Economic Implications of a US-Iranian War Essay Example for Free

Economic Implications of a US-Iranian War Essay Some have said that the United States and Iran have been involved in a â€Å"Cold War† for three decades starting with the fall of the taking of American hostages in 1979. One could trace the problems between Iran and the United States to the installation of the Shah in the 1950s. Regardless of the origins, the fact remains that Iran and the United States consider themselves enemies. As such, it is not out of the question that a war between the United States and Iran could break out. This creates a very complex scenario because of the global economic implications of a war between Iran and the United States. Iran is, of course, a major supplier of oil to the many allies of the United States. Japan, for example, is one of the United States’ strongest allies and it receives an enormous amount of oil from Iran. Similarly, many European allies receive imports of Iranian oil. A war between Iran and the United States would have tremendous global implications. Among these many implications would be serious potential negative implications for the world’s economy. Several of these different â€Å"nightmare scenarios† will be explored in this essay. First, it is important to state there are different ways to wage war. Some methods such as supporting the overthrow of the Iranian government via supporting resistance forces might not have the impact of the global economy to the same degree as a series of surgical airstrikes or a ground invasion. In this essay, the subject of ‘war’ will be discussed in its most conventional sense. Specifically, it will be defined as a large scale, drawn out military conflict between the two nations. One of the most strategic areas the United States must consider when it comes to Economic Implications of a US-Iranian War 2 the issue of a war with Iran is the fact that Iran is completely reliant on the importation of gasoline. Without shipping access, the ability for Iran to maintain its importation of gasoline would be impossible. Of course, it would be to the United States’ interest to enact a naval blockade on Iran to prevent the importation of gasoline. This would almost immediately lead to Iran further rationing its gasoline supply in order to effectively operate its military. While it would not be accurate to state that a naval blockade would immediately end the war (Iran’s navy could attack the US’ navy and potentially reverse the blockade) However, the scenario of no imports or exports would also cripple Iran’s ability to deliver oil to other nations in the world. This would then have potentially enormous economic impacts on the global markets. The notion that there would be serious economic implications resulting from a war between the United States and Iran has been weighed by many serious thinkers. â€Å"earlier in July when Iran tested missiles capable of reaching Israel and other corners of the Middle East, the price of oil jumped to a new high of over $147 per barrel. In fact, some analysts see the impact of U. S. —Iran relations on the oil market as so important as to suggest the best way to give quick relief to energy consumers around the world is a declaration by the U. S. that military force is not an acceptable option in its dispute with Iran. † (Esfahani) This is why there is so much concern globally regarding a potential United States/Iranian conflict. At the core of mostly all basic economics is the theory of supply and demand. If Economic Implications of a US-Iranian War 3 the supply of something is limited and high demand remains in place, the price of the item increases. This then creates the issue of opportunity costs. When you buy something with your money, you have eliminated the potential to use that same money for something else. In other words, if the price of gasoline skyrockets and people have to pay more for it, then they will be depleted their cash reserves or increasing their borrowing. Oil is also employed for the production of electricity which would also increase in price in the face of an oil embargo. Once again, the drain on personal finances as a result of such increased energy and fuel costs would cut into every sector of the global economy. Discretionary income would drop and leisure purchases and even the purchases of necessities would diminish rapidly. What would be the effect of this on the economies of various nations? The impact would be felt on a variety of front. The stock market, for example, would experience a great deal of negative impact as a result of such diminished spending. When people are not purchasing, the stocks of many companies may decline. After all, their profit margins could decline. Granted, there are many steps a company can take to make sure its stock price remains stable. For example, reducing the workforce or cutting spending in other areas would aid in boosting stock prices. However, if something is not done to present the lowering of stock prices, economies will take an immediate tumble. Those with investments in the market would see their net worth diminish. If one Economic Implications of a US-Iranian War 4 sees a 25% decline in the value of their portfolio, they will see a 25% decline in their net worth. Again, this is how simple economics works and such an impact will assuredly be the result of a large scale (or even minor military skirmish) between Iran and the United States. There really would be no way to avoid such a chain of events from occurring if a war broke out between the Unites States and Iran. This is because there will be an enormous impact on the price and flow of oil if such a war was to break out. Such an occurrence could not be circumvented in any way. As one can infer, this ties heavily into the concept of aggregate demand which would be the definitive demand for goods and services in a particular economy at certain specific price levels. As one could logical infer, demand for high priced items in this situation of reduced consumer cash liquidity would certainly hamper purchases of high priced items or items that are not considered of vital importance to one’s sustenance. This can lead to s significant reduction in output – the total value of all services and goods produced in the economy – within a very short period of time. We will see the impact of this in the Mundell-Fleming Model (An aggregate demand model) which would detail the relationship between the inflation of prices combined with the actual output of goods and services. In the simplest of terms, high inflation combined with a slow decline in goods and services could prove cataclysmic for an economy. But, even with high inflation, it would be safe to say that the potential for the Mundell-Fleming model to maintain a high supply of goods and services is possible in the United States. The reason for this is that the various sectors of the United States Economic Implications of a US-Iranian War 5 economy are so vast that there will be those able to purchase goods and services even at inflated prices. Some professions would not be as significantly impacted by high fuel or energy costs. As such, there may be a certain level of maintained stability within model even though a large section of the population may still be suffering. Issues surrounding a war with Iran are complex and far reaching. This includes the actual manner in which the war would be waged. Considering the size of the US and Iranian military, no option would be off the table in terms of how the war would be waged. Case in point, the utilization of tactical nuclear weapons by the United States may be necessitated. This is not to say that tactical nuclear missiles would be a first response or that they would be directed towards civilian targets. However, there are possibilities that could necessitate the use of such weapons by the United States. For example, Iran has tens of thousands of cruise missiles. The threat of launching thousands of these missiles into Israeli cities, European cities, or neighboring American military bases would potentially require the detonation of the missile silos with tactical nuclear arms. A wide scale Iranian invasion of neighboring countries such as Iraq could require a tactical response. Use of chemical weapons by Iran would constitute a WMD attack and lead to a nuclear response. Really, there are many different variables at work here. Again, this is not to say that a war between the United States and Iran would automatically lead to nuclear strikes. However, the potential for such strikes exist in any large scale military conflict. This would have a devastating impact on the world economy Economic Implications of a US-Iranian War 6 for a number of reasons. The possibility of a nuclear strike destroying oil fields would be a potential scenario. The presence of radiation reducing the amount of work that can be performed on oil wells is another. Such scenarios are grim when discussed in an antiseptic manner. In the decades since the detonation of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima, the horror of a nuclear strike’s effects have not been dulled on the senses of people. However, the specter of the potential use of such weapons is always present. As such, the impact – both human and economic – must be weighed. Because of the potential for a tactical nuclear strike leading to arms races in the region (Other nations will want their own nukes as a deterrent to future strikes), the need for a significant conventional force is required. This means the war will have to be funded to handle a long campaign and potentially significantly longer post-war rebuilding phase. This will cost significantly in terms of government expenditures which, in turn, means the deficit will skyrocket. With very high, out of control deficits, a number of seriously negative economic situations could develop. First, a debtor nation may not be able to provide for the common good of society. As such, it must take steps to reduce the impact of the deficit. One method involves printing more money and the other process involves increasing taxes. Both methods have the potential for significant economic harm. When a nation prints more money in order to meet obligations tied to a deficit, it the value of the currency will decrease. A weakened dollar comes with many problems. Economic Implications of a US-Iranian War 7 Namely, investment is seriously hampered since the dollars that you amass are worth less. Additionally, there will be a disinclination on the part of foreign investors to put their money into the US market. There would be limited value for their doing so since the dollar is declining meaning their investment capital in dollars would potentially decline as well. Debt holders of US bonds would also become more nervous since they would be losing money on their investment. As pointed out in BUSINESSWEEK, â€Å"As the currency deteriorates, it becomes more expensive to import goods and services from other countries, fueling inflation. In an effort to pull investors back, central banks often raise interest rates when their national currencies lose value. But as anyone who remembers the 70s knows, the combination of rising interest rates and on-the-run inflation can be a devastating economic cocktail. † (Rosenbush) In some cases, foreign investment is critical for the spurning of employment and economic growth. With foreign companies opting to avoid putting their money into the United States, the unemployment could increase which further raises deficit potential. This is due to the fact that more unemployed people means less tax dollars paid to the government. Additionally, unemployment creates greater dependency on welfare which also contributes to higher deficits. All of this further sets the stage for inflation which makes goods and services less affordable to the public. This further damages the economy and adds to the deficits. Tax Economic Implications of a US-Iranian War 8 increases are commonly pointed to as a solution, but their value is limited. When money is taken out of the private sector and placed in the treasury, it makes job creation harder. This, in turn, makes economic recover more difficult as well. If an economic recovery if difficult to expedite, then it becomes much harder to get out of it. That is because the sheer volume of economic pain induced by the many months or years of poor economic factors and growth create complexities and problems that multiply. Again, this makes reversing a poor economy more difficult. As such, some may wonder why the United States’ policy towards Iran may be so hard lined. The reason is that not treating Iran as a threat could prove equally harmful to economic and security interests. Iran’s agitation towards the United States prime allies is not helpful for US strategic security. Also, Iran’s potential domination of the other oil countries in the Middle East does not appeal to US economic interests. As such, there will be perpetual tension between the two countries. Hopefully, such tensions will not lead to war but preparedness for such actions is required. Considering the economic impact of such action, war should be the perennial last resort or option to be executed. So, far it has been averted and will hopefully remain averted for the foreseeable future. Most do not tie the economic ramifications to military action. However, the two are intertwined. Wars need to be funded and there are additional economic costs associated with military action. This is why sensible nations do not rush to war and as well they should not. But, this does not mean a nation should not prepare for the potential worst case scenario.While the US is not is a rush to engage Iran militarily, it understands the potential for such a conflict needs to be adequately prepared for. Works Cited Esfahani, e. (2008, September). The Economic consequences of us-iran relations. Retrieved from http://www. ideals. illinois. edu/bitstream/handle/2142/9093/ policy_brief. esfahani. final. pdf? sequence=2 Rosenbush, S. (2004, November 12). The Pros and cons of a weak dollar. Businessweek, Retrieved from http://www. businessweek. com/bwdaily/ dnflash/nov2004/nf20041112

A Little Cloud Essay Example for Free

A Little Cloud Essay â€Å"A Little Cloud† is one of the stories in James Joyces Dubliners. The story is about Thomas Chandler who was reunited with his friend Ignatius Gallaher. He was not able to fulfill his ambition of becoming a writer because he became a family man. With a wife and a son of his own, he envied his friend and felt inferior rather than be happy for his friends success. His career could be greater than his friend’s but he gave up his love for poetry since he got married. Feeling dismayed and envious of his friend, Chandler thought that he could have produced his own book of poems if he pursued his poetry writing. Chandler and Gallaher met up at a bar where they talked about the struggles of the latter to succeed. Chandler admired Gallaher’s gruff manners and his tales from the foreign cities. He insisted that his friend should also be married like him someday. However, Gallaher refused because as bachelor, he can go on and move freely from one place to another with mistresses around him. When Chandler got home, he began contemplating on his life while looking at his wife’s picture and holding their son. Afterward, he questioned his married life. He knew that he could go out of Dublin like his friend and be successful if only he did not marry early and settle with a family of his own. He didn’t realize that his child was already crying until her wife returned home who. When she saw that the baby was crying, she snatched the baby away from him, leaving him frustrated as he blamed his thoughts for what happened. Another story from the Dubliners is â€Å"Counterparts. † The story is about Farrington, a copy clerk in one firm where he used to copy legal documents for Mr. Alleyne. One day, he failed to do his job and missed to produce one copy of an important document. This made his boss angry and gave him a deadline to submit the document before the closing time. However, he was looking forward for a night out drinking with his friends later. This distraction caused him to daydream about the happenings later instead of working properly. As a result, he failed to complete to copy the documents his boss asked of him. Farrington thought that Mr. Alleyne will not know that the documents were incomplete, but he was wrong. When Mr. Alleyne found out about it, he went to Farrington’s desk with Miss Delacour, their client. His boss started ridiculing him but he fought back, claiming ignorance while insulting his boss with witty remarks. This amused Miss Delacour and his co-workers. Afterward, he left the office without completing his tasks. He decided to pawn his pocket watch in order to have money for drinking with his friends. He met his friends and told them how he insulted his boss. Upon leaving the pub, they decided to transfer to another place where they continued drinking. Farrington got frustrated because of the huge amount of money being spent on drinking. He wanted to impress other people and went on an arm wrestling. Much to his dismay, he lost. Feeling dejected, he went home only to find out his wife was not there and there was no food to eat. This made him very angry which caused him to beat up his son. The characters of Chandler and Farrington both experienced frustration and depression. To ease themselves of their disappointments in life, they drank with their friends. Instead of working hard to counterfeit their downfalls, they stuck to their old (or unpleasant, as in the case of Farrington) ways. Although Chandler dreamed of becoming a successful writer, he was not determined to pursue it. In the case of Farrington, the short-lived joys of life made him forget his responsibilities at work. Instead of saving himself from poverty, he pawned his watch to get money for beer. To release their frustration, they placed the blame on others. Both characters displayed negligence, particularly as a father. Chandler was too preoccupied with his thoughts that he forgot that his baby needed his attention. Farrington, on the other hand, was so upset that he ended up beating his own son. I think their behavior was really unpleasant because as a man, they should stand up for the decisions they made, instead of easing their frustrations by drinking and placing the blame on others.

Fmcg Industry And Outsourcing Information Technology Essay

Fmcg Industry And Outsourcing Information Technology Essay FMCG industry, conversely also called as Consumer packaged goods industry. Fast Moving Consumer Goods are those fragile consumables which are usually consumed by the consumers at a regular interval. Prime activities of FMCG industry belong to selling, marketing, financing, purchasing, etc but the industry also betrothed in operations, supply chain, production and general management. FMCG industry provides a wide range of daily consumable products and consequently the amount of money circulated against FMCG products is also very high. Competition among FMCG companies is also mounting and as a result of this, investment in FMCG industry is also greater than ever, particularly in India, where FMCG industry is regarded as the fourth largest sector with total market size of US$13.1 billion which is estimated to grow 60% by 2010. FMCG industry is considered as the largest segment in New Zealand which accounts for 5% of the country Gross Domestic Product. FMCG product categories include Packaged food and dairy products, Hair and body care products, glassware and paper products, pharmaceuticals, consumer electronics, plastic goods, printing and stationery, household products, photography, drinks etc. and some of the examples of FMCG products are soap, detergent, shampoos, coffee, tea, dry cells, greeting cards, gifts, tobacco and cigarettes, watches etc. Well known FMCG companies are Nestlà ©, Reckitt Benckiser, Unilever, Procter Gamble, LOreal, Coca-Cola, Carlsberg, Kleenex, General Mills, Pepsi and Mars etc. The purpose of this topic is to investigate the relationship between the factors that affect the outsourcing decisions in FMCG industry of Pakistan. There are higher trends seen in the market for outsourcing in many FMCG companies but still it is reflecting as there are a number of factors which inhibit the FMCG companies to make outsourcing decisions. Outsourcing occurs as a result of intimate acquaintance between subcontractors and managing departments. Outsourcers want to decrease the cost of production and the cost of management by distributing work to avoid other costs such as wages and compensation. However, outsourcing helps society by decreasing unemployment, making the economy grow and decreasing social problems. Outsourcing is also a way to boost the economy and it helps producing industries to survive in the market. However, it is not a guarantee that the producing industries will survive. It is just one of the devices that FMCGs should use in management, but it depends on managerial efficiency in the industries. If FMCGs want to survive in the age of globalization, they have to adopt management techniques suitable for each situation in order to survive in the current industrial climate. Nowadays, macroeconomics and microeconomics have been changing very rapidly, in every region. This situation is forcing all countries in the world to adapt to competition resulting from globalization, including modifying government policies, international relations, free trade area agreements, etc. Changes are also occurring in industrial management, especially organizational management, production management and technology, delivery, and marketing management, in response to both local and international competition. In the competitive environment of manufacturing concerns and evolving technological era, to enhance efficiency and productivity, cost remains a challenge to overall manufacturing industry to compete with rivals in providing the best total lower cost to end customers and to secure the market share in order to add value to the shareholders. To invest heavily in capital investment such as machineries, buildings and land to expand space in supporting the production operation is a burden to most companies if the return of investment is not valuably. FMCGs that outsource are in quest of, to recognize benefits or address one or more of the issues like Cost savings, Focus on Core, Cost restructuring, Improve quality, Knowledge, Contracting out, Operational expertise, Access to talent, Capacity management, Catalyst for change, Enhance capacity for innovation, Reduce time to market, Co modification, Risk management, Venture Capital, Tax Benefit, Scalability and Creating leisure time etc. FMCG Industry and Outsourcing Companies that were struggling to increase the capacity to support the ramp up demand at times were upset when there was a drastic downturn of demand cut. As a result, the sudden downturn would affect the resources and investment that were put into supporting the end customers demand. Team of human resources and machineries that consumed production space and being idled would increase the overhead and fixed cost, thus affecting the companies badly in their financial statements. In addition, training and development to up skill internal resource skills set in terms of running the operation effectively, bringing up technical content expert, specialist ability to perform research and development to add value, effective management and maintaining the operation would require significant investment in human resources. Thus, most of the companies started to explore opportunities to reduce cost and to improve profit margin in order to maintain competitive edge in the market. One of the identified opportunities was to outsource non-core business functions to external service providers at a lower operating cost. Outsourcing decisions are those strategic decisions that change the operating strategy of an organization both in manufacturing and services. The most important step in any outsourcing decision is to clearly define the scope of the activities that are being considered for outsourcing versus previously in sourced. Outsourcing becomes a basic strategy of the FMCG industry and is essential for FMCG firms to stay competitive in the global environment. From firms perspective, outsourcing offers several advantages, such as reducing or stabilizing overhead costs, gaining cost advantage over the competition, concentrating on core activities and organizational specializations, providing flexibility in response to changing market conditions, and reducing investment in high technology based manufacturing organizations. Through 2004 onward business growth strategy changes and business growth was restored as the first priority for most worldwide businesses, making cost reduction the second or third priority. Ensuring business growth as well as business process speed, agility and cost reduction requires a unique mix of internal and external capabilities, skills, services and processes. Only a business-driven sourcing strategy supported by good-enough sourcing execution capabilities will guarantee successful business outcomes as well as improved performance and competitiveness. Lack of an outsourcing strategy or relevant skills and processes to manage outsourcing relationships is the most important reason for the failure of service and manufacturing industry. Global competition, increasing regulation and inspection, the development of specific standards and the industrialization of services will raise the competitive bar for the FMCGs services and business processes, making it compulsory for the FMCGs to work on their core business in source let the others do their job for you. By competing on core competencies and outsourcing non-core areas, FMCG companies achieve consistently higher performance over the globe in all fields especially manufacturing and supply chains through consistent focusing and tracking their Key performance indicators. For any of the company to make decision for in source or outsource, its the company strategic decision which will make the basis for the whole in source or outsource process. For making any decision, decision maker will consider the following perspective in their mind or they must have good answers for these questions. Determine what your company needs to or should do best strategy driven long-term positioning Determine how best to do things profit driven short to intermediate term competitiveness INSOURCING/ OUTSOURCING STRATEGIC DECISION KEY STEPS IN SERVICE BASE INDUSTRY An executive level cross-functional decision-making process identifies core competencies and areas for internal investment. The level of internal control required by the companies and prospective direction for operational insource/ outsource decisions are identified and analyzed based on strategic value and relative competitiveness of the company in the market. Document complete strategic decision making process and the implementation process for the strategic decision being made as it provides closed-loop assessment for continuous improvement of the decision in the long run. Align the implementation strategies, processes and Key performance indicators with criteria and assumptions used in strategy formulation or development and in sourcing /outsourcing decision process. STANDARDIZED OUTSOURCING PROCESS FLOW IN FMCG INDUSTRY Stage Key Activities Rough Timeline BU Role COE Role Opportunity Consideration Align on business need gain mgmt commitment to evaluate options Identify options to consider (e.g., internal cost savings, consolidation, off-shoring, outsourcing) Perform Options Analysis / Size of Prize (not detailed financial analysis) If potential for outsourcing, contact outsourcing COE for support NA PR PR PR PR C C Evaluation Team Kick-Off Establish small team to perform preliminary evaluation of outsourcing (Project Mgr/Business Mgr, Deal Mgr, Purchases Mgr, FA Mgr, HR Mgr, External Rel.) 1-2 wks PR C Initiate Evaluation Project Agree on top-line preferred deal parameters with OS COE (e.g., general scope boundaries, sell all vs. partial assets) Develop Keep Price Analysis using the CBA model (COE website) Develop preliminary project success criteria Develop preliminary project process, timing and critical path Consider advisory needs (e.g. external consultants, legal support) Consider need for employee communication pre-market evaluation activity Confirm business management alignment support to evaluate the option 1-4 wks SR SR SR SR C SR PR SR SR SR SR PR SR C Market Evaluation/Discovery Analyze market and identify potential suppliers (e.g., market position, capabilities, potential for savings monetization) Develop supplier materials (cold call message operation review presentation) Meet with suppliers (generally worth meeting w/up to 10 or so if available) Evaluate findings of visits and determine potential for outsourcing RFI may go out as part of typical assessment activity 4-8 wks PR PR C SR C C PR SR Decision to Pursue Outsourcing Refine project objectives, scope, etc. (w/knowledge of market evaluation) Prepare recommendation to pursue outsourcing Gain management approval per Decision Authority PRIOR to RFP Determine the small group of suppliers to be engaged in an RFP (3-4 ideally) Execute CDAs with these suppliers Expand project team (RFP leader, Legal, Administrative support, etc) Develop communication plan communicate to employees if not yet been done Base Case Financials 2-3 wks PR PR PR SR PR PR C C C SR PR C C RFP Development Draft and gain approval to RFP Develop RFP timeline (release date, supplier engagements, site visits, submittal date) Release RFP and instructions to suppliers 4-6 wks PR C PR TPO PR TPO RFP Process Execution Perform step-by-step RFP completion process w/suppliers (e.g., RFP review session, electronic QA cycle, preliminary solution review) Receive review bids, and execute formal solution walk-thru process Get revised bids and perform evaluation (operational, HR, financial) 4-8 wks SR SR SR SR SR SR Downs elect Process Develop recommendation to down select to 1 or 2 suppliers (keep 2 suppliers ideally to maintain competitive environment) Get management agreement 1-2 wks PR PR C C Due Diligence Conduct due diligence as required (us on suppliers; suppliers on us) 1-2 wks PR TPO Final Bids Provides suppliers with draft contract Request Best Final Offers (if appropriate) 1-2 wks C C PR PR Negotiations and Contract Signing Negotiate detailed price and contract terms (w/2 suppliers as long as possible) Align on final down select Get management approval Finalize internal and external communication plans (with External Relations) Sign contract and execute related communications 4-6 wks C PR PR PR PR PR C TPO C C Transition and Closing Put full transition team in place Execute required transition steps (including road shows, job offers, etc) Develop and execute companion agreements in other countries Execute closing Prepare deal files 4-12 wks PR PR SR PR SR PR PR Primarily Responsible Total Time Required* SR Shared Responsibility 5 10 months (ex Transition) C Contributor 6 12 months (w/Transition) TPO Technical Process Oversight * will vary based on project scope Problem Statement The rapidly changing global industrial environment, cost of working capital, research and innovation, releasing key internal resources, concentrating on Core business functions, obtaining better organizational form has significant impact on outsourcing decision making in FMCG industry of Pakistan. Hypothesis H1: Outsourcing activities are increasing day by day in FMCG Industry of Pakistan. H2: FMCG industries are Outsourcing in all areas of their business not only manufacturing operation. H3: FMCG industries are Outsourcing to reduce Operating cost. H4: FMCG Industries are outsourcing to increase concentration on their core business. H5: FMCG Industries are outsourcing to Improve Quality of Services. H6: FMCG Industries are outsourcing to Acquire Specialized expertise and knowledge H7: FMCG industries are focusing on Selective Outsourcing. H8: FMCG industries have midterm Outsourcing contracts. H9: FMCG industries make Outsourcing contracts with good reputable companies. H10: FMCG industries make Outsourcing contracts with companies that produce at lower cost. H11: FMCG industries make Outsourcing contracts with companies that have advance technology and management experience. H12: Losing control of the certain business is the major concern in FMCG industries to make Outsourcing contracts. H13: Increasing dependence with outsourcers is the major concern in FMCG industries to make Outsourcing contracts. H14: Difficult to bring in source after conflicts is the major concern in FMCG industries to make Outsourcing contracts. H15: Disclosure of commercial secrets is the major concern in FMCG industries to make Outsourcing contracts. H16: Conflict of Interest with outsourcing partner is the major concern in FMCG industries to make Outsourcing contracts. Outline of the Study The research structure based on five chapters as follows: Introduction about the Outsourcing and FMCG industry. The literature review had provided theoretical background of the research and cites author had previously researched on the topic of factors affecting outsourcing decision The research methods chapter included method of data collection, statistical technique and hypothesis development. The results chapter had included findings and interpretation of the results. The conclusion, discussions, implications and recommendation section provided the final logical analysis. Definitions Outsourcing Outsourcing is an agreement in which any task; operation, job or process that could be performed by employees within an organization, but is instead contracted to a third party for a significant period of time-one Company provides services for another company that could also be or usually have been provided in-house. FMCGs   It is an acronym for  Fast Moving Consumer Goods. It is defined as fast selling, low unit value  consumer products  normally in universal  demand. It includes categories like foods, soft  drinks, toiletries, cosmetics and other non-durables. CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW Most of the companies that were struggling to increase the capacity to support the ramp up demand at times were upset when there was a drastic downturn of demand cut. As a result, the sudden downturn would affect the resources and investment that were put into supporting the end customers demand. Team of human resources and machineries that consumed production space and being idled would increase the overhead and fixed cost, thus affecting the companies badly in their financial statements. In addition, training and development to up skill internal resource skills set in terms of running the operation effectively, bringing up technical content expert, specialist ability to perform research and development to add value, effective management and maintaining the operation would require significant investment in human resources (David Mackey and Kaye Thorne, 2003). Thus, most of the companies started to explore opportunities to reduce cost and to improve profit margin in order to maintain competitive edge in the market. One of the identified opportunities was to outsource non-core business functions to external service providers at a lower operating cost. Outsourcing decisions are those strategic decisions that change the operations strategy of an organization both in manufacturing and services. The most important step in any outsourcing decision is to clearly define the scope of the operations that are being considered for outsourcing (Cook, Mary, F. and Gildner, Scoot B. 2008). Human resource professionals throughout the world are being asked to do more or less, to enhance productivity while controlling costs and to find out new ways to increase profitability. (Uddin, Gazi, M. 2005). Outsourcing is not a new notion. For decades, jobs have been migrated from other part of the countries namely American and European countries as well as other overseas countries to global service providers primarily India, China, Singapore and Malaysia due to lower operating cost. According to Cynthia A. Kroll (2004), a regional economist from University of California Berkeley, the recent wave of outsourcing affected a different mix of jobs, at different wage levels. It was not confined only to a small set of industries but cut across all industrial sectors in new geographic area rapidly (Cynthia A. Kroll, 2004). William P. DiMartini (2005), Senior Vice President at SunGard Availability Services said businesses in all industry segments found that limited internal resources would make outsourcing an attractive, cost-effective and prudent option that would allow them to focus on their core competencies (AccountingWEB.com, 2005). Demand for outsourcing is a result of demand for organizational products by the target audience. On the basis of organizational estimate of total turnover, practicing managers can attempt to establish the nature and type of outsourcing required to that esteemed goal (Uddin, Gazi M. 2005). Outsourcing advantages to name a few include lower operating cost, improve competitiveness, low in capital investment, shift resources to focus on core functions, generate demand for new growth and market segment, access to world class capability, sharing risks and make capital funds available for core business investment. Bangladesh is a least developed country, basically an agrarian economy, having around 24 million acres of cultivated land, employing about 14.5 million cultivators. Manufacturing industries have grown around Dhaka and Chittagong based on agriculture input of jute, cotton, chemical and gas based industries. Industrial production growth has averaged more than 6% over the last 5 years. The export sector has been the engine of industrial growth, with ready-made garments leading the way, having grown at an average of 30% over the last 5 years. Primary products constitute less than 10 percent of the countrys exports; the bulk of exports are manufactured/processed products, ready-made garments and knit wears in particular. (www.euroitx.com) There are many manufacturing concerns in Bangladesh that are looking into outsourcing opportunity to reduce cost and to overcome the internal limitations and achieve lower cost of operation. The country is now moving towards industry based economy from the agro-based one. Hence, this study was an attempt to access determinants influencing the outsourcing decision and to research the manufacturing concern in Bangladesh on how well the factors would influence the manufacturing industry in Bangladesh to outsource certain function of their business areas to external service providers. The study also aimed at finding out the influencing factors that influenced the companies in outsourcing decision and helped the companies to overcome the internal limitation barriers. In the early 1980s, outsourcing typically referred to the situation while organizations expanded their purchases of manufactured physical inputs, like car companies that purchased window cranks and seat fabrics from outside the firm rather than making them inside. Nowadays, outsourcing took on a different meaning. Presently it refers to a specific segment of the growing international trade. This segment consists of arms-length, or what Bhagvati (1984) called long-distance purchase of services abroad, principally, but not necessarily, via electronic mediums such as the telephone, fax and the Internet. Outsourcing can happen both though transactions by firms, like phone call centers staffed in Bangalore to sen7e customers in New York and X-rays transmitted digitally from Boston to be read in Bombay, or with direct consumption purchases by individuals, like when someone hires an offshore firm to provide plans for redesigning or redecorating a living room (Bhagwati, J. et al. 2004) In an era of rapid technological change and short product life cycles, companies were trying to reduce cost and maintain quality at the same time which implied that companies would need to specialize in what they did best and de-emphasize management attention from business processes that did not directly impact the business. Outsourcing was a means to partner with service providers so they could handle specific business processes better, faster and at a lower operating cost (V. Krishna Polineni, 2001). It was defined as the transferring one or more internal functions of an organization to an external service providers. According to the analyst Dean Davison, the outsourcing was growing about 20 percent to 25 percent per annum (Dean Davison, 2006). Outsourcing has become an alternative, which all major corporations must consider in order to remain competitive. It helped to increase efficiency, improve service quality, accountability, values, decreased headcounts and cash infusion and gain access to world class capability and sharing risk (The Outsourcing Institute, 2006). One of the primary advantages of outsourcing arises quickly from the reduction of overheads. This might give rise to an immediate, and possibly one-off, advantage in terms of the avoidance of future or recurrent capital outlay, and the savings in office space and equipment provisions if these could be released during the outsourcing decision. There was clearly a staff cost reduction possible here, and this could be the predominant element in directly-attributable, ongoing cost savings. The spin-off from this might benefit the business support services department where the outsourcing was partial, and could be especially useful where the capital cost was high and recurrent, particularly if there was uncertainty about the future costs of maintaining effective and competitive business support. It was an investment risk transfer, in other words. Where outsourcing is total, the benefit was accrued directly by the core business it translated to a capital injection to the customers busines s. This was one of the major driving reasons of the outsourcing of IT provision in the early 1990s generally agreed as having been led in 1989 by Kodak, which outsourced all of its IT operations to IBM (Jonathan Reuvid and John Hinks, 2001). This could also confer a great deal of flexibility on the company. For a centralized organization which was providing a range of its support services from its own personnel and offices, the move to outsourcing could allow a downsizing of the property commitments. Consider the impact on the organizational infrastructure requirements of a change to outsourcing IT provision, payroll and credit processing, pensions, catering, recruitment, training, Human Resource Management (HRM), cleaning, security, lettings, software development, estates and building management. It could also confer direct scope for downsizing or increased options for organizational re-structuring through property and HRM flexibility. The transfer of a non-core service provision to a variable cost would allow economies of scale to be passed on from the supplier, and also would mean that incremental changes in the process capacity of the customer (upwards or downwards) could be covered at proportional rather than quantum cost changes. Where scope to vary the scale of the contracted supply was agreed, this has allowed the business organization to make maximum use of its marginal capital for core process change rather than non-core process support change. This could allow decreased time to market for new products or processes, and also increased scope for changes. Outsourcing solutions can provide an excellent chance to get the company service provision out of a rut and, if properly managed, to stimulate new solutions to problems from the mixing of different approaches. A noticeable feature of the global economy is the enhancing international products. Robert Feenstra (1998) describes the remarkable international specialization in the manufacturing products. For example, the raw materials of manufacturing products like Barbie dolls (plastic and hair) are obtained from Taiwan and Japan. Assembly used to be done in those countries as well as to lower cost locations like Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and China. The growth in international specialization can also be observed in aggregate statistics. William Zeile and Gorden Hanson et al (2003) document the importance of trade within multinational firms. David Hummels et al. (2003) show that trade in intermediate inputs has grown faster than trade in finished products. While the globalization of production may yield important productivity benefits, there is a widespread view that it has also adversely affected low skilled workers. There are frequent media reports on how low-skilled labors in the firs t world countries are hurt when manufacturing jobs are relocated in the US and in many other countries have picked up on this theme to push for greater restrictions on trade with developing countries. Yet, despite its prominence in the public debate, there is little systematic evidence of the extent to which low-skilled workers are harmed by outsourcing to poor countries (Hsieh, Chang T. and Woo, Keong T., 2005). Outsourcing has existed in the USA for over 30 years particularly the business process outsourcing (BPO). The Bank of America, Best Buy, Delta Airlines, Goodyear, IBM, the Marriott, Motorola, PepsiCo, Procter Gamble, and Sun Microsystems are all outsourcing HR functions. US federal and state governments also spend billions each year doing so also. HR functions are not just being outsourced, they are being sent offshore. The US companies have off-shored their manufacturing and their RD facilities in their semiconductors, computing, chemicals and pharmaceuticals to the UK, Germany, France, Ireland and other developed countries (www.shrm.org). In view of developing countries, outsourcing takes place more recently to India and China. In 2003, 1.5 million service jobs were outsourced to the developing world and the number was projected to surge to 4.1 million by year 2008 (Elmillian Chew Saint Fey, 2005). According to the Offshore Location Attractiveness Index published by AT Kearny (2004), Malaysia, an emerging South East Asian nation, was the third most desirable location for offshore outsourcing in the world, after India and china. In Malaysia, the demand for outsourcing was not only from global multi-national companies but also from local companies. The demand for outsourcing was driven by the fact that companies could access a more reliable infrastructure that could ensure smooth core business operations at lower costs and with greater flexibility. Outsourcing also encouraged the pooling of resources for a more efficient use of resources to reap the benefits that could be derived from economies of scale. Bangladesh has potential in outsourcing in its competitive business environment with a relatively low cost structure as well as support from the government and non-government organizations. In view of outsourcing demand, Bangladesh could be very well take advantage of this fact by attracting quality outsourcing operators to the country. The availability of quality resources especially in the private sector to support the outsourcing demand, this could be made available to support off-shore and local outsourcers. HR outsourcing organizations in Bangladesh are in stage of booming up and most of the organizations have realized that they should play more attention to networking activities. Uddin, Gazi M. (2005) describes the challenges and prospects of effective HR outsourcing for managerial activities in the corporate world of Bangladesh. The study reveals that networking activities play a strong role in HR outsourcing and duration of outsourcing is temporary. The study mainly focused on HR outsourci ng, not on the factors influencing outsourcing decisions. Literature review shows that several comprehensive studies have been conducted in the world regarding outsourcing specifically HR outsourcing, general time management, managerial jobs, and managerial behavior and so on. But no significant study in the light of this research has been found. It is not claimed by the researche

Evironmental Law: Enforcement Measures And Effectiveness Essay

Evironmental Law: Enforcement Measures and Effectiveness Pollution, why is it still running rampant in our environment today ? Are there no laws to control or stop it ? In regards to these questions, Canada has a great many laws to stop and regulate pollution. But despite this, why is it still happening. What are Canada's so called enforcement measures and are they effective ? We have the Environmental Bill of Rights and the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, just to name a few. Sure some polluters break these laws and get caught, but all they get is a slap on the wrist; why is that ? Some even have the gual to pollute again. Acid rain and hazardous wastes are just two of the many problems plaguing our environment today, but nothing is really being done about them; why ? Finally what is the polluters point of view in all of this ? To begin with, in some areas there are both federal and provincial legislation to ensure that companies and individuals respect the environment. Federally the central piece of legislation in Canada is the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA). "CEPA is the consolidation of five statutes: The Environmental Contaminants Act, the Air Quality Act, the Canada Water Act, the Ocean Dumping Act, and the Department of the Environment Act." ( Muldon, 1995, p. 23) The CEPA contains important penalties and sanctions; provisions for the collection of information and for evaluation; provisions for the control of importation and exportation of toxic substances; and provisions for the reduction of wastes, the cleanup of coastal zones, the protection of the ozone layer; the reduction of acid rain and urban smog; and provisions for the development of regulations. All provinces and territories have enacted their own legislation, establishing general environmental rights and responsibilities; but the level of environmental protection established is not equal all across Canada. Generally, it can be said that each province and territory regulates the discharge of contaminants into the environment by requiring licenses and permits and by invoking penalties. The regulated matters include environmental impact assessment, waste management, drinkable water standards, and land conservation. (Morrison, 1991, p24) Also, provinces and territories deal with several other matters i... ...5, November 17). Spend more to protect environment residents say. Toronto Star, p. A3. Monchuk, J. (1994, November 4). Pollution control must be voluntary, Alberta says. The Montreal Gazette, p. B8. Morrison, H. (1991) Federal Pollution Legislation. Canada: Minister of Supply and Service. Muldon, P. (1995). The Environmental Bill of Rights: A practical guide. Toronto: Edond Montgomery Publications Limited. Parker, P. (1992, March/April). Crime and Punishment. The Environmental Journal, pp.35-39. Poch, H. (1989). Corporate and Municipal Environmental Law. Toronto: Carswell. Rovet, E. (1988). The Canadian Business Guide to Environmental Law. Vancouver:Intself Counsel Press Ltd. Small, P. (1993, June 18). NDP reports jump in polluter's fines. Toronto Star, p. A10. Sterling, H. (1995, September 22). Backward steps for different reasons, on both sides of the border, the fight against pollution is under attack. The Montreal Gazette, p. B3. (

What Happened to Disco? Essay -- essays research papers

What happened to Disco? Bellbottoms, afros, music, sex and drugs can best describe the Disco Era. The Disco Era was a care-free time in which there were no rules. People danced the nights away. Most of the people of the Disco Era lived normal lives, working nine to five jobs during the week, but when the weekend rolled around they put on their bellbottoms and dancing shoes and hit up the Disco Clubs. This is an era that will never be forgotten but will probably never be relived. Disco is said to have begun in the gay nightclubs of New York City in the mid 1960's. At these clubs Deejays played records from little known black artists and quickly and accidentally began channeling underground music to the population. This quickly caught the attention of major record production companies. Up until this point in time, deejays didn't get very much respect for their profession. Disk Jockeys began to play a major role, and soon they became celebrities, in the entertainment world. The whole idea to "Disco Music" was mixing recorded music with other forms of music. This included mixing it with live music as well as mixing it with other recorded tracks. As this type of sound became very popular, recording artists started mixing different types of music in the recording studio. There were so many popular artists during the Disco Era, and much of their music is still listened to today. One particular group that gained much fame during this era was the Bee Gees. When the Bee Gees first came out their popularity skyrocketed. They were said by many to be the next Beatles only with a different type of music. Those who did characterize them as the next Beatles were exactly right. They produced number one hits one after the other. Some of their biggest hits were placed on the soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever, which became the biggest selling album in history up to that point. Saturday Night Fever, starring John Travolta, was a movie based on the life of Disco. John Travolta became a cultural Icon to young males during the 70's. Every guy dressed like him and wanted to live like him, and every female wanted to date him. This movie became one of the biggest influences on disco goers of this era. Before this movie came out, disco was very popular. After the re lease of the mo... ...because they acted like themselves. They didn't feel as though they had to be "Politically Correct" anymore. They went out and did what they wanted to do, when they wanted to do it, including, the chronic drug use and the careless sex. The sad thing about the Disco era is, although it will always be a part of our culture as a nation but it will never make a comeback. Sure, people still wear bellbottoms, and there are still hippies and disco music is still very popular, but the United States has become too modernized for the disco era to ever make a comeback. Personally, I think that it would be very cool if it were to make a comeback. I think that it would be fun to wear bellbottoms and crazy shirts, but I'm sure that I would get sick of it very quickly and go back to the way that I am used to living. First of all, the music industry would never allow for new disco acts to burst upon the scene. The music industry is what got the era going in the first place. Secondly, the United States government would never allow for such an era to occur again. The Disco Era will always play a very important role in the history of the United States and will forever live on in spirit.

Steven Spielberg said about ‘Saving Private Ryan’ that, “I wanted to put chaos upon the screen’

Writing for a film magazine, analyse the methods used to make the opening battle sequence both shocking and realistic and comment on ho successful you think he was in meeting his objective. â€Å"I wanted to put chaos upon the screen. I wanted the audience to feel the same way as those green recruits that were just off those Higgins boats and never seen combat before. Ninety-five percent of them hadn't. It was complete chaos†. Internationally acclaimed by critics and audiences alike, Steven Spielberg's ‘Saving Private Ryan' is an unforgettable film that has profound and lasting impact throughout the world. Winner of five time academy awards including Best Director. ‘Saving Private Ryan' was first released on September 11th 1998 as a joint production of DreamWorks and Paramount pictures. Seen through the eyes of a squad of American troops, the story begins World War Two's historic and unforgettable D-Day landing then moves beyond Omaha Beach, as the eight American troops embark on a special, emotional but dangerous mission. Captain Miller must take his men through a journey like never before to find one man, one private, Private James Ryan, whose three brothers have been killed in combat. Spielberg enlisted the help of Tom Hanks (Captain Miller), who is best known nowadays for his astounding performance in The Da Vinci Code. Tom Sizemore (Sergeant Horvath), Edward Burns (Private Reiben), Barry Pepper (Private Jackson), Jeremy Davis (Private Upham) and Matt Damon (Private Ryan). Contributing to the height of realism Spielberg took an almost documentarian approach to filming. He refused to do any storyboarding prior to shooting, and using hand held cameras much of the time. † I wanted to hit the sets much like a newsreel cameraman following the solders into war†. Throughout the film Spielberg demonstrated the magnificent use of the hand held cameras, maybe the most remembered of these is the first battle scene, that we see when the American troops land on Omaha Beach. Unlike this film, other films of the war genre always seemed to follow the same concept, which was there always seemed to be a glory-figure, the one who always survived right till the end and lived happily ever after. He wanted break the convections of war emphasizing the sense of realism as much as he could. I think the realism is not showing people dying, blood and gore, to me realism shows the emotion of people, those families who lose two, three and even four children, in combat. It shows the devastation of not only solders but innocent people who lose their lives because of other peoples decisions†. In my eyes this film does show realism and how war effects people mentally and physically, and how you can be the most experienced solder or a new solder that has never seen war before and still the effects are the same. Saving Private Ryan' lasts for a remarkable time, of two hours and fifty minutes, the film takes the audience through travesty and triumph and through death and despair. Death, we see a lot of through out the film and blood and gore so if you haven't got a strong stomach I suggest that you don't watch this film. The question that I asked myself while watching ‘Saving Private Ryan' was yes, people are dying because it is war, but for what reason? To maintain your countries status, or to fight the fight that you should not be fighting. This film in my opinion challenges you, and lets you think for yourself, even though this film is just a mimic of what really happened and we know this, you cannot help to think that it's real (watching the action as though it is happening at the present time). We as an audience get emotionally attached to the characters, as we see then through the good times and the bad. Spielberg did this well. But my main reason for writing this review is to focus on the opening scenes, which are the most catastrophic, and highly effective scenes of all. So did Steven Spielberg (also the creator of other box office sensations which include Jaws 1975, Raiders of the Lost Ark 1981 and Jurassic Park 1993) manage to live up to this main aim and did he really succeed on putting â€Å"chaos upon the screen†? I am going to start by analyzing the opening scene, which the idea of the transition of present to past takes place. We first hear classical music which in, and the image of a translucent American flag, blowing in the breeze. Then it passes and the film begins with a selection of characters, all we hear is the very faint music and the sound of the ocean. There is no speaking, this often makes the audience concentrate on the body language of the characters because sometimes, you can tell more on how the character is feeling not by speech but by the emotion that comes through by the characters body language. We see an elderly man maybe in his late 70's leading them, as he stumbles along the path (we as an audience do not yet know that the old man is Private James Ryan). As the camera pans out we see an American and French flag, this gives us a clue to where we are. As it turns out we are in Collevile-sur-mer, Normandy France. Spielberg uses pathetic fallacy here, as we can hear the sea more, as it becomes more aggressive this could reflect the old mans feelings he might be anxious, nervous or even apprehensive. As the camera gives us a long shot from above we begin to see a white sea of headstones. Dramatic music begins to play, and increases in volume as more headstones are reveled. In my opinion the music reminded me of military music, the kind of music that would be played at a funeral of a past solder, a piece of evidence that backs that up is we see a man dressed in full military uniform, standing by one of the graves. So these two suggestions suggest that we are at the graves that we are at are something to do with past solders, and as we are in Normandy, France were part of the Second World War took place, it makes sense. Then we see another mid-shot of the graves and the old man. After walking down a few rows, the emotional man falls to his knees at the foot of a grave almost in a position that you might be honoring someone, he starts to cry. As an audience we feel for this unknown character but we are not entirely sure what is happening. This scene because it is shot in the present the color is vibrant. The camera zooms in to the old mans blue eyes, (suggesting that we are going into one of his memory's) this is called a detailed close up, where the camera focuses on one part of the body to show a specific emotion, and can often make the character appear isolated and detached from everybody else. Then the sounds of crashing waves dominate the scene, and it drowns out the sound of the music, and here we are now taken from present to past. The scene establishes a connection between the elderly man in the graveyard and D-Day. The date and setting are established a mood of fear and tension is created. The audience is given a cursory introduction to the some of the main characters. This scene leaves us too more unanswered questions than answered. Then, a flashback takes the audience and the character back to landing at Normandy on D-Day. All this film is just simply just a memory of Private James Ryan. Now the transition from present to past has taken place, we first see a deep focus shot of Omaha Beach with iron hedgehogs both in the foreground and stretching into the background. We then see from a long shot of the boats as they approach shore. About ten American soldiers in a Higgins boat waiting anxiously, again there is no talking it is all silent all but the sound of the boat and the crashing of the waves, creating tension. The long shot then cuts to a close up of Captain Miller's hand shaking this is a recurrent image, as we see this shot many times through out the film. And we also get close up shots of soldiers terrified expressions. When the boats to finally come ashore your ears are dominated by the sound of constant gunfire, which add to the confusion and devastation. Many solders are killed within seconds of leaving the boats. These soldiers act like pawns in a game of chess, there is no way that they are going to survive they in my opinion they are meant to be killed so the other solders have a chance of surviving. There's medium close up shots of solders being killed. The camera then switches up above, there is an over the shoulder shot of a German so the audience sees the battle from there perspective. Which gives a sense of power to the Germans and a sense of hopelessness to the Americans. But isn't war supposed to be fair? The Americans from their view look like pin pricks on a map; this makes the audience feel like the Americans are fighting a lost cause and this indicates the immense difficulty of the mission. So the various perspectives (German and American) give the overview of the carnage. As soldiers plunge into the sea the camera follows them, giving the audience yet again their perspective as they struggle both below and above the surface. The sound becomes muted, the sound of water fills or ears, this takes us back to what Spielberg said he that wanted us to experience war just like the soldiers. The use of handheld cameras in the battle sequence increases and emphasizes the impact caused and makes the opening scene very lively and this makes us, the audience feel part of the action as if we were making our way around the beach with the troops. † I wanted to hit the sets much like a newsreel cameraman following the soldiers into war†. Spielberg in this part of the film uses desaturated colour in contrast with the vibrant colour in the opening scene. It gives the effect that we are in a memory and in the past, looking back on events that have already taken place. It is just all, instant chaos. Another important aspect of the opening 24 minutes is Captain Miller's confusion. As Captain Miller stagers out the bloody sea. He stumbles and falls. We looks up at witnesses the chaos and around him. As we see the fear in his eyes even through he is an experienced soldier it can still effect a experienced soldier the same as a new soldier just coming into war. This is another point that Spielberg wanted to get across was you never get used to the turmoil, and watching people die before your eyes. It's still the same experience over and over again. Also the fact that if you did manage to survive it was only by luck. There is then an over the shoulder shot of Captain Miller, this shows the audience what war looks like from his perspective. The camera it is not at standstill it is all jerky and shaky because it was a hand held camera. As Captain Miller tips bloody water out of his helmet and replaces it making him look blood-splattered. As muted sound accompanies the slow motion, but the disturbing explosions can still be heard in the background. The facial expression of Captain Miller's shows true fear. His eyes show the question, why are we doing this, is there a point? The sound returns as a General shouts for instructions. Captain Miller finally pulls himself together and he resumes his responsibilities. All of this has it's effects on the audience as we are plunged into the horror of the D-Day landing at Omaha Beach, and we see Captain Miller and experience the senseless carnage through his eyes. Although not a raw recruit he is nevertheless shocked beyond belief. And we as an audience are given an insight into the true horror of war. As the end of the battle finally comes, it comes as a relief to the audience after the exhausting twenty minutes or so of loud gunfire and just immense no stop action. We are struck by the enormity of the event that has just taken place. We then get a close up of Captain Miller's hand shaking, as I said earlier this is a recurrent image. Then the camera zooms to a close up of his eyes again showing the audience his viewpoint. Gentle music quietly fades in. The waves sound peaceful after the prolonged noise of chaos and destruction. Also the melancholy music adds to the solemnity of the images. As Captain Miller rests Sergeant Horvath comments, â€Å"That's quite a view†, a sentiment that is echoed by Miller. This is not however referring to a nice view but a shocking and breathtaking view of the beach. As the camera rises and slowly pans to the left we begin to see the whole of the beach covered in dead bodies, and the scarlet water flowing feely. Then finally zooms on this one mans backpack of one soldier – Ryan. The final shot showing the name ‘Ryan' on the backpack of one of the fallen soldiers establishes a link between the sequence we have just seen as well as both the title and the plot of the film. So did Steven Spielberg fulfill his main aim for ‘Saving Private Ryan' which was â€Å"I wanted to put chaos upon the screen â€Å". In my eyes as a reviewer of ‘Saving Private Ryan' he did fulfill that aim, he showed from start to finish a sense of realism, and broke entirely away from the traditional convections of the film war genre. He used magnificent camera angles, which contributed a lot to the film as a whole. This film keeps you on the edge of your seat, and guessing what is going to happen next. I think the opening sequence prepared the audience for what followed because the horror in the opening scene and the devastation that you see is the same that you see, or even worse than through out the whole film. I would recommend this film if you want a film with a moral, and a meaning. But the one main issue that I had watching this film is the time it lasts for two hours and fifty minutes, so you do have to be dedicated to watching it from the start. The way that I would watch it is with the family on a Friday night with popcorn and a box of tissues. I would give this film a rating of 7/10, the main reasons why I didn't give 10/10 is because for me personally it was to gory, it lasted to long and I didn't have the patience, and it was one of those films that you would watch once and then never watch it again because there would be no need.

Children Benefit From Having Choice Education Essay

The term independent suggests being able to make things for oneself. Williams suggests that an addition in independent attitudes and accomplishments is a mark of turning up and that farther development of independency relies on the attitudes and influences predominating from the place environment. Teachers should fit kids with the desire and the capacity to take charge of their acquisition through developing the accomplishments of self appraisal ‘ ( Assessment Reform Group, 2002 ) . Puting this cognition into a school context, Furedi ( 2010 ) expressed concerns that some kids, particularly in Key phases 1 and 2, are being progressively over protected and therefore the development of their independency is being stunted. In Furedi ‘s ( 2010 ) study it was noted that ‘a batch of kids no longer hold chances for experimentation, hazard pickings or escapade in primary school ‘ . Furedi ( 2010 ) set out to promote Key phase 1 and 2 instructors to appreciate the scope of positions and past experiences that kids bring with them to school and to ‘provide a schoolroom environment in which kids can make their single potency and where an addition in independency, every bit good as corporate duty, is valued ‘ ( Williams, 2003 ) . The National Curriculum states that schools should ‘influence and reflect the values of society ‘ and ‘ †¦ develop students ‘ unity and liberty†¦ ‘ ( DfEE/QCA 1999: 11 ) . Autonomy can be defined as ‘the ability to do determinations about what to make instead than being influenced by others. In add-on to this, the ‘National Curriculum for primary instructors ‘ ( DfEE/QCA 1999:11 ) it is stated that the course of study should ‘build on student ‘s strengths, involvements and experiences and develop their assurance in their capacity to larn and work independently and collaboratively ‘ . Following on from this the course of study counsel for the foundation phase ( DfEE/QCA 2000: 12 ) suggests that ‘the larning environment should supply a construction for learning within which kids explore, experiment, program and do determinations for themselves ‘ . This besides indicates a strong desire to advance pi ck and independency from the start of a kid ‘s instruction. Attitudes on advancing pick and independency in larning are examined in a broad scope of authorities studies and research. Well- managed Classes ( Ofsted 1991 ) provided grounds from six instance surveies of six instructors. From this research, it was concluded that good organised schoolrooms were seen as those where students had duty for stuffs and doing picks. If kids have duties, they have a grade of independency. In this survey kids were organised into groups to give chances for leading and duty and to let kids to work unsupervised when instructors were with another group ( Ofsted, 2002 ) therefore advancing independency. In add-on to this, when discoursing unsuccessful lessons, Primary Matters ( Ofsted, 1994 ) cited lessons with an complete trust of work sheets. This study went on to propose that effectual instructors were seen as those who question efficaciously and measure a kid ‘s cognition of a topic through reexamining their independent survey as opposed to supervisin g work sheets. During my initial experimental arrangement, I worked in a school where there was a ‘no work sheet ‘ policy and as stated in my experimental arrangement reappraisal, I feel this helped hike kids ‘s ego esteem as they had an active function and shared duty for their ain acquisition and therefore greater independency. This theory is supported by Sammons et Al. ( 1995 ) who cited that â€Å" kids who have shared duty for their ain acquisition will increase larning effectiveness. † The National Curriculum ( DfEE/ QCA 1999: 11 ) provinces that primary schools are required to ‘ †¦ develop ( student ‘s ) assurance in the capacity to larn and work independently and collaboratively ‘ . Supporting this impression, the ‘National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education ‘ suggests one attack to learning involves ‘providing chances for immature people to research and recognize what their ain premises and values are and how they have been formed ‘ ( NACCCE 1999: 97 ) However, there are critics of the impression that a schoolroom in a primary school scene can efficaciously advance an independent attack or if this is merely rhetoric. A job for instructors is said to be keeping the publicity of kids ‘s independent responses, while at the same clip resulting the course of study marks are met. Moyles ( 1992 ) suggested that there is an of import relationship between instructors preferred learning manners and their ability to ‘learn from kids ‘s part to the instruction and larning procedure ‘ connoting that independency is null. Moyles ( 1992 ) stated that â€Å" a instruction manner that encourages a assortment of parts from kids will be one that recognises the importance of an independent attack to learning and larning. † When I asked the instructor with whom I was placed, what they considered an independent kid to be, they expressed the kid must be able to make the followers. An independent kid must hold the ability to larn and believe for themselves ; the ability to work by themselves and to besides to be confident in seeking aid ; the ability to work without seeking blessing and the ability to utilize inaugural and equilibrate the outlooks or them in school. I besides enquired about the troubles in being able to accomplish these in a primary school and was told that utilizing an independent attack has a large affect on instruction and the curriculum/classroom environment sometimes inhibits independency and the duties that can be achieved. Research suggests that ‘children should be encouraged to compose independently and allowed to experiment freely in order to understand to power of written messages ‘ ( Whitehead, 1996 ) . Whitehead ( 1997 ) said that the literacy environment in primary schools should promote kids to experiment and understand the messages that can be conveyed through authorship. Whitehead ( 2000 ) besides implied the importance of kids ‘s thought and how it is conveyed as they talk and goes on to state that a instructor who can understand the nexus between idea and linguistic communication can scaffold kids as they think out loud. Therefore, it is of import to make an environment in the schoolroom where there are chances for kids to believe independently and to portion their ideas with others. I found this an highly utile tool when on my arrangement. I found that leting the kids to discourse their thoughts in little independent groups foremost, before sharing them collaboratively as a category, improved the manner they put across their thoughts and helped enormously when composing their thoughts down. My findings hence support Whitehead ‘s ( 1997 ) theory that independent thought is good to kids ‘s authorship. Whilst on my arrangement I besides noticed the importance of silence and important intermissions throughout the course of study, and how these gave kids clip for contemplation and to explicate thoughts. This was something I learnt from the experient TA in my placement category who justly said that all excessively frequently grownups are really speedy to leap in and assist kids, when in world ; the kid is acquiring at that place independently. I decided to prove this out with a little group of kids in a literacy lesson that I was learning. The lesson was on direction authorship and I had purposefully given them bad instructions. Despite my inherent aptitude to assist them understand why they were bad instructions, I took the advice of my TA and remained silence. Although it took a batch longer than I had anticipated for the kids to come to the terminal consequence, I was over the Moon when they reached it and made really clear how pleased I was for them. The kids seemed delighted that they had done this independent of the grownups in the category and took a batch more pleasance from the larning nonsubjective than other kids in the category who had received more input. The theory of leting silence to advance an independent acquisition environment is supported by Calkins ( 1986 ) who says that ‘the context for speaking and composing should include clip for kids to believe, reconsider and rework. ‘ Piaget ( 1959 ) believed that a kid ‘s knowledges ‘consisted of internalised and coordinated action scheme ‘ . From this we can picture that, it is of import to let chances for discoursing and composing about subjects that are relevant to the kids and that reflect their lives outside of school. During my 3rd arrangement hebdomad, whilst learning ‘instruction composing ‘ in literacy, I decided that it was really of import to utilize illustrations of instructions that were relevant to them. In my concluding lesson, I allowed the category to work independently on composing their ain instructions. I gave them some limitations such as following a typical instructional format, but on the whole they had a free pick to compose instructions for anything they wanted. The consequences were outstanding. The kids had unbelievable thoughts changing from ‘How to turn your instructor into a toad ‘ to ‘How to play ‘Missing † ( their front-ru nner category game ) . One kid even wrote a set of instructions for the kids in Key phase 1 on ‘How to do it to Year 6 ‘ . Not merely were the consequences of this lesson highly rewarding, the kids did n't desire to halt authorship. I believe that if I had gone in and been regimented and dictated to them that they were to compose a set of instructions on a subject in which they had no involvement, I would hold lost their involvement. The fact that they had the pick and independency to make up one's mind what to compose about, allowed them to experience passionate about their work and bring forth believable consequences. From reading literature with respect to this country of teaching method, and in relation to the grounds I gathered during my ain instruction and experimental experiences, I have come to the decision that advancing independency in the literacy environment is highly of import. Calks ( 1986 ) states that ‘an independent environment that is aesthetically pleasing and where kids will desire to speak and to compose for assorted audiences ‘ . During one of my yearss moving as a TA in another category, I witnessed the kids come in from interruption clip where the day of the month and instructions for ‘independent literacy work ‘ was on the board. The instructor read out a verse form about the conditions. She asked the kids to compose a verse form about the conditions, including samples of personification. The instructor and I moved around the schoolroom. I found that the degree of concentration was varied and it was clear from the plenary that some misunderstood the u ndertaking. However, despite the deficiency of understanding the hebdomadal timetable showed such a tightly organised course of study programme, that the instructor decided to disregard the misconceptions and travel on to numeracy. Alexander ( 2000 ) discusses that ‘the organizational schemes that instructors bring to the course of study and the interpersonal relationship between grownups and kids will hold a permanent consequence on kids ‘s acquisition. Overarching policies from cardinal and local authorities and the sensed restraints that result must be tackled with assurance and soundness, when set uping what is appropriate. ‘ Therefore, a acquisition environment that promotes independency farther kids ‘s self-pride and duty and may hold provided an chance for this instructor to turn to the misconceptions in jussive mood. Promoting pick and independency can besides be used when planning and learning numeracy. The first whole lesson I planned and taught during my arrangement was on steps. Before I started to be after any of my lessons I thought I would research what makes an outstanding lesson. Harmonizing to Ofsted, basicss of an outstanding lesson rely on a assortment of things, including students enjoyment and motive, pupil battle and independent acquisition and thought accomplishments. With this cognition, and inquiring how I could make an environment for this to be possible in, I asked a figure of instructors in the staffroom how they developed positive attitudes towards larning numeracy, and how they developed confident kids who can work independently. One instructor told me that in numeracy it is critical to utilize a assortment of undertakings and utilize plentifulness of resources and to allow the kids decide which mensurating device to utilize. She stressed the importance of guaranting that t here were plentifulness of chances for the kids to see success. Another instructor told me that in order to advance pupil enjoyment in numeracy there must be plenty of ‘hands-on ‘ activities and to utilize existent life illustrations to assist the kids become more independent. All of the staff members, with whom I questioned that twenty-four hours suggested that in order to develop confident scholars who would hold otherwise happen numeracy dashing and who are able to work independently, as a instructor I must admit every kid ‘s parts in a positive mode, promote the kids to larn from their errors, and explain that ‘wrong ‘ replies ‘ aid us detect new apprehension. With this advice, I planned and taught my first numeracy lesson, seeking my best to set into pattern my freshly acquired cognition of advancing independency in numeracy. Throughout my first hebdomad of learning numeracy I besides found that encouraging independent and little group resear ch allowed the kids to value different attacks to work outing numeracy jobs and ignited their desire to happen out more. Polya ( 1971 ) said that â€Å" A instructor of Mathematics has a great opportunity.A If he fills his allotted clip with boring his pupils with everyday operations he kills their involvement, shackles their rational development, and misses his opportunity.A But if he challenges the wonder of his pupils by puting them jobs proportionate to their cognition, and helps them to work out their jobs with stimulating inquiries, he may give them a gustatory sensation for, and some agencies of, independent thought. â€Å" A Unfortunately, as I witnessed in my twelvemonth 5 arrangement category, as kids get older the force per unit area of the course of study additions and the demand for answerability becomes greater. Curriculum bringing focal point ‘ less on independent acquisition and may go didactic, which as Polya ( 1971 ) suggests, has the possible to kill mathematical involvement. Tensions necessarily exist and Cullingford ( 1990 ) describes a ‘major job for instructors bein g†¦ the struggle between what they would wish to make in numeracy lessons and the worlds of the schoolroom ‘ . Sammons et Al ( 1995 ) when speaking about raising kids ‘s ego regard in numeracy from a immature age saw the attitude of instructors towards their kids as being of paramount importance. Sammons et at ( 1995 ) implied in this research that esteeming and understanding kids, reacting to personal demands, pass oning enthusiasm, and leting independency in their acquisition, were seen as holding a ‘beneficial influence on results in their numeracy work. ‘ From the numeracy lessons that I taught and observed on my arrangement I came to the decision that when instructors promote independent acquisition in numeracy, they are promoting their pupils to go self-sufficing in their ain acquisition and to hold more liberty over their acquisition. Through observations in numeracy I saw that most larning took topographic point when the kids were happening and roll uping information, doing determinations and transporting out probes. Even in these independent necessities of these lessons, the kids had a big grade of true independence.A In this case, the instructor might put prep to mean independent larning but literature forces us to believe of the differences in kids ‘s independency and finishing a worksheet. This is assessed after each lesson, which compared to a longer term undertaking is non entirely motivated by the schoolroom acquisition. This highlights that despite the grounds that advancing independency is good, the course of study can sometimes be keeping. In add-on to English and Maths, it is besides of import to discourse the publicity of pick and independency in scientific discipline. As a big portion of the primary course of study, I feel that scientific discipline offers the greatest chances for kids to go independent scholars. During my arrangement I was highly utile to be placed with the schools scientific discipline co-ordinator and therefore, I non merely got to detect exceeding scientific discipline, but I besides managed to profit from her broad cognition about advancing independency in scientific discipline. My category instructor explained that her chief precedence when learning scientific discipline was to ever acquire the kids up on their pess making things for themselves, even if the experiment went incorrect. She explained to me that scientific discipline is all about independent geographic expedition and in order to research the kids need to be engaged with synergistic lessons. She went on to explicate that every less on should incorporate practical work. I questioned this and she went onto to explicate that a scientific discipline instructor may depict ‘practical work ‘ as open-ended probes, presentations of rules, and chances for larning practical techniques, amongst others. There could even be a instance for stating that ‘children sitting at a desk reading, composing and speaking with their neighbors is practical in the sense that the kids are fully-involved and on-task ‘ ( Alexander 1995 ) . My arrangement highlighted to me that the most of import standard for practical scientific discipline should be seen to be freedom of motion, around the schoolroom or scientific discipline research lab, and even the school evidences. Following that, I noted that we need to see that the kids are deriving some apprehension of how scientific discipline works, and holding the chance to portion their experiences with their equals, and others in Science Club, for case which promotes an i ndependent attack. Practical work in all capable countries can integrate freedom of motion and sharing of thoughts through presentations, therefore it seems that practical work in scientific discipline must underscore how scientific discipline works ( Harlen et al. , 2004 ) and hence prosecuting the kids in independent acquisition. The scientific discipline co-ordinator besides explained that the kids need to hold free entree to all resources in their schoolroom and the independency to experiment with it. Having held this place in her anterior school, and after presenting her old category to this freedom of motion ( at least during their scientific discipline activities ) , she advised and supported all the other instructors in this new school, of whom, non surprisingly, the infant instructors were the most able, to implement this. Apparently, some instructors chose to make scientific discipline with their whole category at the same clip, others used an incorporate twenty-four hours arrangement so that a group of kids would be making scientific discipline whilst the others were making something else. The of import factor of class is that all of these thoughts promote pick and independency in scientific discipline, and the consequences are plentiful. This impression of independent freedom of motion is implied in Coulby ‘s ( 2000 ) survey. Additionally, with the concern of scientific discipline fieldwork, it was explained to me that one time kids are researching their ain school evidences independently in the same manner that they are encouraged to research their schoolroom resources and scientific discipline research labs, so they are deriving experiences which they can transport farther afield on organized field trips. Here we are speaking about the geographic expedition of natural milieus, streets, Parkss, creaky edifices, disused railroad lines, , etc. Organised visits to nature militias, farms, mills, museums, historic edifices, etc. , utile as they may good be, would non come under this schools definition of practical work in scientific discipline. Because they are regimented lists and do non advance independency. Even if the activities themselves are non planned in item, with the thought of promoting open-ended questions is indispensable and kids are merely independent larning if they have the opportunity to see k out cognition ( Assessment Reform Group, 2002 ) . In this illustration, the kids will be exhaustively briefed beforehand, maps provided if the country is extended ( by so the kids will be familiar with programs of schoolrooms, research labs and school evidences ) , and systems for covering with exigencies and unexpected events included in their preparation. This school feel they successfully promote independency in scientific discipline. These are to call but a few of the antic thoughts this instructor had to advance pick and independency in larning in scientific discipline and she stands house that the more independency a kid has to look into, the more they are likely to larn as a direct consequence, back uping Williams ‘ ( 2003 ) survey. My experimental experiences on placement lead to me the decision that independency liberates the kid from being constrained by the course of study and will let the kid more pick in precisely what they will larn approximately. This led me to oppugn the function of the instructor. A thrust to advance independency within the course of study surely means the instructor ‘s function will change.A With kids taking more duty for their acquisition in English, maths and scientific discipline, the instructors ‘ function alterations from one of manager instead than manager of acquisition. However, teacher ‘s functions are far from superfluous.A In fact, their function becomes more of import. In my sentiment, the old ‘dictator ‘ manner of learning can moderately be completed by anyone brave plenty to stand at the forepart of a category and convey the appropriate sum of information.A Essentially, if kids are larning this manner, the instructor has become wholly pre-pa red and afraid to divert if necessary and the instructor ‘s occupation is truly merely one of leaving information. On the contrary, in an environment that promotes independent acquisition, the instructor ‘s function becomes more compound.A It seems that there is more of a demand to hold greater accomplishments and cognition to react to a potentially wider course of study covered by kids who have had the independency to larn curiously. As a consequence, it was clear to me that the instructors who promote idependence besides need to be prepared to be flexible.A On arrangement I witnessed that instructors are able to help kids ‘s acquisition in legion ways and the instructor has to be prepared that these will change with every lesson and every pupil. I was fortunate to see instructors moving as facilitators ; supplying kids with resource stuffs, giving the kids chance to prove out their acquisition, and assisting kids to do sense of what they have learnt through experimentation. In decision, it is clear to see from the literature discussed in this essay and through my experimental and learning practise that there are legion theories as to why pick and independency should be promoted throughout the course of study in primary schools. Teaching in order to click boxes on the course of study helps students pass the test and teaches them precisely what is required of them and how to carry through those requirements.A However, as clear from the used literature for this essay, this manner of learning does non fix kids for life beyond the schoolroom, and in most instances it stunts their passion, the flicker they might hold had for a peculiar topic, and most significantly their enjoyment. To this terminal, it has been established that advancing independency in primary schools allows kids to hold abilities that will stand them in good position both during and beyond their instruction. Such abilities include the aptitude to obtain and deploy information, communicate expeditiously, work out jobs independently and associate to others. It is critical to repeat that one of the most important functions of a primary school instructor is to advance independency in their kids ‘s learning.A This essay has highlighted that there are a figure of exercisings you can take to accomplish in order to advance independent learning.A These include ; giving kids appropriate choices so they can take to larn about things that involvement them and maintain the flicker ignited, promoting group work in the schoolroom so that kids can larn from each other, work together with students to put shared larning aims, prosecute kids in lesson planning, promote kids to reflect and finish ego and p eer appraisal before their work is handed in. It is besides critical to repeat that the instructor does non go otiose one time independent acquisition is taking place.A In fact, quite the reverse is true.A The instructor ‘s function becomes more important than ever.A It does, nevertheless, change beyond all acknowledgment. Promoting pick and independency in acquisition is n't something that needs to go on throughout English, Maths and Science, but to the whole course of study. I believe that more research needs to be done to back up the bing research and to foreground this further in order for the necessary alterations to be made.