk an intervention based on their construction of unreasonableness and not based on the legality of the decision in question. Procedural Grounds of review: Bias Bias is a failure to have an open mind on the issues. Actual bias, a closed mind, may lead to other reviewable errors but exists as a separate ground of review.Bias as a ground of review also looks at the perceptions and a decision may be set aside for a perception of bias, whether there was any or not. The test is whether a fair minded lay observer would perceive a possibility of bias. This portion of the essay deals with judges continuing to act in a decision making process when they have an interest in the outcome of the c ase. A judge with a financial interest in a decision is not automatically barred from hearing the case and is only barred if the interest was such as to create a perception of bias [Ebner v Official Trustee in Bankruptcy (2000)]The distinction between actual bias and an apprehension of bias is that for the latter there needs to be no issue of whether the judicial officer might or did in fact bring an impartial mind to the resolution of that case. All that is required is that he might or might have brought an impartial mind to the resolution of the case. The High re-defined the apprehension of bias principle in Ebner v Official Trustee in Bankruptcy (2000) such that the governing principle now is that a judge is disqualified if a fair minded lay observer might reasonably apprehend that the judge might not bring an impartial mind to resolving the case at hand.The principle may also need to be modified in the case of some administrative decision makers, to recognize and accommodate the different legal framework within which administrative decisions are made. Indeed, in Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs v Jia, the High Court made it clear that the application of the Ebner principles will depend on the circumstances of the case at hand. Judicial officers, by virtue of their public duty do not lose their rights as citizens to engage in a private life and participate in all that a private life necessarily entails.Therefore to assert that there will be conflicts of interest between the public duty and private life of judicial officers seems to be an otiose argument. Any argument that this conflict of interest could result in bias, hence forming a ground for review must then be contemplated with skepticism. Interest The prominence of financial diversity, prevalent interest in shareholding, necessity of investing in superannuation and its related equity funds all result in a significant number of judicial officers, like their counterparts in other profe ssions to have an interest in publicly listed companies.These publicly listed companies are not only the dominant incumbents of their industries but also, as a result of their expansive service production, likely to be involved in litigation periodically. Therefore there is potential scope for litigants to argue that there should be judicial review of a decision made on the basis of an apprehension of bias because of the pecuniary interest of the judge in the case. However, the resolution of most cases involving large companies is unlikely to be significant in affecting the value of a shareholding.Hence shareholdings in large companies will not be disqualifying factors in most proceedings. The proportion of the shares held to the value of the company as an aggregate is likely to be insignificant such as to warrant an intervention on this account. Association There is no clear touchstone that can provide an easy method of identifying what might be a disqualifying association and this could provoke arguments that this ground of review is poorly defined and arbitrary. Obviously a judicial officer cannot preside in a case in which he or she is a party; or in which a close relative is party.On the other hand, the judicial and planning appeal systems would be unworkable if a member was disqualified simply because they knew a party, let alone a representative of a party. The High Court has stated that a reasonable apprehension of bias may exist where the presiding judge has a substantial personal relationship with a party to, or a person involved in, proceedings or a substantial personal relationship with a member of the family of that party or person. However what constitutes a substantial personal relationship may, in practice, be elusive.Much depends on the nature, duration and closeness of the relationship. The High Court decision in Bienstein v Bienstein, which established the general principle that a judge is not disqualified from hearing a matter simply becaus e, when a barrister, he or she has appeared for a party in the past. The recent decision of the House of Lords in Gillies v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is illustrative that, in the case of an expert tribunal or court, a relationship with the agency whose decision was under review might not be a disqualifying factor.The House of Lords considered that a fair minded observer, who had considered the facts properly, would appreciate that professional detachment and the ability to exercise an independent judgment lay at the heart of such decisions. No-one is immune from a complaint of apprehended bias. Judges cannot be expected to be value-free. Conduct Sometimes the conduct of a judicial officer may be such that a reasonable person may apprehend that the matter might not be decided impartially.But this does not mean that a judicial officer cannot have an opinion about the general reliability of a witness who regularly appears before a court or tribunal; provided that the off icer is open to persuasion and does not make comment indicating prejudgment. It must be stressed that the expression of tentative views, designed to elicit relevant submissions, does not constitute bias nor create a reasonable apprehension of bias. Indeed, this practice actually enhances procedural fairness by alerting the parties to the thoughts of the tribunal and providing them with an opportunity to persuade the tribunal to adopt a different course.Demands to disclose interests or associations When should a judicial officer respond to questions about their interests or associations? There are different schools of thought as to the appropriate practice to adopt when a judicial officer is asked about his or her interests or associations. My view is that, within reason, it is better to answer specific questions in relation to factual matters in order to put minds at rest; or, if minds are not put to rest, to require the parties to confront the potentially disqualifying interest or association and identify the logical connection this may have with a partial adjudication.However a judicial officer should not feel compelled to identify and disclose all possible interests and associations, direct and indirect, whether or not relevant to the case at hand. And there is certainly no obligation to answer questions about opinions, values or attitudes. Effect of non-disclosure of non-disqualifying interest What happens if a judicial officer does not disclose an interest or association which might have been disclosed as a matter of prudence (on the asis that it was potentially disqualifying), but, when revealed, was not ultimately found to be a disqualifying interest or association? In Ebner, the majority of the High Court thought it necessary to distinguish between considerations of prudence and requirements of law. The court considered that, as a matter of prudence and professional practice, judicial officers should disclose interests and associations if there is a se rious possibility that they are potentially disqualifying.But it thought it was neither useful nor necessary to describe this practice in terms of rights or duties. Thus if a judicial officer does not disclose a non-disqualifying interest or association, his or her silence cannot reasonably support an inference of want of impartiality. Conclusion The High Court has emphasized that judicial officers should not be too ready to disqualify themselves when confronted with an insubstantial objection, lest that this will lead to forum shopping.But the same does not go to disclosure of potentially disqualifying interests or associations. Quite apart from any moral responsibility, recent decisions have shown the practical virtues of disclosure in circumstances of any doubt. But in determining any objection a court or tribunal should apply a method that requires there to be some logical connection between the alleged disqualifying matter and an inability to impartially determine the proceedin g.

International Trade and Us Economy

TOPIC OF THE CASE: TRADE IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND US ECONOMIC GROWTH INTRODUCTION: The assignment is about the case where the organizations in the US were responsible for the development and advancement of information technology which also included the invention of Mainframe and Midrange computers in the era of 1960s and 1970s. Companies such as IBM and Dell were one of the first companies which led to advancement of information technology.However, with the high cost of production in US regarding the production of basic components, such were then offshored to foreign companies. PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS: 1. During the 1990s and 2000s computer hardware companies in certain developed nations progressively moved the production of hardware components offshore, often outsourcing them to producers in developing nations. What does international trade theory suggest about the implications of this trend for economic growth in those developed nations? SOLUTION: INTRODUCTION:The theory illust rates that developed nations despite having resources to produce, have pursued in buying the commodities from the foreign manufacturers. This is because of the low cost of importing rather than producing such components. The theory may be described as Comparative Advantage Theory. Such theory states the ability of a nation to produce goods at a lower opportunity cost than other nation. The developed countries were only focusing on producing on high value added components whereas developing nations were improvising on manufacturing basic hardware components.The demand of these different components were being met by each nation and hence the international trade commencement to meet the demands were utilized by such nations. IMPLICATIONS: The developed nations by practicing the outsource methodology for production of basic hardware commodity benefited it for many different reasons. Such reasons are as follows: * The internal resources which could have been utilized at exorbitant costs can be curtailed and such resources could be used for alternative purposes.This would mean that the factors of production shall be available for other developments and advancement. * The decrease in cost of a final product would result in increase in the sales volume of such product as demand will increase. This increase in demand would result in an increase in the supply of a commodity therefore, more revenue shall be generated for the government. * An increase in the overseas supply of a final product would implicate a favorable balance of trade.This shows that exports shall increase over imports during a period. * Productivity of a major industry in regard to an increase in sales will enlighten the economic development of a nation by enhancing its Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This means if information technology industry of a nation improves then the contribution to the GDP of a developed nation shall also enhances. * Development in an industry promotes the job opportunities of developed nations.This means that with the advancement of information technology sector came with a high demand of related jobs such as computer software engineers and other kinds of computer based services. With this unemployment also reduced and proved a considerable contribution to the economy. CONCLUSION: With the outsourcing of production of basic commodities to developing nations in the era of 1990s and 2000s, developed nations were greatly benefited by both time and cost to allow them to produce even more technical commodities and exert their skills on advancing in the information technology sector.Currently such companies like Dell, Intel, Apple etc. are generating even more new products into the world market of information technology and simultaneously contributing to the economy of their respective nations. 2. IS THE EXPERIENCE OF THE UNITED STATES, AS DESCRIBED IN THE CASE CONSISTENT WITH THE PREDICTIONS OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE THEORY? SOLUTION: INTRODUCTION: Computer comp anies in the United States like Dell, Intel, Apple etc. have been manufacturing computers in the late 1970s.However, during the early 1980s, such companies decided to offshore production of basic components like dynamic random access memory chips (DRAMs) to Japan and other countries manufacturers, yet they kept the production of the highest value added components such as microprocessors to themselves and the final assembly. This trend implicates that US companies were producing the final product and in the light of international trade, demand for such computers was also increasing momentarily by other nations.Also, US was also advancing in other industries which started to utilize IT based products. Altogether, productivity expansion was shown in the US economy. ADVERSE IMPACT ON THE US ECONOMY: Ricardo’s insight on comparative advantage theory stated that all countries come out ahead when they trade with each other because if a developed nation like the US trade more with a developing nation like Japan with each country specializing in different products then they have a relative advantage.But this effect had an adverse implication on the job losses in US. By the continuation of globalization, many of the US white collar jobs were at stake. This is because of the production shifting to offshore countries like Japan, China, India, etc. A census by Harvard University labor economist showed that every 1% drop in employment due to imports or factories gone outsourced curtails about 0. 5% off pay for remaining workers. And if white collar outsourcing expands, the concluding job losses could cutoff a massive swath of US consumers.As there is minor doubt that globalization will relatively break in and would cause around 14. 5 million workforce loss and more than half the US workforce of around 130 million could feel the blow. DEVELOPMENTS IN THE US INDUSTRIES: Many economists thought that the new offshoring is an accumulated advantage. For one thing, bossesâ €™ cost savings should be more than enough to uphold for any remuneration loss impact. By the reduced prices of software and other goods outsourcing could enlighten a new cause of US productivity increments.This is agreed to say that surely that developing countries like Japan, China etc. will specialize in producing IT commodities and are obtaining jobs in IT related services, but US will still outrun them in areas like drug research or nanotechnology which the developing countries are not even close to achieving. Thus US will have space, technology and other resources to work on the developments of new and technical industries. PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH IN THE US ECONOMY: Globalization of IT hardware production also created an impact on IT services and software.With the decrease in the prices of both hardware and software from 10 to 30 percent, these lower prices led into higher productivity growth and an accumulated $230 billion in additional Gross Domestic Product. Many other indu stries also started to use computers in their businesses which shown 2. 8% percent growth in the productivity of their sales and profits. 3. WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE THEORY AND DATA FOR a) GOVERNMENT POLICY IN ADVANCED NATIONS SUCH AS THE UNITED STATES, AND b) THE STRATEGY OF A FIRM IN THE COMPUTER INDUSTRY, SUCH AS DELL OR APPLE COMPUTER?SOLUTION: INTRODUCTION: Comparative Advantage Theory states that countries should specialize in economic activities in which they have a comparative advantage and trade with others. The government policies should also revert on focusing on that specific area which the country specialize. a) United States government on realizing the productivity growth in information technology trend, promoted the IT related industries on importing basic commodities such as DRAMs and other PC components and by the end of 1990s, IT developed so much so that GDP raised to $230 billion.The US government was mastering in information technology very early. In 199 0s, it issued an agenda to articulate and implement a vision for a national information infrastructure (NII). This initiative was widely praised at the time as a forward looking technology policy initiative that would simultaneously promote economic growth, improve the lives of citizens, and allow governments to provide better services and information to the public- all without new expenditures by the government.The agenda embraced information technology as an enabling and indeed as transformative means for achieving a broad range of economic, social and political goals. The agenda characterized the US as having become primarily in information based economy and asserted a bright future for computer industries and other related IT industries. b) During the heyday of the technology boom throughout the 1990s many companies experienced enormous success for a few years, however without creating a solid internal framework many of these companies did not survive.An exception to that busine ss trend is dell, which was able to address its problems associated with rapid growth and build itself into a lasting profitable company. Dell in later 1990s manufactured PCs which no one else could think of, it was specializing in producing tailor made computers for users all over the world. Because of advancing in technical fields and continuing research, Dell proved to be one of the market leaders in computer industry and accounted for much market share in the overall world market of computer industry.After the era of 1980s, advanced companies in the US computer industries were in business to make a profit and do well for other stakeholders such as investors. Because of this notion, many industries to offshore white collar jobs to developing countries like Japan, India, etc. Many of the economists argued that the loss of white collar jobs was merely a manifestation of companies viewing the world as a borderless market- where they seek resources wherever they are cheapest, produce in the optimal location, and sell wherever there is demand. CONCLUSION:USA being the pioneer of Information Technology, developed most of the gadgets that we use today and have provided an ease of access to the computer industry. Despite the job losses after the offshoring process in the US itself, it provided a gain for other developing countries like Japan, China, India and many others. The core aim for the US companies was to maximize profits and expand production to overseas markets to enhance profits and sales. In the end still US economy in the IT related industry tops out in comparison to the rest of the world.

Intercultural communicaton analysis Essay

The life of every personality is deeply affected by a myriad of intercultural affiliations that affect a person’s ability to interact with other people and be seen by them from a specific viewpoint. Intercultural communication is likely to be particularly affected by cultural stereotypes. Therefore, each person’s life is shaped to a great degree by cross-cultural perceptions and co-cultural affiliations. In my personal case, I have a variety of cultural affiliations that have a direct influence on my life. In the first place, a lot of facets of my experience depend on my physical characteristics, such as my female gender. Being of that gender, I have a different kind of experience with other people, as it seems easier to bond with girls than with boys on certain subjects, and some aspects of physical work and sports are naturally harder for me because of my weaker constitution. In addition to gender, my life is also impacted by my ethnic origin and religious tradition. Being Turkish and Muslim, I tend to follow the rules and norms prescribed by our faith. Thus, I pray five times a day, observe the Ramadan, and attend meetings in the local mosque. As a result, my lifestyle puts me in contact with a lot of Muslims who constitute my immediate circle of communication. In communication with other cultural and religious groups, I have to recognize that my principles and habits are different from most people. Many of my peers, for instance, find it strange that I do not eat or drink by daylight for the entire month of Ramadan. This makes me pause and explain to them the significance of the fast and what it means to me as a Muslim. Being Muslim does not in itself give an exhaustive description of my cultural identity since I have also been exposed to a number of other cultural influences. I am Turkish, and our culture differs in many ways from that of Arabic countries or that of Iran. In addition, I speak English as a second language and went to a French high school. Thus, for me, as for many of my younger countrymen, European cultural influences proved a great impact. I have been watching European movies and read European books since childhood. Knowing English, I was also exposed to the US cultural influence, watching Hollywood blockbusters and interacting with American peers. Belonging to a certain category, one is always an easy target for stereotypes. Thus, it so happened that I am an only child, so many believe that I am spoiled. In a talk with a classmate at school, I had to give examples of household chores that I do at home to dispel his notion of my being utterly â€Å"spoiled†. He only believed me after I told him how I could cook myself the whole dinner for the family at the age of 10. On the other hand, communicating with older people, I have to correct their understanding of college students as spoiled, rough, and careless. Sometimes, I feel as if these qualities are attributed to me by default simply because young people are portrayed in this way in a variety of movies. I try to combat this stereotype by taking time to talk to them at length about my studies and future career plans. I think it gives them an idea that I am serious about college as a way to a better life, not just a socializing event. In this way, my life has been infused with a variety of cultural influences that made me the person I am. At times, it can be difficult to balance many of them, such commitment to my faith with realities of college life here in the US. However, I do my best to try and find a sound approach that will dispel stereotypes and allow me to retain my unique identity. Reference Neuliep, J. W. (2000). Intercultural Communication: A Contextual Approach. Houghton Mifflin.

The Ethno Science Approach and its View of the Role of Marriage in a Essay

The Ethno Science Approach and its View of the Role of Marriage in a Society - Essay Example They consider the organization of the society regarding several issues, for instance, their structural classification of plants and their uses in relation to the specific societies (Ferraro & Andreatta, 2009). Ethno science is dependent on nature as it requires the indigenous people in order to understand their relationships with their environment. Actually, ethno science stems from the raw knowledge that certain people have on nature in view of their natural environment (Kaplan, 2007). Every ethno scientist would be interested in understanding the people’s knowledge on ethno-botany, ethno-zoology, and ethno-medicine. This information is conceptualized by an ethno scientist to come up with the final finding on societal knowledge concerning nature around them (Kottak, 2008). With the view that different societies have different knowledge with reference to nature and environment, it is extremely important for an ethno scientist to explore the effect of marriage to specific natur al knowledge in the society. Marriage in most societies involves transfer of a wife from her indigenous home to a new environment. Interestingly enough, when it happens, different cultures collide or merge and provide the opportunity for the adoption of new understanding of the environment (Moore, 1998). This will be in terms of the societal exploration and exploitation of nature in everyday life; for example, the classification of plants for nutritional, medicinal, and aesthetic purposes. To an ethno scientist, marriage in the society provides a situation in which a blend of natural knowledge will arise through incorporation of the different experiences and knowledge of the two or more people who have been raised in different environment endowed with different plant, animals and other natural features influencing people’s beliefs and knowledge (Percival, 1966). An ethno scientist will conclude that the marriage in the society can help reorganize these peculiar societal knowl edge and create a new set of beliefs and practices. The different systems of knowledge coming together necessitate erosion and assertion of new concepts. Since there are many concepts studied by ethno science, the marriage in the society will actually influence some of them (Sanga & Ortalli, 2003). In ethno botany, which involves the societal beliefs on the use of plants and their different roles in the improvement of human life, marriage will ensure that either one of the parties involved gets to learn more about the use of a plant or gets to learn about a totally new plant’s use (Dasgupta & Sarkar, 2005). For instance, various communities use plants in doing several things; this knowledge cannot be known by others, unless there is a very intimate association of two people who come from different societies, possibly by means of marriage. Different communities have used plants for several reasons; they have been used as a cure for snake’s venom, in soaring milk, as wel l as dyes and cosmetics (Percival, 1966). An ethno scientist will also view marriage in the society as an accelerating factor for environmental exploitation. There is a very close relation between environmental usage and ethno science. Human beings are in constant use of the environment and disturb natural balance in satisfying their needs. In the course of doing this, there can be environmental concerns regarding exploitation; it can lead to the extinction of some plants and animals species (Percival, 1966).

Manage change task 2 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Manage change task 2 - Research Paper Example In most cases, organizational change tends to be radical and can lead to reorientation of the business. Organisational change tends to be deep seated, thereby impacting the stakeholders of the company as well (Smith, Vasudevan and Tanniru). Organisational change is based on external factors and these factors impact the organisation and also act as driving forces in a number of times. Benefits of Change Specialists: Change in an organisation means an impact on the processes of an organisation. This impact can be very wide spread or simply concentrated on one aspect of the business; however it does create major ripples in the organisation. Consulting or hiring a change consultant is crucial for a business attempting change and the benefits of hiring a change consultant is very high (Hiatt and Creasey). Firstly, change management consultants are experienced and well versed with the various aspects and change and have clear resources as well as methods of dealing with change. Also, chang e management consultants have the expertise to manage communication within the organisation, which is crucial. Change is not well accepted in most organisations and having a change consultant, who can communicate the change details effectively, makes the process smoother and more effective (Nelson and Aaron). Consultants of change also design the communication plans, training and development plans, documentation, improvements of the organisation, career development plans, and also the designing, developing of plans to bring about the improvements within the organisation. Also, consultants work with the clients and learn their requirements, make the project plans and also work on the tasks and value added solution. Change management is a professional job and it is best left to individuals with the expertise for it. Need for Change: Strategic change involves a number of changes to the organisation as a whole. Hence before an organisation decides to make a strategic change to itself, a few questions and areas need to be considered. These include the following: Firstly, is the organization a start up business? If yes, then implementing a strategic change is crucial and is a necessity rather than a luxury. The strategic change plan helps identify the business plan and also helps in linking all other elements like marketing plan, financial plans, management plans and also communication plans together (Smith, Vasudevan and Tanniru). Secondly, the next question that the company needs to ask itself is, Are we planning for a new major venture? Here if the company is opting for a major venture like product expansion or brand extensions, new department or division etc, then it is crucial for the businesses to implement strategic change. Is the company due for the annual strategic plan update? If so, it is crucial that the company has the strategic change plan developed and set as well. Companies need to focus on the various performance meters within the organisation and k eep a tab on the trends. This will help the company determine whether or not a change management is necessary or not. Strategic Objectives: The rationale and objectives for any change management program are important aspects. Objectives are in most cases specific and achievable and in most cases these objectives are the most

Speaker Presentation Response Papers (the lecture is recorded) Assignment

Speaker Presentation Response Papers (the lecture is recorded) - Assignment Example Indeed, her work area broadly caters to meet the needs of the children, especially those coming from less privileged segment of society. The sports events have become major platforms through which she ensures the benefits of society in myriad ways. Deb has discussed the activities of the organization and the various ways people can contribute to make the world a better place. Kroenke supports and raises funds for various non profit organizations which are working in areas like education, health, recreation, fitness etc. It has especially been very supportive to sports and sports related activities amongst children. While being sponsors for various sports team like Denver Nuggets Basketball team, Colorado Avalanche Hockey team, Colorado Rapid Soccer team etc., they also organize sports clinics for children where they are coached by famous sports persons. Most importantly, the sports events sponsored by Kroenke and myriad other creative ways are designed towards raising funds for the c auses which benefit community. There were four issues that seemed particularly important: community relationship is a real life profession; how one can respond and make life better for others; one person can make a difference; and media is a two way sword. While each of the four issues is different, the common factor that they share is the commitment to the cause. Dowling is an exemplary leader because she is capable of motivating others to a common goal. She has termed community relationship as a profession because it needs full commitment of the person. A person who can network with variety of people and convince them to a cause to an extent that he or she becomes a positive contributor to it, is indeed a true professional. This revelation has really raised my confidence because till now, I believed that my love for community work was just a hobby or part time social work. I had never realized that it had such huge scope of expansion. Like Deb Dowling, I can also make efforts in b uilding partnership and forge strategic alliances with public and private enterprises to make significant difference in the lives of people in the community. I think being an intern in the company would give me huge exposure to the myriad way that I can contribute towards the wider welfare of society. A community has various needs, part of which is met by government and the rest must come from within the society that is endowed with more privileges in life. Cut throat business and financial success has become major goals of contemporary society. When Deb said that a person must contemplate as to ‘how one can respond and make life better for others’, she has actually given a great insight into the life of people. We are all so busy in our own agendas of life that we forget we are also part of society which may require our help. The aged, the infirm, physically and mentally challenge children and adults or the poor who cannot even afford basic human necessities like food, cloth, shelter, education etc. are few of those people who should be extended help and provided with opportunities to improve their standard of living. We have often been very touched by the plight of people living in under developed countries who die of hunger or cold. Even amongst us, we are often indifferent to the needs of others because we are losing the sensitivity and compassion. There is a Mexican family in my

Confucianism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Confucianism - Essay Example According to Confucius, a good governance system should have high respect for traditions and age, encourage group efforts, and appreciate hierarchy of control and morality. He acknowledged the need for social harmony and orderliness of social activities. This would only be achieved if every person acknowledges his social rank and behaves according to his rank. This is based on his phrase â€Å"A place for everyone and everyone in his place†. In this regard, Confucius developed an interdependent relationship structure that had lower rank individuals give obedience to their colleagues in the higher ranks. In addition, he also introduced a horizontal relationship system characterized by great trust between family members and friends. This led to great regard of age and authority in the society (Yong, 18). Integration of the Confucianism in the education system would ensure that students highly respect age and authority, strengthen their family and friendship ties; ensure politeness within the society (Yong, 18). Secondly, Confucianism advocates for â€Å"collectivism† that is evidenced in the modern Chinese society today, compared to â€Å"individualism† of the western society. Group membership and collective operation of individuals is usually in terms of their families, their community, clan and ultimately their nation. This ensures modesty and humility. If integrated in the U.S. education system it ensures that students learn the importance of humility and social responsibility resulting to the well being of the entire society (Yong, 18). Confucianism additionally holds high regards scholarship knowledge, integrity and education. The meritocracy resulted to introduction of written imperial examination system. Anyone who proved worth and passed this examination was allowed to be a government official. Confucius’ philosophy on education was that social harmony would be achieved if availed to all people irrespective of

Nature in Religion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Nature in Religion - Essay Example Each one has their own specific historic development, which was influenced by events in world history. In terms of indigenous cultures such as Native Americans, they developed very differently compared to their other religious counterparts. They were extremely influenced by nature and the elements, which preceded the need of a shaman, compared to a priest or another spiritual leader. Shamans were important because they helped keep tradition and rituals alive and passed down the spiritual knowledge through the other members of the tribe. Like stated previously, the Native Americans’ in particular placed a great deal of spiritual and religious influence in nature. This is because many of the traditions and rituals reside in the themes of nature. Myths, such as the creation stories, result from themes in nature such as the cycles of the seasons, which undergo in the climate. Many tribes also use features such as reincarnation, which influenced by nature, shows that when we die, w e are born into a cycle of rebirthing where we come back as another creature. Shamans were also used to communicate with nature and the spirits of the world and animals. These would be invoked for good fortune for healing, for bountiful harvest and for other ceremonies (Matthews, 2008).

Logistics Management in Ocean Shipping Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Logistics Management in Ocean Shipping - Essay Example The issues like climate change dominate the future and result in headlong rush of western economies to offshore manufacturing to lower cost countries in the east. Further financial cost of delivering goods across the world has always been a fundamental element of trading and decisions of logistician is largely influenced by high environmental costs (www.pmcontent.com)1. Magee et al (1985:1) mentioned that high quality and high efficiencies have become the characteristics of the production and physical distribution operations of many foreign competitors concerned the companies in United States challenging some of their basic tenets. According to Frazelle (2001:10) global logistics is the flow of material, information and money between countries connecting suppliers' supplier with customers' customer internationally. Global logistics flows have increased dramatically during the last several years due to globalization in the world economy expanding use o trading blocs and global access to Web sites for buying and selling merchandise. It is much more complex than domestic logistics due to multiplicity of handoffs, players, languages, documents, currencies, times zones and cultures that are inherent to international business. According to Singh et al (1998:1) logistics management is unique and represents and paradox as it is concerned with one of the oldest and newest activities of business and government. It is further stated that logistics system consists of facility location, forecasting and order management, transportation, inventory, warehousing and packaging which were all being practiced since the start of commercial and industrial activity. Brewer et al (2001:12) states that logistic systems utilize a wide range of resources and services within and external to individual companies which is likely to happen because of wide range of functions that logistics encompass in procurement and distribution. It is further stated that achieving high level of performance in logistics is important for the profitability of companies and for the efficiency of national economies as well as global economy. The interactive effects of the productivity of national and international logistics increase because international trade increases as a percentage of the national domestic activity. Logistics is that part of supply chain process that plans, implements and controls the effective forward and reverse flow and storage of goods, services related information between the point of origin and the point of consumption in order to meet the customers' requirements. Logistics management is important in relation is issues like transportation costs, large distribution costs, deregulation, changing strategies, technology and globalization (Kritika and Madhu, 2008)2. Cavanagh et al (2002:163) mentions that there has been a massive increase in ocean shipping, highway transport, air cargo transport, rail with a tremendous corresponding increase in infrastructural develo pment with export production as a central feature of free trade. Ocean shipping has expanded more than tenfold since 1950s mainly because of increased commodity export activity from economic globalization which accounts for more than 90% of commodity trade shipments with the

Evolving Practice of Nursing Delivery Models Assignment

Evolving Practice of Nursing Delivery Models - Assignment Example The associated programs pertinent to health care reform are inclusive of accountable care organizations (ACOs), nurse-managed health clinics, and primary care medical homes. Through expansion of the overall reach of insurance coverage, there is increased placement of greater demands on the prevailing primary care system present. Furthermore, through investment in the overall expansion of HIT – interoperable health information technology platforms – that critical implementation of system reforms can be effectively achieved (The NAP, 2011). This is not only vital in localized settings, but more so in terms of the spurred growth of community-wide exchange of information, as projected by the IOM and RWJF (2012). This has great potential of changing in profound ways, the scope, skill-mix (expertise) and distribution of nursing practice. Accordingly, the reformation within the health care delivery system foretells a number of crucial inputs by the nursing profession. These in clude: changes in the demand for RNs service provision, and the effective positioning of the nursing profession towards effectively responding to the reforms made. Furthermore, is the crucial role-play the profession has in regard to effecting a positive post-reform healthcare environment. The pertinent health reform legislation, augmented by other relevant policy initiatives, reveals a range of provisions and programs. These call upon the need for re-organization of not only the workforce responsible (in terms of delivery).

Chinese history Essay Example for Free

Chinese history Essay 250 Word Essay One of the most important aspects of ancient Chinese history is the formation of the Silk Road, a trade route which spanned two continents and put China on the map as one of the most important import/export countries in the ancient world. It’s beginnings were smaller in scale as it only encompassed the Chinese Empire itself but it became apparent, after Zhang Qian made contact with Central Asian tribes, that the expansion the trade route would benefit both China and other Asian nations. It continued to expand under the Han dynasty and into Roman times (Beauty).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   One of the most important reasons for its formation as a major trade route was fear of marauding gangs that were eager to obtain the many goods that Chinese merchants filled their caravans with: silk, gemstones, incense, spices, and blue and white porcelain were just some fo the cargo traveled along the Silk Road. The Chinese army was even beefed up in order to protect this special route that helped to keep China’s economy booming. It’s reach expanded throughout China and Asia and eventually commerce was developed between the Roman Empire and China (Newton).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The long-term impact of the Silk Road on Chinese culture and history were that it literally brought a strong economy to China, and brought the goods and customs of other cultures into its borders. The traders, including Zhang Qian in 138 B.C.E., were able to learn economic, military, and geographical information that would help in the roads expansion and with Chinese military success. The Silk Road was so important to the culture of both the Eastern and Western world because during Roman times, even the lower socioeconomic classes depended upon the goods that were imported from China on the Silk Road, and even the religion of Buddhism was spread by way of the Silk Road. Its impact on the world was huge and its impact on Chinese culture even more prominent (Newton). Works Cited The Silk Road. Beauty, the Land of China. ThinkQuest. 19 Jan. 2007 http://library.thinkquest.org/20443/silkroad.html. The Silk Road. Newton Public Schools. 19 Jan. 2007 http://www.newton.mec.edu/Angier/DimSum/Silk%20Road%20Info.html.    100 Word Assignment  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   One of the most surprising aspects of my research about the Silk Road was the vast expanse of space which is encompassed. It’s amazing how far the caravans had to travel and how large they were. From all accounts the Silk Road was dangerous to those traveling it because of the terrain and yet it was such an integral part of Chinese history and lasted for many years, even expanding. The images of the Silk Road that I could find reminded me the regal images of Chinese royalty, for some reason. It’s as if everyone is perceived as being clothed in silk from head to toe, even the camels! I definitely see how difficult the trip must have been because of the limited means of transportation that the merchants had access to, and how they could easily become victims of a raid for their goods. I also thought that it was interesting that Buddhism itself was virtually spread by way of the Silk Road. I was surprised to see that the Silk Road is being revitalized for tourism purposes and that there are many tour groups that specialize in trips just along the route that used to be traveled by Chinese merchants in ancient times.

Good Manners Essay Example for Free

Good Manners Essay Good manners are important because we live in a community. Good manners are the way we make social connections run smoothly. They give us a formula to deal with the unexpected, the awkward and an easy opening and closing ritual to meeting people. They can help us to mask our dislike of another merely by obeying the traditional courtesies of our culture. By treating others with respect and demonstrating good manners, we show that we expect the same respect in return. It is possible to disagree with someone very strongly, but if the argument is conducted with politeness and good manners, both sides come out of the situation well. The dispute might not have been settled to the satisfaction of either, but an agreement to disagree, reached amicably, means the relationship is not lost and further work can be done. There is always the hope that you can convince the other of your ideas in a future discussion. Quite often, long lasting friendships emerge from such well run conflicts because with the good manners comes respect for the person, even if not for the ideas. Human beings are complex, the product of their experiences and circumstances. Basic drives in each is strong and could make individuals self centered unpleasantly. Good manners give us the boundaries to behavior which are acceptable to our society, and these vary with each community, often in subtle ways. The elemental part of good manners is that you do not embarrass another person. It’s a simple as that. With these guidelines we can deal with many unexpected situations with aplomb. Good manners are a protection as well as a way of easing communication. It is much more comfortable to be with those who are polite. The language is more agreeable, the behavior is inclusive and it helps everyone concerned to feel good about themselves. Those who are feeling relaxed, safe and comfortable are more likely to be productive in their enterprises and good company. Even if this is only because they can concentrate on what they are doing. They are not worrying about what other people think of them or having to remembering that they are in a feud and are ‘not speaking’ to certain people. All that takes energy and is a waste of time as well. While it is possible to be very rude to someone else with subtly, within a framework of good manners, this is not the aim of the rules by which communities abide. It is also rather pointless, but it happens. Simply, good manners are important because they ease communication between people.

Moleskine Marketing Analysis

Moleskine Marketing Analysis 1.0 Executive Summary Moleskine was founded in 1997 by a small Milanese publisher that wanted to revive a product that is rich in history and tradition. Based on the case study we are aware that moleskine is trying to bring back a product that soon to be vanished. It is critical and crucial to know that how consumer behavior can help to keep this traditional product alive by understanding characteristics personalities of consumers. Further segmenting them to be able to find out a solution that can assist marketers in planning their marketing mix, communication tools to connect with the modern consumer, also coming up with new strategies and tactics of marketing communication. 1.2 Definition of Personality Personality might be characterized as the internal aspects which impacts a singulars conduct and activities consistent with the social and the physical environment. Attributes contrasts one single person from an alternate singular, no two individual impart the same qualities and are precisely indistinguishable. 1.3 Neo-Freudian Theory In the case of the Neo-Freudian Theory, consumers of Moleskine possess more of the detached personality, as these are the individuals who move far from others. They covet independence, freedom, individualism or opportunity from commitments. This can be seen in Moleskine as well, as it can be seen in the case study. â€Å"Moleskine launched its modern-era range of diaries in 1997, around the time laptop computers and personal telecommunication devices were breaking into the market† (Schiffman, O’Cass, Paladino and Carlson 2014, 621). This shows that moleskine’s consumers still uses analogue or old fashioned products even in times of rising technology as they do not conform to the society and uses whatever which is suitable for them. 1.4 Traits Theory In the case of the traits theory, moleskine’s consumers are those which possesses high scores for extroversion and openness to experience from the big five model as they are creative, will document their likings, personal stories and experiences. They are people who loves to travel and are interested in other cultures and are comfortable to socialize with others. Basically, these are traits which are similar to that of moleskine as they focuses on art, culture and creativity. Furthermore, their products are divided into 3 categories which are travelling, reading and writing which are again similar of their consumers. It is the similarity of the consumer and brand personality which attracts the consumers to buy and use moleskine’s products. 1.5 Personality and Consumer Behavior As noted from above, consumers of moleskine are those who possesses detached personality and in the case of consumer behavior. It is similar to that of the inner-directed consumers, as they depend on their internal values or benchmarks in assessing new items. Inner-directed consumers will buy products that please and perform for them and they are not concerned about what others think of the product that they are using. The consumers deem that moleskine’s notebook satisfies their inner values and performs for them. Similarly, moleskine is a product of old tradition and old fashioned in the modern age of technology where laptops and computers are commonly used. However, the consumers are susceptive to interpersonal influence as well. This is due to the fact that they feel that moleskine’s art, culture and creativity fits their social group. There will definitely be commonality between moleskine’s consumers and other consumers. Contrary to having detached personality, moleskine’s consumers too have other personality traits like being modern which are common to other consumers as well. The consumers are modern even though of the analogue product that they are using, as moleskine uses new media to communicate with their consumers. Such as MSK 2 which is a digital notebook which the consumers can customize and create their own notebook. Moleskine utilizes social media, in the likes of YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, etc. 2.0 VALS program VALS is a program developed by Arnold Mitchell allowing us to better fathom about the segmentations and profile of adults American consumers. There are eight type of adult American consumers segmented by VALS based on their mindsets, using a specific set of psychological traits and key demographics that drive consumer behavior. The eight type of adult American consumers are the innovators, thinkers, believers, achievers, strivers, experiencers, makers and lastly the survivors. There are three primary motivation that drives the eight different types of consumers they are ideas, achievement and self-expression. The concept of primary motivation explains consumer attitudes and anticipates behavior. The resources of the eight type of consumers would also affect the consumer’s behavior, resources refers to a person’s age, income, education, self-confidence, health, eagerness to buy or try and its energy level this psychological, physical, emotional, demographic, socioeconomi c will constrain or enhance a persons expression of his or her primary motivation. 2.1 Roy Morgan’s value segments Roy Morgan’s value segments of Australian consumer has a segmentation of ten different type of consumers group. â€Å"The ten types of consumers are the socially aware, visible achievement, young optimism, real conservatism, look at me, conventional family life, traditional family life, a fairer deal, something better and basic needs†.(Roy Morgan 2014) This two methods shows how age, gender, marital status, income, education, occupation, social class, health and personality influence the consumer behavior. 2.2 Where would Moleskine consumers fit? The moleskine notebook has a long history and tradition it is reputed to have been used by famous artist, thinkers and writers. The notebook was made famous by Bruce Chatwin and he was the one who gave the notebook its name. â€Å"The philosophy of moleskine products are creativity, imaginative and travelling†. (Moleskine 2014) The moleskine product will fit better with the Roy Morgan’s value segmentation under the categories of young optimism and real conservatism. 2.3 Young optimism Young optimism refers to a person seeking to improve their prospects in life and wanted to be respected in society. They are long term thinkers, careers planner, attending university and contemplating about the future. Their mindset tends to be associated with people who want to experience life to their fullest for example vacation, a career, friends, and family. They are innovative and interested in technology. Thus the moleskine products totally fits into the profile of the young optimism who are imaginative as they are constantly thinking of their future, creative as they are innovative and interested in technology and lastly they would love to travel around the to broaden their perspective of life. 2.4 Real conservatism Real conservatism refers to people who are cautious about new things and ideas. They hold very conservative thinking and feel that things are not as good as they used to be. They are willing to pay more for products with quality and are particularly attracted to older, well established brands. Moleskine is a well-established brand as it is the successor to the legendary notebook that has been used by renowned artists and thinkers such as Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, and Bruce Chatwin. Thus giving it a sense of class and nostalgia as a diary that retains the old world charm which also could be a trusty and handy travel companion and it fits right into the profile of the real conservatism. 2.5 How could these systems assist marketers? The use of these systems will allow marketers to position or promote their products better. They can use these systems to know which specific segment of consumer that they are targeting, and it will definitely be easier for them to plan the marketing mix (4Ps) strategy with the help of these systems. 3.0 Integrated Marketing Communications Integrated marketing communications (IMC) is define as the coordination and integration of all marketing communication tools, avenues, and sources in a company into a seamless program designed to maximize the impact on customers and stakeholders (Clow and Baack 2012). It is a concept of marketing communications planning that recognizes the added value of a plan that evaluates the strategic roles of a variety of communication disciplines – general advertising, direct response, sales promotion, and public relations – and combines these disciplines to provide clarity, consistency, and maximum communication impact (Kitchen and Burgmann 2010). 3.1 Recommendations In order for Moleskine to reach out to consumers who are less I.T savvy and resonate better with international consumers, following are some of the recommendations suggested. Making use of advertising through television, magazines or newspapers will get the message across to audiences whom are less I.T savvy and build a repetitive and consistent approach to increase product awareness. Moleskine can make use of celebrity endorsement for its products to reach out to international consumers. This means using brand ambassadors that are recognizable by global consumers. The firm can participate in inter-national trade fairs or exhibitions to publicize and sell their products. This provides an effective way of meeting many existing and potential consumers from different countries (Doole and Lowe 2008). 3.2 Jenifer Aaker’s Brand Personality Dimensions Jenifer Aaker’s brand personality framework is use to describe a brand profile which includes tangible and intangible traits and correlates to humans’ characteristic. This includes five dimensions (Friend 2012): Sincerity – This dimension portrays as down-to-earth, honest, wholesome or cheerful in consumer minds. Excitement – Daring, spirited, imaginative, and on the cutting edge of technology and performance are the most exciting brands. Competence – This refers to brands with traits such as reliability, intelligence, and success. Sophisticated – A brand that is sophisticated is viewed as charming and fit for the upper classes. Ruggedness – Rugged brands are seen as outdoorsy and tough. The two dimensions that will be suitable for Moleskine are ‘Competence’ and ‘Excitement’. The company had made use of technology such as cloud, social media and iPhone and iPad apps to promote and push their products to the market. These provide consumers the convenience and reliability in terms of data storage on their smart devices. Moreover, by utilizing the various forms of social media will keep Moleskine updated with the latest trends, hence keeping up with the ever changing technology. 4.0 Moleskine’s Segmentation and Marketing Strategies Yes, it is possible for other products to use similar segmentation and marketing strategies to Moleskine. Psychographic segmentation divides buyer into different groups based on 1) Lifestyle 2) Social Class, and 3) Personality Characteristics. Moleskine targets designers, professionals, writers, creative, imaginative people, travelers, and business people. Moleskine keeps in mind both their consumers’ lifestyle and their social classes. From working class to upper class where people need to develop new ideas, travelers who love to pen down their experiences, and business people who need to organize their schedule. Moleskine’s consumers’ personality characteristics are creative, imaginative, passionate, traditional and organized. Moleskine’s products vary from simple to stylish hard and soft cover of diaries and etc. The price setting is high. Placing is exclusive distribution. For promotion, they focus on communicating with consumers through social media a nd interactive websites. Moleskine’s positioning is to open platforms for people to be creative and communicative which contributes to the development of sharing knowledge and culture. Few products that used similar segmentations and marketing strategies as Moleskine are Polaroid cameras and Chanel’s products 4.1 Polaroid Corporation Targets creative people, artist, designers, photographers, and experiencers, people that see Polaroid as a status of lifestyle. Polaroid consumers’ social class are from upper to working class, some people like to instantly capture their current experience and develop the picture on the spot; people use it for their projects or special occasions. Polaroid consumers’ personality characteristics are creative and passionate. Polaroid is an exciting brand for youths. Polaroid communicates with consumers through social media and interactive websites. They have their own Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube and Twitter accounts that they constant update status, videos, and pictures. They created smartphone apps such as â€Å"Polamatic by Polaroid† where people can take pictures and edit them by applying Polaroid’s authentic frames and extra features. Polaroid Corporation has launched their new retail store called Fotobar, which is available, online as well. It serves a function where people are enabled customize their Polaroid pictures (Melanson, 2013). Polaroid has partnerships with the Andy Warhol Museum and Lady gaga. Polaroid uses global consumer segment as in every country there will be a group of people that meets Polaroid’s targeted market. 4.2 Chanel Founded in the year 1909. Chanel consist of lifestyle and luxury products. Chanel is known to be a sophisticated brand for elegant women. Chanel’s products consist of fashion clothing, fine jewelry, watches, accessories, perfumes, and cosmetics. They place their products in their own boutiques. However, their cosmetics and perfumes can be found in certain specific departmental stores. Pricing is high. Their promotion is through fashion shows, celebrities, events, television, magazines, and exhibitions. Chanel uses modern technology to communicate with their consumers. Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, YouTube to update their new products, Videos events, and status. Chanel’s videos constantly films and emphasize on their â€Å"brand heritage† and how it still exist in their products with a fusion of modern. This strategy reinforces the relationship consumer need to have with the product. Chanel has re-designed their website to create a sleek site t hat shows elegance and created a few smartphone apps that features videos and looks of the latest products, fashion news, behind the scene features, and contact information for all boutiques, skin care tips using their brand’s facial products. Chanel’s Coco Shine Lipstick was first launched and sold through the social media platform, Facebook. Users were to â€Å"like† the page and get complimentary shipping when purchasing. It increases awareness on their online store as some consumers are unaware of it, also, by â€Å"liking† the Facebook page will allow consumers to be involved in their future news or product launches. (Zelesny, 2011) Chanel used a male celebrity; Brad Pitt to launched their advertisement on Chanel No.5, Chanel’s female perfume that became the talk on social media. They did it intentionally to increase the popularity of the product (Carr, 2012). Chanel products are lifestyle choices and their product range will fit across in mos t countries and in every country, there is definitely a group of upper class, high-income people that lives a similar luxurious lifestyle allowing global consumer segmentation of products.

the pigman/short plot Essay -- essays research papers

The Pigman They're all dead: Pigman's wife, Lorraine's father, John's Aunt Ahra, the Master sons, Lorraine's mother's patients, Bobo, and the Pigman himself. All the while, the living move about like baboons in cages they've made for themselves. Why? That's the big question. The answer is central to understanding Paul Zindel'sThe Pigman. We and our students can address this problem, all the while gaining insight into literature and the makeup of the novel. This article provides activities to acquaint students with literary elements, while building up to a dramatic presentation. During this process, the students can experience the dilemmas presented in The Pigman and come to an understanding of the main characters and themselves. The Story The Pigman is a story about John and Lorraine, high school sophomores who, not getting what they need from their families, must surreptitiously seek love, reassurance, and meaning on the outside. In each other and Mr. Pignati (the Pigman), owner of a porcelain pig collection, they find love and reassurance; the meaning they find in themselves, in the unfolding of their relationship with Mr. Pignati and the drama leading to his death. John, a handsome and wild boy, drinks and smokes excessively; and, as Lorraine points out, only his good looks have kept him out of reform school. Lorraine, a shy girl John's own age, has low self-esteem and mild paranoia. John becomes attracted to her because he sees in her the same spontaneous, crazy quality...

Legitimizing Final Causes :: essays research papers

<a href="http://www.geocities.com/vaksam/">Sam Vaknin's Psychology, Philosophy, Economics and Foreign Affairs Web Sites The word "telos" in ancient Greek meant: "goal, target, mission, completion, perfection". The Greeks seem to have associated the attaining of a goal with perfection. Modern scientific thought is much less sanguine about teleology, the belief that causes are preceded by their effects. The idea is less zany than it sounds. It was Aristotle who postulated the existence of four types of causes. It all started with the attempt to differentiate explanatory theories from theories concerning the nature of explanation (and the nature of explanatory theories). To explain is to provoke an understanding in a listener as to why and how something is as it is. Thales, Empedocles and Anaxagoras were mostly concerned with offering explanations to natural phenomena. The very idea that there must be an explanation is revolutionary. We are so used to it that we fail to see its extraordinary nature. Why not assume that everything is precisely as it is because this is how it should be, or because there is no better way (Leibnitz), or because someone designed it this way (religious thought)? Plato carried this revolution further by seeking not only to explain things - but also to construct a systematic, connective epistemology. His Forms and Ideas are (not so primitive) attempts to elucidate the mechanism which we employ to cope with the world of things, on the one hand, and the vessels throu gh which the world impresses itself upon us, on the other hand. Aristotle made this distinction explicit: he said that there is a difference between the chains of causes of effects (what leads to what by way of causation) and the enquiry regarding the very nature of causation and causality. In this text, we will use the word causation in the sense of: "the action of causes that brings on their effects" and causality as: "the relation between causes and their effects". Studying this subtle distinction, Aristotle came across his "four causes". All, according to him, could be employed in explaining the world of natural phenomena. This is his point of departure from modern science. Current science does not admit the possibility of a final cause in action. But, first things first. The formal cause is why a thing is the type of thing that it is. The material cause is the matter in which the formal reason is impressed.

The Coach That Never Came :: essays research papers

The book, â€Å"The Coach That Never Came† was a very interesting book. In the beginning, John, Steve, Mike, and Craig were all talking about their new baseball coach that they were going to be getting that day. The boys had never heard of the man and no one in the town seemed to know who he was. The boys talk about their new coach all day while they are in school. After school was over that day, the boys went to the baseball field to prepare for their first day of baseball practice. Practice was to start at 3:30. It was 3:45 now, and their new coach hadn’t arrived yet. The boys, along with the rest of the team, waited around for awhile for their coach to come. After waiting for about an hour, they became curious and decided that they would go to Coach Anderson’s house to see why he wasn’t at practice. Craig said that he knew where the coach lived, because he had heard his mother talking on the phone about him. As the boys arrived at the house, they saw that the door was partially open, so they decided to let themselves in since no one answered the door when they knocked. As the boys entered the house, they couldn’t decide on which room they wanted to go in first. They quickly decided on that when they saw a person lying on the floor in the kitchen. The boys quickly ran out of the house and ran to Mike’s house to call the police. When the police arrived to Mr. Anderson’s house, they told the boys that their coach had a heart attack and died. The boys were very upset by this since they had never even met the man. Eventually, the story goes on and the boys get a new coach, but they never really get over what the found that day.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I feel that one of the main characters in this book would have to be Craig. He has black hair, green eyes and is of average height. Craig was just a usual guy until all of this happened to him. He received good grades in school, and was a great student. Craig’s parents were very proud of him and thought that he was the greatest son that anyone could ever have. Craig is a senior at Central High School, and was already crowned Homecoming King.

Can We Talk Essay

The article Can We Talk? Researcher Talks About the Role of Communication in Happy Marriages† gives us results as related to couples in marriages. In today’s society, many couples are too busy to stop, sit down, and have a meaningful conversation with their significant others. Terri Orbach, research scientist at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan, has studied 373 married couples for more than 20 years. We will examine the findings and explore some of the roles of communication in happy marriages. After reading the text and the required article, I became more aware of what self-disclosure is and how it can affect relationships. Self-disclosure is defined as sharing aspects of yourself with other people. This can be a form of â€Å"showing your true colors†. Sharing areas of yourself that may have been misconceived, showing interest in others, and being more involved are ways that you can open up and form close bonds. In marriages, you assume that couples are already in-the-know about their mate. But this sometimes can be a part of a learning process in the relationship. I can relate to the article because I often find myself at a loss for words. I have been in a few relationships that were on different types of levels; professional, informal and social. Within each of these relationships, there were limited sharing on my part. I would agree that self-disclosure is important in a relationship because it allows you to recognize issues and feelings, and also can help you learn something about self that was unknown. Effective communication promotes a sense of trust, that holds marriages together. Orbach states that by using her 10-minute rule, couples have a good starting point to reconnect with each other. Just 10 minutes to talk about the interests of your mate, areas of conflict, or even about the job made many marriages happier. Because men and women express themselves differently, gender does have a role in communication in relationships. Many believe that some behaviors are masculine and others are feminine. It is often discouraged for men to cry, they are taught to be strong and heroic, while women are allowed to show emotions openly.

Economics story

The Indian Economy Since Independence India Wins Freedom On 14 August 1947, Nehru had declared: â€Å"Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge. The achievement we celebrate today is but a step, an opening of oopportunity, to the great triumph and achievments that await us. † He reminded the country that the tasks ahead iincluded â€Å"the ending of poverty and ignorance and disease and inequality of oopportunity†. These were the basic foundations on which India embarked upon its path of development since gaining independence in 1947.The purpose of this talk is to analyze how much has India really achieved in the last 55 years in fulfilling the aspirations on which it was founded. Indian Planning process The objective of India’s development strategy has been to establish a socialistic pattern of society through economic growth with self-reliance, social justice and alleviation of poverty. These objectives were to be achieved within a democratic political framework using the mechanism of a mixed economy where both public and private sectors co-exist. India initiated planning for national economic development with the establishment of the Planning Commission.The aim of the First Five Year Plan (1951-56) was to raise domestic savings for growth and to help the economy resurrect itself from colonial rule. The real break with the past in planning came with the Second Five Year Plan (Nehru-Mahalanobis Plan). The industrialization strategy articulated by Professor Mahalanobis placed emphasis on the development of heavy industries and envisaged a dominant role for the public sector in the economy. The entrepreneurial role of the state was evoked to develop the industrial sector. Commanding heights of the economy were entrusted to the public sector.The objectives of industrial ppolicy were: a high growth rate, national self-reliance, reduction of foreign dominance, building up of indigenous c apacity, encouraging small scale industry, bringing about balanced regional development, prevention of concentration of economic power, reduction of income inequalities and control of economy by the State. The planners 1 and ppolicy makers suggested the need for using a wide vvariety of instruments like state allocation of investment, licensing and other regulatory controls to steer Indian industrial development on a closed economy basis.The strategy underlying the first three plans assumed that once the growth process gets established, the institutional changes would ensure that benefits of growth trickle down to the poor. But doubts were raised in the early seventies about the effectiveness of the ‘trickle down’ approach and its ability to banish poverty. Further, the growth itself generated by the planned approach remained too weak to create adequate surpluses- a prerequisite for the ‘trickle down’ mechanism to work. Public sector did not live upto the e xpectations of generating surpluses to accelerate the pace of capital accumulation and help reduce inequality.Agricultural growth remained constrained by perverse institutional conditions. There was unchecked population growth in this period. Though the growth achieved in the first three Five Year Plans was not insignificant, yet it was not sufficient to meet the aims and objectives of development. These brought into view the weakness of economic strategy. We discuss the failure of the planning process in more detail in the next section. A shift in ppolicy was called for. The Fifth Plan (1974-79) corrected its course by initiating a program emphasizing growth with redistribution.To accelerate the process of production and to align it with contemporary realities, a mild version of economic liberalization was started in the mid 1980s. Three important committees were set up in the early 1980s. Narsimhan Committee on the shift from physical controls to fiscal controls, Sengupta Committe e on the public sector and the Hussain Committee on trade ppolicy. The result of such thinking was to reorient our economic policies. As a result there was some progress in the process of deregulation during the 1980s. Two kinds of delicencing aactivity took place.First, thirty two groups of industries were delicensed without any investment limit. Second, in 1988, all industries were exempted from licensing except for a specified negative list of twenty six industries. Entry into the industrial sector was made easier but exit still remained closed and sealed. Hence, the roots of the liberalization program were started in the late 80’s when Rajiv Gandhi was the Prime Minister of India, but the reach and force of the reform 2 program was rather limited. There were political reasons as to why this program could not be enhanced which we talk about later.The Failure of the Planning Process While the reasons for adopting a centrally directed strategy of development were understanda ble against the background of colonial rule, it, however soon became clear that the actual results of this strategy were far below expectations. Instead of showing high growth, high public savings and a high degree of self-reliance, India was actually showing one of the lowest rates of growth in the developing world with a rising public deficit and a periodic balance of payment crises.Between 1950 and 1990, India’s growth rate averaged less than 4 per cent per annum and this was at a time when the developing world, including Sub-Saharan Africa and other least developed countries, showed a growth rate of 5. 2 % per annum. An important assumption in the choice of post-independence development strategy was the generation of public savings, which could be used for higher and higher levels of investment. However, this did not happen, and the public sector-instead of being a generator of savings for the community’s good- became, over time, a consumer of community’s sa vings.This reversal of roles had become evident by the early seventies, and the process reached its culmination by the early eighties. By then, the government began to borrow not only to meet its own revenue expenditure but also to finance public sector deficits and investments. During 1960-1975, total public sector borrowings averaged 4. 4 % of GDP. These increased to 6 % of GDP by 1980-81, and further to 9 % by 1989-90. Thus, the public sector, which was supposed to generate resources for the growth of the rest of the economy, gradually became a net drain on the society as a whole.I will now try to give some reasons for the deterioration of the public sector in India. 1) The legal system in India is such that it provides full protection to the private interests of the so called ‘public servant’, often at the expense of the public that he or she is supposed to serve. In addition to complete job security, any group of public servants in any public sector organization ca n go on strike in search of higher wages, promotions and bonuses for themselves, irrespective of the costs and 3 nconvenience to the public. Problems have become worse over time and there is little or no accountability of the public servant to perform the public duty. 2) The ‘authority’ of governments, at both center and states, to enforce their decisions has eroded over time. Government can pass orders, for example, for relocation of unauthorized industrial units or other structures, but implementation can be delayed if they run counter to private interests of some (at the expense of the general public interest). ) The process and procedures for conducting business in government and public service organizations, over time, have become non-functional. There are multiplicity of departments involved in the simplest of decisions, and administrative rules generally concentrate on the process rather than results. There is very little decentralization of decision-making power s, particularly financial powers. Thus, while local authorities have been given significant authority in some states for implementing national programmes, their financial authority is limited.Hence during early 90’s it was imperative for India to correct its clearly faulty developmental process. There have been several reasons put forward for the failure of the developmental path which necessitated the reforms of Manmohan Singh in 1991. The way I would approach the analysis is through the approach of comparing and contrasting the viewpoints of two of the most prominent Indian economists of our times. The Bhagwati-Sen debate Jagdish Bhagwati and Amartya Sen, probably the two most influential voices amongst Indian economists, represent the two divergent ways of thinking about the development path.Though formally no such debates exists, apart from occasional jibes against Sen in the writings of Bhagwati, I believe by scrutinizing their positions a lot of introspection can be don e. As Bhagwati says â€Å"my view as to what went wrong with Indian planning is completely at odds with that of Prof Sen†. My objective in this section is bring 4 out the intellectual divergence amongst these two great minds and possibly to learn something from that. Let us start with the points on which they agree.I think the fact that India needs an egalitarian development path is quite well acknowledged by both of them. The Nehruvian dream of an egalitarian growth process was what both of them would endorse. As Bhagwati says â€Å"I have often reminded the critics of Indian strategy, who attack it from the perspective of poverty which is juxtaposed against growth, that it is incorrect to think that the Indian planners got it wrong by going for growth rather than attacking poverty: they confuse mearns with ends.In fact, the phrase â€Å"minimum income† and the aim of providing it to India’s poor were very much part of the lexicon and at the heart of our think ing and analysis when I worked at the Indian Planning Commission in the early 1960’s†. The key strategy that defined the resulting developmental effort was the decision to target efforts at accelerating the growth rate. Given the immensity of the poverty, the potential of simple redistribution was considered to be both negligible in its immediate impact and of little sustained value. Accelerated growth was thus regarded as an instrumental variable; a ppolicy outcome that would in turn reduce poverty.He goes on to argue â€Å"Those intimately associated in India’s plans fully understood, contrary to many recent assertions, the need for land reforms, for attention to the possibility of undue concentration of economic power and growth in inequality. These ‘social tasks’, which of course also can redound to economic advantage, were attended to and endlessly debated in the ensuing years, with reports commissioned (such as the Mahalanobis Committee report on income distribution in 1962) and policies continually revised and devised to achieve these social outcomes†.If we follow the writings of Sen on the other hand, in his recent book â€Å"Development As Freedom†, Sen argues that â€Å"the usefulness of wealth lies in the things that it allows us to do- the substantive freedoms it helps us to achieve†¦. an adequate conception of development must go much beyond the accumulation of wealth and the growth of gross national product and other income-related variables. Without ignoring the importance of economic growth, we must look well beyond it†. I don’t think that there is any divergence of view on this front with that of what Bhagwati says.It is worth mentioning at this juncture that this has been a common misconception amongst economists about the divergence of two different developmental paths. It is often misunderstood that Bhagwati’s 5 view stresses just on economic growth while Sen argues ag ainst economic growth and the importance of markets. The above paragraphs reveal that this is certainly not the case. Both of them is sufficiently concerned with economic growth as well as the basic issues of poverty, health and social issues. The points of divergence I believe the real disparity concerns the mearns of achieving these common goals.Bhagwati’s arguments can be summarized as follows. The development process consists of two steps. As a first step, a growth accelerated strategy would generate enhanced investments and whose objective was to jolt the economy up into a higher investment mode that would generate a much higher growth rate. The planning framework rested on two legs. First, it sought to make the escalated growth credible to private iinvestors so that they would proceed to invest on an enhanced basis in a self-fulfilling prophecy.Second, it aimed at generating the added savings to finance the investments so induced. His argument crucially rested on the fo llowing logical theory. For the higher growth rate to achieve it is very important for the economy concerned to be open. If the effective exchange rate for exports over the effective exchange rate for imports (signifying the relative profitability of the foreign over the home market), ensured that the world markets were profitable to aim for, guaranteeing in turn that the inducement to invest was no longer constrained by the growth of the domestic market.It is worthwhile to recount India’s performance as far as the public sector savings is concerned, which was considered a major hindrance towards the success of the Indian plans. Continuing with the argument, the generation of substantial export earnings enabled the growing investment to be implemented by imports of equipment embodying technical change. If the Social Marginal Product of this equipment exceeded the cost of its importation, there would be a ‘surplus’ that would accrue as an income gain to the econom y and boost the growth rate.The role of literacy and education comes at the next stage. The pproduactivity of the imported equipment would be greater with a workforce that was literate and would be further enhanced if many had even secondary education. Now his argument is based on the fact that the enhanced growth would demand and lead to a more educated workforce. Thus 6 he considers that primary education and literacy plays an enhancing, rather than initiating role in the developmental process. Sen on the other hand considers a larger view of development.He believes that questions such as whether certain political or social freedoms, such as the liberty of political participation and dissent, or opportunities to receive basic education, are or not â€Å"conducive to development† misses the important understanding that these substantive freedoms are among the constituent components of development. Their relevance for development does not have to be freshly established throug h their indirect contribution to the growth of GNP or to the promotion of industrialization.While the causal relation, that these freedoms and rights are also very effective in contributing to economic progress, the vindication of freedoms and rights provided by this causal linkage is over and above the directly constitutive role of these freedoms in development. I think that it is precisely at this point where some of Sen’s writings on economics and philosophy should be considered. According to Sen, economics as a discipline has tended to move away from focusing on the value of freedoms to that of utilities, incomes and wealth. This narrowing of focus leads to an underappreciation of the full role of the market mechanism.For example, take the example of the most important finding on the theory of the markets- the Arrow-Debreu equilibrium. That theorem shows that a competitive economic system can achieve a certain type of efficiency (Pareto efficiency to be precise) which a c entralized system cannot achieve, and this is due to reasons of incentives and information problems. But if we suppose that no such imperfections do exist and the same competitive equilibrium can be brought about by a dictator who announces the production and allocation decision, then are these two outcomes the same?In a much celebrated paper, Sen brings out the distinction between â€Å"culmination outcomes† (that is, the only final outcomes without taking any note of the process of getting there) and â€Å"comprehensive outcomes† (taking note of the process through which the culmination outcomes come about). Along these lines we can argue that Sen would disagree with Bhagwati’s point of view in that it does not consider the â€Å"comprehensive outcomes†.Though the outcomes may be the same if we bring about a simultaneous increase in investments in education, health and other social activities, with that of growth, as against a 7 framework where growth b rings about a derived demand for those activities (a la Bhagwati), these are not the same thing. So as we can see, the primary difference in the approach is that Bhagwati argues that poverty and social dimensions can be taken care of in the second step of the development process while Sen argues that social oopportunity is a constitutive element in the developmental process.In this respect it is helpful to scrutinize the East Asian case, where countries like Japan, South Korea, Taiwan (so called Asian Tigers) achieved phenomenal rates of growth in the 80’s and much of the early 90’s. The interesting fact about these countries is that they achieved this with a significant high record on the social dimensions. Both Bhagwati and Sen has commented directly on the achievement of these countries. As Bhagwati states â€Å"The East Asian investment rate began its take-off to phenomenal levels because East Asia turned to the Export promotion (EP) strategy.The elimination of th e ‘bias against exports’, and indeed a net excess of the effective exchange rate for exports over the effective exchange rate for imports (signifying the relative profitability of the foreign over the domestic market), ensured that the world markets were profitable to aim for, guaranteeing in turn that the inducement to invest was no longer constrained by the growth of the domestic market as in the IS strategy†. I personally think that there is nothing disputable in this analysis but it does not strengthen his argument that the social achievements in these countries followed their phase of growth.In fact the pioneering example of enhancing economic growth through social oopportunity, especially in basic education, is Japan. Japan had a higher rate of literacy than Europe even at the time of the Meiji restoration in the mid nineteenth century, when industrialization had not yet occurred there but had gone on for many decades in Europe. The East Asian experience was also based on ssimilar connections. The contrasts between India and China are also important in this aspect. The governments of both China and India has been making efforts for sometime now to move toward a more open, internationally active, market-oriented economy.While Indian efforts have slowly met with some access, the kind of massive results that China has seen has failed to occur in India. An important factor in this contrast lies in the fact that from a social preparedness standpoint, China is a great deal ahead of India in being able to make use of the market economy. While prereform China was deeply skeptical of markets, it was not skeptical of basic education and 8 widely shared health care. When China turned to marketization in 1979, it already had a highly literate people, especially the young, with good schooling facilities across the bulk of the country.In this respect, China was not very far from the basic educational situation in South Korea or Taiwan, where too an educated population had played a major role in seizing the economic opportunities offered by a supported market system. Indeed it is often argued that it is a mistake to worry about the discord between income achievements and survival chances-in general- the statistical connection between them is observed to be quite close. It is interesting, in this context, to refer to some statistical analyses that have recently been presented by Sudhir Anand and Martin Ravallion.On the basis of intercountry comparisons, they find that life expectancy does indeed have a significantly positive correlation with GNP per head, but that this relationship works primarily through the impact of GNP on (I) the incomes specifically of the poor and (2) public expenditure particularly in health care. In fact, once these two variables are iincluded on their own in the statistical exercise, little extra explanation can be obtained from including GNP per head as an additional causal influence. The basic point i s that the impact of economic growth depends much on how the fruits of economic growth are used.Sen argues that a focus on issues on basic education, basic health care and land reforms made widespread economic participation easier in many of the East Asian and Southeast Asian economies in a way it has not been possible in, say, Brazil or India, where the creation of social opportunities has been much slower and that slowness has acted as a barrier to economic development. I believe that one has to take note of the examples of say, Sri Lanka, the Indian State of Kerala or pre-reform China where on the contrary, impressive high life expectancy, low fertility, high literacy and so on, have failed to translate into high economic growth.I would like to see a theory which explains this. But to elucidate Sen’s view, he would rather prefer a situation of that of Kerala or Sri Lanka than that of Brazil or India. I would suggest that what one needs is such critical studies which would illuminate the failure of Brazil on one hand as against Sri Lanka on the other, to illustrate the fact that why an egalitarian growth process was not successfully implemented in these cases. We will have useful lessons to learn in that case for the future of development. The debate 9 between Bhagwati and Sen (or rather the created debate in this paper) gives rise to such an agenda.The Reforms of Manmohan Singh At the beginning of 90’s the reform process was started by the then Finance Minsiter of India, Manmohan Singh. The way I will organize this section is the following: First, I will give a short summary of the reform process , in the sense what were its general goals and ideas. Then I will mention some aspects of the reforms which I think are very encouraging. After that I will scrutinize the reforms more stringently in order to assess whether there is real cause for such jubilation that we tend to observe regarding India. (i)The Background: India’s economic reform s began in 1991 under the Narsimha Rao Government. By that time the surge in oil prices triggered by the Gulf War in 1990 imposed a severe strain on a balance of payments already made fragile by several years of large fiscal deficits and increasing external debt as was discussed before. Coming at a time of internal political instability, the balanceof-payments crises quickly ballooned into a crisis of confidence which intensified in 1991 even though oil prices quickly normalized. Foreign exchange reserves dropped to $1. billion in 1991, barely sufficient for two weeks of imports and a default on external payments appeared inevitable. The shortage of foreign exchange forced tightening of import restrictions, which in turn led to a fall in industrial output. A digression: The politics of reforms In a very engaging article on the politics of reforms Ashutosh Varshney has raised an extremely important question as to why was India’s minority government in 1991 successful in introd ucing economic reforms, whereas a much sthronger government, with a three-fourth majority in parliament, was unable to do so in 1985 (under the Prime Ministership of Rajiv Gandhi)?His argument draws a distinction between mass politics and elite politics. He believes that â€Å"this distinction has not been adequately appreciated 10 in the voluminous literature on the politics of economic reforms. Scholars of economic reforms have generally assumed that reforms are, or tend to become, central to politics. Depending on what else is making demands on the energies of the electorate and politicians- ethnic and religious strife, political order and stability, corruption and crimes of the incumbents- the assumption of reforms centrality may not be right†.In the largest ever survey of mass political attitudes in India conducted between April-July 1996, only 19 ppercent of the electorate reported any knowledge of economic reforms, even though reforms had been in existence since July 1 991. Of the rural electorate, only about 14 per cent had heard of reforms, whereas the comparable proportion in the cities was 32 per cent. Further nearly 66 ppercent of the graduates were aware of the dramatic changes in economic ppolicy, compared to only 7 per cent of the poor, who are mostly illiterate.In contrast, close to three-fourths of the electorate – both literates and illiterates, poor and rich, urban and rural- were aware of the 1992 mosque demolition in Ayodhya; 80 per cent expressed clear opinions about whether the country should have a uniform civil code or religiously prescribed and separate laws for mmarriage, divorce, and property inheritance; and 87 per cent took a stand on caste-based affirmative action. Thus according to Varshney, elite politics is typically expressed in debates and struggles within the institutionalized settings of a bureaucracy, of a parliament or a cabinet.Mass politics takes place primarily on the streets. In democracies, especially p oor democracies, mass politics can redefine elite politics, for an accumulated expression of popular sentiments and opinions inevitably exercises a great deal of pressure on elected politicians. The economic reform’s during 1991 kept progressing because the political context had made Hindu-Muslim relations and caste animosities the prime determinant of political coalitions. The reforms were crowded out of mass politics by issues that aroused greater passion, and anxiety about the nation.And hence the reforms could go as far as they did. (ii) The Reforms in a Nutshell: The reforms had two broad objectives. One was the reorientation of the economy from a statist, centrally directed and highly controlled economy to what is referred to in the current jargon as a ‘marketfriendly economy’. A reduction direct controls and physical planning was expected to improve the efficiency of the economy. It was to be made more 11 ‘open’ to trade and external flows thr ough a reduction in trade barriers and liberalization of foreign investment policies.A second objective of the reform measures was macro-economic stabilization. This was to be achieved by substantially reducing fiscal deficits and the government’s draft on society’s savings. (iii) Results: Compared with the historical trend, the impact of these policies has been positive and significant. The growth rate of the economy during 1992-93 to 1999-2000 was close to 6. 5 per cent per annum. The balance of payments position has also substantially improved.Despite several external developments, including the imposition of sanctions in 1998 and sharp rise in oil prices in 2000-01, foreign exchange reserves are at a record level. Current account deficits have been moderate, and India’s external debt (as a ppercentage of GDP) and the debt servicing burden have actually come down since the early nineties. There is also evidence of considerable restructuring in the corporate s ector with attention being given to cost-competitiveness and financial viability.The rate of inflation has also come down sharply. (iv) A Closer Scrutiny: When we talk about GDP growth we talk about the aggregate figures. Let us closely look at the sectoral composition. If we look at the growth rates with respect to different sectors we find that the growth rates of agricultural and industrial production have not increased at all in the nineties, compared with the eighties. The increase in overall growth in the 1990’s is overwhelmingly driven by accelerated growth of the ‘service’ sector.The service sector includes some very dynamic fields, such as uses of information technology and electronic servicing, in both of which India has made remarkable progress. This was largely a result of the liberalization policies initiated by Manmohan Singh. Ssimilar comments apply to the phenomenal expansion of software-related export services. Now the relevant question is, what is wrong in the fact that the services sector is driving the growth process in India?What is a bit disturbing is the fact that it is not clear as to the extent to which the rapid growth of the service sector as a whole contributes to the generation of widely-shared employment, the elimination of poverty, and the 12 enhancement of the quality of life. And also employment in the service sector is often inaccessible to those who lack the required skills or education. The current restructuring to the Indian economy towards this skill and education-intensive sector reinforces the resources to a certain ection of the society. How has the Reforms been successful in creating a widely shared developmental process? The issue as to whether the reforms have been successful in eliminating poverty to a greater extent than say in the 80’s is a contentious issue. Experience prior to the 1990s suggests that economic growth in India has typically reduced poverty. Using data from 1958 to 1991, Ravallion and Datt (1996) find that the elasticity of the incidence of poverty with respect to net domestic product per capita was –0. 5 and that with respect to private consumption per capita it was –0. 9. However, the 1990s are more contentious. Some observers have argued that poverty has fallen far more rapidly in the 1990s than previously (for example, Bhalla, 2000). Others have argued that poverty reduction has stalled and that the poverty rate may even have risen (for example, Sen, 2001). The basic question of measuring India’s poverty rate has turned out to be harder to answer than it needed to be because of difficulties with coverage and comparability of the survey data.Correcting for all those, Datt and Ravallion in a recent study find that India has probably maintained its 1980s rate of poverty reduction in the 1990s, though they do not find any convincing evidence of an acceleration in the decline of poverty. It is probably apt to remark here that oft entimes the public rhetoric fails to take the incomparability problems in the surveys from which the poverty estimates are calculated and try to interpret the estimates to reinforce their particular arguments.Even the Finance Minister’s ‘budget speech’ of Feb 2001 coincluded firmly that ‘poverty has fallen from 36 ppercent in 1993-4 to 26 ppercent or less now’. It is worth noting that even if one were to endorse the official 1999-2000 headcount ratio of 26 per cent, which is known to be biased downwards, one would find that poverty reduction in the 90s has proceeded at a ssimilar rates as in the earlier decades, in spite of a significant acceleration in the economic growth rate. As things stand, this is the most optimistic reading of the available evidence.All of the estimates were made with respect to head-count indexes. I think it is necessary to move away from this narrow index and to consider a broader range of social 13 indicators. Much of the d ebate in this area has focused on what has happened to expenditure on social sector development in the post reform period. Dev and Mooji (2002) find that central