Innovation, Creativity, and Enterprise Management at Starbucks

Starbucks holds an enviable position among innovative companies. The coffee chain has an insatiable appetite for innovation. The company is willing to suffer some losses in the near-term to develop superior products in the long-term via incremental innovation. However, the willingness to suffer losses is not what makes the company outstanding.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Innovation, Creativity, and Enterprise Management at Starbucks specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The company’s wish to pay a high price in pursuit of innovation is what reflects its remarkable feature. This paper uses management tools and frameworks to explore the role that management practices play to support innovation. Specifically, the paper evaluates how Starbucks creates and develops opportunities and how it manages innovation. In addition, the paper explores how this company behaves as an entrepreneurial organisation. Creating a nd Developing Opportunities A number of studies that explore the capacity of entrepreneurs to create and develop opportunities exist. Ardichvili, Cardozo and Ray (2003) contend that entrepreneurs do not create opportunities but rather recognize the presence and emergence of opportunities. In this sense, the authors propose that the main issue to investigate when studying the dynamics of business opportunities is the entrepreneurial capacity to develop, recognize, and evaluate them. In recent times, sustainability has become a major issue in entrepreneurship because of the concerns associated with the deteriorating global environment. Research shows that entrepreneurs who are aware of environmental issues tend to identify and pursue business opportunities in ways that promote sustainable operations. They do not just look at the financial rewards that the opportunity will bring, but also the sustainable features of the business opportunity. The five main factors that drive the process of recognizing and developing business opportunities are â€Å"entrepreneurial alertness, information asymmetry and prior knowledge, social networks, personality traits, and the nature of the business opportunity†.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Entrepreneurial alertness refers to the ability of an entrepreneur to maintain a high level of awareness in regard to emerging opportunities. If an entrepreneur lacks entrepreneurial alertness, it is difficult for him/her to identify emergent opportunities. Information asymmetry and prior knowledge refer to the knowledgebase of an entrepreneur. At organizational level, this quality is the basis for the emergence of concept of learning organizations. Knowledge makes it possible for entrepreneurs to recognize opportunities when they are still undefined. In addition, it spurs the capacity of the entrepreneur to make the decisi ons needed to transform a business opportunity into a business venture. Social networks play a vital role in the process of recognizing and developing business opportunities because entrepreneurs often need information and resources not currently under their control to pursue business opportunities. It is normal for entrepreneurs to identify opportunities that they cannot develop unless they get assistance from their social network. The personality traits of entrepreneurs also determine how they pursue business opportunities. While all entrepreneurs are risk takers, they have different degrees of risk tolerance. Companies like Starbucks have a greater appetite for risk compared to most of their competitors. This comes from the personalities of the leaders of the firm. One personality issue that may influence the way an entrepreneur handles business opportunities is whether the given entrepreneur is an introvert or an extrovert. In this case, an extroverted entrepreneur has a larger social network to draw support from while an introverted entrepreneur has a smaller list of trusted allies. It could be estimated that Starbucks loves risk as the company believes in the rapid deployment of ideas followed by careful analysis and improvement of the original idea over time. Companies such as Apple ensure that they have fully developed a product before they release it to the market. In fact, Apple takes a lot of care to keep its product development processes secret, until the release of specific products. Starbucks sustains entrepreneurial alertness by maintaining a data collection system that gathers information from its employees and customers. Employees are asked to write to the company’s executives each time they feel that a given decision goes against the mission of the company.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Innovation, Creativity, and Enterprise Management at Starbucks specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This also allows the company to attain information asymmetry because at any time, the company has more information regarding a specific issue affecting its business compared to its competitors. This enables the company to take advantage of the opportunities that arise in its favor. Managing Innovation In the context of organisational innovation, the word that represents the activities of entrepreneurs is â€Å"intrapreneurship†. â€Å"Intrapreneurship† refers to the activities undertaken by individuals within organisations that promote innovation. These activities focus on internal opportunities or circumstances that demand changes in the operations of a given organization. In this sense, innovation is not limited to the activities of individuals, but rather innovation can be the result of the activities of teams in an organisation. In cases where teams promote innovation, intrapreneurship refers to their collective activities that improve the servi ces and products offered by the organisation. Innovation can take place at the â€Å"micro level, the meso level, and the macro level†. At the micro level it refers to activities undertaken by the organisation internally to ensure that it improves its products and services. Innovation at the meso level refers to the industry specific elements of innovation covering the organisation’s supply chain and its immediate operating environment. Macro level innovation results from opportunities that arise because of things that take place at a higher level, such as changes in legislative frameworks and the legal environment of the business. Starbucks is adept at the management of innovation. The company has a strong culture of innovation, which is the backbone of its entrepreneurial model. Starbucks is using all available means to expand its footprint beyond the coffee sector. In fact, some people question whether coffee is just a Trojan horse in the Starbucks business model. T his question is valid, especially considering the portfolio of products that Starbucks is already offering, and the products that it is planning to launch. Starbucks is aware that innovation in the current business climate must go beyond the traditional aspects of innovation, which were quality control, cost cutting, and operational efficiency.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The first area of focus in the current paradigm of innovation is the reinvention of business processes. The second one is collaboration and integration within the firm, and the third one is the creation of new markets by meeting the emerging needs of customers. The drivers of innovation at the macro level include the growth of e-commerce, and globalisation. One of the consequences of innovation using these new approaches is that companies find themselves with new competitors. When Starbucks started selling music, it found itself in direct competition with Apple. Apple, on the other hand, is not primarily a music retailer but a technology firm. The Apple iTunes store was an innovative offshoot to support Apple’s iPod business. Starbucks, which is a coffee firm, finds itself in direct competition with Apple, which is a technology company, for a share of the music market. Another illustration of the new philosophies of innovation at play in the Starbucks business model is the co llaboration between Starbucks and PepsiCo to sell hot-on-demand coffee through vending machines. Starbucks specialises in selling different types of coffee products to its clients. On the other hand, PepsiCo has a large network of vending machines and has a lot of experience with vending technology. Therefore, the innovative collaboration between these two firms led to the introduction of hot-on-demand coffee. PepsiCo owns the technology while Starbucks supplies the network with coffee. This way, the two companies are able to expand their footprint in the beverages market. Behaving as an Entrepreneurial Organization Entrepreneurial organisations refer to firms that have an active philosophy, which encourages entrepreneurial behaviour in the firm. This dimension is very important in the current business climate because of the competitive nature of international trade. Organisational structures can be entrepreneurial or administrative. Entrepreneurial organisations are said to practic e corporate entrepreneurship. The difference between administrative and entrepreneurial organsations is the attitude of their top leadership to risk. Administrative organisations favour the pursuit of low risk opportunities for lower rewards. Entrepreneurial organisations, on the other hand, favour the pursuit of higher risk opportunities for higher rewards. One of the key indicators of an entrepreneurial organisation is the ability to develop and deploy new products ahead of the competition. This calls for intense innovation and a solid risk philosophy. A company such as Apple thrives on the capacity to develop and release new products ahead of its competition. It is very difficult to sustain this ability without having an entrepreneurial mindset across the organisation. In other words, a company that wants to use innovation as its source of competitive advantage must have an entrepreneurial culture. An important aspect in the development of entrepreneurial organisations is that th e top management of the firms must be entrepreneurial. It is impossible to develop an entrepreneurial organisation where the top managers are averse to risk, or have no entrepreneurial commitment. At the same time, the organisation must be able to give middle level managers the ability to experiment with new systems, and to learn. Middle level managers represent the future of the organisation. If the entrepreneurial mindset exists only at the top, then the organisation cannot survive in the long-term. Starbucks CEO, Howard Schultz is well known for his entrepreneurial traits. Schultz worked with Starbucks when it was a very small retail chain. He was on a visit to Italy where Italian coffee bars inspired him to develop a national coffee retail chain in America. When the management of Starbucks refused to buy into Schultz idea, he went on to open new coffee retail stores named â€Å"Il Giornale†, on his own. Afterwards, Schultz entered into an agreement with Starbucks to buy t he coffee company. He chose to retain the Starbucks as the name for his expanded company. This story illustrates that Starbucks has always been in the hands of a very entrepreneurial leader. As such, the company has retained its knack for creativity and innovation. Starbucks behaves as an entrepreneurial organisation because it has a very innovative and risk tolerant CEO. The company is not always successful in all its endeavours. However, no effort goes to waste because the company usually builds on the lessons it learns from its entrepreneurial ventures. The company is aggressive in seeking feedback. It seeks the opinion of its staff, and monitors the comments made online by its clients and competitors, which gives the company an advantage. Risk Profile The activities of the company illustrate that it has a highly established entrepreneurial culture as well as a high level of risk tolerance. The organisation prefers to launch new products quickly before competitors can respond in contrast to many multinationals that prefer to refine new products before releasing them to the market. In conclusion, Starbucks is adept at creating and developing business opportunities. It does this by maintaining a high appetite for risk. The company has developed a culture that tolerates its aggressive risk behavior and is also active in the pursuit of innovation in its operations. Its model for managing innovation takes into account the modern approaches to innovation, which include collaboration with other businesses to create new markets. Finally, the organisation demonstrates tendencies of corporate entrepreneurship in its activities. The most compelling evidence of this is the personal profile of its CEO, Howard Schultz who supports corporate entrepreneurship as a serial innovator and entrepreneur. Reference List Ardichvili, A, Cardozo, R Ray, S 2003, ‘A Theory of Entrepreneurial Opportunity Identification and Development’, Journal of Business Venturing, vol 18, pp. 105-123. Borkowski, N Gordon, J 2005, ‘Entrepreneurial Organizations: The Driving Force for Improving Quality in the Healthcare Industy’, Journal of Health and Human Services Administration, vol 3, no. 4, pp. 531-549. Dalal, S 2007, Creativity And Innovation Driving Business, Creativity Innovation Books, Mumbai. Daughtry, TC Casselman, GL 2009, Executing Strategy: From Boardroom to Frontline, Capital Books, Herndon, VI. Davila, T, Marc, EJ Robert, SD 2007, The Creative Enterprise: Culture, Greenwood Publishing Group, Boston, MA. Ferrell, OC Hartline, MD 2008, Marketing Strategy, Cengage Learning, New York, NY. Flamholtz, EG Randle, Y 2012, Growing Pains: Transitioning from an Entrepreneurship to a Professionally Managed Firm, John Wiley and Sons, New York, NY. Gapp, R Fisher, R 2007, ‘Developing an Intrapreneur-led Three-phase Model of Innovation’, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour Research, vol 13, no. 6, pp. 330-348. Harvar d Business School 2005, Strategy: Create and Implement the Best Strategy for Your Business, Harvard Business Press, Boston, MA. Jaakson, K, Tamm, D Hammal, G 2011, ‘Organisational Innovativeness in Estonian Biotechnology Organisations’, Baltic Journal of Management, vol 6, no. 2, pp. 205-226. Jones, MA 2008, The Innovation Acid Test: Growth Through Design and Differentiation, The Innovation Acid Test: Growth Through Design and Differentiation, Axminster. Kazmi, A 2008, Strategic Managenent and Business Policy, Tata McGraw-Hill, New Delhi. Lau, TL, Shaffer, MA Chan, KF 2012, ‘The Entrepreneurial Behaviour Inventory: A Simulated Incident Method to Assess Corporate Entrepreneurship’, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour Research, vol 18, no. 6, pp. 673-993. Patzelt, H Shepherd, DA 2011, ‘Recognizing Opportunities for Sustainable Development’, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, vol 10, no. 11, pp. 631-652. Robert, MG 2005, Cont emporary Strategy Analysis, Wiley-Blackwell, Malden, MA. Sahaf, MA 2008, Strategic Marketing: Making Decisions For Strategic Advantage, PHI Learning Pvt Ltd, New Delhi. This report on Innovation, Creativity, and Enterprise Management at Starbucks was written and submitted by user Landry Barton to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Health Curriculum and No Child Left Behind Act Research Paper Example

Health Curriculum and No Child Left Behind Act Research Paper Example Health Curriculum and No Child Left Behind Act Paper Health Curriculum and No Child Left Behind Act Paper The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is a program enacted by the Bush administration to answer necessities of implementing bipartisan solutions to fortify the foundation of the educational system in the United States. Concepts framing the NCLB involve granting accountability to the federal, state, and local governments as well as educational institutions regarding academic performance of students, implementing programs and utilizing facilities and resources that highly contribute to learning, providing funds to the grassroots level of educational administration, and empowering parents to become involved in their children’s education. (Bush, 2008) The government is expecting that the NCLB will result to improved educational quality and standards by providing comprehensive educational programs and opportunities to disadvantaged children, focusing on improving the field of teaching, incorporating programs that promote fluency in the English language. Informing parents of educational plans and choices suited for their children, structuring educational institutions to uphold safety and wellbeing of children, increased funding for granting educational aids and other forms of assistance to underprivileged, and granting accountability to stakeholders. (Bush, 2008) The NCLB is a major contributing factor in improving the current status of education in the country. For instance, health concerns perceived by educational institutions led to the development of curricula that are framed within the context of children’s health interests. Other concerns drafted under the framework of health curricula include self-management in terms of looking out for one’s health and wellbeing, promotion of healthy choices, and teaching a variety of concepts in health education. (Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, 1999) All these are directed towards establishing a healthy society for enhanced living and productivity. So how can these objectives be achieved, or how can educational institutions adapt the NCLB in order to enhance the teaching of a health curriculum to students? The answer lies in synthesizing concepts of the NCLB to health curricula to formulate content adhering to health education and promotion, while at the same time considering the needs of children in terms of health services in order to maximize learning opportunities. Initially, the NCLB may be applied in constructing a health curriculum. A health curriculum is sensitive of health issues such as literacy, promotion, and application of values and practices pertaining to health and well being. NCLB in the initial stages of drafting a health curriculum is able to materialize itself by considering physical, mental, and emotional aspects of student development. The objective of NCLB is to ensure that no one gets left behind in terms of education – meaning, that all students are able to acquire necessary education within their levels. With this in mind, initial considerations should include the background of the students. To fully realize the concept of NCLB under the context of health curriculum, the curriculum itself should be designed such that the students will be able to accomplish learning objectives under it. The health curriculum should be designed such that it is sensitive to the learning needs and individual differences of the students. In addressing this primary concern, programs and activities under the health curriculum will ensure that all students will be able to grasp specific concepts within their own learning skills and capabilities as learners. Generally, the preparedness of students is being identified in all three aspects – the physical, emotional, and mental learning needs.   Considering physical needs involve asking questions such as, â€Å"are students prepared to carry out physical activities demanded by the health curriculum?† This includes monitoring physical skills and abilities in order to structure attainable and realistic kinesthetic health activities. Emotional needs include the learners’ capacity to accept and give value to health concepts as they are revealed to them. One very sensitive issue when it comes to health literacy is the concept of puberty and gender differences. In this case, teachers should gauge whether learners are ready to confront these personal and perceptive issues during the learning process. Learning needs pertaining to mental capacity involves questioning the ability of students to comprehend health concepts. Teachers should ask themselves whether students are already able to give meaning and interpret health concepts as they are. (Lewallan, 2004) Aside from considering these learning needs, teachers should also address individual differences. The rate of growth and development for each learner differs. There are fast learners and late bloomers. Some learners might be skilled in physical activities but weak in mental exercises. To address these concerns, application of the NCLB in a health curriculum is needed in order to formulate a flexible curriculum that appropriate to the learning styles and individual differences of the learners. To prove contrast, if a health curriculum is strictly standardized, aiming at a singular learning objective through same levels of learning activities and programs, say for instance practical health examinations, only those skilled physically will be able to experience success and accomplish learning objectives. How about students who are not skilled in physical examinations but exhibit excellence in mental activities? Health curricula drafted under the NCLB should be flexible to individual differences, varying learning styles, and learning needs. (Lewallan, 2004) Bush, G. W. (2008). â€Å"Foreword by President George W. Bush.† Retrieved from The White House. 09 Sep 2008. whitehouse.gov/news/reports/no-child-left-behind.html Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. (1999). â€Å"Massachusetts Comprehensive Health Curriculum Framework – October 1999.† Retrieved September 9, 2008, from Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Website: doe.mass.edu/frameworks/health/1999/core.html

Magnetic Resonance Image(MRI) Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Magnetic Resonance Image(MRI) - Research Paper Example The very large cost of MRI machines and their large size and specialized installation requirements acts as a deterrent to wider use of this technology. There is work underway that promises reduced costs and size of MRI machines, especially in the form of specialized machines for the scan of extremities such as wrists and ankles. The success of this effort could lead to wider use of the technology. Keywords: Magnetic Resonance Imaging, diagnostics, magnetic pulse 1. Introduction: The first Magnetic Resonance Image (MRI) was produced in 1973 and the procedure has now become a rapidly growing medical diagnostic tool for the medical profession. Over 30 million MRI procedures were done in the US in 2010 and new advances in technology is making specialized MRI procedures available for screening for a wider range of diseases and medical conditions each year. The human body can be considered to be essentially made up of three types of material; bone which is hard and made up of minerals such as calcium, soft tissue including muscles, flesh, blood vessels and organs such as liver, kidney, heart and lungs and fluids including blood and air. The field of diagnostic imaging started with the discovery of X-rays in 1895 by Wilhelm Rontgen. Even today, over two-thirds of medical diagnostics are done using X-rays. X-rays are ionizing radiations and the image is captured on a photographic film. X-ray images are good for viewing bones but the resolution for viewing soft tissue is often inadequate. The invention of Computed Tomography (CT) sought to address this limitation by using digital images in place of photographic plate and to manipulate the images for contrast and brightness to distinguish various types of soft tissue from each other (Ostensen, 2001). Ultrasound or ultrasonography was developed as the safer technology for viewing soft tissue and body fluids in the 1950s and 1960s. In this technique, sound waves of frequency between 3.5 MHz and 7 MHz are generated using a transducer or â€Å"probe†. Sound waves passing through human body get reflected when it passes from one type of tissue to the other. The reflected sound wave is picked by a microphone built into the same probe housing as the signal generator and a computer image of the internal tissue is created in real time. The medical professional can move the probe over the body area to see the changes in the image and also freeze the image for recording. Using ultrasound, it is possible to see images of blood flow through arteries and veins and see heart valves opening and closing. Ultrasound equipment is comparatively inexpensive and is safe as compared to X-rays. The interpretation of the ultrasound images however requires trained medical professionals and there is high risk of incorrect diagnosis (Ostensen, 2001). Ultrasound has no known side effects and is safely used even for examination of an unborn fetus. Ultrasound waves do not pass through air and are therefore not effective fo r examination of the stomach or the intestines. They also cannot penetrate bone and therefore are not used for areas with bone covering such as the skull. In obese patients, excess body fat sometimes makes ultrasound examination difficult as the reflected sound

States have used Responsibility to protect as a reason not to act Essay

States have used Responsibility to protect as a reason not to act rather than a reason to act. Discuss - Essay Example mple, the Americans used their own troops to attack Afghanistan in October 2001 and Iraq on March 2003.The principle of the state responsibility to protect is a norm and military interventions are the last resort and permission from the United Nations Security Assembly is a requisite before use of force. In this article, I will define the meaning of responsibility to protect and will discuss the state’s responsibility to protect norm by providing instances where the states used international organizations to advance this norm. I will also provide instances where the state failed to effectively intervene. I will analyze the states responsibility to protect role in view of Bosnia and Darfur Sudan as well as the impacts of their actions, for example intervention as in the case of Bosnia and limited or lack of it in the case of Darfur. This article will equally analyze the notion of legitimacy in the intervention of states in pursuit of their responsibility to protect role and it will answer the following questions: If a state is a failed state, and is unable to protect its citizens from the above crimes and peaceful measures are not working, then the international community has an obligation to prevent such crimes through diplomacy or coercive means. In September 2000, The Norm of Responsibility to Protect got a major boost from the Canadian Government. The Commission on States Sovereignty and Intervention, formed by the Canadian Government released its report on December 2001. The report noted that the Global Community has a responsibility to prevent mass atrocities by using diplomatic means or a more coercive means and use of military interventions should be as a last resort. Security should be emphasized while enforcing this role and justice should be carried out to victims of mass atrocities. The African Union, in its founding charter observed the fact that the global community has a duty to intervene in crisis situations if states cannot provide security

Guidelines for Communicating Emotions Effectively Essay

Guidelines for Communicating Emotions Effectively - Essay Example e regular subjects of everyday discussions and just how well these feelings are articulated and recognized is essential to interpersonal associations and personal health and well-being. In the same way, in restorative contexts, improvement depends upon, among other stuff, just how articulately the client conveys his or her feelings and how properly the psychologist comprehends and replies to these gestures. In this paper, we seize an interdisciplinary strategy to comprehending the verbal communication of emotion in many different contexts. All of the languages offer speakers with a cluster of verbal approaches for passing on emotions. In English, for instance, we certainly have plenty of both literal (e.g., irked, upset, raging), and figurative (e.g., switching ones lid, whack a gasket) miens that can be used to explain a technically unlimited variety of emotional states (Bush 432-435). Studies of dialect use in psychotherapy similarly are replete with samples of literal and figurative miens for feelings (Bush 57). Emotions go profound and they are strong. It’s possible to shake off control and vital that you get around them the ideal you can. There are many measures to go through to communicate emotions efficiently, and conveying emotions efficiently can be good for everybody (Johnson 153). Before you may convey your feelings, you really have to understand what precisely you are going through. Can it be rage or anxiety? Joy or satisfaction? The very first thing you ought to do is steam everything down and figure out what the primary feeling is (Wood 234). Emotions can be found in packages. In fact, it is a very common occurrence to feel several emotions. however, determining the primary one can assist another person better know what is going on (Bush 57). Everyones way of feeling differs. Unhappiness, rage, thrill are all offered in numerous ways for every person. Making the effort when youre not mentally activated to take into consideration your emotions

Effect of Government Debt on Incentives for Money Creation

Effect of Government Debt on Incentives for Money Creation Abdullahi Ahmad Why might the level of government debt affect the government incentive regarding to money creation. Government debt (also known as public debt and national debt) is the debt owed by a central government. Government debt is one method of financing government operations, but it is not the only method. Governments can also create money to monetize their debts, thereby removing the need to pay interest. But this practice simply reduces government interest costs rather than truly cancelling government debt, and can result in hyperinflation if used unsparingly. Public debt is one result of government financing expenditures. It is different from private debt, which consists of the obligations of individuals, businesses, and nongovernmental organizations. Public debt comes about as a result of taxing and borrowing by the federal government. The U.S. government has large capital outlays for such purposes as building or improving schools, hospitals, and highways. In order to pay for these projects, the government must finance part of their expenditures. When a government borrows money it als o avoids the excessive tax burden that such payments would involve in a single tax period. Public borrowing is generally believed to have an inflationary effect on the economy and for that reason is often resorted to in recessionary periods to stimulate investment, employment, and consumption. The debt owed by national governments is usually referred to as the national debt and is thus distinguished from the public debt of state and local governing bodies. In the United States, bonds issued by states and local governments are known as municipals. In the past, paper money was frequently regarded as a portion of the public debt, but in more recent years money has been regarded as a distinct type of obligation, in part because it is usually no longer payable in gold, silver, or other specific items of intrinsic value. Public debt, which is also sometimes referred to as government debt, is all of the money owed at any given time by any branch of the government. It encompasses debt owed by the federal government, the state government, and even the municipal and local government. It is, in effect, an extension of personal debt, since individuals make up the revenue stream of the government. Public debt accrues over time when the government spends more money than it collects in taxation. As a government engages in more deficit spending, the amount of debt increases. Many different types of debt make up public debt. A great deal of it is external debt, which is money that is owed by the government to foreign lenders, either in the form of international organizations, other governments, or groups like sovereign wealth funds, which invest in government bonds. Government debt is also made up of internal debt, where citizens and groups within the country lend the government money to continue operating. In some ways, this is a lot like lending to oneself, since ultimately the responsibility for it falls back on the very people lending money. Government incentive simply means something that motivates an individual to perform an action. The study of incentive structures is central to the study of all economic activities (both in terms of individual decision-making and in terms of cooperation and competition within a larger institutional structure). Economic analysis, then, of the differences between societies (and between different organizations within a society) largely amounts to characterizing the differences in incentive structures faced by individuals involved in these collective efforts. Ultimately, incentives aim to provide value for money and contribute to organizational success. incentive is not peculiar to economics alone, it is a general term used in many spheres of life. However, in economics, it is a very important word. In fact you can never study economics successfully without understanding what incentives are. One American economist says that economics in its entirety is a study of people’s response to incentives. Whether that statement is accurate or not is subject to one’s point of view, but what comes out clearly is the fact that incentives are truly central to the study of economics. In economics one can say that an incentive is a benefit, reward, or cost that motivates an economic action. Human beings do things deliberately and purposefully, and, naturally, people expect to benefit from their own decisions and actions. Before someone decides to produce something and sell it to people, they should have taken time to think and decide that doing this will help them earn something. Likewise, before a consumer buys anything, they know (or at least they think) that they are going to benefit from the product. In strict sense, it is more than just the usual concepts or trade and economics, it is about human nature. No one does something for no reason. Not when they have to spend time and resources in doing so. Incentives can be grouped into four main categories, or types. T hese types of incentives apply both to economics and to other spheres of life. These are as follows, Financial incentives: Perhaps in the modern times, financial incentives are more dominant. Before you get to business, you know that it is always about profit. Employment is all about salary and remuneration. It is true that sometimes people do voluntary jobs for some reasons other than financial ones. But ultimately, the main reason why human beings do business or work at all in modern days is money. It is this type of incentive that informs the idea of product promotions, where people are told that if they buy a certain product; they stand a chance of winning a certain amount of money. Moral incentives: Moral incentives motivate people to do things on the basis of right and wrong. People are encouraged to do certain action because morally, it is the right thing to do. Aspects of morality today are quite diverse, varying broadly from one society to the next, and it is practically impossible to define morals of society in general. Moral incentives therefore generally appeal to an individual’s own conscience. Natural incentives: â€Å"What will happen if I do this?† We often ask ourselves. Humans are naturally curious creatures, and we do many things for no reason other than to find out what the consequences are. Coercive incentives: Moral incentives motivate people to do things on the basis of right and wrong. People are encouraged to do certain action because morally, it is the right thing to do. Aspects of morality today are quite diverse, varying broadly from one society to the next, and it is practically impossible to define morals of society in general. Moral incentives therefore generally appeal to an individual’s own conscience. In economics, money creation is the process by which the of a country is increased. A central bank may introduce new money into the economy (termed expansionary monetary policy) by purchasing financial assets or lending money to financial institutions. Commercial bank lending then multiplies this base money through fractional reserve banking, which expands the total of broad money (cash plus demand deposits). Also money creation is The process in which banks increase the amount of funds in checkable deposits by using reserves to make loans. Money creation is an important process in the economy because it means that the government does not have total control over the money supply. In view of the above definition there is a high link between debt and money creation. Therefore, the monetary authority of a nation which is usually the Central Bank helps to effectively creates money by implementing policy through its Open Market Operation. To create money, the Central Bank simply buys government securities such as Treasury Bills, Treasury Certificates and Treasury Bonds from participating banking institutions. All these Treasury securities are bought in the Open Market. These treasury certificates are exchange for money which the commercial bank will have in their possession to give as loans to members of the public and it tends to increase bank credit. Thus, stimulating money creation. However, money creation could be restricted as government debt increases which could either be as a result of necessity or deliberate, if government as a result of necessity want to borrow money it usually does these through the treasury department under the Central Bank. There for the Treasury Department of a nation, in order to raise cash, will print up a stack of Treasury bonds, which are the means by which the government borrows money, these government debt tends to mop up the supply of money in private banks as central bank do not deal directly with members of the public and thus reducing the ability of commercial bank to lend money. The supply of money could also be restricted by government deliberately by selling treasury certificate at an attractive interest thus limiting the commercial bank ability to give loans and thus create money. It should be interesting to know that the money created by the government is also created through debt because as it is the money used in buying treasury certificates was a result of monetizing of debt because the money created out of thin air by the Central Bank on behalf of government is a promise to pay without attracting interest. Hence debt is use to pay debt. In this case debt without obligation is used to pay debt with obligation. Invariably money could be created through debt and as well restricted through debt; it all depends on which form of debt government is using. If government uses debt with obligations, that is when government sells treasury certificates to raise cash and thus restrict the ability of commercial bank to create money. If however, government uses debt without obligation, that is when the government print money to buy treasury securities and as such enable the commercial bank to increase their lending power. This brings more money to the economy because the commercial bank will be able to give out more loans from the money received from the sale of treasury securities. So now we know that there are two kinds of money out there. The first is bank credit, which is money that is loaned into existence, as we saw here. Bank credit is a type of money that comes with an equal and offsetting amount of debt associated with it. Debt upon which interest must be paid. The first is that all cash or money of a nation are backed by debt. At the local bank level, all new money is loaned into existence. At the Federal Reserve level, money is simply manufactured out of thin air and then exchanged for interest-paying government debt. In both cases, the money is backed by debt. Debt that pays interest. From this Key Concept, we can formulate a truly profound statement, which is that at a minimum, each year enough new money must be loaned into existence to cover the interest payments on all of the past outstanding debt. If we flip this slightly, we can say that each year all the outstanding debt must compound by at least the rate of the interest on that debt. Each and every year it must grow by some percentage. Because our debt-based money system is growing by some percentage continually, it is an exponential system by its very design. A corollary of this is that the amount of debt in the system will always exceed the amount of money. By understanding its design, though, one will be better equipped to understand that the potential range of future outcomes for our economy are not limitless, but rather bounded by the rules of the system. All of which leads us to the fact that perpetual expansion is a requirement of modern banking. In fact we can make a rule: Each year, new credit (loans) must be made that at least equal the amount of all the outstanding interest payments that year. Without a continuous expansion of the money supply, past debts would not be able to be serviced, and defaults would ripple through, and possibly destroy, the entire system. Defaults are the Achilles heel of a debt-based money system, which we saw in our local banking example in the previous chapter. Because of this, all the institutional and political forces in our society are geared towards avoiding this outcome. In view of the above money, government debt will help stimulate money creation if only there is more debt without obligation by government as against government debt with obligation. Conclusively, debt is money.

That Was Then :: Writing Education Essays

That Was Then ...Oh. It's you. Hi... ...O.k., well, here's the thing. I was looking at this paper that I had written a long time ago... ...Well, it seems like a long time ago. Anyway, as I was saying, I was reading this paper and I said to myself, I said self, what's up with this? I mean it was so obvious to me that I had no clue as to what to write about... ...Why is it obvious I had no clue? Well that's easy. I have no clue as to what I was trying to say and I wrote the thing. I mean I read it over a couple of times and tried to understand it, I just couldn't. The only thing I could get from the thing is that I most likely wrote it at the last minute and made it up as I went along. It's like I didn't put any thought into it at all. I mean come on - college is like a chair?... ...Why is that bad? Because I claimed to be able to sit on my college education if all else fails. What the hell did I mean by that?... ...Try to analyze it all you want. The fact remains that it even fell one paragraph short of the perfect theme paper. The only thing I can say is that it sounds like I am tired of writing papers... ...O.k. Maybe I am being a little hard on myself. After all, it was the beginning of the quarter and I had no idea as to what type of writing I could get away with. I mean, for so long now I have had to write to fit the criteria that was expected by a particular teacher/professor. I was limited as to what I could say and how I could say it. Now suddenly I'm supposed to believe that a professor is going to accept my writing in the manor in which I choose to write? Yeah right. I would guess I basically took the safe rout on that paper. I should have gone with a metaphor of Jeopardy. I know I could Have been more creative with that. It's kind of funny reading the paper again after so much time has passed. It sounds like I was trying to convince myself that I believed what I was writing along with trying to convince a professor.

Purhsing Paper Can Be Fun Essay

Question: What Performance problems is the captain trying to correct. Ans: 1 Poor Reporting Performance among the employees. Question: Use the MARS model of individual behavior and performance to diagnose the possible causes of the unacceptable behavior. Ans: 2 Possible causes for the unacceptable behavior is as follows: MARS Model: There are four main factors that directly influence an employee’s voluntary behavior and resulting performance. Employee Motivation: There was no clear motivation for employees to do their job perfectly as required. Motivation does not mean only financial motivation; people are motivated not only with money but also with an appreciation by the leaders of the company is enough to motivate them and pump in the force required to do the job with intensity. Captain must have set some goals which on achieving, the employees get recognition through an appreciation letter at least from the higher ranked personnel in the organization, keeping in mind that he was under the budget crunch which limited him in motivating employees by rewarding them financially. Ability: Analyzing the employees based on their capabilities was one of the cause. You will find some people whose interest is in doing the office work, captain should have recognize the skills and knowledge and segregate the work within depending on their capabilities. Coaching was also missing by the captain. Role Perceptions: They were aware about the consequences for inadequately doing the reporting as they were having issues when the case reached the court. Captain should have given them priorities from their various responsibilities by explaining them that the what matters is the quality of the work and not quantity. This would have helped them to improve. Situational Factors: As captain explained they set-up the team competitions based on the excellence of the reports, but the leaders were not committed and none of them were receiving any type of rewards for winning the competition. Leadership is responsible for the well-being of the employee in the company so they need to be committed. Question: Has the captain considered all the possible solutions to the problem? IF not what else might be done? Ans: NO What else can be done is as follows: 1. Task related trainings should be provided to strengthen the capabilities of the employees. 2. Improved Employee Engagement should be done, by recognizing the best employees, rewarding them which will boost their moral and they will feel that they are an integral part of the team. He can set-up a mechanism, like Employee of the Month Award and can display it in the office. 3. Coaching is also an important aspect of the leader, as a leader he should coach his team as and when required.

Good To Graet Example

Good To Graet Example Good To Graet – Book Report/Review Example GOOD TO GREAT GOOD TO GRAET In the book â€Å"Good to Great†, Collins reflects on factors that make it possible for some companies to experience a transition from being just average companies into becoming great global companies. He also visits the possibilities that may hinder other companies from ever experiencing this kind of transition. The opinion of the writer is rightly placed in stating in emphatic terms that greatness is not an automatic force that will accompany anyone who claims to be in business. Rather, businesses must be seen as putting in efforts that proofs that they are ready to transit into greatness.Collins is lesson oriented and critical at the same time as he both outlines characteristics of companies that transited from good to great and condemned others that remained stagnant in growth. A critical aspect of the book is when the writer gives seven characteristics of transiting companies. Collins notes that leaders must be humble, whiles driving what is be st for their companies. He also admonishes the need to invest in people, confront brutal facts, and identify a company’s overlapping circles. Furthermore, the writer preaches that companies that want to succeed without a culture of discipline will fail; just as those who refuse to incorporate technology. Finally, there is a call to value small initiatives.Generally, the lesson that Collins spells out in his book are very thought provoking, precise and practical. It is not surprising that he could use real company examples.Cited WorkCollins, Jim. Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Dont. HarperCollins Publishers: New York. Print. 2001.

NYSE and NASDAQ

NYSE and NASDAQ Executive Summary The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ) are the two largest exchanges in North America. These two attract not only the most prominent exchange traders in the United States of American but also have the most number of equities in the country.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on NYSE and NASDAQ specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More It is a known fact that hundreds of companies in the US prefer to trade their stocks with well established exchanges (Cootner, 1964). The long experience of both the NYSE and the NASDAQ in this sector makes them reliable. They have efficient systems and personnel to make sure that stock trading takes place without the slightest flaw. Similarities between the NYSE and the NASDAQ The New York Stock Exchange and the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations have a variety of features in c ommon. One notable similarity between the two is that both of them are controlled by the Stock Exchange Commission. This is a commission that safeguards the buyers and sellers of stock from fraud. It also ensures that the two exchanges adhere to the laid down laws and procedures in the sector. The commission not only protects the buyers and sellers but also the two exchanges. It does this by removing or hindering instances of unfair competition caused by either of the exchanges to the other (Blakey 2006). Secondly, both the NYSE and the NASDAQ can be easily accessed by members of the public. This can be done through dealers of the two companies which are always available for customer service. Just like any other company, the two companies are also open for public investment. As a matter of fact, both of them trade their own stocks at the stock exchange markets. Their stock quotes can be found on most stock exchange markets across the United States of America. Differences between the NYSE and the NASDAQ The differences between the NYSE and NASDAQ are more compared to the similarities. First and foremost, the transactions of the NYSE take place in a real physical place in New York City. This is the place where buyers and sellers assemble to buy and sell their stocks. On the other hand, the transactions of the NASDAQ do not take place in a real physical place. All the transactions are carried out through an electronic system. All the buy and sell orders are received and communicated over a telecommunications network. The process involves direct contact between the market makers and the investors.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The second noticeable difference between the NYSE and NASDAQ is the fact that, while the NYSE operates on an auction market, the NASDAQ operates on a dealer market. In NASDAQ trading, there is no contact between the sell er and the buyer. The market makers act as intermediaries between them. They are responsible for matching buying and selling orders. On the contrary, NYSE trading involves typical selling and buying where both the buyers and sellers are present and actively involved in the process. There is actual bidding on the price of the stocks and the highest bidder is matched with the seller who asks for the lowest price. The final difference between the NYSE and the NASDAQ is about the role of those who are in charge of controlling buyer-seller traffic in each exchange. The controller in the NYSE is called the specialist while that in the NASDAQ is called the market maker. While the specialist is charged with the responsibility of matching buyers and sellers, the market maker’s duty is to facilitate the flow of trade by transacting with the sellers and buyers. In other words, the specialist merely controls the buyers and the sellers, but the market maker actually identifies the buyer f or a particular stock and facilitates the transaction. The Public Company Accounting and Investor Protection Act of 2002 This is a federal law of the United States that was passed on July 30, 2002. Its enactment followed cases of fraud and doctored financial records in a number of firms across the nation. The law was enacted at a time when investors and the general public had lost confidence in public firms. This is due to the fact that investors had lost billions of dollars in cases of fraud that affected companies such as WorldCom and Enron. Therefore, the main purpose of the act was to restore the trust that almost everybody had lost in public companies. The act led to the formation of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Committee (PCAOC). This committee assumes the role of auditors and oversees and regulates accounting firms. The committee is also responsible for registering auditors and inspecting their work in order to vet their quality. Moreover, the committee formulates policies and guidelines that regulate the operations of audit firms. The act also establishes a set of standards that advocate for the external independence of auditors. This autonomous operation of audit firms is necessary to avoid jeopardizing the genuine results of the audits. It is required that the audit firm should not have any other relations with the same client that it carries out audit services for. This ensures that the two parties only relate professionally hence leading to the submission of genuine financial records.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on NYSE and NASDAQ specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Conclusion In conclusion, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the National Association of Security Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ) share a couple of similarities as well as differences. However, the number of differences exceeds the similarities. From the second part of the report, it is evident that The Public Company Accounting and Investor Protection Act of 2002 has regulated accounting activities and financial records in public companies. Reference List Blakey, P. (2006). The efficient market approximation. IEEE Microwave Magazine,7(1), 28–31. Cootner, P. H. (1964). The random character of stock market prices. Cambridge: The MIT Press.

The Effects of Social Media in Today's Society Research Paper

The Effects of Social Media in Today's Society - Research Paper Example Anyone with an internet connection can access social networking sites. Since 1975, when the first type of social networking was introduced in the form of Hotmail, social media has come a long way. It has been observed that social networking sites like Facebook and Orkut lead to time wastage, but their benefits cannot be completely ignored. This research paper aims to measure the positive and negative effects of social media on society. Who do social media reach and how can it influence people’s lives? Social media is accessible to anyone who has a simple internet connection at home, office or anywhere in his or her environment. It is reachable to people from all walks of life, from students to business professionals. Websites like MySpace and Bebo help connect friends and family by bringing them under a single platform. Similarly, social networking sites like eBay bring buyers and sellers to exchange commodities between them. In short, social media helps B2B (business to busin ess), B2C (business to consumers) and C2C (consumers to consumers) interact, share information or files, and trade all under a single platform (Hendricks, 2012). Social media influences our life and daily routine in a great many ways depending how we utilize these networking tools. Time is of essence, and this is what it helps save. People find it much easier to go online and read articles and electronic books rather than newspapers or books that are physical in nature. In this fast moving world, people have adapted to the technological development made especially in the last decade. There has been a huge decline in book reading as people have turned to social media to meet their reading needs. Social media is changing the social habit of people. Though eBooks save time, they cause massive exertion and fatigue (Coupland, 2012, p. 103). People find it much easier to shop online than to physically go to shops and malls to make purchases. Social media is changing the way people shop no wadays. Products can be ordered with just a single click and can be delivered right at the doorsteps. Such facilities have made life very convenient for people. However, there are major drawbacks of shopping online. People have become more careful when making purchases. Buyers often complain that the products delivered to them do not match the seller’s description. In some cases, they were charged twice as much as the initial cost. Cybercrimes are on the increase, and many people have reported crimes against identity and credit card thefts (Close, 2012). How social media can change the global climate Social media can change the global climate by making people aware of the rise in global pollution and the damage it is inflicting to the ozone layer. Altogether, about 300 million people use various types of social media and upload around 220,000 videos on YouTube on a diurnal basis. Such is the power of social media, and if these people can be reached with an effective message, then the results could be very successful. Efforts are being made with a simple plan in mind. Most charitable and non-governmental organizations have joined hands for a peaceful revolution against massive pollution. The main idea is to create a community on social networking websites and blogs and try to get as many likes as possible. Frequently posting articles helps educate the readers about the dire consequences of pollution and how the planet can be saved. These articles are read and then shared by readers with their friends and

Produced Water Treatment Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Produced Water Treatment - Term Paper Example This water must be treated prior to discharge or re-injection. Produced water has a complex composition, but its constituents can be widely grouped into inorganic and organic compounds, including dissolved and dispersed oils, grease, heavy metals, and radionuclide’s, treating chemicals, formation solids, salts, dissolved gases, scale products, waxes, and microorganisms and dissolved oxygen. More than 40% of the 250 million barrels of water produced in a daily basis from both gas and oil are emancipated into the environment. This clearly shows its effects in the environment and globally making it to be considered instead of clearing it as waste. Environmental concerns have driven research into the treatment of produced water. Current conventional treatment technologies are targeted at removal of heavy metals, oil and grease, and desalination, which often lead to the generation of large volumes of secondary waste. Produced water treatment also represents challenges for major oil-producing projects, especially in India, where special treatment requirements to meet the discharge norms for disposal or injection into spent oil wells have not yet been met. This affects the environment to which it can be reversed by being treated and become useful to the people. From recent researches, The USA and China have been quoted the leading disposers of produced water worldwide as seen in the previous years. This is a result of increased demand in oil and petroleum products worldwide in many non-oil producing countries. In 1995 the American Petroleum Institute, (API), made its recommendation on the Best Available Technology for Produced Water Management on Offshore Gas and Oil Installations. The following were identified by the report as the water toxicity contributing factors. The discharge of untreated water into fresh water bodies such as streams presents a toxic level that is highly lethal to aquatic life. In addition,