Desertification

| | What Causes Desertification? -Overgrazing Overgrazing was not as large of a problem long ago because animals would move in response to rainfall. People would move with the animals so it prevented overgrazing in such areas. Now, humans have a steady food supply so they do not have to move about. Therefore, people use fences to keep their animals in one place which causes overgrazing. (Desertification, 2001) -Farming of Average Land Farming of average land is causing desertification worldwide. Farmers are clearing average land, and using it which takes away the richness in the soil.People should let the average land replenish itself before farming. (Desertification, 2005) -Destruction of Plants in Dry Regions Destruction of plants in dry regions is causing desertification to occur. People are cutting down tress to use them as a source of fuel. Once all these trees are cut down there is nothing to protect the soil. Therefore, it turns to dust and is blown away by the wind. (Desertif ication, 2005) -Incorrect Irrigation in Arid Regions Causes a Build Up of Salt in the Soil Incorrect irrigation is commonly used in poorer areas.Farmers are using canal irrigation and other poor techniques because of the lack of water. This type of irrigation causes a build up of salt in the soil. (Desertification, 2005)  The Effects Of Desertification -Soil becomes less usable The soil can be blown away by wind or washed away rain. Nutrients in the soil can be removed by wind or water. Salt can build up in the soil which makes it harder for plant growth. -Vegetation is Lacked or Damaged Loosened soil may bury plants or leave their roots exposed.Also, when overgrazing occurs, plant species may be lost. -Causes Famine Places that have war and poverty are most likely to have famine occur. Drought and poor land management contribute to famine. -Food Loss The soil is not suited for growing food; therefore the amount of food being made will decline. If the population is growing, this w ill cause economic problems and starvation. -People near Affected Areas Desertification can cause flooding, poor water quality, dust storms, and pollution. All of these effects can hurt people living near an affected region. The Facts of Desertification and United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, 2000)Case Stude: The Sahel Desert In the Sahel Desert, desertification is becoming a huge problem. Around the 1950’s, people settled into the Sahel region, in areas where there was water. This resulted in overgrazing, which is one of the greatest causes of desertification. Eventually, the perennial shrubs were destroyed because of grazing, and they were replaced by annuals. Then, the annuals were grazed out which left bare soil. A lot of the topsoil was washed away, and all that was left were rocks.Silt turned hard when it was hit by rain. Therefore, plants were not able to grow because there roots could not penetrate this hard layer. Now this region has turned to desert and it continues to expand. (Desertification, The Sahel, 2004) Records show that rainfall in Sahel has decreased and sands have shifted about sixty miles south into the area. Sahel is expanding due to lack of vegetation in the area. (Sahel, 2005) Another reason desertification is occurring in the Sahel region is because people are using the slashing and burning method to clear land.This degrades the quality of soil just like overgrazing. (Desertification-a Threat to the Sahel, 2000) Short Term Effects of Desertification in the Sahel: -Soil loses its nutrients which makes it not useful -Overgrazing destroys vegetation and without it erosion occurs   -Land becomes salty which makes it difficult to grow crops Long Term Effects of Desertification in the Sahel: -People die of starvation -Cattle die of starvation -The soil becomes completely useless (Prospects and Problems, 2004)|

My Dream Job Essay

Art is for anybody. I want to be an art teacher because I believe that I can influence children to create their own piece of amazing art work. When I was in pre-school, I had this amazing teacher who inspired me to do anything I wanted to. Her name is Ms. Linda and she inspired me to become an art teacher when I am older. Now don’t get me wrong, I have had plenty other amazing teachers, but I think she was the one who told me to fly. In conjunction with this, being a very creative person I can create beautiful art and as a teacher I would love to be involved in challenging and inspiring new ideas in children; making them aware of their own thoughts or feelings. I have finally decided that my dream job is to become a pre-k or kindergarten art teacher because I love to work with kids and creativity is my sixth sense. Being an art teacher does not only sound like fun, I can actually see myself doing a mural on a school wall somewhere in the future. As an art teacher, I would have to be filled with ideas on how to make everyday things seem awesome and inspirational. To start my dream job, I already know I have to get some kind of degree in childhood education. I am currently taking high school, so when I finish in four years I will be most likely going to college. Working as an art teacher, I would be understanding the social, economic, and cultural factors that influence any project I do in class. Students will have to understand the true meaning of one of the works of art that is presented in class, but given that fact that my pupils will be so young, I think the art will be taught more on symbolism. The average salary amount for an art teacher is $11 dollars an hour, more or less depending on how much education you have had. Communicating well is obviously a good characteristic in being a teacher, to students and to teachers as well. Becoming an art teacher will require a 4 year collage degree, or bachelor’s degree in public school teaching. She may work in a private school setting or for the local public school. Preschool teachers may work with children in a one-on-one basis or with an entire class. They may work full-time or part-time depending on the school’s schedule and her own desires. It is also very helpful to learn a foreign language. Children in many districts, especially in California, may know English as a second language. They may not have any fluency at all in English. Knowledge of another language will give you a step up in the hiring process, and may be proven useful for when parents are the ones who don’t understand English. This will also help enhance the ability to communicate with young students. The process on becoming a pre k or kindergartner art teacher is process not many steps long but requires lots of training and preparing. Working with kids is great, working with kids on a daily bases crating magnificent pieces of art is probably the best for me.

Of Mice and Men Empathy Task

Empathy Task Well here I am again on the same old ranch, alone. My friend is being chassed!! I lost my dream, my friends and my dog. When I had all those, it made me feel kinda special, I s'pose, ain't too many guys around here who have friends; who have dreams especially these days. Most of them just dont care or they pretend they don’t, goddam depression, I wasn’t one of those guys, I had friends and dreams and hopes and†¦ . Anyhow, Lennie's gone now. They are gonna found him and kill him or he will never return, for sure i am not seeing him again!I gotta say even if he was a crazy bastard that shattered my dream, does anyone knows how bad that feels!! One day you are making plans and the other day you realize that it’s never gonna happen. I lost Lennie as well, he was someone to talk to and I hope he finds the damn rabbits he always wanted, in fact; he was the one that told me about the dream in the first place. I will miss him. I am so pissed off about a ll these things!! She did it, that bitch, Curley's Wife. Ever since I met her I knew she was bad.Never expected it to end the way it did though. I didn't expect to find her dead on the floor. I mean who did. I panicked at first but I knew what to do, I had to tell George before everybody else. It was all her fault. She was the one who came to Lennie, I mean; Lennie wouldn’t have touched her, poor bastard. Lennie was a good man and i know he didn’t do it on purpose! Thing aren’t going back though, I lost all of my dreams and hopes in that split second that I realized she was dead! She was responsible, i wanted to kill her, but she was already dead!!I hate her and that scum, Curley, I bet my life he was the one that told Carlosn to shoot my dog!! Bloody ‘hand fulla Vaseline' Still if it had to be done I prefer to have done it myself. He was my dog, my companion, my friend. I don't know how I am going to get through the last few years of my life without him. I shoulda done it myself. They would let me leave this ranch but where would I go. I can't go to the farm on my own can I. The thought of leaving my dog behind, is just too powerful so I've decided I'm not going anywhere.People leave, I am staying here alone until I rot in the ground. My dog just goes round and round in my head. If George leaves as well, life will be back to normal like it was before Lennie and George turned up. The same old people as before. Curley will still be cocky except that he will be single know and I will be the same old man with no friends at all know that my dog is gone as well. I don’t have many reasons to keep living after this, my friends are gone and my dream is shuttered!! I hate not being able to help in the fields.I miss it so much. I don't like being here in this place all day by myself. I have spent the best years of my life working in someone else’s ranch, only to lose one hand and end up with little money!! George and Lennie were my only chance of making my dream come true!! I was gonna spent every penny I had so that i could be a bit closer to the American dream which is now something that I will never succeed. I am at the end of a long hard-working career that offered me a crap life, I can’t fix the things know, i mean i would if i could but I just can’t!!I can’t get over with the fact that I could have made it!! We were gonna get a little place and we were gonna have a big vegetable patch and all kind of good things! No one was gonna throw me out of there when I was gonna be at my oldest!! I was so close! George also started to believe that it was coming true but all of a sadden everything went down! I can’t do this anymore, why did I not die instead of being left to feel all this pain. They should have let me die†¦

Research paper Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Research paper - Assignment Example The greatest happiness is fulfilled when acts that produce maximum happiness for those affected-the best results-are considered morally good acts. In utilitarianism, ethical behavior implies acting in the interests of the larger group, even if one must sacrifice one’s own interests to do so. The welfare of the group matters not the individual. Higher pleasures are logical or intellectual while lower pleasures are concerned with the physical needs. The role of pleasure is to provide happiness. Showing compassion for the society helps an individual care for the community in which he or she lives. Compassion is very significant to an individual in that it makes them realize the meaning and purpose of life, which is to be happy. This is because since every person wants to be happy, they will do anything to avoid misery and suffering. Virtues are important because they help human beings to derive pleasure in their actions, have uniformity in the way they act, and act promptly which in turn will result to peaceful co-existence, thus everybody will be happy about the life they live. Posner is following the principle of act utilitarianism in that he desires to die so that he does not cause financial constrain to his family. In the early 1960s, Ford’s market position was being heavily eroded by competition from domestic and foreign manufactures of subcompacts. Lee Iacocca, then President of Ford, was determined to regain Ford’s share of the market by having a new subcompact, the Pinto, in production by 1970. Then Ford engineers crash tested an early model of the Pinto. They found that when the automobile was struck from the rear at 20 miles per hour, the gas tank regularly ruptured. Stray sparks could then ignite the spraying gasoline, engulf the car in flames, and possibly burn the trapped occupants. Nonetheless, Ford management decided for several reasons to go ahead with production of the Pinto as designed. First, the design met all applicable fe deral laws and standards then in effect. Secondly, the Pinto was comparable in safety to other cars being produced by the auto industry. Third, an internal Ford study indicated that the social costs of improving the design outweighed the social benefits. According to the study, it was estimated that a maximum of 180 deaths might result if the Pinto design were not changed. For purposes of cost/benefit analysis, the Federal government at that time put a value of $200,000 on a human life. Consequently, the study reasoned, saving 180 lives was worth about a total of $36 million to society. On the other hand, improving the 11 million Pintos then being planned would cost about $11 per car for a total investment of $121 million. Since the social cost of $121 million outweighed the social benefit of $36 million, the study concluded that improving the Pinto design would not be cost-effective from a societal point of view. 1. Identify the relevant issues for decision-making In early 1960s, F ord’s market position was wearing down due to high competitions from domestic and international manufactures of subcompacts. Therefore, the Ford Motor Company, endorsed by the vice-president Lee Iacocca, came to a decision of manufacturing a new subcompact car called Pinto that was to be produced domestically at an affordable price. The decision of manufacturing Pinto was also aimed at gaining large market share for the company, the designing and development of Pinto car was therefore accelerated in order to

Impact and flexure tests on hampfibre Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Impact and flexure tests on hampfibre - Essay Example Before analyzing the given data, we must have a look at the basic preliminaries and definitions about the deformation, impact velocity, Hooke’s law and others, Deformation Deformation is the study in continuum mechanics which defines the transformation of an object (material) from its original (reference) shape to a newly adapted form. Deformation can be caused by the external stress (force) effects such as electromagnetic force, gravity, stress, strain and load or temperature. Impact velocity It is the relative measure of the velocity of one object to another in a very small transient time before the interaction of the two objects (interaction could be the result of applied force). In ideal scenario the velocity of the impacting object must not be reduced to 0 and it rarely happens in practical situations. velocity_(impact) = (m_1\vec v_(1f) + m2 vec v_(2f))/m_1 ~ Vec_v shows the velocity vector*. Hooke’s law Hooke’s law is a concept of classical mechanics which discusses the force needed to compress or extend the shape by an amount X (distance). Hooke’s law is also a measure of the deformation of solid bodies as long as deformation impact is small. It is also defined as the first order linear approximation or the material response studied in material science and material engineering (Bansal, 2010). Plastic region: Area under the stress-strain graph after bypassing which, the permanent change and deformation in a material starts occurring. This plastic region is shown in the stress strain graph as the highest point in the curve. Before plastic limit, there is an elastic limit under which the material does not deform itself but it remained confined in the actuality of its originality. However as soon as the elastic and the plastic limit is breached Plastic deformation take place in this deformation, upon uplifting the force and the load, the material does not regain its shape but it tends to adapt the newly deformed shape as the cons equence of the load applied to bring about the change of the shape. Stress: Any force applied in purpose to change the shape and objet and to make that object slide against its own structure. \Shear Stress: It is the force which attempts to deform an object by applying pressure on the surface of the object. Sress = Force/Area (i.e. force per unit area) Stress is not a vector. It is a tensor. Elastic Deformation: region in the stress-strain graph where the deformation take place in a transient mode. It means that the deformation in this region is temporary. Beyond this limit, the material experiences plastic deformation which is permanent. Figure #1 The above figure shows the effect of the impact velocity on the three shapes and different samples. The above figure shows that the impact velocity of the 30 degree conical and the 90 degree conical shape is nearly the same because of having a harmony in the shape (as both are conical). The next shape which is a hemispherical shape, the f igure shows that it has less impact of the relative impact velocity as compared to the rest of the figures. Because the hemisphere has a changed shape and surface as compared to the conical tip, it exhibits an elasto-plastic dynamic behavior under examination. This also relates with the hemispherical heavenly bodies and other cosmological objects who while colliding with each other do not cause any explosion or sudden disruption, but are slowly deformed resulting catastrophic vibration (seismic) activities. Figure # 2 This diagram shows the effect of the load variation and its results on the various samples of three different shapes. With the varying samples of these conical 30, conical 90 and hemispheres shapes the load is also being shown to be varying and gradually rising under the scenario of the change of the shapes. This shows that as the shapes change the ability to deform an object or bypassing its deforming threshold and the requirement of the force to perform this task var ies in accordance with the

UK Central Government Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

UK Central Government - Essay Example Most such departments are led by ministers and the ministers are accountable to parliament and have to report on the progress of their department. Certain non-ministerial posts may also be given to people heading certain departments1. This essay will deal with the role of the governments, both local and central and examine to what extent the local governments are dependent on central government. Is there an issue of performance scrutiny Are the local governments completely controlled by the central government2 These are issues that will be discussed is some detail. The ministers are in charge of government departments and are known as secretaries of state. They are members of the cabinet and carry out duties that the Prime Minster allots to them. Certain holders of traditional offices may have no departmental duties. Ministerial responsibility refers to both the collective responsibility for government policy and actions which ministers share, and to the ministers' individual responsibility for the work of their own departments. Collective responsibility implies that ministers should support government decisions and policies once they have been made and strictly implement those policies. Departmental ministers must agree with government policies as a whole so ministers are either expected to support or resign (Direct.gov on Central govt, 2005). This shows the extreme control of the central government in policy matters. In recent years we have seen such cases of resignation when ministers have failed to support government policies for instance the decision to go to war against Iraq (BBC report 2003/2005)3. The junior ministers are parliamentary undersecretaries of State and they report to a minister and oversee certain functions of a department. Departmental ministers tend to decide on all matters within their responsibility although certain cases may involve the decision of more than one department and consequently more than one minister would be responsible for the decision. On taking up office ministers are required to resign from directorships of private and public companies and ensure that there is no conflict in public and private interests (Direct.gov on Centr al govt, 2005). The central government consists of a cabinet of 20 ministers chosen by the Prime Minister and include both departmental and non-departmental ministers. The Cabinet represents the true collective responsibility and is expected to take the final decisions on government policies and adhere to them. The cabinet meets weekly although its business remains confidential until policies are made public and official (Direct.gov on Central govt, 2005). The civil service helps the government to formulate policies, carry out decisions and administer public services for which they are responsible. As ofJune 2001, civil servants constituted about 2 per cent of the working population in employment and about 10 per cent of all public sector employees and half of all civil services provide their services directly to the public4. The Prime Minister is responsible for central co-ordination and management of the Civil Service (Direct.gov on Central govt, 2005). The central government also consists of executive agencies that are directly accountable to the ministers. These government agencies

Explain how Marketing Communications can be used to change customers Essay

Explain how Marketing Communications can be used to change customers attitudes and influence customers behaviour.(Marketing communications) - Essay Example The different models and the ways are discussed below that may change the attitudes and perceptions of the consumers. The marketing models discussed below for the marketing communications allows the marketing managers to know about the attitudes of the customer and then influence different strategies to influence their buying behavior. Attractive marketing campaigns and promotions need to be done so that a huge level of customer base can be attracted towards the organisation. This model allows us to focus on the attitude level of the consumer and how they interpret and learn about the new information that is being communicated to them through the advertising messages and other marketing mediums. It is important to influence the strength and usability of a product or service to the consumers in the marketing messages so that they can show their interest towards the product or service (Fitzgerald and Arnott 2000). The McGuire’s information processing model basically focuses on five elements. They are as follows: Exposure, attention level from the customers, Comprehension, Acceptance level ability of the consumers, and the Retention level rate of the consumers (Dahlen et al 2009). The information processing model developed by McGuire allows the researcher to learn about the attitudes and changes in behavior of the consumers for the communication aspects that take place while communicating the marketing information to the consumers about any product or service. According McGuire, the changes in behavior will occur if the communication takes place in a persuasive manner. The communication can be delivered in a persuasive manner by following the steps that follows ahead (Fill 2008). Firstly, the message that is to be communicated to the consumers must be presented in a clear and unambiguous manner. Then, the message must be clearly attended by the one who has delivered it. All

Quality of Software in Project Management Research Paper

Quality of Software in Project Management - Research Paper Example At the present, our lives are governed by complex and large size systems with more and more complicated software, as a result the safety, security, and consistency of these systems has turned out to be a main concern. Additionally, as the size and complexity of software in current systems grow, it has more imperfection, which harmfully affects the safety, security, and consistency of the systems. Normally, software is divided into two elements: These elements can be internal and external quality features. External quality features are those parts of a product that face its users, where internal quality features are those that do not interact with the users. However, the quality is conformance to product requirements and should be free. In this scenario, the job of software quality assurance is to ensure that the standards, processes, and procedures are correct for the project as well as are appropriately implemented. In fact, SQA and SQC are processes defined within CMMI, and come un der the support process area. However, in CMMI SQA/SQC is defined as process and product quality assurance (SQA, 2011; Sangeetha, SenthilKumar, Arumugam, & Akila, 2010). Basically, the quality assurance is a confusing subject. In fact, software quality cannot be defined for the reason that there is no single absolute and complete definition of its lexicon. However, research shows two methods to accomplish quality software systems.

Whether Tilly is a proverbial Don Quixote, misconstruing the benign as Essay

Whether Tilly is a proverbial Don Quixote, misconstruing the benign as threatening. Is there any reason not to dismiss him - Essay Example In this respect, Tilly advocates for realism as opposed to determinism in a social science context. Mill also learns of the approach of Tilly in the study of social science. People must consider the premise that an individual must justify actions with the reality of actions. This is an assumption held by Tilly with regard to normative theory of social science. However, Mill is convinced that Tilly’s opposition to the aspect of determinism is justified (Franklin, 2007). Mill also anticipated Tilly’s social science criticisms because he also believes in the normative approach. An individual ought to base his decisions on self-conscience whereby a person influences the environment instinctively. Mill also believed that a humanistic approach in social science is justifiable and it formed the basis of Tilly’s critique for the determinism approach by in social science. The only exception when the normative approach is not followed is during a break in the pattern of a social life. Tilly also argues that the world is a rational environment as opposed to a social environment. This social philosopher upholds the fact that all actions are justified by reason in accordance to Descartes’s philosophical concept. Tilly is critical of the social scientist’s argument that reason-giving is just eventful rather than normality in life. According to Giddens (2008), the reasons given for any undertaking, must be of the right kind and must be applied to the right people in order to foster order in society. The speed of justifying actions by reason should also be high in order to have a logical flow of events. Tilly’s position on class politics contributed to his critique of the other socialist’s argument on normative socialism. In his critique, Tilly sought to abandon the structuralism theory of social science. Additionally, Tilly distanced himself for the reductionist theory. This paved way for

Tesla in Automotive industry Strategy project Essay Example for Free

Tesla in Automotive industry Strategy project Essay 1. Introduction The Encyclopaedia Brittanica defined the automotive industry as all the companies and activities involved in the manufacturing of motor vehicles, including most components, such as bodies and engines; but excluding tires, batteries and fuel1. The automotive industry started with the production of what is widely considered to be the first ever automobile, the Benz Patent-Motorwagen in 1886. Although the first car was originally manufactured in Germany, in the many decades to come, the United States led the world in total automobile production until the start of the 21st century, when China took the top position. Today, China produces nearly 20 million units per year, almost double the amount of the United States. It is one of the world’s most important sectors when measured by revenue and it is a business that is still growing significantly. Last year for example, over 87 million automobiles were produced worldwide, a 3. 6% increase compared to the year before and a 43. 82% increase compared to 20032. Needless to say, the automotive industry is big business and it is very probable there are business opportunities that are yet to be exploited. Tesla Motors is an American car manufacturer that tried to exploit such a business opportunity. It’s an American company that designs and manufactures electric vehicles and electric car components3. Founded in 2003, Tesla’s goal was to lessen the world’s dependence on petroleum-based transportation and drive down the cost of electric vehicles. Moreover, Tesla’s aim is to prove that electric vehicles can be awesome as well4. This might not sound particularly unique, but Tesla Motors does have a very distinct strategy in the sense that it wants to enter the automotive market by first focusing on high-end luxury cars and sports cars. Later, when Tesla’s products and consumers acceptance have matured, they would move into the market for the middle-class consumer, which is larger but also significantly more competitive5. The idea is to establish a strong brand name at first, which will aid the company in a later stage when the decision is made to start producing lower-priced automobiles. Tesla’s first 1 http://global. britannica. com/EBchecked/topic/45050/automotive-industry 2 http://www. oic a. net/category/production-statistics/ 3 http://www. te slamotors. com/ 4 http://www. teslamotors. com/about 5 http://www. greenc arreports. com/news/1022275_msnbc-calls-ev-drivers-lunatic-fringe 3 model, the Roadster, had a base price of approximately $100. 0006. Their second car, Model S, is priced at $63. 750 including a $7. 500 tax credit. The company now has plans to launch a $30,000 small SUV the Tesla Model X 7. Eventually, Tesla wants to become a mass producer of electric vehicles and service both upper- and middle-class customers8 This discussion aims to analyze Tesla’s strategy. It is clear that Tesla has a very differentiated strategy and we will want to determine whether or not Tesla is likely to succeed in achieving its goals and become a successful enterprise. Firstly, we will take closer look at the ‘environmental’ automotive industry using Porter’s theory. Secondly, we need to closely look at Tesla’s strategy. How will Tesla try to win a respectable share of the market? As mentioned before, Tesla is a very young company and it will inevitably face fierce competition from incumbent firms. A clear plan to establish a foothold in such a market will be essential for the firm’s survival. The next step is to see if Tesla identified all relevant factors and industry forces, and if it has defined a strategy that takes all of these elements into account. It will surely need to attain a unique strategy if it wants to position itself in a key position in the market. What is it exactly that differentiates Tesla from other car manufacturers and in what way could this be beneficial for the firm? Does their strategy have a high chance of success? How can Tesla create a network of electric chargers? Before evaluating Tesla’s strategy, we must first clearly take a closer look at the company Tesla Motors itself and define the market in which the company is active. Even though they are currently operating in a smaller niche market (mid to high-end luxury cars), the plan is to eventually address the middle-class consumer and enter the ‘standard’ automobile market. This will inevitably complicate our discussion but it is essential for determining the chance of success. The paper includes a discussion on the high entry barriers that are typically associated in the automotive industry and the possible presence of strategic entry barriers raised by incumbent firms to reduce the likelihood of new entrants. We will also mention any other strategies adopted by firms in the automotive industry who want to improve their competitive position. Furthermore, the extent to which the industry is concentrated will be discussed, as well as the possible presence of strategic complements and substitutes. Moreover, Tesla will also need to take the non-market environment into consideration. Typical for the automotive sector is that it is an industry with very strict safety regulations. Tesla of course will also 6 http://jalopnik. com/5135290/tesla-increases-prices-on-already-ordered-roadsters 7 http://onpoint. wbur. org/2009/09/25/teslas-elon-musk-on-a-sub-30000-electric-car 8 http://www. marketwatch. com/ story/strategic-corporate-profile-of-tesla-motors-global-operations-2014-01-13 4 have to face the challenge of producing vehicles that respect these requirements. On top of that, the relatively recent discovery of global warming, partially caused by car emission (CO2), has led to the implementation of a series of emission standards that aim to reduce the greenhouse gasses emitted by petroleum-powered vehicles. This may not seem relevant for Tesla Motors at first since its goal is to produce electric vehicles. These regulations are however accompanied with a credit system, which means that car manufacturers that do not meet the standard are penalized and have to buy credits from other manufacturers that have a surplus of credits9. Since Tesla Motors only produces emissions-free vehicles, it has a major surplus of credits which it can sell to other car manufacturers. General Motors for example has to buy additional credits from Tesla in order to respect the regulation. This implies large transfers of wealth across car manufacturers. As a result, companies selling cars with a (too) high emission must raise prices to pay for the credits. On the other hand, the beneficiaries of these wealth transfers such as Tesla can now use the extra revenue to lower prices and take on a more competitive position in the market. All of this will of course be discussed more thoroughly in our discussion below. The paper concludes with a summary of the discussion and our prognosis regarding the future success of Tesla Motors in the automotive industry. 2. Market definition This paper only looks at models available in the US because it’s the largest electric car market, the EU is the second largest market but is much more complex because EU-countries have different legislation for electric cars. Some countries have large subsidies for electric cars and thus large market shares such as Norway, on the other hand some countries have almost no market share. The Model S is the only available model at the moment targeting the middle to high-end luxury car market. This model costs between 63. 750$(base model, 7500$ tax credit) and 125. 220 $(full option, 7500$ tax credit). 10 Because the model S is all electric, we can compare the car to slighter cheaper models because of lower long term ownership cost thanks to lower cost for electricity compared to fuel. The base model is a full-size 5 adult seat sedan powered by a fully electric 60 kW-h motor achieving 302hp. Top speed is relatively low at around 200km/h but acceleration is very good at 5. 9 seconds to 100 km/h, this is typical for an electric engine. More expensive models offer better range and performance and a warranty with unlimited kilometers on the battery for 8 years compared to 200. 000km for 8 years on the base model. 9 http://mitsloanexperts. mit. edu/californias-auto-emissions-policy-hits-a-tesla-pothole/ 10 Teslamotors. com 5 We will consider the mid to high-end luxury market containing one electric the Tesla, a couple of hybrids and a lot of traditional cars. Mid-end starts at prices of approximately 50. 000 $ with cars such as the BMW 5-serie, Audi A6 and Mercedes E-class. 11 High end stops at prices above 130. 000$. For the following analyses we will sometimes look at broader markets containing cheaper alternatives because even though these cars aren’t substitutes they are still relevant. Research show that tesla owners were most likely to previously own a Toyota prius hybrid or secondly luxury BMW and Mercedes. 12 3. Industry attractiveness and profitability In this section the overall attractiveness of the ‘environmental’ automotive industry is assessed using Porter’s influential five forces model. The term environmental indicates those vehicles that do not solely rely on the combustion of fossil fuels to power their engine. Examples are electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles or plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). Both the pure electric automotive industry as well as the overarching environmental automotive industry is presented, as these cannot always be seen separately. In his model, Michael Porter identifies five key competitive forces that determine the structure and profitability of a certain industry. The five forces are the bargaining power of suppliers, the bargaining power of buyers, the threat of substitutes, the threat of entry and the rivalry among existing competitors. Porter’s model enables managers, in an easy and straightforward way, to understand their industry environment and to shape their firm’s strategy accordingly. As a rule of thumb, the stronger the five forces, the lower the industry’s profit potential and hence the industry’s attractiveness to competitors. The most influential forces that have shaped and continue to shape the environmental automotive industry are discussed in the following paragraphs. A first restraint on the overall profitability of a firm is the bargaining power of its suppliers. For the environmental automotive industry the bargaining power varies among the suppliers of different components. An important component in the construction of hybrid and electric vehicles is the battery. The bargaining power of the battery companies is low as there are a lot of manufacturers present on the market. Tesla Motors, for instance, buys Li-ion cells from different manufacturers. Consequently, in the case any problems occur with a particular battery supplier, Tesla can easily switch or threaten to switch to other suppliers at low costs. Among others, Tesla works together with Daimler AG and Panasonic to develop battery packs and chargers (Boyke, Cheng, Clevers, Schroeder, Strupp, 2010). Another important component of any vehicle is the chassis. For the construction of the chassis 11 http://buyersguide. caranddriver. com 12 h%p://www. wired. com/2014/03/tesla-model-s-toyota-prius/ 6 specialized engineering skills are required. These skills can often be obtained through strategic partnerships with other car manufacturing companies. In the case of such strategic interdependence the bargaining power of the suppliers is higher than in the ‘take-it-or-leave-it’ battery case. In the past Tesla had an exclusive partnership with Lotus for the physical construction of the Roadster13. As of recently Tesla and Toyota Motor Corporation also agreed to cooperate on the development of electric vehicles, parts, the production system and engineering support14. In conclusion, however, the overall bargaining power of suppliers in the automotive industry is low. The supplier firms must contend with substitute products for sale to the industry. Tesla has more than 150 suppliers around the world, which provide over 2000 parts to Tesla. For the production of the Model S, Tesla uses a highly integrated manufacturing approach, even negotiating with suppliers to manufacture products on site to use the excess capacity. In this way, the integrated approach enables Tesla to alleviate its dependence on supplier performance (Boyke, Cheng, Clevers, Schroeder, Strupp, 2010). A second force that determines the profitability in an industry is the bargaining power of buyers. The bargaining power of buyers concerns the pressure buyers can put on the margins of producers by demanding a lower price or a higher product quality. In the environmental automotive industry the bargaining power of buyers is rather low. For Tesla in particular this is even more so. For starters, Tesla does not sell products in bulk. This means that for the consumers that purchase the finished products no real scale effects are present. Moreover, Tesla has a quite unique position on the market. Tesla is the only manufacturer on the US market that produces high-end, full electric cars that can drive autonomously for over 400 km. By employing a highly skilled, technocratic labour force and management team, Tesla has branded itself as a cutting-edge, innovative firm. They manufacture high quality electric vehicles that are very performing while being environmental-friendly and fun at the same time. The buyers of the Model S also have the possibility to entirely customize the vehicle to their taste. This creates a sense of exclusivity among the clients. Besides the B2C applications Tesla has also established a strong position in the B2B environment 15. Tesla for example licenses its patented processes and technologies to other companies. Especially in the area of battery technology 13 http://www. teslamotors. com/blog/lotus-position 14 http://www.teslamotors. com/about/press/releases/tesla-motors-and-toyota-motor-corporation- intend-work-jointly-ev-development-tm 15 http://www. slideshare. net/joseangeldf/darden-school-of-business-tesla-strategic-analysis 7 and the construction of ‘supercharging’ stations Tesla has a lot of expertise16. The proper licensing of these assets will benefit the entire environmental automotive industry as a whole. An especially important force in the electric automotive industry is the threat of substitutes from outside the given industry. Hybrid vehicles and more specifically PHEV provide a similar functionality as the full electric vehicles. Those manufacturers within these strongly related industries, which produce vehicles and services with an attractive price and performance, pose a serious threat to the established electric car manufacturers. For the Model S the most important substitutes are those mid to high-end hybrids. These vehicles offer low emissions and a good fuel economy at a similar price as the Model S. The most successful alternatives within the US automotive industry are discussed in the next chapter. In the specific price range of the Model S the threat of substitutes is still limited as Tesla is gradually positioning itself as a high-value, exclusive and environmental brand with a growing number of enthusiasts17. Nonetheless, a possible future expansion into the mid-end and low- end market segment will significantly increase the threat of substitutes. There are, however, some complementing factors that might reduce the threat of substitutes both for Tesla as well as the electric automotive industry in a whole. The scope for future development in battery technology, the presence of several tax and parking incentives for electric vehicles and the expected rise in oil prices in comparison to electricity prices might spur the attractiveness of the electric automotive industry. These market dynamics both play on the level of customers as well as producers. One possible negative factor in the realisation of potential sales is the low availability of charging and home charging facilities. However, Tesla Motors is addressing this issue by investing heavily in strategically located charging facilities and by expanding the power and endurance of the battery pack 18. Tesla’ s battery pack technology is critical to the company’ s positioning and competitive differentiation. The low cost of the battery pack allows Tesla to not only design cars with battery ranges greater than the competition but also place equal emphasis on design, performance, and energy efficiency. On the short term, the threat of new entrants in the electric US market is rather limited because of several entry barriers. The industry is characterised by high capital requirements and high sunk costs. 16 http://www. sl ate. com/articles/technolog y/technolog y/2013/05/tesla_model_s_the_electric_car_compa ny_is_a_little_bit_apple_a_little_bit. html 17 http://www. wikiwealth. com/five-forces:tesla-motors, http://www. teslamotors.com/blog-and-press- releases. 18 http://www. slideshare. net/joseangeldf/darden-school-of-business-tesla-strategic-analysis, http://www. reuters. com/article/2014/02/26/us-tesla-battery-panasonic-idUSBREA1O1MF20140226, http://www. t eslamotors. com/supercharger 8 Moreover, advanced, often patented, technologies and processes as well as a highly skilled workforce are required to successfully manufacture an electric car. The success of a firm in the industry is also largely determined by its brand image and the realisation of economies of scale19. Therefore, it is not easy for a potential new entrant to establish a foothold. This is even enhanced by the fact that the incumbent firms have a large and flexible production capacity that can be used as a retaliation device in case of entry (Boyke, Cheng, Clevers, Schroeder, Strupp, 2010). However, established vehicle manufacturers with deep pockets that have currently missed the ‘environmental train’ or disruptive innovators like Tesla Motors might overcome these entry barriers in the long run. The current competition in the US environmental automotive industry is moderate. Only a few major brands are competing. Because of the high entry barriers and the threat of substitutes not a lot of brands risk burning cash in an innovative and insecure business. However, as the sector matures and more people consider switching to an electric car this will change. In a recent report of the Electric Vehicles Initiative (EVI) a global goal of 20 million electric passenger cars, including plug-in hybrid vehicles, battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and fuel cell electric vehicles, in stock by 2020 is set forward. This is still a long way to go as the total worldwide electric vehicle stock at the end of 2012 only amounted to a large 180. 000 units. In 2012, 38. 585 PHEVs and 14. 592 BEVs were sold in the US. The cumulative stock in the US in 2012 was 71. 174 units (Clean Energy Ministerial, Electric Vehicles Initiative, International Energy Agency, 2013). In 2013 roughly 96. 000 electric vehicles were sold in the US environmental automotive industry(including hybrids)20. The three top selling brands are the Chevrolet Volt, the Nissan Leaf and the Tesla Model S. It is clear that the popularity of electric vehicles has significantly increased over the last few years. It is expected that this trend will only continue in the future as the number of models on the market increases. The share of electric cars is still only about 3,5% of the total number of cars that are sold annually in the US market21. Hence, the growth potential of the environmental automotive industry is huge, this both on a domestic as well as an international level. In conclusion of this section an assessment is made of the overall profitability of the environmental automotive industry. As previously argued, the bargaining power of suppliers and buyers is rather limited in the industry. Therefore, the vehicle manufacturers can attract more profits than their up- and downstream partners. The industry is also characterised by several entry barriers, especially on the 19 http://www. wikiwealth. com/five-forces:tesla-motors 20 http://www. greencarreports. com/news/1089443_plug-in-electric-car-sales-for-2013-almost-double- last-years 21 http://electricdrive. org/index. php? ht=d/sp/i/20952/pid/20952 9 short term. The effective prevention of possible entrants reduces the pressure on prices and allows incumbent firms to attract a significant share of the profits. The threat of substitutes is one of the most important restrictors on the profitability within the industry. Because of the similarity in functions between electric brands and hybrid brands it is important for the incumbent firms to create a positive consumer image towards their products. The growth potential of EVs is the most important driver of future profitability of the industry. Until now incumbent firms have undertaken a lot of RD initiatives in the area of battery and charging technologies. The sales numbers in the US market show that these investments are finally starting to pay-off. In the long run, with a growing global popularity of EVs, it is to be expected that also other companies will consider entering the environmental automotive industry. 4. Tesla in the market Tesla differentiates itself by producing environmental responsible cars that have all the benefits of a luxury vehicle. By equally emphasizing on speed, handling, design, comfort, and zero-emissions, Tesla creates a unique balance between performance, efficiency and aesthetics. Through the offering of this first fully electric luxury sedan car, Tesla attained a first mover advantage. Together with its ‘Silicon Valley’ culture, an approach that is innovative, competitive, and effective, Tesla achieved a solid brand name in the automotive market. (Mangram, 2012) Tesla’s battery technology is also critical to the company’s competitive advantage. With its cutting-edge battery technology, combined with essential technology research, Tesla is able to design and produce electric cars with a far greater range than its competitors. Its lithium-ion based battery, for instance, is 250 kilograms lighter compared and has a range of up to 500 kilometers. Bron ? vergeleken met wat ? But even with a supercharger a full charge is approximately one hour. Moreover the company produces many of its key parts in-house, thus making it harder for competitors to replicate. With the expansion of its own retail shops and the establishment of a network of free recharging points for its customers, Tesla keeps challenging the traditional car companies (The Economist, 2013). Tesla’s main strategy can be seen as a reflection of the innovative marketing approach Apple used for its ingenious technology. It holds that any new technology is often very expensive and wealthy customers are regularly the first to accept it. Consequently, Tesla produced its first vehicle, the Roadster, for the premium sports car consumer segment. Nowadays, with the production of the Model S Sedan, the middle to upper- middle class consumers are being targeted. Finally, by 2015 Tesla plans to produce and market an electric car available at a mass-market consumer price range (Tesla Motors, 10 2014). Although this ‘Apple Computer’s business model’ is considered to be rather exceptional in the automobile industry it helped the company to position itself as groundbreaking, self-determining, and cool. Tesla BMW Daimler AG General Motors Toyota Revenue 2 billion 60 billion 117 billion 155 billion 22 trillion Net Income -74 000 2 billion 6,4 billion 5,35 billion 962 billion Sales Growth 387% 7,2 % 3,22 % 2,08 % 18,73 % The luxury car market is highly competitive, with several incumbent companies with loyal customers. Tesla’s main competitors in the luxury car segment are BMW, General Motors, Toyota and Mercedes. While the number of any competitive electric car is still low, an increase can be expected. General Motor’s Chevrolet Volt is one of the main competing vehicles in the market. It covers a wide target market and comes at a notable lower price than Tesla’s Model S. Toyota remains the global leader when it comes to selling hybrids. Although Toyota has 4 electric cars (the Prius, the RAV4 EV, the FCHV fuel cell car, and the Scio IQ-EV), it strategically collaborates with Tesla to improve the electric car development. This alliance has been one of the main factors of Tesla’s growth as Tesla consumers can get customer service in Toyota sites (Toyota Motor Corporation, 2014). The chart compares Tesla’s main competitors on the basis of revenue, net income and sales growth. As we can see, its sales growth is overwhelming. Given that is a rather new company, it indicates its rapid expansion on the electric car market. However, Tesla’s net income remains negative. Nonetheless, the company’s share is currently being traded at 20 times its earning, and as the company continues to grow these numbers are expected to rise. According to an article by Wall Street, 43 new hybrid, electric, and fuel-cell vehicles will be produced in the US market by 2015. Moreover, the market share of alternative fuel cars will increase from 3% in 2012 to almost 5% in 2014 (Wall Street, 2013). New electric vehicle entrants and existing plug-in hybrids manufactures will continue to compete with Tesla in the near future. While the traditional car manufactures are firmly entrenched, Tesla’s competitive advantages could develop to the securing of a significant market share in the electric car market. 5. Sustainability of the competitive advantage. This chapter analyses the degree of sustainability of Tesla’s competitive advantage. First the relevant trends and developments in the automotive industry are briefly reviewed. Furthermore, the 11 predominant isolating mechanisms in force given the market position of Tesla are discussed. We argue Tesla is a textbook example of a disruptive technology. To conclude, strategy recommendations hereupon are formulated. The primordial focus of our analysis shifts in this chapter from the luxury car market to the overarching automotive industry. The rational hereof is clear-cut. On the one hand, the trend analysis for the automotive industry applies to and sufficiently covers the luxury car segment. On the other hand, Tesla continuously voices the strategy to level down through the segments. Furthermore, the majority of car manufacturers produce for multiple segments of the industry. The sustainability of Tesla’s competitive advantage thus strongly depends on the industry rather than the Model S market segment. 1. 1 Trends in the automotive industry The automotive industry is, may be argued, rather conservative. The market structure is little dynamic, without change in market leading firms for long. Furthermore, the industry evolved the past century merely through optimising the traditional ‘automobile’, with limited major breakthroughs. To illustrate, though fuel efficiency and exhaust of the combustion engine has greatly improved, working principles remain unchanged. The emergence of (electrical) alternatives that are sold commercially is only a recent phenomenon. We review three developments that will impact the automotive industry. First, the society-wide surge of environmentalism a fortiori impacts the automotive industry. A thickening body of government actions forces car manufacturers to produce cleaner cars. This both directly, through legislation (e.g. CO2 output limits for new cars), or indirectly by altering consumer behaviour through excises or tax incentives. Furthermore, consumers are increasingly environmentally conscious. Bottom-line, car sales undeniably grow more eco-friendly. Furthermore, the panoply of driver assisting technology that brakes automatically for obstacles or parks the car will be further developed. Self-driving cars may be short-term everyday reality, with Google pulling the cart. Lastly, Gen Y is argued to focus on services rather than ownership. The emergence and success of car sharing by Zipcar or Cambio illustrates this shift in mentality for the automotive industry. 1. 2 The isolating mechanisms The electric car is strongly based on the century old inventions of Serbian engineer Nikola Tesla. We nevertheless argue that the electric car is a text book disruptive technology. This technology, spearheaded by Tesla, will herewith potentially overturn the automotive industry, challenging the 12 incumbents. The early-mover advantage in this creative destruction may enable Tesla to sustain its competitive advantage. The disruptive technology concept is extensively reviewed in the of literature. We apply the framework to the Tesla case. First, the environmental movement and increasing fuel prices created momentum for alternatives of the traditional combustion engine. Both incumbent car manufacturers and many start-ups invested in research. The hydrogen car made the press as a promising technology, but proved little feasible. Eventually the electric car showed market-viable. Many innovators inter alia Fisker, failed. However, as statistics dictate tech start-up Tesla got ahead in the race at the expense of dominant car manufacturers. The 2400 Tesla Roadsters produced, sales manifestly unattractive   toincumbents, were a great success and learning opportunity for the start-up. The Tesla Model S unprecedented battery range no longer forces consumers to trade off fuel efficiency for convenience. Herewith it can shift from niche product for wealthy eco-hipsters to head on competition for the traditional luxury sedan. The Model S proves superior to its competition threefold. First, the position of the battery pack lowers the gravity centre of the car for superior handling (and creates a spacious trunk in the back and front). The electric engine also delivers instant torque, further allowing sporty driving. Furthermore, the Model S was granted a record safety score of 5,4 out of 5. Lastly, electric engines are maintenance free. Note that the electric car still offers greater potential for technological progress than the more tried and tested combustion engine. The incumbent firms are wary of this potential shift to electric for the automotive industry, note the growing number of electric cars offered. However, extensively studied, the difference in investment dynamics with nimble start-ups impedes them to appropriately and successfully commit to the disruptive technology. The sunk cost and replacement effect are strong in this case. Therefore, it is Tesla that has a head start, with Daimler and Toyota asking the new kid on the block for help. The early-mover advantage of Tesla will sustain its competitive advantage threefold. First, we consider the economies of the learning curve. The first car manufacturer to fully grasp the paradigm shift Tesla benefits hereby manifold. The design-from-scratch approach is inevitable to exploit the electric car technology to the full. The Model S is a thus a step ahead of the build-on competitors, quickly adding to Tesla’s experience with every unit sold. Furthermore, the superior battery packs are en route to continue to offer greater range and faster charging at a lower unit cost. Note that Tesla supplies its electric powertrain to Toyota and Daimler, further adding to its cumulative experience. Moreover, the strong experience gained is further protected from imitation through multiple patents. The literature further arguments the reputation for quality to be an important source of early-mover advantage for experience goods. Thus, the brand image of an electric car brand may be considered important, notwithstanding the ubiquitous possibilities for test drives. Tesla has a rock solid reputation 13 for quality, though much like Apple it has irrational haters22. To illustrate, the Tesla recall threat due to 3 car fires was resolved by an overnight software update that would slightly raise the Model S when driving on the highway. The Tesla stock price had a field day23. Furthermore, the Model S production cannot keep up with sales. Herewith, Tesla doesn’t spend a dollar on marketing. Thirdly, Tesla benefits from network effects to sustain its competitive advantage. Tesla heavily invests in the supercharger network, that quickly expanding adds to the convenience of driving an electric car station by station. For competitors it is meanwhile.

2006 Fifa World Cup Germany History Essay

2006 Fifa World Cup Germany History Essay In these few years, because the economy recession, many industries have been affected, such as tourism industry, airline industry, auto industry and so on, the event industry is not the exception. There are two definitions of event from Business Dictionary (n.d.), occurrence happening at a determinable time and place, with or without the participation of human agents. It may be a part of a chain of occurrences as an effect of a preceding occurrence and as the cause of a succeeding occurrence, and arrival of a significant point in time. In project management, an event marks the point in time when a task is completed. There is many type of event in the industry, such as promotion event, marketing event and so on. This report will focus on one sport event, Fifa World Cup 2006 in Germany. At the beginning of the report, it will give the history of football, the World Cup and the background of the World Cup 2006. Economy, another beneficiary, security, infectious disease issue, sponsor, s ocial impact and environment are the main parts. At the last is the conclusion. 2. History of football: Football is a worldwide game, and it can be said that (FIFA, n.d.) it is the most popular game in the world, and its history is more than a hundred years. It was begun in 1863 in England, originally rugby football and association football was the same thing, when they were branched off, the Football Association in England was formed becoming the sports first governing body. It can be said actually this was a type of exercise date back to the second and third centuries BC in China. In that time, it was called Tsu Chu, the material and the size of the ball was different, of cause, the rule was different. 3. History of the World Cup: The first World Cup tournament was taken place on Uruguay in 1930 (BBC, 2001), at that time just had thirteen nations competed, and just only four European countries. The final winner was the host Uruguay, and the second was Argentina. In 1934, the game was moved to Europe, and Italy both hosted and won the game. In 1938, the game played in France. As we know, because of the World War II, the tournament had to be stopped and then the tournament returned to South America on 1950 and Brazil hosted it. It was the most chaotic in World Cup history, and many teams had a long way to travel between matches. Because of the aftermath of World War II had passed, so the event was moved on to Switzerland on 1954. In 1958, perhaps the worlds greatest player (Pele) was appeared, and the country that was to dominate world football for the next 12 years. In 1962 the tournament was returned to South America. The games location was changing between Europe and South America, in 1966, it came back to th e home England, and it had an exciting final in Wembley. In 1970, football got into another special time because of the satellite technology, and pitch red and yellow cards were used for the first time in Mexico. In 1974, the World Cup became the new FIFA World Cup and it was hosted by West Germany. In 1978, the final was between the Dutch and the host Argentina. Spain hosted the tournament in 1982, the involved teams were expanded from 16 to 24. In 1986, the World Cup was back to Mexico, another greatest player was appeared at that time, Diego Maradona of Argentina. The 1990 tournament was returned to Italy, finally West Germany took the crown from Argentinas hand. 4. 2006 game background: The last FIFA World Cup was opened on Germany on 2006, it could be said that it was the biggest event on 2006 (FIFA, 2006a). At the semi-final, Italian put down the host team Germany, it was a hard road, they had to spot-kick to terminate the game. At the end of the game, Italian team handed the World Cups crown. There was a historical time on the final game at Berlins Olympic Stadium, a French player got a red card, he was Zinedine Zidane, one of the greatest players in the world. The World Cup was not the stage for the Italian, the host team finished as top scorers with 14 goals, thereinto five goals were from the Golden Shoe winner Miroslav Klose. The football month was not only attracted 3,359,439 spectators (FIFA, 2006) to attend matches in the 12 great stadiums, but also there was over 30 billion people watched those match through TV, internet etc globally. 5. The economy The economy was one of the benefits the host country could get. Fortunately, this event gave very positive effect to the country, its economy and improved countrys imagination; actually, some events can lead the local economy down (DW, 2006). It was generated over 300 million Euros from tourism industry, 2 more billion Euros from retail and 50,000 jobs were created during the World Cup weeks (4 weeks). 40 million was made from ticket sales, the World Cup Organising Committee said that the net profit was 56.5 million Euros and they would put the money into German Soccer Federation (DFB) and German Soccer League (DFL). It was announced that, the DFB earned around 140 million Euros from the event (DW, 2006). Other numbers, Germany used nearly 4 billion Euros to hold the mega event, and 15 million more visitors had been welcomed by Germany. 6. Another beneficiary: The benefit was not just the Italian had, there was another major winner children (FIFA, 2006b). A joint fundraising campaign which was called six villages for 2006, and it was between SOS Childrens Villages and FIFA. The campaign was collected over 21 million Euros, this money would give to over eight hundred orphaned and abandoned children globally. Furthermore, over five thousand children and one thousand would be benefited from a new ancillary social and educational projects. 16.2 million Euros was the total number on collection, which was from three thousand people, and they pledged their support to SOS Childrens Villages as sponsors (FIFA, 2006b). Originally, the organization thought that those sponsors might make a long term commitment to SOS Childrens Villages and they were expected to support an additional one million Euros per year on next over five years, but the total income was expected to over 21 million Euros (FIFA, 2006b). In addition, FIFA donated the income, which was from fines in yellow and red cards at the Germany World Cup, the number was over three hundred thousand Euros. There were many other companies donate money to this campaign, such as the Infront Sports and Media, they donated all proceeds generated from the commercial public viewing licences in Germany, it surpassed seven hundred thousand Euros. Another big income, which was from the FIFA World Cup TV Ticket Show, it generated more than six hundred thousand Euros into the campai gn. Moreover, many famous footballer, such as Pele, Shevchenko, Rooney, Cannavaro etc, they took time from their busy plan to support this fundraising campaign. Through this fundraising campaign, we can see that, during the mega event, it can generate a big number of money and they will use this event to do some other activities such as the fundraising campaign, but we have to consider, it has a good side but it may has a bad side too (FIFA, 2006b). 7. The impact on security: Because of the World Cup event is globally, there was some problem on security area. For example, around two hundred football team fans were arrested by police during the match between German and Polish, and it made a big chaos for the event and the city (Kelso, 2006). Actually this happen had been predicted before because of the two sides of fans would bring their enmity to Dortmund stadium. Although this trouble was happened in the city centre during the game, the people who were inside the stadium were still focus on the match. One of the reasons why the Polish did it was because they had resentment at their opponents behavior at the past. Another reason was because some hooliganism involved. On 2005, there was another demonstration clash between Polish and German, and the result was quite badly. Before the match day, fifty five people had been arrested by German police and four of them carried knife, but it was not enough to stop the problem, at the end of it, around two hundred fans had been arrested by the police in the city centre (Kelso, 2006). A French policeman, he dead because of the two sides fans crashed at the 1998 World Cup. There was an example of the impact on security, because this was the mega event, everything become happened wa s possible and those consequence should be considered (Kelso, 2006). 8. Infectious disease issue: There were some health issues during the global mega event. Actually, the 2006 World Cup was related to some infectious disease, and here was an example in Munich in International Broadcast Centre (IBC) (Eurosurveillance, 2006). A group of people with gastrointestinal symptoms was informed on the local health department on 15 of June. The local health department began to do something for it at that evening, if they did not do that, the consequence would be hard to measure. Those patients came from different countries, such as Mexico, the United States and so on. They had a same point, it was they were all employed by IBC temporarily. At that time, the hygiene precautions were immediately begun, such as disinfecting surfaces and providing hand disinfection liquids in sanitary areas, and multi-language information leaflets was given to people, the local health department also checked the other people through peoples stool sample, unfortunately there were five were proven to be positive for norovirus. Afterward, genotype GGII.4-2006a had been found and totally there were 61 cases of gastroenteritis were linked to the norovirus outbreak in Munich. When you look this example, will you consider to go to this mega event? In this kind of mega events specially on global events have some health issues are quite normal, it just depends it will be serious or not and how to solve the problem by the organization (Eurosurveillance, 2006). There were some other infectious disease events during the World Cup event. For example (Eurosurveillance, 2006), it was reported the biggest measles outbreak was related the event in Germany. The situation was concerned by the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) and it had been rising, visitors were also given warning by various European national public health institutes during the event. Totally, 1406 measles cases were found in North Rhine-Westphalia between 1 Jan and 7Jun 2006, when the World Cup began, the number of cases still increased. Another infectious disease event was an outbreak of haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) in North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony, Hambury and Schleswig-Holstein in Northern Germany, and 15 cases were found totally (Eurosurveillance, 2006). 9. The World Cup and its sponsors: Totally, there were 15 sponsors such as Yahoo, Budweiser, McDonalds, Gillette, Toshiba Philips and so on, they had to pay a heavy of cost to be called as an Official Partner of the mega event (Times, 2006). Furthermore, there were six national suppliers such as Postbank, ODDSET, Deutsche Bahn and so on, it was said that they had to paid around thirteen million Euro to use the rights of Fifa logos and trademarks on their advertising, it was a quite big amount of money. After the event, it was reported that although the demand was over supply, Fifa would make most of the money through the sponsorship deal, in fact, the agreement of the deal was worth over seven hundred million Euro. The problem was appeared, if Fifas exclusivity was not guaranteed no one would agree to pay the money to Fifa, and the contract was all according safeguard Fifas position for every eventuality. It was an example; there was an agreement with Hamburger Sportverein (HSV) for the use of its stadium in Hamburg. Obviously HSV has its own sponsor, AOL, and the stadium is always called AOL Arena Stadium. During the World Cup, the name was changed to Fifa World Cup Stadium Hamburg, Yahoo took the opportunity to become the title sponsor in this period of time and a legal agreement had been enshrined (Times, 2006). It had to be mindful the feeling on non-alcoholic drinks sponsors by Fifa, the Coca Cola. Totally (Times, 2006), there were 12 official fan festivals in those host cities, the contract with Coca Cola was that to supply of virtually every other drink. Because of Coca Cola, many milk suppliers became angry, because they had to wait Coca Cola agreed to supply non-flavoured milk product. It was said that (Times, 2006), brand protection is very important to the organization of the World Cup 2006 by Max Duthie, a sport lawyer with Hammonds. He also said (Times, 2006), Lawyers have been intimately involved in devising strategies and drafting legal agreements to prevent ambush marketing. He continued to add, Fifa will have been liaising, too, with local authorities and the police in order to prevent, as a hypothetical example, Pepsi turning up before a game and handing out thousands of Pepsi T shirts to fans, to that, once inside, sections of the ground could appear devoted to Pepsi. It was said that, in the UK trading standards officers always get involve with event organizes to flight with counterfeit merchandising and intellectual property infringement at sports event (Times, 2006). Actually, the local authorities were persuaded to help Fifa to clamp down on trade mark infringement, and it had been criticised in Germany. At that time, the trademark protection was not the responsibility of public authorities. The official list of licensed manufacturers and samples of their products were sent to customs, because Fifa wanted to protect their own rights. Anyway, it was just the tip of the iceberg although Fifa was fighting for themselves hardly. Ticketing conditions was another problem Fifa had to consider, they planned it carefully to prevent touting. This problem was not only on this event, it is an increasing global problem in modern football. There were some potential intellectual property infringement, such as player disciplinary issues and anti doping regulations, and those mean that when the event was begun, lawyers could not stop their work. We receive numerous queries from businesses who want to check that their campaigns do not infringe Fifas intellectual property. Like many rights holders in modern sport, Fifa protect their rights aggressively, so anyone thinking of exploiting the buzz around the World Cup for advertising purposes has to be very careful, Nick White, a sports lawyer with Couchman Harrington said that (Times, 2006). The inter relationship has never been complex that between sponsors, rights holders, teams, players and spectators, and it has never more intertwined with the law. Just before the World Cup kicked off, the chairman of Crystal Palace Simon Jordan caged his former employee Iain Dowie with his legal action. It is hard to be thought that this chairman was so rely upon to this post employment few years ago. The World Cup 2006 was not just between players, spectator, organization, local people, the government and so on, stakeholders had a quite big range such as lawyer. Something looks like very simple, but actually it is not (Times, 2006). 10. The social impacts from the World Cup 2006: It is known that all sport events have different range of impacts to the community, especially on host communities, sometimes they have focused on economic rather than the social effects. Social impacts have been identified as (Jones, 2007); changes in the structure and functioning of patterned social ordering that occur in conjunction with an environmental, technological or social innovation or alteration. Munich is an example. According a study (310 people was surveyed), 88% of people supported the strengthening of the sense of communities and the relationship improvement between people of different ethnic origin, over 50% of them agreed it strongly and only 8% of them disagreed (Jones, 2007). In terms of the quality of life becomes important. In Munich (Jones, 2007), the co-hosting of the World Cup 2006 led to an increase in shopping facilities was disagreed by 70% people. Therefore, the government used another way to solve it, it was to extend the opening time for shops in the city centre, and also it was allowed them to open on Sunday. Two-thirds respondents thought that, it was a positive impact, actually they prefer to go shopping on Sunday rather than on Saturday. Another impact was because the World Cup, related events have been increased. The World Cup gave a lot of benefit to the host city such as on economy, social well-being and so on. Because of the event, the city has been renewal, many respondents said that, the improvement of the local infrastructure, although the citys situation was not bad at before. It is a quotation from the local people (Jones, 2007), thanks to the good planning by the local council there was no chaos on the road as I am commuting between Munich to Nuremberg every day. Through the quotation it can be seen, the traffic was quite good during the mega event and the local council had done their work. Although there were a lot of benefits, there also had some disadvantages. For example, noise level was increased during the event (Jones, 2007). 11. The environment: Through the event, the organization and the government had done a lot, included on environment. It was a project called Green Goal (UNEP, 2006), its aim was to protect the environment, cut greenhouse gas emissions from transportation area and electricity generation during the event, defeating the waste mountain was another aim. The project was supported by the United Nations Environment Programme mainly. Because of the project, the greenhouse gas emissions had been reduced drastically, 50% from 3.2 million fans to take public transport (UNEP, 2006). Totally, 70% of journey had been made on public transport, foot or bicycle and it was just 30% made by private car (UNEP, 2006). 12. Conclusion: In conclusion, the World Cup 2006 tournament was a quite successful mega event in general, only the Olympic game can compare it. Actually, a mega event has to spend a lot of work on it, and the infrastructure could be complicated. This event led a lot of benefit to the country and those host cities such as on economy, generated a lot of jobs and revenue although the country had to spend a big budget to hold the game. However, there were some disadvantages, such as on security, health issue and so forth. Anyway, according to the study, the general situation was accepted by many residents. The next World Cup will be happened on this year, also it will have many impact for the host country on many area. Event is not always been succeeded, it could also be unsuccessful, so just wait and see for the next game.

Reinforced Concrete Fibers Vs Continuous Steel Construction Essay

Reinforced Concrete Fibers Vs Continuous Steel Construction Essay Abstract In todays economic climate nothing is as important as saving money. With respect to the construction industry, it is vital that actions taken to save money will not hinder the structural and design integrity. Typically, the greatest savings are achieved through the development of new materials and processes. One development expected to save money in the future is fiber reinforced concrete (FRC). Although, the concept itself is dated; recent advances have allegedly created lighter concrete with an increased crack resistance. Aside from increased performance, FRC is also thought to decrease labor costs commonly associated with traditional steel reinforced concrete (SRC). The following report is a review and comparisons of each system characteristic. Introduction Concrete is arguably one of the most commonly used construction materials. The success of the material is due to its ability to resist upward and downward loads known as compressive strength. However, tensile strengths of plain concrete are relatively low. Tensile strength is considered a materials ability to resist pulling forces. To compensate for this, concrete is reinforced using various methods depending on the application. The most common method of reinforcing is steel reinforced concrete (SRC). Steel reinforced systems have been utilized since the early 1900s and have proven to be successful. Despite the success, the construction community is showing an increasing amount of interest in fiber reinforced concrete (FRC). The following sections dissect the characteristics of each system and reveal the inherent distinctions. Research Criteria For the purposes of investigation and clarity research was conducted on concrete slab construction only. The systems have been evaluated and compared with respect to mechanical and design characteristic. Cost and labor practices as well as other concrete building systems such as; beams, foundations, and bridge decks have not been considered for this study. This provides a uniform comparison of both systems. Description of Design Concepts Steel Reinforced Concrete A steel reinforced slab is a composite system consisting of steel and concrete. The steel is typically rods factory welded in a mesh pattern known as welded wire fabric. For larger slabs, and most other applications, the steel is manufactured rods commonly referred to as rebar. Unlike welded wire fabric, the rebar must be tied together. Depending on the application the steel can be unfinished, galvanized, or epoxy coated. Continuous steel primarily provides tensions resistant. The assessment of steel reinforced systems is done with respect to cast-in-place one, and two way slabs reinforced with continuous steel only. Corrugated and waffle slabs have not been considered in this evaluation. Fiber Reinforced Concrete Fiber systems are the addition of natural or man maid fibers to the concrete. The most popular fibers today are; nylon, steel, glass, and natural. The fibers are typically added to the concrete mix either as a monofilament or fibrillated fibers. Monofilament fibers are individually added to the mix and are used where preservation of the finish is a priority. Fibrillated fibers are added as large bundles which break down in to smaller bundles of connected by perpendicular fibers. Fibrillated bundles typically yield a stronger bond than monofilament fibers. The major benefit derived from the use of FRC is improved concrete durability. (Committee, 2006). All FRC systems reviewed consist of only simple fiber reinforcing. Systems using a combination of continuous steel and fibers or any manufactured products containing fiber reinforcing have not been considered in the evaluation. Differences With respect to the mechanical behavior of concrete in slab construction FRC and SRC slabs are fundamentally different. As, SI Concrete Systems representative, Mel Galinat explains, The current methodology for reinforced concrete is based on the steel rebars continuous reinforcing function and tensile strength characteristics. (Marsh, 2001). The bar is laid continuously in each direction to accept and distribute tensile loads to balance the system. The grid pattern ensures that tension in either direction is resisted. Additionally, the pattern segregates the aggregates and prevents cracks from spreading. When using rebar the grid is tied at the intersections and overlapping lengths. The slab becomes a composite system of steel and concrete composite system. Depending on the slab size, control joints are strategically installed throughout the slab to further minimize cracking. In a fiber reinforced slab system the concrete itself is manipulated. The fibers vary in size depending on the application, however, when setting a related standard, ACI considers, Common lengths of discrete fibers range from 10 mm (3/8 in.) to a maximum of 75 mm (3 in.). (E-701Committee, 2006). The fibers are added directly to the concrete ingredients while mixing; resulting in a random distribution of reinforcing fibers. Consequently, the fibers do not align continuously throughout and prevents the system from working together. As proven with the steel system tension loads are successfully resisted with continuous reinforcement. The lack of synergy among the fibrous members provides minimal tensile strength. An experiment conducted by the ACI in 2006 looks at the characteristics of fiber reinforced concrete in order to establish uniform design criteria for the concept. The study reviewed eight concrete slabs, one with no reinforcement and the remaining slabs were reinforced with various types, sizes, and combinations of fibers. When compared to an unreinforced concrete slab on grade, the fiber reinforced concrete provided better resistance to concentrated loads. For this reason, even at relatively low volume fractions ( Although advantageous to concrete slabs, concentrated loads are only one of the many forces exerted on a slab. Other loads, common of concrete slabs, were not considered in the ACI experiment. These results demonstrate the fibers ability to increase the concretes flexural strength. Materials with high flexural strength resist deformation caused by loads. Flexural stress is caused by concentrated loads such as; heavy equipment or industrial machinery. Therefore, fibers are commonly added to concrete mixes for large industrial slabs and airport runways. In an elevated slab system, where loads are high and unsupported spans are common, current fiber reinforcing cannot efficiently replace continuous steel. Another characteristic which differentiates fiber and steel reinforcing is each systems approach to crack control. As detailed in the ACI Committee 302 documents; Polypropylene, polyethylene, nylon, and other synthetic fibers can help reduce segregation of the concrete mixture and formation of shrinkage cracks while the concrete is in the plastic state and during the first few hours of curing. As the modulus of elasticity of concrete increase with hardening of concrete, however, most synthetic fibers at typical dosage rates recommended by the fiber manufacturers will not provide sufficient restraint to inhibit cracking. (ACI Committee 302, 2010). Moreover the fibers reduce the spread of cracks caused by shrinkage and temperature change rather than increasing the overall resistance. As expanded further in the ACI Materials Journal, It is usually assumed that fibers do not influence the tensile strength of the matrix, and that only after the matrix has cracked do the fibers contribute by bridging the cracks. (Shah, 1991). Therefore the fibers work reactively by responding to loads, whereas continuous steel works proactively by resisting loads. The continuous steel is strategically positioned in anticipation of certain loads, thus providing a resistance. Conclusion As explained by the Portland Cement Association (2010); Fibers should not be expected to replace wire mesh in a slab on ground. The current experimental results show no evidence of a fibrous additives providing equal, or superior, strength when compared to traditional steel reinforcement. The effects of fiber reinforcing on a concrete slab are inherently different than traditional steel. Continuous steel resists particular stresses while fiber reinforcing responds to different stress. The traditional methodology of designing and constructing concrete slabs using continuous steel reinforcement has slowly developed overtime and has become a highly proven and widely accepted system. Fiber reinforcing is still a young concept, however, design criterion are slowly being developed and studied. The system does show potential for crack control and increased flexural strength. Combining the flexural strength of fibers and tensile strength of continuous steel one can see that such systems woul d be helpful for slabs enduring high concentrated loads. The fibers help maintain the flat surface by resisting flexural stress while the continuous rebar resists tension stress

What is Philosophy? :: essays research papers

What is Philosophy?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I believe that Philosophy is the study of different ways of thinking. In philosophy, you should question everything and never take anything for face value. There are always two sides to every coin as there are different ways of looking at things, is what philosophy teaches us. In philosophy, you must throw off all the limitations you have set on yourself when dealing with how you view things and how things seem to be.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Reality is a big topic of discussion in philosophy. How you view things may not be how they really are. A schitzophrenicÕs reality is different from the reality of a Ã’saneÓ persons. Therefore I deem reality to be based on experiences, and perceptions. Something you deem to be wrong may be the same thing your friend deems to be right. So does this mean that there really is no one true reality?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Philosophy, we learn that it is okay to doubt things that occur in our lives. It is not only okay but it is a natural response to something you are unclear or uncertain about. Sometimes, though, the build-up of doubt becomes too much for someone to handle so they become suicidal or just give up trying to think about it all together. When this happens, there is a tendency to become cynical, and this is a tragedy because then you feel like nothing is really worth trying to figure out.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Most of philosophy deals with the Ã’selfÓ. People are always trying to find out who they are; why theyÕre here; or how things relate to them. All of our lives are spent on a road of self discovery, seeing what the world has to offer us, and where our place really is. If we were to actually look closely, we would see that   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  page 2 we knew who we were all along, we just didnÕt realize it.

Death from a Buddhist and Christian Point of View :: essays research papers

Death from a Buddhist and Christian Point of View   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"You will be with me today in paradise,† Jesus Christ told this to the thief on the cross while they were dying. However, can people believe that there is truly life after death? In many different religions there are different perceptions of life after death. For example in the Buddhist religion, the Buddhist people believe that life is practice for death. Professor Brown, of California State University of Northridge stated, â€Å"The Buddhist people cultivate positive, happy virtuous states of mind and abandoning non-virtuous, harmful, suffering states of mind.† This teaching is mirrored by Christianity teachings as well. Professor Brown also stated, â€Å"Death is an opportunity for great spiritual achievement if one is prepared and remembers one’s spiritual practices and beliefs and understandings during the death process.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  From its inception, Buddhism has stressed the importance of death, since awareness of death is what prompted the Buddha to perceive the ultimate futility of worldly concerns and pleasures. Realizing that death is inevitable for a person who is caught up in worldly pleasures and attitudes, he resolved to renounce the world and devote himself to finding a solution to this most basic of existential dilemmas.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Buddhism does not look at death as a continuation of the soul but as an awakening. Dying and being reborn has been compared by some Buddhist as a candle flame. When the flame of one lit candle is touched to the wick of an unlighted candle, the light passes from one   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Valino 2 candle to another. The actual flame of the first candle does not pass over but is responsible for lighting the second candle.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When preparing for death Buddhist generally agree a person’s state of mind while dying is of great importance. While dying the person can be surrounded by friends, family and monks who recite Buddhists scriptures and mantras to help the person achieve a peaceful state of mind. Buddhism asserts that all being live beyond the various fluctuations of this life. Death is merely a passage to rebirth in another realm such as the human world, a pure land or the flowering of the ultimate nature of the mind.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  So in all actuality, Buddhist believe that every day on earth, people should live with good positive feelings, positive thinking, positive attitude. As Buddhist people suggested, life is practice. One can not be happy in the after life unless one takes the advantage of their life on earth.

Perception and Decision Making

It is impossible to live a life that does not involve the abstract concept of perception. Perception is essentially how people perceive information in relationship to their personal environment and then form a set of beliefs or opinions from said perceptions. In the business world, management is required to make decisions. While a great deal of the decision making process would appear to be based on empirical facts, the reality is that perception of fact as opposed to actual fact is often the barometer used to make decisions. Because different individuals may have different perceptions on the same issue, it becomes very important for managers to base their decisions on critical thinking and facts so as to avoid the potential problem of making decisions on perceptions that are not entirely accurate. The idea that â€Å"true† reality is never truly graspable by humans' sensory and cognitive equipment goes back at least to the works of Plato. There is, for instance, the distinction between appearances and reality. Show a three-year-old a red ball beneath a green filter and he will typically say that the ball is black, even though he had previously been given the ball to examine. Understanding of this appearance-reality distinction seems so necessary to everyday life that it is hard to imagine a society in which normal people would not acquire it. But the lesson is relatively new historically, such as the lesson of perspective in painting, or the intentional designing of optical illusions (such as the Ponzo illusion), or in the differing testimonies of eye-witnesses of the same event. The fact is that we all do not perceive the same things alike. (Kearl) If there was one caveat about perception, perception is not necessarily reality. Perception is a person’s interpretation of reality that may or may not be completely accurate, if it is accurate at all. Because of this, it is important for management to  ascertain reality, as opposed to a perceptual reality or a problematic situation might be the result. What sets great leaders apart is their ability to manage perceptions. What people observe or assess as your ability to be a leader and your effectiveness becomes their perception, which in turn becomes reality. Perceptions that are not manages become rumors, then gossip, then backbiting, which leads to destruction. Unmanaged perceptions become a reality that was not intended. Perception management requires asking questions and getting feedback from others†¦ For example, oftentimes, management will ask other employees for a â€Å"report† on a new hire. This is a terrible idea because second hand information can often be skewed and it is best for management to make decisions based on first hand experience rather than second hand experience, yet managers will repeatedly make such an extremely foolish error. Consider the following: a manager asks an employee how a new hire is performing. The employee speaks very badly about the performance of the new hire so the manager fires the employee. This is based on a perception of the new hire based on second hand information that has been deemed accurate. However, not all is what it seems. When the new hire is fired, something comes to light that turns out to be very embarrassing to management. The employee who provided the poor evaluation of the new hire turns out to have based the negative report not on the truth, but rather on discriminatory biases. The terminated employee later files EEO complaints and lawsuits against the company, all of which proves to be incredibly embarrassing to the management, if not costly. What was the root cause of this disaster? Management drew a perception of the employee that was not based on reality. Because there was no first hand data that shaped the perception, the perception that was shaped was one that was not based in reality. In short, perception is utterly useless if it is inaccurate because it will lead to decisions that come from a thoroughly flawed perspective. If the perception is harmful, then what good can possibly come from it? This importance for the empirical assessment of facts in the decision making process works on both an internal and external level, as it is important that management decisions provide customers with what the customers actually want. Again, the need for proper feedback plays a great factor in this. In other words, it is of absolute paramount importance for management to understand what their customers want. Again, there will be a perception as to what customers want vs. what they actually want. If management becomes single minded and focused on what customer’s want and that perception is inaccurate, the results can be cataclysmic. Nothing more famously illustrates this problem more that the total failure of â€Å"New Coke† in the 1980’s. Believing that the public was more interested in Pepsi because of its sweeter taste, the Coca-Cola Company believed that the public would be willing to accept a new type of Coke that would taste similar to Pepsi. This was one of the most insanely inaccurate perceptions of consumer desire in history! In reality (not perceptually!), the public was not interested in a form of Coca-Cola that tasted like Pepsi nor did Coca-Cola do itself any favors by essentially  communicating that Pepsi had a superior product. The campaign was a complete and total disaster and it was the result of poor perception of the consumer market on the part of Coca-Cola. So, what is a manager to do when it comes to making sure that perception and proper decision making go hand in hand? Arguably the most difficult and critical step in the decision making process is to identify and clarify the problem or issue. Pressed for time and feeling a sense of urgency, governance leaders often rush through this step. An incomplete diagnosis or assessment restricts a boards' capacity to expand options and select the most appropriate one. Without proper attention paid to this step, boards may come up with a solution that fails to address the etiology of the problem. (Scott) Again, the key to making a proper decision is to manage perception and the key to managing perception involves staying properly informed. If anything, a flawed perception is one that is based on limited or inaccurate information as seen in the case of new Coke or in the hypothetical case of the terminated employee. Ultimately, decision making will always be based on personal perceptions, but the more informed a manager is, the closer the manager’s perception will be to actual reality and not aligned to ignorance or flawed logic. While this seems like an academic point, managers can often approach a problem with blinders on based on personal biases in the decision making process. Regardless of what decision one makes, it will fall into the category or either a good decision or a bad decision. If flawed, then management must face the consequences. Bibliography Kearl, Michael. (DB) â€Å"Social Factors Shaping Perception and Decision Making.† Retrieved February 17, 2007 from http://www.trinity.edu/~mkearl/socpsy-5.html Russell, Jefffrey. (2001) â€Å"Are You Managing Perception?† Retrieved February 17, 2007 Scott, Katherine Tyler. (2006) â€Å"The Dynamics of Decision Making.† Retrieved February 16, 2007 Perception and Decision Making Decision making occurs when one chooses a choice among reasonable alternatives. Perception is a very important component of the decision making system.   In a psychological perspective perception can best be described as the process of inquiring, processing, and organizing information necessary to make a decision.   Or in other words perception can be scene as one’s thoughts on a situation.   When one is in the midst of a decision making situation they need to evaluate all factors involved and make a decision, which will hopefully be reasonable and satisfactory.   Decision making is a unique tool that is inquired over the course of time.   Students can learn about logic, philosophy, and psychology.   They can understand the concepts behind decision making, but they must first have the opportunity to make important decisions themselves to fully understand the process (Randall, 2004, pp. 10-24).A leadership expert Anthony Robbins said â€Å"as a manager, however, yo ur decision not only effects yourself but all the employees on your team.   For this reason, it is important to strengthen your own decision making skills and prepare for a time when your decisions will shape the events of many peoples lives† (â€Å"Making Decisions†).   In the simulation as the newly promoted manager I had the opportunity to assist the senior manager in very important decisions including reprimanding an employee, a hiring situation, to create an employee evaluation system, and look into an ethical dilemma which could make or loss millions of dollars for the company.Each of these situations requires perception to take a route to the final decision making process. â€Å"Management in organizations today is largely people management. If people are the important asset, effectiveness is related to: ââ€"   how managers perceive the individual ââ€"   how people relate to one another ââ€"   how we get maximum contribution ââ€"   how we go about changi ng from a situation which is seen to be ineffective to one that ensures high standards of performance†(Randall, 2004, p. 46). Today we will evaluate the situations these three situations and examine perception in the decision making process and how the perception from a new managers viewpoint could effect these decisions (â€Å"Making Decisions†).The first situation involved Mark, a long term employee who had been tardy for work for the past week.   There were many different decisions that could be made to come to a conclusion about Mark’s tardiness including, bring this to the attention of Mark’s coworker and ask their thoughts on the situation, checking Mark’s employment records, check all employee time records, speak with Mark individually, or take this to Sarah for advice. In this instance I believe it is best to speak to Mark by himself and see what is going on. Bringing undesired attention to an employee by a manager is never a good route to go so this should be avoided at all costs.Also taking a trivial problem to a manager can be looked down upon.   At this point after one week of tardiness sneaking a peak at the records might be helpful but going straight to the source is the best decision as we all have personal issues that arise.   Plus by informally addressing Mark you are letting him know he can come to you and that you can see eye to eye on some matters.   It is important to build relationships with employees (â€Å"Making Decisions†).The decision to hire the interviewee, Berk, is an important decision for the company.   Berk carried himself well during the interview, had enthusiasm, and similar skills to those needed in the near future.   Although Berk did a great job in the interview all of his abilities and skills need to be evaluated to ensure he is right for the position.   In this situation I perceived Berk as highly intelligent and skilled.   I did not look further to realize his ski lls are not what the company needs.   I let my impression of Berk steer my perception of his eligibility for the job in a positive way.   This is important to not in decision making situations.   Perception may not always work in your favor (â€Å"Making Decisions†).Creating an employee evaluation system as a reward system is a great idea.   Employee evaluation should include job performance, attitudes, helpfulness, dedication, and team work abilities.   The perception of how valuable an employee is to a company can be skewed for many reasons.   The creation of an effective evaluation system will greatly contribute to seeing employees for what they truly achieve for the company.   I believe that this six step system will greatly help reward the best employee (â€Å"Making Decisions†).The last decision is one of ethical nature.   An employee has come to me to let me know she has secretly obtained the designs of our biggest competitor.   If we take the designs we will have the opportunity to create something better and make more money than our competitors.   The downfall is getting caught.   This will cause a multimillion dollar lawsuit and will destroy the company as we know it.   Although the idea of making lots of money is very attractive it is necessary to take a breath and step back to evaluate this situation. Perception is very important in this decision making process as perceived success and wealth can ultimately alter a reasonable persons decision making abilities.All aspects of the perceived or likely consequences of acting on this offer need to be taken into consideration before a decision can be made (â€Å"Making Decisions†). There are ten values the core of ethical understanding; â€Å"caring, honesty, accountability, promise keeping, pursuit of excellence, loyalty, fairness, integrity, respect for others, and responsible citizenship. When put into practice, these values generate widely recognized virtu es that provide benchmarks for ethical decision making† (Guy, 1990, p. 17). Perception constitutes everything necessary to make a decision.   Perceived values and prior experiences help give one insight into the types of decisions they choose to make.   Perception of situations can be influenced in either positive or negative ways.   Having a mentor such as Sarah giving constructive feedback with each decision helps my views on each situation become clearer.   Managers make decisions based on perception of people, influences, and support system around them.   Perception of all of these concepts is vital.ReferencesGuy, M. E. (1990). Ethical Decision Making in Everyday Work Situations. Westport, CT: Quorum Books. Retrieved March 25, 2007, from Questia database: http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=15127472Randall, J. (2004). Managing Change, Changing Managers. New York: Routledge. Retrieved March 25, 2007, from Questia database: http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=10748 9181 â€Å"Making Decisions in Business Situations.† Western International University. 26 Mar. 2007 .