The Devil

Proctor for avoiding church and forgetting a commandment. )The spiritual center is the church. I The Devil and Tom Walker Tom is starting to venture out on his own a bit from organized religion a la the transcendentalists, but later in life aerobically comes back to It without real passion or Interest. Halls adamant adherence to religion Is likened to his adamant adherence to greed and rings false. I Transcendentalismorganized religion is not needed and might even be a distraction to the person in obtaining spiritual enlightenment on one's own.I Land I Nature must be tamed by people and worked to obtain her resources. Forests are unknown and where the â€Å"heathen† Native Americans live. Len The Crucible a man's worth Is often tied up in how many acres he has. I Tom's usury is likened to the â€Å"land grabbers† and speculators who made money off selling land In a dishonest way. Native American view that land is not a commodity but a spiritual place. Nature should be p reserved in its wild, unadulterated state to allow for the calming presence it gives the individual as a solace away from busy and corrupting society.Hypocrisy I The Puritans held to the 10 commandments and religious doctrine, yet they were overzealous and ended up putting to death innocent people on speculation Just because they didn't conform to their rules. I Tom becomes corrupted by greed and sells his soul to the devil. He was once poor but now greedy and â€Å"ostentatious. † He uses people through his usury. I Holds that the hypocrisy comes from society that corrupts when people become â€Å"blinded† by material things and comparing themselves with others. Therefore, the individual is favored to avoid bad influences of others or via peer pressure, etc.

Leadership qualities Essay

This paper talks about testing in specifically psychometric testing that is used by employers in screening employees in the selection process at organizations. After a brief introduction to what psychometric is all about, it analyzes critically this method of choosing employees with respect also the disadvantages and advantages of this type of testing. The paper then concludes itself with discussion of the growth of psychometric testing in relation to its success factors leading on to the final concluding paragraph. INTRODUCTION Psychometric testing is being used for decades now, changing its forms while absorbing technological improvements. It is used as an essential element in the screening of employees at the workplace to thereby increase work effectiveness in terms of selection of the right candidate for the right job. Not only in the selection process, but this type of testing is also used in other areas namely, promotion, training, advisory services in terms of Human Resource management, planning and development. Psychometric testing is used as a tool for deciding upon the winning qualities of employees to get a better understanding of which employee to further develop upon and how, and which to spend different training resources on etc. This type of testing basically uses questionnaires that are made by professional test makers who also undertake analysis of the results with the help of an organizational psychologist. The verdict/s reached thereby is then considered final and accurate to a great extent. Psychometric tests have been categorized into: Ability tests, Motivation tests, Attitude and perception, Projective techniques (TAT), Personality inventories, Organizational climate surveys, Employee satisfaction surveys etc. (TVRLS, 2006) Psychometrics is the field of study belonging to the zone of psychometric testing, and is used as an indicator of measurement of abilities, attitude, perception, skills, personality traits including team playing, leadership qualities etc. The two major components of this type of study are: Construction of the method or procedure in testing and improving upon the qualities of the test in terms of analysis and judgment (Golombok, n. d. ). There are many other fields of study that are pertinent directly or indirectly to this type of testing. Firstly, there is the classical test theory (CTT) and item response theory (IRT). There is also the Rasch model that aims at the requirements when measuring educational and work indicators in terms of physical sciences. Secondly, in relation to correlation and finding out variation in the results there are many techniques including factor analysis, multidimensional scaling, data clustering, structural equation modelling, and path analysis. These few methods aim at finding out what data easily fits into the population that is being tested through a sample and how. (Hogan, 2006) Screening techniques in firms and organizations could range from traditional manual shifting of applications to sophisticated usage of psychometrics. Recruiters immensely make use of online resources or help search for criteria important in measuring the candidates’ qualification (Suff, 2005). Psychometric tests undertake the study of assessment in terms of psychological assessment of individual with respect to five criteria that each test possesses. These are: – Validity: measures what the test is supposed or has been designed to measure – Reliability: the results in the end are in line with the research that was taken and will not change if the test is undertaken again keeping certain factors constant – Standardisation: the instruments used in the test, timing, instructions, test items, scoring techniques are all same for each candidate – Objectivity: there is no deterring of results due to biases caused by subjective decisions or favouritism etc. There should hence be no variation in scores according to these criteria. – Differentiation: tests that have been undertaken have been designed to account for differences and the results should show no effect of the candidate’s personal traits and facts like ethnicity, religion, gender etc. (unless the test aims to measure these as a factor). (Dent & Curd, 2004) CRITICAL ANALYSIS The question that arises now is about the significance of these tests in our lives revolving around the workplace and in specific the corporate world. Psychometric testing is useful, yes but how can it be used, as a measure of success in employee selection, is the most important pointer here. Psychometric tests are used in assisting with the selection process to help predict future employee performance and hence to help in planning out the desired outcomes against these predictions. These tests are economical and efficient, and facilitate the test givers in the attainment of information quickly while cutting down on the money cost also. They are not prone to subjectivity biases when they are objective and hence aid in increasing fairness in decision-making. Apart from finding out the right person for the right job, these tests help recognize development needs, increase motivation and correct stress factors for employees which have a negative impact on their productivity levels if not removed or minimized. (Dent & Curd, 2004) Psychometric tests have evolved from the need to examine ability and resulting output in work situations. The two types of psychometric tests when broadly put, these being: As a measure of ability, verbal or numerical reasoning and as a measure of personality traits and work situations, and what leads to the correct or the best fit. Analysing the usage of tests carries utmost importance when it comes specifically to the choice in terms of what test is to be used in a given situation. This requires deep analysis of the kind of job at hand and then testing candidates to determine the kind of traits needed for that job. On measuring job performance the formula that needs to be remembered is skills + attitude + process + knowledge = Success! However useful this argument holds for psychometric tests, their validity and usage, as a tool in selection of employees is considered controversial also. The difficulty here lies in the fact that people who are being testes sometimes do not give their true answers and get prone to achievement of success with the formula given above, except that the attitudes, skills etc might just be their ideal states in their minds and not something that exists within them in real. This â€Å"lying† on the tests and hiding true meaning of their traits makes accurate judgments difficult and hinders the attainment of absolute fairness in decision-making. And this is also when frequently, psychometric tests are said to be not useful and prone to inaccurate collection of data and information. Hence in many organizations, the usefulness of these tests remains limited and is only to the extent of informing about the decision and not actually making it. Therefore, no matter how glittery the success formula looks, the inefficiency prone to this testing can rid an organization of valuable employees (those who had most probably not lied on the test). (Farrington, 2007) The ethical use of psychometric tests is also another factor that requires discussion in terms of a critical analysis of this topic under dissertation. It is highly essential that the information used by these tests is relevant to the purpose do study, is accurate and does not probe too much into the personal lives of the candidates so as to stay away from intrusion of their privacy. The test should undertake the tester’s competence, procedures and techniques used, and the client welfare to make sure that these guidelines corresponding to each is followed. The test users must be adequately qualified and trained. Results should not be leaked out or sold to any third parties or even other candidates and should only be available to the test takers who will need it to analyse and conclude the tests. Feedback needs to be offered to the people who have taken the test or the candidates to counter any negative effects of the test that was left on them. These tests should not discriminate against gender, race or ethnicity and even disability and age. All test materials need to be secured completely to ward off any unauthorized access to the information provided by these tests. A few of the common tests that are present, measure ability, aptitude, personality, interpersonal skills and relationship awareness etc. (Dent & Curd, 2004) With respect to the five criteria mentioned earlier, a study showed that where selection, assessment and training are concerned, cognitive ability tests and work samples were found out to be most valid. Also, the results of this study showed that interviews were most practical. Results from tests involving knowledge assessment, personality tests involving motivation, satisfaction etc showed that these were most popular with prospective employers. (Mok et al, 2008) CASES FOR PSYCHOMETRIC TESTS Psychometric testing provides organizations and any test givers a very commanding way of guaranteeing the selection and employment of the best candidates through their thorough analysis in terms of ability and preferred behavioural styles. Psychometric testing allows the pre-hiring screening becomes more popular because validity is a criterion that is usually always met and hence this form of testing becomes more preferred. Usually, it also includes IQ testing also along with personality test to enable the organization to gain valuable insight into the issue at hand. Time is saved, as prospective employees are able to learn constructive things that without psychometrics would have been very hard or time consuming to learn. The HR Department hence becomes a powerful unit as it realized true matching of the employee’s personality traits with the characteristics of the company. Financial benefits to the company have also been seen where psychometrics are involved in the process of hiring. Through the availability of technological advances like LAN and the Internet, companies are able to easily administer these tests also. Cost benefits are achieved as eventually companies in the best-case scenario able to learn which employees will stay with the company longer than the others. (Vaid, 2007) Some of the benefits provided by psychometric testing are: 1. Efficiency: psychometric testing improves efficiency in selection and decision-making when it comes to human resource recruitment. Most suitable candidates are hence chosen thereby making maximum use of time, cost and efficiency. 2. More informed recruitment decisions: objective information is provided by these tests to ensure the occurrence of an informed decision-making. 3. Aid to interviews: interviews do not provide all information necessary to conclude upon which candidates are best for that particular job. Hence these tests are highly useful to especially those recruiters who are not much proficient in testing or analyzing a candidate. 4. Tried and tested: these tests now have been offered by many agencies that are used for outsourcing these tests by companies. Also, companies themselves now use many different psychometric tests in the selection process today. 5. Business needs: these tests are in direct relation with the needs of human resource of organizations, and hence fit perfectly to the purpose of these organizations 6. Potential of an individual: an individual’s skills and attitudes along with perceptions are thoroughly weighed through these tests that are not provided by interviews as such. 7. For all levels of staff: these tests are even more helpful since they are appropriate enough to be used at all levels in the organization. 8. Easy to understand: these tests are easy to understand, as their language is unproblematic and simple. They also hence are not prone to discrimination against ethnicity, language or region when they follow the five effective criteria of testing as mentioned earlier in this paper. (Psychometric Testing, n. d. ) 9. Job profiling: this can be done even before the interview takes place, so that key skills and abilities for a particular position in the organization can be further made clear before interviewing the person about it. 10. Useful information: these tests help in providing useful and complete information as to how functional an employee will be in terms of performance in a particular position. (Oriel Training, n. d. ) 11. Professional: psychometric tests make the entire selection process look more formal and professional 12. Objectivity: it adds objectivity to the whole process. 13. Time saving: maximum amount of information is collected in minimum time. 14. Flexibility: due to the use of technology, tests are administered with more flexibility. 15. Self-awareness: when it comes to development of the employees, these tests can help point out the negative factors that should be erased and positive ones that need highlighting and promotion. 16. Cost-effectiveness: when used appropriately, they also provide cost advantages to the firm. (Vaid, 2007) CASE AGAINST PSYCHOMETRIC TESTING It is essential to make sure that the correct procedure in testing is followed including the process of selection, administration, feedback and analysis. Failure on the part of the test giver to do can result in ill communication and analysis often results leading to cynicism, anger, and dissatisfaction. Some of the disadvantages of psychometric testing are: Initial training can prove to be more expensive and costly, Provision of feedback is mostly deemed essential but can waste a lot of time, Uneasiness and resistance shown by the participants can hinder collection of true results. These tests need to be paired with some other form of assessment because complete reliance on them can prove to be not useful at all to the company. Lying or hiding of true information about oneself can result in portrayal of a false picture to the prospective employer, leading to making of false or inaccurate decisions on his/her part (Dent & Curd, 2004). It is very difficult for an untrained eye to find out which is the correct psychometric test to use and employ, due to the high availability of various types of tests in the market. This involved correct decision in terms of choosing the right test for that organization because if this is not done then the results will not be relevant to the organization and the issue at hand. There are many cases where people administering these tests are not qualified or have not been trained enough to correctly administer these tests, hence it is imperative that in order to get the maximum out of these tests, organizational psychology courses need to be offered for training of these test administrators. It should also be understood that these tests provide results that are not hundred percent valid and reliable, so as to not take the effect of many external factors can result in large negative consequences to the organization which is often the case. (Team Focus, 2004) SUCCESS FACTORS Many managers do not make good interviewer and this is where again psychometric testing comes in handy. Studies have shown that many managers and interviewers focus on their ‘gut feeling’ when it comes to hiring employees. Also, another important factor that they use is the candidate’s ability through his skills attained at School/ College etc. This is information; one can easily read off and understand through the Curriculum Vitae of that candidate. The success factor of psychometric testing comes in our discussion when we say that the question about whether a candidate is behaviourally fit in an organization is something whose answer lies in the analysis undertaken through psychometric testing. In other words, how well an employee according to psychometrics will be able to match his personality traits with characteristics of the organization; and how this will impact his performance inside the organization henceforth. (Lievens & Peeters, 2008) One type of psychometric test here exactly important to this kind of testing is the McQuaig System test which helps in outlining a behavioural profile of an employee with respect to the open position that candidate is applying for. Another success factor very essential to organizational development, is the basic fact that this outline can then be used to erase out the subjectivity biases attached to ‘gut feeling’ and help make out a prediction that is dependent on the technical ability of the candidate’s behavioural personality. There are various reasons for growth in the usage of psychometrics in the selection process. A few of these are: 1. Especially when they are hiring employees legal obligations and regulations are met through the use of psychometric tests as they are now being awarded a status that is obligatory to follow and be used by organizations. 2. Test results are now found to be more useful than before because they have been in use for years now. The varied political and cultural state of affairs that pertain to an organization has changed. Also, there has been a shift in the climate of these organizations, which have become more varied in terms of diversity in religions, cultures, ethnicity and so on. Tests hence when effectively designed and made help take these factors into account also. Equal employment opportunity is hence offered immensely well in most cases. 3. The costs of testing have decreased significantly because of the improved and increased use of Internet among many other technological advances. Computer based testing allows for flexibility, ease and quickness in adding up scores and summing up data probing organizations to indulge when more in such testing procedures 4. Human Resource policies are more formally and appropriately designed now to take into account a once much ignored resource- human resource. 5. Tests provide up-to-date information and when employing older employees, this becomes essential because then school qualification would prove to be outdated mostly. 6. Large organizations can use these tests to screen large number of applicants, who without the use of these tests and other computer based tests, would be almost humanly impossible to accomplish. (Psychometric success, n. d. ) CONCLUSION The use of tests, in particular those involving psychological analysis are here to stay as can be seen from their wide usage and growing popularity. It remains however the duty of the employers to ensure that they remain professional, ethical, valid and reliable. Training is an essential component o the success of the usage of these tests in an organization to better analyze and understand the results depicted by these tests. Employers while undertaking the administration of these tests need to take a few things in perspective. They should be clear about what they are measuring, what is the audience like, make sure that it is not indiscriminate towards any class etc., ensure proper training, provide adequate feedback, and also guarantee confidentiality of information, so that effectives can be reached along with success in usage of these tests. Effectiveness, all in all depends directly on giving importance to these factors just discussed so that any form of psychometric analysis is made productive. (Dent, & Curd, 2004) Bibliography Golombok, S. (n. d. ) Modern Psychometrics: The Science of Psychological Assessment. International Library of Psychology Hogan, T. (2006) Psychometric Testing: A practical introduction. Wiley. Dent, F. and Curd, J.(2004) Psychometric tests: an overview of an increasingly complex world [Internet] Available from: http://www. ashridge. org. uk/Website/IC. nsf/wFARATT/Psychometric%20Tests:%20An%20Overview%20of%20an%20Increasingly%20Complex%20World/$File/PsychometricTest. pdf [Accessed 19 December, 2008] Farrington, J. (2007) Psychometric Tests and Professional Salespeople- unhappy bedfellows [Internet] Available from: http://www. greatmanagement. org/articles/57/1/-Psychometric-Tests-And-Professional-Salespeople—Unhappy-Bedfellows/Page1. html [Accessed 19 December, 2008] Lievens, F.and Peeters, H. (2008) Impact of elaboration on responding to situational judgment test items [Online Library] Available from International Journal of Selection and Assessment. Dec2008, Vol. 16 Issue 4, p345-355 Mok, C. ; Wong, A. ; Lam, W. ; Baum, L. ; Ho, K. ; and Wong, L. (2008) A case-controlled study of cognitive progression in Chinese lacunar stroke patients [Online Library] Available from Clinical Neurology & Neurosurgery. Jul2008, Vol. 110 Issue 7, p649-656 Oriel Training (n. d. ) Key benefits of psychometric testing [Internet] Available from: http://www. orieltrain. com/KeyBenefitsofPsychometricTesting. htm [Accessed 19 December, 2008] Psychometric success (n. d. ) The growth of psychometric testing [Internet] available from: http://www. psychometric-success. com/psychometric-tests/psychometric-tests-advantages. htm [Accessed 19 December, 2008] Psychometric Testing (n. d. ) Exciting features [Internet] Available from: http://www. excitingfutures. com/psychometrictesting. htm [Accessed 19 December, 2008] Suff, R. (2005) First-line Filter [Online Library] Available from IRS Employment Review from: IRS Employment Review; 12/16/2005 Issue 837, p44-48 Team Focus (2004) Disadvantages of psychometric testing [Internet] Available from: http://www. teamfocus. co. uk/disadvantages_of_psychometric_testing. htm [Accessed 19 December, 2008] TVRLS (2006) Psychometric testing and climate surveys [Internet] Available from: http://www. tvrls. com/psychometric_testing_and_climate_surveys. html [Accessed 19 December, 2008] Vaid, R. (2007) Advantages of Psychometric testing [Internet] Available from HRD Test Products from: http://smarthiring. com/articles/articles/6/1/Advantages-of-Psychometric-Testing/Page1. html [Accessed 19 December, 2008]

Marketing Diary

ZAGREB SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT Academic year 2010. /2011. Written by: Tanja Igic Marketing diary Course: Principles of marketing Zagreb, 2010. Topic 1: Competition Uniqueness as an absolute advantage Source: http://www. fashionunited. com/news/leads/custo-and-desigual-in-legal-war-200823070855 (08. 10. 2010. ) The topic I chose as the first one is the legal war between two famous Spanish fashion brands- Custo Barcelona and Desigual. The reason why it is the first entry is because I am very interested in fashion and Desigual is my favourite brand.This summer I went to Spain and I realized that there is a brand very similar to Desigual, both in design and prices. This was the first time that I have heard for Custo Barcelona. Unlike Desigual, Custo is not an internationally known and famous brand. Oppositely, in Spain, the competition between the two is very high. I can even compare it with two major soccer clubs –Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. In most cases, if you pre fer Desigual, you would never buy from Custo and vice versa. Shock for Desigual lovers came in 2008, when Custo Barcelona filed a plagiarism lawsuit against Desigual.Custo accused Desigual for copying its mixtures of patchwork and materials and also for following their shop openings and contacting Custo’s distributors to market its products. No one ever wrote about the end of this lawsuit and that is why I cannot give my comment on the final decision, but I can comment on Custo’s decision about filing Desigual. I consider it as a desperate action of trying to get more of a target market. What they didn’t consider is that Desigual lovers, after this affair, sticked even more with Desigual.Unfortunately for Custo, Desigual is still existing, not only on the Spanish market, but worldwide, and it is stronger than ever. Topic 2: Controversial marketing Shock advertising Source: http://press. benettongroup. com/ben_en/about/campaigns/history/ (02. 11. 2010. ) It was f ew years ago when I heard for Benetton’s and Sisley’s controversial advertisements for the first time. Since then, I have been checking out their new ads every now and then, because they keep shocking me every time I see them. Recently, there has been a new billboard by Sisley on the streets of Zagreb.The picture is representing a young women on the floor with lots of cucumbers around her and one in her mouth. They just keep shocking, but why? Probably because controversial marketing is known to have an impact on drawing attention to the brand. When searching about the reasons why Benetton is doing such commercials, I found out that they want to raise the awareness about global problems and concerns among their global customers. They have officially divided their advertising campaigns in three separate phases and the first one started in 1986, when Benetton began cooperation with Oliviero Toscani.The phases where named: cycle of difference, cycle of reality and cycle o f free speech and the right to express it. Each released campaign, such as the one against capital punishment, resulted in widespread protest against the company, from the customers as well as governments. Usually, it ended up with lots of free publicity and an increase in sales, but after the ‘death row’ campaign, they decided to stop controversial advertising. They faced the fact that they have repeated using controversial subjects for too long and that the impact on the customers was rather negative. Topic 3: TV advertisingEffects of television food advertising on eating behavior Source: http://www. yale. edu/acmelab/articles/Harris_Bargh_Brownell_Health_Psych. pdf (21. 11. 2010. ) Topic 4: Market impact teams in Coca Cola HBC Does it really increase sales? Few weeks ago, I have received an e-mail offering a student internship in Coca Cola HBC in the selling department. It seemed very interesting from my point of view and that’s why I decided to sign up for do ing the internship. I had been invited for an interview and the week after I have started my internship in Coca Cola. It lasted for a week only.First day of my internship, we all gathered together and were explained what are we going to do in the next five days. Firstly, I was disappointed, but now, after I have finished those tough five days, I am really glad because of that experience. Market impact teams are teams of two or three people, one student and two Coca Cola employees usually, who are going around coffee bars and shops and are trying to have an impact on buying behavior by ordering shelves, cleaning fridges, putting promo material all over the place, thus creating a brand awareness. MIT is organized two times a year, before Christmas and before Easter.In Coca Cola, they are very proud of this actions, but I have always been asking myself, does it really increase sales? The answer was given to me by a young manager, who I was working with. He told me that in the short run and in general, it does not increase sales, but it creates a brand awareness which is really important for every product and company. It wasn’t an answer that satisfied me. I went further by asking: â€Å"But Coca Cola is a well known brand, actually, probably the best known brand in the world. Why are you still trying to raise brand awareness? † That’s when I got an excellent answer, which I will never forget.He told me: â€Å"Yes, everyone knows about Coca Cola, but sometimes you just have to remind people that your product still exists! † That is probably the best explanation of advertising I have ever heard. This experience was unforgettable for me. Source: my student internship ( (02. 12. 2010. ) Topic 5: Packaging and price Is the price, package or smell of a perfume what matters the most? Going into a perfumery and having a glance at all of the beautiful and colorful perfumes, makes me buy them all. After approaching the most beautiful and attract ive one, with the amazing desire of having it, you smell it and amazingly, it smells really bad.What are you doing? If you have money, probably you end up buying it anyways. If you don’t, you wouldn’t probably buy the better smelling one either. This question arises in my head every time I see millions of amazingly looking small packages of perfumes. The other fact that I have realized is that perfumes for male population are not even comparable to female ones. Is the package of the perfume what really drives our purchase behavior when buying perfumes? Some researches show that associating a beautiful design and color of a perfume with the smell makes the perfume more attractive, which increases the purchase.But what if a perfume is a great looking, with average smell and high price? That makes him even more attractive. It is well know that expensive perfumes are luxury goods. Higher price will make them more desirable because when seeing a beautiful package and a high price, we are creating an image of it before even smelling it. Not only for perfumes, this phenomenon happens with other luxury things as well. Human nature is just not strong enough to resist a beautiful package. Topic 6: Brand image / Business ethics Procter and Gamble testing on animals Source: http://www. pandgkills. om/main. html (05. 11. 2010. ) I have been avoiding Procter and Gamble’s products ever since I’ve heard that they are testing one animals. I am a huge animal lover and for me, animal killing is almost as cruel as human. The Procter and Gamble’s testing on animals was also a topic of my speech on the second year of college and that is when I did a little research on this topic. Not only that Procter and Gamble is one of the most famous brands in the world, but it is also one of the richest companies. It’s cruel method of testing can be easily replaced by an alternative.Despite this fact, P&G refuses to stop testing on animals, even though more reliable and humane alternatives do exist. By testing on animals, not only that they are creating a bad brand image and are representing a company’s unethical behavior, but they are also losing a lots of customers each day. Still, it is not important for them. Their earnings are probably still so high, that they don’t have to take care about those 100 people giving up from their brand each day. I am one of them and I can tell for myself that I would never buy from Procter and Gamble again, neither from the other brands testing on animals.Despite their global popularity, the brand image they are creating is not as good as it could be if they spent the huge amount of money they have on behaving more ethically and switching to a less cruel ways of testing their products. Topic 7: Design Ugly, comfortable and expansive-perfect combination I have tried hard to resist buying UGG boots this and last winter, and fortunately, I have succeeded. Different story is with my C rocs slippers. In fact, I have 3 pairs and I just love them. Those two brands I choose because they are well known for being ugly and expensive, but extraordinarily comfortable.I have never tried UGG boots myself but from other people’s stories they seem extremely warm and cosy. Since I have been seeing them every day, they are not even so ugly for me anymore. Crocs slippers neither. From my own experience, I can say that Crocs slippers are so comfortable that when you wear them once, you just don’t want to take them off. They are perfect choice in lots of situations and places, such as home, beach or long way walking. From these two examples, we can see that recently, people changed their points of view a bit.Of course, people still take care about how they look but sometimes, the way they feel in their clothes and shoes leaves a stronger impression than the clothes itself. UGG Australia and Crocs are two perfect examples for this statement and after writing this diar y I will probably give up from my decision to never wear UGG boots and go buy a pair for myself. Topic 8: Business ethics Lying about price reductions Last winter, I was in shopping for a jacket. While walking along Ilica, I entered a Miss Sixty store to see if they have something interesting for me.I came across a really nice, but for me, very expensive jacket. On the price tag, it said that it costed 3000 kunas but it is 50% off, so it costs ‘only’ 1500 kunas. The jacket was from the winter before and that is why the price was reduced. I never got over that jacket and that’s why I still remember the story. This year I was walking along Ilica again and went in the Miss Sixty store to see the new interior of the store. The very same jacket from the last winter, that was actually from the winter before, was still on the hanger. The thing that surprised me the most was the price on the price tag.It said that the jacket costed 4500 kunas in the beginning, but the pr ice was reduced to 3700 kunas firstly and now, it is even more reduced, and costs ‘only’ 3000 kunas. That really shocked me. After telling this story to other people, I heard very similar experiences but with other stores and brands. It usually happens that, if a product is not sold on the discount the year that it has been produced, the price next year appears to be the same, even though they say it is on sale. From my own experience and point of view, words like ‘sale’ or ‘discounts’ or ‘price reduction’ are very influential on human brain and thus, buying behavior.Sometimes you just can’t let other people buy that great shirt or a jacket that is on sale and you end up buying it, even though you might not need it or its price is still high. Experts dealing with selling products and services are very aware of the basic facts in buying behavior and human nature. They know that only a word ‘sale’ will increase sa les even if there is no sale at all. What bothers me is that I am probably falling for that trick almost every day but I do not realize it. As well as experts know how to sell, we should know what we want to buy and we should never follow the words, because sometimes they are just misleading.Topic 9: Brand loyalty Waiting up to 6 months to get on the waiting list – Hermes Birkin bag http://www. dailymail. co. uk/femail/article-1184169/Bag-lady-Victoria-Beckhams-100-strong-Birkin-bag-collection-thats-worth-1-5m. html (05. 12. 2010. ) Since I am desperately waiting to get my degree and have a chance to go for a Master programme in Milan and have my dreams come true, I have focused on a fashion industry and happenings from this field, to be up to date. That’s is how I came across the article about very famous Hermes Birkin bags.Everyone knows how expensive and popular they are but I would never expect that people would wait up to 6 months to only get on a waiting list. On e of their most loyal customers is famous Victoria Beckham, who has a huge collection of their bags, worth about 1. 5 million pounds. This shows a great brand loyalty they have, among the celebrities but the rich part of population also. Birkin bag is a luxury, rather then a need and from that point of view we can say that each person who buys it is loyal to the brand. If it wasn’t for loyalty and the status symbol, no one would ever buy a million pounds worth handbag.Topic 10: Color psychology and marketing Do colors really impact consumer behavior? http://www. syncrat. com/articles/color-psychology-in-marketing (27. 11. 2010. ) On my way to new Arena center, whose logo is by the way, also in red color, I have given some attention to the advertisements around me. I have noticed that most logos are in the red color. I didn’t know if it was for a reason and that’s why I checked it on the internet as soon as I came home. There really is an amazing relation between the two and that’s why firms pay a lot of attention when designing a logo or making a commercial.It is said that red color is a symbol of aggression and passion and it is used to motivate an individual to take action or convey a warning. It is also believed that is stimulates appetite. Oppositely to aggressive red color, green color is way more relaxed, symbolising growth and wealth. It is often used in commercials for natural products. It calms the mind and creates a feeling of happiness. Black color, an example of a neutral color, is well know symbol for elegance, power and sadness, as well. It is said that black color shouldn’t be used a lot when advertising.It can cause sadness and depression. On the contrary, white color symbolises cleanliness, purity and spirituality. It is used a lot in advertising but mostly as a background color, because it makes other colors seem more vivid and bold. All of these examples show that my question about the relation between colo rs and logos wasn’t foolish at all. When seeing advertisements and commercials, but buying also, people do not consider a color as something that influences their buying behavior, but researchers and marketing specialists are more than aware of this great marketing weapon. ———————- IN LEGAL WAR [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] I have never been a big fan of television, in fact, I have been avoiding watching TV and trying to do something else instead, since I have started high school. When I was 15 I went to United States for a year as an exchange student. Living there, surrounded with lots of overweight people, junk food and starting to have weight problems myself, I have realized what a damaging effect on human health a food can cause. Since my host mother was a nurse, she was taking a lot of care about mine and my host sister's healthy diet.I have never heard about the topic before, becuase the problem is not so spre ad in our country, but my mom was always talking about negative effects of television food advertising on eating behavior. If it wasn't for her, I would probably never realize the shocking effects of TV on the eating behavior. All of us know how unhealthy is to eat in front of the TV. It is because our brain isn't getting signals fast enough and we don't stop eating as we would stop if we were concentrated only on eating.Effect which is related to this one is the effect of food advertising on TV and our eating and purchasing behavior. Nowadays, obesity is the fastest growing cause of disease and death in America, caused by reductions in physical activity and overconsumption of unhealty food. A lot of people consider that unhealthy messages communicated to children through food advertising is a leading cause of unhealthy consumption. It is also confirmed that food advertising leads to greater preferences and purcahse of the products advertised.What we can conclude from these facts is that we should try to avoid eating in front of TV or eat whatever is advertised on TV at that moment. When going to the store we should be led by the healthiness of a product purchased and not its package and great TV commercial. [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] SALE!!! [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] hRQh!. 5? >*[pic]B* CJaJphâ‚ ¬Ã¢â€š ¬0h? )? h? )? B*[pic]CJ aJ hmHnHphsHt INCLUDEPICTURE â€Å"http://www. frechen20. de/include/downs/Editor_files/image/Sponsoren/Topsponsor/bauhaus%20Logo%20sahin(1). jpg† * MERGEFORMATINET [pic]

NPV starbucks company Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

NPV starbucks company - Assignment Example beans and ensures profitability in the same through its consistent sale programme that encompasses mail-order business, specialty sales groups, online stores and a chain of supermarkets. Just from few stores at its beginning at around the year 1985 to 20,519 stores as at March 30, 2014, the Starbucks Corporation seems to be more lucrative and financial promising as is widely recognized by the investment capital registered under its name. Starbucks Company went public on June 26th 1992 and started selling its shares at $17 each. It has its shares listed in the NASDAQ with the symbol of SBUX and currently its shares trade at $21.85 each. Based on the economic and political turmoil and tenuous environment witnessed in the market recently, Starbucks has managed to maintain success as a result of its cognizant responsibility to consumers and community while adhering to its guiding principles. This way it has successfully complimented the profitability goal with the corporate social responsibility concept. Currently, the restaurant has a rich diversity of food offerings that are led by the La Boulange bakery items that it recently rolled-out in about 3,500 stores in the US. Additionally, the firm has brand offerings such as Tazo, Evolution fresh, Teavana, Verismo, Seattle’s Best Coffee and Starbucks Refreshers among others (Fellner 125-131). The Starbucks Corporation Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is Howard Schultz, who besides being its founder, is the chairman too. He has been the Chairman to the Board of Directors since inception of the Corporation in 1985 and became CEO to the firm in 2008. Before this, he served as the chief global strategist between 2000 and 2005 in which a robust growth of the number of new stores were observed in the global arena. The executive journey of Mr. Schultz is one that has seen him move from rank to rank in the various phases of the Company’s transformation. For instance, he was the Director of Retail Operations and Marketing for

Is effectively reducing production costs a driving force for the shift Research Paper

Is effectively reducing production costs a driving force for the shift of Manufacturing from China to the USA - Research Paper Example Examples of these costs are labor cost, transportation costs and supply chain risks. Increase in the cost of production has made the businesses to move near to their customers or moving back home where the production costs will be lower (Shephard, pg.67). There are numerous specific drivers which may be either external or internal to china and which are forcing manufactures to seek another production locations; the major one is the increasing competition for talents and labor costs. The biggest advantage for china was that it had cheap labor though that benefit is dwindling. So the increase in labor costs has become a major challenge for the companies which are operating in china these is because every fast growing and foreign company in china are all competing for employees who are qualified mainly those employees who have skills thus making it difficult for business to entice and maintain top talents. The increase in labor costs has reduced profits of the manufacturers significantly (Janoski and Darina, pg 115). There are also other costs which have increased too. The costs of real estates have increased nearly at manic rates due to the government institutions which have delegated minimum land charges. Other factors like electricity costs has also increased and the rate of corporate tax has raised to 25% from 15%, also the tax associated incentives has disappeared or it has not been easy to obtain. Increase cost of these inputs of production has made it difficult for the businesses to operate in china which has decreased the profits. The other cost which is related to production of manufacturers in china is the risk which is associated with the protection of intellectual property. Foreign companies which have been operating in china have been in worry of guarding their intellectual property despite the significant attention it has been receiving only a

COMMUNITY POLICING Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

COMMUNITY POLICING - Term Paper Example of partner in community policing, application of window broken approach in community policing and relation of community policing and the Chicago department of police. Community policing is used to decrease the increasing rate of crime with the help of people. Community policing is also known as neighborhood policing. It highlights one important idea that it can reduce the crime by demanding the active involvement of people in the process of detectiing a crime. It addresses the issues of crime in the society, the fear of people about the crime, criminals and vandals in the society, problems and issues taking place where the attention of the police is not reached. This notion is designed to work with the use of organizational strategies making sure the involvement of people in a systematic way and by the use of problem solving techniques. Therefore it can address the immediate problems of society and will help to keep the social order in the desired way. Over the last twenty five years, the notion of community policing has been evolving and it has grabbed the attention of the state government in America. The violent crime control and Law enforcement was enacted in the United States in 1994 and it ordered to create a community police who are supposed to work in the community areas encouraging the involvement of people in that particular area to reduce crime and bring social order and harmony. â€Å"In addition, a new agency, the Office of Community Oriented Police Services (COPS), was created to carry out this mission, and to administer extensive funding and implementation of community policing programs across the country. According to the latest estimates, community policing is widespread, with approximately 80 percent of larger municipal and county police departments employing an average of twenty or more community policing officers.† (Willis). â€Å"A community policing concept paper is created with a vision statement definition of community policing, an outline of

Business Law - solution of the specific case Essay

Business Law - solution of the specific case - Essay Example Joey suffered injuries while working in Monica's restaurant. When an employee works in an establishment it is the duty and responsibility of the owner to provide necessary safety measures to the employees. If an employee sustains any injuries while carrying out the work for the employer, the employer has got the responsibility to bear the cost of hospitalization of the injured employee and has to pay compensation in monetary or otherwise, if the question arises. As such Joey is entitled to have the above benefits. She can claim for the benefits under Worker's Compensation Insurance, because it was the duty of Monica to put her under the insurance coverage. Joey can also seek legal remedies as per The Fair Work laws, which gives her the minimum entitlements of benefits of an employee in terms of Rachel is a courier, trading under her 'own registered business name'. She is totally an independent contractor and is not a paid employee of Monica. Though she acts as a courier of Monica, she lacks the status of an employee of Monica. So Monica must consider Rachel as an independent contractor. The issue is similar to the case of: AMP Society v Allen and Chaplin (1978) 52 ALJR 407. If Monica considers Rachel as a part-time employee, she has to treat her in that status and has the responsibility to bring her under the provisions of The Fair Work Laws, and also she has to adhere to the terms and conditions of Award. And if Monica thinks that Rachel is an independent contractor, she does not have any such financial liabilities or responsibilities on Rachel. Monica has no need to worry over the conditions stipulated as per The Fair Work laws which entitle an employee to have the minimum award of pay and other conditions. 3 Qn. 2. Monica v. Phoebe Issues: Phoebe was an employee of Monica. She was engaged as chef on a contract basis. There was a written contract between them, and according to the contract, if Phoebe ceases to work under Monica, then Phoebe should not work in any hospitality industry anywhere within Adelaide for 6 months. But Phoebe violated the terms and conditions of the agreement, and joined another restaurant less than 1 km away from Monica's restaurant. Moreover, she has utilized the information obtained from her work at Monica's restaurant and used that information in the form of book of recipes, and earned monetary benefits out of it, to which Monica has also got some rights. Whether the profits of the book go to charity or others is not relevant here. What matters is that Phoebe has made a criminal (cheating) as well as a civil offence. Her actions caused pecuniary loss to Monica and damaged her business prospects. Conclusion: As such Monica can approach the Court for legal remedies and claim damages against Phoebe. 4 Qn. 3 Award and Enterprise Agreement 3. Describe and discuss the differences between an award and an enterprise agreement. Award: (http://www.youngpeopleatwork.nsw.gov.au). Award is a legal document which defines the minimal preconditions under which an employee is being employed. It addresses issues like wages, sick leave, holidays, overtime and it also sometimes sets out the basic prerequisites like maternity leave. It is the duty of the employers to follow the conditions of the

Economic Theory - Airline Industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Economic Theory - Airline Industry - Essay Example This paper examines the economic profile of the airline industry paying attention to issues such as shifts and price elasticity of supply and demand, positive and negative externalities, wage inequalities and monetary and fiscal policies. The first part of the report provides an overview of the airline industry while the second part of the report focuses on the above listed variables. Air transport today is one of the largest industries in the world. For example, the scheduled airline industry generated revenues of nearly $375 billion in 2004 (British Airways Fact book 2006). According to BA Fact Book (2006), over half a billion passengers were carried on international scheduled services with this figure having grown at an annual average rate of more than 6% since 1970, when the then corresponding number of passengers was 75 million (British Airways Fact book 2006). Many commentators for example have long argued that, aviation has an overall economic impact far in excess of its turnover (Riggas 2001). Here, Boyd (2000) argues that the network of air transport services facilitates growth in output and employment, and at the same time international trade and investment, tourism, and living standards (Boyd 2000). BA Fact Book (2006) refers to Air travel as â€Å"a vital artery that reinforces the process of globalisation, allowing it to transform the way in which many other industries carry out their business† (BA Fact Book 2006:5). In response to the rapid growth in business travels in recent years, the airline industry has witnessed rapid growth in the last four decades. Rigaes (2002) postulates that, one argument in favour of the present state of the airline industry is positive externality. Thus such a higher growth in the sector is due to global mobility that outweighs the microeconomic losses and justifies continuing government intervention. The industry is also

Banned Books Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Banned Books - Essay Example Likewise, key examples will be illustrated that show some of the common trends and underlying causes for both past and current censorship that exists in the world. Furthermore, the reader will be able to understand key trends and underlying motives that encourage power structures to take such a drastic approach to seeking to stamp out a given idea/set of ideals. Perhaps one of the most famous examples of censorship is that which surrounded the Soviet Union and the communist party control that dominated nearly every aspect of public and private life. As a means of near total control over such a society, censorship was readily employed to direct and influence the way in which â€Å"foreign† ideas were injected into the society (Plamper 528). To accomplish this, the communist party employed a rigid structure whereby incoming literature and books would need to be approved by the relevant authorities prior to reaching widespread distribution. This structure of censorship is perhaps the most extreme example that our world has witnessed within the past 100 years; however, it is not the only example of a society that has employed censorship, to Ð ° great effect, in order to mould and direct, the social evolution of its populace. Similarly, censorship exists currently in a number of nations; however, the lion’s share of censorship in the current world is derived from a fear of the spread of a foreign religion within a host country and/or region. This is evidenced by strong censorship laws that exist in many Islamic countries. These laws ban everything from the distribution of religious material to â€Å"immoral† texts that can include anything from â€Å"unislamic† attitudes, styles of dress, forms of music and a host of other culturally derived points. A few of the countries that exhibit a high degree of censorship with regard to books and literature are Saudi Arabia, Eritrea and the Islamic Republic of Iran (Information Providers 100). A s imilar situation exists within what most readers might consider a highly democratic country – Germany. However, Germany’s case is somewhat different than the other nations that have thus far been listed in this brief analysis. Germany has placed a ban on many of the Nazi era publications and propaganda pieces to include Adolph Hitler’s Mein Kampf. According to pertinent government institutions and officials this has been done in order to allow the populace a reprieve from the painful and harmful vitriol that was common and circulated around GermanÃ'Æ' a few brief decades ago. Germany of course is the aberration to the rule in that this is a nation that enjoys a wide array of democratic freedoms, elections, freedom of expression/thought and a wide range of freedom of speech and freedoms of the press. However, as a function of the dangers that Nazism has presented the nation, they have chosen to implement a ban on all such material in the hope that doing so will s eek to hasten the healing of many war-era wounds that were caused as a direct effect of the policies and actions implemented by the Nazis government. Although the United States supposedly enjoys freedom of the press and freedom of thought, the United States itself has experienced a long and sordid past with relation to censorship. This censorship has primarily been concentric around education in that certain individuals, teachers, parents and/or government

Multi-Cultural and Political Society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words - 2

Multi-Cultural and Political Society - Essay Example In a political society like America, several interest groups are present, which are based on religious, racial, economic, political, or occupational (Ogene 24). Each of these groups always tries to place their self-interest ahead of their national interest which has been a major issue addressed by various scholars in the American society. Madison’s dilemma is the conception with the American political system, a system where people are at liberty to express their opinions and are given the privilege to petition the government on certain issues (Rosenau 46). In such system, pursuance of self-interest ahead of national interest is visible. The pursuance of self-interest ahead of national interest has been the concern of major stakeholder in the American polity. With the major actors stuck in the middle of whether to subvert self-interest group. A situation that would likely undermine the freedom of speech and rights of the citizens which portends the rise of an autocratic government that will degenerate into the oppression of the masses, or either maintains the political freedom operating in the system as being recognized in the democratic tenets. Nevertheless, granting political freedom to American populace would expose the system to circumstances that could hinder the growth of the political system (Rosenau 39). Interest groups in a democratic society are the various groups that seek to influence governmental decisions in a way to favor their interest (Ogene 12). They also help in the articulation and aggregation of interest in a way to make the decision-making process less cumbersome for political office holders. In the United States of America, there are different ethnic groups that are present due to their multi-ethnic and interracial background. Freedom of expression as a fundamental principle in a democratic system, allows the public to voice their opinion on various governmental policies.

Hotel Chocolat's Strategic Choices Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Hotel Chocolat's Strategic Choices - Essay Example The company started as Choc Express and in 2003 rebramded to be the known Hotel Chocolat Company. The firm’s founders have the required knowledge and skills to run the business. For instance, Angus went through the Business Growth and Development course at Cranfield School of Management. Amazingly, today Hotel Chocolat Company operates in more than 33 locations in England with 70% of the customers trading from the firm’s website (Barrow & Molian, 2005). The following is a report on the major strategic options facing Hotel Chocolat Company as well as the potential future strategic position of the firm. The report also provides specific recommendations in respect to the Hotel Chocolat Company. The report achieves these objectives through three main parts; A, B, and C. Part A The major strategic options facing Hotel Chocolat As a company's business, Hotel Chocolat is faced with many options that can steer up expansion of the company and that of the market sales (Gelderman & Weele, 2002). I will discuss these options one after the other and give an explanation of the same on how they work, when should they be implemented. The result of this is that it is going to propel the company to a potential future strategic position. ... ducts in a unique way than their competitors and providing their customers with their need, wants and desire more effective than others (Bertoldi, Giachino & Marenco, 2012). This model works with the assumption that a customer accepts any product offered based on the apparent value for money. The model is based on the a number of perception of the product and service offered against a price tag such that the same product or service can offer different price depending how it is perceived by the customers. I recommend the strategic clock model because it combines a low price, low perceived benefit with focus given to a price sensitive market segment. However, there may be price sensitive customers with low purchasing power and who cannot afford to buy better quality products but most customers do not differentiate or value the difference in the goods offered. Also to build on the customer loyalty, the executive group of the Hotel Chocolat Company can introduce loyalty cards which will contain customers with the products of the Hotel Chocolat’s company only (LeBoeuf et al, 2011). This is achieved by offering frequent customers with loyalty cards and proving them with incentives and discounts when purchasing at any of the stores, outlets and supermarkets particularly selling products of the Hotel Chocolat’s company. Another option that the Hotel Chocolat Company can implement is production differentiation (Gelderman & Weele, 2002). This aims at offering benefits that is completely different from those of the competitors. Of course the Hotel Chocolat Company also faces competitions from other beverage companies which either acts as substitutes or complements to their products such as tea among others. Therefore, to achieve a competitive advantage than other companies,

Core Competency Essay Example for Free

Core Competency Essay Walt Disney once noted: â€Å"I only hope that we don’t lose sight of one thing – that it was all started by a mouse†. (Disney Dreamer, 1998). Walt Disney’s original core competence was cartoons and animated movies. By combining Imagineering with engineering Disney’s company reached unparalleled success with the creation of the first full length animated movie. This success led to new ideas and one of them was to open a park, a different kind of park. In Disneyland Walt used new technology to bring his characters to life. He called them â€Å"Animatronics†. (Magical Kingdoms, July 2008) Together with unique storytelling and high quality of service Walt Disney created a magical environment for his guests which none of the competitors could quite duplicate. It became Walt Disney’s core competency. Disney once said: â€Å"Anything that has the Disney name to it is something we feel responsible for.† (Disney Dreamer, 1998) This competency is driven by superior Disney products and most of all by cast members and their renowned guest service. It’s always been a challenge to keep up with high expectations of the guests. To continue to improve its business Disney has set up new cast member standards in the form of the Basics (Meeting the new standards, December 2007). The new standards expect cast members to create and reinforce â€Å"magical† experience for the guests by being approachable, engaging, and willing to go above and beyond. As the company developed, many new lines of businesses have been added such as retail, media, and sports. The danger has been to overextend and lose track of what the company does best. In order to stay competitive the company had to realign and shifted attention from retail to those which are the cornerstone of the company – intellectual property. To reinforce its animation business Disney purchased Pixar in 2006. In the acquisition statement it read: â€Å"Animation is the foundation upon which the Company was built and for years was a core competency. However, in recent years Disney placed less emphasis on animation and, as such; the Company was not at the forefront of the digital revolution and did not produce many animation movie hits. With Pixar, Disney is now further on the technology curve and can  exploit some synergies in marketing, production, and distribution.† (Walt Disney Company release, January 2006). In 2009 Disney purchased another company, Marvel. This move further enhances Disney’s competitiveness and extended the collection of its characters. (CNN, August 2009). The special strength of the company is diversification. In addition to four parks in the US Disney currently has a park in Europe, plus two parks and one more on the way in Asia. Disney’s largest sales revenue is from media sold outside the US. Disney has its own cruise line with regular operation of two boats and is adding two more in January of 2011. (Cruise Talk, June 2010) Many regular Disney guests own part of the Walt Disney World resort through â€Å"Disney Vacation Club†, the company’s timeshare program. Disney’s tour operation business â€Å"Adventures by Disney† offers guests special tours around the world. (Adventures by Disney, n.d.) Everything the company does carries the special â€Å"Disney touch† – a seal of quality and outstanding service. Though the company has some challenges with the economic downturn, it continues to grow leaning heavily on what the company does best providing â€Å"magical† experiences to guests and consumers. References: Disney Dreamer (1998), Walt Disney Quotes. Retrieved from: http://www.disneydreamer.com/walt/quotes.htm Josh Buchanan, Matthew Covarrubias, James Gills, T.J Lovejoy, Craig Wuollet, Meeting the new Standards (December, 2007), Executive Summary, P. 3 Retrieved from: http://www.slideshare.net/jamesrg6/disneypaperfinal Walt Disney Company release (January, 2006) Comments on Acquisition of Pixar Animation Studios. Retrieved from: http://www.dbrs.com/research/206997/walt-disney-company-the/comments-on-acquisition-of-pixar-animation-studios.html David Goldman (August, 2009), CNN, Disney to buy Marvel for $4 billion Retrieved from: http://money.cnn.com/2009/08/31/news/companies/disney_marvel/index.htm The History of Disney’s Animatronics (July, 2008), Disney Blog at Magical Kingdoms Retrieved from: http://www.magicalkingdoms.com/blog/2008/07/08/the-history-of-disneys-audio-animatronics/ Mr. Papa (June, 2010) Cruise Talk Retrieved from: http://cruisetalk.org/2010/06/disney-cruise-line-adds-final-building-block-to-new-cruise-ship-disney-dream.html Adventures by Disney, Retrieved from: http://abd.disney.go.com/abd/en_US/index?name=HomePage

Physical and Psychosocial needs of Palliative Clients

Physical and Psychosocial needs of Palliative Clients Addressing Physical and Psychosocial needs of Palliative Clients Jaweria Bano Death and dying are certainly unescapable events in human’s life. Palliative is patient and family centered care that enhances quality of life. It is an approach that enhances life of an individual and their families challenging the issues connected with life-debilitating sickness, through the curative action and help of suffering. Palliative mind all through the continuum of sickness includes tending to physical, scholarly, enthusiastic social, and otherworldly needs and to encourage understanding self-sufficiency, access to data, and decision of consideration According to Loscalzo (2008), Institute of Medicine (IOM) report defines palliative care as â€Å"prevention and relief of suffering through the meticulous management of symptoms from the early, through the final stages of an illness.Palliative care attends to the emotional, spiritual and practical needs of patients and those close to them.† A case scenario related with providing palliative care to an adolescent client was encountered in an Ibn-e- Zuhr building. A 16 year old boy was suffering B-cell lymphoblastic leukemia and was admitted in daycare for his third chemotherapy cycle. While taking his interview I came to know that he was in his usual state of health 4 years back, suddenly he developed fever for 4 months on and off, cough at midnight for 1 month and shortness of breath for 2 week for this he went to nearby hospital in Lahore. Where many diagnostic procedures like CBC and bone marrow biopsy were done and doctor referred him in Karachi for chemotherapy. While interviewing, he verbalized that due to chemotherapy he felt nauseated, and had many episodes of vomiting. Moreover, he had complained of weight loss, fatigue, dyspnea and alopecia. He also verbalized that he had feeling of loneliness and anxiety due to the disease. Patient‘s family said that he is not interact in family and isolate himself. This issue caught my attention; I began to feel the same feeling and concern which my patient was going through at that time. My emotions had totally exceeded my ability to think. As a nursing student, it is my obligation to give comprehensive consideration to the patient and also his family. During patient care I recognized many domains which were affected, like psycho-social, spiritual, physical and communication. Here all spaces of palliative consideration are interrelated to one another yet I will highlight the two most influenced areas: psycho-social and physical. These papers will high light on the concerns, interventions and recommendations regarding physical and psycho-social domains of palliative care. Patient history revealed physical suffering that is like paling of eyes, dryness of skin and mouth, dyspnea. Diseased process or medications effects on his activity level and decreased appetite. Due to reduced activity and side effects of treatment her appetite had also decreased. As a consequence of decreased appetite and frequent hospitalizations he had lost significant weight in last six months (5-6kg). The difficulty in breathing did not let him sleep peacefully which in turn caused frequent mood swings and irritability in his personality. He also felt embarrassment in socializing and stayed at home due to alopecia. Referring to the case, symptom relief is the most evident need of the physical domain of palliative care. This is due to the fact that physical problems are closely related with psychological, spiritual and social issues and thus may adversely affect the overall quality of an individual’s life whereas palliative care chiefly aims to improve the quality of life rather than the length of life (Stevens, Jackson Milligan, 2009). For that reason, I approached the patient by focusing my care on the most discomforting issue that is of dyspnea. Firstly, patient’s dyspnea was managed by non-pharmacological methods that include performing deep breathing, pursed lip breathing and coughing exercises for 10 minutes every hour (Viola et al., 2008). Anemia is also a possible cause of dyspnea and fatigue (Borneman, 2013) which was also evident in the current case where hemoglobin level was just 10.3 mg/dl. Patient was positioned in semi fowlers’ position and spirometry exercise s were taught to the patient. Since pain was due to physical exertion so it also improved once dyspnea was settled. To reduce patient suffering and enhancing quality of life I educate patient besides, a teaching session was delivered to client and family members on importance of good nutrition, in which it was emphasized to take high energy, high protein diet not just to correct dyspnea but also to minimize weight loss and fatigue by promoting repair of damaged tissues (Holmes, 2011). Frequent water intake was also encouraged in order to minimize dryness of mouth. Issue of maintaining functional independence was handled by planning activities and rest periods according to energy level. Assistance was provided in self-care activities (Kumar Jim, 2010). Psychosocial area of palliative consideration alludes to the nearby relationship between the individual and the aggregate parts of any social. The patient was also experiencing psychological distress, anxiety and depression. The suffering was intolerable for the patient. Additionally, he was unable to tolerably cope with him condition as evidenced by him social isolation compromising the psychosocial aspect of patient’s wellbeing. Though the family was not well managed financially, patient’s family constantly kept worrying about the cost implications due to his frequent hospitalizations, treatment procedures, medications and chemotherapy etc. Similarly, humans as social beings, share their joys and burdens through social interactions. The family members of the patient also reported their observation that he doesn’t want to get involved in family gatherings and other such activities and would prefer isolation. However, I encouraging my patient to ventilate and ver balize his feelings, thoughts and views. Similarly, a teaching activity regarding emotional coping was practiced that included anxiety managing and guided imagery (Onyeka, 2010). I also guide the family that welfare is available in AKU. Family was given passionate help and was stressed on own wellbeing support. It is commonly observed that member who is in hospital with patient has distinctive stress related to household chores, children’s and families critical for life. Anxiety may also arise in response to sickness related stressor as saw for our situation that not just patient, family was additionally on edge about support persistent, difficulty process and it disgusting reality (Alacacioglu et al., 2013). The whole journey of palliative care is no doubt a most challenging aspect of nursing profession. Yet, the essence of both palliative care and nursing are fundamentally similar and that is to relieving suffering of mankind by all possible means. In the same way, the task of caring the palliative client was in fact a difficult task. Despite of all the nursing efforts, holistic care was still lacking few aspects due to certain boundaries like time limitation, problem while communicating to patient’s which was resolved to an extent and in capability in dealing with cultural influences on client’s well-being. Furthermore, lack of resources and limited theoretical knowledge also caused hindrance in care and it is the central problem in developing countries. To conclude palliative consideration nursing is another idea. It is additionally developing in our nation yet on a moderate step and uncommon endeavors are obliged to enhance this field. More mindfulness projects and explores ought to be directed to approach comprehensive consideration amid the days ago of an understandings life Nurses must also join this specialty in hospital and community settings to enhance the quality of lives of patients suffering from terminal illnesses. References Alacacioglu, A., Tarhan, O., Alacacioglu, I., Dirican, A., Yilmaz, U. (2013). Depression and anxiety in cancer patients and their relatives. J BUON, 18(3), 767-774. Borneman, T. (2013). Assessment and management of cancer-related fatigue. Journal of Hospice Palliative Nursing, 15(2), 77-86. Holmes, S. (2011). Importance of nutrition in palliative care of patients with chronic disease. Primary Health Care. 21(6), 32-38 Kumar, S. P., Jim, A. (2010). Physical therapy in palliative care: from symptom control to quality of life: a critical review. Indian journal of palliative care, 16(3), 138. Loscalzo, M. (2008). Palliative Care and Psychosocial Contributions in the ICU.Pain Management and Supportive Care for Patients with Hematologic Disorders. Pp. 481-490. Onyeka, T. C. (2010). Psychosocial issues in palliative care: A review of five cases. Indian journal of palliative care, 16(3), 123. Stevens, E., Jackson, S., Milligan, S. (2009). Palliative nursing across the spectrum of care. United Kingdom, UK: Wiley-Blackwell. Viola,R., Kiteley,C., Lloyd,N.S., Mackay,J.A., Wilson,J., Wong,R.K. (2008). The management of dyspnea in cancer patients: a systematic review. Supportive Care in Cancer. doi:10.1007/s00520-007-0389-6.

Effects of Foreign Direct Investment on Jordan

Effects of Foreign Direct Investment on Jordan Chapter 1: Introduction Problem background Foreign direct investment has become the major economic driver of globalisation, accounting for over half of all cross-border investments. for example, approximately $1 trillion in greenfield investment was announced by companies in 2007, creating about 3 million jobs in their overseas subsidiaries. Companies are rapidly globalising through FDI to serve new markets and customers, map out their value chains in the most efficient locations globally, and to access technological and natural resources. A government of another country may also decide to invest in other countries through the direct provision of grants to developing countries. Foreign direct investment is often used by multinational companies as a means of extending their manufacturing to countries abroad. Foreign direct investment by multinational firms is said to have grown tremendously over the last two decades even above trade flows. (Markusen and Venables, 1999). International economic activity increasingly involves foreign production and intra-firm trade by multinational firms and it is now estimated that approximately 30% of world trade is intra-firm. (Markusen and Venables, 1999). Despite the growth in FDI, Markusen and Venables (1999) suggest that we have a poor understanding of the ways in which direct investment is just a simple substitute for trade, as well as the ways in which it is something quite different. Countries often offer incentives to foreign investors in a bid to lure them to invest in domestic firms. These incentives come in the form of trade policy concessions, financial assistance and tax breaks. (Girma, 2001). For example, Girma (2001) notes that the British government provided the equivalent of $30,000 per employee to attract Samsung to North East England and $50,000 per employee to attract Siemens to Newcastle. (UNCTAD, 1996). This incentive packages are justified on the grounds that productivity gains would be accrue to domestic producers from knowledge externalities generated by foreign affiliates. (Smarzynska, 2002). Furthermore, Girma (2001) suggests that these incentive schemes have been justified on the grounds that the facilitate the creation of jobs, as well as regional development. It is often believed that there is a productivity gap between foreign owned firms and domestic firms and the attraction of foreign direct investment can help bridge this gap due to the potential for spillovers. Girma and Wakelin (2000) suggests that spillovers would have regional dimension for a number of reasons. Spillovers can result from the direct contacts with local suppliers and distributors. This may arise from upward and downward linkages which may be local in nature thus minimising transport costs and facilitating communication between the supplier/distributor and the Multinational firm. (Girma and Wakelin, 2000). In addition, multinationals provide training to employees which increases the turnover of labour thus creating another avenue for spillovers. (Haacker, 1999) cited by Girma and Wakelin (2000). (Girma, 2001). However, Smarzynska (2002) suggests that there is little conclusive evidence indicating that domestic firms benefit from foreign presence in their sector. It has also been suggested that multinational firms have an incentive to prevent information leakage that would improve the performance of their local competitors in the same industry but at the same time may want to transfer knowledge to local suppliers in other suppliers. Smarzynska (2002). As a result, spillover effects from foreign direct investment are more likely than not to take place through backward linkages, that is, through contacts between domestic suppliers of intermediate inputs and their multinational clients. Smarzynska (2002). One would reasonably expect foreign direct investment to have an impact on the economic growth of a country. Foreign direct investment is said to provide a number of benefits to the receiving country through technological transfers, knowledge transfers etc. for example, for example, Borensztein et al. (1998) employ a model of technology diffusion to show that the rate of economic growth of a backward country depends on the extent of adoption and implementation of new technologies that are already in use in leading countries. Carves (1974) had earlier suggested that foreign direct investment influenced host country conditions through two main channels. Firstly, foreign direct investment should result in technological transfers to host country firms. This should be so because multinational companies provide subsidiaries with an efficiency advantage which should indirectly generate spillover effects to other domestic firms irrespective of whether they are subsidiaries of the multinational company or not. Secondly, multinational presence could also have negative effects on domestic firms as this would result into an increased level of competition in the host country. As far back as the 1970s, many host country governments and some economists viewed multinational investment as detrimental to host economies’ welfare and development, creating monopoly situations that exported those economies and stifled local competition. (Markusen and Venebles, 1999). The view in the 1990s was however considerably different and more optimistic, suggesting that multinationals have important complementaries with local industry and may stimulate development in host economies. (Markusen and Venables, 1999). In the absence of any microeconomic imperfections, a small foreign direct investment (FDI) project will have no effect on host economy welfare, so if a case is to be made for gains and losses, it must rest on the possibility that FDI creates or interacts with distortions in the host economy. (Markusen and Venables, 1999). 1.2. Motivation of the study Jordan remains a major region of inward foreign direct investment. Studying the impact of foreign direct investment on Jordan’s economic growth can be justified for a number of reasons. FDI theory suggests that multinational firms have firm specific assets which imply that the may also have higher productivity than domestic firms as a result of the superior technological knowledge, access to international networks and management structure. (Girma, 2001). A company with high foreign direct investment is therefore expected to be capable of benefiting from a substantial increase in net exports which is a major determinant of economic growth. According to Girma (2001) the fact that multinational companies have higher levels of productivity growth indicates that the host country should enjoy two main benefits: (1) the host country should benefit from new production facilities or benefit from the rescue of failing firms in the case of acquisition, potentially raising output, employm ent and exports; (2) foreign firms should be unable to internalise their advantages fully which should enable domestic firms to benefit from spillovers. (Girma, 2001). The combined effects of these benefits should therefore result in high levels of economic growth. It is therefore essential to test these propositions using data on Jordan. Foreign direct investment has been carried out in many other countries mostly in the Western countries such as the United Kingdom, United States, Germany, China, etc. The literature seems to be lacking in terms of Jordan. With increasing growth in multinational activity and increase concern as to whether FDI contributes to the general welfare of an economy, it is the interest of this paper to understand whether FDI contributes to the economic growth of a country, making reference to Jordan as a case study. Most of the studies on foreign direct investment have focused on the spillover effects of FDI activity to domestic companies. In addition, most of the studies have been carried out using microeconomic analysis. This paper considers the problem from a macroeconomic perspective by studying the direct relationship between FDI activity and economic growth on Jordan. 1.3. Objectives of the Study. The objective of this study is to model the effects of foreign direct investment on Jordan by using aggregate macroeconomic data over the period 1976 to 2006. To isolate the effects of other macroeconomic variables on economic growth and to improve the overall significance of the model, the neoclassical growth model will be employed. 1.4 Significance of the Study. The study will serve as a yard stick for policy makers when designing macroeconomic policy in relation to incentives related to the attraction of foreign direct investment in Jordan, openness of the economy, designing monetary and fiscal policy in Jordan. The research will also serve as a guide for further research to students and researchers interested in studying the impact of foreign direct investment on the economic growth of Jordan. 1.5. Limitations of the Study. Chapter 2. Literature Review 2.1 Definition of Foreign Direct Investment. Foreign direct investment is defined as the process whereby a company in one country makes a physical investment to build a factory in another country. These include investments made to acquire lasting interest in enterprises operating outside the economy of the investing company. Foreign direct investment is often promoted by multinational companies when they decide to expand their manufacturing or businesses abroad. Foreign direct investment is also considered to be a diversification strategy pursued mostly by multinational companies which involves the purchased of assets, usually associated with manufacturing or distribution facilities, in another country. FDI is often regarded as the second stage of overseas involvement after agency or licensing agreements have been used to establish a market. Investors in such companies find it more appropriate to reinvest the earnings generated from foreign activities due to the difficulties entailed in the repatriation of profits, as well as t he differences in tax systems that may make it more efficient to retain earnings and reinvest overseas, than to bring them home. 2.2 Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment According to Lim (2008) citing Dunning (1996, p. 56) there are four types of motives behind the FDI activities of multinational firms. These include resource seeking, market seeking, efficiency seeking, and strategy asset capacity seeking. (Lim, 2008: p. 40). These are referred to by the UNCTAD as economic determinants. (Lim, 2008). A host country’s policy framework and business facilitation also plays an important role in determining MNCs’ FDI activities. These include the size of the domestic market, institutional and political environment of the host country, the number of distribution channels, the level of financial development, the taxation policy of the host country etc. According to James (2008) the level of financial development may affect the level of foreign direct investment. Accordingly, financial development acts as a mechanism in facilitating the adoption of new technologies in the domestic economy. (James, 2008). It has also been suggested that the build ing of distribution channels in the host country may also affect the level of foreign direct investment. (Stoian and Filipaios, 2008). This indicates that the more distribution channels a firm can build and the more easy it is to build these channels in the host country, the higher would be the likelihood that the multinational company will make an investment in the host country. Another important factor is the political environment of the host country. It has been suggested in the literature that there is a relationship between broad indices of socio-political instability and institutional quality, political freedom and democracy and FDI. (Kolstad and Vollanger, 2008). The political environment of the host country is therefore an important determinant of FDI. Conventional wisdom detects that high levels of political and social stability, high political freedom, high institutional quality, and high levels of democracy will facilitate the levels of FDI. On the contrary, a country tha t performs poorly on the latter indices of political and institutional factors runs the risk of attracting little or no FDI. The size of the domestic market also influences foreign direct investment. (James, 2008). The larger the size of the domestic market, the higher will be the level of FDI as multinational firms scramble to reap the benefits of economies of scale (economies of scale represent the advantages a firm enjoys because of the fact that it is operating on a large scale. Taxation policies both in the home and host countries may also affect the level of FDI. For example, Hartman (1981) suggests that since the repatriation of earnings to the home country investor and not earnings themselves form the source of the tax liability, the foreign source income should affect investment differently depending on the required transfers of funds within the firm. Consequently, in order to maximise after tax profits, a firm should finance its foreign investment out of foreign earnings t o the greatest extent possible. This further indicates that the required return on investment abroad increases at the point at which foreign investment just exhausts foreign earnings. (Hartman, 1981). Foreign direct investment is also determined by corporate governance. For example, Lien et al. (2005) provide evidence that the presence of a large number of supervisors is associated with FDI outside China, which is consistent with resource strategy views on corporate boards. They also find that family control and share ownership of domestic firms are associated with FDI strategy. There is also an observation of a negative relationship between foreign share ownership in Taiwanese foreign firms and FDI decisions. (Lien et al., 2005). Wu and Radbone (2005) observe from Shangai data that different local factors determine the location of different patterns of FDI. For example, Wu and Radbone (2005) suggests that the development characteristic of urban districts is an important determinant of the location of service and manufacturing FDI. They provide evidence suggesting that service FDI tends to aggregate in the areas that already have a high density of service activities whereas manufacturing FDI prefers to locate in central government-designated areas where incentives and preferential treatment are present. (Wu and Radbone, 2005). 2.3. Foreign Direct Investment Around the world A number of studies have been carried out on FDI in different countries across the globe. These include, the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, France, Developing countries, emerging markets such as China, India and Brazil. 2.3.1 FDI in the UK. It has been suggested that the United Kingdom is the most successful national location for new foreign manufacturing investment entering the European Union. (Hill and Munday, 1994) cited by Driffield and Munday (1998). For example, the United Kingdom attracted net inward foreign direct investment of approximately  £27.2billion between 1987 and 1993 and estimates show that foreign manufacturing firms in the UK employ more that 78,000 people, and account for more that one quarter of UK manufacturing net output sales. (Driffield and Munday, 1998). Major contributors to foreign direct investment in the UK include companies from the United States, Germany, France and Japan and the major vehicle for this inward foreign direct investment is the acquisition of domestic UK companies. (Child et al., 2000). Girma (2001) investigating the presence of productivity or wage gap between foreign and domestic firms in the UK, as well as whether the presence of foreign firms in a sector raises the productivity of domestic firms provide evidence that foreign firms achieve greater productivity that domestic firms and pay higher wages. There is no evidence of intra-industry spillovers. (Girma, 2001). The findings from this study are inconsistent with an earlier study by Girma and Wakelin (2000) which suggests that domestic firms gain from the presence of multinational firms in the same sector and region, but loose out if the firms are located in a different region but the same sector. In addition Girma and Wakelin (2000) suggest that spillover e ffects are also influenced by the characteristics of the region. For example, less developed regions are found to gain less from spillovers than other regions, sectors with high levels of competition gain more, and sectors with low technological gap between foreign and domestic firms benefit from higher spillovers. (Girma and Wakelin, 2000). Table 1 below shows the trend of direct investment into the UK between 1986-95. Table 2.1.: Trend of direct investment into the UK 1986-1995 Source: Child et al. (2000). It can be observed that the USA remains the major contributor of FDI to the UK as observed from its increasing trend of FDI to the UK over the period 1986 to 1995. One can also observe that Japan has also been a major contributor but the FDI from Japan to the UK in the years to March 1993/95 witnessed a significant drop from  £1,085.00million in the years to March 1990/93 to  £109.1million. Germany has also been a major contributor with an increasing trend of FDI to the UK. France has been contributing the least among the four countries but the trend increased from  £59.2million in the years to March 1992/93 to  £1,188.2million in the years to March 1994/95. One can also observe that these four countries accounted for the highest proportion of FDI to the UK over the proportion ranging from approximately 73.0% ro 81%. Their share of FDI however witnessed a declining trend between the period 1986/7 and 1992/3. Their share of FDI to the UK again rose from 70.8% in 1992/3 to 80.9 % in 1994/5. Driffield and Munday (1998) observed whether the extent to which foreign direct investment in selected UK manufacturers has an impact on the report profit of domestic firms. The evidence suggests that in addition to having an impact on domestic market share, entry by foreign firms also has an impact on the domestic cost conditions which leads to a high probability that the profits of the domestic firms may be reduced. 2.3.2 Foreign Direct Investment in the USA. 2.3.3 Foreign Direct Investment in Asia 2.3.4 South America 2.2.5 FDI in the Euro Area. 2.4 Foreign Direct Investment in Jordan. Jordan falls among the countries classified by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) as â€Å"front-runners†. These include countries with high FDI potential and performance. (UNCTAD, 2008). Apart from Jordan, other countries classified as front-runners include Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Belgium, Botswana, Brunei Darussalam, Belgium, etc. (UNCTAD, 2008). For example, Jordan ranked number 7 in the 2004-2006 FDI performance index of the UNCTAD. This marked an improvement based on the 2003-2005 FDI performance index which ranked Jordan 19th. (UNCTAD, 2008). 2.5 Literature Review There has been a lot of studies ob how foreign direct investment affects the economic growth of a country. However, most of the studies have focused their attention of firm level data using a small sample of firms to test their hypothesis and later on generalise results to the country as a whole. In addition, most of these studies have focused on how foreign direct investment increase productivity growth with particular emphasis on the marginal physical products of factor inputs such as labour and capital. A number of studies have been carried out on foreign direct investment ranging from the determinants o foreign direct investment, impact of foreign direct investment on economic growth, foreign exchange rates and foreign direct investment, taxation and foreign direct investment, spill over effects of foreign direct investment, etc. In this section of the paper a number of these studies will be reviewed so as to see where there are still gaps in the literature. As concerns the deter minants of FDI, Kolstad and Villianger (2008) employs firm level FDI data from 57 countries over the period 1989 to 2000, to examine the host country determinants of FDI flows in services as a whole, and in the major service industries. Their results suggest that institutional quality and democracy are more important for FDI in services than general investment risk or political stability. Specifically Kolstad and Villanger (2008) observe that democracy affects FDI to developing countries only, indicating that the absence of democracy is detrimental to investment below a certain treshhold. Consistent with the observation that many services are non-tradable, Kolstad and Villager observe that service FDI is market-seeking, and unaffected by trade openness. Stoain and Filipaios (2008) suggest that Greek firms invest primarily in similar countries with small market size, and open economies. High bureaucratic quality and rule of law are also found to be essential determinants of the FDI d ecisions of Greek firms while the existence of high corruption serves as a deterrent to FDI. (Stoain and Filipaios, 2008). James (2008) using data As concerns taxation, Hartman (1981) suggests that since the repatriation of earnings to the home country investor and not earnings themselves form the source of the tax liability, the foreign source income should affect investment differently depending on the required transfers of funds within the firm. Consequently, in order to maximise after tax profits, a firm should finance its foreign investment out of foreign earnings to the greatest extent possible. This further indicates that the required return on investment abroad increases at the point at which foreign investment just exhausts foreign earnings. Chapter 3. Research Methodology and Data. In this chapter, the methodology, as well as the data used to achieve the research aims and objectives would be discussed. Methodology is very important as it may affect the results of the study. It is therefore appropriate to discuss the methods properly since it will serve as a plan that would be referred to when completing each step in the latter part of the study. Data is very important especially the source from which it is obtained as some data sources tend to be unreliable while others are reliable. Relevant data must also be used in the study so as to ensure that the results are not biased. 3.1 Methodology The research method appropriate for this study is a quantitative research approach. Unlike most of the studies on FDI that have often used firm level data, this firm is going to use aggregate macroeconomic data to achieve its objective. The study aims at analysing how economic growth in Jordan is affected by inward foreign direct investment into the country. The appropriate way to achieve this is to establish a relationship between economic growth and inward foreign direct investment and then determine whether this relationship positive or negative and whether the relationship is significant. The significance will be done by carrying out t-tests on the coefficients that will be obtained by running the regressions. To achieve this, a regression model would be used to model the relationship between FDI and economic growth. To isolate the effects of other variables, and to improve the significance of the model, it is necessary to include other variables in the model. According to the neoclassical growth model, economic growth depends on a number of factors. These include domestic investments, population growth, which can be proxied by the labour force, foreign direct investment, development of the banking system, openness of the economy and education proxied by the expenditure on education and technology proxied by capital formation. Based on the above discussion, we can write the following growth model for Jordan. If we assume that economic growth is determined solely by FDI we can write the following growth model. (1) Where measures the annual growth in GDP per capita in percentage terms, represents a measure of the growth in per capita GDP not accounted for by fluctuations in the net inflow of FDI, is a parameter that measures the sensitivity of per capita GDP to changes in the net inflow of FDI, is the change in the net inflow of foreign direct investment to Jordan in year t, the subscripts t and j represent Jordan and time respectively, is a serially uncorrelated error term, which is assumed to have an expected value of zero. It measures the growth in per capita GDP that is neither accounted for by changes in FDI nor. The overall significance of the above model would be tested by calculating the R-square and testing its significance. The R-square is given by: (2) where RSS and TSS represent the regression sum of squares and total sum of squares respectively. If the R-square is below 50% this would indicate that changes in FDI to Jordan do not properly capture changes in per capita GDP indicating that model 1 is not a good model for the data. In that case we would have to include other macroeconomic variables into the model to improve on its overall significance. These variables include among others: interest rates, openness of the economy, domestic investments, population growth, education, technological development, etc. Taking this into consideration we can now write the following model: (3) where and remain as earlier defined, , , , , measure the sensitivity of movements in the per capita GDP growth to changes in banking sector development, government expenditure on goods and services, trade and net exports. The banking sector development is measured by using the domestic credit provided by the banking sector as a percentage of GDP. , , , and represent the change in FDI as a percentage of GDP for Jordan in year t, change in the banking sector development as a percentage of GDP for Jordan in year t, change in government expenditure as a percentage of GDP for Jordan in year t, change in trade as a percentage of GDP for Jordan in year t and change in net exports as a percentage of GDP for Jordan in year t, respectively. represents a serially uncorrelated random error term with zero expected value. Model 3 will also be estimated using ordinary least squares (OLS) regression and the significance of the coefficients will be tested using t-tests. The relationship between per capita GDP and economic FDI will also be explored. 3.1 Description of Data The data used in this study is obtained from the Economic and Social Development Service (ESDS) database, which reports world bank data on various economic growth indicators include GDP growth, per capita GDP growth, growth in exports, interest rates, consumer price index, inflation, expenditure on primary, secondary tertiary education, imports, exports, inward foreign direct investment, outward foreign direct investment, etc. Data on domestic credit provided by the banking sector as a percentage of GDP, exports of goods and services as a percentage of GDP, etc. The data is analysed using trend analysis and regression analysis. Trend analysis enables us to observe how the variables of interest have moved over the period under study. The period chosen for the study is 1976 to 2006. This spans over 30 years and enables us to observe how changes have taken place over the years. Trend analysis is however limited in that it cannot tell us which variables depend on which. We therefore turn to regression analysis, which enables us to study the relationship between variables and test for the significance of this relationship. We will therefore use regression analysis to determine how economic growth in Jordan is dependent on a number of growth determinants or indicators including banking sector development, foreign direct investment, population growth, government expenditure, gross capital formation, inflation, etc. Chapter 4. Data Presentation and Analysis 4.1 Trend Analysis. Figure 1: Jordan FDI net Inflows (% of GDP) and GDP per Capita Growth (Annual %) 1976-2006. The figure above shows the Jordan’s FDI net inflows as a percentage of GDP over the period 1976 to 2006. Figure also shows the annual percentage GDP per Capita growth over the period 1976-2006. One can observe a constant trend in the GDP FDI net inflows as a percentage of GDP over the 20 year period 1976 to 1996. As from 1996, the FDI net inflows as a percentage of GDP took an upward turn and has been on the rise since then with very slight fluctuations. The FDI rose from a low of approximately 2.0% in 2004 to approximately 20% in 2006. This indicates that Jordan has witnessed significant growth in the net inflow of FDI over the last 10 years. The annual GDP per Capi