Is the EUs decision-making process best characterized as federal or Essay

Is the EUs decision-making process best characterized as federal or intergovernmental - Essay Example The member states make up such organizations, which are the sovereign states. United Nations, European Union, Council of Europe, World Trade Organization, the Council of Europe and many more are examples of intergovernmental organizations. However, the European Union is a prime example of supranational organization where the governments of the member states delegate the negotiated power to the member states. It is often referred to as a federation. This paper will closely observe the works of the European Union, and whether it is best characterized as federal or intergovernmental. The founding members of the European Union held the same ideals of a peaceful, united and prosperous Europe. They belonged to diverse backgrounds. In the Second World War, bloody wars culminated between neighbors. The purpose behind the establishment of the European was primarily to end these wars. In order to secure the lasting peace, European Coal and Steel Community began to unite the European countries economically and politically. There are six main founders, including France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Luxemburg and Netherlands. There was a cold war between the East and the West in 1950’s. In 1956, the Soviet tanks had put down the protests in Hungary against the Communist regimes. In the following year, Soviet Union had launched their first man made space satellite, Sputnik 1. This is when they took the lead in the space race. The European Economic Community or ‘Common Market’ was created due to the Treaty of Rome.... With the establishment of the common market, goods and services were to move freely within the six nations in Europe (Europea n.d. n.p) In 1962, the newly formed European Union began the common agricultural policy, which gave the nations within the union joint control over all the food produced within these nations (Matthew J 2011 n.p). In 1968, the six nations decide to remove custom duties on goods, which were imported from one another and allowed free cross border trade. Trade between the nations rapidly increased due to this. In 1973, three more nations joined the union making it a total of nine. The three newly joined nations were United Kingdom, Denmark, and Ireland. In 1974, the leaders in European Union established a European Regional Development Fund. The purpose for the funds were to transfer money from the richer region to the poorer regions help improve roads and communications, later on down the road this funding takes up one third of the unions spending. Citizens of the union were involved in the election of the union in 1979, when they were given the right to elect the members of the Parliament of the union. Previously, the members of the parliaments were delegated by the national parliaments. In 1981, Greece joined the union and the tally of nation within the union hit double figures. Spain and Portugal joined the union in 1986. The union launched the Erasmus programme in 1987 to fund for students who were interested in studying for up to 1 year in another European country. This scheme ended up benefiting more than 2 million young students (European Union Background 9 Jan 2012.n.p) The Treaty on European Union was signed in 1992, this set a rule for a future

Khaled Hosseini Essay Example for Free

Khaled Hosseini Essay At parties, when all six-foot-five of him thundered into the room, attention shifted to him like sunflowers turning to the sunTranslating a book into a movie can be a very elusive task for many reasons. This is due to the fact that a book has many key points in it and compressing them all into a certain time frame can be very challenging. Mark Forster’s adaptation of Khaled Hosseini’s novel the Kite Runner is a weak portrayal of what the author had originally wrote. The movie consisted of some bad casting choices. It also consisted of some significant and harmful cuts to the novel. Although the director’s intention to recreate a very well written story into a movie was a great idea, the author could have given more attention to some critical and important aspects of the novel. The directors casting choices changed some of the important traits, which took away the true understanding of the characters. In the book, Khaled Hosseini states that Hassan is a descendant of Mongol heritage, which was an indicator of his status in society. As a Hazara young Hassan’s actor in the movie, blended in with the rest of the actors, as he did look like a Mongol. Another obvious flaw in Hassan’s character in the movie was the fact that he did not have a harelip, which represented the fact that he was a Hazara and had no money for it to be replaced. Baba is also another great example of how the director made some bad casting choices for the movie. In the book Baba’s character was described as a strong, intelligent and intimidating man â€Å"At parties, when all six-foot-five of him thundered into the room, attention shifted to him like sunflowers turning to the sun†. While in the movie

What Are you Really Learning at School?

What Are you Really Learning at School? What Are You Really Learning at School? You sit in math class while the teacher drone on about basic math such as how to add, subtract, divide, and multiply. You think to yourself, Why I am still learning this, I learned this like in elementary school? Youre afraid raised your hand knowing what the other kids will say, Whyd you have run your mouth, we could of being doing the easy stuff instead of this hard math. I actually could have passed math for once in my life since elementary school. You as this unpopular person sure doesnt want to get more unpopular than you were before. Instead, you sit back listen to sounds of kids rustling their notebook paper or homework to form spitballs to shoot at peoples heads or the endless beeps of text messages being sent to each other or the mini screams of girls after they receive a request for prom date. Parents wonder why their childrens report card is so amiss and unacceptable when they receive them but parents really dont know what teachers are teaching their children in school and something needs to be done about it and change for once and for all. Many reasons lead up to what are we really learning in school such as unacceptable scores on MSA and HSA, not enough skills to succeed, and not being able to use their own imagination. When parents receive the childs MSA or HSA report, the results are shocking. Children come to their parents with scores of low average and average but on their regular school tests, they would get above 90% never below 80%. Scores taken from elementary schools since the MSA have plummet, The Baltimore Sun states, The percentage of third-graders at the school who passed the state reading test plummeted from 100 last year to 50 this year. The percentage of fourth-graders reading at proficient or advanced levels dropped nearly 43 points, from 100 percent to 57 percent. Fourth-grade pass rates in math fell from 100 percent to 68 percent, and fifth-graders pass rates in reading dropped from 100 percent to 80 percent at Abbottston Elementary. From Abbottston Elementary School in Baltimore City, MD to Baltimore Liberation Diploma Plus High School, MSA and HSA test scores have dropped leaving other schools ahead of them and putting them behind in the dust. In this particular elementary schoo l, scores were higher last year than this year, their schools scores overall decline more than 50% . Which means what are those teachers teaching that made those children do worse than before. Or maybe teachers had the books altered last year to cheat for the students because they knew their students werent prepared. Now, this year maybe they decided forgot the cheating part because they knew they would eventually get caught and probably prayed that their students would be able to pass with the same high standards. But they didnt happen so, the school is now under speculation. First of all, The Baltimore Sun also states, Baltimore City schools results on this years Maryland School Assessment tests are a terrible disappointment. Although the overall declines in reading (3.3 percentage points) and math (4.9 percentage points) are not catastrophic, the results from individual schools paint a more troubling picture. Of the 50 schools that showed the largest combined drops on math and re ading scores since 2010, 45 were in Baltimore, including 19 of the bottom 20 and all of the bottom 10.† Reading averages and math averages are decreasing steadily unlikely in smarter schools but what are the teachers teaching that’s making test scores drop. Parents, have you checked your child’s regular school tests coming home, aren’t they passing with high B’s and A’s but now, you receive your child’s MSA scores. They unacceptably low actually below average especially in reading and math. You think what are these so called teachers teaching my child. If they are pass in regular grades, why couldn’t they pass this MSA? Are the teachers making test easier for their job or what? Maybe they just do it for the money or is the principal checking up on their students and teachers’ progress making sure no one is slacking? Do you seem to find that your child or now full-grown teenager doesnt have the right skills to help them succeed in life to able them to get a high-paying job? Do they find themselves working a local store as bagger not as a manager? Well, not having the right skills to succeed in life being taught in school is a problem too. teachers don’t understand what a child goes through or doesnt understand. In an article called, Cultural Diversity and Academic Achievement†, The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NEAP) reported that, â€Å"Students from low socioeconomic backgrounds and many children of color consistently achieve below the national average in mathematics and language skills, with the gap widening as children continue through their school years.† Teachers aren’t focusing on that one child that needs help, they’re too worried about how they class is going to react to something. Studies show that, â€Å"1 out of 10 children are afraid to raise their hand, ask questions, and seek help because they’re afraid of what they’re classmates will say.† It’s not always the child’s fault either because if a teacher sees a child failing, they need to help by being more encouraging. This one of skills that needs to be successful in life, other skills are leadership, honesty, imaginative, and trust. Secondly, a psychologist, Jean Piaget did research about child development said, â€Å"Over the past half-century, child development research has provided an increasingly comprehensive knowledge base to explain how young children acquire skills and knowledge and define the environmental supports needed to stimulate and sustain development.† Schools have ignored or rejected different cultural expressions of development that are normal and adequate and on which school skills and knowledge can be built. Consequently, children from poor families have been judged to be inadequate because they do not already know nor do they easily learn the school curriculum. . The world needs more and more compassionate creativity to solve difficult problems confronting us. Creative students do not have answers, but they habitually question the status quo and think about alternatives and improvements. They discover and invent possible answers. A Doctor of Education, Marvin Bartel Ed.D.speaks out and says, â€Å"As teachers, we are often partly to blame for the diminished inclination to be creative as children become socialized and aware of their own limitations.† In creative teaching, assignment limitations can provide a way to change the students habits of work. However, the student needs to be given autonomy to make choices about what seems important. Otherwise, the motivation to be creative is lost. Third and most final, Marvin Bartel Ed.D. also says, â€Å"Teachers abandon their imaginative and creative curiosity about life in favor of a more secure, but imposed and programmed kind of thinking habits.† The accept answers from the Interne t as correct (without enough thought). When this happens we miss many good ideas as well as risk injustice by manipulation. You sit in math class while the teacher drone on about basic math such as how to add, subtract, divide, and multiply. You think to yourself, Why I am still learning this, I learned this like in elementary school? Youre afraid raised your hand knowing what the other kids will say, Whyd you have run your mouth, we could of being doing the easy stuff instead of this hard math. I actually could have passed math for once in my life since elementary school. Some child development experts are concerned that schools today are unacceptable scores on MSA and HSA, aren’t teaching kids the skills they need to succeed, not being able to use their own imagination.A culture of testing, they say, is inhibiting the development of â€Å"life skills.† Curricular content aside, what do you think you are really learning at school? Are you developing skills that will carry you through life.

Consequentialism, Deontology, and Inevitable Trade-offs :: Philosophy Essays

Consequentialism, Deontology, and Inevitable Trade-offs ABSTRACT: Recently, unrestrained consequentialism has been defended against the charge that it leads to unacceptable trade-offs by showing a trade-off accepted by many of us is not justified by any of the usual nonconsequenlist arguments. The particular trade-off involves raising the speed limit on the Interstate Highway System. As a society, we seemingly accept a trade-off of lives for convenience. This defense of consequentialism may be a tu quoque, but it does challenge nonconsequentialists to adequately justify a multitude of social decisions. Work by the deontologist Frances Kamm, conjoined with a perspective deployed by several economists on the relation between social costs and lives lost, is relevant. It provides a starting point by justifying decisions which involve trading lives only for other lives. But the perspective also recognizes that using resources in excess of some figure (perhaps as low as $7.5 million) to save a life causes us to forego other live-saving activiti es, thus causing a net loss of life. Setting a speed limit as low as 35 miles per hour might indeed save some lives, but the loss of productivity due to the increased time spent in travel would cost an even greater number of lives. Therefore, many trade-offs do not simply involve trading lives for some lesser value (e.g., convenience), but are justified as allowing some to die in order to save a greater number. It has long been one of the standard criticisms of consequentialist approaches to ethics that they too easily justify "trade-offs" that are morally unacceptable. The criticism which holds "the end justifies the means" philosophy inherent in consequentialism to be a source of great immorality is expressed, for example, in the famous scene from Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov. Remember how Alyosha reacts to the prospect offered by Ivan of a harmonious world order, a system that would bring about peace and rest and happiness for all men. A lovely idea, but the structure comes at the price of torturing one tiny child to death. And Alyosha will not consent to that "exchange." A consequentialist response to Alyosha's refusal to consent to trade the suffering and death of one innocent in exchange for universal harmony is that, in the present inharmonious order, many innocent children will die horribly, not just one. Alyosha's tender conscience will cost thousands of innocent children their lives. And so the debate continues. Recently, however, a proponent of consequentialism, Alastair Norcross, has sharpened the debate.

Role of Marketing Staff

The Role of the Marketing Staff DONALD R. LONGMAN Business management [S increasingly dependent upon marketing to gain enduring competitive advantage. This article describes the rich opportunities for success presented by a change rn the approach to marketing stafF work and acquisition of professional personnel for it. GREAT DEAL has been written in recent years about the marketing concept. We may expect to see much more; for competition in American industry is increasingly centered in marketing-. This is a substantial change from the situation only a few decades ago. Success then hung on creative skill in evolving substantially new types of products, new production processes, new efficiency systems. Each step forward in these areas produced relatively strong and enduring competitive advantages. This is much less true today. Mass training of skilled research and development men and of production engineers, increased mobility of manpower, and mass communication at the professional level have all served to spread technological know-how with amazing speed. Competitors employ research men and engineers of parallel training, professional contact, and skill. If one company's team seems relatively inept in the competitive battle, it is still possible to call upon a superior group of consulting engineers for help while a new team is being built. Under these conditions, competitors quickly identify and match successful innovations made by any company in their field. They may even improve on the original innovator's ideas. It would be vain to suppose that even such corporate giants as Esso, U. S. Steel, or^ General Motors could gain and hold for long a major competitive advantage in product or manufacturing process. Indeed, it has become common practice to grant licenses to competitors on a royalty basis, thus removing technical innovations as a basis of competitive advantage in the market. Competitive Opportunities It^ is this comparative equality in production skills that is forcing a shift in the weight of competition to marketing. Marketing is still a relatively unexplored area. Our customers are so many, so scattered, and so nonhomogeneous in nature and in demands that they are difficult to understand. We are not even sure how we can best serve them economically and efficiently. Changes are still commonplace among big, well-established companies in such basic elements as channels of distribution, discount systems, warehousing arrangements, and service policies. Such changes grow as much out of uncertainty and insecurity m marketing decision as out of changes in the market itself or m marketing institutions. Marketing offers a rich area of opportunity for competitive advantage, richer today than that offered by any other phase of business. But if a company is to seize this opportunity, a lot has to be done. 29 30 Journal of Marketing, July, 1962 Requirements for Efficient Marketing 1. A Sound Understanding of the Market First, it is essential to acquire a comprehensive understanding of the market itself. This is a matter of getting the facts, completely and accurately. One has to know the exact size of the market and its geographical distribution. One must know who make up the market, the numbers and kinds of people. Where do they buy, in what quantities, how often, why? What products are available for them to choose among? What are their characteristics, their prices, tbeir patterns of distribution? What are the products used for, what satisfactions do they provide? Why is one brand chosen over nother; and why do people change in their choices? There is so much that needs to be known, and known well. How else can we think constructively of the marketing process until we have a solid grasp of the facts, a sure sense of perspective? The truth is that little effort to think constructively about marketing was made during the decades when competitive success was estab lished by production efforts. Systematic collection and analysis of marketing facts have been undertaken, even by the largest and most progressive companies, only during the last fifteen or twenty years. Indeed, the evolution of marketing, research may serve as n index of the shift in competitive pressure toward marketing. We possess today the tools and techniques for acquiring quickly and efficiently almost all the basic data necessary to provide executives with a sound perspective in marketing. Yet marketing research is still inadequately utilized; there is ample room even now for a company to gain major marketing advantages over competitors simply by superior knowledge of the facts of the business. The 10,000 professional marketing research men today are probably not a third of the number we may expect when marketing has been developed to a peak of fficiency comparable to production. 2. Innovation The second requisite to superior marketing lies in innovation. There is no progress in acceptance of routine, in copying competitive practices, in turgid operation. Indeed, in the fiuid environment of marketing, with changes in policies, practices, and procedures borne no more of creative thought than of uncertainty, the well thought out, tested innovations may prove extremely rewarding. We must be prepared to consider alterations, often radical changes, in methods and policies. We must become creative, cultivating a flexibility of mind that seeks and considers ew approaches. We must be prepared to reexamine the basic premises upon which our policies rest. We must begin to ask the fundamental questions and to fix them in our mind, looking, looking always for new answers. There exists a unit expected to devise and explore new ideas in the production area. It is supposed to suggest innovations, to challenge current practices. It is staffed with men of imagination, men of specialized education, men whose minds are constantly stirred and challenged by contacts with ba sic research scientists in our universities, foundations, and government units. They are in continuous ontact with other professionals throughout the country, often in other countries, and are constantly stimulated by the ideas and exploratory efforts they encounter in a wide variety of industries. They are Research and Development men. There is no comparable unit in marketing, even in companies whose marketing costs far exceed manufacturing costs. The nearest marketing pai'- allel'is to be found in advertising agencies. These owe their independent existence to the very fact that creative imagination and innovation are obviously essential to advertising; and even the largest advertisers do not provide in their marketing rganizations a climate conductive to high quality creative work. But the advertising agency is concerned fundamentally with only one of many marketing activities. It is not well equipped to serve as the creative arm for the entire marketing function. It is not paid e nough to do the job; nor is the company advertising manager who works with the agency so positioned in his own company that he could spark the creative effort for the entire Marketing Department. This means that a new and different unit is needed to function within the company itself. It must be staffed with men of creative minds, trained n seeing and exploring possibilities not clear to others. They need to be observers of marketing in all of industry, stirred and challenged by professional association with creative men in universities, consulting firms, everywhere that pioneering thought g-oes on. They must imagine, synthesize ideas, experiment systematically. They may be engineers exploring the application of operations research to warehousing. They may be psychologists studying the foundations of sales- †¢ ABOUT THE AUTHOR. Donald Longman is Vice President and Director of Research for the J. Walter Thompson Company, New York. He is President f the American Marlteting Associ ation and Chairman of the International Marketing Federation. In earlier years Dr. Longman was a university professor and a government executive. He has held senior positions in business in both line and staff capacities. He is the author of a number of books and articles. The Role of the Marketing Staff 31 men's or dealers' morale and motivation. They may be marketing researchers probing ways to break old consumer buying habits and build new ones. They may be systematically testing consumer responses to a range of product styles, flavors, or scents. They must be the Marketing R and D. . Scientific Approach to Decision Making The third major requisite to superior marketing lies in hard-headed, scientific decision making. This requires a solid grasp of the facts of a business through research and through experience. More important, it requires imagination, perceptiveness, thoroughness, objectivity, analytical skill, and emotional stability. Few people acquire all these traits in the normal course of their lives; our marketing executives today introduce large portions of emotion, hunch, habit, and haste in their judgments. But needed qualities can be developed as a matter of explicit training. In increasing measure they are being developed in the best of our Schools of Business. Decision making is extraordinarily complex in the marketing field. When decision is required between alternative policies or procedures, it is necessary first to grasp fully and completely the exact nature of the alternatives and all their implications. It may seem simple, for example, to select a brand name for a new product; but this is only true for one who does not know both the values and dangers in a name. A name can convey a sense of quality, lend itself to easy recall, facilitate effective advertising, express values to be received in use; n sum, it can secure a privileged competitive position to its owner. Or it can be easily ridiculed or played upon, fail of copyright, be subject to confusion with other names, and so on. In truth, there are scores of facts to consider in selecting names, a wide variety of criteria to employ in judgment. There is a lot at stake. If this is true of names, i magine how much more true this is of issues concerning pricing, packaging, discount systems, employment and motivation of salesmen, advertising themes, and so on and on. Each issue must be studied objectively, its implications uncovered. All the facts relevant to ecision must be marshalled. The possible effects of alternative courses must be weighed. Experimentation or testing may be considered. This is the slow, arduous, but hard-headed and scientific approach to decision making. This is the way to confident action, desirable any time but mandatory when significantly new, creative innovations are put into effect. Those of us privileged to have close contact with marketing management over the past twenty years have seen a slow but steady progress toward this kind of decision making. Arbitrary, hasty, â€Å"seatof- the-pants† decisions based on hunch, enthusiasm, nd personal preferment for the individual advocates of one course are becoming less common. Yet there remains much room for improvement in decision making today. 4. Efficient Administration The fourth requisite to marketing success lies in efficient administration—the daily execution of policy and practice, the employment of facilities and men, the operating job. This is the field of marketing performance, so obviously necessary that it could not be overlooked. Here the need is for inspiring leadership of men, operating drive, astute supervision of performance in every detail, the building and aintenance of a morale that instills a motivation in the doers of the marketing job. Broadly speaking, marketing can claim credit for superior performance in this area; it has been given thought and attention at a senior business management level. By the same token, it is the marketing requisite least rich in opportunities for improvement and, therefore, least likely to yield a competitive advantage in marketing. The very obviousness of the need for sound administration has tended to obscure the nee d for the other three basic requisites in marketing—a full understanding of the market itself; the development f creative, new ideas or innovations; the making of decisions on a hard-headed, scientific basis. Administration is a big job, involving, the employment and supervision of hundreds, even thousands, of people, as well as the purchase, maintenance, and operation of equipment and facilities of countless kinds. And the huge expenditures for marketing lie under the administrator's control. Small wonder, then, that marketing administration was equated with all of marketing, until increasing competitive equality in other areas forced people to study more seriously the nature of the marketing function. Sound administration is a fundamental component of marketing, but is far from all of it. It is the operation of a gigantic â€Å"machine. † This marketing machine works on the materials provided it, and under the policies and procedures set for it. The machine operator, skilled as he may be in his function, is rarely qualified alone to conceive, test, and decide upon new ideas, on new policies and procedures. He is not an innovator. He is not a researcher. He is not a trained and objective decision maker. These are different problems, requiring skills and training different from his, perhaps even a different temperament. A New Organization of the Marketing Function The slowly growing recognition that marketing management requires much more than administra32 Journal of Marketing, July, 1962 tive skill has led our largest and most progressive companies to bring a new kind of man to the Marketing Vice Presidency. He tends to be more thoughtful, sometimes skilled more in handling ideas than in handling men. He is more objective, analytical, less emotionally involved in his assignment. He has begun demanding research—searching for ideas, thinking of both â€Å"strategy and tactics. † The basic administrative management of arketing, the line operating responsibility, is being delegated to a subordinate General Sales Manager or Director of Field Sales Activities. Concurrently, staff departments in marketing have grown in number and influence. New units have appeared. We now have Product Managers, Marketing Operations Managers, Research Managers, along with the older Advertising and Credit Mana gers. Even Marketing Accounting and Marketing Personnel Managers may serve as members of the Marketing Stafif. Functions and Operation of the Marketing Staff The functions of these several staff groups have not been clearly crystallized as yet. Broadly speaking. , most of them are supposed to study all phases of the company's marketing operations in the area of their specialization; keep the Marketing Vice President closely posted on trends and developments in their areas; check performance efficiency; and recommend policy or procedure changes when they seem needed. Thus, the Product Manager for a particular product keeps closely informed on all competitive conditions affecting his product, observes regional and district sales performance on the product, notes obstacles to sales success, and proposes means of overcoming them. The Operations Manager concerns imself with the supply, maintenance, and efficient performance of all physical facilities, stores, warehouses, delivery systems, etc. As a superior specialist in this area, he advises the Marketing Vice President on ways to improve efficiency and service, and to cut operating costs. The same kind of work is done by the Credit Manager, the Marketing Accounting and Personn el Managers, and the Advertising and Sales Promotion Manager. Collectively, the staff managers cover all the difiierent functions in marketing. When these Departments were set up, it was natural, of course, to staff them with young men ho had proved themselves successful in the company's marketing activities. So, they were drawn from the ranks of the administrators. Generally this is still true, for this is the logical source of men and these jobs are still not clearly enough defined to suggest the need to look elsewhere. But this will change, indeed is in the process of change. It is not enough for the Product Manager or Operations Manager to serve as an observer of operations, to be an administrative second-guesser in a particular area of specialty. This would be a most routine approach to a job, unworthy of senior personnel. Rather, the staff Manager and his assistants must use their advantageous positions to acquire all relevant information affecting their functions. They must assimilate, analyze, and evaluate these data constructively. They must add to this, the stimulus of wide-ranging contact and observation of their industry and of many others. They must cultivate a flexibility of mind inviting new ideas. They must become creative—considering all manner of policies, procedures, activities which can add to marketing opportunities or improve service and increase efficiency. They must develop and explore their creative deas, testing mentally or in the market place those which seem most promising. In handling such tasks, they develop habits of thoroughness and objectivity, making scores of decisions on the basis of a scientific approach. They are truly staff experts— observing, creating, testing, recommending ways of doing their part of the marketing job better than it has been done before . This is the basic job of the Product Manager. Concentrating all energies on the one product or product line for which he bears responsibility, it is his job to conceive new and better ways to market it. His work may lead to recommended product odifications, package changes, price or distribution revisions. He may study advertising, promotion, guarantees, and service, and come up with new recommendations. He is the innovator, the preliminary decision maker, working from intimate knowledge of all relevant facts. The same is true of the Marketing Operations Manager. He is studying the nature and design of his retail outlets, the number and location of warehouses, the packing and order-filling system, the volume and distribution of inventories. He has scores of subjects to study, each offering opportunities for significant improvement. If he can nly conceive a better type of retailing equipment for his stores, a better system of truck scheduling, a finer system of production-distribut ion coordination, he can strengthen his company's competitive position and add to its profits, just as can the Research and Development Manager or the Production Manager. What is true of Product and Operations Managers is just as true of the Advertising, Sales Promotion, and Public Relations Managers. It is just as true of the Marketing Personnel Manager. By use of cost analysis, the Marketing Accounting Manager can make significant contributions to policy on reas of operation, channels of distribution, a quantity discount system, and a hundred other things. We need an explicit, articulated understanding that this is the job of the Staff Manager. We need The Role of the Marketing Staff 33 to recognize formally, and afiirmatively that innovation and scientific decision making is the particular province of these men . . . that collectively they represent a kind of R and D for Marketing. The Staff as Professionals When this is done, we will have a very different set of specifications f or men to fill these jobs. They must possess keenly analytical but highly fiexible minds. They must be imaginative, creative. They must be objective, thorough, trained in the scientific approach to problems. They must know the rudiments of collection, assimilation, and evaluation of data. They must be well informed, with wide contacts in industry and education. In a word, they must be professionals. Broadly speaking, this is the kind of background and training we find most often today in marketingresearch men and consultants. This implies that in time most senior staff positions in marketing will be research positions. After all, research, viewed broadly, is nothing more than the systematic, horough, objective examination of a problem; the orderly acquisition of all relevant data bearing upon it; and the meaningful, creative evaluation of the data in terms of conclusions and recommendations. This is, indeed, what is expected of Marketing Staff Managers. With further passage of time, however, the specific functions of marketing research will be narrowed. Today anyone engag ed in simple fact gathering may be called a research man. Ten years from now, however, the term prohably will be reserved largely for those who by long, and specialized training have mastered the more complex and intricate echniques of research. They will be the specialists in sampling, in operations research, in projective techniques. The Marketing Research Department will not be large, and it will carry out its work on a service basis for all the Marketing Staff Managers. The changes ahead are already very much in the process of being made. Product Managers, Advertising Managers, staff men of every kind are addressing themselves ever more seriously to their Jobs, going farther and farther beyond routine, specialized, administrative observation and suggestion. They are getting into their jobs more deeply han ever, and so they feel impelled to creative and decision making roles. And more and more such jobs are going to research men and to men whose training and temperament commend t hem for a research approach to business. The trend will quicken as there is more widespread specific recognition and articulation of the ultimate character of staff work. MARKETING MEMO We Are Already Living in the Future . . . ^ Are you enjoying your life in 1985? Through no time machine, via no crystal ball, we are, today, living lives accurately predicted by early science forecasters and science fictioneers—but predicted for about 1985. Our age is a good quarter of a century ahead of its time, thanks to developments that would have waited many more years—except for urgent military necessity. Many of us resent defense spending. We begrudge its existence as a necessary waste that helps insure freedom, but yields no tangible return. How wrong we are! Our defense research dollars, aimed at strengthening our military muscle, are pushing civilians toward richer, healthier, safer, more convenient living. It was military money that led to the development of the safety door lock and the low-profile anti-skid tires now on many new automobiles. Military necessity mothered rainwear that remains indefinitely repellent to water, oil. and grease despite repeated laundering and dry cleaning. ^John G. Hubbell, â€Å"Life in 11)85 Today,† reprinted by permission of Quest . . . for tomorrow Magazine, Vol. 2 (Summer, 1961), p. 14. 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Cash Flows Essay

â€Å"The statement of cash flows reports the cash receipts, cash payments, and net change in cash resulting from operating, investing, and financing activities during a period† (Weygandt, Kimmel, & Kieso, 2010, p. 614). Companies are required to prepare a statement of cash flow because it contains important information about the company that deems useful for external sources, such as investors, to make educated decisions about a company. The information contained in the cash flow, such as the company’s ability to generate cash and meet obligations, assists creditors and investors to determine the adequate decision regarding extending credit or investing. The statement of cash flows is divided into three sections: Operating activities, investing activities, and financing activities (Weygandt, et al, 2010). Each of these sections have reflect their own characteristics of transactions and other events. First, operating activities include transactions that create revenues and expenses; these are included in the determination of net income (Weygandt, et al, 2010). Second, investing activities has two purposes: includes the acquisition and disposing of investments and property, plant, and equipment, and lending money and collecting the loans (Weygandt, et al, 2010). Third, financing activities include two purposes: obtaining cash from issuing debt and repaying the amounts borrowed, and obtaining cash from stockholders, repurchasing shares, and paying dividends (Weygandt, et al, 2010, p. 615). Operating activities, which include income statement items are: Cash inflows – from sale of goods and services, and from interest received from dividends received; Cash outflows – to suppliers for inventory, employees for services, and others for expenses (Weygandt, Kimmel, & Kieso, 2010, p. 616). Investing activities – investments and long-term assets: Cash inflows – from sale of property, plant, and equipment, and collections on loans to other entities; Cash outflows – to purchase property, plant, and equipment, purchas e investments in debt, and making loans to other entities (Weygandt,  Kimmel, & Kieso, 2010, p. 616). Financing activities involves long-term liabilities and stockholders’ equity: Cash inflows – from sale of common stock, and from issuance of long-term debt; Cash outflows – to stockholders as dividends, and to redeem long-term debt or reacquire capital stock (Weygandt, Kimmel, & Kieso, 2010, p. 616). References Weygandt, J. J., Kimmel, P. D., & Kieso, D. E. (2010). Financial accounting (7th ed.). Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection database.

Essay on Slavery Throughout Time Essay

One might describe money as being stored up labor; therefore to make money you must simply labor. This is how industries all around the world have made money, by paying workers to labor. However if you could have your workers labor for no pay then you yourself would essentially be making free money. The appeal of this free money is why slavery has been a predominant trend throughout history. It doesn’t matter what the labor is but, there are three main types of slavery that have been present in the world and those are labor slaves, war slaves, and trafficking slaves. I predict that slavery will continue to exist in the future because the appeal of free money it is too great, wars will bring with it war slaves, humans have a natural sex drive which means there will be a steady need for trafficking, and because there will continue to be people who believe they are above other humans. The greatest account of slavery for simply labor and free money without the presence of war is the African slave trade that existed in the early Americas. Europeans would sail to Africa and bring over boat loads of African people to the Caribbean and the colonies in North America, where they were forced to labor. They would be bought by people and then would usually end up Rydalch 2 working on a plantation. The plantations would have them do a variety of tasks. The slaves would be beaten and lived in horrible conditions, some would try and escape and others would not because of the fear they had of being caught. This type of slavery of enslaving innocent people and forcing them to labor rarely exists in today’s world. In most first world countries there are laws that prevent this from happening but there may be rare occasions in other parts of the world in which this happens. The reason that slavery such as this is so appealing is mainly because of the wealth that it can bring you. It can put you in a more prestigious class without actually having the intuition to get there. I also think that some of the slave masters enjoyed there power and took pride in the fact that there were people who feared them. I think that this version of slavery will continue to diminish in the future. Warfare as been a factor of human civilization since human civilizations began and it will continue to be a factor. War can result from a number of things and it can lead to a number of things. The winner of the war however can take their land and their people. When they take the people these people could possibly become slaves of war. Many ancient civilizations captured people to be used as slaves when they were at war, such as the Egyptians. The slaves were held in a variety of conditions depending on who enslaved them. As long as there is still war in the world then there will still be slaves of war, whether they are forced to labor, used as prostitutes or are just held hostage. In the future I believe that slaves of war will not be forced to do labor but will more likely be held as hostages or forced into prostitution. Rydalch 3 The more modern issue involving slavery is not that of labor slaves or slaves of war but it is slaves of human trafficking. Human trafficking is when people are held against their will and are usually forced to do sexual acts with those who pay to do so. The reason why human trafficking can be a successful business is because humans have a natural sex drive. Human trafficking taps into this natural longing and gives people a way to pay their way to satisfaction. The people who run the trafficking don’t have to pay the women who perform the acts. That is what separates human trafficking from prostitution. This is the most predominant type of slavery in the world today because of laws that have restricted other types of slavery. People all around the world abduct girls anywhere from teenagers to adults; they then sometimes addict them to drugs or other cruel things. Most often they are forced to do sexual acts with customers. The world is taking notice to this and some things are being done to try and stop it. Google recently made huge contributions and donations to try and prevent this from happening. I however think that human trafficking will continue on into the future. Although it may not grow it will always be there because humans will always have a natural sex drive, and people will always be looking for means of satisfaction. With the African slave trade that I mentioned earlier in my paper, they were taking innocent people and putting them to work. In today’s world we would find that to be extremely unjust, unlawful, and immoral. However back when the Europeans were doing it they did not think that what they were doing was bad. They thought of themselves as being superior to the rest of the world. They thought that since the African people were of dark skin and frankly not Rydalch 4 European that they were below them and therefore taking them as their slaves was no problem whatsoever. This reason for enslaving other people rarely, if ever, exist in today’s modern world. This is because all humans have accepted that we are all the same species and that we all of certain rights. I do not see this form of slavery rising to power again in the future unless one civilization takes over the whole world, which is extremely unlikely as you may know. Over the course of following my trend of slavery I discovered many things about the different forms of slavery and the motives behind each of them. By understanding these I was able to make my predictions about whether or not I thought they would continue in the future. Many of them are nearly non existent today which provides for easy predicting of its future, while others I was not sure on. I discovered that the ultimate reason for slavery along with many other things in the world is money. Slavery provides for a way to get free money and it is not that hard to do, especially before modern laws were put in place. Today all forms of slavery are frowned upon greatly and are deemed by most morally wrong and lawfully wrong. This is why there are things being done to stop it, but no matter how many laws you pass there will still be people who try to do it. Slavery will continue to exist in the future because the appeal of free money it is too great, wars will bring with it war slaves, humans have a natural sex drive which means there will be a steady need for trafficking, and because there will continue to be people who believe they are above other humans. The worlds view on slavery might change but for the near future I see it Rydalch 5 staying the same. The modern view on slavery is clearly for the majority that it is a bad thing. However in the future it could be that slavery is accepted, but only time will tell.