Burundi Culture free essay sample

This is the objectives of this assessment to know a deeper and detailed culture of Burundi. INTRODUCTION Background Burundi is located in the Central African Region that borders with Rwanda, Tanzania and Congo. Burundi is a little nation surrounded by mountains and lakeside with the capital city called Bujumbura (Embassy of the Republic of Burundi, 2010). We will write a custom essay sample on Burundi Culture or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page With the population of 6,370,609 people, Burundi is considered one of the poorest nations in the world. But on the other hand, Burundi has many natural resources such as alluvial gold, nickel, phosphates, rare earth, vanadium, and peat. Burundi also has two major agricultural resources and they are coffee and tea. Burundi had been independent since 1962. The original inhabitants of Burundi are thought to the Twa people but now there is only 1% of the population left and they are remain isolated. Now Burundi was populated with Hutus and Tutsis as the two main ethnic groups. The Hutu group is their majority with 85% of the population and is usually short and square, whereas the Tutsi group is the minority and usually tall and thin with 14% of the population (Embassy of the Republic of Burundi, 2010). But despite that percentage, the Tutsi group has always been the dominant compared to the Hutu. Standford (2007) stated that up until now Burundi already has 3 democratically elected presidents but two of them have already passed away. The first president is Melchior Ndadaye, but in within few months he had been assassinated in a failed coup attempt along with estimated 300,000 civilians. The second president is Cyprien Ntaryamira and after a few months of becoming president he died in a plane crash but the civilians believed he was killed alongside the president of neighbouring Rwanda. The last president is Sylvestre Ntibantunganya, he only served in the presidency for two years and after that he withdrew himself from the government and parliament. The new president led by Pierre Nkurunziza, he had to faced many challenges because there are rebels group that refuse to cooperate with the peace process. Therefore, there’s no clear end to the clash between Hutu and Tutsi. Access for culture from business point of view. Burundi is a developing country and the national economy is considered unstable. For that reason, doing business in Burundi may be risky and difficult in some circumstances. But if we do business domestically, the location in Burundi may bring a benefit because it is surrounded by countries that make it easy to access to the region around them, and because as a developing country Burundi’s natural resources would be a great sources to do agriculture business. However the geographic location and country recognition of Burundi make it difficult to do international business with another countries outside of its continent. DETERMINANTS OF BURUNDI CULTURE History The history of Burundi was begun in 1860 when the reigns of Rwabugiri came to the thrones and control the region of Burundi and Rwanda (Gascoigne, 2001). Before that time, two different ethnic dominated the local tradition; Tutsi, people that take over the area and win dominance over Hutu, that living by agriculture. Under his control, the reign was organized on a feudal basis, where the Tutsi are the aristocracy and Hutu as their slaves (Gascoigne, 2001). And when first described by a European, Scepe assumed that the distinction between Tutsi and Hutu is racial. But it was questioned, as both ethnic admitted an intermarriage and custom that allowing people to become an honourable member of other group. And a more valid distinction between Tutsi and Hutu is based on occupation and class where the Tutsi is the upper class, and the Hutu as the lower class. The first European that claimed Burundi and Rwanda was the Germany in 1894 and the region was known as Rwanda-Urundi. But the culture of Germany was not that extensive, when the region was taken from their hand during the World War 1 in 1914. Gascoigne (2001) explained that during the war, Belgian moved from the Belgian Congo to occupy Rwanda-Urundi in 1916. In 1925, Rwanda-Urundi was linked with Belgian Congo, but the colonial took a different form of rules in the two territories. Belgian Congo was centred in Brussels, and Rwanda-Urundi was left in the hand of Tutsi aristocracy. From 1933, People in Rwanda-Urundi were issued with a racial identity card, recognizing them as Tutsi (14%) or Hutu (85%). The remaining was known as Twa(1%) the original indigenous in this area (Gascoigne, 2001). Based on Global Edge(2012) in 1957, the Hutu leaders published a Hutu Manifesto, resulting in nationwide campaign of Hutu violence against Tutsi and many Tutsi has fled from Rwanda. One of the authors of Hutu Manifesto, Gregoire Kayibanda scored an overwhelming victory in 1960 election. When an election was held in 1961, the eldest son of Tutsi leader, Prince Rwagasore implemented a solution to recover the conflict between Tutsi and Hutu (Gascoigne, 2001). But a few months later before the independence was formally achieved, he was assassinated. Rwanda-Urundi became independent in July 1962, but the pressure from UN to federate as a single nation, had finally broken down this nation to two different nations (Global Edge, 2012). Urundi became an independent as a constitutional monarchy with a change of name to Burundi. A republic is proclaimed together, but again Tutsi showed their misused power. Ndayizigiye (2005) described the worst ethnic slaughter unleashed upon Hutu after Burundi became independent was in 1972, where about 100,000 people are killed, and among them were nearly all Hutu professional and educated class. The extreme ethnic violence in the following year had brought thousands of deaths on both sides result in between 25,000 and 50,000 in all (Ndayizigiye, 2005). Fourth president of Burundi, Cyprien Ntaryamira was trying to heal the ethnic wounds in 1994, but again he was killed together with the president of Rwanda, Habyarimana in an airplane hen a rocket brought it down. And during the subsequent year, the war continued relentlessly until 1998 when Organization of African Unity (OAU) brought the peace. Geography and Location Burundi’s geographic land is situated on high plateau and it often occurs tremors and earthquakes. Burundi is a tropical country and this causes a variety of tropical diseases such as malaria, dengue and others. The insects carry most of the causes of these diseases. One third of Burundi’s land is used as pastureland while the most fertile lands are on the highlands. The highland in Burundi is the last area in Africa to be reached by the Europeans colonial expansion in 19th century. Most mountain areas are dense with and trees. Most of the wildlife in Burundi consist of warthogs, antelopes, crocodiles, hippopotamus, buffaloes, elephants and baboons which are threatened and endangered because the government of Burundi has not set up any animal reservation and sanctuaries where species can be protected from the danger of extinction. The cause of threatening of these animals are because of the development of the country intrudes the habitat life such as the spread of farming and overgrazing. The development is causing deforestation and erosion on the land of the habitats. Furthermore, the laws of illegal in poaching are not strictly implied within the country causing more and more of illegal poaching to be done which endangers the habitats life. (everyculture, 2012) Economy With 6 million people who are among the poorest in the world, Burundi is one of the smallest economies in Africa. In this light, it is difficult to imagine a development strategy based on the domestic markets. With respect to Burundi’s external markets, they were largely Rwanda and the Eastern provinces of Congo under colonial rule. Burundi is landlocked and dependent on its neighbours’ wrecked road and rail infrastructure in the conduct of its international trade. The country’s isolation within a geographically isolated continent (Fafchamps, 2003). Burundi is a tropical climate where many of the disease like malaria and others tropical disease that restraints the potential of development in Burundi. (Nkurunziza, 2005) Stated for most of the post-independence period, the financial sector was dominated by two commercial banks owned partly by the state and partly by Belgian banks. There was also a government savings bank, a government development bank, and a few non-banking financial institutions. With financial liberalisation in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Burundi’s financial sector has become more diversified. However, the country has no stock market and no dynamic informal financial markets, implying that most financial transactions are carried out through banks. Financial institutions are concentrated in Bujumbura, the capital city, but the main banks have branches in a number of provinces. Education Burundi is still developing on its education system in order to improve the people abilities and potencies. The total rate of adult literacy rate in Burundi is about 67% in 2010 (Unicef, 2012). The education systems of Burundi include preparatory, elementary, high school, college and vocational schooling. Most of the primary and secondary education levels are owned by private entities while tertiary education level is owned by the State. There are formal type and non-formal type of education system. The formal type of education includes six years of primary education, four years of lower secondary education, three years of upper secondary education and four years of higher education. The total of formal education that Burundian normally has is about 17 years. The non-formal type of education includes a vocational school and preparatory school. Vocational school is basically consisting of technical schooling which last five years for the lower level and seven years for the upper level. The education on Burundi is normally commences on October until June annually, it is conducted in Kirundi language in the lower grades and French in the secondary level (spainexchange, 2012). Most of the education in Burundi is free and it is compulsory to children between the ages of seven to twelve to have education. Children are the most important things for Burundian. Burundian sees their children as the insurance of the future success. But only 50% of the eligible children go to school and only 8% of the eligible children go to secondary school. The political instability of the country has affected the essential of having education causing it to be hindered. The lack of teachers and supplies are also became the factors of the education to be hindered. Considering these facts, many parents tend to choose their children to stay at home to care for their younger siblings and work at the field to help their parents. Languages Burundi is a country that has strong oral traditions that consists of fables, legends, poems, riddles and stories. Therefore, a person must learn this country’s languages in order to understand better about the rich oral heritage of the Republic of Burundi (NALRC, 2011). Stanford (2007) stated that the two ethnic groups that called Hutu and Tutsi speak one and the same unique language Kirundi. The Twa group even though they speak with different dialect, their main language are also Kirundi. Kirundi is Bantu language that is the mostly spoken by Burundians and it is also the official language of Burundi’s centuries-old cultural heritage. Burundi’s neighbouring countries such as Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo are all Kirundi speakers as well. Meanwhile, French are their first foreign language that has become an administrative language. On the other hand, they also have Swahili that is a mixture of Arabic and Bantu languages. Burundian used this language in order to do trade and business in much of East Africa and it is mostly spoken in the capital city, Bujumbura and in the region of Tanganyika Lake (Embassy of the Republic of Burundi, 2011). The last is English. It is taught in some of their schools and rarely used in their country but it is becoming increasingly important because of the international market and business world. Politics (Map of World, 2012) Stated Burundi government is based on republic structure. The Burundi government is divided into several branches for the convenience of administration. The major branches include executive, legislative and judicial branch. The executive division comprises of the president and the council of ministers and the legislative branch comprises of a national assembly and a Senate. The judicial section consists of the Supreme Court and the other constitutional courts. The president holds the most important position in the government of Burundi and is also responsible for electing council ministers during election. The President is supposed to serve the country for a five-year time span after which election is held. The political ideology of Burundi is election which for example in the government structure, the Burundians choose and elect their president, governor and others by voting. This ideology of politic is common in many countries, it is likely the same of the democratic term where people has the power to vote and express their voice to choose their own choices. Most of the democracy country like Burundi, the people in the country is the most influence in the political system. Religious Burundi religions consist of 60% of Roman Catholic, 5% of Protestant, and about 10% are Muslims. The remaining populations follow their traditional beliefs or do not have any religions. At first, the government regarded Catholic Church as a pro-Hutu. They required them to ask for permission if they want to arrange a religious gathering, they have also banned the Catholic youth movement and closed down the newspaper and radio station. However, the major Pierre Buyoya, ended all the restriction in 1996 when he served presidency (Map of World, 2012) Burundi human right has allowed them to choose their religion according to their preferences, they practiced freedom of religion. The Burundi government also considered discrimination and abuse to any religion law as a serious offence. But fortunately, the Burundians respects each other religion very well. The first Roman Catholic mission was set up in 1898,and the Protestant arrived in 1926. The Roman Catholic Church performs several social ceremonies; wedding is one of their ceremonies as well (Everyculture, 2012) And recently, they have allowed the couples that have undergone the HIV/AIDS test by showing their certificate. This action is to prevent the rise of the HIV cases and to increase people awareness about this deadly disease in Burundi. The leader of the Islam community named Mohammed el-Amin guides the populations of Muslims in Burundi (nationsencyclopedia, 2012) Even though the populations of Muslims in Burundi are considered very small, the government had ensured that they are not discriminated. Therefore, to honor the sentiments of the Muslims the government had declared Eid Al-Fitr as their national holidays of Burundi. On the other hand, Stanford (2007) stated that traditional religion is a form of animism in which physical objects are believed to have spirits. They have great respects to their dead ancestor. In the Hutu traditions, they often visit this spirit with no good intentions, whereas in Tutsi belief, the sprit’s influence is more docile. They had the beliefs that cattle has to be treated in a certain way dictated by the religion and are objects of prayer and worship. They also believed that fortune teller has a special power to connect with the sprit. The Hutu group sometimes uses their service to soothe the spirits of their ancestors. The dead ancestors are considered as an important part of their culture. They also arrange various practices and ceremonies to soothe their spirits, which are seen as powerful influences in the world of living. Social Structure Social Structure is a term that is used to show the social arrangements in society and determined the actions of the individual. The social hierarchy in Burundi was based on ethnicity and determined by occupation and heritage. In Burundi there are several ethnic groups with different social status and the Burundians usually recognized themselves according to their clans. Tutsi with about 14% of Burundi population enjoying the highest status followed with Hutu (85%) and Twa as the lowest. The Tutsi considered themselves to be an aristocratic group (royal) and sees Hutu and Twa to be their servants (Ndayizigiye, 2005). The process of group formation and perceptions differentiation was the determinant for the key leader in the group to make important decision in the communities. Early differentiation between Tutsi, Hutu and Twa may have realized in a deep psychological need for enemies. This social Hierarchy resulting a conflict between the two main ethnic groups that creates racial discrimination. However this kind of social structure is strongly politicized in Burundi nowadays. Culture’s Framework Hofstede Power distance. Judging from the culture, Burundi has a high power distance, which means that they had unequal power between their superior and follower. Besides that, high level of power distance in Burundi will affect the way they work in organizations. The people expect themselves to be told on what to do and when to do it. In a high level of power distance like Burundi, the inferiors are quite difficult to express their opinion or advice to the superiors. This also had caused the Burundians not to oppose to the higher level position in order not to lose their job. High power distance also means that Burundians would expect to be directed clearly by their chief. Thus, the Tutsi as the aristocratic group among the Burundians made most of decision-making. Decision-making will be done mostly from the top management, which will be distributed to bottom part vertically and the inferiors must follow the order from the higher level. There will be consequences or punishments if the followers do not follow the order or opposing the idea of the higher level position. Individualism vs Collectivism From our point of view, Burundians tend to work collectively towards their own people. But this collectivist relationship was built by racial based in which Burundi has Tutsi and Hutu ethnics. People will work closely with people from the same race, and may ignore people from different race. A person that has an individualistic will always be ignored in the society because the people around them also feel threatened as individualism only think about themselves and seldom think about the relationship of team in the collectivist culture. In this case, it may generate a racial-discrimination in a workplace. This kind of situation may not be good in building a proper workplace environment, where negative competition may occur in the workplace that is acceptable by the collectivist society. And by having a collectivism characteristic, they are willing to trust and help each other. They can build a better and stronger group to overcome a situation. Trompenaars Ascription vs Achievement If we see from the past history of Burundis culture, it can be considered to be more ascription. As we can see, nepotism was occurred when the eldest son of the Tutsi leader was elected to become the one who implemented a solution to solve the problems in Hutu and Tutsi. From our perspective when the societies are collectivistic, the people are more likely to be more in ascription term as they built their relationship into trust from time to time, so they will inherit what they had to the person they only trust. Basically, in the nepotism country, people will only give something important whether it is a task, job, inheritance or others to family related only. Universalism vs Particularism The rules, laws and regulations in Burundi are in particularize term in which this is how they judge of other’s people actions. They value more to rule and relationship based than rule based when it comes to business, business contracts and others. There are rules and regulations applied and have to be followed according to the contracts but it is not so absolute. There’s way to bend over the rule when the contracts are implied, unlike in the universalism term which the rules of the contracts are necessary to be followed and the one who breach the contracts have to be fined or sued. In Burundi, the relationship between ethnic and clan can affect on how the business going. They have a high sense of belonging within the ethnic that relate the business on strong relationship base. Edward T. Hall Communication The communication in Burundi happens to be an indirect and high context basis, because of the communication contain a high context information, the information begins to be implicit and misunderstood by other people. As a result, They cannot accept any comments from others society. As we can see from the clash of Hutu and Tutsi, they rather argue with each other rather than talk nicely to solve the problems. Despite that, Burundians have a strong sense of belonging to the group, they strongly bond to the family, community and in their own ethnic as well. They have a high commitment to long term relationships, and believe that relationship is a lot more important than the task. Therefore, in Burundi we are not suppose to praise someone secretly or blame someone in public because whenever we comment to a person, that will affect other people who are related to the person you comment. Project GLOBE Future Orientation The way of thinking of Burundians in doing business is more concern about the present and short-term orientation rather than future orientation. A country is able to develop better and faster when they have a good and powerful leader. A good leader should be able to adapt with the environment but in the history of Burundians, the people themselves did not give chance and trust to the leader to bring up the people to a better state in a long-term. They tend to act more spontaneously for their current problem. Meanwhile, their business planning can be considered short-term because it usually last about 2-3 years. This short orientation can affect the economic stability of the country because they do not plan for a long-term strategy Assertiveness Since Burundi has announced their independent in 1962, Burundians have been struggling in managing their political system. As what we have identified in the future orientation, the Burundians tend to think shortly by not giving a time for the country to plan and adapt. They value competitiveness, aggressiveness and more assertive towards the relationships with others. In fact, Burundi has gone through several incidents where their president was killed not long after the election. It was hard for the leader to bring trust and commitment from the Burundians, all the presidents had been trying to bring harmony to the ethnic diversity in Burundi. But again, neither Hutu nor Tutsi believed to people that are not belong to their group, to control and lead the country. This shows that the cultures of Burundi are highly assertive. Gender Egalitarianism In Burundi their gender egalitarianism is considered low which cause a great inequality on gender roles. There is a lower level of educational attainment of female compared to male. Almost all the female Burundians tends to do the house chores and take care of the children in the family, they also do a part of agricultural work such as planting. Burundians highly honour the female’s childbearing and their daily job. As for the male Burundians, they are the head of the family. Therefore, they do the most of the decision-making. They are usually making a living as farmers, doing business or taking a job in the government sectors. In the government sectors, there re almost no female employees. Uncertainty Avoidance Uncertainty avoidance in Burundi is high as they are the country with long history and they are resistance to change as the history. They had so many experiences in the past on what to decide decisions that avoid risk. And because they isolated to the outside world the culture is not too diverse and it is not easy to bring a new ideas into the culture and they tend to be more closed-minded that cause them not to accept any new ideas and they would likely to avoid ambiguity. In business world, they tend to follow on restricted procedures and policies in the country. To proof the business is running smooth what they need is a statistics paper that show the facts of the business. The people do not want to take any risk even though they have calculated how big or small are the risk. Humane Orientation Talking about Burundis human orientation practices, Burundians cultures are considered having a mid-level of humane orientation. This was shown by the sensitivity to racial discrimination towards different ethnic as they value high humane orientation practices. However, on the other hand, Burundians prefer to protect and see their own group as more important compare to others. Since the Belgian occupied Burundi in 1925, Tutsi was believed to have a higher power and position in the society. This has caused the Burundians, especially the Tutsi to be highly motivated by the need of power and material possession in the society. While the need for a sense of belonging and affiliation is the main reason why the Hutu motivated. Recommendation / Conclusion Leadership Style In general, the leader or manager in Burundi must have adequate adaptability skill to bring up the team. The leader must treat every individual as an individual because every individuals contributions are important. Hence, team leader should manage the pre judgement of stereotype based on their capabilities regardless of their gender, race, age and ethnic. The leadership style in Burundi is chaotic. In the past, they had done several elections to choose the right leader and unfortunately the Burundians did not accept the elected leaders in Burundi. Still, the cause of this case is because racial issues that happened in their country and it is the biggest part that influences Burundi’s problem. What had to be done is they need an effective leadership that can bring Hutu and Tutsi together and in order to accomplish that it is necessary for the leader to have a charismatic skill so that he can bring the trust to people in Burundi. When the trust is built among the two ethnics, a leader will be able to lead and inspire them with a better views and perceptions. In addition, the leader also need a transformational skills and that is to change the current situation by creating an environment where diverse people can work together and try to accept each other more willingly. Negotiations Tactics Negotiation always becomes the first stage in entering a corporate business. First of all, both parties have to be conscious and knowledgeable of sufficient information about the opposite party. In business no one would like to accept any loss. They always collaborate and try to understand each other to find a win-win solution as a part of building a good business relationship in trust and communication. In order to achieve that, relationship building must be done carefully to create an absolute understanding. Unfortunately, most people in Burundi are lack of relationship building that might affecting the negotiations negatively. By building a good relationship among the Hutu and Tutsi, people will start to decrease the racial barrier within them. If both of the ethnics are in a good term, any companies’ negotiations in Burundi will proceed accordingly. Therefore, information gathering and data sharing will be much more efficient and effective to avoid uncertainty. Giving proper and complete information will help them in developing trust among the two different views. On the other hand, since there are many misunderstood going on between the two different ethnics, it is a good thing that the Burundians have an explicit terms of persuasion because people will understand things clearly if they are to be told to the point of the problems. As nature part of negotiation, concession will happen to achieve a win-win situation. In Burundi concession should be done carefully for instance one of the party should not gave away too much that cause one side loss, because it may be result in another misunderstanding if the party of the negotiation has a ifferent mindset. After all the steps above have been done, agreement will be achieved without any regrets. Communication Tactics It is important for a country that has two different level of social structure like Burundi to critically identified the main problems that has caused the communication problems. Even though Burundians communicate in one language, they often misunderstand the meaning of the message. T hus, Burundians are expected to be patient and forgiving rather than aggressive and fierce in facing differences. Being a good listener by allowing people to talk and express their messages will definitely help them in understanding the message accurately. In order to keep the communication under control, Burundi needs a person with a knowledge that can tone down a strong statement that considered inappropriate. The person also needs to be able to adjust the timing what to be said and done. Management Tactics A term of â€Å"management† is always connected to leadership. A person must have a good understanding in Managerial functions; Planning, Organizing, Leading and Controlling. The management tactics that Burundi can considered is to implement a proper long term planning to increase the awareness to future problems and risks. They may improve the teamwork within the diverse ethnic of the people in the work environment to bring together the people and boost up its performance. Besides that, a leader should have a high level of leadership skill, in order to communicate, motivate, inspire, and encourage employee to achieve a higher productivity. Lastly, the leader need to find a better way to control the Burundians in order to keep them in track with the company’s goals.

Free Essays on Gender Bias in the Courtroom

Although there have been many changes in our society concerning discrimination against one’s gender, there is still one area that has yet to change. If we take a man and a woman convicted of the same crime, it is very likely that the man will receive a more callous sentence. Since the beginning of the colonial era, 20,000 people have been lawfully executed in America, but only 400 of them have been women, including 27 who were found guilty of witchcraft. In the 23 years since the Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment, 5,569 total death sentences have been given out by courts, 112 to women. Of these 112, only one has been executed, compared with 301 men. Leigh Beinen, a Northwestern University law professor who studies the gender bias in capital cases nationwide, thinks the reason so few women face execution has to do with the symbolism that's central to the death penalty. She said, â€Å"Capital punishment is about portraying people as devils, but women are usuall y seen as less threatening." In 1977, Guinevere Garcia murdered her daughter, and later received a 10-year sentence for the killing. Four months after her release, she killed her husband during a robbery attempt. This time, the court imposed the death penalty. Garcia had refused to appeal her sentence, and opposed efforts to save her. Death penalty opponents turned to Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar who as a state legislator, voted to restore the death penalty. The facts of the case swayed his opinion and just hours before the scheduled execution, Edgar commuted Garcia's sentence to life without parole, his first such act in more than five years in office. Juries and judges tend to find more justifying factors in capital cases involving women than in ones involving men, Beinen explains. Women who kill abusive spouses, for example, are often seen as victims. Women are more likely to kill someone they know without any premeditation, which is considered less serious th... Free Essays on Gender Bias in the Courtroom Free Essays on Gender Bias in the Courtroom Although there have been many changes in our society concerning discrimination against one’s gender, there is still one area that has yet to change. If we take a man and a woman convicted of the same crime, it is very likely that the man will receive a more callous sentence. Since the beginning of the colonial era, 20,000 people have been lawfully executed in America, but only 400 of them have been women, including 27 who were found guilty of witchcraft. In the 23 years since the Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment, 5,569 total death sentences have been given out by courts, 112 to women. Of these 112, only one has been executed, compared with 301 men. Leigh Beinen, a Northwestern University law professor who studies the gender bias in capital cases nationwide, thinks the reason so few women face execution has to do with the symbolism that's central to the death penalty. She said, â€Å"Capital punishment is about portraying people as devils, but women are usuall y seen as less threatening." In 1977, Guinevere Garcia murdered her daughter, and later received a 10-year sentence for the killing. Four months after her release, she killed her husband during a robbery attempt. This time, the court imposed the death penalty. Garcia had refused to appeal her sentence, and opposed efforts to save her. Death penalty opponents turned to Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar who as a state legislator, voted to restore the death penalty. The facts of the case swayed his opinion and just hours before the scheduled execution, Edgar commuted Garcia's sentence to life without parole, his first such act in more than five years in office. Juries and judges tend to find more justifying factors in capital cases involving women than in ones involving men, Beinen explains. Women who kill abusive spouses, for example, are often seen as victims. Women are more likely to kill someone they know without any premeditation, which is considered less serious th...

Importance of a comprehensive business plan Essay

Importance of a comprehensive business plan - Essay Example A comprehensive business plan for a medium sized restaurant can be sub-divided into three parts: business concept, the marketplace and financial position. These three components are split down into more than half-dozen components that encompass the overview of the business plan, a detailed account of the business dealing in food, market strategies guiding the food industry, analysing the position of market rivals, design and development, details about operations and management, and the financial standing of business (Letovsky, & Banschbach, 2011). Unlike small business plans with fewer pages, comprehensive business plans offer the business executives with a detailed outline on how to approach various challenges and capitalize on the strengths and opportunities for the successful running of the business. Business plans serve the important roles of providing a guideline for running the business, especially for start-up ventures in the highly competitive and delicate market environment - the food industry. Business plans enable many small and medium enterprises to cultivate trust with not only credit facilities that may offer financial assistance, but investors who may see it wise to channel a given amount of money to the business. Business plans can also enable a business owner running a medium-sized restaurant to know the position of his or her company in the market (D'Angelo, 2007). Owing to the comprehensive nature of details to be incorporated, a business plan for a medium-sized restaurant can present several challenges as the work of developing one can be daunting and could consume more resources from the amount set aside for starting the business. Components of a comprehensive Business Plan A comprehensive business plan for a medium-sized restaurant has several sections. These sections are clearly detailed to allow business to allow the business owner(s) and managers to have at their finger-tips, what the business entails and what needs to be done at partic ular moments in the life of the business. These include: (a) Executive Summary The executive summary provides a one-glance assessment of what the business plan contains. This section is important because it enables key stakeholders to understand the position of the business, and the assets which are available at the business executives’ disposal for easy deployment when the need arises. (b) Company overview The company report section outlines important details about the business, such as location, size, what the business specializes on and what the goals of the business (Gjerde, & Harlow, 2010). The company overview allows for an easy connection with various stakeholders such as customers, and suppliers for successful business operations. The company overview may also outline the locations of the market rivals, who in this case can be other medium-sized restaurants. This essentially allows for the deployment of the right strategies for competition in order to have an edge ove r the market rivals. (c) Products or Services The part of the business plan which outlines the products or services, ought to offer a clear description of the kind of products and or services the business sells with more focus being based on the value for money. This section cultivates a cordial relationship with clients, thus wins over their loyalty. (d) Market Analysis This section of the business plan should offer a comprehensive description of the

Preach a narrative sermon based on a short passage of Scripture Essay

Preach a narrative sermon based on a short passage of Scripture applying the learning from the Narrative Preaching Topic to its preparation - Essay Example The word of God in the book of 1Timothy 4:12 reads, â€Å"Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.† As a woman, you may be vulnerable to mistreatments due to world culture of consider females as inferior gender. People may abuse and insult you so that you feel to have a lower and powerless to defend yourself. The Bible encourages you not to allow people despise you because of your youth. The fact that you trust and believe in God establishes the foundation of strength and encouragement. Our God and Jesus His Son promised never to forsake the believers. Our Father is always willing and able to come to your rescue. Even God recognizes that that youthfulness is a moment of strength that people should most of what they desire (Spencer, 2014). Despite of the challenges and problems of youthfulness, God views youthfulness with great reverence. As a believer, you should not struggle to gain the trust of the world. Instead, let yourself be trustworthy to God and your life shall not have any blemish. Do not hate your aggressors or those who betray your trust. God will hear you and will not care about your sex. Ask God to give love, understanding and courage to face your worldly enemies. Just as the Bible verse advises, speak to the believers in love, faith, purity and conduct. You cannot exhibit love, faith, purity, and good conduct if you lack God’s mercies (Spencer, 2014). He gives the qualities to those who believe in Him and walk in His ways. Remember that God’s ways are righteous and pure so that any person who wants to walk in the way must desire righteousness and purity. Do not lose heart for The Lord has you in His heart and will be your anchor, protector and comforter when the whole world attempt to forsake you. In fact, it is better for the world to forsake you because it is then that God will accept you. The ways and the love of the world are

Ecological Evaluation of Environmental Problems Essay Example for Free

Ecological Evaluation of Environmental Problems Essay Biodiversity refers to the abundance of life forms (bio means life, diversity means variety or assortment). This includes different animals, plants and micro-organisms. The ecosystem where these living organisms belong, as well as their genetic make-up, is also part of biodiversity. Wide biodiversity is advantageous to species development as there will be various interactions going on among the different species. Among the most bio-diverse ecosystems are rainforests and aquatic ecosystems. Both land and water species can be found in these habitats. The existence, however, of these ecosystems are becoming endangered as a lot of human activities negatively impact these ecosystems. Forest destruction has been an existing issue for the longest time. Pollution – air and water – is also one of the most common problems different ecosystems and the environment itself are facing. Human activities also cause global warming which is not healthy for all living creatures. These things that people do to our environment can definitely be prevented and avoided. We can start by stopping the use of substances with chemicals such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) which were identified as harmful to the ozone layer. This simple deed can help decrease the effects of global warming to the environment. Local governments should also enforce strict laws against forest destruction. Environmentalists can also start a campaign on reforestation to help rebuild destroyed forests and natural habitats. Maintaining biodiversity is important in human sustainability. Each life form is beneficial to one another. Plants are the producers in the food chain. Some primary and secondary consumers are also taken by humans as food, which is our main source of energy. Continuous destruction of the ecosystems leads to the decrease in these food sources. Thus, preserving the ecosystems and maintaining biodiversity should be seriously considered by everyone. Acid deposition starts with the combustion of fossil fuels such as coal and oil. Burning of these fuels produces nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide which are considered air pollutants. Volcanic eruptions can also emit these pollutants. When the nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxides get released to the atmosphere, chemical transformation happens and sulfuric and nitric acid compounds are produced. These compounds make the air acidic. Eventually, these acidic compounds fall to the surface of the Earth – the process called â€Å"acid deposition†. Deposition can happen in wet or dry form. Wet deposition occurs when the nitric acid and sulfuric acid compounds are transported with rain, fog, or snow. When these compounds are carried as fine particles by the wind, it is called dry deposition. Acid deposition cause severe damages to the ecosystem. Fish species found in lakes affected by acid deposition tend to disappear. Other aquatic resources in lakes and rivers tend to either disappear or die which creates an imbalance to aquatic ecosystems. Acidification also changes phytoplankton composition. Likewise, acid deposition also affects forests by killing a lot of trees due to the acidic compounds settling onto these life forms. This is evident in most forests where there are copper and nickel refineries nearby. This environmental problem can also trigger asthma and some bronchial infections to humans. The effect may not be seen immediately and may take years before it can be realized. In order for us to minimize the cases of acid deposition is to have a global initiative of reducing emission of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides which cause air pollution. Educating the entire world population of this phenomenon can be a good start. Factories and industrial plants burning fossil fuels should try to research and find other earth-friendly alternatives to those harmful chemicals. Cultural eutrophication is the accelerated aging of aquatic ecosystems, especially lakes, through man-made activities. Eutrophication is the natural process of aging of lakes which is characterized by an increase in the growth of algae and aquatic weeds. Eutrophication rate is determined by how fast the lake gets sediments and nutrients from the watershed, and this naturally occurs over a long period of time. However, if the lake is located in an urbanized area or developed region, eutrophication speeds as there is definitely higher number of sediments and nutrients getting into the lake. This is when natural eutrophication becomes cultural eutrophication. The increased sediments and nutrients, which are mainly phosphorous, usually come from road sand, oil, lawn fertilizers, gas, salt and organic matter being transported to the lake through stormwater or groundwater. Inefficient septic systems can also cause cultural eutrophication. This environmental phenomenon can be prevented through continuous monitoring of the local government. Environmental officials should identify the cause of the cultural eutrophication and determine where the increased sediments are coming from. Once this is identified, measures to prevent these nutrients and sediments from getting into the lake could be placed and enforced. Global warming, from the term itself, is the continuous increase in the temperature of our planet. Global warming is mainly caused by increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, water vapor, ozone and methane forms a gaseous blanket around the Earth. This blanket traps the heat which is responsible for making the Earth warm; else our planet’s temperature would be well over 60 degrees colder. Global warming becomes an environmental issue because the gaseous blanket is getting thicker and thicker over the years which make the Earth’s temperature extra hot. The increase in greenhouse gases which causes global warming is due to burning of fossil fuels, agricultural byproducts, industrial processes, waste disposal and treatment among others. By the year 2100, Earth’s temperature will rise by 3 °C to 5 °C and sea levels will rise by 25 meters, at least, because of global warming. This would mean an increase in the occurrence of heat waves, floods, tornadoes and drought. Agricultural yields will be low due to these extreme weather conditions. Diseases will also spread easily. Global warming is already a known issue. The only thing that we have to do is to make significant changes in the way we do things like the use of fuels contributing to the increase of greenhouse gases. Little things can help curtail the effects of global warming such as changing filament light bulbs to fluorescent bulbs, making sure the refrigerator and freezer doors are always shut properly, and other measures of conserving electricity. This will not only help save the Earth from global warming, it will also help you save money due to less electricity consumption. Electricity is the most common form of energy people use daily. Currently, electricity is being generated mainly by burning fossil fuels. We all know from the above discussions that fossil fuel combustion creates air pollutants that contribute to acid deposition and global warming – in short, environmental destruction. If this way of using energy continuous, we would be in danger of losing a healthy planet to live in a hundred years. Another danger of this is not having enough fossil fuels to use in the future as this is not a renewable source of energy. Fossil fuels such as coal and oil can be depleted because there can only be as much of them in our planet. In order for us to prevent global environmental destruction, we should all try to use sustainable energy in order for us to have reserves in the future. Examples of sustainable energy are renewable sources such as wind, solar, geothermal, tidal and wave power among others. Power plants and electric companies should slowly convert their electricity generating processes to one of these in order to lessen the waste pollutants of fuel combustion. Big companies may also want to initiate a study if its facilities and offices would run on self-built solar power. Other than the big savings, it will definitely help in reducing the number of fossil fuel electricity consumers.

Strategic Management at Zhujiang Iron and Steel Company

Strategic Management at Zhujiang Iron and Steel Company 1.0 Introduction This material critically analyses the process of strategic management in the areas of nature of competition, the strategy, the strategy process, method of entrepreneurship and resources ofZhujiang Iron Steel Company (ZISCo). The analysis has been done by using some major theories such as gap analysis, balance score card, triple loop learning of ZISCo. Zhujiang Iron and Steel Company (ZISCo) is a Chinese state owned enterprise established in 1997. ZISCo is a steel manufacturer who produces wide range of steel sheets and plates that are used as inputs of various other products. In early 2003, ZISCo faced many problems in the key areas of production, procurement marketing and this has resulted in poor financial performance. In the past ZISCo implemented niche marketing strategy from 2003onwards, ZISCo planned to implement value creation strategy undertook many functional reforms with active participation from all its employees improved its financial performance during 2004 2006. However, in 2007 also ZISCo encountered various challenges, predominantly in the areas of cultural change, knowledge management, and development of organisational competence and learning capability Thus, this material initially analyses the current business strategies of ZISCo to understand the nature of their operations. Subsequently, conducts a PESTEL analysis, Porters five forces and value chain analysis to understand the environment of ZISCo, drivers of profit in the industry at present and the future. In addition, gap and balance score card analysis also has been done to understand the gaps that are existing in the context of ZISCo and to evaluate its performance. Strategic options can be considered to address the gaps that have been identified by the organisation. Therefore, the report will provide an exposure to the strategic options available used by ZISCo and whether they have effectively implemented the strategies. This has been done by analysis of 7S framework triple loop learning alone with an action plan. Finally, the report will suggest the recommendations where its applicable by providing justifications. The analysis of this report was done with the assistance of the case information provided and through industry related information from academic books, journals, websites and other publicly available secondary data sources. 2.0 Process of strategic management followed at ZISCo Businesses vary in the processes they use to formulate and direct their strategic management activities. The model enhances the development of strategy formulation skills by guiding the analyst systematic and comprehensive study of each business situation 2.1 Strategic factors and capabilities 2. 1.0 External environment From the PESTEL analysis Michael Porters five forces analysis it is clear that ZISCo is functioning in a very complex volatile environment which will impact all the strategies adapted by the organisation. Hence, a good understanding of ZISCos external environment will facilitate the organisation to exploit opportunities and avoid threats From the steel industry analysis we can conclude there are many well established key players in the Chinese market the industry has high potential to attract new players in future. Thus, the PESTEL variables in macro environment have major impact on the performance of ZISCo. 2.1.1 Internal environment Analysis of internal environment is a crucial phase to an organisation as it helps to identify the strength and weakness of the organisation. This would mean internal analysis will determine the required skills resources of ZISCo to cope up with competitors capabilities thus measures ZISCos effectiveness to gain competitive advantage According to the value chain analysis the main competitive advantage of ZISCo is technology leadership and implementation of value creation strategy in the steel and iron industry in china. However, through this analysis it is clear focus on quality was very low this is mainly due to the fact that quality department people were ignoring their responsibilities management did not place more care in this department as it does for marketing. 2.1.2Analysis of SWOT From the SWOT analysis key strength of ZISCo is that they have gained competitive advantage over technology leadership as they are the first company to introduce CSP technology in steel iron industry. In addition the other most important strength is their value creation strategy; ZISCo is the first company to implement value creation strategy and one stop shop services to their customers. Thus this will provide a first mover advantage to ZISCo as Chinese market moving toward planned economy to market economy. However, the primary weaknesses of ZISCo are poor quality products are being produced, has liability to pay bank loan interest of US$ 40million annually, and lower bargaining power in purchasing raw materials as a result of signing a contract with a supplier. The quality issues identified would erode companys goodwill among major most important customers; even company may lose its profitable customers for lack of focus in quality issues. Further the non current liability seems to be a huge amount, if proper care is not taken to settle the debt the whole company would go into liquidation. In addition company also faces problems with supplier; ZISCo will directly get affected if supplier does not provide raw materials on time in intended quality. Rapidly changing environment has influenced the performance of the organisation by creating opportunities and threats. The key Opportunities of ZISCo are Chinese economy is transforming towards market economy by creating an advantage for all the organisations in Chinese market and unsatisfied higher demand for container used steel sheets is a big opportunity for ZISCO. The unfavourable key factors that affect ZISCo performance and barrier to growth are slow moving organisational culture (slow change from production orientation to value orientation) , competitors imitating CSP technology and marketing practice very quickly. Further high raw material and electrical cost, the government restriction in steel industry such as limiting the number of employees been recruited and fixed price ranges are also threats for ZISCo 2.2 Strategies adapted by ZISCo Organisation can formulate strategies in three different levels known as corporate level, business level and functional level (Viljoen, J. and Dann, 2003, pg 235). As GISCo is the parent of ZISCo, they have adapted several comprehensive business strategies for their organisation. The business strategy of ZISCo is â€Å"value creation for both customers and company†. In order to follow this business strategy Zhujiang has adapted following strategies. Such as: Changing their niche marketing strategy to mass marketing strategy Pre-emptive strategy Differentiation strategy Cost reduction strategy New product development strategy Informal communication strategy Outsourcing strategy Adapting a new business model strategy 2.3 The performance of ZISCo The rapidly changing external environment has created some significant challenges for management of ZISCo. In order to analyse the overall performance balance score card approach has been used A general conclusion that the overall performance of ZISCO is at satisfactory level can be drawn from the balance score card analysis .However if we take each perspective in to consideration ZISCo has achieved maximum performance in financial and innovation learning perspectives whereas customer perspective and internal business perspectives are at moderate level. Therefore, ZISCo should concern on accelerating order cycling process to make improvements in internal business perspective performance. In addition they should also create possible steps to retain attract more customers by means of customer satisfaction. 2.4 Analysis of External, Internal and Stakeholders inconsistency To be successful, an organisations strategy must be consistent with the requirement of its current and expected future environment (external consistency), its capabilities must be consistent with the business strategy being pursued (internal consistency), and its performance from the existing business strategy must be acceptable to its key stake holders (Hubbard R.B, 2008, pg.167). Hence, an analysis has been done to identify the internal, external and stakeholder consistency of ZISCo According to the analysis of internal consistency of ZISCo it is evident that they have failed to adapt systems those match with their business strategies. This has ultimately created an internal inconsistency within the ZISCo. In addition, ZISCo also has external inconsistency as a result of government regulation on steel industry and changing market in china. 2.5 Gaps in Strategy formulation Gap analysis of ZISCo has been done on the basis of current business strategies of the organisation. Therefore environmental business strategy, organizational performance and business strategy gaps have been identified for ZISCo (Refer appendix diagram8). By analyzing these gaps it can be identified that ZISCo is trying to position its self uniquely in the market. 2.6 Strategic options available to overcome gaps ZISCo was not able to achieve their novelty among competitors due to gaps recognized in formulation of strategy. Thus, there are several strategic options available for ZISCo such as market strategy, generic strategy direction strategy. In order to sustain and gain competitive advantage all 3 options are equally important for ZISCo 2.7 The effect of competitors and stakeholders Stake holders competitors have major role in the performance of ZISCo. The key stakeholders who are exerting more power on ZISCo are government: Government has restricted the number of employees recruited by ZISCo; thus have created a barrier for further business expansions also government is controlling the prices of the steel products thus ZISCo wont be able to use the cost based pricing strategies add their target profit margins. Secondly, the bargaining power of suppliers is also high in the context of ZISCo because ZISCo has entered in to contract with limited number of suppliers. Thus this enables ZISCo to solely depend on them gives high power to the supplier. The other most important stakeholders are employees. They also create an impact on the business strategy adapted by ZISCo by resisting for the required cultural change. As employees have product orientation values it would be very hard to change them towards customer orientations. This would have greater impact in developing overall strategy of ZISCo. ZISCo would have to invest more funds for a long time period in training development since cultural change cannot happen soon as company requires. Finally, like all other stake holder mentioned above Customers also exerts high power in ZISCo because there is an unsatisfied demand for steel products in Chinese industry many market players are there. If a customer is not satisfied with ZISCo, the chances of switching brand are high. Therefore to survive grow in the competitive environment as ZISCo planned it should provide value to its customers. Competitors ZISCo is operating in a very competitive environment in which competitors are adapting to their opponents strategies very quickly. In the case of ZISCo also they have tried to adapt to CSP technology and tried harder to copy ZISCos business model and marketing practices. Thus, there is a possibility competitors can attack ZISCo anytime by imitating their unique innovations soon after the patent rights expire. Thus, this compels ZISCo to continually invest huge amount of funds in research development and in marketing. In addition to the local players ZISCo also faces high international competition in Chinese steel industry due to unfulfilled steel demand in China low costs of labour. These foreign players might have advanced technologies than ZISCo attack ZISCo simply in terms of quality. Thus, it is necessary for ZISCo to carefully understand nature of pressures exerted by both domestic international players and develop the most suitable strategy. 2.8 Implementation of gap Strategic implementation is complex and time consuming but success of an organisation lies on this stage. However good the business or corporate strategy is, it is off little value unless implemented (Hubbard R.C, 2008, pg 349). Therefore, during this phase, strategy makers should consider the question of who implements that strategy, what must be done and how the strategy is implemented (Fletcher, 2001, p.2). Hence, 7S framework has been applied to ZISCo to identify gaps the issues that should be addressed during implementation phase 2.9 Paradigm of operation ZISCo has shifted their paradigm from the conventional wisdom about how things have always been done and must be done to that of emergent strategies From previous paradigm ZISCo achieved efficiency productivity but did not produce products in intended quality that will fit the purpose of customers. Therefore ZISCo has shifted the paradigm from production orientation to marketing orientation by providing more value to their customers. In order to operate in new paradigm ZISCo has changed their market from niche to mass market, changed their organisational structure from functional structure to matrix structure and improved their financial performance through cost reduction 2.10 Recipe issues Recipe can be defined as a set of believes assumptions held commonly throughout the organisation, taken for granted in that organisation, but discernible to the outside observer in the stories of organisation history and explanations of events (Strategic management guide 3, 2004, pg 3). There are several issues have been identified for ZISCo in current paradigm In formulating strategy ZISCo did not define its goals objectives clearly which is critical for any organisation as it guides the employees towards mission vision of the organisation. Therefore, unstated purpose or goal of ZISCo makes the organisation unable to analyse the long term strategic purpose. Even though, ZISCo increased their financial performance by increasing profits through new business strategy still they unable to over come their long term debt. Therefore, this imposes a huge hidden financial risk on ZISCo. Another issue in relation to ZISCo is that cultivating a market oriented culture within the organisation while adding value to the organisation as well. In the past economy of china organisation strategies focused mainly on the production orientation, the value for production orientation already rooted strongly in employees minds is hard to change. Finally, ZISCo is loosing competitive advantage of CSP technologies as a result of competitors are adapting to CSP technology over past 2-4 years. Therefore, loss of competitive advantage (technology leadership) is a critical recipe issue for ZISCo. 2.11 Recommendation justification for ZISCo From the above analysis, I would recommend the following recommendations; ZISCo should implement vision mission in more transparent manner to their employees as it will help the employees to understand the long term strategic direction of the organisation. Thus, ZISCo should develop objectives that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and within the Time limit. ZISCo can transform their organisation as a learning organisation by allowing more innovations, continuous improvement in new product development by investing more in new technology, empowering employees and providing freedom to experiment. ZISCo should adapt to a TQM (total quality management) approach to attend real-time quality issues and invest more in compliance costs (Refer appendix diagram 14) In order to add value for both organisation customers, ZISCo should focus on new management accounting concepts such as extended value chain analysis target costing. These concepts will add value to organisation by reducing costs will add value to customers by providing them the intended benefits or quality(Refer appendix diagram 15 ) The president should also consider changing his leadership style; He should act both as charismatic a transactional leader because the president had performed well in strategy formation but he didnt concentrate much on communicating monitoring the developed strategy. ZISCo can also diversify their product to such as refining metals such as steel alloys. This can be done by merging with a recycling company or starting them self. This might reduce the cost of raw materials and reduce suppliers bargaining power in purchasing raw materials. Further, ZISCo can sell the raw materials to outsiders gain competitive edge. ZISCo can implement Just in time (JIT) system rather than having buffer stocks for raw materials, work in progress finished goods. JIT system would help ZISCo to deliver goods on time will reduce inventory holding costs Further ZISCo should also focus more in managing its supply chain. It should reconsider the contract with suppliers because the present supplier seems to be not reliable enough poor in quality. Thus, management should consider signing contracts with few reliable suppliers (Refer appendix diagram 16 ) ZISCos communication system also should be developed because it seems there is communication gap between top people bottom people ZISCo. Even though, Middle managers are acting as effective communicators between two parties it is insufficient for an organisation that intends to create value. Organisation should extend their one stop shop services in many geographical areas. By doing this they can gain competitive advantage and increase customer satisfaction as it reduce the transportation cost and time of customers. Organisation also should concern on their employees by creating carrier opportunity and carrier development to provide a value to their employees by providing them future sustainability. 2.12 Action plan of ZISCo ACTION Measure Person Responsible TARGET (Period Ending) 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Focus on growth strategies Market share, competitiveness President and Middle Management 6% 7.5% 8.5% 10% 15% Improve the CRM strategies Contribution to total revenue and net profit President and middle Management 10% 18% 28% 42% 55% Improve the quality of the final output Quality control measures Department of product quality 15% 25% 40% 65% 90% Create Learning Culture, Continuous Improvement and a flexible organization Innovation efforts, ability to correct mistakes and progress, quick response President and the middle Management 2% 4.5% 7% 10% 15% New Product Development New products developed R D 1% 2.5% 5% 9% 12% 4.0 Conclusion This case analysis has focused on the strategic management process of Zhujiang in the areas of nature of competition, the strategy, the strategy process, method of entrepreneurship resources of Zhujiang Iron Steel Company (ZISCo). The analysis has investigated apparent effects of the issues of ZISCo determined the causes of these consequences by use of appropriate theories. Based on this analysis, justifiable recommendations have been developed, which would redirect the organisation to its required respective strategic objectives. The recommendations for the organisations have been logically presented within a 5 year timeline which enables to generate the favourable outcomes while keeping the environmental changes in focus. At present ZISCo is operating in a very competitive market the competitive advantage of technology leadership is more short time oriented. Thus, in order to sustain in the market a key core competitive advantage is required for ZISCo as company planned the value creating strategy would be the most suitable. Further, the quality levels of ZISCo are inadequate. This is furthering them from their objective of value creation. ZISCo is putting efforts to move from a paradigm of production efficiency to value orientations. However, it is a great challenge to ZISCo as there are many gaps at ZISCo. The analysis indicates though the strategic objectives are appropriate for the environment, implementation of strategy is ineffective. Thus in conclusion it is clear that only by formulating effective strategies an organisation could not achieve its strategic objectives, unless it has the systems, procedures and most importantly willingness to efficiently implement the formulated strategies. 5.0 References Fletcher J (2003) .Strategic management Study guide and plan Edith Cowan University Perth Australia Hill,C and Jones G (1995) Strategic management an integrated approach (3rd)Houghton Miffin, Boston, Toronto Hubbard, G. Rice, J. Beamish, P. [2008] Strategic management Thinking analysis action 3rd ed Pearson education Australia Miller A, (1998), Strategic Management, McGraw Hill, 3rd Edition. New York.Study Guide: Strategic Management Viljoen, J. Dann, S. 4th edition (2003). Strategic Management, Frenchs Forest, New South Wales: Pearson Education Pty Ltd.

Islamic Art Essay

To start this topic, the first question that arises in the mind is that what is art? Basically art is not a word, which has a specific definition, but in literal meanings art can be defined as a spiritual sense of a human being, which he or she notes down in an artistic way. Art refers to creativity. Creativity is something very similar to art. The human mind is a congregation of many ideas. These ideas when get note down beautifully on a piece of paper, it is called an art. An artwork is usually considered as a masterpiece when its concept reaches the mind of the people and it is considered as an appreciable piece of work among the people. Masterpieces of art are just not paintings but spray painting, wall painting and other forms of art created for buildings are much appreciable. Islam is not only a religion but it is a way to lead a happy life. Islamic culture and traditions express its importance in the life of a person. Islam has always supported everything either it is of any field. Today the topic is about arts in Islamic religion so an outlook on the past Mughal and Muslim rulers will serve the arts in Islam as a great commodity. Islamic art is not only features which have been introduced to make beautiful mosques or tombs but in fact in true and literal meanings Islamic art is a beautiful creativity which is in every country conquered by Muslims in past centuries. Muslim art has been one of the wonderful one in the world. Islam is not only a religion but it is a pattern of life. It is a beautiful way of life through which every new aspect of creativity has been launched. The reason of Muslim art is not only extension in this field but to introduce new designs throughout the world and improve skills, which have been unknown since centuries. The newly conquered lands by the Muslims have many things old created by the Muslim rulers of past centuries. However, the architectures working there are now working according to the Muslim motifs and strategy. It has been a fact in almost every era that Muslims have succeeded in every field of creativity and this can be seen in Agra. Taj Mahal is considered as one of the most beautiful monuments of the Sub continent. Taj Mahal was built by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan for his beautiful wife Mumtaz Mahal. It is still recognized as one of the most beautiful monuments of the Sub continent. The grave of Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan lies inside the Taj Mahal and the beautiful calligraphy and textile designing on the beautiful bluish tiles can be seen from inside. But something really drastic happened with the laborers who built Taj Mahal. According to resources some 22,000 laborers built it and after its completion the laborers lost their hands as Shah Jahan said that no body could be able to build such a beautiful monument. This incident rocked the world but still now the laborers are not valued for their creativity but Shah Jahan is praised for laying the base of such a beautiful monument. â€Å"In the time of Muhammad the Arabs had little or no art of their own, but, in their conquest of Syria, Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Iran they adopted the highly developed art of these countries. It is known from literary sources that the caliphs of the Umayyad dynasty (661-749) requisitioned materials and craftsmen from all the provinces for the construction of new cities, palaces, and mosques. Byzantine and Syrian masochists were employed to decorate the mosque at Damascus, for which an Iranian was the chief architect. Artists from Egypt worked in Jerusalem, Damascus, and Mecca. † (Dimand, 1947) It is a fact that Muslims in the beginning had no art of their own but soon as they started conquering other Muslim countries, they started introducing various forms of art and cultures adapted from other civilizations. Islamic art is basically an old art form, which started ruling the territories since seventh century. It reached the minds and eyes of people when Muslim rulers of past started preaching of their wonderful ideas. The fields in Muslim arts contain ceramic painting, calligraphy, painting and architecture. There is a sort of unity among the Islamic arts and artists. The merchants, traders who buy the antique pieces created by Muslim artists of high quality have much more understanding with the consumers than any other buyer or sellers around the world. Moreover, the art of ornaments among Muslim craftsmen is an art of great common sense and attention or concentration. Today, Muslim ornaments of past and present are valued most among the people. Muslim jewellery is much more appreciable than that of any other country. The most important feature in the classification of the Muslim art is architecture. Because of pious mosques and imambargah’s the Muslim architectures have to work very hard on the designs and decoration motifs of the mosques they are building. Muslims have many beautiful mosques and religious and visiting monuments on their credit such as the Great Mosque of Cordoba, Dome of the Rock mosque and the Taj Mahal. Apart all of that the religious places, such as Kahan-e-Kaaba and the Shrine of Hazrat Imam Hussain (A. S, whose dome is made of gold). Besides architecture another important and most valued feature in Islamic art is of calligraphy. Calligraphy plays an important role in the history of Islam. Islam values calligraphy both piously and artistically. Artistically Muslim calligraphy is of high quality and piously it is used for writing the phrases of Quranic. Quranic verses when written through calligraphic wittings look more beautiful than ever. Besides all of these creations Islamic artists or craftsmen have been master in metal work and pottery making. The sand of nearly all-Muslim countries is very fertile being close to rivers and seas so pottery work is very courageous here and appreciated too. Metal making, carpet weaving and ceramic work are also very common features in all of the Muslim countries especially in villages that is the reason why Muslim art is so much demanded in all of the foreign countries. â€Å"Islamic Art is an illustrated history that takes a broad approach, covering architecture, crafts, and aesthetics as well as â€Å"art† in the narrow sense, and placing them within their social and historical context. It extends to around 1700, but does not cover the entire Islamic world, only the arid area from Morocco to Afghanistan. Mosques are central to Islamic architecture, but have by no means been static. â€Å"Minarets may now be seen as entirely characteristic of Muslim religious architecture, but the very first mosques had none. † Patronage was critical, and rulers often reworked earlier buildings, making major monuments â€Å"architectural palimpsests. † (Irwin, 1997) Islamic art has always been a way to enhance the skills of workers and people who work for the betterment of Islamic society. Islam is not just a religion but it is a patron to lead a happy life. Even today many visitors from foreign countries and people interested in arts and crafts come to see the creativity or Muslim artists, who work according to the Islamic principles and bring out the designs of those Mughal Muslim rulers who have been now hidden under some old rocks. It can be said like that â€Å"Removing the sand from old rocks†. Conclusion Muslim art has been defined clearly. Research clearly shows that Muslim art is one of the most demanded and old forms of art in the world. Muslims has been working in this field since 7th century. However, when Muslims started conquering other states, they introduced new forms of art and craft there and now they are conquering the peaks of this creativity. Muslims and Islam has always guided people throughout their life in every field. Islam gives us better knowledge to lend a wise and proper life. Islam has given a perspective to us. Today if Muslims are reaching high in this creative field then it is just because of the principles of our prophets and the guidance of Islam. Following of Islamic principles can lend to live a better and happy life and through this one can be able to touch those peaks, which sometimes remained in just imaginations. References M. S. Dimand, (1947), A Handbook of Muhammadan Art, Hartsdale House. New York Robert Irwin. Irwin Islamic Art: Art, Architecture and the Literary World. Laurence King 1997.

The Appendicular Skeleton

The clavicle is a long bone, but it has no medullary cavity. The clavicle supports the scapula and arms, it protects deeper structures (blood vessels, for example) in the upper chest, and it transmits impact from the arms to the axial skeleton. The scapula is attached to the thorax and vertebral column by muscles. The pectoral girdles attach the upper extremities (limbs) to the axial skeleton and provide attachment sites for many muscles that move the upper limbs. The 2 pectoral girdles and the associated muscles form your shoulders.The pectoral girdles are very flexible and allow the upper limbs a great deal of flexibility. They permit movement in many directions at the shoulder joint. The socket of the shoulder joint is small, shallow, and poorly reinforced with ligaments. This arrangement is good for flexibility, but it is not very stable. Shoulder dislocations are therefore fairly common. The UPPER LIMBS (extremities) (FIGS. 8. 4-8. 8) consist of 60 bones; 30 bones per limb. Thes e are the bones of the arms, wrists, and hands.They include the HUMERUS, ULNA, RADIUS, CARPALS, METACARPALS, and PHALANGES. The PELVIC GIRDLE (hip girdle) (FIGS. 8. 9-8. 11 & TABLE 8. 1) attaches the lower extremities (limbs) to the axial skeleton, and it supports and protects the visceral organs of the pelvic cavity. The pelvic girdle is a strong and stable support for the lower limbs. While the shoulder girdle moves somewhat freely and allows the arms a great deal of mobility, the pelvic girdle is secured to the axial skeleton by some of the strongest ligaments of the body.Its sockets, which articulate with the thigh bones, are deep and cup-like and are heavily reinforced with ligaments. Even though both the shoulder and hip joints are ball-and-socket joints, the thigh cannot move in its socket with the same degree of freedom as the arm can in the shoulder joint. Flexibility in the hip joint is sacrificed for stability. The pelvic girdle consists of the 2 HIPBONES (coxal bones). E ach hipbone of a newborn baby consists of 3 bones: the superior  ILIUM, the inferior and anterior PUBIS, and the inferior and posterior ISCHIUM. Eventually these fuse into one COMPOSITE bone.The area where they all fuse is called the ACETABULUM, which serves as the socket for the femur. The PUBIS of the hipbones meet anteriorly at the PUBIC SYMPHYSIS. The hipbones articulate posteriorly with the sacrum at the SACROILIAC JOINT. The 2 hipbones, with the sacrum and coccyx, form the basin-like structure called the PELVIS. The LOWER LIMBS (extremities) consists of 60 bones (FIG. 8. 12-8. 17); 30 bones per limb. These include the FEMUR (thighbone), PATELLA (kneecap), FIBULA & TIBIA (lower leg), TARSALS (anklebones and heel bones), METATARSALS (feet), and PHALANGES (toes).

Free Essays on Jakob The Rich

Jacob Fugger â€Å"The Rich† During the Renaissance there were many advances, new ideas, and other things that helped create a time period in which we still study greatly today. One of the contributing factors of the Renaissance was the merchant and financier fields. There were quite a few families that were extremely successful in their professions of trading and financing. One of the most successful families was the Fugger family of Germany. The Fugger family were one of the most prominent mercantile of the Renaissance. They mastered their competitors in such feilds as trading spices, wool clothe, jewelry, and silk. They also made much of their money in lending finances to important people and charging a high interest rate in order to profit as much as possible. However the biggest of their revenue was their near monopoly in the silver, copper and quicksilver mines. The family business was started by Hans Fugger who died in 1409. He was just a wool weaver with a big dream. The family was based in Augsburb, Germany and expanded their business throughout Renaissance Europe. The most important of the Fugger family was Jacob Fugger the second, or better known as Jacob the Rich. Jacob the Rich was one of the hardest working men I have ever read about. He did so McDonald 2 much for his family name. While so much of the ground work was underway on building the family business stronger, Jacob was a young man and he was to become a priest. Shortly after Jacob had taken his first orders to become a priest in 1478 his family asked him to do one of the hardest things anyone can ask of their fellow family members. They asked if Jacob could abandon his dream of being a priest and help oversee and expand the Fugger business. He was sent to Venice to learn the traits of a good merchant and business person. This sacrifice would be forever remembered by the family because now Jacob demanded that every available family d... Free Essays on Jakob The Rich Free Essays on Jakob The Rich Jacob Fugger â€Å"The Rich† During the Renaissance there were many advances, new ideas, and other things that helped create a time period in which we still study greatly today. One of the contributing factors of the Renaissance was the merchant and financier fields. There were quite a few families that were extremely successful in their professions of trading and financing. One of the most successful families was the Fugger family of Germany. The Fugger family were one of the most prominent mercantile of the Renaissance. They mastered their competitors in such feilds as trading spices, wool clothe, jewelry, and silk. They also made much of their money in lending finances to important people and charging a high interest rate in order to profit as much as possible. However the biggest of their revenue was their near monopoly in the silver, copper and quicksilver mines. The family business was started by Hans Fugger who died in 1409. He was just a wool weaver with a big dream. The family was based in Augsburb, Germany and expanded their business throughout Renaissance Europe. The most important of the Fugger family was Jacob Fugger the second, or better known as Jacob the Rich. Jacob the Rich was one of the hardest working men I have ever read about. He did so McDonald 2 much for his family name. While so much of the ground work was underway on building the family business stronger, Jacob was a young man and he was to become a priest. Shortly after Jacob had taken his first orders to become a priest in 1478 his family asked him to do one of the hardest things anyone can ask of their fellow family members. They asked if Jacob could abandon his dream of being a priest and help oversee and expand the Fugger business. He was sent to Venice to learn the traits of a good merchant and business person. This sacrifice would be forever remembered by the family because now Jacob demanded that every available family d...

Dental Admins 5 Interview Questions You Need to Master

Dental Admins 5 Interview Questions You Need to Master There’s no denying it: a great dental office needs a great admin. Do you want to cut through the job-hunting crowd and become the administrative assistant that dentists dream about? The first step is to ace your next interview. Charles Crawford at Dentistry IQ has targeted five key questions that you better be prepared for when it’s your turn to dazzle potential employers. 1. Are you approachable?Great admins work well with every other member of the dental office team, and are great with clients, so employers are going to want to know that you’re the sort of person others feel comfortable with, or avoid like the plague. If you want the job, be sure the person in charge of hiring thinks you’d be great to work with.2. Are you a good talker?Dental admins are often the faces of the practices they work for- as an admin you may even be the first person patients interact with- so of course potential employers are going to want to know if you’re charismatic , a great talker, someone people feel good communicating with.3. Do you know how to listen?Listening is an absolutely essential skill when you’re an admin in a dental practice- from communicating effectively with other members of the team to helping patients on a daily basis and making them feel like they’re being heard. Your job during the interview is to convince potential employers that you’re a born listener.4. Do you have attention to detail?Ask any great admin at any dental practice- large, small, or in between- what the must-have skills are for job success. There’s no doubt that an unflinching attention to detail will show up on every list. From those minor office logistics that help a practice run smoothly to important patient factors, your eye for detail better be razor sharp! If you want to leave your next interview confident that you just landed your next great job, you better have convinced the employer that your attention to detail is undenia ble.5. Do you have a good work ethic?Employers aren’t going to be thrilled to hire admins who stare blankly at the clock until 5pm hits, just waiting to bolt out the front door and head home. Let’s face it, if you want the job you’ll have to show that you have the extra drive and initiative to solve problems, offer solutions, and do what it takes to get the job done well. Sell potential employers that you have a great work ethic or they’ll quickly show you the door.Are you ready? Master these 5 questions and you’ll have potential employers lining up to hire you!

Compose one job application using information from the narrative Essay

Compose one job application using information from the narrative below. A Solicited Job application letter in block format - Essay Example I used to supervise in and out flow of the products. I also learned about the shipping lanes, the shipping cost, insurance policies and the restricted goods for different countries. During the summer 2007 I worked as a loader and dock worker in the same company. I know about the high risk of shipping over the ocean and also about loading the containers with or without cranes. So I have all the basic knowledge about the commercial merchant ships, about their speed, design and the crew. I have worked as a laborer as well as a member of the management team so i know the in and out of the whole business. Moreover I am energetic, disciplined and quick learner and have a real gusto for hard work. Thank you for your consideration. Please see my resume for additional information. I can be reached anytime via email jackst@yahoo.com or my cell phone 23456034809. Sincerely, Jack S. Turner

Paul's First Missionary Journey Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Paul's First Missionary Journey - Essay Example Table of Contents Introduction 2 Dating Issues 5 Bringing God’s Message to the Gentiles 9 Implications for the Church 19 Conclusion 20 Bibliography 21 Introduction Paul was born in Tarsus as Saul1, into a devout Jewish family that brought him up â€Å"a member of the people of Israel, a Hebrew...; as to the law, a Pharisee†23. By that time, Tarsus was the metropolis of Cilicia, which had been administered by the governor of the Roman province of Syria4. There is a little mention of the city of Tarsus in the scriptures5; however, having been written about the time of Paul, Strabo’s Geography presents a more detailed account of the issue, stating that the city of Tarsus possessed a flourishing and powerful population, and all kinds of schools of rhetoric6. Another description of Tarsus is given by Flavius Philostratus in his Life of Apollonius, where the city is considered â€Å"harsh and strange and little conductive to the philosophic life†, and its citize ns nowhere else more addicted to luxury7. From looking at these accounts of Paul’s place of birth, one would envisage an important city, whose self-confident inhabitants lived more or less a comfortable life, in a â€Å"proud and virile atmosphere of mental and physical achievement†8. According to Paul’s own words, not only could his family trace their line of descent back to â€Å"the tribe of Benjamin†9 – they also adhered very strictly to the way of life regulated by the stipulations of the Jewish law – â€Å"circumcised on the eighth day†10 – and maintained close ties with the Jewish community in Palestine11. Some scholars point out that the traditional concept of Paul’s personality could be traced back to the second-century apocryphal Acts of Paul –â€Å"Small of stature, balding, bow legs, large eyes, eyebrows meeting, nose slightly hooked†, with appearance â€Å"full of grace†, sometimes looki ng â€Å"more like an angel than a man†12. On the other hand, his writings imply a sign of specific weakness – â€Å"a thorn was given to me in the flesh†13, which has been variously interpreted in terms of a physical defect, whether epilepsy, leprosy, or even stigmata14. Compelling evidence of Paul’s education is provided throughout his letters, insofar as some of his ideas, theological assertions, and terminology could be paralleled in rabbinic Judaism15; however, an explicit account of the issue is found in Acts of the Apostles – â€Å"brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, educated strictly according to our ancestral law†16. On the other hand, the style of Paul’s letters, e.g. literary patterns, hint other educational influences, namely Roman, Hellenistic stoic philosophy, etc.17 The turning point in Paul’s life – from a persecutor of the Church of God to the apostolic commission to preach the word of God t o the Gentiles – is widely believed to have taken place during the Damascus episode18. Nevertheless, Paul’s own account in his letter to the Galatians speaks of the continuity of divine action19, which had actually began before his birth – â€Å"†¦God, who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, so