Americas Obesity Epidemic

Cheyenne Rogers English IV Senior Paper America’s Obesity Epidemic Obesity is a chronic condition defined by an excess amount of body fat. Within eight years in the United States, the incidence of obesity has nearly doubled. People throughout America are slowly being affected by this national problem of obesity. The obesity epidemic is growing throughout each state in America, but now reasons for this epidemic are becoming clearer to individuals. Everyone wants to know a reason for the obesity epidemic, and now answers are appearing. Many reasons for this epidemic are due to present day generations, as well as American lifestyles.Fast food has not only come to dominate the American landscape, it has become the most visible American export around the globe (Down to Earth). Cheap and convenient food, busy work lives, and social lives, as well as a constant barrage from media sources have over-loaded Americans are all having a detrimental effect on people’s mental and phys ical health (Thompson). Due to busy lifestyles and laziness throughout America, people have found it easier to go through a drive-thru rather than take the time to go home and make a healthier meal for themselves.Weight gain and obesity are caused by consuming more calories than the body needs (â€Å"Obesity in America†). Genetic determinations, such as the way a body expends energy, hormones, which affect the way that calories are processed, and other organ systems in the body can all affect appetite (â€Å"Obesity in America†). Obesity is a disease that takes time to cure, but people will need to have determination to find a cure and also the understanding and knowing the cure will not come fast or easy. Thus, due to all these causes of obesity, America is in an epidemic that needs to be solved sooner than later.A big contributor to the obesity epidemic is the influence of the environment, such as lifestyles people have created. Within the American environments, what a person eats and how active he or she is, is now considered a lifestyle behavior (â€Å"Genetic Obesity†). Lifestyles contribute to obesity, because not only do families share genes, but they also share their lifestyle habits with in another in each household (â€Å"Genetic Obesity†). In any environment, diets from home are followed and original lifestyles can be carried on throughout life and adds to the ongoing obesity problem.Body functions of humans haven’t changed over the past 50-100 years, yet in society there have been an increasing number of people that are obese over the years (â€Å"Obesity†). Obesity over the past 30 years is most likely due to the recent environmental changes (Brehm). The environmental changes caused the obesity rates to increase over the years instead of decrease. The environment needs to change in a positive way in order for people to live in a healthy society. The media is pressuring people into unhealthy eating habits a nd unhealthy lifestyles.People’s exposure to fast food ads have increased compared to 2003 (â€Å"Effective Summary†). McDonald’s web-based marketing starts with children as young as two years old using Ronald. com (â€Å"Effective Summary†). Exposure to fast food restaurants and ads for these restaurants at such a young age is a major contributor to obesity. Kids are being told at a young age that it is okay to eat junk food; not being told that it is unhealthy for them. Advanced technology is also a factor in media expanding their products.Nine restaurant Facebook pages had more than one million fans as of July 2010, and Starbucks boasted more than 11. 3 million fans (â€Å"Effective Summary†). Smart phone apps were available for eight fast food chains, providing another opportunity to reach out to the young consumers anytime and anywhere (â€Å"Effective Summary†). In occurrence to the new technology, everyone has extra access to ads for all the unhealthy foods. The advanced technology has even gotten to the point where you can order food from your device.The media controls America by constantly pressuring people. The media advertising unhealthy foods it does not help to solve the obesity epidemic, and if this continues the epidemic will not be solved. A big reason for American obesity is because of fast food markers, which tend to be very greedy. Eighty-four percent of parents reported to taking their child to a fast food restaurant at least once in the previous week (Effective Summary). Fast food businesses make it easy for parents to supply food for children at low costs.Parents of the elementary school aged children were more likely to order a combo meal or dollar/value menu item for their child than a kid’s meal for the child (Effective Summary). Each meal is getting smaller and less filling for children pushing to get a bigger meal, even more unhealthy. In this case not only are parents feeding their ch ildren unhealthy foods, but over feeding them as well. Health problems are a result of obesity most people do not know about, such as diseases being results in unhealthy eating for a long period of time.Children and adolescents who eat fast food consume more calories, fat, sugar, and sugar sweetened beverages (Effective Summary). Removal of the nutrients from the body causes extra eating of non-nutritional foods, as the body seeks to regulate the actual levels of the nutrients it truly needs. Removing nutrients from the body is neglect towards the body. In order to be a healthy person it is necessary to consume all nutrients needed. A Finnish study showed that for every one kilogram (2. 2 pounds) increase in body weight, increases the risk of death from coronary artery disease by one percent (â€Å"Obesity†).Obesity is a risk for chronic disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and some forms of cancer (â€Å"Genetic Obesity†). Continuing to eat junk food is increasing chances of death, which is no joking matter. Most importantly, people should come to realization how serious and controlling obesity can really be. The effects of obesity are not only being physical fitness, but psychological as well. Losing weight and keeping it off can come more of a challenge to some than it does to others (T. J. Clark). This is caused by physical and psychological challenges.Many people continue to ridicule, mock, and even abuse the obese (The Effect of Obesity). People trying to lose weight are extremely vulnerable and are already currently struggling. Therefore, they need others support, not discouraging attitudes. Obese individuals trying to better themselves need support, especially when others find it necessary to constantly degrade the obese on a daily basis. Obese people may have fewer social and romantic relationships compared to the non-obese (Tree). Given that, low self-esteem is common among the severely obese as it is (The Effect of Obesity).Obesity causes much insecurity that people have a difficult time overcoming. A main effect of obesity is people not being pleased with themselves in any way, and no one should feel uncomfortable in their own skin. If the obesity epidemic continues, America will be an unhealthy world to live in, literally. Scientists project that by the year 2015 the number of overweight people in the world will tip to 2. 3 billion with more than 700 million people being obese (Green Life). The predictions have been made and at the rate America is going, these will be the obesity rates in three short years.Since 1995 diabetes rates have doubles in eight states within the United States (F as in Fat: How Obesity Threaten America’s Future 2011). Twenty years ago, no state had an obesity rate over 15 percent, but in today’s world there are two out of three states have obesity rates that are over 25 percent (F as in Fat: How Obesity Threaten America’s Future 2011). Thirty-eight states have hi gh obesity rates, and the rates don’t just stop there†¦ they keep increasing. Our future as Americans is a fat society. As a citizen, everyone should be concerned in helping to solve the ongoing problem, not only to better ourselves but to better our country!This problem can be controlled with motivation to work out and exercise, dedication to better themselves, and cooperation to stop the obesity epidemic from growing, to better each individuals body in America. To start, time reduced from watching the television and in other similar sedentary behaviors (A Vision for the Future: The Obesity Epidemic). Two of the largest fast food advertisers to children have joined the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, CFBAI, pledging to advertise only â€Å"better for you† choices to all children (Effective Summary).Plans to solve this problem are starting to be formed; and people just need to react in a productive way and help out. Other ways to help s olve the problem are to ensure that schools provide healthful food and beverages on school campuses (A Vision for the Future: The Obesity Epidemic). As the President of the International Association for the Study of Obesity, Phillip James, states â€Å"to change the food environment by requiring the companies label on soft drinks or fast food so that people are well informed, this is another way of helping reduce obesity† (Obesity Prevention Needs Change in Living Environment).Actions are taking place now, and soon America will have this problem solved with the help of the citizens from all over. America’s obesity epidemic has been an ongoing problem for the past 20 years. There has been questioning on what to do, how to fix the increasing epidemic, and how to react†¦ but now, the answers are clearly coming out. With support from others, obesity will become one step closer to an epidemic being reduced. Given there are a lot obstacle to go through to stay healthy t here are a lot of easy ways to do it as well. The media is always a pressure, but just think†¦ save a life by not having any health issues throughout life.Avoid the effects of being obese and insecure. And take a step forward and become a part of help our future generations NOT be obese. Now, with the cooperation of fast food companies, you can still get food quickly in the drive through just choose the healthier entree. American citizens created this problem and American citizens will get America a solution as well! Works Cited â€Å"A Vision for the Future: The Obesity Epidemic. † Vision. Vision. org. , 31 Jul 2008. Web. 2 Mar 2012. Brehm, Bonnie, and David D. â€Å"Impact of the Enviroment. † EndoText. EndoText Inc. , 24 Nov 2010. Web. Mar 2012. . â€Å"Executive Summary . † Fast Food f. a. c. t. s.. Rudd Center. Web. 1 Mar 2012. â€Å"F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America's Future 2011. † Trust for Americas Health . 2012 Trust for America's Health, Jul 2011. Web. 2 Mar 2012. T. J. Clark. â€Å"Genetic Obesity . † T. J. Clark & Company, 2008. Web. 1 Mar 2012. â€Å"Green Life. † Obesity and the Enviroment . Green Life, 06 Mar 2011. Web. 2 Mar 2012. â€Å"Obesity . † Medicine Net. MedicineNet, Inc, 2012. Web. 2 Mar 2012. † Obesity in America. † Down to Earth . Down to Earth ALL VEGETARIAN Organic & Natural, 16 Sep 2011. Web. 2 Mar 2012. Obesity Prevention Needs Change in Living Environment: Experts. † The Star: Online. Star Publications, 16 Jul 2010. Web. 2 Mar 2012. â€Å"Obesity Prevention Needs Change in Living Environment: experts. † English News. 2012 Xinhua, english. news. cn. , 16 Jul 2010. Web. 1 Mar 2012. â€Å"The Effect of Obesity . † Tree. com, Inc. , 02 Jun 2010. Web. 2 Mar 2012. Thompson, Dennis . â€Å"Too Much Work, Food, Media May Be Hurting Health. † News Health . U. S. News & World Report LP, 06 Jun 2011. Web. 2 Mar 2012. â€Å"Understanding Obesity . † Obesity In America . 2012 Copyright – Obesity in America, 2004.

How does administrative law change bureaucratic behaviour

The Committee presented a plan for an entirely new system of administrative law that rested upon a fresh vision of the role that external review agencies should play in safeguarding the rights of the public regarding executive decision-making. Three Acts were implemented by the Parliament. The Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975 (Cth) (AAT Act) established two bodies – an Administrative Appeals Tribunal to undertake merit review of a general range ofCommonwealth decisions, and an Administrative Review Council to perform a research, advisory and coordination function. The Ombudsman Act 1976 (Cth) established an Ombudsman to investigate complaints of maladministration by Commonwealth government agencies. The Administrative Decisions Oudicial Review) Act 1977 (Cth) conferred upon the newly-created Federal Court a reformed Jurisdiction to undertake Judicial review of Commonwealth decision-making. Purpose of Administrative Law Administrative Law concerns the relationship betwe en the government and the public.It refers to a wide range of controls exercisable by the law over the powers nd procedures of government decision-makers and administrators. It constitutes a means of protecting the rights of the public by making the government decision- makers accountable. With the growth of technology, financial institutions and globalization, society is becoming more complex, the role of government has expanded in terms of regulation and intervention. This has led to a growth in the number of bureaucratic decision makers which in turn led to an expansion in controls over administrative actions to counter balance the power of the decision makers.The Kerr and Bland Committees saw that the purpose of Administrative Law was to rotect citizens against government, when government was growing in size and exercising more administrative authority and discretionary power. It pointed to a posed threats to the rights and liberties of citizens . The view from the Kerr and Blan d Committees is compatible with that of Professor Cane that the Administrative Law can be used to regulate the way the administrators make decisions so that the power will not be misused. How to measure success of the Administrative Law?There are two views about the measurement of success of Administrative Law: (i) The instrumentalist believes the success lies in its impact on behaviour and outcomes, ence the law should bring behaviour and outcomes into conformity with specified value. (it) The non-instrumentalist believes its success lies in its rules and practices. The law could be counted as a success if it clearly, consistently and coherently expressed specified values. The supporters of regulatory approach to Administrative Law are instrumentalists whereas the supporters of legal approach are non-instrumentalists.What are the regulatory and legal approaches to Administrative Law? A regulatory system has three components (i) a set of standards that announce how eople ought to be have; (it) a mechanism for monitoring compliance with those standards; (iii) a mechanism for promoting future compliance. Administrative Law consists of a set of rules and principles about how decisions ought to be made. Individuals affected by the administrative decisions can utilize various tribunals and ombudsmen to review decisions and in turn provide incentive for the decision makers to comply with Administrative Law in future.The regulatory approach focuses on the future rather than the way decision makers behaved in the past. It aims to prevent potential issues by making the decision akers responsible for it. On the contrary, the legal approach presents administrative law to be used by complainants a means to redress past breaches so that decision makers can be held accountable for such breaches. It looks at the success of administrative law on its ability to provide redress to those adversely affected by unlawful decisions.The regulatory approach focuses accountability based on the institutional design and interaction between different organs of the system such as ombudsmen, parliamentary committee and internal review. The legal approach focuses more on the accountability of the government to the public. In constitutional terms, the regulatory approach addresses it with separation of power whereas the legal approach focuses on the concept of rule of law. Administrative law focuses on the accountability of government.By demanding compliance with administrative law principles, and by valuing review mechanisms for rectifying human error, it impacts upon the decision-making processes in order to ensure that the wrongful exercise of administrative power is curbed. The Australian tax system is an example of how administrative law impacts on bureaucratic behaviour. The tax system, being a self assessment system, encourages ne to voluntarily comply with the tax legislation. Tax compliance officers review the tax returns to identity potential risk to revenue.Wh ere the risks being identified in a review are significant, the tax office will escalate the case to an audit. During an audit, there will be an information request followed by the issuance of a position paper. If the taxpayers realize any errors in their tax returns, they can make voluntary disclosure in order to reduce any shortfall liability and penalty interests. Alternatively they can express their views if there is any contentious issue about the application of law. The taxpayers will be given an opportunity to comment on the position paper before an amended assessment is issued.The taxpayers can object to the amended assessment which is normally handled by the objection team that is independent from the compliance team. If the decision stays, an application can be lodged to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal to review the decision. The tax office has internal guidelines such as Practice Statement Law Administration for the staff to follow before any administrative decision i s made. This ensures the taxpayers would be fairly treated. Before a decision is reached, taxpayers will be iven opportunities to be heard and supply information to support their claim.The process demonstrates how the Administrative Law influences the bureaucratic behaviour. The decision-makers need to supply proper reasoning before issuing an amended assessment. What are the positive and negative changes on bureaucratic behaviour? On the positive side, more senior public servants are required to be legally trained as they are expected to make decisions based on strong legal grounds so that their decisions will be less likely to be challenged in future. The decisions being made would also be based on fairness with properly established facts.However, onerous review systems may cause potentially adverse bureaucratic behaviour. The onerous review system may sometimes lead to ‘No further action' on many potential tax evasion cases. The following explains the negative bureaucratic behaviour that is undesirable to the society goal. review the taxpayers' tax return and amend the assessments. The review period could be two or four years depending on the size of the business and the nature of entity. Once the ‘period of review expires, the tax office cannot amend the assessment unless there is fraud or evasion for which intention needs to be established.Knowing this system, some taxpayers may simply delay in supplying information or supplying irrelevant information to make the cases difficult to pursue. By contrast with the private sector for which financial target is the prime objective, the public bureaucrats may not have such incentive to pursue difficult cases that may eventually lead to tribunal review. Further to that, the tax officers need to follow strict guideline when dealing with fraud cases where intention needs to be established. As all elements need to be established before a case can be referred to prosecution, some fraud cases end up being à ¢â‚¬ËœNo further action'.This is undesirable to the societal goal as it means people who dodge the system may not be penalized. Can we Judge the success of Administrative Law as a regulatory tool primarily by its effect on bureaucratic behaviour? As mentioned above, the purpose of the Administrative Law is to make government decision-makers accountable. It promotes the fair procedures and compliance by decisions-makers with legal limitations on their powers. The public can use the merit review system to review the administrative decision of the government. The merit review allows the facts and legal aspects of the decision to be considered afresh.Based on the merits, the tribunal can affirm, vary or set aside the original decision. From a regulatory point of view, an independent body has stepped in to review the government decisions and therefore it limits the power of the bureaucrats. Therefore, the bureaucrats must obtain sufficient evidence and provide sound reasons to support th eir decisions. Furthermore, it encourages government bureaucrats to ensure they act consistently with relevant legal requirements. Based on the above, it appears that one can assert that Administrative Law has achieved its purpose as a regulatory tool that impacts on bureaucratic behaviour.

Are Cell Phones Dangerous? Essay

Ninety-one percent of American adults and sixty percent of teens own this device that has revolutionized communication in the 21st century — the cellphone. While cell phones provide an efficient and easy way to communicate with friends, family, and co-workers, excessive use can take a toll on your health. Twenty-three percent of auto collisions involved cell phones last year, that’s a little more than one million crashes. Also, leading scientists are saying that cell phones can cause vision problems and can lead to headaches and unnecessary stresses. I’m not saying cell phones are bad, I just think the time used on cell phones should be moderated. Psychologists from the University of Utah have published a study showing that drivers who just operate a cell phone are as impaired as drunken drivers. Drunken drivers really aren’t as accident-prone as cell phone drivers, there are just more drivers talking on the phone rather than drinking alcohol. Cell phone use is far from the only distraction for motorists. The researchers cite talking to passengers, eating, drinking, lighting cigarettes, applying makeup and listening to the radio as the â€Å"old standards† of driver distraction. I don’t think we shouldn’t use cell phones, I just think that it’s important for people to know how much damage it’s causing. Driving isn’t the only problem that cell phones are tied to. Many adults have been complaining that their teenager is never looking up, and glued to their cell phone every hour of the day. In general, smartphone ownership is up, as well, with thirty-seven percent of American youth owning a smartphone compared to twenty-three percent in 2011. That doesn’t seem like a big deal honestly, but it has been proven that children with cell phone addiction have caused more parental concern. Parents want to be able to monitor and ensure safety for their kids, and cell phones make it much more difficult with the accessibility to almost anything or anybody. This issue really is up to the parent’s choices, whether or not they want to restrict their children’s access to the phones. Top doctors in the United States such as Dr. Oz have been raving about the increase in patients losing vision. This is called CVS symptom. The eye’s natural focal point is about 20 feet in front of the face. However, most people hold their cell phone 1-2 feet in front of their face. When this occurs, your eye is over-compensating to focus on the screen. The screen on your cell phone is not a normal object for your eyes to focus on, and this is causing loss of vision over time. The first symptoms of this are dry eyes and headaches. We all know that people can’t and shouldn’t just stop using cell phones all together, that’s just insane. What leading doctors recommend is to use your phone no longer than 10 minutes without taking a break for at least 30 seconds. Also, when in doubt, blink it out. If your head starts hurting, or eyes become dry, blink rapidly to try to create more lubrication in your eye, or if you have eyedrops that would be helpful too. As I mentioned before, I’m not against cell phones, I use my cell phone all the time for various tasks. I just think it’s important to know the side-effects and problems that relate to owning a cell phone. Every issue stated above can be resolved, it just takes moderation and responsibility when using these devices.

Enterprise Application Architecture Research Paper

Enterprise Application Architecture - Research Paper Example These three disciplines have each contributed to the development of this discipline. Computer science is a discipline that has been very important in the development of information science enterprise architecture. This discipline has been seen to be instrumental in developing underlying theory and scientific theories. The discipline is the mother of all other information technology ideas and theories. It is the one that has been seen to be used to develop architectures that are used in developing software. Most of the research about new paradigms in software development has been seen to be developed using computer science knowledge. Computer science is used to do research on the new ways of developing software. Most of the theories that have been seen to develop have been seen to come out of computer science. Computer science is not concerned with the application of the software and the various software paradigms that have been developed per se, but it has been seen to be used to dev elop architectures and prototypes that have been used to develop software (Sate University, 2011). On the other hand, information system has been seen to be instrumental to get the real requirements of the systems that are being used in organizations. The main aim of information systems is that of assessing the relationship that information systems have with the organizations that they are installed in. the relationship that exist between the organization and the enterprise information system not only deals with the theory that are used to develop the information system architecture that are installed in the organization but is also concerned with the development and the application of the architectures too (Sate University, 2011). It is also concerned with training of the users into good use of the software. The information system course is meant to help students to connect business and information technology and make strategic moves in this. Information systems are not meant to ru n on their own. This will enable the current methods in technology and the current trends to be adopted. The knowledge that is taught is geared to understand the application part of the application. Enterprise application software will be used to evaluate the performance of a given architecture and the features that these architectures. They will then be assessed and recommended accordingly. From this, it is clear that information systems course helps to understand the application and the effectiveness of a given architecture. On the other hand, library information science is a science is also equally important in enterprise application development and architecture. Although its contributions are minimal, it is hard to ignore this discipline as it is equally important. It adds to the knowledge of information systems. It has been used in the knowledge of information systems. References Sate University. (2011). Software development job description, career as a network administrator, s alary, employment. Infoworld, 63(2),

Issues in the Management of Human Resources Essay

Issues in the Management of Human Resources - Essay Example Towards this purpose, there can be several strategies that can be used and the best of those are highlighted in this report. The first strategy which can be recommended is to make work and project teams which are geared to the diversity of the client. Brown (2005) discussed this strategy as it was applied by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) which was seeking a more diverse clientele and started with creating diverse teams for the sales force. The company quickly discovered out that attracting diverse clients requires diverse leadership and a diverse workforce as well. Simply targeting minorities in advertisements and billboards is not a guarantee for a diverse clientele since the human resources of the company at all levels must be made out of a diverse population (Torrington et. al., 2002). The president of MBA is reported to have said that diversity is not merely about connecting with a new customer market, it is a requirement for survival in the upcoming markets. Brown (2005) acknowledges that diversity programs and initiatives often fail because if used incorrectly, they can potentially waste time, money and other resources for the company. Therefore, if our company finds the client coming with a diverse team, the individuals which are selected to deal with the client should be selected with diversity in mind. DuPont is seen as a radiant model of a company which has managed to enlarge its customer base considerably by embracing diversity as a business tool. The company takes diversity as a business essential which is vital for the renewal of business and strategic competitiveness (Lockwood, 2005). This philosophy is made very clear by the variety of strategies used for creating and maintaining diversity at the company. DuPont emphasised its process of diversity with three elements, the first of which is accountability. Accountability for the leadership of a company has been mentioned by Yuki (2006) as a vital aspect of creating commitment to a

Hr1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Hr1 - Essay Example Explain the Purpose of Human Resource Management Policies in Organisations 16 3.2. Analysing the Impact of Regulatory Requirements on HRM Policies of Millennium Hotels 18 3.2.1. Positive Impacts of Regulatory Requirements on HRM Policies 18 3.2.2. Negative Impacts of Regulatory Requirements on HRM Policies 19 Task 4 20 4.0. Examining Human Resource Management in an Organisation 20 4.1. Analysing the Impact of Organisational Structure and Culture on HRM 20 4.2. Impact of Culture on HRM 21 4.3. Effectiveness of HRM on Monitoring Organisational Performance 22 4.4. Recommending Steps towards Improving HR Functions 23 Conclusion 24 References 26 Introduction The organisations in the present competitive business environment seek to increase their capability of managing and controlling the performance of their workforce for the purpose of competing with their major rivals and accomplishing superior competitive position. In this similar context, the idea concerning Human Resource Management (HRM) of different organisations play a fundamental role towards strengthening the optimal performance of the workforce and enabling the organisations to gain overall business or operational efficiency in this composite business environment. The conception of HRM considerably ensures to provide adequate potential synergy in order to empower the substantial growth of a particular organisation. Moreover, the concept of HRM can also be considered as one of the major influencing factors of an organisation which facilitates to enjoy adequate capability of increasing the performance of the workforce and attaining the desired objectives of the organisations (SAGE Publications, n.d.). In the context of Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM), the thought i.e. HRM can be regarded as a holistic approach which ensures to align human resource (HR) related functions of an organisation with its strategic objectives. The primary objective of SHRM implies the practice of identifying the key area s of HRM and developing effective strategy to meet the ultimate organisational goals and objectives (Salaman & et. al., 2005). With this concern, the primary objective of this report is to understand the contribution of SHRM in Millennium Hotels towards the attainment of its desired business objectives. Additionally, the discussion would further identify and analyse the major factors that underpins the need of an adequate HRM plan for Millennium Hotels. Furthermore, the purpose of HRM policies and their potential impacts will also be analysed in accordance with the HRM policies of Millennium Hotels. At last, the report will be concluded through analysing the impact of organisational structure and culture in the HRM practices and examining the efficiency of HRM in Millennium Hotels. Task 1 1.1. Significance of Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) Functions The practice of SHRM can be observed as the approach of preserving effective interrelation between the organisational strat egic decisions and overall HRM strategies. It intends to build a paramount approach for an organisation on achieving a greater degree of managing capability to efficiently attain its predetermined business goals (Gratton & Truss, 2003). In the context of Millennium Hotels, the approach i.e. SHRM can be viewed as one of the major attributes behind the continuous success of the organisation in the global hospitality industry. In relation to the fiercely growing competitiveness in the modern business

Large corporations, such as Wal-Mart and Home Depot, have been Research Paper - 1

Large corporations, such as Wal-Mart and Home Depot, have been criticized for driving mom-and-pop shops out of business. Is this - Research Paper Example Struggling to keep afloat, many have either sold their businesses, had to drastically change their business model, or have gone out of business altogether. While there may be some validity to the notion that large corporations are slowly causing the demise of small businesses, the American public can be seen as partly to blame for this modern day phenomenon as well. Fair Competition Many wonder if competition in the marketplace should be fair, or whether the business mentality in America should be seen as survival of the fittest where the one with the most customers and the biggest revenue wins. The free enterprise system prides itself on giving the consumer a choice. In addition, the system itself is designed to give anyone a chance of making it big, event if that means a large multinational corporation. To stay afloat, small businesses must adapt to the reality the big corporations are here to stay. There is, however, a way to remain competitive and for a small business to retain i ts place as neighborhood shop. There are current laws guarding against the establishment of monopolies in many Western countries, including the United States, but this does not preclude a given business from becoming so large that is squeezes out smaller competitors unable to keep pace. The reality is such that big businesses have more buying power and are often able to sell goods at a lower price than other businesses of their type, but of a smaller size. The fear, of course, is that once neighborhood shops are driven out of business, then large corporations such as Home Depot and Wal-Mart, will have little incentive to keep their prices low. There is also the feeling across America that the loss of the mom and pop shop will be like losing a part of American culture and its heritage. In order to determine how to save these shops, however, one must first come to a conclusion about what is really causing the small business to become a thing of the past in the first place. While small er businesses are at a comparative disadvantage, many scholars would argue that they could survive if they simply employ a bit more creativity and ingenuity into their business model (Bickle, 2012). Fair competition can be had between big and small business alike. The entrepreneurial mind is not limited by size. The neighborhood shop owner has the same potential to engage in creative marketing and loyalty programs to attract customers as the big business does. In fact, smaller businesses need far fewer customers to remain a viable player in the business world of a community than a large corporation does. As such, if a small business owner can become a bit more creative and enhance the visibility of their product, while providing a service that is superior to that of the big business down the street, the may be able to retain more than enough customers to keep their doors open. In the end, the business that can attract and retain enough customers to satisfy the goals set forth in its business model can position themselves to survive and weather economic storms. Some could argue that big business is in trouble today as well. Due to the large amount of financial and human capital that must be expended to keep a business such as Home Depot and Wal-Mart afloat, an uncertain economy brings about uncertain times for these companies as well. Recent years have seen the demise of such large retailers as Montgomery Wards and

Equity And Trust Law Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Equity And Trust Law Assignment - Essay Example In both areas Lord Diplock can be seen to challenge the validity of legal technicalities and create a more just legal system with a move away from ‘natural justice’ in individual determinations to general principles of fairness towards the wider public. Lord Diplock’s key contributions to equity law occurred in: 1) In United Scientific Holdings Ltd v Burnley Borough Council [1978]1, Lord Diplock proclaimed that the systems had, quite simply, become fused and that no distinction was to be drawn between law and equity. This statement by Lord Diplock was accepted unanimously by the judges in the House of Lords and propelled the debate on this issue further. The case concerned the timing of the service of notices triggering rent-review clauses. 2) In Gissing v Gissing [1971]2; on the subject of equitable rights and the interests of the beneficiary in a trust case, Lord Diplock suggested that it did not matter whether the trust was seen as a constructive, resulting or other form of implied trust. Lord Diplock's judgment in Gissing effectively created what is now referred to as a common intention constructive trust. Essentially Diplock held that where the legal title to a property was owned by one person, cohabitees would be held to share a beneficial interest in the property even if they had not contributed directly to the purchase price (thus falling beyond the protection of the resulting trust) as long as they could provide evidence that both cohabitees had a common intention that the beneficial interest would be shared, and that the legal owner had induced the beneficiary to act to his own detriment in reliance of this agreement. Crucially, however, he saw no need to properly establish the boundaries of this principle, or to distinguish common intention constructive trusts from implied or presumed resulting trusts. Lord Diplock's failure to properly distinguish between resulting and constructive trusts has led to a very dangerous ambiguity and uncertainty in this area of law, which has arguably, ever since threatened to defeat precisely what Lord Diplock set out to achieve: the protection of the cohabitee with no legal title. 3) Pettitt v Pettitt [1970]3; this case established that a person who claims to have contributed to the purchase price of property which stands in the name of him/herself and another can rely on the well known presumption of equity that a person who has contributed a share of the purchase price of property is entitled to a corresponding proportionate beneficial interest in the property by way of implied or resulting trust. This ‘presumption of advancement rule’ in resulting trusts has been widely criticised as anachronistic. In particular, the gender bias of the rule is no longer acceptable; in fact it contravenes Article 5 of the Seventh Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights.4 Lord Diplock described it as being based on the mores of propertied classes of the nineteenth ce ntury with little relevance to modern life. As Lord Diplock put it; â€Å"The emergence of a property-owning, particularly a real-property-mortgaged-to-a-building-society-owning, democracy requires the presumption to be reconsidered.†5 4) Hadmor Productions Ltd v Hamilton [1982]6; in this case Lord Diplock held that the Court of Appeal was

Family Business and Business Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Family Business and Business Management - Essay Example Many of the world’s leading publicly listed corporations are operating under the category of family business. For instance, corporate giants like Walmart, Samsung Group, Tata Group, and Foxconn are some of the well-known family businesses in the globe.   From the viewpoint of the family business consultant Schneider, there are eight major elements including purpose, structure, organizational culture and relationships rewards to shareholders, potential mechanisms in the organization, leadership, strategic and operational performance outcomes, and financial performance outcomes influencing the development of a healthy family business (para 4). The purpose is the factor determining the existence and long term sustainability of a family business. The major reason for the failure of many family businesses is that there exists ambiguity and lack of agreement on the vision, priorities, and goals of the business. Hence, a healthy family business will be characterized by clearly stated business goals and priorities. In addition, it is commonly seen that many family business ventures do not survive beyond the generation of the founders due to lack of foresightedness. In contrast to this, a strong family business will have a well-defined family philosophy that facilitates the continuation of the business beyond generations and sets a framework for the future operations of the company. According to Schneider, â€Å"structure is the architecture of grouping people in the family business† (para 5). The author continues that the structure of the family business has to necessarily fit the purpose and the current environment of the business.

Synopsis and a critique Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Synopsis and a critique - Assignment Example Coppa asserts that Pius XI, according to the evidence, was outspoken about the problems of racism and anti-Semitism in Nazi Germany and fascist Italy. Against the advice from those closest to him, he condemned Hitler and his practices on numerous occasions. He, also, gives detailed account of how his opponents in fact undermined his intentions and worked toward Vatican’s policies of silence. With his death, Eugenio Pacelli, Secretary of State, was elected to be the new pope, and he reigned the Catholic Church till 1958 as Pius XII. New pope was quite different from Pius XI. He openly stressed many times that he liked German people, which was reflected in the fact that his housekeeper, private secretary, and confessor all hailed from the Reich. He, also, was punctual and well organized, a characteristic often associated with Germans. Pius XII implemented new policy toward both Germany and Italy, a one of impartiality and appeasement toward Nazis and fascist. Coppa writes that â€Å"Pius refused to alter his impartial stance even though he received repeated reports of Nazi crimes against humanity in 1940 and 1941, and a series of sources within and outside the church alerted him to the genocide of the Jews. In May of 1942, Pius was told of the mass extermination (uccisioni in massa) of Jews from Germany, Poland, and the Ukraine while the military chaplain Father Pirro Scavizzi personally reported to Pius of the almost-total elimination of Jews through mass murder.† His position never changed and scholars are still looking for answers to why that was the case. Coppa uses pope’s own words to clarify the issue- â€Å"First, there are over forty million German-speaking Catholics. If I should denounce the Nazis by name as you desire and Germany should lose the war, Germans everywhere would feel that I had contributed to the defeat, not only of the Nazis but Germany herself†¦.Second, if I denounce the Nazis by name I must

Pediatric Echocardiography Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Pediatric Echocardiography - Research Paper Example The researcher states that due to the complexity in the mechanics, anatomy, and physiology of the heart, exact diagnosis of the cardiac condition is critical for management of cardiac disease. In the pediatric age group, the spectra of cardiac diseases are wide and also complex and hence arises the need for the reliable investigating tool. Further advances in this technology a couple of decades ago have led to more reliable and accurate forms of echocardiography, the 3D imaging, Doppler echocardiography, and tissue Doppler. These advances have posed a challenge to echocardiographers who need to be on their tiptoes in acquiring knowledge and also maintaining their skills by keeping abreast with the latest technology and changes. In this article, pediatric echocardiography will be discussed with references to its uses, limitations, impact on the professionals, impact on the patients, feasibility, and accessibility. Creating images of the heart using ultrasonic waves is known as echocar diography. The images of the heart are created using 2-dimensional, 3-dimensional or Doppler ultrasound. The test is routinely used in a clinical set up for screening, diagnosis, and management of various diseases of the heart. In the current medical era, echocardiography has become the primary imaging tool for the evaluation, diagnosis, assessment, and management of congenital and acquired cardiac disease in newborns, infants, children, and adolescents. The most ideal tool for assessment of cardiac problems is transthoracic echocardiography. The procedure is portable, efficacious and noninvasive and provides the detailed overview of the various anatomical, physiologic, and hemodynamic information of the heart. The various types of echocardiogram currently used are 2D echocardiogram, pediatric transesophageal echocardiogram, fetal echocardiogram, stress echocardiogram and intraoperative transesophageal echocardiogram. Pediatric echocardiography is unique when compared to adult echoc ardiography. There is a wide spectrum of diseases. Many of the cardiac conditions encountered are congenital.

Grammar school Essay Example for Free

Grammar school Essay From 1834, the year of emancipation of slaves in Dominica and the other British West Indian colonies to 1845, the popular education that was existent was really religious education. The concept of a state system of education in the West Indies emerged in Britain in 1833 as part of the act to emancipate slaves in British custody. Prior to that, the masses of the people had practically no formal education. In Dominica, from 1834 onwards, the British subsidized primary education through grants but basically, education was imported and promoted mainly by missionaries. The content of education was divorced from the interests and needs of the masses and the community. Emphasis was on the classics and the arts. There is little doubt that the churches original interest in education was the creation of influential educated elite. In practice, their interests were denominational, especially seen in the establishment of secondary schools. Proposed educational policies depended greatly on the availability of funds, which were always insufficient. Therefore, changes and reforms were minimal. The newly elected legislative councils and their leaders gave little support. In reality, education, in practice was for a privileged minority. The populace remained virtually ignorant and illiterate. The pre-emancipation society was therefore not in any sense an educated one. Where slaves received any instruction at all it was of a religious nature provided by the church at long intervals. The authorities had no aims or standards; hence there was no system of formal education. It was against this background that the British Imperial Government incorporated an education grant in the 1833 Act of Emancipation to assist in the educational development of the Negroes. Establishing schools for the masses was provided for by the Act, which included grant money from the imperial government to provide education in the ex-slave colonies. This grant money is known as the Negro Education Grant. It was regarded as an urgent matter. The total grant amounted to a mere ? 30,000 per annum for five years for all the BWI of almost one million people. The decision to allocate the grant was executed through the local legislatures and the religious bodies. The grant was decreased each year and ended in 1845. The denominations were offered financial help to build schools, and later to assist in the payment of teachers’ salaries as the best means of developing a system of education. Dominica’s share of the Grant amounted only to ? 600 to be spent on 14,000 ex-slaves. This amount was very insignificant and was spent mainly by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPCK). After two years it became apparent that the desired and intended results were not forthcoming because of the many difficulties faced. Some churches were unable to accept more grants because they could not bear the recurrent expenditure on their schools. In August 1837, the grant was switched to pay one-third of teachers’ salaries instead. This was insufficient, and the societies did not expand their operations further. As the expected expansion did not materialise the imperial government was disappointed. Hence, the union of the imperial government, local legislatures and the churches could not fulfil the early ambition to create a viable education system. Thus, in 1841, the imperial government started to withdraw the fund. The Mico trustees who had done the most protested, but to no avail. In 1845 it came to an end, and so the burden fell on the West Indian legislatures and workers to increasingly support the education of their own children. In Dominica, the drive towards education for the masses was assisted by the local legislature, thus complimenting the work done by charities and the churches so that by July 1840, Dominica had 20 schools, 10 teachers, 1,086 pupils and total average attendance was 750. The British Imperial Government gave two main reasons for ending the NEG: 1. English workers were said to be worse-off than West-Indian workers 2. The Baptists were said to be prospering – although they had refused all aid Both claims were false. The churches lacked both money and resources. The British felt in the case of Dominica that the Catholic Church could not and would not provide appropriate education. They therefore supported alternatives to church schools. They decided to provide secular schools and to withdraw grants to the church schools. This was strongly opposed until a compromise was reached. The main success of the period of the NEG was the idea of popular education. The Provision of Secondary Education in Dominica: Providers and Gender Issues From the foregoing, one can appreciate the fact that the provision of education was a task that involved the participation of several providers or stakeholders: The British Imperial Authority, the Local Legislature or Assembly, the Church (especially the Catholics) and the Charities (especially the Mico Trust). Prior to emancipation, the provision of education was the responsibility of the churches and the charities. Education was very limited and very few benefited. In reality, what ever was taught was basically religious education. With the passage of the Act of Emancipation, an attempt was made to establish popular education. The NEG thus provided the needed funds for this purpose but eventually ended in failure. These funds were channelled through the bodies mentioned above, especially through the charities and the churches. By 1868 the main providers were mainly the state (the Local Legislature) and the church. It must not be forgotten that the vast majority of the population were Catholics and therefore co-operation and compromise between the two bodies were of paramount importance. By that date, the majority of primary schools belonged to the state i. e. 18 out of 33 (54%). This was unique, for no other West Indian society had such participation by the state in educational provision. In the case of secondary education, the provision was by the Church (Catholic). The first establishment for the provision of secondary education was the Convent High School (CHS) in 1858. This was exclusively for the children of the local elite. The children of the rural peasantry and the working classes were excluded. The state provided some funds for the school. But there were no secondary education provided for the masses. It is again unique to Dominica in that early period that post-primary education was being provided only to girls when this gender was marginalized in the rest of the W. I and in Britain itself. Even today, in 2000, over 65% of secondary school students are girls. The figures for the Clifton Dupigny Community College, University of Technology (Jamaica) and University of the West Indies are roughly the same. In the case of Dominica, male marginalisation has had a long history, contrary to popular opinion. Due to mounting pressure and clamour for secondary education for boys and the children of the masses, the state established the Dominica Grammar School (DGS) on the 16th of January 1893, with a registration list of 25 boys under the headmastership of one tutor, Mr. W. Skinner (M. A – a graduate from Catherine’s College, Cambridge, England). It was to be run as a government school, with the aim to provide higher education for boys. The building being used was a personal gift from Mr. Dawbiney, a respectable Jamaican who had settled in the island. The DGS remained a boy’s school until 1972. This occurred at a time when the number of girls selected by the Common Entrance Examinations far surpassed that of boys. The first DGS girls came from the CHS and the WHS. The total number of girls on the roll for that year totalled 34 out of a total of 560 students. Thus a reluctant but necessary era commenced in that year – the DGS becoming a co-educational institution under the headship of Mr. J. K. Gough (B. Sc; Dip. Ed. from Scotland). In that same year there were 14 Dominican staff members who were university graduates. Not to be outdone by the Catholics, the Wesleyan Society (Methodists) following the tradition of their rivals, opened the second high school for girls in the island, the Wesley High School (WHS) in October 1927. By that year, 80% of the students accessing secondary education were girls. This again was a unique situation second to none in the W. I. This further marginalized the boys given the restrictive and limited nature of access at the time. At this juncture, it is necessary to appreciate the great effort expended by the churches in the provision of secondary education in the island of Dominica, albeit for denominational reasons. In 1932, the Christian Brothers (Catholics) opened the second educational establishment providing secondary education for boys, the Saint Mary’s Academy (SMA). By that year educational provision was roughly equal for both genders with boys now having the slight edge, notwithstanding the fact that the girls were doing better in entrance and scholarship exams. There were insufficient spaces available. An entrance examination would soon be rigorously applied to ration out, select and match the number of students to the available supply of places. This state of inequitable affairs became unbearable as the girls were now being marginalized in favour of boys who were securing less ‘passes’ than girls in the exams. In other words, the selection was a function of available places. The two boys’ schools had more places than the two girls’ schools. Therefore, fewer girls were selected although their average scores were higher than that of boys who secured places. In the1972/1973 school year, the Labour government of Mr. Edward Oliver Leblanc took the bold step to make the DGS co-educational. This occurred at a time when the number of girls who had succeeded at the Common Entrance Examinations far surpassed that of boys. Since then, girls have kept on increasing the education gap or divide to the extent that in Dominica and the West Indies this problem of ‘male marginalisation’ and ‘male underachievement’ and the like, have now become so serious that it threatens the whole concept of male patriarchy. The year 1972 has been regarded as a milestone in Dominica’s educational history as far as secondary education is concerned. From that year all new secondary schools have opted to become co-educational with the exception of the Saint Martin’s Secondary School in 1988. Another important milestone in our educational history is the year 1971. For the first time, secondary educational provision moved out of Roseau with the establishment of the co-educational Portsmouth Secondary School (PSS). This greatly reduced the cost burden to parents in the northwest, north and northeast of the island, who, hitherto had to make tremendous sacrifices to provide education for their children in the capital, Roseau. By 1974, the Common Entrance Examinations as a selector of educational life chances was psychologically so devastating to pupils that those who were not selected felt that they were ‘rejects’ and ‘failures’ with no hope or future. It was against this backdrop that a group of concerned persons headed by Ms. Jean Finucane-James decided to provide a ‘second chance’ to those pupils that was not based on a selective exam. This co-educational school was named the Dominica Community High School (DCHS). Apart from the PSS, the early 1970s were characterised for having secondary education concentrated in the capital city of Roseau. The ‘70s was a period of political upheaval. In August 1979, Hurricane David struck and the island was devastated: 43 deaths, massive destruction of crops and the forest, wildlife was decimated, schools and the social and economic infrastructure was destroyed. The economy came to a standstill. Educationally, the students suffered greatly. A large number of students from the northeast could not attend the Roseau schools. In the aftermath of the hurricane, two schools were opened in the northeast: St. Andrew’s High School (SAHS) in 1979, located in Londonderry which is run and operated by the Methodists and in 1980, the Marigot Foundation High School (MFHS) headed by Mr. Martin Roberts, a former Methodist minister. The last named school was eventually renamed the Marigot Secondary School (MSS) when in 1999 it passed over to the state. These two schools are co-educational institutions. In this catchment area the Common Entrance Exams consistently selects more girls than boys. In the 1980s four schools were established. In 1981, the Seventh-Day Adventists began to provide secondary education. The Seventh-day Adventist Secondary School (SASS) is located in the Portsmouth suburb of Granvillia. It is a co-ed school. In that very same year the co-ed St. Joseph Campus of the DGS was opened which later became a separate entity as the St. Joseph Secondary School. In 1996 it was renamed the Isaiah Thomas Secondary School. In 1988, two government co-ed secondary schools were established from what were formerly Junior Secondary Programmes: the Goodwill Secondary School (GSS) and the Grand Bay Secondary School (GBSS). In that same year, the Catholic–run St. Martin’s School for girls upgraded its technical/vocational wing into a fully-fledged secondary school called the St. Martin’s Secondary School (SMSS). With the opening of these new schools and the continued use of the Common Entrance Exams the gender balance continue to be in favour of girls to the detriment of boys. In October 1994 the Nehemiah Christian Foundation headed by Mrs. Rhoda George opened the Nehemiah Comprehensive School with 60 boys and girls. The school is located in Jimmit, Mahaut. In the financial year 1995/96 the government entered into a loan agreement  with the World Bank to fund the Basic Education Reform Project (BERP). One of the three main objectives of the project was to expand access to secondary education. Under the project, this objective was fulfilled in the co-ed Castle Bruce Secondary School (CBSS) in 1998. TABLE I DOMINICA: Academic Secondary Schools, 2002/03 |School |Year Founded |Boys |Girls |Total |Status | |Convent High School | | | | | | | |1858 |0 |493 |493 |Assisted | |Dominica Grammar School |1893 |518 |281 |799 |State | |Wesley High School |1927 |0 |287 |287 |Assisted | |St. Mary’s Academy |1932 |420 |0 |420 |Assisted | |Portsmouth Secondary School |1971 |402 |435 |837 |State | |Dominica Community High School |1975 |79 |46 |125 |Assisted | |St. Andrew’s High School |1979 |233 |292 |525 |Assisted | |Marigot Secondary School |1980 |86 |59 |145 |Assisted | |Isaiah Thomas Secondary School |1981 |312 |393 |705 |State | |SDA Secondary School |1981 |108 |87 |195 |Private | |St. Martin’s Secondary School |1988 |0 |306 |306 |Assisted | |Goodwill Secondary School |1988 |380 |262 |642. |State | |Grand Bay Secondary School |1988 |334 |343 |677 |State | |Nehemiah Comprehensive School |1994 |64 |73 |137 |Assisted | |Castle Bruce Secondary School |1998 |266 |291 |557 |State | |Orion Academy |2003 | | | |Private | |Total | |3 202 |3 648 |6 850 | | Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth Affairs, 2002/03 The School Curriculum Several factors impinge on the development of the curriculum in Dominica: slavery, colonialism, politics, economics, religion, socio-cultural biases, parents, teachers and the learners themselves. In the pre-emancipation era the curriculum that existed was of a religious nature. The society was largely illiterate and ignorant. There existed no notion or idea of popular or mass education. With emancipation in 1834, the rudiments of a system of education began to take shape. The limited curriculum was non-scientific and bookishly academic based on rote and memory teaching and learning. By 1868, as the primary system took root the three r’s were taught namely reading, writing and arithmetic. The system that was taking shape was one that would provide labourers and servants and no more. At the secondary level, the curriculum catered for the children of the elite: Maths, Science, Geography, English, Greek, and Latin. The colonial powers and the local legislatures controlled the educational system. In other words, the ruling elites/classes decided who should be taught, what should be taught, when, how and where. The entire process from start to finish was decided for the learner. In 1899, Agriculture was being promoted as a subject to be taught so that the learner would become an agricultural labourer or worker on an estate or join the ranks of the impoverished peasantry. So agricultural schools were encouraged. In this way the islands would remain as sources of primary agricultural produce. When the British abolished the local legislatures and imposed direct crown colony rule the curriculum again was being used as a tool to keep the masses in their place. It limited them to learn the basics and agriculture. Attempts were made to improve education at the end of the First World War (1914-1918): salaries to teachers, payments by results and attempts at compulsory education. The West Indian Conference in Dominica in 1932 urged the region to struggle for compulsory education among other things. This failed. In 1957, the ministerial system was brought to Dominica with some exercise of authority by the house of assembly. But power still lied with the British parliament. Budgets could be passed, but had to be approved by Britain. In 1967, Dominica became an associate state with Gt. Britain. All internal matters were under local jurisdiction, but foreign affairs, trade and defence resided with Gt. Britain. Dominica could now influence and shape educational progress, but very little happened. The primary system continued to develop. The high schools became stagnant. The last one to be established was in 1936 (SMA). Thirty-seven years passed before the next one, the PSS was established. By 1978, the curriculum at the primary was now being driven by the Common Entrance Examinations to the detriment of all else. The same thing could be found at the secondary schools. The entire curriculum was driven by foreign external examinations. The foreign element was removed in 1985 when we switched from the Cambridge and London GCE ‘O’ Levels to the regionally based CXC examinations. But the GCE ‘A’ Levels still continue to dictate the curriculum at the post-secondary level. In 1998, CXC began to test pilot its own ‘A’ Levels known as CAPE, which will soon replace the English-based GCE ‘A’ Levels. The School Curriculum and Examinations The CXC and the GCE curriculum dictate the locus and focus of secondary education in Dominica. These exams cater for the 30-40% of the ability range of secondary students. The entire curriculum was driven by foreign external examinations. The foreign element was removed in 1985 when we switched from the Cambridge and London GCE ‘O’ Levels to the regionally based CXC examinations. But the GCE ‘A’ Levels still continue to dictate the curriculum at the post-secondary level. In 1998, CXC began to test pilot its own ‘A’ Levels known as CAPE, which will soon replace the English-based GCE ‘A’ Levels. The HSC, LSC and GCE dominated the curriculum of secondary schools since the 1880s. The failure rates were very high at both the ‘O’ and ‘A’ Levels. It was also a drain on the scarce resources of the region. The minimum of 5 ‘O’ Level subjects were required to move into the sixth form and five subjects were needed of which 2 must be at ‘A’ Level for university entry. The Caribbean was influenced by educational and curriculum developments in North America and Europe, especially Britain. Revolutionary curricular changes in maths and science were being undertaken in the USA as a result of the Russian success in Sputnik I. In the U. K, the Nuffield Foundation invested heavily in a science development project. In 1969-70, the West Indian Science Curriculum Innovation Project (WISCIP) began at St. Augustine, UWI, and Trinidad. It was a new approach with emphasis on enquiry and experimentation, understanding and constructive thinking. This was introduced in the DGS and the other high schools of the time. During that same period ‘New Mathematics’ was introduced in the schools’ curriculum. All five of the secondary schools in Dominica adopted it. The Convent High School had their first ‘O’ Level candidates in 1971, and the DGS in 1972. Results in all Caribbean schools were not so good at first because of the unfamiliarity with the new approaches and topics such as inverses, identities, algebra of sets and matrices, decimalisation and metrification, vectors, inequalities and topology. At first most of the schools used the School Mathematics Project (SMP) books, but these were replaced by the Joint Schools Project (Caribbean edition) series, as part of the CEDO/UNESCO/UWI Caribbean Mathematics Project. The CXC was established in 1972 to serve the Commonwealth Caribbean. The process took over 10 years. The CXC was to replace the GCE exams. It would develop syllabi, conduct exams and issue certificates. This was a form of asserting cultural and intellectual independence from our colonial past and from Britain. Politically, the Caribbean has eschewed integration. There was the West Indian Federation as colonies of Britain (1958-1962). It ended in failure due to insularity, nationalism and dependency. With independence, the nations can dictate their educational goals and match these to national needs. In Dominica, we have not had a long history of educational reforms established in law. In 1949 an Education Act was passed to regulate and govern the sector. This was changed in 1997 when the new Education Act was passed. This was part of an attempt to harmonise education legislation in the Eastern Caribbean. In 1995 the Basic Education Reform Project was launched (BERP). The Project had three main objectives: 1. to strengthen the management and planning capacity of the Ministry, 2. to enhance the quality of education, and 3. to expand and conserve school places. Economically, we live in an interdependent world, a global village. We are partners bargaining from a position of weakness. Unequal terms of trade, onerous foreign debts, trade deficits and balance of payment problems deplete our resources so that our educational budgets are severely constrained. In general (1999 2004), Dominica spends about 17% of its recurrent budget on education, 1-2% on materials and supplies and about 80% on personal emoluments. New Curriculum Developments. Primary schools follow a curriculum, which has recently been reviewed by the Curriculum Development Unit (CDU). Schools have been provided with curriculum guides for English Language, Mathematics and General Science for Grades K to 6. Curriculum guides for Social Studies, Mathematics, Science and English Language were to become available in September 1999 for grades K to 6. A curriculum guide for Social Studies has been prepared for Form 1 at the secondary level. Workbooks for Grades k to 3 for English were to have been made available from September 1999. In addition a curriculum guide for Health and Family Life covering primary and secondary age ranges is being monitored and supported in schools. A draft national policy for this was presented to Cabinet in August 1998 but has not yet been officially approved. The CDU has planned to review Music, PE, Art and Craft, and Agriculture in 2001 as well as to start writing and production of support materials for pupils and teachers. The revised primary schools curriculum appears to be appropriate at the national level. The main problem appears to be in its delivery. The main need at the primary level for curriculum development is in relation to adapting the teacher’s guides for multigrade teaching and provision of differentiated activities for all subjects and all classrooms. Dominica does not have a National Curriculum and therefore, the curriculum de facto is determined by each school and in practice is closely related to the requirements of the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) other external examinations and higher ability students. A balance needs to be struck between the academic and practical skills education in the secondary sector in any future national curriculum. The Ministry of Education has outlined the following process to arrive at the promulgation and implementation of the National Curriculum (NC): National Curriculum Committee (NCC) established in school year 1999/2000 NCC reviews existing curriculum: locally and regionally Under the NCC, Subject Teams and Subject Areas are established Development of Syllabi, and Curriculum Guides in Core Subject Areas Curriculum Training of Staff/Subject Team Members Resource Provision First Draft National Curriculum in Core Subject Areas Review of Draft Curriculum Development of Curricula in other subject areas. Establishment of National Norms and Standards for all subjects Piloting of National Curriculum in a cross-section of schools Promulgation of National Curriculum by Minister of Education Use by all schools of the National Curriculum as of September 2003 The Secondary Education Support Project (SESP) had been working with the Curriculum Development Unit (CDU) to write and pilot a revised curriculum for Forms 1 to 3 in the core subjects of English, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies, incorporating activities for average and below average ability pupils. Drafts of curriculum guides for Form 1 have been completed and were made available to schools in September 1999. All the guides for the four core subjects were made available in 2001. The CDU also has completed work in Music, Art, Craft, and Agriculture. However, the major curriculum need resides in the consideration of a curriculum which will meet the needs of all students – academic, technical/vocational, aesthetic, spiritual, moral and for citizenship and fulfill the ambitions set out in the 1997 Education Act. This would be especially so when Universal Secondary Education is achieved.

The Millennium Development Goals Mdgs Sociology Essay

The Millennium Development Goals Mdgs Sociology Essay The Millennium Development Goals are an integrated set of eight goals and 18 time-bound targets for extending the benefits of globalization to the worlds poorest citizens. The goals aim to stimulate real progress by 2015 in tackling the most pressing issues facing developing countries poverty, hunger, inadequate education, gender inequality, child and maternal mortality, HIV/AIDS and environmental degradation. UNDP helps countries formulate national development plans focused on the MDGs and chart national progress towards them through the MDG reporting process (Wacc, 2006). In most developing countries, gender inequality is a major obstacle to meeting the MDG targets. In fact, achieving the goals will be impossible without closing the gaps between women and men in terms of capacities, access to resources and opportunities, and vulnerability to violence and conflict. Millennium Development Goal 3 is to promote gender equality and empower women. The goal has one target: to eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005 and to all levels of education no later than 2015. Four indicators are used to measure progress towards the goal: the ratio of girls to boys in primary, secondary and tertiary education; the ratio of literate women to men in the 15-to 24-year-old age group; the share of women in wage employment in the non-agricultural sector; and the proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments. The existence of a separate goal on gender equality is the result of decades of advocacy, research and coalition-building by the international womens movement. Its very existence demonstrates that the global community has accepted the centrality of gender equality and womens empowerment to the development paradigm- at least at the rhetorical level. Gender inequality means inequality between men and women in accessing the existing resources (Saroukhani 1991:673). In the view of Krammara Treicehr any kind of behavior, policy, languages, and other actions that represents a fixed, comprehensive, and institutionalized view in regard to women as inferior beings, means gender inequality. (1985:185). Therefore, gender inequality refers to the differences between men and women in receiving social and economic advantages which is often to the benfit of men at the expense of women, which means men take superiority over women. Men and women experience the world of work quite differently. Wage disparities, occupational sex segregation, and gender differences in authority, for example, are well recognized (e.g., Padavic and Reskin 2002). Despite distinguished changes in work, meaningful differences in these areas remain persistent features of contemporary society (England 2006, 2010). While there are certainly other factors at play, this paper focuses on discrimination in a variety forms, including in hiring (Gorman 2005; Goldin and Rouse 2000), promotions (Olson and Becker 1983), wages (Meitzen 1986), glass ceiling, and as well as sexual harassment (Welsh 1999).Of course, documenting the contemporary occurrence of gender discrimination in employment is only a first step. As Reskin (2000, 320) argues, We need to move beyond demonstrating that employment discrimination exists, and investigate why it persists in work organizations. We must look at processes that lead to unequal outcomes for women and men. The real challenge is to uncover how discrimination unfolds in actual work settings. The issue of gender inequality can be considered as a universal feature of developing countries.One of the areas of disparity between males and females is related to the difference in their employment status which is present through occupational segregation, gender-based wage gaps, and womens unequal image in informal employment, unpaid work and higher unemployment rates (UNFPA, 2005). As women in developing countries have low status in the community, the activities they perform tend to be valued less; and womens low status is also perpetuated through the low value placed on their activities (March et al., 1999). In the case of Mauritius, even though there has been a rapid change in the society where women have reached a high level and hold status such as Judges, Directors, Engineers which were unconceivable to be the fields where women could emerged; there are still some occupation where women are entangled in the culture norms and could not take the lead. For example, there are some sectors such as Fire Men at the Fire Services where there are no female officers. There are less women who work as Electrician, Plumber or even Carpenter, as these occupations do not allow women to perform well due to their physical strength. Besides there is no doubt that there are organisations which are gender biased. Most of the organisations are entirely rules by male managerial culture as when organisations were first performed; only males were in the paid workforce.   Despite there has been an increased in the education field at all level and the increase of women in the workforce, there has been a minor change to the men dominated culture in the workplace where women are still treated as inferior agents. Our study focused on how gender inequality still has an impact on the Mauritian female within the workplace. General context An Overview of Gender Inequality in Developing Countries The issue of gender inequality can be considered as a universal aspect of developing countries. Unlike women in developed countries who are, in relative terms, economically empowered and have a powerful voice that demands an audience and positive action, women in developing countries are generally silent and their voice has been stifled by economic and cultural factors. Economic and cultural factors, together with institutional factors state the gender-based division of labour, rights, responsibilities, opportunities, and access to and control over resources. Education, literacy, access to media, employment, decision making, among other things, are some of the areas of gender disparity. One of the areas of disparity between males and females is related to the difference in their employment status which is distinct by occupational segregation, wage inequality, and womens unequal representation in informal occupation, unpaid work and higher unemployment rates (UNFPA, 2005). As women in developing countries have low status in the community, the activities they perform tend to be valued less; and womens low status is also perpetuated through the low value placed on their activities (March et al., 1999). In-depth analysis of DHS by Hindin (2005) showed that only 17% of women in Zimbabwe, 12% in Zambia and 4% in Malawi have higher status job than their partners. The respective percentages of women whose partners have higher status jobs are 52, 43 and 53. Women are also overrepresented in the informal sector. In Sub-Saharan Africa, 84% of womens non-agricultural employment is informal compared to 63% of mens. The figure is found to be 58% and 48% for women and men, respectively in Latin America (UNFPA, 2005). Studies generally show that women are more likely to be engaged in work which is for longer hours than men. For instance, in 18 of the 25 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, greater than 50% of women were employed and even in six of these countries the percentage of employed women was greater than 75% (Mukuria et al.,2005). However, as most of the employed women work in agricultural and other activities which are mostly considered to be having limited or no financial returns, their employment does not contribute much to their status in the workplace. Thus, women in those countries are dependent on their partners in most aspects of their life. In spite of its importance in enabling women to get access to information about personal health behaviours and practices, household, and community, the percentage of women exposed to different types of media is limited in most developing countries. Womens limited access to education, employment opportunity, and media, attached with cultural factors, reduces their decision making power in the society in general and in a household in particular. Regarding their participation in decision making at national level, though the number of women in national parliaments has been increasing, no country in the world has yet achieved gender parity. According to the millennium indicators data base of the United Nations, cited in the UNFPA (2005), the percentage of parliamentary seats held by women in 2005 was 16% at world level, 21% in developed countries, and 14% in developing countries. This low representation of women in national parliaments could be due, among others, to type of electoral systems in different countries, womens social, economic status and beliefs about womens place in the family and society, and womens double responsibilities for work and family (UNFPA, 2005). Women are underrepresented in the formal sector of employment. The survey conducted by the Central Statistical Authority (CSA, 2004) showed that women account for less than half (43%) of the total employees in the country. Considering the percentage of female employees from the total number of employees by employment type, the highest was in domestic activities (78%) and followed by unpaid activities (59.3%). In other types of formal employment (e.g. government, NGOs, private organizations), the percentage of female workers is less than 35. On the other hand, the survey showed overrepresentation of female workers in the informal sector. About 58% of working women work in the informal sector whereas the percentage of working men in the informal sector was 37.7 % (ibid).The breakdown of the federal government employees by occupational groups also indicated gender disparity. From federal government employees found in the clerical and fiscal type of jobs 71.3 % were female, while the percentage of females was slightly more than half (51%) in custodial and manual type of jobs. Women make up 25% and 18% of the administrative and professional and scientific job categories, respectively, indicating that upper and middle level positions are overwhelmingly dominated by men (Federal Civil Service Commission, 2005). This concentration of women in the informal sector and low level positions has implication on their earnings. In this regard, the survey showed four out of ten women civil servants earn Birr 300 a month compared to two out of ten for men (Federal Civil Service Commission, 2005).Ethiopian womens access to mass media is one of the lowest. In their DHS comparative report, Mukuria et al. (2005) show that, among 25 Sub-Saharan African countries. Chapter 2 Component of gender inequality-horizontal and vertical segregation Jonung (1984, p. 45) defines the presence of occupational gender segregation as when women and men are given different occupations that is reliable with their overall shares of employment, irrespective of the nature of job that they have. Gender segregation mean when the percentage of one gender is higher than that of males and females in an occupation. It reflects the gender differences in employment opportunity. The number of occupation with segregation against women is far greater than the number of occupations with segregation against men. Occupational gender segregation consists of two main component dimensions known as horizontal and vertical segregation (Blackburn et al, 2000). Horizontal segregation is known as under or over representation of certain group in the workplace which is not ordered by any criterion (Bettio and Verashchagina, 2009). According to Anker (1998) horizontal segregation is an absolute and universal characteristic of contemporary socio-economic systems. It focuses mainly when men and women possess different physical, emotional and mental capabilities. Such discrimination occurs when women are categorized as less intelligent, hormonal and sensitive (Acker 1990). Women are labeled as unreliable and dependent workers when they are pregnant. They are less competent as they will not work as long and hard as others. They become more stressful and sensible to tiny issues happen in the workplace. Martin (1994) declared that in masculine management style, most of the time women possess soft skills and men possess hard skills. It is this concept which creates gender segregation in the workplace. Vertical segregation referred to the under or over representation of a clearly identifiable group of workers in the workplace at the top of an ordering based on desirable attributes such as income, prestige, authority and power. Huffman (1995) finds that women do not possess enough supervisory authority at work, in education, occupational experience and prestige. One reason that women lack authority is because most women are more concentrated in female-dominated occupations which comprise fever position of authority than male-dominated occupations. Moreover, it is viewed that mens have greater status value, that is mens personality are more valuable than womens and they are much more skilled. (Broverman et al. 1972; Deaux and Kite 1987; Eagly 1987). Men possess more powerful position in the workplace (Bridges Nelson 1989). Womens wage rates are lower than mens even if their qualifications are similar. As women enter in the workplace, this reduces the level of prestige related with the task and men leave these occupations. Sex discrimination-discrimination, harassment and glass ceiling In many parts of the world, women have experienced breakthroughs in their rights in employment. Despite these advances, women from every country and culture continue to face sex discrimination and sexual harassment in the workplace. The international community has recognized both discrimination based on sex in the terms and conditions of employment and sexual harassment as violations of the fundamental human rights of women (Gudrun and Danya, 1998). Although sex discrimination is prohibited by law, it continues to be a widespread problem for working women. There are three forms of sex discrimination that have an effect on women in organizations: overt discrimination, sexual harassment and the glass ceiling. Each has negative effects on womens status and ability to perform well at work. Overt discrimination Overt discrimination is defined to make gender as a decisive factor for employment-related decisions. This type of discrimination was targeted by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited making decisions based on sex in employment-related matters such as hiring, firing, and promotions. It consist such behaviours as to refuse to hire women, to pay them inequitably or even to steer them to womens jobs. Overt discrimination also led to occupational sex segregation where jobs are classified by low pay, low status and short career ladders (Reskin, 1997). Sexual Harassment MacKinnon (1979:1) defined sexual harassment as the unwanted imposition of sexual requirements in the context of a relationship of unequal power. As in overt discrimination, sexual harassment is a persistent gendered problem for women in the workplace around the world. Sexual harassment is a type of sex discrimination, but one manifestation of the larger problem of employment-related discrimination against women. It now appears obvious that sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination. There are three psychological dimensions of sexual harassment that continued to persist worldwide: sexual coercion, gender harassment and useless sexual attention ((Fitzgerald et al., 1995; Gelfand et al., 1995). The case of sexual harassment in the workplace is mainly due to obtain more power and status than the opposite sex (e.g., Baugh, 1997; McKinney, 1992; Piotrkowski, 1998; Riger, 1991; Welsh, 1999) Statistical discrimination is another form of sex discrimination in the workplace, it consists of sex-typed job assignment (i.e. error discrimination-Aigner Cain 1977, England McCreary 1987, Bielby Baron 1986a). For example, employers put men into jobs which consist physical demands and women into jobs demanding social skills (Bielby Baron 1984, Farkas et al 1991). However, employers introduce gender segregation in job assignments exceeds technical or economic justifications: within the mixed-sex occupations that either sex could presumably perform, small differences in job requirements were accompanied by large differences in sex composition (Bielby Baron 1986a:782). The Glass ceiling The term the glass ceiling was coined in a 1986 Wall Street Journal report on corporate women. The glass ceiling is a concept that most frequently refers to invisible or artificial barriers that do not allow women from advancing past a certain level in corporations, government, education and nonprofit organization (Federal Glass Ceiling Commission -FGCC, 1997; Morrison and von Glinow, 1990). These barriers reflect discrimination a deep line of demarcation between those who prosper and those left behind. The glass ceiling is the unseen, yet unbreachable barrier that keeps minorities and women from rising to the upper rungs of the corporate ladder, regardless of their qualifications or achievements (Federal Glass Ceiling Commission 1995b:4; emphasis added). This official description suggests that the definition of glass ceiling must know that it reflects job inequality that is unexplained by a persons past qualifications or achievements; it reflects labor market discrimination, not ju st labor market inequality. For the purpose of this study, the glass ceiling concept is discussed regarding women who suffer from discrimination in the workplace. The usual method to know where there is discrimination is to look for inequalities that are unexplained by prior personality of the employees. Inequalities that originate from past discrimination in education or training or from choices that people make to pursue nonmarket goals such as family, volunteer work or leisure are not generally measured as part of a glass ceiling. Therefore, glass ceiling inequality represents a gender or racial difference that is not explained by other job-relevant characteristics of the employee. The glass ceiling is a third type of discrimination that affects women in the workplace and it is an important factor for women who do not get enough access to power and status in organizations. It also includes gender stereotypes, lack of opportunities for women to get promotion and prevent women to get higher income than men.

Recession in the Hotel Industry

Recession in the Hotel Industry A marketing environment comprises of macro and micro elements. Marketers should consider both internal and external environments to understand the whole of the market in which they want to sell their products or services (Masterson and Pickton, 2004). Normally, in a time of recession, customers do not spend too much money on overseas holidays (Mintel, 2009), because they see them as a luxuries. One could expect, therefore, customers would prefer take short city breaks or a domestic holiday. Businessman also may choose budget priced accommodation for their business trips. Moreover, consumer-spending power has diminished, as they have had to draw-in their purse strings, although levels of personal disposable income have been maintained to a degree because of historically low interest rates. Mintel(2010) estimates that personal disposable income stagnated between 2004 and 2009. The hotel industry has been notably affected by the recession. Environment analysis using such models as, PRESTCOM, Porters Five Forces, SWOT Analysis and Segmentation can be used to examine the effect of the recession upon the hotel industry and for this reason models will be used in this report. 2.1.1 POLITICAL Up to 1978, the hotel industry developed rapidly but after that date, the economy increasingly became market-oriented. This improvement created a much better environment for the industry in which to develop (Hornsby, 1990). According to Kotler (1996), the political environment strongly affects the hospitality industry. The political environment is comprised of laws, government agencies and pressure groups that influence and limit the activities of various organisations and individuals in society. Furthermore, the EU has proposed plans to sponsor holidays for individuals who do not have enough money to travel. According to Travel Weekly (2010), these plans assist many customers with financial problems to have a holiday. For example, young persons aged from 18 to 25, disabled people and pensioners, etc. The idea to help these people travel was put forward by Antonio Tajani, the EU Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry, who declared that a holiday is a human right. Therefore, this proposal could actually stimulate consumption and offer individuals more opportunities to have holidays. Perhaps this might be good news for the hotel industry during the recession. 2.1.2 REGULATORY An environment that is regulated protects companies from each other. While most businesses praise the virtues of competition, they try to counteract it when it affects them. Another way is try to restrict a companys unfair dealings and illegal transactions. Furthermore, regulation also aims to protect consumers from unfair business practices. If unregulated, firms might provide unsafe, low quality products, poor services, be untruthful in their advertising or deceive through packaging and pricing. VisitBritain, the body, which aims to promote UK tourism, has launched a  £6.5 million advertising campaign outside the UK to promote the affordability of Britain as a destination. However, it calls for this investment to be matched by the UK government have so far been unsuccessful (Mintel, 2009). Moreover, hotel and restaurant taxes have become a popular source of revenue for local government. Hotel taxes are supposed to be used to support tourism; however, how this money is spent has been subject to liberal interpretation. Therefore, hotel managers should make sure that these taxes, which are designated to promote tourism, are used properly and effectively. 2.1.3 ECONOMIC FACTORS One factor that complicates the situation is the weakness of the pound against the Euro and Dollar. Sterling has lost value rapidly over the last year. In July 2008, one pound would still buy $2 but by November 2008, it was worth only $1.48, the lowest level for 6 years. Similarly, at one point the pound was almost equal in value to one Euro. While this is bad news for people buying goods or travelling outside the UK, it also means that UK goods and services become more attractively priced from the point of view of Euro Zone or USA travellers (OGrady, 2008) The economical environment is comprised of the following factors: Wage inflation: During a recession wages might increase. It is depends upon decisions to cut or increase wages that are made by employers. Therefore, hotel managers should pay more attention to income distribution as well as average earnings. Price inflation: In a recession, if the economy declines then commodity prices will rise. This factor will influence the decisions customers make whether to travel or not. Gross domestic product per capita (GDP): The most important economic factors are customers purchasing powers and spending patterns. GDP can indicate the magnitude of these factors, because total purchasing power depends on current incomes, prices, savings and credit. Hotel managers, therefore, must be aware of major trends in income and changing consumer-spending patterns. Exchange rates: The UK economy has weakened, the value of the pound against the Euro has decreased and therefore, customers might choose domestic tourism for their holidays. Even during a recession, customers still holiday but prefer to take short breaks to reward themselves. Mintels Annual Survey of Spending Priorities in 2009 showed that holidays remain the leading concern for consumers, despite the recession. Furthermore, all other leading consumer priorities showed little change compared to pre-recessionary times. Specifically, hotels in the UK appear relatively cheap since the fall in the value of sterling and hence more attractive to inbound travellers and tourists. At the same time, this means it is less attractive for UK holidaymakers to travel to the Euro Zone or USA and more attractive to stay at home. 2.1.4 SOCIAL FACTORS The age profile of the UK population is increasing. Furthermore, Mintels (2009) exclusive consumer research reveals that older adult usage of budget hotels is slightly below the national average; however, it is somewhat more than for young people. However, even during the recession, some people remain unaffected and they still stay in luxury hotels, such as, the Ritz or the Hilton. They do not care about the cost because they lead a luxurious lifestyle. Although these people have not changed their pattern of consumption, however, most customers will be affected by the recession and they might prefer to choose budget and not mid-range hotels when they travel. 2.1.5 TECHNOLOGICAL FACTORS Technology has a significantly affected the hotel industry in many ways, for example, Travelodge launched a free iPhone application that allows users to locate their five nearest Travelodges by GPS. They can see the availability, prices and book rooms. Moreover, customers can reserve their accommodation or check-in by via internet. In addition, they can obtain information via new platforms, such as, Facebook or Twitter. These and other technological advances help companies to become more effective in the marketplace, however, internet penetration levels and demographic breakdowns might make operators use of this distribution channel ever more viable. If firms adopt useful technological advances, they will gain a competitive edge. 2.1.6 COMPETITION FACTORS Since hotels are a service industry, human resources have become an indispensable element of the market. If the turnover ratio of employees is low, the centripetal of employees will be strong. As a result, the company will have the advantage of competition. The main substitutes who could replace the customers decision in the UK hotel market are those from other countries. Foreign customers may plan to visit the UK from places where they live, such as, France and Spain. However, Country House or Bed Breakfast hotels and so on which could also threaten substitutes in the UK domestic hotel industry. Hotels find themselves with different problems compared to their entrants. These problems include a high barrier of exit and entry costs with the investment. Thus, the large capital investment required to build a hotel represents a sunk cost. Hotels may not meet all their debt payments, taxes and other fixed costs but they can produce enough profit to cover their costs. Even they are perhaps prepared to operate at a loss rather than close their doors completely. However, when there is an oversupply of hotels but the total number of rooms remains the same, the result will be a price war within the industry. 2.1.7 ORGANISATIONAL FACTORS A Hotel manger should decide how to engage with the process of hostelry management using his/her capability and skills and be able to adjust and develop it to adapt to customer needs and preferences. For example, if a hotel could provide a high quality service or promote a particular customer-desirable activity then client return ratio will be increased. However, the problem that faces the hotel industry is recruiting qualified staff that can satisfy the standard of service required by customers. Most service employees lack the knowledge and skills to provide a service that meets international standards. This may be because employees have not received adequate training in the skills that are required. For instance, Whitbread has decided to open 1,700 Premier Inn rooms across the UK during 2009 and 2010. Whitbread is planning to increase their market share of the UK hotel industry. It will attempt to achieve this by building up its market position and providing customers with cost-effective packages (Mintel, 2009). It also plans to develop their booking platform, enhance their sales and put into place the next phase of its revenue management system. 2.1.8 MARKET FACTORS In the market sector, the most important thing is the customer; firms should affirm the clients they want to reach and their market segmentation. At the end of 2007, the UK hospitality as well as the hotel industry worldwide had been hardly affected by the recession and many commentators predicted that this would last until at least 2010. In the course of a few months, by early 2009, consumers had radically changed their attitudes and consumption. The optimism that had been expressed earlier could not be sustained (Mintel, 2009). The number of business travellers choosing budget hotels for their commercial trips is increasing. Moreover, the start of this trend corresponds to the beginning of the recession in 2008. Many companies have reduced their budget for commercial travel in response to recessionary conditions; therefore, commercial travellers now use budget hotels rather than mid-market ones. Green holidays and the effect of frequent air travel upon the environment are being raised as concerns (Bainbridge, 2009). Customers who want to reduce the effects of their pollution upon the environment choose to holiday within the UK (Bainbridge, 2009). However, these concerns are not entirely beneficial for the UK hospitality industry because overseas tourists share these beliefs, so this could reduce inbound tourism into the UK. Saving the environment, however, is currently a relatively low priority for most consumers but studies indicate that green issues will gradually become more important in the future (Key Note, 2009). A previous study has claimed that more customers prefer to holiday in the UK because of green considerations and as an alternative to flying abroad. Therefore, in 2008, travellers might choose the ferry to holiday as a greener alternative (Key Note, 2009). Budget hotels have made important investments in order to close the gap with mid-market brands. The three top most improved brands in terms of advertising awareness are Premier Inn, Travelodge and Holiday Inn Express. 2.2 SWOT analysis 2.2.1 Strengths The UK, like many other countries, after rapid economic growth with an open policy has now become one of the worlds most attractive places for travellers. On a positive note, the hotel market in the UK is a strong and sophisticated one that offers a wide range of options, which could meet different types of customer needs. This includes internationally famous brands as well as smaller individual enterprises. Moreover, there is a powerful promotion and support system in place for tourists through organisations, such as, VisitBritain. Moreover, the range of hotels offering different prices could meet individual consumer needs. Luxury, middle range, budget and even the country house hotel could satisfy every consumer. In addition, the growth of the budget hotel sector opened up a wider range of clients to the hotel market. In the past ten years, due to the rise in the level of consumers disposable incomes, the short break leisure market has grown. This phenomenon has allowed customers to have more domestic holiday choice and encourage travel within the UK. This trend has proven very positive for the hotel industry. Another factor that has strengthened the hotel market is the online reservation system. Customers are able to search for information, accommodation and book rooms online. This system is not only convenient for customers it is also efficient. 2.2.2 Weaknesses Profitability is a major concern for hotels. They worry about losing money during the course of chain operations. In addition, there remains an absence of an efficient system to monitor hotel management, which includes employees and retired employees etc (Gavin, 1997). The existing weaknesses in the hospitality industry are described below. Recession has been the influential factor from 2004 to 2009. As noted by Keynote (2010), the number of visits peaked in 2007 but fell during 2008 by one million. In the face of room oversupply, occupancy rates averaged approximately sixty percent but this figure fell by eight percent during 2007 to 2008 (Keynote, 2010). In an attempt to counter this fall, prices were reduced but this may diminish profitability. Mid-market hotels are coming under pressure, being squeezed, between budget and luxury hotels. Competition in the mid- and budget hotel market is becoming more intensive and probably there will be a price war. The performance of the global economy has a direct influence on the cost of hotel equipment. These costs have been rising and consequentially the financial burden has become heavier. 2.2.3 Opportunities Many tourist and hotel officials now believe that the UK will become the worlds most attractive visitor destination by 2011. This is considered an encouraging sign and a great opportunity for those who want to expand their hotel business in the UK. Any expansion is anticipated to be within the mid- or low-grade hotel sector. The demand for high star rated luxury hotels among the various hotel management groups is not expected to rise (WTO, 1999). In late 2008, the pound fell against foreign currencies and was very nearly equal to one Euro. This means that UK services, including hotels and tourist attractions have become more attractive to overseas tourists as they get more value from their Euros or dollars. The development of a global online reservation system will not only make hotels easily reachable but also provide an opportunity to access a wider client base. According to Keynote (2008), the age profile of the UK population is increasing. Many consumers that belong to this enlarged senior sector of the population have disposable assets, which they use to enjoy their leisure. In addition, the number of retirees is rising, which will have a positive effect upon the hotel market. In the next decade, due to a number of organized activities, such as, the 2012 London Olympics, more attention will be paid to the UK by the international market and it is anticipated that this will promote a growth in demand from overseas visitors for accommodation. Few leisure facilities, for example, restaurants and bars can cope with any extra business and, therefore, they are unable to create potential sales from the local area and hotels. 2.2.4 Threats Since 2004, the long-stay leisure market, that is, stays involving five nights or more has been in decline. Moreover, the number of long-stay hotel rooms booked in 2008 decreased by more than a half compared to 2006, at eleven million (BMRC, 2009). The threat of terrorist activities could discourage overseas travellers to stay in the UK. The success of the budget hotel sector is a threat to mid- and upmarket hotel chains. During the recession, customers may choose low price accommodation for their tourism. For example, self-catering and other less expenditure styles of accommodation manifest a big threat at this time. Some budget airline companies that offer low-priced flights to travellers for short weekend breaks may compete with domestic travel in the UK. 2.3 Porter Five Forces The structure of the hotel industry strongly affects competition between its members, which in turn directs decisions about the choice of strategies that are used by them. Therefore, Porters Five Forces analysis will be used to investigate the industry. New Entrants Government policies against entrants Fixed cost is huge Hard to access further credit Investments cannot be recovered immediately Buyers Large hotel, power low; Small hotel, power high Customers as a group have more power Sign contract gain more bargaining power Suppliers Bargaining power depends on the size of the hotel Unique technology and resources Switching costs Competitors Competition within luxury, mid-market and budget hotels Customers change consumption to budget hotels. Little effect on luxury hotels Substitutes Camping, caravan clubs, BB and country houses etc Camping and Caravan clubs had their best ever year in 2008 An attractive option for the budget conscious consumer The analysis includes the threat of new entrants, competitive rivalry within the industry, the threat of substitutes and the bargaining powers of buyers and suppliers. 2.3.1 The threat of new entrants Suitable hotel sites are not easy to find and building costs are very high. Furthermore, investments cannot immediately be recovered, especially during the period of construction. This factor represents a strong barrier to entering this market. The UK has enjoyed some of its highest periods of growth in property prices in recent years. The construction industry has been badly affected by the latest recession. Developers are hardly able to gain credit to support large scale building schemes; therefore, many hotel projects have stalled (Blitz, 2009). Aside from new developments, hotel managers who are unable to access further credit are finding things more difficult. Larger operators and branded chains are able to look to the medium and long-term over which a boom for hotels and travel are predicted due to emerging markets but smaller operators have less access to the resources that they will need in order to survive the next couple of years (Blitz, 2009). As a result, the threat of new entrants into hospitality industry is limited. 2.3.2 The competitive rivalry within industry In economic downturns, competition occurs within upmarket, midmarket and budget hotels. Mid-market hotels usually cater for tourists who do not travel a lot; also, their rooms are priced much higher than in budget hotels. In general, when the economy is in recession, consumer-spending power is less, therefore, they might choose lower priced accommodation. At the same time, budget hotels continue with their strong development plans to offer extra rooms through the expansion of new property. The development of budget hotels has eroded the mid-hotels market sector. However, the upmarket hotels have been little affected. Their customers are less likely to change their consumption patterns. The lifestyles of these customers engender very high consumption. Their expenditure would not change because they are not price sensitive. That is to say, no matter how prices changes, they will continue consuming. 2.3.3 The threat of substitutes There are some substitutes in this market, such as, camping, caravan clubs and BB and country houses. Mintel (2009) predicted that these holidays are an attractive option for budget conscious consumers. These substitutes will benefit from an increase in the number of families who because of financial reasons elect to stay in UK in 2009 and 2010. The Camping and Caravan Club market had their best ever year in terms of recruitment during 2008 (Mintel, 2009). Camping holidays are predicted to do rather better over the next few years before the long-term trend towards decline is re-instated. However, growth in this area might not be good news for the hotel industry, as by definition a stay in a hotel does not count as such for this type of holiday. 2.3.4 The bargaining power of buyers The hotel industry is faced by fierce competition. Companies will possibly sign a long-term contract with consumers to retain their customer base. Therefore, customers possess a strong bargaining power. Behind large hotel groups, there are large amounts of capital to support them to buy land and build new hotels. Consequently, the bargaining power of consumers is quite low with respect to these large hotel groups. Conversely, for small hotels, the bargaining power of consumers is much greater, which means these establishments might find it harder to fulfil customers, expectations. However, customers will segregate into two sectors, namely, individual and group. Customers as individuals: This sector will divide into business travellers and individual tourists. Business travellers may have a long-term contract with a hotel, therefore the price for them could be pre-negotiated but for individual tourists, their bargaining powers are almost none. Customers as a group: Groups usually book rooms through travel agencies, involving a large number of rooms and the travel agent takes the profit. However, the price is still much cheaper than for the individual. That is to say, their bargaining power is more than the independent tourist is. 2.3.5 The bargaining power of suppliers There are two main bargaining powers in the industry, one is furniture and fittings and the other is food and cigarettes. They are outlined below. Furniture and Fittings: When hotels purchase furniture; they typically establish criteria that they use. The number of pieces of furniture purchased is usually in bulk rather than separate items. Thus, orders must be relevant to the number of rooms they operate. For this reason, furniture is supplied by specialist contract providers, which are dedicated departments of businesses that already cope with the domestic market as well. Food and Cigarettes: Many food and cigarette manufacturers have their own specialised sector that supply and deal with the demands of the hotel industry. However, bargaining power is dependent on the size of the hotel. If a company has very many hotels then its bargaining power with its suppliers is enhanced. Conversely, if the company has few hotels then its bargaining power will be limited. 2.4 STP processSegmentation, Targeting and Positioning 2.4.1 Segmentation According to Swarbrooke and Horner (1999), the tourist market is divided into demand characteristics within a number of the different segments, which are described below. Family market: The definition of family means two parents with one to three children. The preference of many families is to minimise the cost that is required to meet their desire to have a vacation. However, these needs will depend on those of their children. Hedonistic tourist: According to Kozak and Andreu (2006), the number of hedonistic tourists has increased in recent years. They prefer a place with sun, sand and sea, such as, Ibiza. In fact, they have a desire for physical pleasure and a social life. The backpacker market: Backpackers generally keep their expenditure to a minimum; they have the time and want adventure as part of their holiday. Moreover, this tourist usually travels independently rather than in a group. VFR (visiting friends and relatives): People do not stay in commercial accommodation and usually domestic travel is involved (Swarbrooke and Horner, 1999). This form of tourism could also relate to weddings and funerals. In particular, their budget is limited in a similar way to that of a normal holiday. Excursionists or day-trippers: In general, these travellers do not travel far and it involves domestic transport. They would do not usually stay overnight. Educational tourists: They usually travel to other countries, for example, for foreign culture, student exchanges or attending language classes. Religious tourist: This form of tourism can be seen as obligation or duty for those who have faith and belief but recently traditional religious tourism has become, in part, a sightseeing tour, which visits churches and cathedrals (Swarbrooke and Horner, 1999). However, they usually visit the place at a specific time, such as, the Haj. The snowbird market: The snowbird refers to a tourist that travels during the winter, in order to avoid the cold weather. Retired people normally take this type of vacation because they have the time to travel. Tourists with disabilities: According to Swarbrooke and Horner(1999), there are many kinds and degrees of disability, which include the following: Mobility problems: These individuals are confined to a wheelchair and may have difficulty in climbing stairs. Sight problems: These individuals have minor eye impairments and unclear vision. Hearing difficulties: These individual have injuries to their ears and their hearing is impaired. It is important that hotels have regard for these conditions and have someone available to assist them. The short break market: This means tourists use their two-day weekend to have a vacation. According to Mintel (2007), the short break market is continuing to grow despite an overall stagnation in the growth of domestic tourism. It is forecast that the volume of the short break market will increase to 9.5 million and its monetary value will be  £2.5 billion by 2011. Commercial travellers: They usually travel for business and generally involve domestic travel. 2.4.2 Targeting In order to relate to the research objectives of this report as described in earlier in this chapter, the researcher will inquire into the budget hotels to investigate their target market. Budget hotels focus upon three types of domestic tourists during economic downturns: commercial, family and short break. Budget hotel characteristics are relevant to these three types of tourists in terms of limited cost, clean and comfortable accommodation in which to live. In addition, the fact that there many chains are available in this sector means that travellers can be reassured regarding expectations and quality as they are buying into a brand name (Brotherton, 2004). 2.4.3 Positioning According to Baines, Fill and Page (2008), positioning is important for a business because it differentiates it from other competitors. As Mintel (2010) argues, the first physical attributes of budget hotels for customers is that they have quality standards, consistent service and are located in many places, which are convenient to access. According to (Brotherton, 2004), the second positioning elements for budget hotels as perceived by customers are value for money, cleanliness and have a great brand reputation. Marketing communication can be used to position brands as a strategy to attract customers (Shimp, 2003). Budget hotels position their brand, products and services via three basic consumer needs, such as, functional, symbolic and experiential (Keller, 1993). These are described below. Functional needs: Budget hotel marketers adopt new technology and season sales to appeal to consumers needs for convenience, value for money, physical comfort, etc. These wants can met consumers functional needs and brand satisfaction. Symbolic needs: Budget hotels appeal to symbolic needs with their desire or self-image to associate with the brand. For example, tidiness, cleanliness and efficiency, etc. Experiential needs: Budget hotels use quality standards for accommodation to address the experiential needs for consistency and hygiene. For a marketer, it is important to recognize that brands benefit by fulfilling these needs, even by a combination of any two. This project will investigate consumer attitudes toward the budget hotel market during a time of economic downturn and analysis how the recession affects consumers consumption patterns and budget hotel strategy.