Technological Developments In The Next 20 Years Research Paper

Technological Developments In The Next 20 Years - Research Paper Example The internet is one of the technological developments that will definitely change our lives over the next 20 or so years. The technology which acts as a platform for us to carry out a vast number of activities including social networking, shopping, banking and lest we forget the variant databases that we can access anywhere on the face of the globe. Online statistics from the internet live stats show that an estimated 3billion people use the internet (Internet Live Stats 1). That is a staggering 40% of the world’s population. However, this number is continuously rising, and it will keep doing so because more and more people are getting to learn how to use it and are discovering more uses for the technology. Many developed nations are already way ahead of the use and application of this technology, but the rest of the third world and developing nations are still at their infancy stage. A developing nation such as South Africa instance has seen its universities and colleges equi pped with facilities, which will allow students to be able to carry out academic activities online. Obviously, this was long incorporated to the American education system but back in Kenya, they are just getting to grips with the internet as an academic tool (Jones 34). This means that the internet is going to change greatly the lives of people over there. Other than academic purposes, the internet will continually change lives in the near future due to the various purposes it plays such as research.

Macbeth vs Hamlet Essay Example for Free

Macbeth vs Hamlet Essay Both Hamlet and Macbeth (the plays) are considered tragedies and both main characters are considered tragic heroes so you might begin there with your comparison. One of Hamlets problems in the play is that he takes a long time to seek the revenge he promised his fathers ghost that he would seek. He tends to overthink matters. Macbeth, on the other hand, tends to act very quickly and rashly. Hamlet is a generally likeable character and dies a heroic death having finally fulfilled the promise to his fathers ghost. Macbeth however, dies a far less noble death as he is considered a murderous tyrant by the end of the play. I suggest that you follow the links below for further help. One way of looking at it is through the lens of honor. Both Macbeth and Hamlet fight and ultimately are killed, but only one is honorable Hamlet. While Macbeth kills many people in pursuit of becoming King, Hamlet delays killing his Uncle because of philosophical concerns and doubts about what is the right thing to do and how to do it. Hamlet finally is able to avenge his fathers death, but dies honorably in the process. In contrast, Macbeth also dies, and although he does die in battle on the battlefield it can not be called an honorable death as he has caused the deaths of so many other people purely for his own potential benefit. One thing they have in common is that their journeys, both of which end in blood and death, start with something mystical Hamlet with the ghost of his father, and Macbeth with the witches. There are so many ways to contrast the characters! Both Hamlet and Macbeth have characters who appear to have a mental breakdown. However, Hamlet is acting the part to deceive Claudius, while Macbeth has truly gone mad in his lust for power. Macbeth and Hamlet are different in many of their characteristics as people. Macbeth is very war orriented and wants to rule everything that he touches while Hamlet is very calm, artistic and sensitive (you can see this by the way he handles his fathers death and by the way he handles his emotions). You could say that Macbeth and Hamlet are on opposite ends of the good/evil spectrum. Hamlet is very much on the good side as he is trying to make right what his uncle has spoiled and unveil the wrongdoing he has done. Macbeth on the other hand is the one who has done the wrongdoing and is trying to remain in power as king while McDuff is trying to put it right. Neither of them are able to survive at the end of the play. Hamlet and Macbeth are both murdered because they are trying to, in their minds, put the right king on the thrown. Macbeth and Hamlet are similar in their halucinations. Both see the ghost of a dead king that brings on important plot movement. Hamlet sees his father who was killed by his uncle and Macbeth sees the king whom he/Lady Macbeth killed. Thesis: Shakespeare used the same definition of tragedy when he wrote Macbeth, and when he wrote Hamlet; Shakespearean tragedies use supernatural incidents to intrigue the readers interest, and his plays consist of a hero that has a tragic flaw (sometimes the want for the supernatural) which causes him to make a fatal mistake.

Will we see the Downfall of Nintendo? Essay example -- Video Game Ind

Let’s go back in time for a moment and recapture the epic crash to the video game industry in North America that took place in 1983. There was a flood of bad games that shrunk the games industry’s value from three billion dollars down to a few hundred million. The Atari 2600 system was pretty much the basic and most populated console in the states in the early 80s. Atari was mainly responsible for its lack of productions and marketing. Even the Commodore 64 and the ColecoVision had its share of failed productions along with many other brand consoles. Eventually consoles and game cartages became were sold at bargain discounts. This was great for customers not at all for the industry and the developers. Arcades were the only successful outcome the industry had but soon enough everyone was about to see the death of the video game era. While Atari failed to recover a small Japanese trading card and toy company rose to the occasion in the states and began marketing the great est home console as we know of today, the Nintendo Home Entertainment System. Although Japan struggled to get North America to market the Nintendo system, Japan featured now and more exciting ways to play video games using the Zapper, ROB the Robot, story lines and saving data that couldn’t compare to how we used to play in the arcades.† No stranger to difficult times, Nintendo able to turn this crash into a good thing by surviving while many of their competitors did not†(History of Nintendo). When we think of the word video games, almost instantly Super Mario is the first thought and today is the most recognized character in the video game franchise. Super Mario is not only the main mascot and face of Nintendo, but Mario reminds us of our youth, the idea of obsta... ...st-players-in-the-industry/1100-6387414/ Sinclair, Brian. Who are the biggest players in the industry?. N.p., 17 July 2012. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. . 2012 biggest players in industry 3) http://gizmodo.com/the-surprisingly-long-history-of-nintendo-1354286257 - The Surprisingly Long History of Nintendo Jones, Tegan. The Surprisingly Long History of Nintendo. N.p., Sept. Web. 30 Sept. 2013. . 4) http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-08-09-what-does-success-look-like-to-nintendo Fehey, Rob. What does "success" look like for Nintendo? N.p., 9 Aug. 2013. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. . What does â€Å"success† look like to nintendo

Starbucks Planning

One thing that all managers do is plan. The planning they do may be extensive or it may be limited. It might be for the next week or month or it might be for the next couple of years. It might cover a work group or it might cover an entire division. No matter what type or extent of planning a manager does, the important thing is that planning takes place. Without planning, there would be nothing for managers to organize, lead, or control. Based on the numerous accomplishments that Starbucks has achieved through the efforts of its employees, managers, no doubt, have done their planning. Company Goals As of April 2006, Starbucks had 11,377 stores in 37 countries. During the 30 weeks that ended April 30, the company opened 755 new stores in the United States and 381 new stores overseas. However, that's a far cry from where the company wants and intends to be someday. CEO Jim Donald says Starbucks' long-term goal is 15,000 U. S. stores and 30,000 stores globally. For 2006, the company's goal is to open approximately 1,800 new stores globally and to reach about $7. 6 billion in revenues. Goals for the next 3 to 5 years include attaining total net revenue growth of 20 percent and earnings per share growth between 20 to 25 percent. In addition to its financial and other growth goals, Starbucks has an even â€Å"glitzier† goal. It wants to have a hand in helping define society’s pop culture menu. Although this goal takes Starbucks beyond its coffee roots, it seems to fit well with the unconventional approach to business that Howard Schultz has followed from the beginning. Company Strategies Starbucks has been called the most dynamic retail brand conceived over the last 2 decades. It has been able to rise above the commodity nature of its product and become a global brand leader by reinventing the coffee experience. Millions of times each week, a customer receives a drink from a Starbucks barista. It’s a reflection of the success that Howard Schultz has had in creating something that never really existed in the United States—cafe life. And in so doing, he created a cultural phenomenon. Starbucks is changing what we eat and drink. It’s altering where we work and play. It’s shaping how we spend time and money. No one is more surprised by this cultural impact than Howard Schultz. He says, â€Å"It amazes all of us how we've become part of popular culture. Our customers have given us permission to extend the experience. † Starbucks has found a way to appeal to practically every customer demographic as its customers cover a broad base. It’s not just the affluent or the urban professionals and it's not just the intellectuals or the creative types who frequent Starbucks. You'll find soccer moms, construction workers, bank tellers, and clerical assistants at Starbucks. And despite the high price of its products, customers pay it because they think it's worth it. What they get for that price is some of the finest coffee available commercially, custom preparation, and, of course, that Starbucks ambiance——the music, the comfy chairs, the aromas, the hissing steam from the espresso machine—all invoking that warm feeling of community and connection that Schultz experienced on his first business trip to Italy and knew instinctively could work elsewhere. There's no hiding the fact that Starbucks’ broad strategy is to grow into a global empire. Howard Schultz says, â€Å"We are in the second inning of a 9-inning game. We are just beginning to tap into all sorts of new markets, new customers, and new products. But any growth that Starbucks pursues is done so with great care and planning. CEO Jim Donald says that all company growth is governed by whether quality can be maintained. If there is any uncertainty about quality, a new strategy won’t fly, no matter how good it might seem. Starbucks has designed its growth strategies to exploit the customer connections it has so carefully nurtured and the brand equity it has so masterfully built. And company executives have taken the company in new directions even while continuing to grow store numbers and locations and increasing same—store sales. As the world’s number-one specialty coffee retailer, Starbucks sells coffee drinks, food items, coffee beans, and coffee—related accessories and equipment. In addition, Starbucks sells whole bean coffees through a specialty sales group and grocery stores. Starbucks has grown beyond coffee into related businesses such as coffee—flavored ice cream and ready-to-drink coffee beverages. These Starbucks branded products have been developed with other companies. For instance, its Frappuccino and DoubleShot coffee drinks were developed with Pepsi-Cola. Its Starbucks Ice Cream was developed with Dreyer's. In early 2006, Starbucks launched its ready-to-drink coffee drink, Starbucks Iced Coffee, through a joint venture with Pepsi-Cola. The company extended its success at brand extensions to selected global markets when it launched a fresh Starbucks-branded premium ready-to-drink chilled coffee called Starbucks Discoveries in convenience stores in Taiwan and Japan. This product was enthusiastically embraced by customers immediately. In addition, Starbucks markets a selection of premium tea products since its acquisition of Tazo, LLC. Starbucks has also pursued other strategic initiatives to enhance its core business. For instance, in November 2001, the company launched the Starbucks prepaid card. Since that time, more than 77 million prepaid cards have been activated and loaded with more than $1 billion. The director of Starbucks global card services says, â€Å"We've been pleasantly surprised by the card business, by how fast it's grown in percentage of tender, and how people use the card. It offers so many opportunities to grow from there. It's one of our fastest-growing channels. Industry experts say that part of the reason for its success is its dual use–as gift cards and for customer loyalty. Also important to its success, however; is the fact that the company has made it easy to purchase, reload, and use. The company is on the leading edge in finding innovative ways to get the prepaid cards into potential customers' hands such as parent—student cards, gift-card malls, and business gifts and i ncentives. Having conquered the coffee business, one of the company’s most interesting brand extensions has been music. Selling music at Starbucks began when a store manager made tapes for his store. These tapes proved to be so popular that the company began licensing music compilation CDs for sale. Initially, Howard Schultz had to be persuaded about this product and recalls, â€Å"I began to understand that our customers looked to Starbucks as kind of editor. It was like . . . we trust you. Help us choose. † And it you think about it, music has always been part of the cafe or coffeehouse experience. In addition to selling its private—label CDs, the company launched the HearMusic Cafe in Santa Monica, California, in March 2004. At these stores, customers burn their own compilation CDs. After sampling selections, if they choose to buy, customers can walk up to a music â€Å"bar† and order a custom CD with any variation of songs and have it delivered to their table when it’s completed. Based on the success Starbucks has had with music, it decided to selectively link the Starbucks brand with certain kinds of movies, the first being Akeelah and the Bee. The president of Starbucks Entertainment division says, â€Å"Movies are a very important part of our entertainment strategy. The thought was to start with music, build some success, establish credibility, and then move into films. Eventually, the company wants to be a destination not just for java but also for music, movies, books, and more. Not everything that Starbucks touches turns to gold. One of its big flops was a magazine called Joe launched by the company and Time. It lasted three issues before being called off. A carbonated coffee beverage product called Mazagran, developed with Pepsi—Col a, never made it to market. Too, Starbucks decided to close its Torrefazione Italia cafes when they didn't meet the goals set for them. What about the core industry Starbucks is in? How is it doing? The hot drinks market continues to sizzle. It's forecasted to increase 10. 9 percent between now and 2010. In addition, the 2006 National Coffee Drinking Trends report of the National Coffee Association of the United States says that coffee tied soft drinks in daily market penetration for the first time since 1990. And Starbucks wants to remain at the forefront of the industry. Some 24 percent of Starbucks customers visit 16 times per month—a number that no other fast—food chain even comes close to. There's no doubt that Howard Schultz has built and continues to build Starbucks to be big. Growth has been funded through cash flow, not by selling stock or by using debt financing. Some of the new ideas to be implemented include an aggressive roll-out of drive-through windows, which now number more than 1,000 U. S. locations and 35 Canadian sites; a co-branded Web site between Yahoo! and Starbucks where online daters can arrange to meet and drink free coffee; a partnership between Starbucks and Kellogg that created a hot breakfast product; and two new banana-based blended drinks. Discussion Questions 1. Starbucks has some pretty specific goals it wants to achieve. Given this, do you think managers would be more likely to make rational decisions, bounded rationality decisions, or intuitive decisions? Explain. 2. Give examples of decisions that Starbucks managers might make under conditions of certainty. Under conditions of risk. Under conditions of uncertainty. 3. Make a list of Starbucks’ goals. Describe what type of goal each is. Then, describe how that stated goal might affect, how the following employees do their jobs: (a) a part-time store employee-—a barista—in Omaha; (b) a quality assurance technician at the company's roasting plant in Carson City, Nevada; (c) a regional sales manager; (d) the senior vice president of new markets; and (e) the CEO. . Discuss the types of growth strategies that Starbucks has used. Be specific. 5. Evaluate the growth strategies Starbucks is using. What do you think it will take for these strategies to be successful? 6. What competitive advantage(s) do you think Starbucks has? What will it have to do to maintain that (those) competitive advantage(s)? 7. Do you think the Starbucks brand can become too saturated ·Ã¢â‚¬â€t hat is, extended to too many different products? Why or why not? 8. What companies might be good benchmarks for Starbucks? Why? What companies might want to benchmark Starbucks? Why? 9. Describe how the following Starbucks managers might use forecasting, budgeting, and scheduling (be specific): (a) a retail store manager; (b) a regional marketing manager; (c) the manager of global trends; and (d) the CEO. 10. Describe Howard Schultz as a strategic leader. 11. Is Starbucks â€Å"living† its mission? Explain. (You can find the company mission on its Web site, www. starbucks. com or in the continuing case found at the end of Part 2. 12. Do a brief SWOT analysis of Starbucks.

Rizal as Inspiration (Reflection)

Rizal as Inspiration By J. Arcilla ( Reflection) There is nothing wong to study Rizal’s works and doings. For me, it’s a good thing to know and understand his history. Rizal became a hero bacause of his accomplishments not because he was made to be. In his writings, he mentioned characters and scenarios related in reality. It focuses his ideals and misery in our country. Indeed, he is an inspiration but only some people sees that. Many fiipino knows Rizal is our natonal hero and being a hero is what they knew about him and that is wrong.It is more than that. It is not enough only knowing him as a hero. We should also understand and learn something fron him. Fighting for a freedom of a country is not a simple thing. I know you will needed so much courage, knowledge and a prescence of mind. Like him, he used the power of his mind to fight for good and that’s we should try to imitate from him. The social cancer Rizal mentoned still exist today and we are the one liv ing in present so I think we should at same as him. But not literally same. Being patriotic is also what made me inspire him.His selfless love in our country is remarkable. The values he has is also what we need to have. He inspired readers through his words. His real words. Rizal has become the constant model that inspires man and woman across the land to dream and work for its realization no matter the cost is brings for the sake of nationhood and promoting the liberty for the people. He also proven education is the answer to our struggle nation. So we student should value education because in the future we are the one who will get benefit from it.That’s why I will strive hard to get my diploma beacuse I believe someday I can also do remarkable things for our next generation. Education will helped us broadened our minds, so that we’re not confined to our countries and comfort zones anymore. We aren’t trapped in our small worlds, instead we have come out of our shells and begun to explore and learn new things about the world. It makes us aware of our rights in the society. It also grants us the power to never be enslaved, either by thoughts or actions.

Anthology of Poems Essays

Anthology of Poems Essays Anthology of Poems Essay Anthology of Poems Essay â€Å"When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You know that your name is safe in their mouth. † This persuasive essays purpose is to persuade the reader to include three phenomenal poems in an anthology of Indigenous Poetry. Each of the poems that will be introduced have been written by indigenous Australians, and each includes a form of a relationship within them, not only with people, but with culture, and Aboriginal and European Australians. The first poem to be introduced is Aboriginal Australia, by Jack Davis. This gut wrenching poem is about the treacherous acts that the Europeans committed against the Aborigines. The second poem that will be discussed is Took the Children Away by Archie Roach. This poem, or song, is about the Stolen Generation, and the repercussions that it had on the children that experienced that event. Finally, the poem Son of Mine by Oodgeroo Noonuccal will be introduced. Son of Mine is about the emotions behind the fighting of the Europeans and Aborigines. Each of the three poems has a rightful place in an anthology of Indigenous Poetry. The first poem that will be introduced is Aboriginal Australia written by poet Jack Davis. Aboriginal Australia is a raw and overwhelming poem about what the Europeans did to, and the effects that it had on most indigenous Australians. To support this heartfelt poem, Davis uses metaphors to accentuate the bold words that he has felt. The line, â€Å"I would find a pen to probe your freckled mind,† demonstrates the emotions that he was feeling in detail. It shows that between particular people relationships do not always have a strong foundation, and are often weak. Likewise Davis’ use of imagery in, â€Å"The smile on the Governor’s face,† validates not only the emotion that the Governor was feeling, but what he thought about everything that was happening to the aborigines. Aboriginal Australia is a heart wrenching poem about the tumultuous events that were caused by the white people when they unjustly murdered and kidnapped a large sum of the indigenous population. The poem demonstrates the idea that at one point in time the relationships between white and black people was that of hatred. The second poem that I wish to discuss is Took the Children Away, by Archie Roach, is a heartfelt story about the Stolen Generation. Having been one of the children that were taken away by the whites, Roach takes an insightful approach to his lyrics. The emotive and accusatory tone that Roach acquires, gives real meaning to his poem. Using the simile, â€Å"And how they fenced us in like sheep,† to convey the idea that the Aborigines didn’t really think that they had a say in how their life went, they were metaphorically trapped in their own skin. The aboriginal children started to lose their relationship with their land and culture. The Aboriginal children were taught how to act and live, being told that it was good manners to always do what they were told, no matter how ridiculous the order was. Likewise, Roach’s shrewd use of visual imagery in, â€Å"said to us come take our hand, sent us off to mission land,† creates an idea of juxtaposition as they told the children that they were going to help and teach them, when all they did was send them off to white families as servants. The aboriginal people were told that they would be treated with respect, and they would be educated, but were treated the exact opposite of what they were told. Took the Children Away deserves to be in the anthology of Indigenous Australian poetry as it has been written from a personal perspective, and has the exact emotions that were felt by one of the stolen children. The third and final poem that I would like to talk over is Son of Mine by Oodgeroo Noonuccal. Son of Mine is a short and straight to the point poem on the experiences that the Aboriginal people went through while fighting the Europeans. It discusses the good and bad emotions, and actions that the Aboriginals went through, including the heartbreak, and brotherhood that both races experienced. Noonuccal has great pride in her tone when she mentions the, â€Å"†¦ brave and fine,† men that put others before themselves during the often hard and tumultuous events that occurred. She describes the different relationships between the two different races. Noonuccal really defines the large gap between the two different relationships, and how quick the relationship could change. Noonuccal’s use of juxtaposition in, â€Å"black and white entwine,† deeply expresses the relationships between the two different cultures of indigenous, and European. Son of Mine definitely deserves to be in an Anthology for Indigenous Australians as it is one of the only texts that include both the hatred, and the brotherhood between the white and indigenous Australians. It would be a great addition to the anthology. All three of these poems demonstrate some sort of a relationship. They show great compassion for whatever topic they are artistically discussing. Aboriginal Australia, Took the Children Away, and Son of Mine all demonstrate feelings of hurt, happiness and heartbreak, thus making them beneficial for the anthology. The three poems that have been introduced each have a theme of relationships, whether between race, or culture. They definitely deserve a spot in an anthology of Indigenous Poetry.

Ca essays

Ca essays Why was the Great Leap Forward a failure and how was the Cultural Revolution concept of equality different from the U.S.s concept of equality as reflected by the self-evident truth that all people are created equal? For decades China had been either at war with or occupied Japan. Mao and the Communists moved rapidly to strengthen their rule over Chinas 550million people. The Communists claimed to have a new Mandate of Heaven. And they aimed to restore China as a powerful nation. The Great Leap Forward would soon prove to be a great leap backward for China. The Cultural Revolution of China equality would also differentiate between the United States equality concepts. In 1957, after China's first Five-Year Plan, Mao Zedong called for an increase in the speed of growth of "actual socialism" in China (as opposed to "dictatorial socialism"). To accomplish this goal, Mao began the Great Leap Forward, establishing special communes in the countryside through the usage of collective labor and mass mobilization. The Great Leap Forward was intended to increase the production of steel and to raise agricultural production to twice 1957 levels. The Great Leap turned into an utter disaster. Industries went into turmoil since peasants were producing nothing, but steel. Furthermore, the peasants, as farmers, were ill-equipped and ill-trained to produce steel, relying on such mechanisms as backyard furnaces. Meanwhile, farming implements like rakes were melted down for steel, making agricultural production impossible. This led to declines in production of everything, but steel. To make things worse, in order to avoid punishment, local authorities continually reported grossly unrealistic production numbers, which hid the problem for years and made it worse. The Chinese economy, which had just barely recovered from decades of war, was headed into disaster.The government officially discontinued the program in 196 ...

Executive Orders Definition and Application

Executive Orders Definition and Application A presidential executive order (EO) is a directive issued to federal agencies, department heads, or other federal employees by the President of the United States under his statutory or constitutional powers. In many ways, presidential executive orders are similar to written orders, or instructions issued by the president of a corporation to its department heads or directors. Thirty days after being published in the Federal Register, executive orders take effect. While they do bypass the U.S. Congress and the standard legislative law making process, no part of an executive order may direct the agencies to conduct illegal or unconstitutional activities. Brief History or Executive Orders The first recognized executive order was issued by President George Washington on June 8, 1789, in the form of a letter to the heads of all federal departments instructing them to â€Å"impress me with a full, precise, and distinct general idea of the affairs of the United States.† Since then, all U.S. presidents, with the exception of William Henry Harrison have issued executive orders, ranging from presidents Adams, Madison and Monroe, who issued only one each, to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who issued 3,522 executive orders. The practice of numbering and officially documenting executive orders as such did not begin until 1907 when the Department of State instituted the present-day numbering system. Applying the system retroactively, the agency designated the â€Å"Executive Order Establishing a Provisional Court in Louisiana,† issued by President Abraham Lincoln on October 20, 1862, as â€Å"United States Executive Order 1.† Perhaps the most impactful and certainly most famous executive order was the Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, directing all agencies of the federal government to treat the 3.5 million African American slaves being held in the seceded Confederate states as free men and women.   Reasons for Issuing Executive Orders Presidents typically issue executive orders for one of these purposes:1. Operational management of the executive branch2. Operational management of federal agencies or officials3. To carry out statutory or constitutional presidential responsibilities Notable Executive Orders In 1970, President Richard Nixon used this executive order to establish a new federal agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, under the Department of Commerce.Shortly after the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, directing the internment of more than 120,000 Japanese-Americans, many of whom were U.S. citizens.In reaction to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, President George W. Bush issued this executive order combining over 40 federal law enforcement agencies and creating the Cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security.As one of his first official actions, President Obama issued an executive order that some claimed allowed him to hide his personal records - like his birth certificate - from the public. In fact, the order had a very different goal. During his first 100 days in office, 45th President Donald Trump issued more executive orders than any other recent president. Many of President Trump’s early executive orders were intended to fulfill his campaign promises by undoing several policies of his predecessor President Obama. Among the most significant and controversial of these executive orders were: Executive Order Minimizing the Economic Burden of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care ActEO No. 13765 Signed: Jan. 20, 2017: The order reversed provisions of the Affordable Care Act - Obamacare - which he had promised to â€Å"repeal and replace† during the campaign.Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United StatesEO No. 13768 Signed Jan. 25, 2017: The order, intended to reduce illegal immigration, denied federal grant money to so-called sanctuary cities.Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United StatesEO No. 13769 signed Jan. 27, 2017: The order temporarily suspended immigration from the Muslim-majority countries of Syria, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan, Yemen, and Somalia Can Executive Orders be Overridden or Withdrawn? The president can amend or retract his or her own  executive order at any time. The president may also issue an executive order superseding or nullifying executive orders issued by former presidents. New incoming presidents may choose to retain the executive orders issued by their predecessors, replace them with new ones of their own, or revoke the old ones completely. In extreme cases, Congress may pass a law that alters an executive order, and they can be declared unconstitutional and vacated by the Supreme Court. Executive Orders vs. Proclamations Presidential proclamations differ from executive orders in that they are either ceremonial in nature or deal with issues of trade and may or may not carry legal effect. Executive orders have the legal effect of a law. Constitutional Authority for Executive Orders Article II, section 1 of the U.S. Constitution reads, in part, The executive power shall be vested in a president of the United States of America. And, Article II, section 3 asserts that  The President shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed... Since the Constitution does not specifically define executive power, critics of executive orders argue that these two passages do not imply constitutional authority. But, presidents of the United States since George Washington have argued that they do and have used them accordingly. Modern Use of Executive Orders Until World War I, executive orders were used for relatively minor, usually unnoticed acts of state. That trend changed drastically with the  passage of the War Powers Act of 1917. This act passed during WWI granted the president temporary powers to immediately enact laws regulating trade, economy, and other aspects of policy as they pertained to enemies of America. A key section of the War Powers act also contained language specifically excluding American citizens from its effects. The War Powers Act remained in effect and unchanged until 1933 when a freshly elected President Franklin D. Roosevelt found America in the panic stage of the Great Depression. The first thing FDR did was to convene a special session of Congress where he introduced a bill amending the War Powers Act to remove the clause excluding American citizens from being bound by its effects. This would allow the president to declare national emergencies and unilaterally enact laws to deal with them. This massive amendment was approved by both houses of Congress in less than 40 minutes without debate. Hours later, FDR officially declared the depression a national emergency and started issuing a string of executive orders that effectively created and implemented his famed New Deal policy. While some of FDRs actions were, perhaps, constitutionally questionable, history now acknowledges them as having helped to avert the peoples growing panic and starting our economy on its way to recovery. Presidential Directives and Memorandums Same as Executive Orders Occasionally, presidents issue orders to executive branch agencies through presidential directives or presidential memorandums, instead of executive orders. In January 2009, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a statement declaring presidential directives (memorandums) to have exactly the same effect as executive orders. A presidential directive has the same substantive legal effect as an executive order. It is the substance of the presidential action that is determinative, not the form of the document conveying that action, wrote acting U.S. Assistant Attorney General Randolph D. Moss. Both an executive order and a presidential directive remain effective upon a change in administration unless otherwise specified in the document, and both continue to be effective until subsequent presidential action is taken.

Logistics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Logistics - Essay Example Today, 49% of the equity of the company is owned by Nigerians and Nigerian organizations, while the remaining 51% is owned by Unilever Plc of UK. The company prides itself as being in virtually almost all sectors of the economy which includes nutrition, hygiene, personal care etc. and its products are of world class standards. The popular ones in the market include Omo detergent, Persil, Lux soap, Lipton Tea label, Blue band margarine, Close Up toothpaste and many more. With an employee strength of over 10,000, turnover of N44 bn, profit before tax of over N5 bn, shareholders funds of N8 bn, indeed Unilever Plc is a company the exemplifies a giant productive entity, hence the decision to adopt it as a case study for this paper. Vision and Mission Every organization has its raison d’etre in other words, its reason for existence. This is stated in its mission and vision statements. Drucker (1974) classifies these to include what is our business? What will it be? And what should it be? For Unilever Plc, its vision statement is inspiring billions of people to take small everyday actions that add up to a big difference. The mission statement is to meet everyday needs for nutrition, hygiene and personal care with brands that help people feel good, look good and get more out of life. Future of the company The company has four pillars which directs the long term direction and ensures that it knows where it wants to go and how it’s going there and this is inline with its vision and mission statements. These are: to create a better future everyday; to help people feel good, look good and get more out of life with brands and services that are good for them and good for others; to inspire people to take everyday actions that can add up to a big difference for the world; and to develop new ways of doing business with the aim of doubling the size of the company while reducing the environmental impact. These four pillars which serve as the guiding and driving pr inciple of Unilever are achieve through its key two strengths. First, its strong roots in local markets and firsthand knowledge of the local culture, and secondly, world class business expertise applied internationally to serve consumers everywhere. These key two strengths has over the years ensured consistent growth, increase return on investment (ROI) and maintained a relative high share price in the stock exchange market. Internal, External and Temporal Environment According to Kazmi (2002) the environment in which an organization exists could be broadly divided into two parts: the external and the internal environment. Environment literally means the surroundings, external objects, influences or circumstances under which someone or something exists. The environment of any organization is â€Å"the aggregate of all conditions, events, and influences that surround and affect it† (Davis, 1982). The internal environment of Unilever from the above description involves all that goes on with in the company. Unilever like most production companies that wishes to make optimum use of available resources runs three shifts, Monday to Saturday. While Sundays are basically for the maintenance of production machineries, Administrative and

Nutrition(Diet plans) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Nutrition(Diet plans) - Essay Example In the mouth, food is chewed and the process is called mastication or chewing process. Mastication is the foremost stage of digestion, and it upsurges the surface area of foodstuffs to allow the more efficient breakdown of enzymes. Inside the oral cavity there are numerous accessory glands that help in the digestion of food, they are - the teeth, tongue, and salivary glands. The teeth are small and hard organs that are located along the anterior and lateral edges of the oral cavity and are 32 in number. They help in cutting and grinding the food into smaller pieces. The tongue is situated medial to the teeth and on the inferior portion of the oral cavity. It assists to push the food to the posterior part of the oral cavity for swallowing. Finally, the salivary glands are vital organs that produce saliva that is a watery secretion. There are three sets of salivary glands surrounding the oral cavity and the watery secretion they produce assists to moisturise the food and starts the digestion of carbohydrates (Gray 2004). Chewing is an important step in the process of digestion and this process might be impaired if one does not chew properly or eats too quickly. Chewing or Mastication breaks up food into pieces that are more manageable and upsurges the surface area and also mixes with saliva. The saliva breaks down the carbohydrates present in the meal and the fats are broken down by lingual lipase. Therefore, if one consumes food hastily then he or she will have indigestion. In addition, apart from the enzymes present in the saliva, there are antibacterial agents like peroxidase, lysozyme, lactoferrin, immunoglobulin A, and a substance known as epidermal growth factor (EGF), which might assist to heal the inflamed intestinal tissues. And if someone had been swallowing without chewing and eating hastily then there is a reasonable chance of some inflammation to occur someplace in the gastrointestinal tract. The oesophagus

Double reacation essay about David Cole interviews Dr. Francizek Piper

Double reacation about David Cole interviews Dr. Francizek Piper + David Cole on the Phil Donahue Show - Essay Example Buildings in Auschwitz and in other camps which are the alleged gas chambers of the holocaust were able to hold 700 to 800 people and openings in the roof allowed chemicals to reach those within the chamber who were told they were going to be showered or treated for lice or scabies infections. The designs allowed the doors to be airtight and bricks were used to cover windows. Disinfection signs were in place in order to keep prisoners calm. Those with no ventilation system installed took much longer for ventilation, and false showers were installed to keep with the propagation that these chambers located in the crematoriums were used for bathing and disinfection (The Seven Gas Chambers at Auschwitz). One of the chambers was able to contain around 2500 people; gas was released which would take 10-15 minutes to suffocate those inside and ventilation time was allowed before the chambers were able to be reopened. Many survivors who were indeed showered in such chambers found it miraculous to know that other chambers were used to disperse gas. Some youth in these chambers survived somehow, watching those around them die of suffocation (Weber). The Donahue interview I found somewhat shocking considering the massive amount of testimony and evidence of the holocaust. The Bergen-Belsen articles written by Mark Weber seem much more likely to be true and accurately represent facts as they were known by many. David Cole has examined actual sites, conducting forensic testing’s and viewing these ‘alleged gas chamber.’ Cole states his studies are based on his own observations yet he also shows a supposed video which he suggests provides definitive evidence that indeed there were delousing and disinfestation chambers with evidence differentiating between the two. Much of the arguments presented in the Donahue show seem to belittle the horrific fact that millions of Jews died as a result of the Holocaust regardless of the final cause of

Electronic Portfolio Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Electronic Portfolio - Assignment Example Generally, my education was more closely aligned to the Jeffersonian model of education as compared to others. I joined Virginia University at the age 15 years, obtaining a post-graduate four years later. Naturally, I am an analysts and bibliophile, all to which I give credit to my teachers and parents. I am strong opponent of division within the society and as such, an advocate of an equitable society. Nonetheless, I disdain ethno-racial abhorrence. My thoughts are largely influenced by Marx’s ideas. Additionally, my perceptions are inspired by a distinguished educationist, Horace Mann. I have risen across various professional levels to reach my current position. I started out as an army recruiter in 1997 after completing my degree in General Studies from Central Texas College, Grantham University. Consequently, I have risen across ranks to reach the current position, JROTC Instructor. In general, I am an accomplished professional possessing experience directing logistics, an d transportation of freight for the US Army and Federal Express. Where I stand today: I believe life has given me immense opportunities to reach where I am today. I have nothing to regret about my past. Today, I am lucky to be amongst the few Indians to attend IB schools. This is a great opportunity for me. Educational/learning philosophy I believe education offers every individual a unique opportunity to explore and make use of their potential. Each person is uniquely endowed with some intrinsic potential which if well nurtured within an educational setting, can offer immense benefits to the society. An educational setting must therefore offer a secure and stimulating environment which allows emotional, physical, social and intellectual growth to the individuals. It is my belief that a good educational environment should have a guide (teacher), a curious learner (student), and more importantly, respect from both parties. Other than the aforementioned, it is my sincere belief that e ducation is only useful if learners have the opportunity to build knowledge through a self-discovery opportunity and access to practical skills in realistic environments. Offering learners a hands-on approach and sufficient time and space to make use of their potential and knowledge gained. In essence, I hold a strong opinion that self-discovery is just as important as is the opportunity to study and implement new ideas. Such should revolve around meaningful and relevant educational experiences. In general, school act as a pillar, social institution in human life, which provides individuals with a comprehensive learning program, and trains them on the ways necessary to lead a cultured and disciplined life. Given that the educators takes learners through disciplines in formal ways and fulfills their educational necessities, it assists them get qualified and ready to participate in economy building. Professional training accumulated during my career I must say my work experience has b een unique and one of its kind. Through this uniqueness, I have been able to accumulate immense professional training. I started out as an army recruiter and I must say dealing with different people from different backgrounds taught me a lot. Not only did I learn the importance of being able to accommodate and tolerate different cultures but also ways through which you can delve into these cultures and find that potential your organization really needs. Coming from the army recruiter position, I

Inspector Imanishi Investigates Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Inspector Imanishi Investigates - Essay Example Fortunately this has started to change. Although the novel itself does bring up the issue, it is not certain whether the author was completely against women being subordinate, because of the way the inspector treats his wife and sister. Regardless, Inspector Imanishi Investigates is critical of a society in which powerful men are able to do whatever the want to women. Japanese society traditionally does not respect women very much. In fact, Japan in general is a "society where a rigid sex-role division of laobr persists" (Yoshihama 417). This means that women are supposed to do "womens things" and men are supposed to do "manly things," unlike for instance the United States where women can get jobs if they want. "Japan is probably the country with the least commitment to the principle of gender equality in the modern industrialized countries" (Mia 31). Because of this set of traditional circumstances, "women as a group are socialized as inferior to men in terms of esteem, power, honor, privilege, and authority" (Mia 31). This sort of thing can be clearly seen in the novel in how Imanishi treats his wife. The very first time she appears it is doing household chores after Imanishi gets home. Instead of asking her how she is doing, he lies down and takes a nap, and then eats some food she has prepared especially for him, even drinking alcohol with him to make him "comfortable" although she doesnt want any (Matsumoto 10). This is much like reality in Japan, where women are "restricted to assume domestic drudgery" (Mia 31). A few pages later, this is made even more clear when the detective calls his wife in from the kitchen and tells her â€Å"Hurry up and shine my shoes, will you?† (Matsumoto 12). Imanishi does not really know he is doing this to his wife, but because it is culturally acceptable he just accepts it as normal and does not even think about it. In other words "the

Electronic Portfolio Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Electronic Portfolio - Assignment Example Generally, my education was more closely aligned to the Jeffersonian model of education as compared to others. I joined Virginia University at the age 15 years, obtaining a post-graduate four years later. Naturally, I am an analysts and bibliophile, all to which I give credit to my teachers and parents. I am strong opponent of division within the society and as such, an advocate of an equitable society. Nonetheless, I disdain ethno-racial abhorrence. My thoughts are largely influenced by Marx’s ideas. Additionally, my perceptions are inspired by a distinguished educationist, Horace Mann. I have risen across various professional levels to reach my current position. I started out as an army recruiter in 1997 after completing my degree in General Studies from Central Texas College, Grantham University. Consequently, I have risen across ranks to reach the current position, JROTC Instructor. In general, I am an accomplished professional possessing experience directing logistics, an d transportation of freight for the US Army and Federal Express. Where I stand today: I believe life has given me immense opportunities to reach where I am today. I have nothing to regret about my past. Today, I am lucky to be amongst the few Indians to attend IB schools. This is a great opportunity for me. Educational/learning philosophy I believe education offers every individual a unique opportunity to explore and make use of their potential. Each person is uniquely endowed with some intrinsic potential which if well nurtured within an educational setting, can offer immense benefits to the society. An educational setting must therefore offer a secure and stimulating environment which allows emotional, physical, social and intellectual growth to the individuals. It is my belief that a good educational environment should have a guide (teacher), a curious learner (student), and more importantly, respect from both parties. Other than the aforementioned, it is my sincere belief that e ducation is only useful if learners have the opportunity to build knowledge through a self-discovery opportunity and access to practical skills in realistic environments. Offering learners a hands-on approach and sufficient time and space to make use of their potential and knowledge gained. In essence, I hold a strong opinion that self-discovery is just as important as is the opportunity to study and implement new ideas. Such should revolve around meaningful and relevant educational experiences. In general, school act as a pillar, social institution in human life, which provides individuals with a comprehensive learning program, and trains them on the ways necessary to lead a cultured and disciplined life. Given that the educators takes learners through disciplines in formal ways and fulfills their educational necessities, it assists them get qualified and ready to participate in economy building. Professional training accumulated during my career I must say my work experience has b een unique and one of its kind. Through this uniqueness, I have been able to accumulate immense professional training. I started out as an army recruiter and I must say dealing with different people from different backgrounds taught me a lot. Not only did I learn the importance of being able to accommodate and tolerate different cultures but also ways through which you can delve into these cultures and find that potential your organization really needs. Coming from the army recruiter position, I

King of Shaves Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

King of Shaves - Assignment Example The paper outlines the challenges faced by the King of Shaves in the industry using Porter’s five force model and also assesses the generic strategies that the company applies in its operation. Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction 5 2.0 Findings 5 2.1 Porter’s Five Forces Model 5 2.1.1 Rivalry among Current Competitors 5 2.1.2 Threat of New Entrants 5 2.1.3 Bargaining Power of Buyers 5 2.1.4 Bargaining Power of Suppliers 6 2.1.5 Threat of Substitutes 6 2.2 Analysis of the Challenges Facing King of Shaves Using Porter’s Five Forces Model 6 2.2.1 Rivalry in the Market 6 2.2.2 Threat of New Entrants 6 2.2.3 Bargaining Power of Buyers 6 2.2.4 Bargaining Power of Suppliers 7 2.2.5 Threat of Substitutes 7 2.3 Opportunities and threats for King of Shaves 7 2.3.1 Opportunities 7 2.3.2 Threats 8 2.4 Strategy of King of Shaves 8 2.4.1 Cost Leadership 8 2.4.2 Differentiation Strategy 8 2.5 The Concept of Stakeholder Analysis 9 2.6 King of Shaves’ Stakeholder Framework 9 2.6.1 Stakeholder Framework 9 2.6.2 Mapping Stakeholder Power and Interest 9 3.0 Conclusion 10 1.0 Introduction The King of Shaves is a top UK manufacturer of shaving and skincare products that was founded in 1993 by Will King with a seed capital of ?15,000. King formed the company with his partner Hiten Dayal, under umbrella firm, Knowledge & Merchandising Inc. Since its establishment, the King of Shaves as grown as a brand and overtaken some of the most critical players in the industry. The company is now second to Gillette in the UK market and is picking in the U.S. market as well as other global markets such as China and India among others. However, the company faces strong opposition from its competitors in its growth focus. This report analyses The King of Shaves’ operation industry using Porter’s five force model and also proceed to identify opportunities, strategies of the company and closes stakeholder analysis. 2.0 Findings 2.1 Porter’s Five Forces M odel Michael Porter developed a framework that assists business managers in their strategic decision-making process. Porter’s Five Competitive Forces Model is crucial for exploring the structure of an industry in which an organisation operates. Consequently, managers use the model to establish competitive edge over their market rivals (Ahlstrom & Bruton 2010). Porter’s five forces that drive competition in an industry include: 2.1.1 Rivalry among Current Competitors The extent of rivalry among companies varies from one industry to another. These variations in industry competition levels are of particular interest to strategic analyst. An industry with low level of competition is perceived as disciplined. Ruthless competition may prove detrimental to firms within an industry. 2.1.2 Threat of New Entrants The likelihood of new players getting into the industry also affects the level of competition. An industry with high level of barriers discourages new market participan ts from invading the market and exhibit attractive profit levels for existing firms. On the other hand, an industry with low entry barriers or free entry encourages new entries and exhibits low profitability (Ahlstrom & Bruton 2010). 2.1.3 Bargaining Power of Buyers The bargaining power of buyers refers to the ability of buyers to influence an industry. In an industry where the buyer power is strong, the buyers have great control of pricing of products

Decisions Essay Example for Free

Decisions Essay Decisions in 2006 regarding discrimination in the workplace centered largely on a theme of time and evidence. The court regularly held that the evidence of discrimination must be clear and that the legal action must be filed in a timely manner. The idea that a person can have been the victim of discrimination for years and have taken no action was dismissed as untimely. A case alleging racial discrimination was held to have insufficient proof of intent and in another case the court held that a union suing an employer for prejudicial hiring practices also did not submit sufficient proof. Finally, the court held that when an employer takes discriminatory action it does not have to be within the confines of the workplace to be discriminatory. First, in a case against Good Year Tire and Rubber Company, the plaintiff claimed that in her 18 years with Good Year, she had routinely been paid a smaller wage than her male counterparts. A local jury awarded her damages based on a series of wage-related decisions going back 19 years. However, the 11th Circuit Court held that the plaintiff’s lawsuit was untimely in that her complaint was not based on actions taken in the last 180 days according to the summation of Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire Rubber, 421 F. 3d 1169 (11th Cir 08/23/2005) (Runkel, 2007. The court did not rule on the merit of the case, but held that the statute restricts the time frame in which the alleged discrimination was to have occurred (Runkel, 2007). The plaintiff has appealed the decision to the U.  S. Supreme Court and in May, 2007, Justice Samuel Alito writing for the court, affirmed the lower court’s ruling â€Å"Ledbetter v. Good Year†, 2007). Next, in case versus Tyson Foods the court held that use of the term â€Å"boy† is not enough proof of racial animus to sustain a ruling alleging discrimination, but reverse a portion of the lower court’s ruling which had claimed that a racial descriptor was required to accompany the word to prove animus. In Ash v. Tyson Foods, 126 S. Ct. 195 (02/21/2006), the court wrote, â€Å"Although it is true the disputed word will not always be evidence of racial animus, it does not follow that the term, standing alone, is always benign. The speakers meaning may depend on various factors including context, inflection, tone of voice, local custom, and historical usage. Insofar as the Court of Appeals held that modifiers or qualifications are necessary in all instances to render the disputed term probative of bias, the courts decision is erroneous. (Runkel, 2007). That means the court needs more information that just a word to determine discrimination. The court ruling says that to prove discrimination, the plaintiff must show more than just a misjudgment by the hiring authority of perceived qualifications. It must show that ‘disparities of qualifications must be or such weight and significance† that a reasonable person could not have made the hiring decision which was made (â€Å"Ash v. Tyson, 2006). This decision dovetails with the court’s decision in IBEW v.  Mississippi Power Light, 442 F. 3d 313 (5th Cir 03/02/2006). The union had argues that the employer’s standard for employment was discriminatory in that the cut-off point on the standardized tests was inherently discriminatory. The court did not dispute the merit of the claim, but ruled that the burden of proof lies with the plaintiff and that the union had failed to prove that there was another way that the employer could adequately determine employment eligibility. (Runkel, 2007) Finally, the court held that when an employer is accused of retaliatory action, it does not have to be limited to the confines of the work environment. In Burlington Northern v. White, 126 S. Ct. 2405 (06/22/2006), the court upheld the defendant’s claim that her employer had retaliated against her by moving her from one position to another and by initially trying to suspend her without pay, requiring that she file a grievance through the union to receive reinstatement and her back pay. The court held, â€Å"We conclude that the anti-retaliation provision does not confine the actions and harms it forbids to those that are related to employment or occur at the workplace. We also conclude that the provision covers those (and only those) employer actions that would have been materially adverse to a reasonable employee or job applicant. In the present context that means that the employers actions must be harmful to the point that they could well dissuade a reasonable worker from making or supporting a charge of discrimination. (Runkel, 2007). The court further held that retaliatory practices do not have to include financial loss to be actionable. (Runkel, 2007) The overwhelming effect of these court ruling on future graduates is a trend within employment law toward the defense of the employer. These cases tend to indicate that the court has placed the entire burden of proof on the employee when it comes to discrimination cases and expects that the employee can make a clear case for their claim, rather than relying on vague innuendoes, such as in the Tyson case. For employees, this can be a difficult precedence in that other employees are unlikely to back a person’s claim regarding workplace discrimination especially when they would then have such stringent requirements in proving their own retaliation case. This is also likely to have a chilling effect on employees who feel they are being mistreated because of the burden of proof. The reality is that for any African-American man, the mere use of the word boy is inflammatory, especially in the south. Though the word was not accompanied by any racial descriptor, the court held that intonation and other context can be used to determine the word’s intent. For an African-American in the South, that is the context and proving what his supervisor was thinking places too great a burden on the plaintiff. The Tyson case in particular makes it difficult for a person who is the victim of subtle racism to prove it and the Ledbetter cases reiterates that the person must deal with any perceived discrimination within 6 months of its occurrence, compounding the difficulty in proving a case.

Antecedents and Consequences of Organizational Intelligence

Antecedents and Consequences of Organizational Intelligence Chapter 1: Introduction Life is not primarily a quest for pleasure, as Freud believed, or a quest for power, as Alfred Adler taught, but a quest for meaning in work (doing something significant), in love (caring for another person) and in courage (during difficult times) (Frankl, 2006). This chapter provides an overall understanding of this dissertation. Section 1.1 describes the research background. Section 1.2 discusses the research objectives and questions. The following section 1.3 explains research scope. In section 1.4, significance of the research is discussed. Finally, this dissertation describes the organization of this dissertation in Section 1.5. Research Background In today’s world, organizations confront fast and astonishing changes. Their survival will depend on adaptation capability they will perform so that, they can comply with those changes. As a result of this situation, the management concept with its process acquires a different character, which is because of technological progression and globalization. In this age, to consistently sustain the importance, knowledge concept of the organization is changing fast. In organizations, shared individual knowledge transform into organizational information. Effective application of organizational knowledge forms intelligent organizations progressively. However, in order to achieve these, an intuition of making use of knowledge in creative way is required. Therefore, to survive in the demanding and competitive environment, organizations are needed to be intelligent in today’s world. Organization is alive and, for being strived needs continuous information. While organization in the past have been viewed as compilations of tasks, products, employees, profit and processes, today they are increasingly seen as intelligent systems designed to manage knowledge. Therefore, measuring ability of learning, finding and logical thinking is necessary for evaluation and performance improvement. Seeing such scenario in high turbulent world, those men are successful and efficient who possess a high IQ. Undoubtedly, men can overcome their life problems by utilizing their given intelligence. Certainly, it is true in organizational world particularly in modern age in which organizations have become more complicated and their survival has become more difficult due to improvements in sciences and industries as well as the emergence of new needs and challenges overtime. Now, this question arises how we can prepare ourselves to face such uncertainties where change is only thing that is stable. Obviously, those organizations are successful which can utilize their employees thinking power effectively. As a fascinating concept and intriguing research area, â€Å"intelligence† finds strong appeal in many disciplines outside of individual and cognitive psychology (Sternberg and Kaufman, 1998). One of the disciplines that provoked increased interest in the importance of intelligence is the management and organization development literature (Glynn, 1996; March, 1999; Stalinski, 2004). In this globalized world, when the environment is so turbulent what the organizations are needed to do is, they need to be more intelligent in order to have competitive advantage over their competitors. Though the concept â€Å"organizational intelligence (OI)† was introduced in 1967 but not much has been done in this area till now. Even if we disregard the entire literature in which organizational intelligence was supposedly aggregated (Kurzman and Owens, 2002), the term is still ambiguous in the context of organizational development scholarship. This is true because there is a lack of a un ified theory of intelligence in organizational settings as noted by the numerous and fragmented perspectives and ideas of researchers in the field (Glynn, 1996). Research Questions and Objectives The primary objective of this dissertation is to delineate an integrative view of organizational intelligence and provide some guidelines. For this purpose, this dissertation attempts to find out the antecedents and consequences of organizational intelligence and to test the proposed conceptual model of organizational intelligence. Related with this purpose, previous research shows some research challenges. The first challenge is to explore the factor structure of organizational intelligence. An integrative perspective of organizational intelligence is a necessity. It is also noted that there is a dearth of studies which attempted to explore the factor structure of organizational intelligence. Consequently, the other challenge is to test the proposed conceptual model of organizational intelligence. Previous studies did not show any such empirical finding on this issue. Therefore, the main research aim is to find out the antecedents and consequences of OI and develop and test a model. This research has identified five important constructs in identifying the antecedents and consequences of OI: Leadership Organizational culture Organizational intelligence Organizational innovational capability Organizational performance This research discusses the following research questions: RQ1. What is the factor structure of the OI construct? RQ2. To what extent does leadership impact organizational intelligence? RQ3. To what extent does organizational culture impact organizational intelligence? RQ4. To what extent does organizational intelligence impact organizational performance via organizational innovational capability? On the basis of the above research questions following research objectives were formed: Research Objective 1 (RO1)- To explore the factor structure of organizational intelligence Research Objective 2 (RO2)- To investigate the influence of leadership on organizational intelligence Research objective 3 (RO3)- To investigate the influence of organizational culture on organizational intelligence Research Objective 4 (RO4)- To further understand the relationship between organizational intelligence and organizational performance via organizational innovational capability Research Objective 5 (RO5)- To assess existing models of OI Research Objective 6 (RO6)- To develop a conclusive model of antecedents and consequences of OI based on the research findings; and, Research Objective 7 (RO7)- To validate the model and test the hypotheses The sixth and seventh research objectives are the final output of this research, which attempts to develop an appropriate structural measurement model of antecedents and consequences of OI. Research scope This relation is aimed at investigating the antecedents and consequences of organizational intelligence. In doing so, this thesis presents a model of antecedents and consequences of organizational intelligence (OI), based on the Kalkhan (2007), Falletta (2008) and Albrecht’s (2003) model and empirically test hypotheses. This model of OI was validated by a survey in an R D organization. An organization is regarded as a system of inter subjectively shared meanings sustained through social interaction (Walsh and Ungson, 1991). Organizational intelligence emerges from those interactions that constitute the organization. It is embedded in the structured patterns of thought and action in which organizational members interact and engage (Glynn, 1996). Technologically advanced systems affect organizational intelligence as well. They enable the development of organizational intelligence (Huber, 1990; Leidner and Elam, 1995). Thus, organizational intelligence is more than the aggregate intelligence of organizational members; it is the intelligence of the organization itself as a larger system. An unintelligent organization can be composed of apparently intelligent people and an intelligent organization can be composed of relatively unintelligent components (Albrecht, 2003; Kerfoot, 2003). Organizations, as well as people, display differing degrees of intelligence. Difference s among organizations’ intelligences are not related to the differences among the intelligences of organizations’ members only. Many factors such as organizational symbols, patterns of interaction, organizational culture, socialization processes and advanced technological systems influence the differences among organizations’ intelligences. This area has not been much explored and especially in India not much significant work has come into the light. Therefore, a strong need was felt to study this area as it seems to be very important in today’s world. It has been found out that most of the works on OI are not empirically supported. Halal (1997) in his work stated that organizational intelligence leads to organizational performance. After the review of literature it was found that organizational intelligence is the factor which promotes knowledge management, creativity, innovativeness, performance and it helps organization in achieving its goal. Therefore, after understanding its impact on other related OB constructs, it was concluded that it deserves concerted attention. 1.4 Significance of the Research As already stated that there is a dire need of empirical investigations in the field of organizational intelligence because this is the factor which influences performance of the organization (Halal, 2000). This study tries to answer the question that if the lack of resources and the overload of information are the problems, is intelligence the solution to improve organizations? In the Knowledge Economy, the organization needs to develop and maintain supportive partnerships to deal with complex issues in uncertain environments, turning challenges into opportunities, anticipating and understanding emerging threats and recovering from unexpected shocks and cries. In other words, in times of crisis and high economic and social turbulence, organizations must show high levels of intelligence to meet the needs of the organizations. The ability to solve problems and make decisions, defined as ‘intelligence’, is the solution to improve organizations. This assumption is based on the conviction that the right answer to users’ need depends on managers’ ability to absorb what is happening in the environment and to correctly act on the generated knowledge. Rothberg and Erickson (2004) hold that intelligence, in all forms, comes from the strategic management of knowledge, understanding the environment within which knowledge is collected and used, and making the knowledge actionable, especially by strategic decision makers. Understanding of OI and its antecedents and consequences may immensely help the organizations and assist them in improving and achieving their objectives. Concept of OI has evolved and advanced a variety of practices and processes aimed at the creation and application of knowledge. However, scholars have been concerned by, and practitioners have struggled with, the lack of clear, comprehensive concepts that define the field of organizational intelligence (Staskeviciute, 2009). Ercetin (2009) holds that definitions of intelligence are in continuous revision. In particular, she finds that there is no unifying understanding of the concept of intelligence in management (Staskeviciute, 2009). Staskeviciute and Ciutiene (2008) conclude that in scientific literature it is possible to find different concepts of organizational intelligence, but they are all bounded by the same feature: the organization’s capability to adapt to environment and knowledge management, because organizational intelligence involves knowledge based on the organization’s capacity. Organizational intelligence refers to the process of turning data into knowledge and knowledge into action for organizational gain (Cronquist, 2011). On a practical level, the CETISME cooperative (Cooperate to Promote Economic and Technological Intelligence in SMEs) has stated that consistently getting the right information at the right moment can only be the result of a permanent intelligence process leading to policy established at the highest level of the organization (2002). Cruz and Dominguez (2007) point out that the processes of perception, knowledge creation and decision making are favored by the proper management of information resources. The goal of OI is to interpret and act on relevant facts and environmental signals from the learning arising from acquired competences (skills +knowledge + attitudes). In general, the perception, interpretation, analysis, integration and use of knowledge is related to OI. The central argument of this thesis is to identify the factors which lead to organizational intelligence and what are the resultant factors when organization is acting intelligently. In the moments of uncertainty, organizations must have high levels of intelligence to interpret, integrate, combine and filter the relevant knowledge. Intelligent systems depend on a structured network of â€Å"expert analyzers† who offer their technical skill, knowledge, and personal experiences. They engage with the systems by validating information, discovering relationships between pieces of information and conducting analyses. In short, OI systems provide the pathways for knowledge to become intelligent, that is, actionable (answer â€Å"so what† questions and stay future-focused). They can also direct actions to acquire additional knowledge necessary to â€Å"fill in the blanks†. Full knowledge, with appropriate analysis, provided to the key manager at the right time defines how intelligence can extend and protect the capabilities of organizational systems (Rothberg Erickson, 2004). Also, its significance increases when it is seen in the context of RD organization, as the people working there are intelligent and knowledge workers, therefore, the relevance of this concept is automatically enhanced in such scenario, which this study tries to look into. Organization of the Dissertation To describe organizational intelligence and identify its antecedents and consequences, this dissertation will follow the research procedure and structure as shown in Figure 1-1. It consists of six major parts: (i) introduction, (ii) literature review, (iii) development of theoretical framework and hypotheses, (iv) research methodology, (v) data analysis and research findings, (vi) discussion, and conclusion. The remainder of the dissertation is organized as follows. The following chapter surveys summarizes the related studies. It includes the relevant literature of organizational intelligence, empirical studies on organizational intelligence and its antecedents and consequences. In chapter 3, this dissertation proposes a conceptual research model, and explores the key variables and their relationships. In chapter 4, research methodologies are explained such as theoretical research approaches, design and administration of the survey. It also explains the sample and measures. Chapter 5 illustrates the analysis and summarizes analysis results. Chapter 6 extends with the explanation of the findings and tested model, it also discusses the contributions and limitations of the study and offer suggestions for future study. Table 1.1 Simplified Structure of the Thesis

The Evening News Versus Reality †My Internship at the White House :: Admissions Essay

The Evening News Versus Reality – My Internship at the White House I press the button to playback my voicemail. â€Å"So, Sharon, what war did you plan in Washington?† I groan, and anticipate that the next seven messages are more of the same. I head downstairs, where a roommate had already monopolized the TV and am greeted with â€Å"Hey, Sharon, your boy’s in trouble!† On every channel is the same picture, marines in body bags in a far away land. I had a very different White House internship from Monica Lewinsky’s. Mine came and went without too much national coverage. But I do understand Lewinsky’s awe of power. Though I was most impressed by all the people who worked so hard in D.C., I too was dazzled by the famous personages populating the city. It was hard not to be. Your neighbor might head negotiations for peace in the Middle East. Colin Powell might hold open a door for you. The people filling the town were more than celebrities, they were influencing our future and the fate of nations. On the day of the Vice President’s birthday, his staff threw him a party. All staff were invited, including lowly interns like me. I had not yet met the Vice President, and there was a rumor the President might show up. Finally I would have a chance to meet the man in command. Walking into the Indian Treaty Room, where the party was to be held, I scoped out the best spot to stand for a presidential encounter. I squeezed next to the birthday cake, figuring the Vice President had to stand there at some point, and I waited. I tried to appear outwardly calm, as if I go to these things all the time. I didn’t want to seem too excited to the neurotic Secret Service, or remind a hard-hearted staffer of work needing to be done. But inside, my heart was pumping. Suddenly, the doors swung open and the Vice President casually strode in, smiling. The doors opened again, and President Bush came in, followed by the First Lady. Despite my efforts at nonchalance, my smile was jumping into my ears. Mrs. Bush presented a birthday greeting, then walked over to the Vice President and dumped a bowl of popcorn on his head.

Academy Awards Ceremony

At the very first Academy Awards ceremony in 1929, the writing awards were already split into two categories: Best Writing, Original Story and Best Writing, Adaptation. (For the record, that first year saw the only presentation of an Oscar for Best Title Writing, an art that had become obsolete by the following year.) Over the next few decades, the delineation of the screenplay awards morphed a bit. For a while, three awards were presented: Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Story, and Best Story and Screenplay- confusing categorizations that speak to the tortured distinctions made by the Writers Guild when determining authorship. But for the last half century, the sensible division between an original screenplay and a screenplay based on a preexisting work has held. Writers and their audiences see a difference between the art of creating characters, situations and dialogue out of whole cloth and the art of turning an existing work into a film script with all the requisite transformations that such a translation entails. This is not to say that the distinction between an original and adapted work is always clear. In 2000, Joel and Ethan Coen ‘s O Brother, Where Art Thou? was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay thanks to a credit on the film that cheekily stated it was based on Homer's Odyssey. Eyebrows rose all over Hollywood: O Brother had about as much to do with the Odyssey as did The Wizard of Oz or really any story about someone lost who wants to go home. The Coens were perhaps prompt- ing the age-old debate as to whether any artwork, especially a narratively driven artwork, is ever truly original. In a broad sense, every storyteller obviously builds on the stories that came before him or her and relies on pre-programmed audience expectations. Harold Bloom's Anxiety of Influence addresses this topic with great insight, and an entire academic discipline, the study of â€Å"Intertextuality,† analyzes this phenomenon. The Oscar nominees for Best Original Screenplay this year – American Hustle, Blue Jasmine, Dallas Buyers Club, Her, and Nebraska – all utilize existing genre tropes, standard (or subverted) plot devices, patterns of dialogue derived from previous works, and so forth. Blue Jasmine is quite consciously based on Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, with virtually every character and situation a direct outgrowth of the earlier work. The dialogue is new, but it's debatable as to whether the work is â€Å"Original† in the strictest sense. Certainly it is much more of an adaptation than O Brother, Where Art Thou? Conversely, one of the nominees for Best Adapted Screenplay this year is

The Actual Real World in “The Heat Death of the Universe”

In today†s busy world, many people get so caught up in their own ambience that they overlook all the other things out there. Some people seem treat their surroundings as if it were their own â€Å"little world†, creating tunnel vision to the array of the actual real world and all the things that occur in it. Pamela Zoline addresses this and many other issues in the short story, â€Å"The Heat Death of the Universe†. This piece reports the abstract, somewhat crazy thoughts, of the world from an ordinary housewife to the reader. At first, these thoughts appear to be coming from a severely confused and mentally unstable person, with no point what so ever. Contrary to the evidence stated in the text, â€Å"Sarah Boyle is a vivacious and intelligent young wife†¦ proud of her growing family which keeps her busy and happy around the house† (192), the reader can see that the main character, Sarah Boyle, is quite unsatisfied with her place in life. This unhappiness stems from a wasted education, causing the apathetic housewife to resort to ceaseless contemplation, which shapes the life she has created for herself and the home she is trapped in. The fact that Sarah Boyle was well-educated is pointed out clearly in the first few paragraphs, â€Å"Sarah Boyle is a vivacious and intelligent young wife and mother, educated at a fine Eastern college† (192). This fact can be also be easily deduced by the reader after observing the knowledge Sarah presents and the vocabulary she exhibits, such as â€Å"ONTOLOGY: That branch of metaphysics which concerns itself with the problems of the nature of existence or being† (191) and â€Å"ENTROPY: A quantity introduced in the first place to facilitate the calculations, and to give clear expressions to the results of thermodynamics† (193). Clearly, such words are not ones that would be regarded as common knowledge or everyday conversation topics. The terms used by Sarah throughout the story lead the reader to regard her as some type of advanced science major. In addition to the vocabulary usage, the manner in which her mind functions and the habits she displays also guides the reader to the same assumption. Sarah demonstrates scientific thinking methods constantly; always making lists, noticing irrelevant and abstract things, counting and lettering objects, constantly pondering ideas and concerned with factual matters. Sometimes she numbers or letters the things in a room†¦ there are 819 separate moveable objects in the living room†¦ she is passionately fond of children†s dictionaries, encyclopedias, ABCs and all reference books† (193). Combining all these facts, statements, and observations the reader deduces Sarah Boyle as a scientifically educated, intelligent woman: Which leads to the question, why is Sarah a housewife? This thought seems to reoccurringly pass though Sarah†s mind as well. The mannerisms that Sarah Boyle displays evident the fact that she is unhappy with her position in life as a housewife; she feels that her education is worthless here, causing her to feel unchallenged and bored, which only leads to endless contemplation in the world she has chosen. The largest indicators of Sarah†s unhappiness are the notes that she leaves throughout the house, such as â€Å"Many young wives fell trapped. It is a contemporary sociological phenomenon† and â€Å"Help, Help, Help, Help, Help† (193). In addition to these notes, rarely does Sarah ever talk about her family; which is highly contrary to the expectations of the common housewife. When she does refer to her family, the statements are quite short, uncaring, and undescriptive. â€Å"Today is the birthday of one of the children† (192). Speaking of her family life, never does she mention a husband. Sarah only makes remarks of a questionable nature about her children, she doesn†t seem to display the motherly love or compassion one would expect; in fact, several places in the short story, the comment is made that â€Å"Sarah Boyle is never quite sure how many children she has† (196). This comment leaves the reader confused and, in addition to the numerous derogatory and confusing references made to children throughout the story, causes the reader to think that she doesn†t care for her children at all. Looking at some of the statements she makes, this is quite possible. In one situation she conceives the idea that a cereal may cause cancer, â€Å"Perhaps something is terrible wrong with the cereal†¦ Perhaps it causes a special, cruel Cancer in little children†¦ she imagines in her mind†s eye the headlines†¦ † (192). Irregardless of this idea, she excessively feeds the children the cereal â€Å"great yellow heaps of it† (192) and even goes out to the store to buy more â€Å"shopping in the supermarket†¦ a box of Sugar Frosted Flakes†. These facts combine to produce the result that she does not care if her children get cancer. Also, Sarah feels that â€Å"housework is never completed† (197), resulting in a never-ending task, that eventually drives her insane. All evidence in mind, it becomes clear that she is unhappy as a housewife, causing her to constantly create crazy ideas with her unapplied education, driving herself into an unstable mental state. With no appropriate way to apply the education Sarah has received, she resorts to using it in the only place she has as an option, her home. She starts to devise a parallel between her house and the universe. She falls back on her education and implements the theory of entropy and the â€Å"heat death of the Universe† into her own homemaking skills. According to these theories combined, â€Å"The total ENTROPY of the Universe therefore is increasing, tending towards a maximum, corresponding to complete disorder of the particles in it†¦ he Universe constitutes a thermodynamically closed system, and if this were true it would mean that a time just finally come when the Universe â€Å"unwinds† itself, no energy being available for use† (200). Sarah applies this theory in her housekeeping techniques, thinking that the more organized she is, the less disorder she creates. Therefore, she is not contributing to entropy in her own Universe, her house. Keeping entropy at a constant therefore would not contribute to the â€Å"heat death of the Universe†. Evidently, this abstract thinking is indicating some mental problems. At the end of the short story, Sarah displays a mental breakdown, combining all the unexplainable ideas that float though her mind in a physical and mental explosion. Throughout this short story, Pamela Zoline effectively addresses many relevant issues in today†s society. Through a common housewife, Sarah Boyle, the reader can observe the daily trauma and feeling of worthlessness that one may experience at what it can result in.

Economy of the Philippines Essay

The Economy of the Philippines is the 43rd largest in the world, according to 2011 World Bank statistics and it is also one of the emerging markets in the world.[24] According to the CIA Factbook, the estimated 2011 GDP (purchasing power parity) was 391.1 billion.[5] Goldman Sachs estimates that by the year 2050, it will be the 14th largest economy in the world, Goldman Sachs also included the Philippines in its list of the Next Eleven economies. HSBC projects the Philippine economy to become the 16th largest economy in the world, 5th largest economy in Asia and the largest economy in the South East Asian region by 2050.[25] Primary exports include semiconductors and electronic products, transport equipment, garments, copper products, petroleum products, coconut oil, and fruits. Major trading partners include the United States, Japan, China, Singapore, South Korea, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Germany, Taiwan, and Thailand. As a newly industrialized country, the Philippine economy has been transitioning from one based on agriculture to one based more on services and manufacturing. The Philippines is one of the Tiger Cub Economies in Southeast Asia together with Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. Contents| Macroeconomic trends See also: Economy of Asia, Economic history of the Philippines (1973–1986), Post-EDSA macroeconomic history of the Philippines, and Economic Crisis and Response in the Philippines The Philippine economy has been growing steadily over decades and the International Monetary Fund in 2011 reported it as the 45th largest economy in the world. However its growth has been behind that of many of its Asian neighbors, the so-called Asian Tigers, nor is it a part of the Group of 20 nations. Instead it is often grouped in a second tier of emerging markets or of newly industrialized countries. Depending upon the analyst, this second tier can go by the name the Next Eleven or the Tiger Cub Economies. It has not suffered from the downturn in the world economy that began in 2007. A chart of selected statistics showing trends in the gross domestic product of the Philippines using data taken from the International Monetary Fund. Composition by sector As a newly industrialized country, the Philippines is still an economy with a large agricultural sector; however, services have come to dominate the economy.[citation needed] Much of the industrial sector is based on processing and assembly operations in the manufacturing of electronics and other high-tech components, usually from foreign multinational corporations. Filipinos who go aboard to work–-known as Overseas Filipino Workers or OFWs—are a significant contributor to the economy but are not reflected in the below sectoral discussion of the domestic economy. [edit] Agriculture The agriculture sector makes up 12% of the GDP and employs 33% of the workforce. The type of activity ranges from small subsistence farming and fishing to large commercial ventures with significant export focus, such as major multinational corporations like Dole Food Company and Del Monte Foods. The Philippines is the world’s largest producer of coconuts producing 19,500,000 tonnes in 2009. Coconut production in the Philippines is generally concentrated in medium-sized farms.[30] By 1995, the production of coconut in the Philippines had experienced a 6.5% annual growth and later surpassed Indonesia in total output in the world.[31] The Philippines is also the world’s largest producer of pineapples, with 2,198 thousand metric tons.[32] Rice Production in the Philippines is important to the food supply in the country and economy. The country is the 8th largest rice producer in the world, accounting for 2.8% of global rice production.[33] However, the country is also the w orld’s largest rice importer in 2010.[34] Rice is the most important food crop, a staple food in most of the country. It is produced extensively in Luzon, the Western Visayas, Southern Mindanao, and Central Mindanao. Shipbuilding and repair The Philippines is a major player in the global shipbuilding industry with shipyards in Subic, Cebu, General Santos City and Batangas.[35][36] It became the fourth largest shipbuilding nation in 2010.[37][38] Subic-made cargo vessels are now exported to countries where shipping operators are based. South Korea’s Hanjin started production in Subic in 2007 of the 20 ships ordered by German and Greek shipping operators.[39] The country’s shipyards are now building ships like bulk carriers, container ships and big passenger ferries. General Santos’ shipyard is mainly for ship repair and maintenance.[40] Being surrounded by waters, the country has abundant natural deep-sea ports ideal for development as production, construction and repair sites. On top of the current operating shipyards, two additional shipyards in Misamis Oriental and Cagayan province are being expanded to support future locators. It has a vast manpower pool of 60,000 certified welders that comprise the bulk of workers in shipbuilding. In the ship repair sector, the Navotas complex in Metro Manila is expected to accommodate 96 vessels for repair.[41] Â  Automotive The ABS used in Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Volvo cars are made in the Philippines. Ford,[42] Toyota,[43] Mitsubishi, Nissan and Honda are the most prominent automakers manufacturing cars in the country.[citation needed] Kia and Suzuki produce small cars in the country. Isuzu also produces SUVs in the country. Honda and Suzuki produce motorcycles in the country. A 2003 Canadian market research report predicted that further investments in this sector were expected to grow in the following years. Toyota sells the most vehicles in the country.[44] By 2011, China’s Chery Automobile company is going to build their assembly plant in Laguna, that will serve and export cars to other countries in the region if monthly sales would reach 1,000 units.[45] Â  Aerospace Aerospace products in the Philippines are mainly for the export market and include manufacturing parts for aircraft built by both Boeing and Airbus. British company MOOG, is the biggest aerospace manufacturer with base in Baguio in the Cordillera region. The company produces aircraft actuators in their manufacturing facility. Another British company British Aerospace is to open manufacturing facility in southern Philippines for the manufacture of galleys used in aircraft cabin.[46] In 2011, the total export output of aerospace products in the Philippines reached US $3 billion.[47] Electronics Intel has been in the Philippines for 28 years as a major producer of products, including the Pentium 4 processor. A Texas Instruments plant in Baguio has been operating for 20 years and is the largest producer of DSP chips in the world.[48] Texas Instruments’ Baguio plant produces all the chips used in Nokia cell phones and 80% of chips used in Ericsson cell phones in the world.[49] Until 2005, Toshiba laptops were produced in Santa Rosa, Laguna. Presently the Philippine plant’s focus is in the production of hard disk drives. Printer manufacturer Lexmark has a factory in Mactan in the Cebu region. Â  Mining and extraction The country is rich with mineral and geothermal energy resources. In 2003, it produced 1931 MW of electricity from geothermal sources (27% of total electricity production), second only to the United States,[50] and a recent discovery of natural gas reserves in the Malampaya oil fields off the island of Palawan is already being used to generate electricity in three gas-powered plants. Philippine gold, nickel, copper and chromite deposits are among the largest in the world. Other important minerals include silver, coal, gypsum, and sulphur. Significant deposits of clay, limestone, marble, silica, and phosphate exist. About 60% of total mining production are accounted for by non-metallic minerals, which contributed substantially to the industry’s steady output growth between 1993 and 1998, with the value of production growing 58%. In 1999, however, mineral production declined 16% to $793 million.[citation needed] Mineral exports have generally slowed since 1996. Led by copper cathodes, Philippine mineral exports amounted to $650 million in 2000, barely up from 1999 levels. Low metal prices, high production costs, lack of investment in infrastructure, and a challenge to the new mining law have contributed to the mining industry’s overall decline.[citation needed] The industry rebounded starting in late 2004 when the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of an important law permitting foreign ownership of Philippines mining companies.[citation needed] However, the DENR has yet to approve the revised Department Administrative Order (DAO) that will provide the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the Financial and Technical Assistance Agreement (FTAA), the specific part of the 1994 Mining Act that allows 100% foreign ownership of Philippines mines.[citation needed] Offshoring and outsourcing According to an IBM Global Location Trends Annual Report, as of December 2010[update] the Philippines has surpassed India as the world leader in business process outsourcing.[51][52] The majority of the top ten BPO firms of the United States operate in the Philippines.[citation needed] Total jobs in the industry grew to 100,000 and total revenues were placed at $960 million for 2005. In 2012, BPO sector employment ballooned to over 700,000 people and is contributing to a growing middle class. BPO facilities are located mainly in Metro Manila and Cebu City although other regional areas such as Baguio, Bacolod, Cagayan de Oro, Clark Freeport Zone, Dagupan, Davao City, Legazpi, Dumaguete, Lipa, Iloilo City, and CamSur are now being promoted and developed for BPO operations. Call centers began in the Philippines as plain providers of email response and managing services and is now a major source of employment. Call center services include customer relations, ranging from travel services, technical support, education, customer care, financial services, online business to customer support, and online business to business support. Business process outsourcing (BPO) is regarded as one of the fastest growing industries in the world. The Philippines is also considered as location of choice due to its less expensive operational and labor costs and high proficiency in spoken English and highly educated labor pool. In 2011, the business process outsourcing industry in the Philippines generated 700 thousand jobs[53] and some US$11 billion in revenue,[54] 24 percent higher than 2010. By 2016, the industry is projected to reach US$27.4 billion in revenue with employment generation to almost double at 1.3 million workers.[55]