Patagonia Case Study

Ana Martinez Valls 22/10/2012 PATAGONIA 1) Evaluate Patagonia’s business model. How important to Patagonia’s business model is its environmental position? Business models generally have as a primary objective to earn money, however, Patagonia’s is primarily oriented towards â€Å"doing things right†. That is why Patagonia’s founder Yves Chouinard considers the company an opportunity to â€Å"challenge the conventional wisdom and present a new style of responsible business†.It’s business model differs substantially from the traditional business’ one. PATAGONIA’S BUSINESS MODEL * Target customer: Patagonia builds products for its â€Å"core users†, those who lead the â€Å"dirtbag† lifestyle (someone who wanders for temp jobs and long summers†, someone who is passioned about climbing, surfing.. etc) * Product: High quality & useful products, for different occasions that are aimed to â€Å"last foreverà ¢â‚¬ : Four main product categories: Sportswear (47%), Technical outwear (30%) Technical Knits(12%), Hard Goods (6%). Mission- Core service:  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm and use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis†. Value delivered: Manufacture of high quality outdoor and adventure sport clothing -Quality: Best clothes, own quality Lab (patents and technique used by other big corpportaions) -Environmentally impact (organic materials, recyclable products, environmental campaigns) -Innovative products that can â€Å"last forever† (more intelligent consumption) -Service to he customer (repair, replace) Acquire and keep customers: during a recession as it is the case nowadays, in a competitive market if two firm s have the same product at a similar price and one of them has a more responsible business, customers are going to choose the responsible business’ product * Differentiation: Organic mate rials that decrease harm to the environment. Products that last forever. Indeed you don’t have to buy new products you can repair them ! Products tested (proved by professionals) and developed in Patagonia’s lab. Revenue generation: Margin earned from selling through its four channels: wholesale(44%), retail (33%), catalog and internet (23%). As a percentage of sales, the gross margin ranges form 50 to 55%. In their new products they focus on innovation, environmental impact and quality what enabled them to â€Å" charge prices roughly 20% higher than those of other outdoor apparel and 505 higher than mass market brands for comparable products†. * Cost structure: one third of the cost comes from manufacturing and two thirds form raw materials.Higher costs due to labor costs in North America which are â€Å" estimated to be anywhere from four to ten times those elsewhere† but also by the use of eco friendly materials such as organic cotton which was betwee n 50% and 100% more expensive than normal cotton. * Profit margin: $26 963 000 ($332 862 in net sales) in 2010 2) How fast can Patagonia grow? How fast should it grow? Patagonia could grow faster, from a financial perspective but if it did it so it would not be â€Å"The Coolest Company on the Planet† (Fortune cover  story, Casey 2007).Indeed Patagonia endeavors a sustainable growth and it prioritizes a slow growth that enable the corporation to be committed to its mission and values. Patagonia’s growth path is closely related to the values that have being shaping the company since 1957 when Chouinard founded it. Indeed, Chouinard is a reluctant entrepreneur and his primary objective in business is not to earn money but he states that â€Å"the reason why [he is] in business is to protect what he likes†. An unsustainable growth goes against his values. Patagonia has found unambiguous ways to couple their products’ function and the brands environmental v alues.Their business model raises major sums for environmental causes and their technological innovation reduces the environmental impact of their products- and that is what it is important for Patagonia. A perfect example of the sustainable growth Patagonia wants to pursue is their willingness to use organic cotton. The help provided to other corporation in order to help to establish a whole new  organic? cotton industry is also a landmark of how they are committed to a sustainable development of the manufacturing industry.Indeed, Patagonia is a reference for other business in its path to reduce contamination and some big corporations such as Nike have imitated -in a certain degree -this new organic cotton initiative. Patagonia has a responsibility towards society and the future reduction of pollution and feels that its mission is â€Å"to share broad sustainable practices†. Another initiative that in theory slows Patagonia financial growth is its participation in the â₠¬Å"1% For The Planet† program- â€Å"an alliance of over 1200 business that donate a self imposed environmental tax of 1% of revenues to environmental organizations worldwide.Also, some of Patagonia’s practices such their Employee Internship Program- through which employees can leave their jobs at Patagonia for up to two months to work full-time for the environmental group of their choice- could also slow their financial growth but increase their positive impact in society In a nut shell, Patagonia is not only focused in economic and financial growth but more on â€Å"its path of breaking new ground on reducing environmental harm†. Patagonia wants to be part of the solution to this economic crisis, and not part of the problem.Even if it could grow faster in financial terms, there is no doubt that Patagonia is growing exponentially in other parameters such as in its position as a beneficial actor in society. 3) Would Patagonia’s business model differ if it were a publicly held company? If Patagonia was a Publicly held company it should in theory pursue other objectives and values that the ones it has currently since it should give priority to shareholder’s value. At a first glance we may think that a faster growth pace will be the solution.In fact, in the case it is suggested â€Å" the fact that Patagonia was private was a major reason that it could pursue environmental sustainability†. On the one hand, shareholders care about dividends and the value of their stocks and â€Å"Patagonia’s sustainable agenda† is said to be â€Å"at the expense of its growth†. On the other hand, Patagonia’s environmental committeemen â€Å"g[ives] the company its competitive advantage† and helps the company to pursue a sustainable growth.Maybe it is true that in the short term to have as the main goal Maximizing shareholder wealth by boosting growth could be a good solution. Nevertheless, in the long ter m it may be unsustainable. In a long term perspective achieving the multi-ends of the firm in accordance with the common good of the society seems to be the good solution-and more now in times in of a global economic crisis where competition is huge and customers have a high bargaining power.Customers will appreciate that the company is a member of the society, a member that balances short term and long term value and seeks for the common good. Patagonia does so by being environmentally committed and by providing services for other companies by sharing with them their innovative sustainable practices and product innovations. It is interesting to point out that Patagonia has being increasing its profits each year even if they were environmental friendly.They have always bear in mind that â€Å"if [they] wish to lead corporate America by example, [they] have to be profitable†. This kind of rationale will be difficult to implement in a publicly held business where the stockholde rs may be unsatisfied with the company’s objectives. However in the medium or in the long term stockholders will be happy to earn stock from one of the â€Å"100 Best Companies† that is probably carrying on growing.Patagonia has achieved an exceptional degree of integration between Corporate Social Responsibility values and commercial activity. Its business strategy is extraordinary and instructive. Patagonia WTP * High products * Durable Credible environmental Policy * Moral Wellbeing * Innovation * Multi use Organic cotton: reduce models because they did not found as many providers as they needed Patagonia’s business model : Invest in research and development: quality , innovation, high price, profit Invest in environment: Reduce harm, En4139ry

The Role of Christianity in the Restoration and Remaking of State Power

The last centuries of the Roman Empire was marked with chaos and bloodshed. Rival claimants to the imperial throne constantly waged war with one another, disrupting all aspects of Roman life in the process. Barbaric tribes from neighboring regions took advantage of this situation by invading the countryside, stealing crops and livestock, burning entire towns to the ground and killing or enslaving Roman peasants. In the cities, ambitious praetorians and senators often led rebellions, paralyzing economic activity as a result. The tragic end of the Roman Empire eroded confidence in human reason and shattered the hope of attaining happiness in this world. Desperate, impoverished and fearful for their lives, people during this period were searching for an escape from the oppression that they were experiencing. This need, in turn, prompted the evolution and expansion of Christianity. Christianity’s otherworldliness and promise of personal immortality gave a spiritually disillusioned Greco-Roman world a reason to continue living. Furthermore, the triumph of Christianity in the Greco-Roman world marked the end of classical antiquity and the beginning of the medieval period (Perry, Chase, Jacob, Jacob, Von Laue 171). A Palestinian Jew named Jesus Christ (4 BC-29 AD) was the founder of Christianity. Prior to his ministry, most Palestinian Jews were followers of Judaism, a religion that was based on Mosaic Law (Torah). Apart from religious rituals, Judaism was also composed of many laws that governed daily life. Christ himself was taught Jewish religious-ethical thought in his formative years (Perry, Chase, Jacob, Jacob, Von Laue 174). Christ, however, was distressed over the manner in which Jewish leaders implemented the teachings of Judaism. He felt that their focus â€Å"shifted from prophetic values to obedience to rules and prohibitions regulating the smallest details of daily life† (Perry, Chase, Jacob, Jacob, Von Laue 174). For Christ, detailed regulations governing everyday activities dealt only with a person’s visible behavior but not with his or her inner being. Such a superficial manner of enforcing Jewish law produced individuals who mechanically followed rules and prohibitions but whose hearts remained impure (Perry, Chase, Jacob, Jacob, Von Laue 174). He believed that true morality meant doing away with vices such as fornication, adultery, murder and avarice. The Jewish scribes and priests, as a result, viewed Christ as a threat to ancient traditions and to their authority over the Jews. The Romans, meanwhile, regarded him as a political agitator who would incite a rebellion against Rome (Perry, Chase, Jacob, Jacob, Von Laue 175). Jewish leaders therefore had him arrested for high treason and turned him over to Pontius Pilate, who sentenced him to death by crucifixion. But Christ underwent resurrection three days after his demise and later ascended into heaven. His followers then traveled to various parts of the world in order to spread his teachings. The early years of Christianity were not easy for its followers. Christians during the Roman Empire, for instance, were brutally persecuted because they were seen as â€Å"subversives (who) preached allegiance to God and not to Rome† (Perry, Chase, Jacob, Jacob, Von Laue 180). They were imprisoned, beaten, starved, burned alive, crucified and torn apart by wild animals in the arena for the amusement of the Roman public (Perry, Chase, Jacob, Jacob, Von Laue 181). In order to escape harassment, Christians clandestinely met and held worship services in venues such as catacombs. But Christianity’s aforementioned situation was reversed with the fall of the Roman Empire. The appeal of Christianity was based mainly on the common knowledge that religion is more capable of stirring human hearts than reason. The Roman Empire’s staunch belief in science and philosophy did not save it from total destruction. Neither was it able to provide comforting solutions to the existential problems of life and death (Perry, Chase, Jacob, Jacob, Von Laue 178). Christianity, in sharp contrast, gave the assurance that all earthly torments were â€Å"the will of God† – God made human beings undergo suffering in order to test their faithfulness to him. As Christianity became increasingly popular among the Romans, emperors realized that crushing the religion through persecution was already futile. They instead decided to obtain the support of the empire’s Christian population. Constantine, for instance, issued in 313 AD the Edict of Milan – a law that granted toleration to Christians. This directive was followed by other legislations which was favorable to the church – Theodosius I had made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire and outlawed the worship of pagan gods by 392 AD (Perry, Chase, Jacob, Jacob, Von Laue 181). It would be fair to say that these laws transformed Christianity into an apparatus for the restoration and remaking of state power. Fanatic clergy took advantage of their newly-empowered status by persuading Roman emperors to issue decrees that persecuted pagans, Jews and Christians with unorthodox views. Consequently, many followers of pagan cults were fined, imprisoned, tortured and executed. In addition, Christian mobs burned non-Christian writings, destroyed pagan altars and sacred images and squelched pagan rites and festivals (Perry, Chase, Jacob, Jacob, Von Laue 181). In the process, the Roman Empire was slowly being replaced with a theocracy – Roman emperors were reduced to puppets that the Christian clergy controlled at the strings. Christianity further gained political clout when it started amassing material wealth. Many wealthy Christians died leaving almost all of their fortune to the church. Some Christian leaders in the 4th century were therefore able to build monasteries or communities of people committed to prayer and asceticism (Hastings 43). Monasteries played a crucial role in the spread of Christianity – they served as training grounds for missionaries. Monasteries were likewise vital to social and economic development, as they established schools and libraries and served as landlords and organizers of economic wealth (McManners 119). The Christian Church, through the monasteries, amassed so much wealth in donated lands, money and priceless church furnishings. Thus, the Christian Church eventually became richer and more powerful than most lay monarchies. The pope, previously a spiritual leader alone, also became a temporal power in the process (Bausch, Cannon and Obach 120). By the 9th century, the Christian Church was already powerful enough to establish its own empire – Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne as emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in 800 (MSN Encarta n. pag. ). The Middle Ages was characterized with constant power struggles between the pope and the monarchs. In 1075, for instance, Pope Gregory VII and Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV fought over the right of the sovereign to appoint bishops in his realm (lay investiture). Henry refused to acknowledge Gregory’s papacy, while the pope excommunicated the emperor. Lay investiture is said to be the most persistent source of clashes between the Christian Church and the nobility – bishops and abbots refused to have the king exercise control over their lands and other wealth. But it was necessary for the king to do it in order to assert his authority over his secular nobility (MSN Encarta n. pag. ). The Crusades was one of the rare instances wherein the monarchy and the Christian Church joined forces. The Muslim conquest of Jerusalem spawned meant that the sacred places associated with the life of Christ would fall into the hands of a non-Christian power. West European Christians therefore launched the Crusades, a series of wars from 1095 to 1204 that were intended to recapture Jerusalem from Muslim rule. But the Crusades proved to be a failure – Jerusalem returned to Islamic rule a century after the Fourth Crusade of 1202-1204 (MSN Encarta n. pag. ). After the Crusades, the Christian Church was plagued with even more problems. Moral laxity and financial corruption were very rampant (MSN Encarta n. pag. ). The clergy lived luxuriously, while ordinary people starved. Another anomaly that took place within the Christian Church was the selling of indulgences. Priests would sell people relics (hair or bones of saints) at very expensive prices. They would convince people into buying by claiming that possessing relics would immediately take them to Heaven upon their death. Some priests and religious leaders openly criticized the aforementioned irregularities in the Christian Church, a phenomenon which was later known as the Reformation. On October 31, 1517, German theologian Martin Luther published the Ninety-five Theses, a criticism on the selling of indulgences in order to raise funds for the construction of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. His excommunication by Pope Leo X led to the formation of Protestantism. Others, such as Huldreich Zwingli and John Calvin, soon came up with their own Protestant sects (MSN Encarta n. pag. ). The emergence of Protestantism prompted the Catholic Church to stage the Counterreformation in the 16th and 17th centuries. The Council of Trent (1545-1563), for one, clarified controversial doctrines and established guidelines on liturgy, church administration and education. The Catholic Church likewise came up with the Index of Forbidden Books and a new Inquisition. Missionaries were then sent to the Far East and North and South America in order to draw more converts to Roman Catholicism (MSN Encarta n. pag. ). Christianity’s otherworldliness and promise of personal immortality made it appear as a suitable alternative to the chaotic Roman Empire. As a result, people wholeheartedly supported the Christian Church. Apart from being faithful followers, they invested time and resources on the religion. The Christian Church, in the process, became even more powerful than secular nobility. But if power corrupts, then absolute power corrupts absolutely. Later Catholic leaders became morally decadent and corrupt. Consequently, concerned parties from the clergy established Protestantism. It is indeed very ironic that Christianity, once regarded as an alternative to a corrupt status quo, ended up being a corrupt institution itself.

Moon by Chaim Potok

Chaim Potok (35) loves to write about growing up pains and the conflict between family, the development of a Jewish young person and the way in which the young Jew seeks to integrate himself into the culture he is in while trying to preserve his own identity as a Jew. Throughout the passages of his stories, Potok manages to show the ugly social realities through the points of view of his characters. By dealing with such realities and through the interactions of the characters, they are changed and somehow, the world becomes a better place for the protagonist in his novels and short stories. This is also the same pattern he uses in his short story â€Å"Moon.† Moon tends to be reclusive and rebellious because of his own identity as part of the minority. Throughout all of these, he still wishes to be educated because he sees it as a means to become a somebody in the world. Chaim Potok makes frequent reference to his age as a part of the importance of adolescence and the struggles that they go through. Moon, as is the case with a lot of the characters in Potok’s collection â€Å"Zebra and Other Stories†, is disconnected with his parents. His parents tend to be foreign to him and they could not connect effectively. This also partly explains why Moon is reclusive and rebellious. The main character of the short story tends to enjoy music. This is one thing that most adolescents share with, hence, Potok writes an accurate characterization of Moon and his friends. Through the use of music, Moon’s life is taking a new turn and he gains a new perspective of his situation and the reason why he has to strive for his education even though it is hard. Moon’s life changes when he meets Ashraf, a Pakistani teenager who lives in a neighborhood wracked by strife and violence. Given the background of Ashraf and that of Moon, they still managed to establish a friendship that influenced them both. Through the visit of Ashraf to his home, he suddenly had an insight about life, about education, and the ugly realities that are confronting the life of Ashraf and that of his, too. The changes engendered in the life of Moon became even more pronounced when he learns that Ashraf has been murdered. This is the climax of the story yet the incident seems to have helped Moon become a better person and a more determined one. The differences in his lifestyle from that of Ashraf is also an important aspect of his learning. As a child belonging to the middle class, he enjoys a lot of things that Ashraf does not. With this, the main character also saw the vast oceans of differences separating the haves from the have-nots. With this, he develops sensitivity for people like Ashraf who are suffering from difficult circumstances in life. The relationship of Moon with his parents is not a perfect one. In fact, even his parents do have conflicting attitudes toward him. This is due to his rebellious attitude and his desire to be left alone. His parents try to win his affection and ask about his experiences yet he remains unresponsive. Because their life is comfortable and they suffer no lack, Moon developed a self-conscious and selfish outlook of life shared by middle-class teenagers. Although his parents wanted him to learn much about their heritage, he is a difficult nut to crack. Yet, only the loss of Ashraf jolted him to the painful reality of the need to learn about the world and the ugly realities that people have to face in order for them to have meaningful lives. Work Cited Potok, Chaim. Zebra and Other Stories. New York: Laurel Leaf, 2000.

Socrates's wisdom Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Socrates's wisdom - Essay Example In these regards, Socrates is indicated to give physical or scientific descriptions for things that are generally understood to be established through the works of the gods. As a response to these accusations Socrates indicates that he is innocent and goes about establishing his innocence through a number of rhetorical stories and speeches. One of the first such rhetorical strategies Socrates implements is through his story regarding Chaerephon and the oracle. Socrates had earlier been accused of teaching the Athenian youth that elements in the world had physical explanations despite their generally being attributed to the gods. In response to these accusations, Socrates indicates that he is innocent as such knowledge is the domain of the Sophists. Instead, Socrates relays a story about his friend Chaerephon who goes to visit the Delphi Oracle. When he entered the Oracle he asked it if there was anyone alive more wise than Socrates. The oracle responded that there wasn’t. Upon learning of this information Socrates became confused, as he did not believe that he was particularly wise. Subsequently, Socrates went around asking and questioning people he had previously thought wise.

Technopoly Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Technopoly - Essay Example Postman talks about the fact that how the society has transformed. He argues that the society’s culture seems more like a tool using culture in present scenario and it is losing the natural elements that were present in the culture before. His constant arguments about technology made people to consider him as the Critics of Technology. The book ‘Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology’ states Postman arguments, ideas and thoughts about the new culture being adopted by the society of which he was highly against. He argues that United States is the only country to have developed into Technopoly. He believes that Technology is not a friend; it is not constructive but destructive to the society. He is of the opinion that the dark side to the invention and adoption of technology by the society is that the culture without moral foundation was evolving. Technology is considered as both friend and enemy. This book reveals that how gradually technology has become a threat and enemy to the society. The book is comprised of eleven chapters. Each chapter talks about the element technology from a different perspective, Chapter number one, ‘The Judgment of Thamus’ points to Phaedrus where Socrates tells him a story about Thamus who was a King in the city of Egypt. Postman believed that the story is a total paradox of technology in today’s age. He explains that the story involves the issue of a person who is doubtfulabout the innovation of writing and how people will become less intellectual because of their lack of reliance on their minds. He defends his reason of incorporating the story of Thamus in the start of the essay, He defends his argument by saying â€Å"I begin my book with this legend because in Thamus ‘response there are several sound principles from which we may begin to learn how to think† (Postman, 1993,

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

Exam 3 - Essay Example These persons wish to be alpha male and would value physical aggression and machismos. They would pose as the authority figures for the victims that they would meet in meeting places. They rarely have a specific target and do not intend to kill their victims, but often humiliate and traumatize them. On the other hand would be the power reassurance rapists who do not value physical aggression; are socially deficient; are averagely intelligent; and do not excel in developing romantic or interpersonal relationships. Termed as the least violent, these rapists, accounting for 27.5% of rape crimes, would select and stalk their victim before attacking them, thus are people known to the victims (Atkinson & Bailey, 2008). Other than power, anger shapes up anger retaliation rapists, often substance abusers, exuding anger related pathologies and impulsive behavior. Not being specific on any target, these rapists, accounting for about 28% of the rapes, would have animosity against the gender to be attacked (Gayle, 2009). Low on intelligence, anger retaliatory rapists are spontaneous and often brutal and even though they do not intend to kill, they could beat dead their victims. As such, they leave behind evidence. Finally, the most dangerous yet so elusive type of rapists referred to as anger excitation rapists account for about 4.5% of rape cases (Atkinson & Bailey, 2008). These, often sadistic rapists, could or could not select their victims, often murdering to avoid being identified by the victim or just for self-gratification. To rehabilitate these rapists, this paper borrows recommendations by Hedlund and GÃ ¶thberg (2005) to implement the best approach. Power assertive and power reassurance rapists seek to resolve their insufficiencies through rape; they commit the crime, not as a solution, but rather in search for a solution that

Expectation Interest Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Expectation Interest - Coursework Example Usually, the defendant would be awarded damages that equal to the cost of cure. For most defective goods, that equals to the diminution in their value. But for some defective goods, the diminution in value is not equal to the cost of cure (Ruxley Electronics v Forsyth (1996)). In those instances, the courts would ascertain damages that are just and fair pertaining to the merits of the case. These are called ‘loss of amenity’ damages (see Ruxley).   Where the breach is caused by non-delivery, the buyer may also sue for damages which would be calculated by the difference between the market value and the contracted value of the good (s. 51 SGA 1979). If, on the contrary, the buyer refuses to pay, the seller can claim for the loss of profits on the good (Charter v Sullivan [1957]).Reliance loss  This seeks to put the claimant into the position as if he never entered into contract (McRae v Commonwealth Disposals [1950]). Often, the reliance interest is already covered by the expectation interest.Restitution Interest   In this claim, the contract is set aside and the claimant seeks to obtain the price paid for goods that were not delivered (Whincup v Hughes [1871]). This claim may also be used to recover profits that the defendant made as a result of the breach (Attorney-General), though it is only allowed when other forms of remedies are exhausted and even then, the courts may order the defendant to award the claimant a share of the profit instead of the entire sum. The claimant is also under a duty to mitigate losses.... Thus, if both parties knew that the claimant was going to use the goods to make a profit, he is entitled to recover those lost profits (Victoria Laundry (Windsor) Ltd v. Newman Industries Ltd (1949)). Damages for pain and suffering may also be awarded where the claimant has expressly stated his concerns (such as presence of aircraft noise before buying a new property close to the airport) at the time of contract (Farley v Skinner [2001]) A claim for damages will fail if the damages are too remote. It will also fail if there is no causal link between breach and damage, and independent third party acts (London Joint Stock Bank v. Macmillan [1918]), natural events (see Monarch Steamship v Karlshamns [1949]) and claimant’s own unreasonable acts (Lambert v. Lewis [1982]) will keep the claim from succeeding. Word Count: 510 Q.2 Becka would be looking to pursue her remedies for breach of contract, as there is a possible breach of s. 14 of the SGA 1979. On the facts, she is a consumer , which brings in operation s. 15 conferring on her a right to reject the goods and be awarded damages at the same time at the discretion of the courts. The car was described in the ad as â€Å"regularly serviced, 2007 model†¦Ã¢â‚¬  along with other traits. S.14(2) of the SGA requires the car to be of satisfactory quality and s.14(3) requires it to be fit for purpose. Since Tower Hill is a business, these two are conditions. However, these conditions do not apply where the buyer has inspected the goods before purchasing or defects have been specifically brought to her attention before buying. Becka’s test drive may bar her from claiming on faults that she ought to have noticed. However, the facts are

MGT 3190 Cross Cultural Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

MGT 3190 Cross Cultural Management - Essay Example This strategy along with others that have to do with market segmentation and brand positioning for maximum customer satisfaction has been used by the Mattel Company in order to evolve a strategy that is best suited for the purpose of an entry level product in a diverse global market. Therefore, a good entry-level strategy for the Mattel Company has involved introducing the fact that Barbie has an international face as it can be modified to cater to any kind of culture or country. In this regard, there has been long-term growth through the management of the immediate and other short-term risks. In this case, the main risk came from losing its exclusivity, which can be tackled through the direct investment strategy. (Finnigan, 2001) The Japanese market did not take very kindly to the Mattel Company's Barbie. This was basically due to the fact that the Japanese market did not understand Barbie with her long legs and wide chest. The physical attributes did not conform to the general attributes of Japanese women. This was a major problem apart from stiff competition from the doll names Takara which was a huge success in the Japanese market. Despite trying to strike a partnership with Takara, Barbie did not do very well. (Chonko, 1999) In order to do better business, Mattel could have first of all changed the way Barbie looked, to a certain degree. Even though, its priority list speaks of countries like UK and Australia as strategic places for expansion, internationalisation in today's world would mean a westward as well as an eastward growth owing to the fact that the East is booming and almost at par with the West as far as politics and economies are concerned. As an entry point mode, a company dealing with such products needs to make a more individualistic statement so as to avoid cheap imitations, which is what happened in the case of the Japanese market when it came up with its own 'Japanese Barbie' after the agreement between Mattel and Takara fell through. This calls for a mix of passive as well as consumer centric activities at the location as well as around it for better cultural orientation and market segmentation. For this, it is important to touch the pulse of the target consumers by being accessible to them distance wise and culture wise. Therefore, it will be found that for an entry level product in an international market, exploring the retail market is the best option. The direct investment strategy is the best one for the entry mode strategy. According to the entry level mode strategy, it is important for the product to take the characteristics of its target market into account apart from the investment plan it will follow in the course of going international. (Walter et al, 1988) In this regard, the entry level mode can be applied to find the areas where there is competitive advantage so as to find variations in the large consumer base that this product can enjoy in Japan. This will assist the company in finding an appropriate contractual or intermediate strategy that may be customised to fit into the Indian market in terms of segmentation. With franchising, licensing and other activities that will promote an

Managerial EconomicsWeek 4 Individual Work Assignment

Managerial EconomicsWeek 4 Individual Work - Assignment Example The U.S. dollar is a strong currency compared to other currencies. However, America is in trade deficits in international money markets. A clear short term trend in the U.S. dollar is that it rose some 14 percent in relation to the euro and even more to the Japanese yen. However, towards the Chinese renminbi the U.S. dollar decreased. The decrease was after the increase in the dollar rate by the Chinese central bank The main factors affecting dollar/euro exchange rates include relative real interest rate, the relative price, the relative fiscal position, and Percentage product prices. The euro/dollar exchange rate also asymmetrically responds to macroeconomic news and other factors in the economy. However, predicting the euro/dollar exchange rate may seem very hard due to lack of precise models and other unexpected events that work within the economy. There are also other fundamental and non-fundamental factors that affect the euro/ dollar exchange rates in global markets. Trade deficits and job market significantly affect the euro/dollar exchange rates. Increasing trade deficits coupled with a weak job market may lead to the strengthening of the euro. In contrast, the U.S. Dollar may weaken. Political factors such as world security also affect euro/dollar exchange rates. Factors such as war and fears of terrorism and war and accounting issues in the U.S. resulted to reduced strength of the U.S . dollar. Factors that led to a decrease in power of the U.S. dollar make the euro stronger. However, in most cases, euro/dollar exchange rates patterns are usually nonlinear in nature. Therefore, market forces pull back the exchange rate to PPP equilibrium Currency exchange rates are important factors that affect operations of the export markets. Operating in export markets becomes more difficult given the fact that it is very difficult to predict the future of the worldwide currency market. Factors related to supply and

Teen pregnancy Essay Example for Free

Teen pregnancy Essay Teenage pregnancy is a social problem that has existed for over a century and has always been a great concern to every nation due to the numerous adverse consequences it brings on both the economy and society at large. In the middle of the 70s, teenage pregnancy had reached an astronomical height that it was described as â€Å"epidemic† by the Alan Guttmacher Institute in a booklet entitled â€Å"11 Million Teenagers† which was widely circulated at the time (Gallagher, M. , 1999). This, in fact, put pressure on Congress at the time to pass a bill that would increase family planning fund by hundred percent as a strategy to curtail teenage pregnancy â€Å"epidemic† (Gallagher, M. , 1999). The rate of Teenage Pregnancy rose from 23. 9 births per 1000 single female teenagers in 1975 to 31. 4 in 1985, and to 46. 4 in 1994. In the last part of the 90s, the rate had dropped by16 percent. For teenagers between 15 and 19 years, the rate of teen pregnancy had dropped by 36 per cent by 2002 and 33 per cent by 2004 (Gallagher, M. , 1999). Until recent times, Teenage pregnancy was considered an abomination and a mockery to a family. It carried a stigma and a disgrace to the young mothers and their immediate families. The young mothers were often considered sinners and the children born out of wedlock were referred to as bastards or illegitimate. The horror and the disgrace that was immediately associated with giving birth to bastards or illegitimate children, kept teenage pregnancy at the lowest minimum (Sprague, C. , 2009). In the 20th Century, the attitude of society toward teen mothers and their children or teenage pregnancy in general changed; society looked at them with compassion. Soon the horror, the intimidation, and the stigma that surrounds teenage pregnancy dissipated. This has, in no simple terms, contributed to the current level of teen pregnancy in our society. Though the rate of Teenage Pregnancy has declined in the United States in the last decade, it is still considered high, relative to other developed countries such as Sweden, Great Britain, and Denmark. Teenage pregnancy is a real social problem that requires all and sundry in finding a lasting solution to it. What makes teen pregnancy a huge problem lies in the negative effects it brings. The purpose of this work is to discuss some of the effects of teenage pregnancy which include health issues, school dropouts and dependency on the public for economic support. One striking effect with teenage pregnancy is the high propensity for the pregnant teenager to suffer some health problems. Very often, teenagers who become pregnant try to hide their pregnancy from their parents and in so doing, they do not get the necessary medical attention that initial pregnancy requires or may use crude means to abort the baby which can result in bleeding and death. About 33% of pregnant teenagers do not receive proper prenatal care and monitoring (Sprague, C. , 2009). This can result in an increased risk of miscarriage, anemia and high blood pressure in the pregnant teenager. Also, children born to teenage mothers usually exhibit low birth weight which is accompanied with other health hazards like respiratory disease, bleeding in the brain, and intestinal problems. All these account for the high mortality rate for infants born to teenage mothers than those born to women older than 20. This will in effect put some financial demand on the families of the teenage mothers. Another effect that has captivated the attention of civil society is the rate at which pregnant teenagers drop out of school. Drop outs today are ill-effects for future labor force; a situation which can cause poverty and semi-illiterates which civil society considers very serious in the development of a nation. Research shows that between 30 to 35 per cent of pregnant teenagers drop out of school compared to the 6 per cent of non-pregnant teenagers (Sprague, C. , 2009). Dropping out of school has an inherent effect on the teenage mothers; the early pregnancy deprives them of getting the necessary education and skills that will ensure them of rewarding and stable jobs. Finding a regular source of income therefore, becomes extremely difficult for teenage mothers as every job position requires certain skills. Their inabilities to secure jobs lead them to falling on the public for financial support. Finally, pregnant teenagers are likely to encounter abject poverty if they do not have a strong financial backing from their parents. Surprisingly, a higher percentage of these teens come from either broken home or staying with single parents, and are already living in poverty (Gallagher, M). Also, most of these teens are unmarried and likely to be single mothers which will cause them to face further acute economic hardships than if they were married. The only alternative at their disposal to partially solving their economic predicaments in the short run is to seek public assistance; that is, relying on welfare which includes food stamp. Over 80 per cent of teen mothers go on welfare within three years of giving birth (Sprague, C. , 2009). If the teen mother does not go back to school to attain any profession which is mostly the case, their daughters are more likely to become teen mothers and it becomes a vicious cycle. There are numerous effects of teenage pregnancy but the limit of this paper cannot exhaust all of them. In conclusion, teenage pregnancy is one source that can cause health, economic and educational setbacks not only in the lives of teenagers who allow them to be impregnated but generations down the â€Å"road†. All these can be averted if teenagers are taught abstinence from early sex until they have at least completed high school or attained age of 20. Where the teenagers are uncontrollable, they must be advice to use protections such as condoms but one thing is that condom is not 100 percent safe. There has been instances where condoms have torn and causing pregnancy. References

History Of Sports In South Africa History Essay

History Of Sports In South Africa History Essay Sports in South Africa are largely separated into different parts on ethnic lines. In South Africa sports is treated as the national religion, language group as well as transcending race. In this country it is believed that sport unites the entire country. The Sport and Recreation South Africa takes the responsibility of sport in South Africa which is the national government department. The vision of this department is to create an Active and Winning nation. It focuses to provide many opportunities for South Africans to take part in sport provide fund for various codes related to sport, manage the regulatory framework etc. Sport and Recreation South Africa (SRSA) is being headed by Mr. Fikile Mbalula, who is the minister of Sport and Recreation, Mr. Gert Oosthuizen, who is the Deputy Minister of sport and Recreation, Mr. Alec Moemi who is the Director General and Ms. Sumayya Khan, Chief Operations Officer. Football in South Africa: Football is the most popular sports which is mostly liked and admired by black South Africans. Bafana Bafana is the nick name which is given to the national football team. 2010 FIFA World Cup is the first cup which is being hosted in South Africa. In order to improve conversational skills among the people, crash course is being held on important teams of the country. South African national Australian Rules football team is national team of football in South Africa. This team competed Australias best under 17 players team and made history in 2007 and also defeated Australian amateur senior team. In 2008 annual national championship was held. This team also competed Australian Football International Cup which is considered as world cup for all countries except Australia where sport is being played professionally. Cricket in South Africa: The next or the second popular sport which is liked by the South Africans is Cricket and this is the customized sport of two communities named Indian South African and Anglo- African communities. This is now being followed by people of all races. The nickname given to the National Cricket Team is The Proteas. Ashwell Prince, Loots Bosman, Hashim Amla, Charl Langeveldt, Herschelle Gibbs, Makhaya Ntini and Monde Zondeki are the non-white cricket players in South Africa. Also Afrikaners include the following players in their team AB de Villiers, Johan Botha, Albie Morkel, Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel. Herschelle Gibbs is the most dominating batsman; Jacques Kallis and Shaun Pollock are the all-rounders, bowler Makhaya Nitni reached second in ICC Player Rankings in the year 2006. Dale Steyn is ranked as the best bowlers currently. Graeme Smith, who is the captain, is also one of the dominant batsman in the world cricket. Mark Boucher who is the wicket keeper has t he world record for a great number of dismissals for wicketkeeper and he continues playing for his team. South Africa had reached the semi-finals of event in 2007 cricket world cup but it lost to Australia. Rugby Union: The famous sport among Afrikaners includes rugby union. The Springboks is the nickname which is being given to the National rugby union team. Most of the South Africans think that Rugby is origin of bursting pride, it is considered as a serious matter or it is treated as shattering disappointment. The country has played this game traditionally well on the world stage and the South Africans believe that the national team will win every game which they play. South Africa the Rugby World Cup in 1995 by defeating all blacks in the finals which is remembered as the famous sporting moment in South Africa. The Springboks became the part of New South Africa after getting training by the associations. Nelson Mandela was chosen as the president, wearing springbok jersey which was won by the whites only once, at the final of Rugby World Cup 1995. South African Golf: The country has the Best players. The country has best players in the game which includes the major winners named Bobby Locke, Ernie Els Retief Goosen, Gary Player and many others who challenge for great titles all over the world. Horse racing in South Africa: Horse Racing is also one of the popular sports which are played in South Africa. In this racing take place all around the country. Rich and long history is being enjoyed by the sports player in South Africa. The South Atlantic Yacht Race: Top international events are organized in South Africa which is the cause of satisfaction for all South Africans. The highest of this position is given to the South Atlantic Yacht Race which is originally called Cape to Rio. Currently it is called as Cape to Bahia. In the Southern hemisphere is race is the largest continent to continent yacht race. Athletics (running) in South Africa: South Africa possesses active athletic schedule and has large number of athletics who take part in contest internationally and compete for Olympic and the Paralympic games. The major events include Two Oceans Marathon and the Comrades Marathon. The 2011 World Championships in Athletics which was held in Daegu in South Korea, the team of following players Oscar Pistorius, Ofentse Mogawane, Shane Victor and Willem de Beer set the national record time of 2:59.21 seconds and finally South Africa won the silver medal in the finals with the team members Beer, victor, Mogawane and Jacob van. Also a silver medal was won by Caster Semenya in 2012 in womens 800 m Olympic Games which were held in London with the set record time of 1:57.23 seconds. Oscar Pistorius also became first double amputee sprinter in 2012 to compete the Olympic Games but did not succeeded in winning the medal. A gold and bronze medal was won by Pistorius in T44 class in Summer Paralympics in the year 2004 which was held in Athens and also won three gold medals at Summer Paralympic Games at 2008 which were held in Beijing. Also two gold medals were won by him at 2012 Paralympic Games. For 200 m and 400 m events he had also remained T43 world record holder. Gold medal was won by South African team of Zivan Smith, Pistorius, Samkelo Radebe and Arnu Fourie and Paralympic record of 4*100 m relay was set by them. Basketball: In South Africa basketball is famous sport among the youth. Basketball South Africa, the national Federation is is the youngest members of FIBA which is the global basketball governing body and was founded in 1992. Cycling: The major events include 94.7 cycle challenge and Cape Argus Cycle Race. South Africa possess powerful cycle race scene. Robert Hunter is the famous cyclist who won the stage in Tour de France in 2007. The national governing body in South Africa of cycling is CyclingSA or Cycling South Africa. Golf: South Africa is one of the largest golfing nations and has illustrious history. Golf is one of the best individual sports event in which the South Africans take part in. As compared, the South African players remain at the top level with the quantity and quantity. Bobby Locke was the first South African who won a major championship The British Open for four times in the year 1949, 1950, 1952 and 1957. Gray Player is the top famous player of golf in SA. He along with Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus was dominated for world golf in 1960s and 1970s. Sailing: In South Africa, for the sport of sailing South African sailing is the national governing body which is being recognized by International Sailing Federation. Tennis: South Africa was considered as the country which had good tennis players who died away with the new administration of sport. Wayne Ferreira and Amanda Coetzer are the recent tennis players who rank among the world top ten players. Johan Kriek is the only one grand slam tournament winner in South Africa who won Australian Open in the year 1981. He won again the year 1982 but he acquired American citizenship and he played as an American in 1982. In 1984, the Australian Open Final was made by Kevin Curren. Irene Bowder Peacock, Brian Norton, Ian Vermaak, Sandra Reynoldsa, Eric Sturgess and Cliff Drysdale include other grand slam finalists in south Africa. Canoeing: In South Africa, a huge number of canoe events take place annually which are mentioned as follows: Berg River Canoe Marathon Dusi Canoe Marathon Fish River Canoe Marathon Chess: Chess is also taking major place in South Africa. Its demand is growing rapidly in this country. Some of the major events include: South African Open South African Chess Championship Mind Sports: Mind Sports South Africa was founded on 14 December 1984 and it has hosted around five world championships in following places which are as follows: Johannesburg in 1997 Cape Town in 1999 Durban in 2002 Port Elizabeth in 2007 Durban in 2012 The Mind Sports South Africa also looks after the games like Board Gaming, Figure Gaming and e Sports. Board Gaming includes Draughts, Backgammon (International, Anglo- American and Pool Checkers), Morabaraba also called as Mlabalaba, Moruba, SesothoMorabaraba. Figure Gaming Include Ancients (3000 BC to 1500 AD), Pike and Shot ( 1500 AD to 1700 AD), Horse and Musket(1700 to 1845) and World War 2( 1939 to 1945). E Sports include personal computer gaming, mobile gaming and PSP gaming. Motor Sports: Jody Schekter is Formula One World Champion in South Africa who had succeeded or triumphed for Ferrari in 1979. It had also staged Formula One Grand Prix and is also one of the host nations for A1 Grand Prix. In South Africa Motor Rallying and off road 4*4 racing vastly popular. Rugby League: Rugby League is also the famous sport in South Africa. It has four different committees, administrative boards and interests from around 40 years that made an attempt to set up the game of rugby league in this country. The English and the French expanded the game into different nations that would ensure a lucrative and glowing future. This was the first attempt and it failed as the South African public did not included this game in sport. The second attempt was made in 1960s in double act which consisted of separate factions, one was the National Rugby League and the other was the South African Rugby League. Tom Van Vollenhoven Cup is the rugby league competition which is held in South Africa. Skydiving and Parachuting: In South Africa, there are about 20 skydiving clubs and drop zones that are registered and all the clubs are connected or joined to the Parachute association of South Africa (PASA). Boxing: Jeffrey Mathebula won the title named IBF junior featherweight title in March 2012. British version of world bantamweight title was won by Willie Smith. About seventy one world champions are being produced by South Africa. One hundred and fourteen titles have been won by seventy one world champions who include thirty five titles for WBA, WBC, WBO and IBF which are the four major sanctioning bodies. In the year 1998 there were eight world champions in South Africa. Some of the major sports events include the following: Midmar Mile Three world class canoe marathons Cape Argus Pick n Pay Cycle Tour Two oceans Marathon Comrades marathon Ned bank Golf Challenge Adventure and Outdoor Sport: The adventure and outdoor sport include the following: Hiking Abseiling and Rapp jumping Horse riding and trails Bungee jumping Mountain biking Canoeing, rafting and kayaking Paragliding, hang gliding and flying Fishing Surfing, wind and kite surfing, sailing Polo Skydiving and base jumping Rock climbing Scuba diving There are number of disabled athletes in South Africa. Oscar Pistorius is the double amputee world record holder at 200m and 400 m, Natalie du Toit, who is the swimmer who became the first amputee who competed in swimming in 2008 at able bodied Olympics. A three time Xterra Triathlon world champion is Conrad Stoltz in triathlon. Also there is one multiple Ironman Champion named Raynard Tissink. The ITU World Cup winner is Hendrick de Villiers and Dan Hugo is multi-sport and Xterra star.

Cultural diversity and innovation

Cultural diversity and innovation CULTURAL DIVERSITY AND INNOVATION 1. Preface This paper is written as an assignment for the course: Societal Developments and Institutions. This paper contains a literature study for the workgroup cultural diversity, by a first year master student organization studies at the University of Tilburg. This paper is written with the help and suggestions of my teacher, mister Mutsaers, who provided some helpful articles to start this paper. 3. Introduction 3.1 Research problem In the Netherlands we live in a multicultural society. In this society there are a lot of members with lots of different cultural backgrounds. These members of the multicultural society will have to work together in organizations. Groups in organizations have become more diverse in terms of their demographic composition over the years and will continue to become more diverse in years to come (Jackson, 1992; Triandis, Kurowski, Gelfand, 1994; Williams OReilly, 1998). Also the process of globalization leads to organizations with members with different cultural backgrounds. According to Cox and Blake (1991) the recent business trends of globalization and increasing ethnic diversity are turning managers attention to the management of cultural differences. Numerous companies have discovered that increasing the diversity of their workforce pays off in improved performances (Curseu, 2007). According to Cox and Blake (1991) a well managed, diverse workforce holds potential competitive adva ntages for organizations. However not all scientific research comes to the same conclusions. Research on the relationship between workgroup diversity and performance has yielded inconsistent results (van Knippenberg, 2004). This inconsistency in results on the relationship between cultural diversity and organizational performances provides a great opportunity for further research. This literature study will focus on one specific part of organizational performance, namely innovative performance. Innovative performance is important for organizations because innovativeness stimulates economic development by fueling the engines of corporate growth (Schumpeter 1934, Penrose 1959). Without it, firms eventually wither and die. Advocates of the value-in diversity hypothesis suggest that work team heterogeneity promotes creativity and innovation (Cox Blake, 1991). Since cultural diversity is one aspect of work team heterogeneity, this would mean that cultural diversity also has a positive effect on organizational innovative performance. This study will examine the advantages and disadvantages of cultural diversity on organizational innovative performance, in order to find out what the effects of cultural diversity are on an organizations innovative performance. 3.2 Research goal. The goal of this research is to find out what the advantages and disadvantages of cultural diversity within organizations are with respect to the innovative performance of the organization. 3.3 Research Question The research question of this paper is: What are the effects of racial diversity in organizations on the innovative team performance? 3.4 Research relevance Social relevance The social relevance of this paper is probably very low. This paper only examines the advantages and disadvantages of cultural diversity in organizations on innovative performance of organizations. There wont be any solutions provided that will have an impact on society. Practical relevance The practical relevance of this paper is that when managers of organizations want to find out what the effects of cultural diversity are for the innovative performance of their organization they could study this paper and use the results to decide how cultural diverse they want their work teams to be, that is working on innovations, so they could come to a high organizational innovative performance. Scientific relevance Unfortunately, research on the positive and negative effects of work-group diversity has largely developed in separate research traditions, and an integrative theoretical framework from which to understand the effects of diversity on team performance is missing (Guzzo Dickson, 1996; Kozlowski Bell, 2003; Williams OReilly, 1998). This paper will not research the positive and negative effects of all kinds of diversity within organizations on all kinds of group performances, but it will integrate the positive and negative effects of cultural diversity within organizations on the innovative performance of the teams in the organization. So this research could be seen as a start of integrating separate research traditions. So further research could build on this paper. 4. Theoretical background. In this paper literature is researched and analyzed, in order to answer the question: What are the effects of racial diversity in workgroups on the innovative team performance? To answer this question a few important concepts will be used. The first concept used in this thesis is diversity. The term diversity often provokes intense emotional reactions from people who, perhaps, have come to associate the word with ideas as â€Å"affirmative action† and â€Å"hiring quotas† ; yet it is a word that simply means â€Å"variety† or a â€Å"point of respect in with things differ† (American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 1993; Websters Dictionary of the English Language, 1992). Diversity refers to differences between individuals on any attribute that may lead to the perception that another person is different from self (e.g., Jackson, 1992; Triandis et al., 1994; Williams OReilly, 1998). This first concept is a very general one. For the sake of this paper this definition has to be narrowed down. In this paper we will study team diversity. Team diversity is a group characteristic that reflects the degree to which there are objective or subjective differences between people within the team (van Knippenberg Schippers, 2007). These may be differences in demographic characteristics such as age, gender, or ethnicity, in job-related characteristics such as functional background or organizational tenure, in more deep-level (Harrison, Price, Bell, 1998) psychological characteristics such as personality, attitudes, and values, or on yet other dimensions of differentiation ( Dijk, Engen, Knippenberg, 2009). In an effort to organize thinking about different types of diversity some researchers (Cummings, Zhou Oldham, 1993; Jackson, 1992; Jackson, May Whitney, 1995; Maznevski, 1994; Tsui, Egan OReilly, 1992) have suggested ways of categorizing different types of diversity (Milliken Martins, 1996). One common distinction is between diversity on observable or readily detectable attributes such as race or ethnic background, age or gender, and diversity with respect to less visible or underlying attributes such as education, technical abilities, functional background, tenure in the organization or socio-economic background, personality characteristics, or values (Cummings et al., 1993; Jackson et al., 1995; Tsui et al., 1992) In this paper the focus is on one of the observable attributes of diversity, namely: racial diversity. Racial diversity is the diversity within teams in race. The second important concept of this paper is a team. Teams can be defined as a set of two or more actors who interact dynamically, adaptively and interdependently who share common goals or purposes; and who have specific roles or functions to perform (Salas et al., 1992). This paper studies teams, because organizations are increasingly relying on teams for innovation (Ilgen, Hollenbeck, Johnson, Jundt, 2005). Different articles use different names for teams. In a lot of articles the auteur refer to work groups. When the term work group is use in another article, it will be changed into teams so that this paper will be more consistent. The third important concept in this paper is radical innovation. Radical innovations are fundamentally different from things invented before and they represent revolutionary changes in technology. They lie at the core of entrepreneurial activity and wealth creation (Schumpeter, 1975). 5. Methodology 5.1 Research approach This research could be described as explorative, because it combines literature of cultural diversity with literature on organizational performance and innovative performance in a way that results in a clear overview of advantages and disadvantages of cultural diversity on innovative performance. This overview is still missing in the literature so far. So this paper really explores the effects of cultural diversity on innovative performance in a way that hasnt been done before. 5.2 Data collection To find literature for this thesis the website www.webofscience.com will be used. The articles you can find on this website conform to the ISI-norms. These norms make sure that the article are from a high quality.. The methodology used in the articles to come to results have to be convincing so that the results are valid. When the article is considered useful for this thesis the whole article will be analyzed carefully. Also the website Google scholar and the online library of the University of Tilburg will be used to find literature about the main concepts of this thesis. To search for literature key words will be typed in at the search functions of the sites. The key words that will be used are:, cultural diversity, innovation, radical, team, organization, performance, work groups. These key words will be used in different combinations. The literature used in this thesis will be analyzed by first reading the abstract and discussion/conclusion parts of the articles. The articles are considered relevant when the topics of the articles have a connection to the topic of this thesis. When this is the case the articles will be selected. By doing this time will be saved by not reading a lot of irrelevant literature. Ones articles are selected the snowball function that the web of science offers will be used to find more literature. Snowballing can happen forwards (who cites the article) and backwards (who are cited in the article) by looking at the reference list of the articles. Both kinds of snowballing will be used in this thesis. Of course there will also be searched for more articles of the same writer, to find out if this writer has written more relevant articles for this thesis. 5.3 data analyses The articles will be systematically analyzed. The articles will be read to see what they are about exactly. The articles that are about the effects of racial diversity on team performance will get a number. Author Article number The key ideas of the article will be summarized so that it will be easy to find back which articles are about which topic. A distinction will be made between positive and negative effects on team performance. So the effects of racial diversity on team performance that have been found in articles will be easy to find back in the table. Article number Negative effects Positive effects 6. results Effects of racial diversity on innovative team performance Diversity is a characteristic of a group of two or more people and typically refers to demographic differences in one sort or another among group members (McGrath, Berdahl, Arrow, 1995). Researchers predictions about any one diversity variable differ depending on which of the dimensions they see as critical to determining its impact (Ely Thomas, 2001). Pelled (1996) predicted that racial diversity, as a source of visible differences, would incite intergroup bias and lead to negative outcomes for teams. But racial diversity could also have positive outcomes when you look at it from a different perspective. Cox, Lobel and McLeod (1991) predicted that racial diversity, as a source of cultural differences, would enhance creative problem solving and lead to positive outcomes for teams. In another study , McLeod and Lobel (1992) found that teams that are heterogeneous with respect to the ethnic backgrounds produced higher quality ideas on a brainstorming task than more homogeneous teams d id (Milliken Martins, 1996). Other researchers have found results that suggest that racial diversity could both have positive and negative effects on teams in organizations. More specifically, diversity in a team can produce lower cohesion and miscommunication among group members, which can lead to team conflict (Jehn, 1995). Some of this conflict may be productive—if, for example, it avoids â€Å"groupthink† and brings additional points of view into the discussion—whereas other forms may worsen team performance (Kochan et.al., 2003). Findings on the effects of racial diversity on team performance have been inconsistent in the literature so far. In some teams, diversity may improve performance, while in other teams, diversity may be detrimental to performance (Jackson, 1992; Jehn et al., 1999; OReilly Flatt, 1989; Richard, 2001; Steiner, 1972).. For example, the effects of diversity on team performance might be more favorable if group leaders and members build on team members creativity and information (Kochan et.al., 2003). In this paper the effects of racial diversity are studied on one particular kind of team performance, namely the innovative performance of teams. The type of innovation that is discussed in this paper is radical innovation. Racial diversity will be more positively related to performance, the more performance is contingent on the in-depth processing and integration of task-relevant information and perspectives (van Knippenberg et al., 2004). That is, if diversitys potential benefits derive fro m a process of exchanging and integrating diverse information, knowledge, and perspectives, diversitys benefits should be more evident the more task performance can be expected to benefit from information elaboration (Dijk, Engen, Knippenberg, 2009).This is the case much more for complex, knowledge-intensive tasks requiring the generation of non-routine solutions to complex problems and complex decisions than for more simple and routine task with lower information-processing requirements (Jehn et al., 1999). In line with this argument, a small meta-analysis of 13 studies by Bowers et al. (2000) confirmed this prediction, showing that diversity was positively related to team performance for complex tasks but negatively related to performance for simple tasks (Dijk, Engen, Knippenberg, 2009). Since the creation of radical innovations can be considered as one of these complex tasks, it can be assumed that racial diversity has a positive effect on the team ´s innovative performance. Innovation requires a creative spark and out-of-the-box thinking (Zhou Shalley, 2008). Diversity may be particularly conducive to such out-of-the-box thinking, because the exchange and integration of diverse perspectives may stimulate new ways of looking at the issues at hand and the need to integrate divergent perspectives may give rise to more creative solutions to problems and more innovative products (Paulus Nijstad, 2003; van Knippenberg et al., 2004). Thats why according to van Dijk, Engen, van Knippenberg, innovation teams may have more to gain from diversity than other teams. A very important factor to improve an team ´s innovative performance is the creation of ideas. The insights, skills, and experiences employees have developed as members of various cultural identity groups (racial diversity) are potentially valuable resources that the work group can use to rethink its primary tasks and redefine its markets, products, strategies, and business practices in ways that will advance its mission (Ely Thomas, 2001). The greater the informational resources available to the team, the more the team should be able to reach an in-depth understanding of the task, solve problems encountered in the course of task performance, and reach high-quality outcomes in terms of the creativity, innovation, and overall quality of the teams products, ideas, or decisions (Dijk, Engen, Knippenberg, 2009) .The differences in information and viewpoints may also give rise to task conflict and dissent; faced with the need to solve these conflicts and reconcile opposing views, team members may engage in more elaborate processing of task-relevant information and search for more creative problem solutions than would be the case in the absence of conflict and dissent (Knippenberg, de Dreu, Homan, 2004). As a result, task conflict and dissent may be associated with better and more creative team performance (e.g., De Dreu, Harinck, van Vianen, 1999; Tjosvold, 1998). There is some literature suggesting that task conflict is negatively related to team performance (De Dreu Weingart, 2003b), and others state that it is not so much the presence or absence of conflict but instead the way conflicts are managed that helps or hinders teams to perform effectively (De Dreu Weingart, 2003a; Lovelace, Shapiro, Weingart, 2001; Simons Peterson, 2000; Tjosvold, 1998). Third, and perhaps most important, performance does not benefit from conflict and dissent per se but from the process that conflict and dissent is assumed to promote: the deep-level and creative processing of diverse information and viewpoints (Knippenberg, de Dreu, Homan, 2004). However, the exchange of diverse information, ideas, and viewpoints may also stimulate such in-depth processing without conflict or dissent (Knippenberg, de Dreu, Homan, 2004). This is why racial diverse teams can outperform, more homogeneous teams. The proposition that diverse teams may outperform more homogeneous teams follows from the reasoning that the exposure to more diverse information and perspectives may promote elaboration of task relevant information (Knippenberg, de Dreu, Homan, 2004).This, in turn, would be expected to lead to more thorough and creative information processing, problem solving, and decision making. Such expected outcomes, then, give rise to the proposition that diversity may benefit performance to the extent that performance requires information processing, creative and innovative idea generation and problem solving, and/or high quality decision making (Knippenberg, de Dreu, Homa n, 2004), such as innovative performances. So whether racial diversity stimulates task-conflict or not, the fact that racial diversity promotes differences in information and viewpoints remains. These differences in information and viewpoints are beneficial for creativity, which results in improved innovative team performance. So as a result this papers states that, racial diversity has a positive effect on innovative performance through the enhanced creativity of the team, because of the differences in information and viewpoints that racial diversity provides. Organizations may increase their number of racial minorities, to better match the demographic characteristics of their significant customers in order to achieve a competitive edge in the market (Cox, 1994). As racioethnic populations (minorities), increase as a ratio of the whole population, it behoves organizations to adjust their human resource mix to reflect the target market they are attempting to reach (Richard, 2000). As firms reach out to a broader customer base, they need employees who understand particular customer preferences and requirements (Morrison, 1992). According to Cox Blake (1991), the insights and cultural sensitivity, that racial diversity, brings to a marketing effort improve an organizations ability to reach different market segments. These insights and cultural sensitivity can be of great important to the organization for the creation of new business ideas and the creation of innovations. It means that the organization has to compose racial diverse teams in o rder find out new market opportunities and business ideas. So from this perspective racial diversity has an positive effect on innovative team performance. Racial diversity also has a positive effect on innovative performance from a resource-based point of view. Human resources, particularly diverse resources, are protected by knowledge barriers and appear socially complex because they involve a mix of talents that are elusive and hard to understand (Lippman Rumelt, 1982). Knowledge-based resources depend upon large numbers of people of teams engaged in coordinated, creative action providing a firm competitive advantage (Barney, 1991; Hart, 1995). Therefore, an team with a diversity of perspectives should have more resources to draw on and should be more creative and innovative (Richard, 2000). Maznevski (1994), suggested that racial diversity, as a source of inherent and immutable differences, would provide teams with different kinds of information from which they could potentially benefit, but such differences would often be difficult for parties to understand and accept. These different kinds of information are especially valuable for the innovative performance of team. The different kinds of information are important for the creation of new ideas that could evolve in successful innovations. The fact that different parties could have problems with understanding the information and accepting it, seems very relevant for innovation projects, since innovative performance is depending on the creation of new ideas. So from this perspective racial diversity could have a positive, as well as a negative, effect on innovative team performance depending on how the problems with understanding the information and accepting it, are managed. Another important variable when looking at the influence of racial diversity on team performance is power differences. There is much theoretical and empirical support for the notion that paying attention to differences in power and status is critical for understanding diversity in organizations (Ely Thomas, 2001). According to Aldefer (1987) the distribution of power among cultural identity groups, both inside the organization and in the larger society, is key to how people think, feel and behave at work. Ely and Thomas (2001) state that different racial groups holds different status and power. In organizations, status differentials are reinforced when higher-status identity groups are disproportionately represented in positions of organizational authority and are challenged when they are not (Alderfer, 1987; Lau Murnighan, 1998). The distribution of power within could than have a negative as well as a positive effect on team ´s innovative performance. For racial diversity to hav e a positive impact on team performance, different identity groups should be equally distributed throughout the hierarchical position within the organization, so that there is not one overruling way of thinking within the organization. Another negative effect from racial diversity is, that differences in race could lead to the formation of subgroups. The social categorization perspective holds that similarities and differences are used as a basis for categorizing self and others into groups, with ensuing categorizations distinguishing between ones own in-group and one or more out-groups (Knippenberg, de Dreu, Homan, 2004). Racial diversity, as part of the social categorization perspective, is one of these factors that lead to the categorizations. People tend to like and trust in-group members more than out-group members and thus generally tend to favor in-groups over out-groups (Brewer, 1979; Tajfel Turner, 1986; Turner, Hogg, Oakes, Reicher, Wetherell, 1987). Consistent with research on similarity/attraction (Williams OReilly, 1998), this signifies that team members are more positively inclined toward their team and the people within it if fellow group members are similar rather than dissimilar to the self. Mo reover, categorization processes may produce subgroups within the team (i.e., â€Å"us† and â€Å"them†), and give rise to problematic inter-subgroup relations (Knippenberg, de Dreu, Homan, 2004). As a result, the more homogeneous the team, the fewer relational conflicts will occur (Jehn et al., 1999; Pelled, Eisenhardt, Xin, 1999). Since racial diversity increases the heterogeneity of the team, the assumption is that racial diversity, as a source of visible differences, would incite intergroup bias and lead to negative outcomes for teams. These negative outcomes also occur in innovative workgroups. When organization are trying to innovate, they often put members of different teams (or organizations) together to come up with these innovations. This would mean that the intergroup relations of members of these different teams (or organizations) should be good. But categorization processes may produce subgroups within the team and give rise to problematic inter-subgroup relations (Knippenberg, de Dreu, Homan, 2004). When this is the case the team ´s innovative performance will decrease, because the problematic inter-subgroup relationships increase emotional conflict. In contrast to the earlier mentioned task conflict, emotional conflict tends to diminish performance (Pelled, Eisenhardt, Xin, 1999). Racial diversity can also have an impact on commitment. Findings suggest that individuals who are different from their team in racial background tend to be less psychological committed to their organizations (Tsui et al., 1992). Another result from this same research has indicated that absents takes places more often in racial diverse teams, than in teams that or more homogeneous when it comes to racial backgrounds. Tsui et al., (1992), also state that racial diverse members are less inclined to stay with the organizations, which implicates a higher amount of turnovers in racial diverse work teams. Although these effects are more on a individual level they could impact the whole organization. When the dissatisfied members leave the organization, the organization will then become more homogeneous and the positive effects of racial diversity could than possibly disappear. 7. Conclusion As a conclusion it is fair to say that racial diversity both has negative as well as positive effects on team performance. The negative effects of racial diversity on team performance are: Lower cohesion Intergroup bias Miscommunication Group conflict (can also be positive) Difficult to understand and accept information Relational conflict Decreased commitment More turnover. Even though racial diversity can have negative effects on the performance on teams, this paper has shown that there are also a lot of positive effects from racial diversity on team performance. These positive effects are: Out of the box thinking Higher quality ideas Creative problem solving Task conflict Creation of new ideas Deep-level and creative processing of diverse information and viewpoints Better match the demographic characteristics of their significant customers The insights and cultural sensitivity, that racial diversity, brings to a marketing effort improve an organizations ability to reach different market segments Different kinds of information This paper has shown that especially these positive effects are very relevant when looking at the radical innovation performance of teams. The creation of radical innovations is a complex task, that requires creative thinking, diverse information and multiple perspectives, since all innovation starts with creative ideas (Amabile, 1996). So it are the positive effects that are extremely relevant in the case of radical innovation. This is why racial diversity increases a team ´s radical innovation performance. 8. Discussion Theoretical implications The goal of this research was to find out what the advantages and disadvantages of cultural diversity within a team are with respect to the innovative performance of the a team. By studying literature on racial diversity this paper has come to a clear overview of positive and negative effects. The practical relevance of this study is that the results have shown that especially the positive effects of racial diversity are beneficial for the creation of radical innovations in teams. This could be usefully for managers of organization, trying to increase the innovative performance of the organization. They should try to increase the diversity of the teams in their organizations. The scientific relevance of this paper is that it has separated racial diversity from other types of diversity. A lot of literature mixes different types of diversity in their studies, which makes it unclear what the effects of different types of diversity are on team performance. This paper has provided a clear overview of the effects of one type of diversity, namely racial diversity, on one type of team performance, namely innovative performance. As stated before, the social relevance of this study will be low, since it is not likely that this paper will have an impact on society. Managerial implications This research could be very useful for managers as innovation is a key factor in organizations ability to create a sustainable competitive advantage (cf. Zhou Shalley, 2008) and organizations are increasingly relying on teams for innovation (Ilgen, Hollenbeck, Johnson, Jundt, 2005). This makes it important for managers to compose the right teams to work on innovation project. This paper has shown that it is best for managers, to compose a team that is racial diverse, since racial diversity has positive effects on the innovative outcomes of teams. Limitations and recommendations One of the limitations of this paper is that there are only a limited amount of articles studied. There are so many articles about different types of diversity and their effects on group performance that it is hard to take them all into consideration. Another limitation is that research doesn ´t include moderation effects. Some authors have indicated that since both negative as well as positive effects of racial diversity have been found, it is time to do more research about moderating effects. As van Knippenberg, De Dreu, Homan (2004) say it: `The state of the science thus suggests that in order to advance our understanding of the relationship between diversity and performance, we should look for moderators of the diversity-performance relationship`. This is a recommendation for further research on the topic of the effects of racial diversity on team performance. Another recommendations is that more research, that directly studies the relationship between racial diversity and innovative team performance is needed. This paper has studied effects of racial diversity on group performance, and then made a link to innovative performance, by using the characteristics of radical innovations. A direct research could increase the reliability of the results that were found in this research. 9. references. Aldefer, C.P. (1987). An intergroup perspective on group dynamics. Handbook of organizational behavior. 190-219 Cox, T.H., Blake, S., (1991). Managing cultural diversity: implications for organizational competitiveness. Academy of Management Executive, 5 (3):45-56 Ely, R.J. Thomas, D.A. (2001). Cultural diversity at work: The effects of diversity perspectives on work group processes and outcomes. Administrative Science Quarterly, 46(2): 229-273. Curseu, P.L. (2007). Complexity in organizations. Pearson Education Ltd. London GB. Ilgen, D. R., Hollenbeck, J. R., Johnson, M., Jundt, D. 2005. Teams in organizations: from input-pr

The Problem With STD Prevention Essay -- Argumentative Persuasive Pape

The Problem With STD Prevention Sexually Transmitted Diseases or STDs are an increasing problem in today’s society. There are many of them and the number is increasing in the youth of the nation. According to a 2000 poll, 18.9 million cases were reported, and of that number, 9.1 million occurred in people between the ages of 15 to 24. America needs to recognize this problem more fully and find a cure for it. Abstinence is one way to help, but what people need to realize is that it is not working. According to a 2000 poll done by the Centers for Disease Control, 48% of sexually transmitted diseases are accounted for in people between the ages of fifteen to twenty-four. It is also reported that teens are more likely than other age groups to have multiple sex partners and practice unsafe sex more often. The three most common diseases in teens are Chlamydia, human papillomavirus (HPV), and trichomoniasis. These diseases account for more than eighty-eight percent of new cases in this age group (Davidnow, 2004). Chlamydia is a disease that can cause permanent damage to the sexual organs. An estimated three million people are infected with Chlamydia each year (Witmer, nd). Once inside the blood, the microbes can spread to the joints, skin, and major body organs. With this disease, up to twenty percent of men may not have symptom but a bigger problem is that up to eighty percent of women do not experience symptoms. When the microbes enter the body in women they focus on the cervix area which, if left untreated can cause infertility (Daugirdas, 1992). Some symptoms of Chlamydia are pain at the end of a menstrual cycle, burning discharge, pain while urinating, and even chronic arthritis. Chlamydia is one of the mos... ...go, IL: The University of Chicago Press. Daugirdas, J. T. (1992). STD: Sexually Transmitted Diseases. Hinsdale, IL: Medtext, Inc. Davidnow, J. (2004). Nation’s Youth Hit Hard by STDS 15-to-24-Year-Olds Account for 48% of New Cases. Retrieved April 24, 2004 from LexisNexis [CD ROM Database] Garrett, L. (1994). The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Marr, L. (1998). Sexually Transmitted Diseases. Baltimore, MD: The John Hopkins University Press. STD Prevention. Retrieved April 24, 2004 from http://www.cdc.gov/ nchstp/dstd/sdtdp.html Tseng, H., Villanueva, G., Powell, A. (1987). Sexually Transmitted Diseases. Saratoga, CA: R&E Publishers. Witmer, D. (nd). Sexually Transmitted Diseases STDs. Retrieved April 24, 2004 from http://parentingteens.about.com/cs/stds/a/stdsfact.htm

The Causes of World War One (1) :: essays research papers

The Causes of World War One (1)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  If you were to look back at WWI, you would see that there were direct and indirect causes to the war. The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand was an immediate cause. Gavrilo Princip, working with a Serbian anti-Austrian secret society called â€Å"The Black Hand† shot Archduke Ferdinand on June 28, 1914 in order to make way for a Slavic revolution. The assassination didn’t do as Princip hoped, and it was used as an excuse for Austria to take hostile action against Serbia. That was not the only cause of the war.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Alliance System was one of the festering causes of the war. After Germany took Alsace-Lorraine, Bismarck wanted to make sure that France didn’t make enough allies to take back the territory in a war. So he started to form an alliance with Austria-Hungry and Italy. France saw this as a threat, so it started making alliances of its own. France first turned to Russia then to Britain creating the Triple Entente. Now with forces in place on either side, nerves were frayed. What better question to ask next than why. Why were nerves frayed? The nations involved had large militaries.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  These nations were building large armies and enhancing the glories of war. After rationalizing a huge arms race, people were eager to put up large amounts of money to support their government’s vast military. Great Britain has always had a large navy. Germany decided it wanted a navy to rival Britain’s. When the people of Britain saw the buildup of Germany’s navy, they got scared and started producing more and bigger ships for it’s own navy. Every time Britain got a â€Å"leg up† on Germany, Germany struggled to outdo Britain, and vice-versa. Soon, the public was clamoring for war. Militarism is based on imperialism and the fear that another nation is getting ahead imperially.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Imperialism is extending control of a nation over foreign lands. Countries expanded in the 1600’s to help their economies. They did this mostly through mercantilism. After industrialization in the 1800’s, imperialism changed. Two new and eager powers were on the scene. Italy and Germany were new nations and ready to catch up to Britain and others in the colony race. Imperialism could be related to nationalism.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are two kinds of nationalism. There were the early forms of nationalism, where people of a similar race and nationality wanted a nation to themselves.

Compare Shopping Online with Traditional Shopping Essay

Traditional shopping is going directly to the physical stores and purchasing the items whereas online shopping is purchasing the items from merchants who sell on the Internet. Since the emergence of the World Wide Web, merchants have sought to sell their products to people who surf the Internet. Online Shopping is widely perceived as a cheaper and easier way of finding lower prices and bargains in most sectors. However, both online and traditional shopping media are synergy to one another and yet still have several similarities and differences. Shopping online gives the user the opportunity to search for the product they want through endless avenues. Shopping online could be a great option because it can be time effective especially for those who have a busy life style or are just too lazy to get up to go to the store. The world of online shopping can make it easier to price shop. Instead of having to drive from store to store looking at prices only to find that, the best price was at the first store, you could simply switch from window to window on your computer. Also with online shopping, you can have items delivered right to your door. In addition, there is always the possibility of having to pay shipping costs when shopping online. Many online stores that will ship within a certain area free but many times if you are located outside of the city or area you will need to pay immense shipping prices. Companies have been trying to improve this negative aspect of online shopping by making deals like â€Å"spend over $200.00 and get free shipping†, but not all sites offer these deals. Security is another concern when it comes to online shopping. With online shopping, there is no way for you to know if someone is stealing your data. You do not even know if you will actually get the items, you purchase. This renders online shopping a bit more unsecure. By shopping in a traditional store, you can avoid shipping costs because you can simply take your items home with you after you purchase them. Customers can purchase the products directly by making selections by watching, touching, smelling, tasting, etc. They are near and easily available to the customers. Therefore, they can get the items immediately. Customers can get numerous options to purchase anything at lower prices at any time. There is less confusion, because the customer shops directly from physical stores. Customers can save money by getting the products at lower prices and by getting discounts from local storeowners. Generally, storeowners give excellent discounts for regular customers. Shoppers can also compare prices in different stores so that he or she can purchase an item at a lower cost and with good quality. Shoppers can also visit many stores, so he or she has several choices to store in different stores. If the shopper is not satisfied with products in one store then he can move to another store and purchase. Traditional shopping can be a recreational activity and it can be exercise for shoppers. It is easy to return the product, if the customer gets the incorrect product or a damaged product. There is no worry about security, such as fraud and lack of privacy in online shopping. Online shopping has grown to new heights over the last decade and shows no signs of regressing. The internet has brought practically every store in the world to the fingertips of anyone with internet access. Online shopping has grown so large that many companies are not investing in buildings and mall space, but rather in online websites and web advertising. Traditional shopping does have its positives, in terms of reliability and safety. Though online shopping is a global phenomenon, traditional shopping will not evaporate any time soon. In concluding, it is important, as an individual, to research whether online shopping or traditional shopping is effective for you, as both have its own hindrances. Source: Amy, Nutt (2009). Traditional Vs Online Shopping. Retrieved November 28, 2012 from http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Amy_Nutt Darrell, Rigby (2011). The Future of Shopping. Retrieved November 28,2012 from hbr.org/2011/12/the-future-of-shopping

Economics Review Essay

1. Describe some of the trade-offs faced by each of the following: 1. a family deciding whether to buy a new car 2. a member of Congress deciding how much to spend on national parks 3. a company president deciding whether to open a new factory 4. a professor deciding how much to prepare for class 5. a recent college graduate deciding whether to go to graduate school 2. You are trying to decide whether to take a vacation. Most of the costs of the vacation (airfare, hotel, and forgone wages) are measured in dollars, but the benefits of the vacation are psychological. How can you compare the benefits to the costs? 3. You were planning to spend Saturday working at your part-time job, but a friend asks you to go skiing. What is the true cost of going skiing? Now suppose you had been planning to spend the day studying at the library. What is the cost of going skiing in this case? Explain. 4. You win $100 in a basketball pool. You have a choice between spending the money now or putting it away for a year in a bank account that pays 5 percent interest. What is the opportunity cost of spending the $100 now? 5. The company that you manage has invested $5 million in developing a new product, but the development is not quite finished. At a recent meeting, your salespeople report that the introduction of competing products has reduced the expected sales of your new product to $3 million. If it would cost $1 million to finish development and make the product, should you go ahead and do so? What is the most that you should pay to complete development? 6. The Social Security system provides income for people over age 65. If a recipient of Social Security decides to work and earn some income, the amount he or she receives in Social Security benefits is typically reduce 6. How does the provision of Social Security affect people’s incentive to save while working? 7. How does the reduction in benefits associated with higher earnings affect people’s incentive to work past age 65? 7. A 1996 bill reforming the federal government’s antipoverty programs limited many welfare recipie nts to only two years of benefits. 8. How does this change affect the incentives for working? 9. How might this change represent a trade-off between equality and efficiency? 8. Your roommate is a better cook than you are, but you can clean more quickly than your roommate can. If your roommate did all the cooking and you did all the cleaning, would your chores take you more or less time than if you divided each task evenly? Give a similar example of how specialization and trade can make two countries both better off. 9. Explain whether each of the following government activities is motivated by a concern about equality or a concern about efficiency. In the case of efficiency, discuss the type of market failure involve 10. regulating cable TV prices 11. providing some poor people with vouchers that can be used to buy food 12. prohibiting smoking in public places 13. breaking up Standard Oil (which once owned 90 percent of all oil refineries) into several smaller companies 14. imposing higher personal income tax rates on people with higher incomes 15. instituting laws against driving while intoxicated 10. Discuss each of the following statements from the standpoints of equality and efficiency. 16. â€Å"Everyone in society should be guaranteed the best healthcare possible.† 17. â€Å"When workers are laid off, they should be able to collect unemployment benefits until they find a new job.† 11. In what ways is your standard of living different from that of your parents or grandparents when they were your age? Why have these changes occurred? 12. Suppose Americans decide to save more of their incomes. If banks lend this extra saving to businesses, which use the funds to build new factories, how might this lead to fast er growth in productivity? Who do you suppose benefits from the higher productivity? Is society getting a free lunch? 13. In 2010, President Barack Obama and Congress enacted a healthcare reform bill in the United States. Two goals of the bill were to provide more Americans with health insurance (via subsidies for lower-income households financed by taxes on higher-income households) and to reduce the cost of healthcare (via various reforms in how healthcare is provided). 18. How do these goals relate to equality and efficiency? 19. How might healthcare reform increase productivity in the United States? 2 0. How might healthcare reform decrease productivity in the United States? 14. During the Revolutionary War, the American colonies could not raise enough tax revenue to fully fund the war effort; to make up this difference, the colonies decided to print more money. Printing money to cover expenditures is sometimes referred to as an â€Å"inflation tax.† Who do you think is being â€Å"taxed† when more money is printed? Why? 15. Imagine that you are a policymaker trying to decide whether to reduce the rate of inflation. To make an intelligent decision, what would you need to know about inflation, unemployment, and the trade-off between them? 16. A policymaker is deciding how to finance the construction of a new airport. He can either pay for it by increasing citizens’ taxes or by printing more money. What are some of the short-run and long-run consequences of each option? Chapter 2 1. Draw a circular-flow diagram. Identify the parts of the model that correspond to the flow of goods and services and the flow of dollars for each of the following activities. 1. Selena pays a storekeeper $1 for a quart of milk. 2. Stuart earns $4.50 per hour working at a fastfood restaurant. 3. Shanna spends $30 to get a haircut. 4. Sally earns $10,000 from her 10 percent ownership of Acme Industrial. 2. Imagine a society that produces military goods and consumer goods, which we’ll call â€Å"guns† and â€Å"butter.† 5. Draw a production possibilities frontier for guns and butter. Using the concept of opportunity cost, explain why it most likely has a bowed-out shape. 6. Show a point that is impossible for the economy to achieve. Show a point that is feasible but inefficient. 7. Imagine that the society has two political parties, called the Hawks (who want a strong military) and the Doves (who want a smaller military). Show a point on your production possibilities frontier that the Hawks might choose and a point the Doves might choose. 8. Imagine that an aggressive neighboring country reduces the size of its military. As a result, both the Hawks and the Doves reduce their desired production of guns by the same amount. Which party would get the bigger â€Å"peace dividend,† measured by the increase in butter production? Explain. 3. The first principle of economics discussed in Chapter 1 is that people face trade-offs. Use a production possibilities frontier to illustrate society’s trade-off between two â€Å"goods†Ã¢â‚¬â€a clean environment and the quantity of industrial output. What do you suppose determines the shape and position of the frontier? Show what happens to the frontier if engineers develop a new way of producing electricity that emits fewer pollutants. 4. An economy consists of three workers: Larry, Moe, and Curly. Each works ten hours a day and can produce two services: mowing lawns and washing cars. In an hour, Larry can either mow one lawn or wash one car; Moe can either mow one lawn or wash two cars; and Curly can either mow two lawns or wash one car. 9. Calculate how much of each service is produced under the following circumstances, which we label A, B, C, and D: * †¢ All three spend all their time mowing lawns. (A) * †¢ All three spend all their time washing cars. (B) * †¢ All three spend half their time on each activity. (C) * †¢ Larry spends half his time on each activity, while Moe only washes cars and Curly only mows lawns. (D) 10. Graph the production possibilities frontier for this economy. Using your answers to part (a), identify points A, B, C, and D on your graph. 11. Explain why the production possibilities frontier has the shape it does. 12. Are any of the allocations calculated in part (a) inefficient? Explain. 5. Classify the following topics as relating to microeconomics or macroeconomics. 13. a family’s decision about how much income to save 14. the effect of government regulations on auto emissions 15. the impact of higher national saving on economic growth 16. a firm’s decision about how many workers to hire 17. the relationship between the inflation rate and changes in the quantity of money 6. Classify each of the following statements as positive or normative. Explain. 18. Society faces a short-run trade-off between inflation and unemployment. 19. A reduction in the rate of money growth will reduce the rate of inflation. 20. The Federal Reserve should reduce the rate of money growth. 21. Society ought to require welfare recipients to look for jobs. 22. Lower tax rates encourage more work and more saving. 7. If you were president, would you be more interested in your economic advisers’ positive views or their normative views? Why?