Ethical Behavior Essays - Interpersonal Relationships, Rodham Family

Ethical Behavior Is it fair to measure a politician's public worth by his/her sexual behavior? This a question which has been brought before me and requires an answer, or a position on which I stand, fair or unfair? Well, I think it is fair. After a two-year scandal involving President Bill Clinton and his sexual escapades with different women besides his wife, I can't help but see a direct comparison in this question. Using President Clinton works as an excellent example as to why I take the position I do. For obvious reasons a politician's public worth should not only be measured by his/her sexual behavior, but this should be an important consideration. Every time a new president is elected they are sworn in, they raise their right hand and swear to approximately 272 million people to uphold certain duties as president. Each time a president neglects to uphold one of these duties or if he/she is found to be committing a crime, a process is followed to decide whether or not the president should be impeached. If the act is found to be minor or not an impeachable offense, business continues as usual, but the dignity or public worth of this individual has to be questioned by the public, because as the employers of these po liticians it is our duty. Now even though it might not seem relevant to use the president, or any politician being sworn in as a valid example, in comparison to marriage vows, I think it is valuable. Along with marriage comes a word called fidelity, this is usually touched upon at the ceremony or even before, this means to be faithful and loyal. When a person such as President Bill Clinton, or any politician professes his/her love and fidelity to his/her life partner, which is only one person, then without any regret, completely disregards those promises. How can a politician like this make a promise or swear to uphold certain duties to approximately 272 million strangers and be trusted? In my opinion that is the exact definition of public worth. ? Whatever goes on between consenting adults in private is nobody's business but their own, and that holds for sex as for anything else. Why should anybody even care whether Mary has fifteen lovers or none, whether Jack prefers sex with Bill to sex with Jane, or whether married couples like to ?swing' with other married couples. Just because you personally disapprove of such things doesn't make them wrong. We all have the right to live our lives as we see fit as long as we don't interfere with the rights of others to live their lives as they see fit. Promiscuous people, homosexuals, and swingers don't tell you how to live your life. Don't tell them how to live theirs.?(Olen & Barry pg.82) In essence I completely agree with this statement, but for a politician whose personal life is completely in the eye of the public especially when there is a scandal involving his/her sexual endeavors, this becomes a measurement of their public worth. These politicians are well aware of how their li ves will be affected in the world of politics and this is something they must keep in mind when entering a situation that might compromise their worth to the public which elected them. I feel strong on my position and think if the economy wasn't doing as well as it is the Bill Clinton scandal would have been worse for him. I'm not a political buff or analyst by any means but before the Bill Clinton sex scandal my opinion of his public worth and his principals were much greater than after the scandal. That might not be completely fair but it is my opinion.

Critical reflection on waste management class project The WritePass Journal

Critical reflection on waste management class project Executive summary Critical reflection on waste management class project ), and the other is from the Higher Education Funding Council for England’s (HEFCE) requirements to reduce carbon emissions, which are derived from waste (HEFCE, 2010).   These two factors have meant that universities across the United Kingdom have had to seek to reduce the amount of waste that they dispose of to landfill sites. This project has been undertaken to seek to investigate the ways through which bio-waste, which is derived from food sources may be reduced.   To this end, my mission is to introduce a waste management system for food disposal, with the aim of lowering the Universitys carbon emissions. This essay focuses on the cost of composting in relation to landfill sites.   These shall be examined from three different perspectives, which are derived from environmental, social and economic considerations.   Each of these shall be discussed and examined to seek to critically evaluate the options, which may be available to seek to redress the aforementioned issues. 1.Introduction This project seeks to ascertain which options are most suitable to seek to reduce food waste, which is produced from a university site being sent to landfill. There are three main factors, which need to be considered in order to ensure that, this viable.   The first of these are the economic considerations, the second are the environmental benefits, which may be derived from this, and the third are the social advantages to disposing of food waste.   Each of these options shall be discussed and critically evaluated in turn.   However, before this analysis is undertaken, a brief background to the reasons why this is so important shall be presented. Food waste is an intrinsic part of the economy. It is, in effect, a result of economic activity produced by businesses, government and homes. The management of food waste has economic implications (DEFRA, 2012). A green economy is underpinned by maximal economic value and growth coupled with sustainable management of all natural assets (DEFRA, 2011). The Government’s ‘Review of Waste Policy 2011’ aimed to deliver a ‘zero waste economy’. Over the last decade, significant advances were made to reduce the quantity of food-waste transport to landfill sites and increase the rate of more environmentally friendly methods (DEFRA, 2012). Reducing bio-waste is an important target of the UK government. The ‘Waste Strategy 2007’ for England identifies food waste as a key aim, thereby reducing landfills for local authorities. The ‘Waste Emissions Trading Act’, ‘Landfill Allowance Schemes’ and the ‘EC Landfill Directive’ include key objectives that encourage local authorities to utilise environmentally friendly means of processing food waste or face financial penalties (WRAP, 2009). In line with each of these targets in April 2010, HEFCE announced that it expected all universities to have a carbon management plan in place by December 2010.   This was to include how universities would seek to reduce their carbon emissions from all sources (including Scope 3 emissions included all sources of waste, which may arise from universities).   Therefore, since this time many UK universities have sought to find ways through which they may reduce the waste, which they send to landfill sites (HEFCE, 2010). In line with each of the requirements which have been highlighted above, my mission is to introduce a waste management system for food disposal.   Therefore, the aim of this project is to seek to lower the Universitys carbon emissions, which may arse through the disposal of food waste to landfill sites (see the poster and learning log). The objectives of my project are to: Create an operation that allows us to process food waste into compost whilst maintaining green principles Increase the involvement of staff and students, creating an awareness of the importance of implementing a food waste system Implement a well maintained operation that manages food waste sustainably This essay will focus on the cost of composting in relation to landfill sites, which can be placed into three categories: environmental, social and economic. 2. Environmental costs Food waste provides a feeding ground for rodents and insects, harbouring diseases and parasites that are harmful to humans (Sharp, 2007). Food waste may contaminate surface water, soil, air and ecosystems (Rushton, 2003). Most notably, landfill, the most frequent method of disposal, produces significant GHGs (Bogner et al. 2008). The food degrades over a period of years, emitting methane, a CHG that is 21 times more powerful than carbon dioxide (Shin et al. 2005).   Therefore, from this we can start to ascertain that it is possible to reduce the amount of food waste that is sent to landfill sites as this waste is biodegradable. Twenty million tonnes of CO2e emissions are generated from food waste every year.   This equates to around 3% of the UK’s CHG emissions and 6% of its global water footprint (DEFRA, 2011b). Some food waste is not biodegradable such as teabags, bones and banana skins. However, it remains an essential principle to prevent this waste from being sent to landfill sites unnecessarily.   Food waste should be treated in the most sustainable way, minimising GHG emissions and other environmental harm (DEFRA, 2011b). Article 4 of ‘EU Waste Framework Directive’ outlines the five steps for dealing with waste, referred to as the ‘waste hierarchy’. Prevention, the best impact on the environment, is at the top of the hierarchy, then, in descending order, preparing for re-use, recycling, recovery and landfill (Directive 2008/98/EC) (see Figure 2.1). Figure 2.1: Waste hierarchy (based on the EU Directive 2008/98/EC) Segregated waste is the waste that has been removed from the normal waste stream for recycling, composting, anaerobic digestion or landfill. This waste includes both biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste (DEFRA, 2011b). Residual waste refers to the waste left following sorting or waste emanating from purely unsorted waste (such as black bag waste) (DEFRA, 2011b). There are a number of advantages to collecting food waste separately from the refuse stream (WRAP, 2009b): Improving recycling efficiency Reducing waste disposal costs Reducing the environmental harm linked with landfill Reducing CHGs However, despite each of these advantages implementing a food waste system within a university is a complex task.   One must consider a number of drivers for example, how will students and staff react to the introduction of a new waste management system under the guise that it is environmentally beneficial, how often are waste collections required from different areas and how will this be managed to ensure that odours or other factors which may cause different forms of environmental harm do not arise from these operations.   Of course, this does not mean that this is impossible, but a number of issues need to be considered, for example, does the cost of recycling this food waste out weigh the environmental benefits, which may be gained from diverting this from landfill.   One must consider that there are a number of options, which could cause more harm to the environment and be less cost efficient.   For example, if on site composting is to be used, how will this be managed, who will pay for the facilities required, where will the residual waste from the food disposed of be managed.   Or if one was to pay refuse collector to dispose of this waste, would the number of the collections by vehicles increase the overall environmental effects of composting this food waste or not? Therefore, implementing a food waste system, which is environmentally beneficial, is complex.   However, if this is undertaken properly a number of environmental advantages may be realised.   Each of the aforementioned factors need to be carefully considered and a number of calculations need to be performed to seek to ensure that emissions to air and water or land contamination do not arise through the implementation of a composting system.   Therefore, the university needs to consider each of these factors before they decide whether this is an environmentally friendly way, through which waste, which arises from food, may be managed rather than sending it to landfill sites.   In conjunction, with each of these considerations there are also a number of economic factors which need to be consider, these shall now be discussed and critically evaluated in more detail. 3. Economic costs Food waste is excessively high in the UK; each year households in the UK waste over 8 million tonnes of food, which equates to a cost of  £12 billion (costing the average household  £480/year). A further 5 million tonnes are lost in the supply chain, costing  £5 billion annually (Chapagain James, 2011). The National Health Service wasted  £26  million on food wastage alone (Ssentif, 2011). In a rare example, Cornwall primary care trust has implemented a sustainable food waste management program coupled with locally sourced food (Tudor et al. 2008). By adopting prevention, the UK would save combined manufacturing and distribution costs of  £1588/tonne of waste (Lee Willis, 2010) to its food supply chain. Based on that figure alone, it makes economic sense to avoid food wastage both for the private and public sectors.   However, there are a number of factors, which need to be considered before the university decides whether they will be changing the ways in which they dispose of their food waste.  Ã‚   The first of these is related to the potential means through which this new system will be implemented.   Here there are two options to be considered, the first is siting a composting facility on site.   The second of these is to pay a waste disposal contractor to dispose of the waste at their composting plant.   The economic considerations, which need to be considered in regards to both of these options, are how much do they cost?   For example, does the university dispose of enough food waste to justify the initial costs of setting up a composting plant on their site?   Alternatively, is the amount of food waste that they generate a smaller amount, which could be cost effectively, collected by a waste contractor?   Once these questions have been answered, the considerations for each of these two options start to differ considerably. In regards to the first of these options, one must consider whether it is economically viable to set up a composting facility on site, for example what are the potential savings that could be generated from not paying landfill tax and how soon will these be realised?   How much would it cost to set up a new waste management system in the universities halls and food outlets and around the campus?   How much will the plant cost to set up, manage and operate?   Do the costs of these enable a quick pay back, if for example this was done in conjunction with a biomass plant where waste could be used to generate electricity?   What would be the costs of siting this on the campus and how efficient would the plant need to be to achieve optimal savings.   Would the advantages of the cost savings outweigh the disadvantages?   Could this be achieved in other ways, such as working with suppliers to seek to reduce the amount of waste, which is generated? Each of these needs to be caref ully analysed before this option is chosen by the university. Further to this, if a waste contractor were going to be employed by the university to take the waste away, a number of other factors would need to be considered.   These are would the costs of sending this waste to a composting facility be cheaper than sending it to a landfill site.   Most waste contractors work on a pay per weight basis and if most of the food waste is wet, this is heavy.   Therefore, it may cost more per tonne of waste to send this to landfill than it would to a composting facility.   Furthermore, other saving also need to be considered, for example would the university save more money if these were sent to any energy from waste plant?   How many collections would be required per week to seek to ensure that the waste was appropriately managed?   What would the costs of extra collections be when the university hosts functions such as, conferences or graduation week?   Each of these factors needs to be carefully considered.   However, some have said t hat the costs linked with the implementation of food waste collection are negated by savings generated in the reduction of waste collection (ACR, 2009).   This may not be true of all university sites as the cost efficiencies also depend on the size, location or layout of a campus, the number of food outlets or student halls on the campus and the number of students and anticipated volumes of waste that may be derived from foodstuffs.   Therefore, one must carefully not only consider the environmental benefits, which are complex, but they must also seek to ensure that any new waste management system is economically sustainable in the longer term.   The final factor, which needs to be considered by the university in regards to implementing a new waste management system to dispose of food waste, is the socially based. 4. Social costs Food waste prevention is an area of waste prevention where there is little public resistance, with 90% of people being unopposed to the idea of reducing their food waste (WRAP, 2008).   However, this does not mean that they are happy or willing to segregate their waste in practice.   Encouraging both staff and students to properly segregate their food waste from other streams is a complex task.   This is because each individual has their own values and beliefs and often though they say they believe in something, it does not mean that they will act in accordance with these.   Therefore, one of the most important considerations that needs to be taken into account before changing over to a composting system is how are we going to get staff and students to segregate their waste?   How will we sell this idea to them?   Will we use economic, environmental or ethical arguments to seek to change their behaviours?   Each of these groups behaviours, values and attitudes need to b e aligned to seek to successfully implement a new waste management system with a university.   Therefore, this is one crucial factor, which needs to be carefully considered before any changes are implemented in practice and this costs money. Further to this, other considerations arise from the publics feelings of the health risks associated with waste management highlight differences in understanding, education and underlying social values (Vrijheid et al. 2002).   This is another challenge, which needs to be carefully considered before the new waste management system is implemented.   Factors such as, the siting of waste receptacles or plant, how the waste is stored ore how often it is collected also need to be considered.   This is because if they are not issues such as, complaints about odours, increased visits from pest e.g. foxes or rats, noise from the collection vehicles or the composting plant, the appearance of waste that has been insufficiently stored or left for too long could all cause serious social problems for the university or result in legal action being taken by the local authorities.   Therefore, each of these factors needs to be carefully considered to seek to ensure that the risks of each of these problems arising are mitigated as much as possible. Conclusion Food waste is an intrinsic part of the economy. It is, in effect, a result of economic activity produced by businesses, government and homes. The management of this waste has economic implication. Reducing bio-waste is an important target of the UK government. The ‘Waste Strategy 2007’ for England identifies food waste as a key aim, thereby reducing landfills for local authorities. The ‘Waste Emissions Trading Act’, ‘Landfill Allowance Schemes’ and the ‘EC Landfill Directive’ include key objectives that encourage local authorities to utilise environmentally friendly means of processing food waste or face financial penalties. Our strategy uses ‘price penetration’ strategy. Our service will be of good quality, but initially would not stand out as superior against competing compost services. However, our initial service charges will be low to undercut any rival competitors, thereby penetrating the marketplace. The evidence highlights the fact that a large percentage of local authorities in the UK are implementing food waste collections. Additionally, educating householders on their responsibility to the environment is critical in changing public attitudes to food waste. Half of all landfill site complaints relate to their odours. There is, additionally, conflicting evidence on the health effects of living within proximity to a landfill site. Evidence suggests that living within proximity it may also negatively impact on house prices. However, the public’s normally positive behaviour, even in those aware of the positive impact, may change should a compost plant be constructed in their neighbourhood. References ACR+ Municipal Waste in Europe Towards a European Recycling Society’. Victoires Editions. 2009. ISBN: 978-2-35113-049-0. Print Bogner J, Pipatti R Hashimoto S (2008). Mitigation of global greenhouse gas emissions from waste: conclusions and strategies from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report. Working Group III (Mitigation) Waste Manag Res; 26: 11–32 Chapagain A James K (2011). The Water and Carbon Footprint of Household Food and Drink Waste in the UK. Banbury, Oxon: Waste Resources Action Programme. Available at: wrap.org.uk/retail_supply_chain/research_tools/research/report_water_and.html. Available August 2013 DEFRA (2011a). Applying the Waste Hierarchy: evidence summary. London: DEFRA DEFRA (2011b). Government Review of Waste Policy in England 2011. London: DEFRA Department of Environment and Conservation (2004). Composting and related organics processing facilities. Sydney: Department of Environment and Conservation Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 November 2008 on waste and repealing certain Directives Elliott P, Briggs D, Morris S et al (2001). Risk of adverse outcomes in populations living near landfill sites; BMJ: 363–8 Environment Agency (2013). Composting and potential health effects from bioaerosols: our interim guidance for permit applicants. Available at: environment-agency.gov.uk/static/documents/Research/Composting__bioaerosols.pd. Accessed August 2013 Evans TD; Andersson P, Wievegg, A et al (2010). Surahammar – a case study of the impacts of installing food waste disposers in fifty percent of households. Water Environ. J; 241: 309–319 EN330 Measuring to Manage: How reducing waste can unlock increased profits, Envirowise. Available online at envirowise.gov.uk/page.aspx?o=117540 Accessed August 2013 HEFCE (2010) Carbon Management Plan.   Available from hefce.ac.uk/pubs/year/2010/201002/ Access 08/08/2013. HM Treasury. Budget 2010. Available at officialdocuments. gov.uk/document/hc1011/hc00/0061/0061.pdf. Accessed August 2013 HPA (2011). Impact on Health Emissions from landfill sites. London: HPA Hutchins, D and White, S (2009). Coming round to recycling. British Medical Journal; 338: 746-748 Lee P Willis P (2010). Waste arising in the supply of food and drink to households in the UK. WRAP, Branbury, UK. McCarthy EJ and Perreault WD Jr. Basic Marketing: A Managerial Approach. Irwin, 1990 Noble R, Elphinstone JG, Sansford CE et al (2009) Management of plant health risks associated with processing of plant-based wastes: A review. Bioresource Technology; 10: 3431-3446. NHS. The NHS in England. Available at nhs.uk/NHSEngland/thenhs/about/Pages/overview.aspx. Accessed August 2013 Rà ¶sch C Kaltschmitt M (1999). Energy from biomass do non-technical barriers prevent an increased use? In: Biomass and Bioenergy; 16: 347-356. Rushton L (2003). Health hazards and waste management. British Medical Bulletin; 68: 183–197 Sharp D (2007). On Rats, Refuse, and Recycling. Journal of Urban Health: Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine; 84: 637–638 Shin H-C, Park J-W, Kim H-S, et al (2005). Environmental and economic assessment of landfill gas electricity generation in Korea using LEAP model. Energy Policy; 33: 1261–70. Ssentiff (2011). Protected mealtimes failing as nine million hospital meals go uneaten. Available at: ssentif.com/archive/4_oct2011.shtml. Accessed August 2013. Tudor T, Barr S Gilg A (2008). A novel conceptual framework for examining environmental behaviour in large organizations: a case study of the Cornwall National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom. Environment and Behaviour; 40: 426–50. Vrijheid M, Dolk H, Armstrong B et al (2002). Chromosomal congenital anomalies and residence near hazardous waste landfill sites. Lancet; 359: 320–2 WRAP (2008). The food we waste. Available at http://wrap.s3.amazonaws.com/the-food-wewaste.pdf. Accessed August 2013 WRAP (2009a). Food Waste Collection Guidance. Banbury: WRAP WRAP (2009b) Food Waste Collection Guidance. Available at: wrap.org.uk/downloads/food_waste_collection_guidance_-_amended_Mar_2010.451b7293.7749.pdf. Accessed August 2013 WRAP (2013). Information sheet – Courtauld Commitment. Available at wrap.org.uk/content/information-sheet-courtauld-commitment. Accessed August 2013 Yun H, David M and Elliott R (ud). The Valuation of Landfill Disamenities in Birmingham

Land Rover Sustainability Accounting and Accountability Analysis Essay

Land Rover Sustainability Accounting and Accountability Analysis - Essay Example Sustainable development aims to fulfill the present needs without harming the possibility of not fulfilling the future ones. In today’s era, where companies give sole importance to economic growth the concept of sustainable growth becomes all the more important. As globalization continues to spread there is a steep rise in the ways through which companies and individuals can increase their profits. But the newly created opportunities are not evenly spread over the social strata. So there is always a dynamic instability which is making the environment volatile to some extent. Increase in technical knowledge has attributed to financial development, but it also has the ability to reduce the risks which threatens to harm the social and environmental sustainability .So sustainable development’s key feature encapsulates its promotion of out of the box thinking and selection of innovative choices. There is a need for transparency regarding a company’s economic, social a nd environmental impact and gradually this aspect has become an integral part of its relations with its stakeholders. Stakeholders expect a company to communicate to them the true picture of the company’s sustainability. This naturally led to the requirement of a globally recognized framework of rules, concepts and regulations. As a result the Global Reporting Initiative created the Guidelines for Sustainability Reporting. With the formation of the guidelines a transparency was achieved in the reports involving the sustainability of the company. These reports generated a lot of interest amongst the motley crew of stakeholders (Global Reporting, 2011). Sustainability reports disclose results that have happened in the reporting period. These reports are mainly used for: 1. Assessment of the sustainability performance of the company in accordance with the laws, performance standards and norms. 2. The extent to which the company influences and gets influenced by its surroundings. 3. To perform an intra and intercompany comparison over a period. Guidelines for Sustainability Reporting The reporting framework developed by GRI can be used by any company irrespective of its location, sector and size. The reporting guidelines ensure that the reports produced by the companies are up to the mark. These guidelines include: 1. Reporting Principles 2. Guidance 3. Standard disclosures. All the three elements are given equal weight age and importance. Reporting principles explain the results a report should able to convey, the selection and methods of reporting, along with the indicators and topics which will be included in the report. Each principle consists of definitions and a number of tests which help the company to decide the principles which it intends to use. The reporting guidance explains the actions that a company can take during the decision making process, and also helps in selecting the topics that will be included

Critically evaluate, in relation to the common law duty of care, the Essay - 6

Critically evaluate, in relation to the common law duty of care, the liability of employers for references. How, if at all, doe - Essay Example Issuing of references for employees or former employees by employers is a practice that is of interest to both the employer and the employee (Middlemiss 2013, p141). The employers have an interest in understanding the extent of their liability. On the other hand, the employees have an interest in knowing whether they have the right to sue employers for economic damage arising from unjust references. In understanding the liability of employers for references, the paper will look into the relevant principles of the law by reviewing cases related to the subject in question (Lee 2011). Case studies Spring v Guardian Assurance plc and others The spring v Guardian Assurance plc and others led to the realization of the importance of pursuing acts of negligence through unjust and unfair references. Before this realization, employees who suffered from unjust references only used the tort laws to search for justice (House of Lords 1995). The option of the tort laws was not common due to the ev idential obstacles that the plaintiff faced. In the Spring v Guardian Assurance plc and others, the House of Lords came to a conclusion that, in situations where an employer decides to give a current or former employee a reference, it is the employer’s responsibility to take reasonable care in preparing or issuing the reference. It is also the employer’s responsibility to take care when verifying the information related to the reference. In addition, the House of Lords also concluded that, in situations where an employer issues a reference to a prospective or future employer, it is the employer’s responsibilities to provide care to that the employer in respect to the preparation of the reference. It further states that, in cases where a break of any of the duties occurs due to negligence in preparing the reference, the employer issuing the reference can be held responsible for damages to the employee, prospective employer or future employer (UKHL, 1994). The emp loyer issuing a reference has the responsibility to act in a fair manner towards the employee to protect the employee from suffering from economic losses due to negligence in issuing the reference. The employer also has a duty of care towards the employer receiving the reference because the recipient employer relies on the reference information in providing employment to the subject of the reference (McBride 2004, p.420). Therefore, the employer’s decision to employ the employee is largely influenced by the information provided on the reference. This point makes it reasonable to hold the employer issuing the reference responsible for any economic damage that the prospective employer suffers (Middlemiss 2004, p.67). In another example, it was concluded in the Legal Assurance Ltd v Kirk that, in a situation where an employer makes an informal statement regarding an employee that is not relied on by a third party, there is no liability due to negligence even if there is no any r eference issued. However, this claim was not accepted by the Court of Appeal because it was based on speculations on how the employer might respond when requested for a reference (Middlemiss 2004, p62). A different approach in understanding the liability of employers for reference is evident in Bartholomew v London Borough of Hackney. In this case, an employer issuing

Whether The Marketing Mix Contributes on the Success of Wal-Mart

Whether The Marketing Mix Contributes on the Success of Wal-Mart Introduction The marketing mix, as a paradigm, has been keeping applied in business since it was merged more than 50 years ago. Many companies are still using it as a guide in marketing (Zineldin, 2007) to gain more competitive power in the market. The activities integrated in marketing programmes to create, communicate, and deliver value for consumers were classified into product, price, promotion and place in marketing mix tool by McCarthy (cited in Davies et al., 1995) in 1960, and Kotler et al. (2009) defined the sub activities of each element of the 4Ps: product variety, quality, services, etc for Product; list price, discounts, allowances, etc for Price; sales promotion, advertising, public relations, etc for Promotion; and channels, coverage, locations, transport etc for Place. By using the guide and adjusting the elements and the sub activities of them, companies can find a marketing strategy suitable for both the industry and the organizations. Although the application of the marketing mix seems to be different among industries, it still has influences on the businesses in extents. To see whether the marketing mix can work to the achievements of the organizations, the strategies and the application of the marketing mix of Wal-Mart, the largest retailer in the world, can be a great choice to analyze. As a well known hypermarket business leader, Wal-Mart serves customers and members more than 200 million times per week at more than 8,650 retail units under 55 different banners in 15 countries (Anonymous, 2010), and it is still extending its business globally. This essay will analyze the contribution of the marketing mix on the success of Wal-Mart, and a brief scheme of improvement will also be looked at. Product As a retailer, the term product can be divided into two parts, the retailing service to suppliers, and the products and services to customers. Since both suppliers and retailers are pursuing a low-margin, high-volume strategy (Kotler et al., 2009), the stable and high-volume orders from Wal-Mart can meet the needs of the suppliers. However, only large orders are not enough in current business, according to Hansen (2009), a service-centered philosophy and service quality are crucial for building long-term relationship with suppliers. To keep a high quality of service, Wal-Mart is innovative and a pioneer in technology development. It is among the first retailers using computers to track inventory (1969), adopting the bar codes (1980) and wireless scanning guns (late 1980s), and introducing EDI for better coordination with suppliers (1985) (Johnson, 2002), which developed the efficiency of distribution and turnover of goods so that it can meet the requirements of suppliers. To individual customers, not only selling products of suppliers, Wal-Mart has private-labels such as Great Value, OlRoy, Partents Choice etc, which provides products in wide fields. Kumar et al. (2007, cited in Geyskens et al., 2010) argued that private-label products are positioning at mid-quality, and they are as good as national brand offerings but cheaper. However, Wal-Mart focuses on the quality rather than only mimic other brands (Neff, 2009), trying to meet the needs of most customers focusing on cost performance. Because of the efforts Wal-Mart made, customers are increasingly relying on the private labels (Rae, 2009). Also, according to Min (2010), customers evaluate the service with product quality, which is followed by cleanliness of the store, competitive price, product variety and fast checkouts. By making collection of customer information and IT innovation, these factors are getting focused on by Wal-Mart, which keeps the service quality and satisfaction of customers. Price The price factor of Wal-Mart can be looked at by the view of both B2C and B2B businesses. For the pricing strategies towards individuals, a lower price can capture more market share even competitors build price wall to fight in the market (Chiu et al., 2009). Wal-Mart has a great advantage in the competition among retailers because of offering a lower price and promising it the lowest among all, but lowering the price does not definitely lead to a cut in the profit. Wal-Mart uses a broad line and low value added product lines to keep prices low and raise the volume that is increased greatly enough to make up for the low margin (Kotler, 2009). However, there is always a risk: if the added revenues from the increased demands cannot cover the loss of margin, it will diminish the profit (Nijs et al., 2007). By using and collecting a huge database of consumption of products in large regions and super centers, according to the law of large numbers, the demands of the products could become stable and predictable. With a prediction of consumer behavior and risks, an aggressive pricing strategy helps Wal-Mart gain huge advantages and profitability. Place For Wal-Mart, a company that has been focused on discount merchandising and growth (Graff, 1998), cost is always a key to it. With mature management and decisions on places the products available to customers, distribution and channels, Wal-Mart gets phenomenal growth and excellent performance. First of all, considering the size, majority of Wal-Mart supercentres are located in nonmetropolitan counties and get around the distribution centers (Graff, 1998), which can make Wal-Mart benefited from a low land-rent cost and a more efficient distribution. However, a great negative impact on Wal-Marts market share occurred because of the factors of the growing maturity of internet retailing industry and lower prices offered by on-line retailers (Bock et al., 2007). In order to keep the market share and the customer satisfaction, Wal-Mart launched its own retailing websites and planned to build multichannel. This shall benefit the giant retailer as researchers found that the adoption of inte rnet and a multichannel strategy will be more profitable for retailers than traditional strategies (Zhang, 2009; Bock et al., 2007). Other than the location of supercentres, the performance of distribution of Wal-Mart is outstanding. Firstly, by geographical segmentations, distribution centers, around by supercentres, are located in appropriate regions. Suppliers make most deliveries to distribution centers, and retailer then ferry goods between the regional centers and individual stores using its own trucks (Burritt et al., 2010), which reduces the cost of transportation and enhances Wal-Marts control on the whole inventory and process of delivery. Also, a mature IT system weighs greatly for Wal-Mart: hand-held computers used by employees can collect the information of products such as storage, packaging and shipping, and a satellite communication system set up in 1983 helps managers to track sales and inventories in stores across the country (Chandran et al., 2003), which keeps the distribution under control and improves the efficiency. In addition, Wal-Mart puts a great concern upon the suppliers and the integration of supply chain. Because great volumes of products are sold through Wal-Mart, suppliers are delighted to do business with the retailer at a lower price because of the large orders, which increases the bargaining power of Wal-Mart. As what Davies et al. (1995) found: strength in bargaining power positively relates to commercial success. It seems that Wal-Mart keeps a superior power upon its suppliers to squeeze the cost. However, Even suppliers treat Wal-Mart as a primary customer perform worse financially (Bloom, 2001), there may still be benefits for suppliers to keep a long-term relationship with a higher performing channel member being efficient and aggressive to attract consumers to suppliers products, because the revenue with a high volume sold might cover the squeeze, and some suppliers hope it might help them expand their market share (Bollm, 2001; Erdem et al., 1997). By cutting the cost in the B2B part, the prices of products could be lower and more advantages Wal-Mart can gain in the market. Also, with a thought that putting the volume together of both itself and its suppliers are buying from one supplier can reduce costs (Muntaner, cited in Boyle, 2010), Wal-Mart has been trying to team up with suppliers to purchase the raw materials, like teaming up with Pepsi to purchase sugar together from one sugar supplier at a lower price, in order to reduce the cost of private labels so that more attractive prices can be offered to customers. A good management of the place factor improves the efficiency of distribution and lowers the cost of the company. Promotion The element of Promotion was divided into sales promotion, including reduction of price, discount etc, and communication, including advertising, public relations, store design etc (Van Waterschoot et al., 1992; Davies, 1995). In sales promotion, Wal-Mart uses reduced prices to increase the sales of the inventory in order to keep a high turnover rate and release the problem of stocking of inventory. Also, as it was found that a slight change in the price will lead to great improvement of business performance in a high price-elasticity product (Driussi, 2007), Wal-Mart uses short-term discounts on particular products to stimulate the consumption of products. Concerning about the communication of Wal-Mart, with an increasing budget on advertising from $405 million in 1999 to $2.3 billion in 2008 (Norman, 2009), the brand name and the slogan of save money, live better, formerly always low prices are getting widely known, which leads to a greater awareness of public and an increase in brand equity (Keller, 1993). Also, it uses diversified advertising methods such as TV, websites and newspaper, which is crucial to the success of any advertising campaign (Scott, 2009). In addition, according to Ataman (2010), by making efforts on advertising can improve the customer loyalty to the companies, which might also be an important reason for Wal-Mart being attractive and well accepted by publics in either new or existing market. It seems that Wal-Mart focuses greatly on communication with customers and trying to get more strength of brands. However, there are still some factors that Wal-Mart needs to take into consideration. First of all, although Wal-Mart is widely accepted by the public, the public relationship and the social image from the public tell a different story. With a history of anti-union tactics and worker disputes, including an ongoing gender discrimination lawsuit (Bustillo, 2010), Wal-Mart is getting into a social issue negatively affects its social image. Society worries about Wal-Marts lacking of consideration to health, life and rights of employees. However, Wal-Mart has been trying to making efforts on its CSR while the public does not realize. It offers a better health care plan than the retail average, in which 80% of its US workers can get health coverage while only 58% for the retail sector as a whole (Bustillo et al., 2010). This phenomenon shows that Wal-Mart needs to make effort o n PR to change the biases made by the society. In addition, with a development of customer perspectives, physical environment and social cue, factors influencing customers feelings and satisfaction (Bitner, 1992; Hu et al., 2006) are getting more focused. Wal-Mart can try to collect more customers preference to the store environment such as store designing and employees behaviours in order to build a welcoming feeling to customers and serve customers better. Integration of The Marketing Mix Although each element of the marketing mix Wal-Mart focuses is analyzed, the marketing mix should be treated as a whole. An application of the marketing mix upon the business needs the coordination among departments of a company, not only marketing department, and part-time marketers who are not working for marketing department but have connect with customers need to be greatly relied on to generate and disseminate the market intelligence (Davies et al., 1995; Grà ¶nroos, 1994). It can be shown from the above analysis that the elements of the paradigm influence each other such as price and PR, supply chain and price, cost and distribution etc, and Wal-Mart controls them in a macro vision. With an interaction among the departments, Wal-Mart can get advantage in each element of the marketing mix by using resources widely and efficiently. Conclusion By analyzing the concentration of Wal-Mart upon the marketing mix, it not only treated the paradigm as a guide, but also applies it upon the strategy and management of the company. It is not unfair to say that with a proper application upon the business and a great interaction in the marketing mix, Wal-Mart gets benefit from the classic theory. The application of the marketing mix could be seen as a key positive factor of the success of Wal-Mart. However, to improve the business performance of the giant retailer according to the paradigm, some soft factors such as the flexibility of distribution, PR and consumers emotion can be concerned by Wal-Mart.

Private Schools vs. Public Schools Essay -- Public Education vs Private

Plato said, "You must train the children to their studies in a playful manner, and without any air of constraint, with the further object of discerning more readily the natural bent of their respective characters" (Plato). Education has increased as a topic of conversation among parents in America today. The importance of a good education has increased in value, and parents are searching for the best possible school for their child in preparation for college. Many believe the most opportune way for their child to succeed in studies is by attending a private school. On the other hand, another group of parents thinks that public schools are the better route. Nevertheless, public schools have been proven to be more successful in the education of a maturing child. Students who attend public schools are faced with many different challenges that differ in comparison to a private school student. Whereas, many private schools are small in population, public schools usually have a larger number of students resulting in a great diversity of pupils. Students from every race, culture, and religious background come together in one school system. This diversity allows students to develop ways of associating with many different people that would not typically be found in a private school. Learning how to deal with others, no matter what their race, culture, or religion, is a vital asset to learning how to work with others in the future. Private school teachers have been shown to be less qualified teachers that many public school teachers. Some of the most interesting contrasts explain private schools have fewer minority teachers and principals, public school teachers appear to be more education than private school teachers, a... ... agrees with Mrs. Dyckman explaining, "I don't think that just because you pay money for something makes it better. There isn't a better place for my daughter to be going to school than here" (Wilkenfeld par. 13). In fact, on average, private schools aren't any better than public schools, or so says a new book on the subject, All Else Equal: Are Public And Private Schools Different. In conclusion, several points could be drawn on the issue of public schools versus private schools. Nevertheless, statistics, reports, and articles are continually explaining that private schools are mostly equal or less qualified than public schools. Parents should be educated in this matter. If more parents knew about the comparison of public schools to private schools, more families would be able to offer their children a better education and future for a cheaper price.

Child Called It

Jalen Jones Mrs. Moore English 113 A 1/3/12 Book Summary A Child Called It by David Pelzer is a real life story about a boy who was brutally beaten and severely starved by his alcoholic mother. When David was young, he lived a well and typical life with his parents and brothers. However, his mother unexpectedly, became a monster, taking her anger out on her anger on her vulnerable child.David was forced to lie in freezing cold water with his whole body under except for his nostrils, forced to eat his own vomit, sleep in the basement under the stairs, stabbed, and forced to sit in the bathroom with a mustard gas solution while the door was closed. These are just a few of the brutal, tortuous games that David’s mother used to play. She treated him not like her son, but like nobody with no feelings or emotions. David’s mother would never call him by his name, she always either called him â€Å"The Boy† or â€Å"It† David experienced both psychological and phy sical abuse.In order to survive from his mother's sick games, David used willpower. David has a strong will to survive at any cost. Through all of mothers’ torturous games, David's internal strength began to come into view. Introduction to Interview David Pelzer’s story is the exact opposite of a fairy tale. There was something I couldn’t get right about him. He looked normal but his childhood wasn’t. The room was bright and warm. I sat there preparing my questions for David Pelzer. As he walked into the room and sat down in the chair, I wondered â€Å"is this going to be a dreadful, painful day for David Pelzer? I knew that today, skeletons will be brought out of the closet. Today, there will be secrets revealed. Interview Questions Okay David, let’s jump right in. What was mother like? Mother was†¦ Mother. She was an alcoholic who tortured and starved me for her sick pleasure. She would do things to me that you couldn’t possibly fath om. Once she stabbed m in the stomach and gave me a slightly longer time to complete my chores. But the person, who I loathed in that situation the most, was father. After I was stabbed I turned to him for help and I assumed he would rescue me. Boy was I wrong.He just sat there†¦ In his chair†¦ Continuing to read his paper. When I told him all he could say was â€Å"Jesus H. Christ! Does Mother know that you are talking to me? You better go back in there and do the dishes. Damn it boy, we don’t need to do anything that might make her more upset! I don’t need to go through that tonight†¦I tell you what: you go back in there and do the dishes. I won’t even tell that you told, okay? This will be our little secret. Just go back in the kitchen and do the dishes. Go on now, before she catches the both of us. GO! † That day I lost all respect for him.The day I was taken away from that house was easily the best day of my life. What was the worst th ing mother did to torture you? The worst form of torture? Easily the â€Å"Gas Chamber† I would be trapped in the bathroom with a solution of Clorox  ® and Ammonia. In case you didn’t know that makes Mustard Gas. This was used in WWI to burn your eyes and lungs. The only way to save myself was to push the bucket closer to the door, put one of my work rags over my face. The main reason why I would push the bucket toward the door was so that when Mother opened the door, she would get a taste of her own medicine.My eyes would be red and burning and my throat will be sore and will be blister filled. Every time she did this I would pray to god that he would bring me through this. I had much will power. When Mother opened that door after each session, I would sprint for fresh air, and every time she would get a kick out of it. What was mother like before the abuse? Before the abuse started, my family was the â€Å"Brady Bunch† of the 1960’s. When it came to h ousekeeping mother was a clean fiend. After feeding my two brothers and me breakfast, she would clean, disinfect, scour, and vacuum everything.She never believed in doing anything half way. Our flower garden was the envy of the neighborhood. Mother was an amazing cook. She would often cook foreign and exotic meals. One time she took us to china town and dove around the area. As we did this, she told us about the culture and history of the Chinese people. When we returned home, mom started the record player and played beautiful sounds from the orient. She decorated the living room with Chinese lanterns. That evening she dressed in a kimono and served an exotic yet delicious Chinese meal.She always kept the house filled with pets; cats, dogs, aquariums filled with exotic fish, and a gopher tortoise named Thor. I remember him the best because I named him after my favorite comic book hero. Boy those were the good days. While school was out, what did you do? During the spring time, mothe r made me mow lawns. I would go out and mow lawns all day for a quota mother had set. If I didn’t meet the quota, I would get brutally beaten. Sometimes I would have to ask for money to meet my quota. One Christmas, she bought me skates. They were not for pleasure but for torture.Mother would make me skate outside in the freezing cold for hours with no coat on. It was horrible. Even though people saw me, no one did anything or asked questions. Was there a time where you stopped believing in god or that faith was nonexistent? Yes there was. When my father left, I stopped believing. He was my hero. My father was my only main choice of escaping that misery home. When he left, I had no more hope. All faith of leaving was gone. When he left, I started to do my chores nonchalantly. I decided that if there was nothing to live for why try to be perfect? What was something you were extremely proud of during your childhood?One day I entered a competition to name the school newspaper. I had one the competition and Mr. Ziegler; my teacher had given me an award to take home to my mother. I was hoping that she would be proud of me but boy was I wrong. Mother jabbed her finger and my face and hisses â€Å"Get one thing straight you little son of a b****! There is nothing you can do to impress me! Understand me? You are a nobody! An It. You are nonexistent! You are a bastard child! I hate you and I wish you were dead! Dead! Do you hear me? Dead! † After mother tore the letter to pieces mother returned to her TV show.I stood motionless gazing at the letter which lay like snowflakes at my feet. Even though I heard those words over and over again, the word â€Å"it† stunned me like never before. She had stripped me of my very existence. What would you do to steal food? Sometimes I would steal from the grocery store during recess. I would run to the grocery store, steal food, and run out the store with my prize. One of my favorites was to go through lunch box es of other kids and steal some of their food. But teachers found out about that. On my way to school, I would knock on peoples doors saying† I lost my lunch, can you make me one? One day I knocked on the wrong door. It was a friend of mothers. She made me a lunch but she called mother. I prayed all day that she didn’t call mother. When I got home I paid for what I did. Do you have any advice for people who get abused? Of course. Keep the faith. Always know there is a higher power helping you through the situation. Keep your head up. In time everything will get better. It did for me. I stopped believing but that only got me more torture. Just always know things will get better. Things always turn out in the best. Always remember that.