STRATEGIC REVIEW CASE ASSIGNMENT 1 THE EXCELLENT CONSULTING GROUP Essay

STRATEGIC REVIEW CASE ASSIGNMENT 1 THE EXCELLENT CONSULTING GROUP - Essay Example A thorough analysis of the external elements of the business as well as the current strategies has also been made, based on which a strong set of recommendations have been set down for the company. The next section will deal with the current situation of the company. Here we discuss the mission and vision of the company followed by the strategies that the company currently adopts. The company’s main objective is to grow to become the leaders in mobile computing. The company’s mission statement is â€Å"Our objective is to be the leader in mobile computing† (Palms Annual Report). The company’s vision statement has been noted to include a number of different areas, like, â€Å"a) Develop market-defining products that deliver a great user experience, b) Provide a choice of industry standard platforms, c) Differentiate our products through software and applications, d) Expand global presence and e) Build a brand synonymous with delightful mobile computing† (Palms Annual Report). It is evident that the company is focusing on becoming the world leaders and has taken all possible steps to ensure that they read their mission. As explained earlier, the company’s goal and objective is to become the world leaders in mobile computing. The company focuses on the providing the industry with a wide range of industry standard platforms (Palm Inc.). The company also focuses on ensuring that products and services provide a great customer experience and allow the customers gain the best of the industry. Based on the goals and objectives of the company, Palm Inc has been able to effectively develop a brand image, which has been consistent with one which provides high quality and excellent customer experience. The company has also been able to use the highest and best level of software and applications. The company’s main strength is the differentiation that the company has been able to achieve in the markets and the high choice of standard platforms that the

Recycled toothbrushes make sense Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Recycled toothbrushes make sense - Essay Example This partnership can strengthen the brand image of the company in front of people who are concerned about the environment and help recycline achieve its mission of preserving the environment. Additional ways the company can market its product is by using alternatives to plastic in its packaging. This will further indicate the company’s willingness to achieve better environmental standards. It can also use trash cans or other disposed material in its production facility to allow recycling. Furthermore, the use of environmental ways of marketing, such as planting a tea accompanied by company branding can also serve the purpose as customers will start to associate green with Recycline. As the company grows larger it will face significant challenges in enhancing its production. In order to maintain its motto of using recycled products, it will have to seek partnership with government and nongovernmental agencies to facilitate them in getting disposed material that can be used as potential inputs for their product. Furthermore they will also have to expand their wind production facility. Marketing will have to take the ATL course more often and spending on marketing will also have to be

How To Keep Yourself Healthy Essay

How To Keep Yourself Healthy Essay Maintaining a healthy body is not that easy and not so difficult also. Always there is a need to be healthy because unhealthy body will be attacked by many diseases. Here we will discuss about some tips which will help to have a happy and healthy life. Most important tip for a healthy body is to have healthy food and eat them at proper time. Avoid eating junk food. None of the nutrients are available in these junks foods so no point in having them. Your diet should contain food which has more nutrients. Try to include leafy vegetables, fresh vegetables, fruits, milk, and fish in your daily diet. Make sure you are having your breakfast regularly. Skipping your breakfast regularly will definitely affect your health. If water content in your body goes low then it will lead to dehydration. So to keep the body healthy make sure you drink more amount of water daily. Exercise also pays a vital role in keeping your body healthy. Regular exercise will also keep your body in good health. By exercise it doesnt mean a simple and slow walk. It should be in such a way that your body should start sweating. You can go for running, do cycling, walking faster etc. Daily find some time 30 mints to one hour per day for your exercise. Have a regular checking of your weight and try to control it. Its nice to have Medical checkups and dental checkups by which you can have an idea about your health condition. Apart from these always try to manage your stress. Most people due to stress at work have health problems. By controlling your stress you can maintain a healthy body. Bad habits like smoking, drinking, using of drugs should be avoided. Usage of these items will have a very bad affect on your health. Your body should get enough time to take rest. Make sure you get a sleep of 8 hours daily. Sleep is very important for healthy body and also for mental and emotional happiness. Comparison of health and fitness Fitness and health seems to be same for everyone but they have entirely two different meanings. Fitness can be defined as the physical ability to perform work, sports etc with ease. While health is a condition in which the body should have resistance capacity from all illness and all parts of the body should works fine without any problem. Your body should possess both fitness as well as health. Men and ladies are equally concerned about your body. They want their body to be fit and healthy. Due to more demand for fit and healthy body many gyms and work out centers are opened. To maintain a healthy and fit body primarily requires self control and will power. Many factors can divert us from achieving our goal of having a fit and healthy body. But never deviate and focus on it and try achieving their goal as all knows Health is wealth. Health can be maintained by proper diet, exercise and hygiene. But in the other case to keep your body you need to do proper exercise. Usually sports people will have a fit body. They shape their body in such a way that it will be fit for their respective sport. But coming to healthy body it is just a matter of controlling weight and making your body immune to diseases. Some people will try to make their body fit so vigorously that they will not think about their diet and health. This creates a problem. So always make sure your body to be healthy and fit. Compared to healthy body, fit body needs more exercise and diet. For a healthy and fit body walking is very good exercise which helps in burning the excess fat in your body. A fit body doesnà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½t mean that it should look good from outside. A fit and healthy body should be physically active and energetic and smart enough to accept any tasks given to them. Athletic training This is a program followed by athletes to make their body ready for the respective sport that they are going to perform. Training is mainly conducted by certified professional. It is the duty of the trainers to attend if any emergency comes for the athlete Athletic training also deals about how to avoid and cure the sport injuries through many therapeutic exercises and by providing proper food. Candidates who are interested to become an athlete trainer should first get a degree from certified training curriculum. There are many programs under which certifications are possible. Some of them are nutrition, first aid, emergency care, treatment for injury and illness etc. Class room trainings are available for this certification. Most of the certified trainers are having a master degree. Athletic trainers have got a very important role in taking care of the injured athletes. Quick emergency and reviews of the injured athletes are done by these trainers. They also provide an important communication link between the bruised athlete, his family, his coach and his family and will help them to decide when the athlete should be ready for his next practice session or competition. Never compare athletic training with personal training. Both have got vast differences. Athletic trainers can be seen at places where people with more physical activities are available. Athletic training services are available in Schools, clinics, Hospitals, workplaces. Athletic training is a profession that has got wide variety of career opportunities. Yearly the demand for the profession is growing. They can work in High schools as well in college levels to help the students who got injured during any practice or competition. They have got opportunities in Sports health clinic and also in Health care departments of many companies. In these companies they provide service to the employees who have got any bruises or injuries. They have opportunities in armed forces as well. Tips for a healthy and fit body For a healthy and fit body you need to keep on doing exercise. Many factors will come across us and can divert us from achieving our goal of being fit and healthy. But you should be having strong self discipline and will power to achieve this healthy and fit body. Below given are some methods through which can maintain a fit and healthy body. Most important is the exercise. Make it a routine to move your body. You can do this by running around your home, playing with your kids, climbing up and down the stair case and so on. This will help in increasing your blood circulation. You can also join a gym where you will have an instructor who can guide you to have a healthy and fit body. Try to avoid fatty food and junk food. These foods are not going to give any nutrients to your body. Better stick on to a diet which includes fresh vegetables, fruits, fish and Dairy Products such as milk. Limited number of dried fruits can be included in your diet. Reduce intake of foods which are more salty and food with more sugar. Too much sugar and salt is bad for health. Have food at proper timings .Try not skip any meals. If you dont feel hungry also eat something but dont skip the meals. Avoid all the bad habits like smoking, drinking, using drugs etc. This will make your health more badly. Try to manage your stress by walking in beach or watching any sport channel or by listening to music or anything that makes you relaxed. Keep your hands clean regularly because many diseases can attack your body though you hands. Try to maintain good hygiene which will keep all the sickness away from your body. Do a regular body as well as dental checkups. Maintain your healthy weight and make sure it is under control. Above given tips can help you to have a fit and healthy body. But most important is self determination. If you possess self determination then definitely you can achieve a healthy and fit body. How Can Regular Exercise Keep You Healthy Both nutrition and exercise play a very vital role in the amount of fat stored in the body. All types of exercise will not reduce your body fat. For reducing body fat, first try to increase the duration of exercise rather than decreasing the level of food intake. Studies have proved that there is a significant relation between lack of physical activity and fat build up. Just by being more active generally such as ascending stairs instead of taking the lift, moving in the office instead of sitting still in front of our desktop as well as showing some enthusiasm instead of boredom, are all various means to burn calories and reducing body fat. It seems everyone have forgotten the value of being active. Dieting without exercising will result in getting fatter. One should increase his/her metabolism by exercising regularly to avoid getting fat. The easiest exercise for strengthening your bones, controlling weight, leg muscles toning and improving self esteem is walking. It is advisable to walk at a moderate pace. Walking at high speeds every alternate day will help improve ones system. Walking aimlessly for per hour day will not be effective at all. Exercise and diet are linked to each other when it comes to good health and weight loss. Better than maintaining a balanced diet without exercise, it is better to exercise without dieting. Performing sit ups and crunches alone, the fat in your body will not transform to muscles. You have to do many other activities like active sports, running, cycling that help get rid of excess body fat as it burn lots of calories. Running at full vigor burns more calories than walking at brisk pace. It is very important that you keep in mind to lose body fat; burn more calories and eat less. More calories can be burnt and you can attain your goal quicker if you focus on exercising harder.

Essays --

â€Å"Ilmu pengetahuan tanpa nilai-nilai yang mulia belum tentu dapat melahirkan masyarakat yang baik dan berjaya. Nilai-nilai yang mulia tanpa ilmu pengetahuan juga tidak akan melahirkan masyarakat yang berjaya†. Begitulah ungkapan kata-kata bestari oleh mantan Perdana Menteri kita, Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad, Bapa Pemodenan Negara yang merupakan salah satu daripada pencetus kegemilangan dunia pendidikan negara. Selamat pagi dan Salam 1 Malaysia saya ucapkan kepada: Pengerusi Majlis, Yang Amat Berhormat Datuk Johan Ashaari bin Murti, Menteri Pendidikan merangkap Timbalan Perdana Menteri. Yang Berhormat Datuk Romario Ansam anak Rungah, Timbalan Menteri Pendidikan. Yang Amat Berhormat Pehin Sri Maher Zain, Ketua Menteri. Yang Berhormat Freddy Jabu anak Jugah, Timbalan Ketua Menteri. Yang Berhormat Datuk Halimah, Menteri Tugas-tugas Khas Dalam Negeri berkaitan Pendidikan. Yang Berhormat Datuk-datuk dan Datin-datin. Yang Berbahagia Datuk Ariffin Faiq, Ketua Pengarah Pendidikan. Yang Berbahagia Datuk Sabri bin Rahmat, Rektor IPGM. Yang Dihormati Encik Hafiz Azman, Pengarah Pendidikan Negeri. Yang Berusaha Puan Saftuyah binti Safri, Pengarah Institut Pendidikan Guru Tunku Abdul Rahman. Pengarah-pengarah IPGK dan Wakil-wakil Pengarah IPGK. Yang Berusaha Encik Amir bin Jamal, Timbalan Pengarah Institut Pendidikan Guru Tunku Abdul Rahman. Ketua-ketua Jabatan Persekutuan dan Negeri. Ketua-ketua Jabatan dan Ketua-ketua Unit Institut Pendidikan Guru Tunku Abdul Rahman. Pensyarah-pensyarah Kanan. Para Pensyarah. Staf-staf Sokongan. Para Graduan. Para Ibu Bapa. Tuan-tuan dan Puan-puan dekat di hati. Tegak rumah kerana tiangnya, tegak bumi kerana paksinya, tegaknya saya di sini adalah untuk menyampaikan sebuah pidato yang bertajuk â€Å"Kecemerlan... .... Kesimpulannya, corak pendidikan yang diaplikasikan di Malaysia adalah lebih menyeluruh kerana ia merangkumi aspek fizikal dan rohani. Pendidikan di Malaysia bukan sahaja ingin membentuk pelajarnya yang aktif dan cemerlang dalam kurikulum dan kokurikulum malah ia juga memberi fokus kepada kelengkapan rohani dan moral agar pelajar yang dilahirkan sempurna dari segala segi. Maka dengan itu hadirin, saya sekali lagi menegaskan, pendidikan ini bukan sahaja penting untuk mengembangkan minda dan bakat manusia, malah ia juga penting untuk memacu legasi pembangunan negara. Ini adalah kerana pendidikan merupakan nadi kepada pencetus kegemilangan dan martabat sesebuah negara tersebut. Oleh itu, penting sekali untuk kita sebagai rakyat Malaysia dalam melancarkan aspirasi negara iaitu mencapai kecemerlangan dalam pendidikan untuk menaikkan nama negara di persada antarabangsa.

My Last Duchess Essay

The poem â€Å"My Last Duchess† by Robert Browning is about a powerful Duke and his beautiful wife who lived in 16th century. The Duke here is the speaker of the poem and is talking to an emissary who has arrived to discuss about his marriage to the daughter of yet another powerful family. The poem begins with Duke mourning for the loss of his wife but the way he speaks and the poem moves on we feel the tone of detestation in Duke’s words. But at the same time the Duke loved his wife and was not ready to tolerate her unfaithfulness and so he gives orders to decease her. It is clear from the words, â€Å"I ave commands; Then all smiles stopped together. † This is the story of marriage relationship of 16th century when men were extremely powerful and would easily kill women if they doubted her character especially in royal families. In the beginning of the poem the Duke shows his palace to the visitor and stops in front of the portrait of his last duchess who looks like a beautiful young lady. The Duke recalls the portrait session and tells the visitor about it and describes about the Duchess also. He told that the Duchess used to flirt with almost everyone and never cared for his â€Å"gift of a ine-hundred-years old name†. She had a dual personality one that was reality and the other laid in the picture, a beautiful young lady. The Duke here very cleverly chooses words to describe about the Duchess, her flirty behavior and also about her death. After giving a brief and partly hidden description of the demise of his last Duchess he very smarty returns to the topic of his another marriage with another girl and talks to emissary. He walks away from the portrait of the Duchess and points out other distinguished works of art in his collection. The Last Duchess† is a poem comprised of rhyming words and mere monologue in which the speaker with the influence of his powerful personality gives away horrifying information in a colorful manner. Here the poet seems to have distinct views from speaker and poet’s main aim here is to reveal the real character of the Duke and not the Duchess. Although there is no such direct intension but by disclosing character of Duchess as per the Duke and punishment she received from her husband, the poet wants the reader to feel the cruelty and harshness in Duke’s character. The Dukes in the 16th entury were very powerful so much so that they could kill or punish anyone and were not answerable for that. Browning was quite fascinated with the Italian Renaissance because of its religious, moral and human beauty and appreciation impact on society. The poem â€Å"The Last Duchess† involves the reader completely and focuses on the psychology of people of that era. It depends upon the reader what aspect he considers of the poem- the horrified fate of the Duchess, the beautiful and dramatic development, which is very much powerful or the beauty of language. The reader gets completely nvolved in the poem and this is the power and beauty of Browning’s poetic language. He forces his reader to get engrossed in the story depicted in poem and leaves him to think on the social structure, Duke’s character, Duchess’ character or her fate and decide for himself. It depends upon the attitude of the reader that makes him decide what exactly dominated the poem. When we compare each and every aspect of this poem to Shakespeare’s â€Å"Othello† we find that both the works are of more or less the same era and brings out the picture of the society at that time. Othello† is a tragic story of deception, manipulation and revenge written in the form of play by Shakespeare. The main character of the drama is Othello who is a black military man and is very powerful. He wins the heart of a white woman Desdemona and they seem to be fully devoted to each other. Initially Othello and Desdemona appear to be ideal couple and it seemed that Desdemona would do anything for Othello. But love of Othello and Desdemona gets horrifyingly hindered by the plans of wicked Iago, who appears to be very faithful and honest but in actual he is the sinister villain inside. For this purpose he uses few people along with his wife and there are quite a lot of circumstances in the play where Iago manipulates and exploits it for his selfish fulfillment. Where â€Å"Othello† is a story completely based on manipulations and revenge, â€Å"The Last Duchess† is the poem in which Duke punishes his wife because of her unfaithfulness. In the end Othello also kills his wife because Iago with the help of his manipulated proofs make him believe that his wife is unfaithful towards him. But it was not the truth here. Whereas Duke’s wife is flirtatious which is clear from the Duke’s wordings, â€Å"Too easily mpressed: she liked whate’er she looked on, and her looks went everywhere. † And he punishes her because he has the power to do so. According to the Duke he has done the right thing. In both the works, â€Å"Othello† and â€Å"The Last Duchess†, the husbands love their wives but could not tolerate their unfaithfulness. The whole story of â€Å"Othello† is based on revenge that Iago takes because Othello did not promote him as lieutenant. He creates and controls the proofs unscrupulously and convinces Othello that his wife is disloyal towards him but it was not the truth. The Duke as well as Othello, both are very powerful and outgoing and can go to any extent to prove that what they do is right. Othello is a dark man and his dark color is also reflected in his character. He is quite mysterious and believes that there is some kind of magic brewing everywhere. Apart from this he has a trusting nature and believes anyone completely and also because he is not very observant, he does not try to find out the truth himself and believes what Iago creates round him. Othello is not able to understand European women and since he had seen Desdemona’s deception for her father he emembers his words, â€Å"Look to her, Moor, if thou has eyes to see: She has deceived her father, and may thee† (I, iii, lines 286-7) Othello when comes to know that he had been tricked by the words and deeds of Iago, is unable to handle the anguish and he becomes his own judge and sentences himself. Othello understands that he had not killed Desdemona for revenge but because of his jealousy. He took a knife and stabbed himself saying, â€Å" I kissed thee ere I killed thee. No way but this, killing myself, to die upon a kiss. † (V, ii, line 359-60) Othello is jealous and kills his wife because he is convinced that his wife is unfaithful and he believes that he is doing justice. But the Duke watches his flirtatious wife for sometime who is not even ashamed of what she is doing and then he orders to kill her. The era in which Duke and Duchess live did not allow women to be seen with any other man than their husbands. It is quite possible that Duchess must be unaware that her husband saw her with her new male interest. The royal families at that time would kill their wives if they were not faithful to their husbands. And the Duke follows the same tradition of justice. Both the story depicts the marriage relationship of that era and the form of justice in royal families. In â€Å"The Last Duchess† the Duke is planning to get married again because he justifies his decision of killing his wife. His wife was a cheat and she had created the element of distrust by herself. But the picture of the wife in Shakespeare’s Othello is completely different where Othello’s wife is not only faithful but also devoted to him and his values. Even Iago’s wife cannot hold this injustice and tells Othello the true story and his shows that she had the guts to tell the truth even if it was against her husband. But the Duchess is a cheat and also is not bold enough to tell her husband about it. So the picture of women is completely different in Browning’s poem â€Å"The Last Duchess† and Shakespeare’s â€Å"Othello†. The only thing common in both the works is that men were powerful in that era and could not tolerate unfaithfulness of their wives. In â€Å"Othello† Iago is portrayed as a very clever character that very smartly weaves his plans just like a chess player and the game of chess. He even uses people in his act of anipulation and makes them do exactly how he wants them to. Here Iago targets a newly wed couple who have not known each other for long and they are not quite aware of the likes and dislikes of each other. Iago tells Othello in such a manner that anyone would believe what he said and Othello believes him as honest and trusts him completely. Othello did not know much about Desdemona before marriage and very easily believed Iago. Othello’s origin also resists him in understanding a European woman and her ethics of life and life-partner. So while comparing Shakespeare’s â€Å"Othello† and Browning’s â€Å" The last Duchess†, we ee that the situation, plot and circumstances all are quite different in both the stories. The wives in both the stories are completely different in character and one is killed because she was a cheat but Desdemona is killed because of the circumstances created by Iago who wants to take revenge from Othello. Here we pity Othello because he acts according to the manipulated circumstances and anyone would react to those situations as he did. And when he comes to know about the truth he is unable to bear the torment and kills himself whereas the Duke has plans to marry another girl.

PTSD Stigma in military personnel

The present review addresses the perceived stigma associated with admitting mental illness and seeking mental health treatment. Research on the public stigma associated with mental illness is reviewed, indicating that the public generates stereotypes of mental illness, which may lead to discrimination of those individuals with mental illness. The internalization of these public beliefs result in self stigma which leads the individual to experience low self esteem and self efficacy. This process of stigmatization in both public and self, is what causes the mentally ill individual to reject the provided mental health treatment.Under the influence of the military, these mentally ill individuals are more prone to stigma barriers in mental health treatment. Within the military it is understood that there is a high demand of reediness and responsibility, which is threatened by the stereotypes incapability associated with mental illness, resulting in an exposure of â€Å"weakness† fo r the mentally ill individual. Soldiers in efforts to avoid this consequence will deal with there psychological symptoms independently rather then facing the consequences that might entail in seeking professional treatment.The term invisible wound was established in order to change the belief of a physical and tangible injury acceptable but not an emotional injury. Efforts to reduce the mental health stereotype and promote mental health treatment have included testing possible interventions, which can be applied in future military personnel with psychological problems. The interventions are directed towards improving one area of stigma and include Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and improvement in leadership quality and unit cohesion. Starting on October 2001, 1.64 million soldiers were deployed to serve either in OEF, Operation enduring Freedom or OIF, Operation Iraq Freedom. Upon their return, close to half of these soldiers reported symptoms of mental health problems. The prevalence of mental problems in the US military was larger then it has ever been.The Military personnel screening positive for PTSD was at a rate of 0.2% in 2002 and in 2008 increased to 21.8%. Additionally, during these years rates of  Alcohol abuse went from 1.1 %- 7.1% as well as the rates of Depression going from 2.3%- 17.4%. Unfortunately, along with the rise of PTSD, Alcohol abuse, and depression the increase rate of military suicide followed Kim et al. (2010). As a result measures were taken in order to reduce mental health barriers and improve the accessibility of mental health care within the military personnel. In 2008, The National Defense Authorized Act was passed which extended the eligibility of receiving VA health care benefits from 2 to 5 years post deployment. Although the potential barrier of accessibility was adjusted the gap military utilization of mental health treatment still remained.Through the studies identifying mental illness and prevalence in the military, resea rchers have found that the rate of positive screening mental illness is inconsistent with the rate in utilization of mental health services. Hoge et al. (2004) conduced a study measuring the mental health problems in 3,201 OIF and OEI military personnel. The study found that of the soldiers and marines who met the criteria for a mental health illness only 23- 40% reported actually receiving professional mental health care treatment. Interestingly, only 38- 45% of those positively screened reported an interest in receiving any form of treatment.If healthcare is delivered, then what leads these suffering military personnel to reject the advised mental health care attention? This article will argue that the perceived stigma in mental illness is a major factor contributing to the lack of utilization of the mental health care provided.The forms of Stigma: In order to understand the role stigma plays in mental health care utilization of military personnel, we need to fully understand stig ma of mental illness. Research of mental health stigma within the military context often relates and applies findings of the general stigma of mental illness in order to entirely understand how it. Corrigan & Penn (1999) defined stigma as, an overall negative attitude or stereotype about a person. The research of stigma agrees with this definition but also differentiates between the two different forms of stigma, self- stigma and public stigma.The findings of Ben- Zeev et al., (2012) although focuses on stigma within  the military context, agrees with the definition of stigma given from Corrigan and Penn (1999) but also explains that public stigma is the rejection of mental illness as a result of society endorsing stereotypes. Originally, these negative perceptions of mental illness start off minimal but eventually turn into false facts, resulting in the formation of public- stigma.Within the study, public stigma is explained to be the main source of stigma. Within the research of Ben- Zeev et al., (2012), the three stages of the conception of stigma are also explained. The first stage occurs when the individual is exposed to the illness through explicit cues, whether personally experiences the mental illness symptoms such as (intense emotional distress or flashbacks) or if he or she hears about a fellow members mental illness.In the second stage, these stigmatizes cues produce negative beliefs of what the public has generated about people with mental illness such as incapable, dangerous and at fault. Although the second stage indicates knowledge of the various negative perceptions, only in the third stage are these perceptions believed. After this process the stigma is endorsed and as a result generates negative reactions against those suffering such as condescension or discrimination and will impact the individual with mental illness. Awareness of public stigma results in self- stigma, where the public stereotypes becomes internalized and made into facts b y the individual with mental health problems.This internalization of negative beliefs will cause the individual to apply the negative stereotypes to him or herself impacting how they view themselves. Mechanic et al., (1994) found that the consequences of self -stigma will cause the individual to experience a loss of self-esteem and self- efficacy. Although the study of Mechanic et al. (1994) was specific to the general stigma of mental illness, the findings from the research have been described within the mental illness stigma in the military. Wright et al, (2007), which findings agrees with the findings of Mechanic et al. (1994), consisted of surveying 680 soldiers on their perceptions on mental health stigma it the military.After selecting from those who screened positive for mental illness the results found that self-stigma attacks the individual’s self perception generating self loathing thoughts such as, I am a pitiful soldier and I have failed my responsibility of being a soldier. Further results in this study found that the self-stigma, resulting in low self -esteem and self- efficacy  will cause the soldier to have harder time seeking professional help. Studies have shown that in order prevent the consequences of stigma soldiers will reject the referral to seek treatment. The symptoms the solider may encounter such as insomnia, flashbacks, and severe anxiety will go untended to, in order to avoid formal diagnostic. Researchers have defined this reaction as label avoidance. Individual avoids the occurrence of formal diagnostic due to the consequences a label of mental illness might entail (Ben- Zeev et al., 2012).Consequences of seeking treatment, specific to military environment: Many researchers have focused their study on understanding the specific nature of stigma of mental illness in relation to military personnel. Studies have shown that military service members are prone to the negative consequences of stigma due to the expressed concern of how they are viewed by other service members and commanders. Hoge et al., (2004) found that soldiers indicate a strong concern on how they are perceived by their peers and leaders. Further results of the study link high levels of concern to the potential stigma associated with mental illness. Furthermore, the worry of being â€Å"treated differently† among other military personnel was reported in the study of Wright et al., (2007).The study found this worry of discrimination to be a major concern and cause of soldiers refusing mental health treatment. Research has explained that the mental illness stereotypes such as violence and incompetence pose a threat to the high expectations and demands, specific to the nature of the military. Wright et al., (2007) findings agree and explains that the soldiers are expected to be capable and reliable of completing relatively challenging assignment and if viewed as incapable would not be relied on by others. Soldiers, struggling with mental illness, fear the reality of receiving different treatment or being passed for duties and promotions.This fear that seeking help for mental illness may harm the individuals career had been understand to be another linking factor as to why soldiers decide against seeking mental health care treatment. Many studies have found that due to stigma, soldiers will also undergo the fear of exposing weakness and as a result, reject mental health care. Due to the high demands and expectations of soldiers, the military leaves little room for areas of weakness. This contestant state of  exhibiting strength in character creates less acceptance of mental illness due to the stereotype of weakness attached to it.The study of Kim et., (2010), conducted a cross sectional study of 10,386 US army soldiers within three and twelve months following their deployment. These soldiers were surveyed on their perceptions of the potential barriers to care where they report a major barrier was due to the consequence of being â€Å"seen as weak†. They feel that once a soldier was to seek treatment for his or her mental illness, they fear that others who endorse the stereotype will see them as weak.To emphasis the stigma of weakness researchers apply the research conducted on general mental illness stigma in order to further explain the stigma of being seen as weak in military contexts. Corrigan et al.,(2000) in the research conducted on stigma, found that mental illness can be judged by others in terms of controllability. The idea that mental illness is controllable places more responsibility of the symptoms of mental illness on the person with the illness. This concept of controllability can be applied to the fear of being seen as weak within the military. When others view mental illness as controllable they often judge them and generate the stereotype that mental illness is a weakness.Invisible wound: The term invisible wound has become predominantly used among the military expressing mental health aftermath of the war. Research has showed that physical injury tends to be more accepted then the psychological injury of combat. The term invisible wound attempts to reduce the stigma of mental illness by emphasizing that mental trauma is no less severe then physical injury. Britt et al. (2000) analyzed mental health problems in a service unit returning from a peacekeeping mission. Those who screened positive for psychological problems expressed that they felt more discomfort in discussing their mental health status then any medical problems.Although those screening positive would benefit from psychological treatment, they might feel that it is not as important as a physical injury and therefore neglect to seek professional treatment. This perception among military personnel of physical injury being more acceptable then military injury is exposing the stigma and its negative effects of dealing with mental illness. The term â€Å"invisible wound† allo ws for more attention to be given to anemotional trauma by indicating that just because the wound is not physical or tangible it should still be considered an injury.Interventional Discoveries: Through the research conducted on stigma and barriers to mental health care, interventions to improve the utilization of mental health care in military personnel have been tested among the soldiers returning from Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation Iraq Freedom. Interventional research has found that In order for a soldier to admit the psychological symptoms and treat their mental illness studies have shown that he or she needs to in the right environment and around the right people in order to do so. A soldier will probably feel more comfortable discussing their psychological status amongst individuals that they feel confident in and trust.In the attempts to reduce stigma, researchers explored the correlation of stigma on leadership quality. Britt et al., (2000) found that amongst the soldiers who reported a higher perception of leadership quality had lower levels of perceived stigma. Wright et al., (2007) study agreed with the findings in Britt et al., (2000). The results in Wright et al., (2007) study additionally found that those who expressed high unit cohesion ratings were associated with low levels of stigma. The results of both the studies emphasis the importance in positive relationships, within the individuals with mental illness and his/ or her leaders and unit members. Additional findings on efforts to reduce stigma apply the method of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.Stecker et al., (2011) tested a Cognitive Behavioral intervention, attempting to show a reduction of stigma in mental illness. Those screened positive for mental disorder, underwent a brief CB session in order to modify the destructive beliefs of mental illness. Destructive thoughts for example would be â€Å" nothing will ever change so why would I bother trying†. The CB session encou raged constructive thoughts such as â€Å" I can learn more about myself by talking to others†. Each session was accommodated to the individual’s personal perceived stigma. The results that after the CB intervention sessions were administers the surveys showed dramatic decrease in levels the perceived stigma of the participant and followed the increase in the participants intention of seeking mental health treatment. This CB intervention was a measure to reduce stigma of mental  health and increase the rate of care.Research has indicated a gap within the utilization of military mental health care. There is increase in rates of mental illness within the military due to Operation Endurance Freedom and Operation Freedom Iraq. Further results have shown that the rates of military usage of the mental health care do not match the increase rate of mental illness. Studies have suggested the lack of mental health care is due to the stigma associated with mental illness. Milit ary service member continue to suffer from mental illness without seeking help due to the prevalence of mental health stigma within the military. Within the research in stigma of mental illness, stigma is shown to have many different forms.Researchers have explained how due to the combination of public and self -stigma soldiers are reluctant to seek treatment for their mental illness. Although having a mental health problem is not easy, the solders reject treatment due to the consequences it might entail due to specific the culture of the military. The soldiers fear the reality of discrimination from other service members as well as and being viewed as weak due to the stigma of mental illness. The perception of mental illness being seen as not as important as physical injury has resulted in the new term of indivisible wounds, which attempts to change these stereotypes. Interventions on how to reduce stigma in the military have been tested in order to improve future views of mental i llness within the military.

Duty To Protect Vs. Duty To Warn When Dealing With Dangerous Clients Essays

Duty To Protect Vs. Duty To Warn When Dealing With Dangerous Clients Essays Duty To Protect Vs. Duty To Warn When Dealing With Dangerous Clients Essay Duty To Protect Vs. Duty To Warn When Dealing With Dangerous Clients Essay About every mental wellness professional has faced the hard undertaking of holding a client at one clip or another that may present a danger to themselves or person else. This state of affairs can show a struggle at times for healers and others who are torn between continuing client confidentiality and protecting others from possible injury. Fortunately, there are legal processs in topographic point for covering with this sort of quandary. The downside to this, nevertheless, is that the legal guidelines are non ever the same in each legal power. Being cognizant of the specific methods for and legal duties for covering with these sorts of state of affairss within each specific province is the duty of the practician, and can be hard for healers who may pattern in more than one province or who relocate their offices from one province to another after a period of clip. However, cognizing a small spot of background about the responsibility to warn and the responsibility to protect and the instances that led to the infliction of these legal responsibilities can assist steer healers and other mental wellness professionals in implementing ethical schemes for covering with these sorts of fortunes. The legal constructs of responsibility to warn and responsibility to protect were foremost introduced in 1976, with the instance of Tarasoff V. Regents of the University of California. This instance established that healers are obligated to inform an identified 3rd party of possible danger if a client indicates that he or she may harm another person. However, a big figure of provinces besides have a rigorous set of guidelines for put to deathing the responsibility to warn in that there must be grounds of the possibility of serious danger or injury, the injury is really likely to happen, and that the targeted person has been clearly identified. While the responsibility to warn refers specifically to advising a possible 3rd party of the at hand danger or injury, the responsibility to protect has broader deductions. With the responsibility of protect, which is an option merely in some provinces or legal powers, the healer still has the legal duty to protect a 3rd party from danger but can make so through a assortment of options such as hospitalization, more strict outpatient therapy, or other methods of intercession that still enable the healer to keep client confidentiality. While the responsibility to protect is a preferable method of covering with these sorts of state of affairss among mental wellness attention professionals, this signifier of statute law is merely in topographic point in 24 provinces, with an extra nine provinces runing under this responsibility due to imposed tribunal determinations in territory or regional tribunal systems. Exceptions to the responsibility to warn can be seen in a figure of cases when the general populace is concerned. In most state of affairss, healers are under no duty to warn the general populace about the hazard of danger from one person, even if a menace is noted. The deductions of this exclusion are peculiarly of importance when it comes to the menace of transmittal of HIV and other contractible diseases. In most provinces it is already illegal to knowingly infect another individual or group of people with HIV. However, healers are non lawfully obligated, and even discouraged from, warning the general populace about the hazard of transmittal of HIV from a wittingly septic client. In this case, client rights and confidentiality would predominate. Another case where the responsibility to warn and the responsibility to protect are of importance is when it comes to the menace of kid maltreatment. In many provinces, healers and other professionals are obligated to describe when a kid may be in danger or is being harmed, frequently without respect to client confidentiality or an duty to farther supply extra intercession or intervention to the client. However, the job that is seen in many provinces or state of affairss is that there are no clearly defined guidelines as to how terrible the injury has to be in order for a healer to transgress confidentiality. While most statute law specifies that there must be a clear and immediate danger, the definition of this can be construed otherwise by many people and at different times. For illustration, spanking could be perceived as some to be a clear and immediate danger to kids, while to others, the menace would hold to be much more terrible in order to go against client confidentiality i n favour of protecting a kid. While it is clear that there are many legal duties that healers have to warn others about possible dangers and to protect clients and others from injury when the demand arises, the trouble in put to deathing many of these responsibilities frequently lies in equivocal guidelines in many legal powers. Often, it is an ethical determination that each single practician must do based on their ain rules, the Torahs within their specific legal power, and their perceptual experience of the manner the jurisprudence is defined and the specific state of affairs.

Strategic Audit Ford Essay Example

Strategic Audit Ford Essay Example Strategic Audit Ford Paper Strategic Audit Ford Paper contents 1. 0 Introduction3 2. 0 Strategic Issues of Ford4 3. 0 The External Environment5 3. 1 PESTEL Analysis5 3. 1. 1 Political Environment5 3. 1. 2 Economic Environment6 3. 1. 3 Social Environment7 3. 1. 4 Technological Environment7 3. 1. 5 Natural environment8 3. 1. 6 Legal Environment8 3. 2 The Industry Porters’ Five Model9 3. 2. 1 Buyer’s Power Moderate9 3. 2. 2 Suppliers’ Power Low10 3. 2. 3 Threat of New Entrants Low11 3. 2. 4 Threat of Substitutes – Slightly Moderate11 3. 2. 5 Industry Rivalry High12 4. 0 The Internal Environment13 4. The Value Chain Analysis13 4. 1. 1 Primary activities13 4. 1. 2 Secondary activities14 4. 2 Analysis of Ford’s Core Competencies16 5. 0 Strategy Formulation19 6. 0 List of Strategies19 6. 1 Financial Restructuring of Ford20 6. 2 Resource-based value20 6. 3 Retrenchment Strategy21 6. 4 Product differentiation21 7. 0 Recommendation and Evaluation23 8. 0 Conclusion23 9. 0 Appendix24 9. 1 SWOT Analysis24 9. 2 TOWS Matrix25 10. 0 Reference List28 1. 0 Introduction Ford Motor Company was incorporated as a company in the year 1906. The founder of the company was Henry Ford. Ford Motor Company was the first company to make use of assembly lines for the production of cars. Currently, Ford is the fourth largest car manufacturer in the world. In the year 2008, its global production of automobiles was approximately five million (World Automobile Industry Challenges and Prospects 2009). However, due to the automotive crisis in the year 2008-2010, Ford has experienced a critical situation. Therefore, in this report we explain the competitive position of Ford in the Australian and International Motor Vehicle Industry. Moreover, we have analysed the costs the company has been incurring. From this analysis, we provide our recommendation where Ford can cut it cost or it should financially restructure itself. Furthermore, we explain the reasons why Ford has been losing its market share and what should be done to reverse the situation. In order to analyse the situation of Ford Motor Company, we have used different analytical tools. For the external analysis, we have used PESTEL Analysis and Industry Porters’ Five Model. To have a more in-depth analysis of Ford’s internal environment, we analysed its core competencies and we make use of the value chain analysis. Other analytical tools that were used are the SWOT Analysis and the TOWS Matrix. 2. 0 Strategic Issues of Ford Ford Motor Company is a global automotive industry, which is based in Dearborn, Michigan. The company manufactures and distributes automobiles in six different continents across the world. It currently employs approximately 180, 000 workers and it has 90 plants in different regions of the world. The company brands include Lincoln, Ford, and Mercury(Ref). Ford Motors Company bought many other car manufacturers in the past for example, Volvo, Aston Martin and Jaguar. In the process Ford was so proud to show off all the prestigious brands it own that it forget to concentrate on Ford itself. In the long wrong due to poor management and bad decision making Ford vehicles demand started to drop. Recently, the company had to lay off 40% of its workforce to cut manufacturing costs. At the same time the costs of materials needed to manufacture cars such as steel have been increasing globally affecting the cost to produce vehicles. Moreover, Ford has been losing its market shares as compared to other automobile companies such as Toyota. The loss of market shares can also be attributed to raising fuel prices. Additionally, another problem that Ford Motor Company is facing is the highly layered organizational structure, which makes decision making bureaucratic and a much longer process. Another strategic issues found is that Ford build to many variant of the same model, for example the Ford Mondeo of America is not the same as that in Australia or England. This further raised the price of the car as each variant needed research and development cost for the same model. 3. 0 The External Environment In this section of the report, we scan the external environment by using analytical tools like the PESTEL Analysis and the Industry’s Porters Five Model. . 1 PESTEL Analysis In this section we analyse the political, economical, social, technological, natural and legal environment of Ford Motor Company. 3. 1. 1 Political Environment The government of Australia is encouraging the buying of more â€Å"greener† vehicle. According to the Australian government choosing a greener car can h ave a direct financial benefit as well as helping to conserve the environment for all Australians and future generations. Buying a vehicle that is more fuel efficient can save thousands of dollars on fuel bills and many tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions over the vehicles life (Greener Vehicle Guide 2010). This political incentive is directly link to Focus on introducing the new environmentally-friendly technology engine for the Falcon, a bestselling car in the territory and the country. The Australian Transport Councils National Road Safety Strategy (NRSS) for 2001-2010 aimed to save 700 lives per year by 2010 (40%) and  3600 lives over the period. In 2001, 1736 people were killed. In 2009/10, this figure was  1424, making for an 18 percent reduction (â€Å"ANCAP Calling On Australian Political 2010). It is estimated that almost 25% of person could be save with safe cars. The government could in the future start a new more severe rating system for cars which will influence customer awareness before buying a vehicle thus have direct impact on demand for cars in Australia. Better rated car will have a competitive advantage compare to those car which are poorly rated. Stolen car is becoming an issue in Australia A workable and cost effective system of vehicle identification plates, combined with a national register of stolen vehicles, should make it more difficult for professional thieves to ‘re-birth a stolen car. The mandated use of immobilizer technology, steering wheel locks and vehicle alarms is also expected to reduce the incidence of car theft in Australia (Parker 2010). Finally, the labor government promise on cleaner car debate campaign that would see rebates given for the trade-in of old cars in favour of new and greener vehicles. With the ultimate aim of getting around 200,000 old vehicles off the nations roads, the program will offer a $2000 rebate on cars built before 1995 (â€Å"Gillard Government to Give $2000† 2010). 3. 1. 2 Economic Environment Analyzing the car industry it is important to have a global view of the economy. Australia is forecast to grow again at 2. 75 per cent in 2008-09 which is above the average growth rate of members of the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) of 2. 2 per cent (Australia in Brief 2008). AUSTRALIAS economy grew by nearly one per cent in final three months of 2009, after government stimulus helped it shrug off the worst of the global financial crisis, economists say. But the pace set by the economy could leave borrowers with higher interest rates by the end of 2010 (Lunn 2011). Australia is one of a few countries that have the facilities to design and produce a car from clean sheet to dealer sale. In 2008 Australia produced 171,432 vehicles for domestic sale. Australia is best known for designing and producing large sized passenger vehicles, which has seen a recent downturn in Australian markets resulting in many cutbacks including the February 2008 closure of Mitsubishi Motor plant in the country. It can be said the situation is going from bad to worse, new vehicle sales fell 3. % in Australia in 2008 to 1,012,164 units, but most worrying for the industry was the sharp 11. 3% fall in sales in December, despite dealers offering sharp discounts to attract buyers. Sales of cars produced by local manufactures slumped by 14. 5% last year. The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries expects vehicle sales to fall by 12. 5% in 2009, with total sales forecast to be 880,000 units (â€Å"Midas Australia’s collapse adds to car industry chaos† 2009). The impact of the automobile industry on the U. S. economy is huge. According to the University of Michigan and the Center or Automotive Research, the automobile industry is the main user of computer chips, textiles, aluminum, copper, steel, iron, lead, plastics, vinyl and rubber (World Automobile Industry Challenges and Prospects 2009). 3. 1. 3 Social Environment Ford did not operate in isolation of society but form thus it is of importance that managers pays more attention to social element of the environment. The size and age of population associated with their standard of living plays an important role in the design of car. (Gabriel 2004, 19). Additionally, today’s society judges people on the type of car they drive. Although members of the society do not want to admit it, it is very true. Manufacturers know this and they target their market by these thoughts. Anyone having a luxury or nice car is thought to be wealthy. Conversely, those driving unattractive piece of junk are perceived as people from low social status. Consumers also like better cars because this makes them feel proud about themselves (World Automobile Industry Challenges and Prospects 2009). 3. 1. 4 Technological Environment Internet has made the industry more efficient and less costly. U. S manufacturers; Ford, GM and Daimler Chrysler, all opted for a global online exchange for their suppliers and equipment manufactures according to their plans for 2000. In August 2002, GM was set to start sending requests for quotes to suppliers through Covisint using a tool called â€Å"Quote Manager† (World Automobile Industry Challenges and Prospects 2009). 3. 1. 5 Natural environment The natural environment factor have bring increasingly important in the macro environment of almost all type of company irrespective of the business they are engaged with. The carbon footprint is now consider because they are aware of its impact on global warning. The customers now have increasing expectation over the company product performance over the natural environment but also the overall impact of the company on the natural environment. Ford provided a world premier for three new electrified products: the new Focus Electric, Fords first full-electric passenger car; the Ford C-Max Energi, the companys first plug-in hybrid electric; and the new Ford C-Max Hybrid. The C-Max is a seven-passenger, multi-activity vehicle with a hands-free liftgate, and a new version of what is already in use in Europe (Pearson 2011). There are basically two type of company tend to cope for natural environmental needs those who seek to comply with regulation and those who go above the regulation which ford is by providing electrified motor vehicles and hybrid engine to reduce the carbon footprint. 3. 1. 6 Legal Environment Legal conditions are often closely related to political condition. Legal conditions are often the result of political decision (Grant et al. 2011, 103). Since 1960’s, laws and regulations have had major impacts on the automotive industry. These regulations were mainly from consumers’ concern for the environment and safer automobiles. In 1966, the national Traffic and Motor vehicle Safety Act was the first safety act passed by the Congress, which compelled manufacturers to improve passenger’s safety, driver’s visibility, braking of cars and also, manufacturers had to inform the public upon when cars had to be recalled. The trigger for passing this safety act was Ralph Nadar’s 1965 novel, Unsafe at any speed: The Designed – in Dangers of the American Automobile. The only concern was not about safety but also about the environment, even before the oil crisis. In 1965, the Vehicle Air Pollution and Control Act was passed, which was the first act to set standards for pollution caused by automobiles. Later, in 1970s, the Congress passed the Clean Air Act which required a 90% decrease in automobile emission within the next six years. These laws have been strengthen recently to decrease the level of emission in the environment (World Automobile Industry Challenges and Prospects 2009). The oil crisis in the 1970s caused the Congress to pass the Energy Policy and Conservation Act which required automobiles to meet a certain mileage per gallon, that is, a standard of 20mpg for the 1980 model and 27. 5mpg for the 1985 model. Subsequently the Intermodal Surface Transportation act was passed in 1992 which required the installation of front airbags in automobiles (World Automobile Industry Challenges and Prospects 2009). 3. 2 The Industry Porters’ Five Model In this section, we analyze the Buyers’ Power, Suppliers’ Power, Threats of New Entrants, Threat of Substitutes and The Industry Rivalry in the automobile sector. 3. 2. 1 Buyer’s Power Moderate The worldwide trend for buyer’s power of car is low. This is because having a car is nowadays perceived not as a luxury but it is more a must for people. Therefore people do not have much option and are more likely to buy a car (World Automobile Industry Challenges and Prospects 2009). However, which car to buy varies from people to people and from country to country. Toyota is seen as the bestselling car over the world and it is the largest car manufacturer. In the United States, the bestselling car is Toyota. Ford is the fourth largest bestselling car in America (Edgerton 2010). In Australia, people who prefer luxury cars opt for BMW, Mercedes and Audi while BMW is the most preferred choice of luxury cars in Australia (Audi No Threat 2007). Ford’s reputation in the Australian market is increasing. This is because Ford is investing significantly to meet customers’ requirements. Additionally, as Ford is going for intense innovation in order to provide its customers with higher safety kits and comfort, it has been able to increase its market share by 14 percent. Moreover, analysts highlight that the new Ford Focus which is expected to enter the Australian market in the third quarter of 2011 is being impatiently awaited by car dealers and car resellers (Ford Defend Focus 2010). Therefore it can be said that Ford has a moderate buyer power as it has loyal customers. At the same time, the brand reputation of Ford is increasing. 3. 2. 2 Suppliers’ Power Low Ford Motor Company has a network of Aligned Business Framework (ABF) with forty-six productions and nineteen non-productions suppliers. Ford has entered into a network with these suppliers to reduce suppliers’ power. Ford and its suppliers work together to create value for customers. Additionally, the ABF agreement will help the suppliers in the network to strengthen collaboration and develop a sustainable business model to drive mutual profitability and technology development (Fact Sheet: Ford’s Family of Strategic Suppliers 2008). Moreover, Ford Motor Company has rewarding system which rewards its suppliers for good performance. For example, one supplier of Ford Motor Company is The Global Suppliers. Global Suppliers was rewarded by Ford for strong performance in 2010. Those suppliers who help to create higher customer value are rewarded because Mr Alan Mullaly, Ford President and CEO, said that suppliers high performance is crucial for the company to progress. He stated that â€Å"We made tremendous progress on the One Ford plan in 2010 and the partnership with our suppliers was absolutely critical in making that happen† (Ford Honors Global Supplier for Strong Performance in 2010 2011). Therefore it can be said that Ford suppliers power is low as it has entered into a strategic network with its suppliers for the purpose of creating value for its customers. . 2. 3 Threat of New Entrants Low The presence of new firms in an industry may force prices down and put pressure on profits. There are, however, barriers to entry that tend to protect established firms. One would expect the production of automobiles to require significant economies of scale, an important barrier to entry. The new entrant would have to achieve substantial market share to reach minimum efficient scale, and if it does not, it may be at a significant cost disadvantage. While the evidence suggests that economies of scale in the auto industry are substantial, there are also indications that large size may not be as important as commonly assumed. Nevertheless, entry would represent a large capital investment to any new firm and the body of research still indicates that economies of scale represent a substantial barrier to entry (World Automobile Industry Challenges and Prospects 2009). Consequently, entry is currently a weak threat to profitability. 3. 2. 4 Threat of Substitutes – Slightly Moderate While five-forces do not directly consider demand, it does consider two factors that influences demand ? substitutes and complements. Although new cars generally are slightly price elastic, suggesting few real substitutes (e. g. , bus and rapid transit), the demand for a particular model is highly sensitive to price because of the availability of close substitutes for a given model. A change in the price of a complementary product (e. g. , gasoline, batteries, and tires) could have a significant impact on the demand for automobiles. The rising price of gas, an important complementary product, is likely to affect some firms more than others depending upon the vehicle composition. Recent rising fuel prices are likely to have a greater impact on the big three (GM, Ford Motor and Daimler-Chrysler) whose most profitable models are energy inefficient pick-up trucks and sports utility vehicles (Automotive Industry Analysis – GM, DaimlerChrysler, Toyota, Ford, Honda 2011). On balance, the overall impact on industry profitability from substitutes and complements is weak to moderate. 3. 2. Industry Rivalry High The automobile industry is an oligopoly and companies in the industry are, to a large extent, able to determine the industry prices. As the industry is not fragmented and companies don’t indulge in price wars the industry have better opportunities to grow (World Automobile Industry Challenges and Prospects 2009). The competitors in the global automobile industry are facing the recession repercussions and their competing power has reduced giving new entrants from developing nations an opportunity to enter foreign markets more easily. In the early 2000 the US automobile manufacturers to some extent, were able to intensify competition because of the demand for the light trucks by American consumers, which was also compounded because of the low oil prices in the US. But in early 2008, oil prices increased and the customers switched to fuel-efficient cars made by foreign companies and even after the oil prices fell the perception that the oil prices would go up after economic recovery has taken hold and the demand for the American SUVs has remained low (World Automobile Industry Challenges and Prospects 2009). However, demand in developing nations has been growing and this provides the auto manufacturers in the US an opportunity to expand to newer foreign markets (World Automobile Industry Challenges and Prospects 2009). The cost conditions also affected the competition in the US. Auto manufacturers have high fixed costs and when the demand declined their sales fell below breakeven levels increasing the losses (World Automobile Industry Challenges and Prospects 2009). These factors also created high exit barriers, the companies are locked into an unprofitable industry where overall demand is declining and there is excess productive capacity. This has increased the intensity of rivalry. 4. 0 The Internal Environment In this section, we use the value chain analysis and we analyze the core competencies of Ford Motor Company to understand its operation. We also come up with a SWOT analysis and it was included in the appendix. 4. 1 The Value Chain Analysis 4. 1. 1 Primary activities 4. 1. 1. 1 Inbound Logistics Currently, all regional Ford motor companies, manages their inbound activities through the use through an information system called the extended warehouse management system with the assistance of SAP and Deloitte (Deliotte 2010). The system encompasses all the inbound logistics such as inbound delivery processing, put away location determination, quality management, return from vendor, goods receipt, put away and return from dealer (Deliotte 2010). As a result, inventory control becomes easier by using the just in time system. 4. 1. 1. 2 Operations The organization has embarked on sustainable manufacturing practices to address environment issues such as efficient energy use, waste management and their carbon emissions. Ford Motor is restructuring all its assembly plants around the globe to a flexible manufacturing system, to assemble different vehicles models on the same plant. This will help to gain efficiency and meet customer’s ever changing demand. Most of the US assembly plants have already been changed up to now. However over the past decade, the production of the small cars is not profitable due to the increasing production cost and manufacturing expenses. Ford has also developed a new program development to develop new car in a smaller lapse of time in 8 to 14 months. 4. . 1. 3 Outbound logistics/ Service Ford Motor Company has appointed dealers around the globe to manage their outbound logistics. However over the last 6 years, the company noticed that it has an overcapacity of dealers to represent their product. Therefore, the management of the company has reduced their dealer network by 14% to strategically align with the market share for sustainable profits. In addition, the Fordà ¢â‚¬â„¢s dealers provide customer service in terms of after-sale support, maintenance of vehicles and sale of spares parts. 4. 1. 1. 4 Marketing and sales Ford Motor Company has a wide presences and distribution network in the following geographical region: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East, Africa, and Caribbean. At the outset of promoting new product designs, Ford attractive packages to their potential clients such as technological gadgets. Further to this, the company offer discount offer and financing options to the buyer. However, the downturn in their financial performance and that of their dealers, are limiting their ability to provide fully these financing facilities. Besides, the company attempts to increase their sales and improve their brand image by marketing their product in the media and participating in car exhibition 4. 1. 2 Secondary activities 4. 1. 2. 1 Organizational Infrastructure Ford’s organizational structure is very complex and bureaucratic. It comprised of a six layers management. As a result, implementation for changes in the organisation will take considerable amount of time. In addition, Ford’s family members in top management level have most decision making power and influence in the company. . 1. 2. 2 Human Resource Management The motor company strategically aligns its global human resource management activities towards the same goal through the â€Å"ONE Ford† program, for the success of the whole Ford team. The management of the company invest massively in training and development programs to develop a learning organisation as well as to strengthen the employees’ technical and leadership skill. The training programs include in-house training and web based training sessions together with mentoring and coaching programs. Ford Motor has created an internal college to cater for different types of training and development programs for all their departments and their global managers and executives. The enterprise acknowledged the benefits of a diverse workforce as part of its recruitment strategies to have a talented workforce. This diversity strategy embraces five focused areas to have a motivated workforce which are: â€Å"leading the way, fostering a respectful and inclusive environment, supporting work/life flexibility and supporting their diverse workforce and strengthening their external partnerships† (Ford Motor Company 2010). In a recent survey conducted in 2009, employees were satisfied with management. The company also ensure that it continuously promote a health and safety workplace. 4. 1. 2. 3 Technology development At Ford Motor Company, has invested massively to gear their manufacturing activities towards using a global lean production system for their product development in term of new technologies. They attempt to create superior product by using the following concepts to create superior product for customer: cross-functional integration, top-hat focused, virtual vehicle development and voice of the customer. Undeniably these ends will enable the enterprise to reduce cost of production. In addition, they use information technology in all their departments to improve their value chain. In addition, the company has invested in $14 billion in 2008 in advanced technologies to be able to provide fuel economy technologies to meet demands. 4. 1. 1. 4Procurement The automobile company developed a program called the Aligned Business Framework to conduct business with selected suppliers (Ford Motor 2010). The fundamental purpose of this program is the number production suppliers from 3300 in 2004 to 750 long term suppliers (Ford Motor 2010). The company will gain competitive advantage in terms of the cost and quality of manufacturing components when few suppliers will get large amount of purchases to assist them with their global programme. Ford used innovative information technology tool to enhance their procurement processes. The company has also form alliances and partnerships with different companies as well as with its own subsidiaries. 4. 2 Analysis of Ford’s Core Competencies To gain advantage over their competitors, Ford has several core competencies that can help them. Those core competencies might even help Ford overtake competitors such as General Motors or Japanese automakers in the automotive market industry. For instant a research conducted by the company Merrill Lynch and the Bank of America (2009) predict that due to Ford core competencies and good planning they will surely, by 2013, have higher market share than GM, Toyota, Nissan and Honda. The research predict that Ford will have a 3. 0% market share followed by Honda with 3. 0%, Toyota with 1. 0%, Nissan with 0. 5% and finally GM with -5. 0%. Beginning with Ford brand equity, According to William Clay Ford, Jr. 2010) the executive chairman at Ford Motor Company, Ford conducts many brand tracking studies in different countries. Ford brand has a strong and high recognition worldwide and this recognition is growing rapidly in countries like China, India and Indonesia. One reason this is so, is that in all those country, people can access the Ford website and see all the models that they sel l worldwide. This mean two things, first that everybody can see and buy all the models that Ford produce and this make Ford models owners in China, India and Indonesia proud because they are driving the same car as American, English and French people. The second outcome is that long ago and still today some car manufactures sell old technologies and old car models to those countries, leaving the customers frustrated and no choice than to buy out-dated models. Thus Ford has managed to create high brand equity in those countries, despite the fact that Ford does not have a strong presence there yet (Ford, 2010). In some remote countries where cars are not a popular medium of transport, people recognise and have a high esteem for the Ford brand. For example in Chile where people still pass on cars from generation to generation. Jose, Mendez, Podlech and Olave (2004) conducted a research to know the best way for Ford to have good brand equity. They found out that Ford should make an advertisement that shows the emotional bond a person have with his Ford car model rather than showing the vehicle functionalities. This shows that even if Ford is not well present in some countries they care that people have a good image about the company and Ford brand. Ford has an excellent supply chain management, which is another core competency. This is due to the fact that Ford has maintain a good standing and long-term relationship with their raw materials suppliers such as steel, glass, plastic and many more. This has allowed Ford to maintain a constant flow of raw materials coming in for production. Furthermore there logistics system allowed high coordination between the outsourced firms and this has lead in a brilliant inventory management and steady flow of automotive parts for smooth production activities. Some of the suppliers are Bosch, Hankook, Superalloy, Siemens, Sanyo, Panasonic, Pirelli, Johnson Matthey, and many more. Bosch for example deals with engines parts. Bosch is not the only supplier of Ford Motors but all Ford Motors joint ventures and associates like Mazda who benefits from the same improvement and progression found in Bosch engine parts. Moreover Ford being the first mover in the moving assembly line detained here another core competency. Ford is the pioneer of the mass production system, which later on has been copied by Mr Toyoda from Toyota. This core competency has allowed them to manufacture and deliver their product at high speed not to mention that this save time and costs in the process. Ford loss that competency when they try to buy and manage many different car manufactures at the same time in the past but recently when they sold all the other car manufacturers and focus on their core business, that is to sell Ford models they reacquired this competency. The last but not the least Ford is listening to their stakeholders namely, investors, consumers, NGOs and others in terms of a more sustainable vision. Stakeholders are more environmental conscious and believe in sustainability and made Ford aware that they need to consider environmental and social costs as genuinely as they take financial costs. As such, Ford has given enormous attention to its research and development department in terms of efficient vehicles. This can be seen in recent models of Ford were by they are more economical in fuel consumption yet powerful, smaller in size yet spacious-well design interior and less expensive yet high quality. Ford has integrated sustainable development into their planning and business enterprise measurement systems in order to achieve the sustainability vision potential. This has proved to be a good move by Ford as many investors are increasingly seeking sustainable companies and investors tend to avoid companies that have low environmental performance. This is so, as investors believe that sustainable companies have a better chance to survive over the long run. In addition to that consumers are not only searching for environmental friendly cars but more economic cars as the price of petrol is always on the rise and they find it more and more difficult to use big engine cars on a daily basis (Alan Mulally, 2010). 5. 0 Strategy Formulation To be able to develop sound strategies for Ford Motor Company, it is important that we highlight the problems Ford is facing. These problems were already mentioned in our strategic issues section. One of the most pertinent issues is the loss of the share market. Therefore, we develop our strategies in such a way that will help to counter the loss of market share. Additionally, we developed a TOWS Matrix which helped to formulate strategies based on our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. We have included the TOWS Matrix in the appendix. . 0 List of Strategies Based on the problem that Ford is currently facing, we believe that there are three strategies that might help to overcome its loss of share market. These strategies are the Financial Restructuring of Ford, Retrenchment Strategies, The Resource-Based Value Strategy and Product Differentiation. 6. 1 Financial Restructuring of Ford In 2008, Ford Motor Company was at a loss of $8. 7 billion. Nevertheless, the restruct uring of the organisation, make it reap a net income of $6. 6 billion for the financial year 2010. The enterprise’s declining financial performance is mainly because of the two main reasons, the accentuating production cost and operation expenses and decrease in demand for their product. Fierce competition in both foreign and domestic market, and the financial crisis as well as the soaring price of fuel had a negative impact on their sales and market share loss. The annual sales of Ford fell down to 31% in 2008. Currently, that is before any restructuration of the company, it has an excess capacity and duplication of their operations as they are done separately at different geographical areas. In addition the financial position of the company suffered because of their $13. 2 billion paid in 2009 to meet their obligations to give post-retirement benefits to retired employees. As a result, they have to develop a new corporate strategy to resolve the issues. 6. 2 Resource-based value Mr Henry Ford painted the Ford Model T in black only because black dries quicker than any other colour. That is the spirit that Mr Henry Ford left in the company and Ford is still using model such as the just in time management to produce its vehicles. Two or more ideas came out under the â€Å"ONE Ford† plan. â€Å"ONE Ford† plan consist of producing the same Ford model for the world market, for example the new Ford Focus will be the same in Mauritius, America, England, France etc Ford Motors has realised that instead of using different platforms for different models they can reduce the number of platforms and make it more polyvalent, that is more models can be build on only one platforms. 72% of all vehicles that are sold under the Ford brand will be build on 15 platforms by 2012. Furthermore Ford had such trust in its supplier, Johnson Matthey for example, that Ford has given the company the liberty of designing and engineering parts for the seat. This allowed Johnson to produce the seat on a global market perspective and the outcome is that Ford Motor was able to reduce the cost of seat by 40% on the new Focus. Ford has redesign and reorganise its resource- based value to make the company more efficient in building its vehicles. (Ford Motor Company 2011). 6. 3 Retrenchment Strategy Under this strategy the company will have to reduce the diversity of their operations in various around the globe. This means that the company has to undertake activities such as divestment, liquidation of assets, and withdrawal of their products in saturated market such as Europe while focusing on new emergent markets such as India and China. Further to this, they have to focus on the contraction of the operations in few assembly plants. These activities will make the company to become stable (Grant et al. 2011) while ensuring their growth. The management has to close down further the four plants that they announced in 2008 and sell their remaining four ACH plants. 6. 4 Product differentiation Ford core product in Australia is the ford falcon and ford territory which are sold in Australia as well as exported to market such as New Zealand, South Africa and Thailand. (Elly Haug 2006). Ford did not anticipate that vehicles such as the ford territory will be regarded as a polluting motor car going against the new green purchasing mind set of customers during the previous years. Another factor that goes against the Ford territory is the rising oil prices from 2005 oil crisis until now the Libya oil crisis which had made petrol prices reach record prices. This continuous increase in the prices of petrol did have consequences on the buying criteria of customers that shifted from high petrol consuming vehicles such as the ford territory to more economic cars. The combine factor which not green vehicles and high consuming vehicles make Ford surely consider changing the features of the Ford territory, for example equip the vehicle will more eco engine will help to remove the poor image of SUV such as done by Lexus for it SUV by making use of the hybrid technology. This engine also drops petrol consumption making the petrol bills for customers becoming more attractive. Ford must establish a sustainability plan to achieve continuous and innovative improvement in fuel reduction and CO 2 reduction. The Australian car market is one of the most competitive market in the world, with more than 50 brands offering over 350 models in a relative small market by global standards (Elly Haug 2006). The resulting effect of this situation is low market share per brand with a continuous decrease of locally manufactured brand such as Ford territory and falcon. The above analysis show clearly that it will be more and more difficult in the future to manufacture and sell car in Australia, Ford will have seriously to consider the option of restructuring the company by selling it production plants especially the ford territory and make use ONE Ford plan thus making small, medium and large vehicles in the car, utility and truck segments facilitated by using Ford’s world class vehicles available in all of our regions. ONE Ford plan enforces product excellence through leadership in fuel economy, innovation, quality, safety and leading edge â€Å"comfort and convenience† technology. The maintenance cost is another factor which consumers seek before purchase of a car, it thus of importance in ford product offering to consider the cost of maintenance by providing competitive price for space part and servicing at ford concession. This will enable the company to gain competitive advantages over its competitor, in an area ignore by many others company. 7. 0 Recommendation and Evaluation The different strategies we mentioned in the above section can be used to overcome the loss of market share. However, Ford should adopt the Financial Restructuring of the Organization. This is because it will help to avoid unnecessary costs. Strategic restructuring reduces financial losses, simultaneously reducing tensions between debt and equity holders to facilitate a prompt resolution of a distressed situation. Moreover, a company that has been restructured effectively will theoretically be leaner, more efficient, better organized, and better focused on its core business with a revised strategic and financial plan. It is also important that the strategic financial restructuring of Ford is done in the shortest possible delay or precisely before three months. This is because we are experiencing a dynamic business environment whereby competitors are also looking forward to capitalize on the market share. The financial restructuring will be successful only if it is implemented in the right time. 8. 0 Conclusion From our analysis, it can be said that there exist opportunities in the external environment of Ford as it has a moderate external environment. Ford also has some key competencies which might help the company to create and sustain its competitive advantage. Among the different problems that Ford has been experiencing, the most pertinent one is the loss of market share. There are different strategies that can be adopted to overcome this problem. The best strategy will be the strategic financial restructuring of the Ford Motor Company as it will help to avoid duplication of activities and will help to prepare a better financial statement report. 9. 0 Appendix 9. 1 SWOT Analysis Strength| Weakness| * Strong Brand image and equity. * Manufacturing capacity are in lined with customer demand. * Lean product development strategies at the plants. * Flexible manufacturing plants. * New product development process to reduce the development time for new vehicle. The adoption of new business structure, â€Å"One Ford† to work as a global organization. * Ford is ranked among top fourth non-luxury brands in the automobile industry. * Leading company for quality, safety and technology product. * Competence in producing fuel economy vehicle through cost-effective technology. * Balance product portfolio. * Product excellence and innovation. * Embark on susta inability projects. * Has flexible work arrangement. | * Too many suppliers for manufacturing components and there are overlapping of supplier networks. * Financial position is still dim. Low profitability for the production of small cars. * Labour constraints, including unions are reducing the company’s ability to restructure the organization. * Inefficiencies in the inventory and control process. * Operational expenses are high. * Poor financial planning and forecasting, accounting to large amount of debt. * Inability to maintain communication with all employees. * Inability to provide more benefits to employees compared to before. * Investment on other non-core assets. * Inefficient, complex and bureaucratic organisational structure with too many management layers. The members of Ford family has more power and influence in decision making power. | Opportunity | Threats| * Huge potential of investment exist in emerging economies such as Brazil, China and India. * The global economy is recovering from the recent global financial crisis. * Many governments wish to raise the living standard of their citizens. * Most economies are strengthening Intellectual Property Rights. * More emphasis being laid on greener cars. * Global demand for fuel efficient cars. * Global increasing rate of high skilled workers. * Better technologies availability. The tsunami in Japan benefits American and European car manufacturers . * Consumers want cars which reveal their personality. | * High level of rivalry in the Automobile Industry. * Trade unions are constantly fighting to safeguard employees’ interest. * Cost of labour is increasing. * Skilled employees prefers to work into different companies. * Fluctuations in exchange rates. * Environmentalists are increasing their campaign to reduce the number of cars on road. * Cultural clashes may hinder overall progress. * Natural disasters and calamities. * Suicide bombings and Terrorist attacks. 9. 2 TOWS Matrix OPPORT UNITIES| THREATS| 1. Huge potential of investment exist in emerging economies such as Brazil, China and India| 1. High level of rivalry in the Automobile Industry| 2. The global economy is recovering from the recent global financial crisis| 2. Trade unions are constantly fighting to safeguard employees’ interest| 3. Many governments wish to raise the living standard of their citizens| 3. Cost of labour is increasing| 4. Most economies are strengthening Intellectual Property Rights| 4. Skilled employees prefers to work into different companies| 5. More emphasis being laid on greener cars| 5. Fluctuations in exchange rates| 6. Global increasing demand for fuel efficient cars| 6. Environmentalists are increasing their campaign to reduce the number of cars on road| 7. Global increasing rate of high skilled workers| 7. Cultural clashes may hinder overall progress| 8. Better technologies availability| 8. Natural disasters and calamities| 9. The tsunami in Japan benefits American and European car manufacturers | 9. Suicide bombings and Terrorist attacks| 10. Consumers want cars which reveal their personality| | | | | S1+O1: Using the strong brand image, establish in the emerging economiessuch as Brazil, China and India| S1/S8/S11+T1: Using and maintaining the good image and product quality of the company, can lead to ford surviving and making profitsin the industry| S10/S12+O5: Introduce greener cars to the balance product portfolio| S6+T7: Employees will be acquainted to the culture of One ford of the company, seeking to enhance th e performanceof workers working together| S8/S11+O8: Constant innovation and using the better technologies available to gain competitive edge. S4/S13+T2: Owing to the flexible manufacturing plant and work arrangement, employees interest will be safeguarded, reducing the risk of disagreement with trade unions| S1/S8+O9: Using the strong reputaion, exploit the advantages of american car manufacturers due to the tsnami in Japan. | S8+O4: Skilled employees would be keen to work for Ford as the company is deemed as a highly reputed one and employees can make career advancements| STRENGHTHS| 1. Strong Brand image and equity| 2. Manufacturing capacity are in lined with customer demand| 3. Lean product development strategies at the plants| 4. Flexible manufacturing plants| 5. New product development process to reduce the development time for new vehicle| 6. The adoption of new business structure, â€Å"One Ford† to work as a global organisation| 7. Ford is ranked among top fourth non-luxury brands in the automobile industry| 8. Leading company for quality, safety and technology product| 9. Competence in producing fuel economy vehicle hrough cost-effective technology| 10. Balance product portfolio| 11. Product excellence and innovation | 12. Embark on sustainability projects| 13. Has flexible work arrangement| | | | WEAKNESSES| 1. Too many suppliers for manufacturing components and there are overlapping of supplier networks| 2. Financial position is still dim| 3. Low profitability for the production of small cars| 4. Labour constraints, including unions are reducing the company’s ability to restr ucture the organisation| 5. Inefficiencies in the inventory and control process| 6. Operational expenses are high| 7. Poor financial planning and forecasting, accounting to large amount of debt| 8. Inability to maintain communication with all employees| 9. Inability to provide more benefits to employees compared to before| 10. Investment on other non-core assets| 11. Inefficient, complex and bureaucratic organisational structure with too many management layers| 12. The members of Ford family has more power and influence in decision making power | W4+O7: The global increasing rate of skilled workers can compesate for the labor constraints| W10+T8/T9: Due to uncertainties, the company can invest in other well evaluated core assets to minimize risks| W5/W6+O8: Better technologies can lead to efficient inventory management and control process, further reducin operational costs| | W3+O10: Consumers will tend not to focus on small cars, instead on those cars that will reveal their personality| | W8/W9+S8: Efficient communication channels can be established within the company as well as performance management system to better reward employees| | 0. 0 Reference List Ford Defend Focus: Ford boss claims Focus sales are â€Å"exceeding expectations†, despite slump. 2010. goauto. com. au/mellor/mellor. nsf/story2/DAA074726BEB71A7CA2577C000010E9F Audi No Threat: BMW’s true rivals in Australia are Lexus and Mercedes, not Audi: Seemann. 2007. goauto. com. au/mellor/mellor. nsf/story2/29BD68AA9B6E146DCA2572F900097F05 Edgerton , Jerry. 2010. JD Power: New Cars that Buyers Avoid. http://moneywatch. bnet. com/spending/blog/cars-money/jd-power-new-cars-that-buyers-avoid/2016/ World Automobile Industry Challenges and Prospects. 009. International Labour Office. www. ilo. org/public/english/dialogue/sector/papers/te/tokyo. pdf Ford Honors Global Supplier for Strong Performance in 2010. 2011. Media Ford. Com. http://media. ford. com/article_display. cfm? article_id=34233 Fact Sheet: Ford’s Family of Strategic Suppliers. 2008. Media Ford. Com. http://media. ford. com/article_display. cfm? article_id=28880 Automotive Industry Analysis – GM, DaimlerChrysler, Toyota, Ford, Honda. 2011. Academic Mind. academicmind. com/unpublishedpapers/business/management/2004-11-000aaa-automotive-industry-analysis. html

Positions for and Against Abortion

Positions for and Against Abortion Many points come up in the abortion debate. Heres a look at abortion from both sides: 10 arguments for abortion and 10 arguments against abortion, for a total of 20 statements that represent a range of topics as seen from both sides. Pro-Life Arguments Since life begins at conception, abortion is akin to murder as it is the act of taking human life. Abortion is in direct defiance of the commonly accepted idea of the sanctity of human lifeNo civilized society permits one human to intentionally harm or take the life of another human without punishment, and abortion is no different.Adoption is a viable alternative to abortion and accomplishes the same result. And with 1.5 million American families wanting to adopt a child, there is no such thing as an unwanted child.An abortion can result in medical complications later in life; the risk of ectopic pregnancies doubles and the chance of a miscarriage and pelvic inflammatory disease also increases.In the instance of rape and incest, proper medical care can ensure that a woman will not get pregnant. Abortion punishes the unborn child who committed no crime; instead, it is the perpetrator who should be punished.Abortion should not be used as another form of contraception.For women who dema nd complete control of their body, control should include preventing the risk of unwanted pregnancy through the responsible use of contraception or, if that is not possible, through abstinence. Many Americans who pay taxes are opposed to abortion, therefore its morally wrong to use tax dollars to fund abortion.Those who choose abortions are often minors or young women with insufficient life experience to understand fully what they are doing. Many have lifelong regrets afterward.Abortion frequently causes intense psychological pain and stress. Pro-Choice Arguments Nearly all abortions take place in the first trimester when a fetus is attached by the placenta and umbilical cord to the mother. As such, its health is dependent on her health, and cannot be regarded as a separate entity as it cannot exist outside her womb.The concept of personhood is different from the concept of human life. Human life occurs at conception, but fertilized eggs used for in vitro fertilization are also human lives and those not implanted are routinely thrown away. Is this murder, and if not, then how is abortion murder?Adoption is not an alternative to abortion because it remains the womans choice whether or not to give her child up for adoption. Statistics show that very few women who give birth choose to give up their babies; less than 3 percent of white unmarried women and less than 2 percent of percent black​ unmarried women.Abortion is a safe medical procedure. The vast majority of women (88 percent) who have an abortion do so in their first trimester. Me dical abortions have less than 0.5 percent risk of serious complications and do not affect a womans health or future ability to become pregnant or give birth. In the case of rape or incest, forcing a woman made pregnant by this violent act would cause further psychological harm to the victim. Often a woman is too afraid to speak up or is unaware she is pregnant, thus the morning after pill is ineffective in these situations.Abortion is not used as a form of contraception. Pregnancy can occur even with responsible contraceptive use. Only 8Â  percent of women who have abortions do not use any form of birth control, and that is due more to individual carelessness than to the availability of abortion.The ability of a woman to have control of her body is critical to civil rights. Take away her reproductive choice and you step onto a slippery slope. If the government can force a woman to continue a pregnancy, what about forcing a woman to use contraception or undergo sterilization?Taxpayer dollars are used to enable poor women to access the same medical services as rich women, and abortion is one of these services. Funding abortion is no differ ent from funding a war in the Mideast. For those who are opposed, the place to express outrage is in the voting booth. Teenagers who become mothers have grim prospects for the future. They are much more likely to leave school; receive inadequate prenatal care; rely on public assistance to raise a child; develop health problems; or end up divorced.Like any other difficult situation, abortion creates stress. Yet the American Psychological Association found that stress was greatest prior to an abortion and that there was no evidence of post-abortion syndrome.

Indians and Alcohol in Early America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Indians and Alcohol in Early America - Essay Example Professor Mancall fascination with other subjects -- Geography, for example, or other things Dutch -- served his writings as well, and also made for interesting subjects in his essays and short script pieces. A very important author, who deserves to be more widely translated,. Peter C. Mancall has a unique talent among contemporary History authors. Emphatically Europeans -- and the grand old man of contemporary Indian History --, his books easily transcends national borders. There is not anything regional about his writing. If anything symbolizes his writings, it is certain darkness and a certain message. The gloom is not oppressive in his writings particularly in his book "Deadly Medicine, Indians and Alcohol in Early America". Professor Mancall is not out to weigh his reader down. He is, however, a realist, and insists that certain things need be said. Teachers and students and workers are satisfied with his teachings and we as readers do not see many of his critics -- Peter C. Mancall will have none of that. He presents the fact, cruel as it seldom is. He feels no immense push for to round off his stories with ends in a meaningful ways.The message is also persistent: He shares a sense of how to employ it with ecstasy, drowning into deep history. Years of writing and teachings have giv... He is among the few male authors able to create particularly strong History environment. A gifted illustrator, he skills his books. The words alone suffice, but Peter C. Mancall illustrations and sense of presentation manage to improve even on these. There is no question: Peter C. Mancall is one of the major authors writing in History today. Review On "Deadly Medicine, Indians And Alcohol In Early America" This book "Deadly Medicine, Indians and Alcohol in Early America" consists of seven chapters excluding the prologue and epilogue. The book consists of 296 pages in all. The book basically describes alcohol since the American ancient times and its impact upon the early Indians who settled in early America. Alcohol violence has destroyed and ruined American Indians from the time of seventeenth century, when European colonist began doing business of furs and alcohol. In the first book to investigate the genesis of this current social crisis, Peter C. Mancall discovers the liquor's business overwhelming contact on the Indian societies of imposing America. The Professor Mancall pursues the track of liquor from the West Indian manufacturers to the regal vendors and on to the Indian customers in the eastern woods. To learn why Indians contributed in the alcohol business and why they practiced such a commanding longing for alcohol, he concentrate on present health views on alcoholism and re-inspects the colonial period as a time when Indians were outlining novel approaches for endurance on earth that had been fundamentally distorted. Lastly, Professor Mancall evaluates Indian consumption in New France and New Spain with that in the British settlements. Everlastingly devastating the label of t he