STEP ONE - Voice Due Week 4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

STEP ONE - Voice Due Week 4 - Essay Example government through the seizure of black hills in Dakota (Nabokov 26) The voice goes ahead to describe the detailed story of the longest legal struggle in American legal history and the betrayal by the United States government. This is illustrated by the signing of a peace treaty between the United States government and Sioux Nation promising a safe homeland. The treaty also included the ownership of the black hills. When gold was discovered at the black hills later, the government sought to have the land back. The white owned company violated the treaty by literally scrambling for the precious metal. Even though the Sioux Indians protested against this act, there was nothing they could do as the United States government declared war and took the land back. The Sioux were forced to go to a White man’s court to seek resolution as there was no alternative (Sutton 43). The issues that Edward Lazarus addresses in this book are betrayal and injustice. This is very well illustrated by the United States government action to renege on the treaty that gave the black hills to Sioux Indians. The injustice by the government is also evident in the many years the case has remained unsolved while companies continue to benefit from the gold mines. The book gives insights into the case prolonged by legal maneuverings and delays perpetrating by a system that claims to protect rights. There was much irony even after the court decided the case. The Indians refused compensation in form of money and even chased their lawyers off the reservation (Treuer 67). The argument was that black hills were sacred and therefore could not be exchanged for money. In so doing, they exhibited much pride in their heritage. Even today, most Indians want the black hills returned. The voices speaking in the ‘Native America testimony’ are genuine as they are derived from statements and speeches recorded in letters from

Decision Making Models Essay Example for Free

Decision Making Models Essay Managers have the responsibility of making decisions within that guide and provide direction to their organizations. Although decisions may be made by individuals, groups, or teams, it is the manager who coordinates the process of decision making. Managers make use of various decision making models to effectively steer the organizations. It is worth to noting that there is no one model or style that is always right or perfect in decision making. This is so because different people are successful and satisfied using different styles. There are two major broad models of decision making. These are the deterministic and probalistic models. The deterministic models result in good decisions with good outcomes. The manager using this model is able to get what he/she expects i. e. the out come is risk free. In probabilistic decision models, the expected results are uncertain and thus making good decision may not necessarily lead to good outcomes. The probabilistic decision making model is characterized by more concern with both the outcome value and the amount of risk each decision carries. All other effective decision making models can be classified as either deterministic or probabilistic model. The other subcategories of decision making models are mechanical, mental/verbal, analytical, and simulation. These models are classified based on such characteristics such as types, evolution in time, and availability of information (McCall M. , and Kaplan, R. (2001). ). Mechanical models take physical appearance of the object. They are used to display or test the design of items ranging from new buildings to new products. Mental/verbal models are also important and can be used to verbalize decision strategies for more complicated decision making models. The other model is analytical model which is a mathematical model and aimed at simplification, abstraction of real systems to give insight and understanding to some interested aspect of reality (Klein G. , et al. , (Ed. ) (1993). The analytical models are applicable to the deterministic systems. A simulation model is the last model that I am going to address. Simulation models are the computerized duplications of real systems and are seen to be more realistic, especially when modeling dynamic/probabilistic systems e. g. as used in aviation industry. Current Application Decision making models have assisted managers a lot in making viable decisions within the organization. The models discussed above have been implemented by individuals within organizations to come up with good decisions. For instance, the mental/verbal model has been used to aid in problem identification, in the development phase as well as the selection phase of decision making. Decision support system (DSS) has found usage in air-line management. Decision support systems and the models have been used to make decision both under risk, certainty, and even conflict in organizations. Other applications of the decision making models include the DSS for fiber optic Network Architecture Design and application of technology to cardiovascular diagnosis. Decision making models have also been used in forecasting with examples such as regression models and Box-Jenkins models. In brief, the use of effective decision making models by mangers has helped organizations to improve their businesses as a result of quality decision. The various effective decision making models used by mangers have both benefits and drawbacks or challenges associated with them. Mechanical decision making models have the advantage of being usable for experimentation. Mechanical models are credited for clearly describing the problem of system under study and thus results in innovative designs alternatives for decision making. Mechanical models also have some challenges in that they do not contain explicit relationships between the decision alternatives and dependant variables or objectives Mental/verbal models make the manager unable to experiment with them and cannot be used to show how outcomes or measures of effectiveness change with decision alternatives. It is also not possible to show how the relationships change with the decision alternatives. These models have the advantage of being easy to understand. They are also based on many years of managerial experience (Klein G. , et al. , (Ed. ) (1993). The advantages of analytical models include that they aim at simplification and bring understanding to some interested aspect of reality. They can also help to test the effects of different decision alternatives, constants and parameter values more easily than with any other type of model. They can also analyze complex problems efficiently and concisely, and in many cases provide the cheapest way to analyze these problems. Although they are the most prevalent models in use today they may not be easily accepted by managers who lack training, experience and time to use them. Simulation models have a high degree of abstraction and as such many managers do not want to work with them. The reason of this could be lack of enough training in and exposure to those models. The other reason is that trained managers may lack sufficient time to pay attention to model. Despite these drawbacks the models are beneficial in the sense that in comparison to the mechanical model they can facilitate experimentation because both the independent variables, dependent variables, constants and parameters are explicitly related by language of mathematics.

Raja Mandala Theory And Its Relevance History Essay

Raja Mandala Theory And Its Relevance History Essay Chanakya stated that every state is surrounded by many states, out of which one would be a natural adversary. Other states might be allies, vassals, neutrals or hostile. The king should focus on the natural adversary and defeat it. Chanakya advised the king to be pragmatic in his approach towards his enemies and prudence in choice of foreign policy. He was against spineless surrender or foolhardy valour. He preferred peace over war in most cases. He said that when the degree of progress to be made from choosing between war and peace were same, the king must choose peace. He took into consideration the losses of troops, expenditure and absence from home while giving this advice. He also said that if the balance of power were not to become favourable as a result of war, peace must be chosen.  [28]   Circle of States According to Chanakya, the king, his friend, and his friends friend are the three primary kings constituting a circle of states. As each of these three kings possesses another five elements of sovereignty; such as the minister, the country, the fort, the treasury, and the army; a circle of states consists of eighteen elements. The three Circles of States having the enemy, the middle king, or the neutral king at the centre of each of the three circles are different from that of the conqueror. Thus there are four primary Circles of States, twelve kings, sixty elements of sovereignty, and seventy-two elements of states. Each of the twelve primary kings have their elements of sovereignty, power, and end. Strength is power, and happiness is the end. Strength is of three types: power of deliberation being the intellectual strength; a prosperous treasury and a strong army being the strength of sovereignty; and martial power being the physical strength. The end too is of three kinds: that which is attainable by deliberation is the end of deliberation; that which is attainable by the strength of sovereignty is the end of sovereignty; and that which is to be secured by perseverance is the end of martial power. The possession of power and happiness in a greater degree makes a king superior to another; in a less degree, inferior; and in an equal degree, equal. Therefore the king was always required to augment his power and elevate his happiness.  [29]   Six Methods of Foreign Policy The states participate in diplomacy and war using the six methods of foreign policy. To understand the concept of Raja Mandala theory, the six methods of foreign policy enunciated by Chanakya must be understood. These cater for different situations in international relations.  [30]   (a) Samdhi. The peace treaties were to be concluded with specific conditions that enabled the state to promote welfare and development, strengthen alliances or use the period as one arm of dual policy. Chanakya said that treaty could even be entered into with ones enemy and may be broken when one grows strong. The interests of the state being supreme, such betrayals were justified. (b) Vigraha. The policy of hostility was recommended to be followed by the stronger state. The hostilities could be conducted as open, secret, undeclared or clandestine attacks. Diplomatic wars too were discussed extensively by Chanakya. Having had to fight conventional and proxy wars, India in addition to fighting militarily, has been dealing with this on a diplomatic level as well. (c) Asana. The policy of remaining neutral was recommended by Chanakya to be followed when both states were equal. The Chinese observed neutrality in the cold war between USA and erstwhile USSR and utilized their efforts towards development. India was the leading proponent of non-alignment and in following the policy was able to get the best of both the Western and Eastern Blocs. India must be amongst the few nations in the world that can acquire weapon systems, nuclear technology, industrial knowhow and even support for permanent membership of UNSC from USA and Russia. (d) Yana. Posturing for war was an important decision that the king had to take. The preparation for war and the long march entailed heavy expenditure and prolonged absence from the capital, thus necessitated careful consideration before taking such a decision. After the attack on Parliament on 13 December 2001, the armed forces were mobilised. The forces remained in the offensive posture for a complete year. While the war never took place, many skirmishes on the line of control occurred. The tensions on the line of control brought international pressure upon Pakistan resulting in imposition of sanctions on the terrorist groups and the leaders in February 2002. The continued pressure resulted in a ceasefire agreement in 2003 that holds good till date. (e) Samsraya. The policy of seeking protection of a stronger king could be practised by entering into alliances or by signing a treaty. Various alliances formed during the cold war indicate that this policy is relevant even today. In 1971 when war with Pakistan was imminent, India signed a treaty of Friendship with USSR as a safeguard against intervention by USA and China on behalf of Pakistan. Pakistans alliance with China in can be seen as a means of seeking protection against India. (f) Dvaidhibhava. This was the policy of seeking peace with one king in order to pursue hostilities with another. China, which has territorial disputes with both India and Japan, maintains cordial relations with one while getting into a diplomatic row with other in order to channelize the complete effort of the state to achieve the objectives it sets for itself. 81. Special Cases. Chanakya envisaged certain situations wherein he considered the role of kings who could influence the outcome of a conflict without being directly involved. In context of India-Pakistan relations, China could be classified as middle king as described by Chanakya. Pakistan could create some problems in the course of Sino-India conflict, but would not fit the description of a middle king, being weaker than both India and China. However, USA, Russia and even UN fit the bill of a neutral king, a king who is more powerful than the belligerents but does not share the borders with the two. Parshingraha. The attack in the rear in diplomatic, economic or psychological sphere had been described as an important aspect of foreign policy by Chanakya. It could be in form of posturing or supporting insurgency movements as well. China has been increasing her influence in Indias neighbourhood through economic and diplomatic initiatives. In the last week of November 2012, Maldives annulled the contract of an Indian firm soon after its cabinet had returned from China. India too has developed closer ties with countries like Afghanistan, Iran, Mongolia, Japan, South Korea and Vietnam in order to counter the influence of Pakistan and China in their neighbourhood.  [31]   Objectives of Foreign Policy Chanakya said that the objective of foreign policy was to increase the power of a state. Military, intellect and morale were vital components of power according to Chanakya  [32]  . The king had to continuously project his power by using appropriate foreign policy. The dynamic relationship between power and progress was essential to be understood and had to be attained through implementing the right policy and correct execution within the circle of states. Both India and China have been projecting their power in a different ways. While India has laid emphasis on soft power, China has embraced the policy of projecting comprehensive national power to included military and economic might in addition to its cultural influence around the world to exert influence on the policies of other nations. Chanakya had said that peace could be made with the enemy albeit as a temporary measure to gain time to enhance own power. The wars in modern era are also fought on economic and cyber space. Both India and China are growing economies and the growth is expected to stabilise in another 20 to 30 years. They have bilateral trade running into billions of dollars every year despite being rivals for markets and captive resources. If the two were to engage in any form of war at present, the impact on their growth would be catastrophic. Moreover, the modern economies being inter-woven, it would have a domino effect on all the leading economies of the world. Thus, the setback the two countries would receive would be dynamic and would set their progress back in a big way. The two countries have adopted a very pragmatic approach and cooperate at various international and not let the disputes over boundary or South China Sea over shadow the areas of cooperation. China maintains friendly relations with India at the same time supports Pakistan in all its misadventures. China has invested a great deal in infrastructure in Pakistan. The armed forces of Pakistan are being equipped by the Chinese at a frantic pace. China has little to gain directly from Pakistan except for access to the sea through Gwadar Port  [33]  . The main purpose of propping up Pakistan is to divert Indias focus. Although growing at a fast pace, the resources with India are limited and thus can optimally focus on one front only. Relative Power. Chanakya said that the king must always strive to enhance his power in comparison to the enemy. The relative power can be improved by making oneself stronger or by denuding the power of the enemy.  [34]   Indias military strength is dissipated on two fronts externally and internal security duties. India must strengthen her relations with Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and other littorals of South China Sea to force China to focus on many fronts at the same time. USA has provided all possible help to India in recent years to make China focus more on India. The aim of USA is to further her own interests in the Pacific Ocean region, Indian Ocean and the oil rich West Asia. The policymakers have to be careful in using the US card while dealing with China. Reliance on USA to provide deterrence against China, though beneficial in short term, would be counterproductive in long run. India will have to become stronger economically, diplomatically and militarily to enhance her relative power in long run. Having realised her inferiority in conventional battlefield, Pakistan resorted to proxy war. The diversion of resources of Indian Army helped it achieve parity on the conventional battlefield. India responded by raising Rashtriya Rifles Battalions to deal with insurgency. The situation is now returning to normalcy. In 1998, Pakistan tested nuclear weapons in response to trials by India. The acquisition of nuclear weapons and missile delivery system by Pakistan gave her the deterrence capability and thus it avoided a war in 2002. However, the development of ballistic missile defence system by India would nullify the deterrence capability built by Pakistan  [35]  . Relative power is dynamic and its balance continues to change at all times. Every move by India, China or Pakistan draws response by the adversary. India would have to continually monitor the development in China, Pakistan and also within the countries that can be described as the inner circle of these countries in the circle of states. Preference of Peace Over Conflict The king had to adopt policies that would enhance the power of the state and economic and material well being of its subjects. This would necessitate improving infrastructure, increasing avenues for employment, to exploit mines and natural resources, and at the same time to deter similar progress of the enemy. A state that was in a position to grow in power more rapidly both in quality and quantity than the adversary could neglect the enemys progress some time. Two states were to make peace when growth could be achieved by doing so. Hostility with the enemy was to be opened if it ensured better growth than the enemy. If the adversaries were neither in a position to destroy the progress of each other nor in a position to safeguard their own progress in case of hostilities, every endeavour was to be made to maintain peace.  [36]   Pakistan. India is developing faster than Pakistan in all fields. The tool of Jihad that had been used by Pakistan to disrupt peace in India and to enable USA fight USSR in Afghanistan has become bane for very existence of Pakistan. Peaceful and stable Pakistan is essential for Indias growth.  [37]  India has offered assistance to Pakistan to help her overcome these challenges. Chanakya had advocated destruction of enemy as and when the opportunity presented itself. The world order today is different from the times of Chanakya. Any hostile act by India would bring immediate sanctions from the comity of nations and thus will destroy the economic progress and well being of the state. Moreover, if the state of Pakistan were to disintegrate, the terrorist groups would reign supreme and they would most likely target India like never before. A large swell of refugees would migrate and cause demographic and economic catastrophe for India. The population that has been brought up on the staple of blaming India for every misery will turn their anger against India. Thus, when seen in the larger context, the policy being adopted by India is in sync with Chanakyas thought process that professes economic growth and welfare of citizens as a primary duty of the state. China. Despite the size of the GDPs and the growth rate, India and China are yet to acquire a truly middle class status. The Chinese economy is industry driven while Indian economy is services driven. In order to continue on the path of growth, both need to add millions of new jobs every year.  [38]  The creation of so many new jobs requires unhindered economic activities. The present path of economic growth leaves adequate space for both the states to coexist peacefully. In order to create millions of jobs every year, India will have to change to an industrial economy. In a decade or two, the two countries would end up competing for the raw materials and markets. This could lead to conflict between the two. It would be prudent for India to develop her military capabilities. Improvement in human development index would ensure that the manpower is educationally and technically qualified to absorb the technology at the given time. India is surrounded by large number of small countries that are being wooed by China. These countries resent the perceived big brotherly attitude of India. In November 2012, the government of Maldives cancelled the contract of GMR for development of the airport. Nepal-India relations have taken a downward spiral due to neglect by Indian government as well as the bureaucracys inflexible and inconsistent behaviour. One of the glaring examples of such neglect is the absence visit to Nepal by any of the Indian Prime Ministers, since 2002  [39]  . Bangladesh too has been antagonised over Indias reluctance to finalise the water sharing agreement. India has to work towards bringing these countries back to her fold. Dealing with Threats Posed by China and Pakistan using Arthashastra Forging Alliances/ Partnership. (a) Chanakya was of the opinion that forging alliances should be resorted to when needed  [40]  . War being one of the methods of executing foreign policy of the nation, the diplomacy has to garner a favourable opinion and if not, at least a neutral attitude from the comity of nations. (b) From the very beginning Pakistan entered into military alliances like CENTO and SEATO. India entered into a 20 year treaty of friendship with USSR. Since the 90s Pakistan became closer to China to overcome the impact of sanctions imposed by USA. The alliance between Pakistan and China assures Pakistan of some degree of deterrence against India. (c) India has forged closer relations with USA and maintained the historical relations with Russia. The cooperation achieved has been catalyst in enabling the Indian military to modernize at a rapid pace, thus gradually building up a deterrence capability against China. Herein India needs to maintain a very fine balance, as close relations with USA, China and Russia are important for the development of the country. The challenge for India is to manage her ties in such a manner that she is not seen as leaning towards any country in particular, nor is seen as a country that is indecisive. (d) USA. During the visit of Mr Leon Panetta in June 2012, India politely told USA that there is a need to re-calibrate the US policy called Rebalancing of Military Strategy with focus on Asia-Pacific that envisages deployment of at least 60% of US Naval assets in Asia-Pacific  [41]  . The concern of India being that the policy would increase the militarisation in its immediate neighbourhood and such rapid militarisation would throw Indias modernisation plans out of gear. (e) India has enhanced bilateral cooperation with US and participates in a number of joint military exercises without entering into any formal military alliance. The support that had been extended by USA to Pakistan in last half a century plays in the minds of Indian policy makers while deciding on the extent of military cooperation with USA. The US insistence on signing CISMOA, LSA, EUMA and BECA make the policy makers in India sceptical. Moreover, by openly embracing USA, India does not want to upset China  [42]  . (f) Littorals of South China Sea. India has indicated that she would prefer cooperation with countries like Japan, Vietnam, Philippines and others in working out an amicable solution to the South China Sea dispute. In last few years, India has participated in number of military exercises with Japan, Singapore and Vietnam. If the navies of these countries enforce a blockade of Malacca and Sunda Straits, China will be put on the back foot. The entire transhipment of oil and gas would then be channelised through Arakan region of Myanmar and Gwadar port in Pakistan. The domination of Bay of Bengal and Arabian Seas by the Indian Navy would quickly result in enforcing a blockade to shape the outcome of war. (g) Myanmar. India has improved her relations with the Myanmar in recent years. The people of Kachin have been known to resent Chinese activities in the region. India should exploit this resentment and persuade the government of Myanmar to limit the Chinese activities, China can be further contained. (h) Iran. To avoid the SLOCs dominated by India, China needs to open a transhipment route through Central Asia. The Chabahar and Bandar Abbas ports in Iran could be the ports of transhipment. India lost some ground in Iran after siding with USA over nuclear issue. By attending the NAM conference in Tehran, Dr Manmohan Singh tried to make some amends to the earlier mistakes. In his visit, the Indias energy and security issues were discussed by the PM  [43]  . (j) Iran could be a partner of strategic significance for India. The relations between Pakistan and Iran took a downward spiral during the 80s whereas India and Iran cooperated in supporting the Tajik groups opposed to Pakistan backed Pashtun groups in Afghanistan. Pakistan became closer to Saudi Arabia, who is a staunch rival of Iran. The officials of Iran and Pakistan have accused each other of aiding the insurgents in Baluchistan  [44]  . (k) India has stood by its commitments in Iran despite the pressure from US and EU. China too has supported Iran and done so more boldly than India. In addition to the vast reserves of oil and gas, Iran is significant as it is a littoral state of Persian Gulf and Caspian Sea. It provides a gateway to the landlocked Central Asian Republics. China has been wooing Iran to gain a foothold in West Asia and enhance energy security. The route from Iran, Central Asian Region (CAR) and into China would enable China to avoid the SLOCs that are vulnerable to interception by India and other South East Asian countries. (l) It is unlikely that Iran would become a party to containing Chinese influence due to her animosity with USA. However, India should work towards exploiting Irans sensitivities towards developments in Baluchistan and Afghanistan and Pakistans proximity to Saudi Arabia. India should exploit get Iran onboard in containing Pakistan from the West. (m) Afghanistan. Afghanistan has been apprehensive of Pakistans intentions in the region. On many occasions President Karzai has blamed Pakistan for the troubles in his country. Pakistans open support to Taliban means that barring South and Eastern Afghanistan, rest of the country is unlikely to warm up to Pakistan in near future. Afghans are known to be fond of Indian culture. Indias contribution towards development activities in Afghanistan has further endeared her to the Afghans. Unlike China, India has not yet acquired any stakes in the unexplored natural resources of the country. (n) India should work very closely with the Afghan government and keep Pakistan out of the region. India must be prepared to provide security forces for filling the void left by the withdrawal of ISAF in 2014. The aid being provided to Afghanistan could be linked with keeping Pakistan out. India must ensure that Taliban does not gain entry into Afghan political arena. This would deny the strategic depth that Pakistan so badly craves.  [45]   Create a Divide between China and Pakistan. Chanakya talked of creating division amongst the enemy to weaken them. Sino- Pakistan relations are not as deep as are made out to be. China tilts towards Pakistan to secure its own geopolitical interests. It props up Pakistan militarily to keep Indias armed forces engaged on the Western borders. The Gwadar port and Karakoram highway provide China with an overland trade j and Islamists in Pakistan  [46]  . (a) Make Gwadar Port Unviable Option. The port held a vision of prosperity for Pakistan and to provide the Pakistan Navy with strategic depth along its coastline. It provided China with an opportunity to diversify its oil import routes and extend its presence in the Indian Ocean. Chinas interests in Gwadar port are to diversify and secure its crude oil import oil routes and to extend its presence in the Indian Ocean.  [47]  It would enable monitoring naval activities of both US India in the region. (b) India Iran have had reservations about the project from beginning. Iran responded by constructing Chabahar port and road links joining Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan with Indias assistance. Plans to extend a road from Iran through Herat, Mazar-e-Sharif and Sherkhan Bandar in Afghanistan and onwards to China too have been discussed.  [48]   (c) The fragile state of lines of communication in POK region was highlighted in January 2010 when the Attabad landslide cut off the Karakoram highway  [49]  . The Baluchistan province in Pakistan remains restive with ever increasing levels of violence. (d) Iran remains peaceful and stable making Chabahar port more attractive alternative to Gwadar. China has repeatedly used its veto power in support of Iran over the nuclear standoff. Irans energy reserves and good relations with Afghanistan Central Asian countries are of significance to China as well. India and Iran enjoy good relations. Like Iran, India too enjoys good relations with Afghanistan and Central Asian countries. If situation in Afghanistan stabilises in near future, Iran remains peaceful but Balochistan remains restive, use of Chabahar would become more attractive and economical in comparision to Gwadar. (d) Chinas Aspirations as a Super Power. Most of the incidents of terrorism in the world have been tracked back to Pakistan. Despite its contribution in the GWOT, Pakistan is viewed as a state that harbours terrorists and fundamentalists. Osama Bin Laden was killed in a safe house located within a few kilometres of Pakistans military academy. As an aspiring super power, China will have to pressurise Pakistan to rein in the fundamentalist and terrorist groups. Aspirations of China and Pakistans support to terrorist groups make the two to partners who cannot be natural allies. India should take every opportunity to highlight this issue at various forums and bilateral meets. The academicians and the think tanks should be asked to write articles and papers that would embarrass China on this issue. When Pakistan looses Chinas support, it would be forced to change its policies and thus the menace of terrorism would reduce to a very large extent. The probability of external war on two front s would also be minimised. (e) Uyghur Separatists Movement. Since its incorporation into China in 1950s, Uighurs have organized more than 400 uprisings  [50]  . The ethnic strife has taken a religious twist in the last few years  [51]  . The Chinese leaders have expressed apprehension that Pakistan may not be able to contain the links between the separatists and the Islamists in Pakistan. China had in the past resorted to curtailing border trade and closing the Karakoram Highway to contain the unrest. Such measures send a signal to Pakistan that China would not hesitate to freeze the relations if required, in order to curtail the separatist movement  [52]  . Engaging Neighbours. Chanakya in his treatise had been categorical that a friendly or a neutral neighbour is essential for the growth and stability of a state. He also warned against the dangers of an adversary becoming influential in the neighbourhood. China has been using her diplomatic and economic clout in marginalising Indias influence in the neighbourhood. Indian government has to understand that these nations are on the development curve and therefore need huge investments. For many years India invested in the development of these countries to the extent she could. China has bigger reserve of foreign exchange than India and is ready to suffer economic losses in short term. The investments made by China have enhanced her influence in these countries. The government of India has started exploring the historical and cultural links and soft power to strengthen relations with the neighbours. The Indian government provides billions of dollars as aid to Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal and Bhutan. It has entered into trade agreements with all her neighbours that may be more favourable to the neighbours than to India. The volume of trade between India and her neighbouring countries has steadily increased in the recent years. The efforts have yielded positive results. Sri Lankan officials have been harping about the very good and very ancient links with India. The aid to the displaced Tamils is not viewed with scorn as in earlier times. Homage was paid to the martyrs of the IPKF in Sri Lanka in 2012. India-Pakistan trade has been on the rise with Indian exports to Pakistan surging by over 30% per year  [53]  . The Awami League government in Bangladesh is working towards generating a favourable public opinion towards permitting transit facilities to India and the Indian government too has shown inclination towards signing a treaty on sharing of river waters. With Myanmar, relations have been growing stronger. Aang San Suu Kyi visited India in 2012. The economic ties and trade have grown manifolds in recent years. India still has work to do on improving relations with Nepal. The relations with Nepal have been stagnant since the Maoists came to power. With Maldives, relations took a downturn over the con troversy over the operating of international airport in Male by GMR. The Government of India suspended monetary aid to Maldives as a retaliation to revoking of the GMRs contract by the Maldives government. Engaging China and Pakistan till Own Military Capability is Developed. To realise their true potential, India and China need an environment of peace and stability. Both the countries have kept the disputes on the back burner while focussing on areas of convergence. The trade between both has been growing at a steady rate and is expected to touch $100 billion in 2015.  [54]  Talks to resolve the boundary disputes continue to be held at regular intervals. Talks with Pakistan have made a slower progress in recent years. CBMs have been in place for many years. The two countries have signed an agreement to ease visa restrictions.  [55]  Sporting ties too are being resumed between the two countries. Such measures will bring the people closer and thus create pressure on the governments to resolve the disputes at the earliest. 107. Chanakya identified military option as an important facet of foreign policy. The government of India seeks peaceful coexistence with the neighbours. However, to safeguard her nati

Expanding the Common Ground of the Worlds Mystical Traditions :: Culture Globalization Essays

Expanding the Common Ground of the World's Mystical Traditions missing works cited ABSTRACT: This paper addresses religious epistemology in that it concerns the assessment of the credibility of certain claims arising out of religious experience. Developments this century have made the world’s rich religious heritage accessible to more people than ever. But the conflicting religious claims tend to undermine each religion’s central claim to be a vehicle for opening persons to ultimate reality. One attempt to overcome this problem is provided by "perennial philosophy," which claims that there is a kind of mystical experience common to all religious traditions, an experience which is an immediate contact with an absolute principle. Perennialism has been attacked by "contextualists" such as Steven Katz who argue that particular mystical experiences are so tied to a particular tradition that there are no common mystical experiences across traditions. In turn, Robert Forman and the "decontextualists" have argued that a certain kind of mystical experience and process are found in diverse traditions, thereby supporting one of the key elements of perennialism. I review the contextualist-decontextualist debate and suggest a research project that would pursue the question of whether the common ground of the world’s mystical traditions could be expanded beyond what has been established by the decontextualists. The extension of this common ground would add credibility to the claims arising out of mystical experience. It is appropriate at this conference to address — however narrowly and briefly — an important twentieth-century development in the world's religious life. Advances in scholarship, communication, transportation, and mass education have made the richness of the world's religious heritage accessible to more people than ever before. But this increased accessibility has not strengthened religious belief, but may, in fact, have had the opposite effect. This is because the revolution in accessibility to the world's religious traditions has made more people than ever before aware of the conflicting claims of the world's religions. Of course, each tradition's adherents believe their tradition to be the primary expression of the truth, but there seems to be no obvious "non-partisan" way to determine which tradition has superior credentials. Thus the conflicting claims of competing religious traditions tend to undermine each religion's central claim that it is a vehicle for openin g oneself to ultimate reality. One attempt to overcome this problem is provided by "so-called perennial philosophy school," to use the term used by Robert K.

A midsummer night dream

A Midsummer Night's Dream Shakespeare is one of the most well-known playwright and poet that the world has ever produced. He's known for his ability to recapitulate the array of human emotions in simple yet Intensely expressive verse. One of Shakespearean most popular plays, A Midsummer Night's Dream Is full of Intense feelings, tragic events and a happy ending. Literature can be defined as a comedy, romance, or a tragedy. A Midsummer Night's Dream can best be defined as a comedy.In literary sense, a comedy is a work which is principally designed to amuse and entertain, and where, despite problems during the narrative, all ends well for the characters (English Literature Dictionary). The play can be proven to be a comedy because of its humorous tone. The play features fairy magic, pranks and the performance of a play within the play by a group of fairies. The play even has trickery and disguise in it as well. Hernia and Alexander try to sneak away from Athens to wed behind Geese's ba ck.Also, Titanic and the nouns lovers have no Idea they've been dazed by Oberon by the love-in-idleness flowers Juice. These examples given are what put A Midsummer Night's Dream under the literature category of a comedy. A romance Is traditionally, a long fictional prose narrative about unlikely events Involving characters that are very different from ordinary people. Nowadays the modern romance novel Is a prescribed love story, where boy meets girl, obstacles get in the way, they are then overcome and the couple live happily ever after (English Literature Dictionary).A Midsummer Night's Dream could also fit into this category because of the fairies that are in it. In the play the fairies experience unlikely events, like Titanic falling in love with Bottom as he as the head of an ass. Another way the play could fit into this category would be how Hernia and Alexander are in love and are forbidden to be married. At the end of the play the obstacle of them not being able to marry is overcome when they are invited by the fairies to go back and marry with the duke.The last category is tragedy. Tragedy Is defined as a serious play where the protagonist experiences a succession of misfortunes leading to a concluding, disturbing catastrophe usually for the protagonist (English Literature Dictionary). The way love Is defined In the beginning of the play is a tragic view. Segues goes to Theses demanding that he make Hernia marry Demerits, and not Alexander. Segues says, â€Å"As she is mine, I may dispose of her. Which shall be either to this gentleman, or to her death. Even though this makes the play come off as a tragedy, the characters and situations do not allow for tragedy to aka over or take form in the plot. As a conclusion, A Midsummer Night's Dream best fits into the literary definition of comedy. It has some aspects of romance in it but comedy smothers the majority of the play. The beginning of the play can make A Midsummer Night's Dream seem that it will t urn out to be a tragedy but again comedy takes over. A Midsummer Night's Dream Is a classic example of Shakespeare comedy. â€Å"English Literature Dictionary'. Education. Asia. Education Asia. ND. Web. 14 June 2014

Thesis Customer Satisfaction

CHAPTER II Review of Related Literature This chapter presents the literature related to this study. This will be conducted with the assessment of related literature to show the relevance of the literature to the study. RELATED LITERATURE Customer satisfaction is the most fundamental requirement for being in business. Therefore, every organization should plan the right strategies for dealing with customers, communicating with them, providing pleasant services and retaining them forever with specially chosen customer contact employees, all leading to their delight.Since most of the quality problems arise due to misunderstood requirements, it is essential to take steps to correctly understand, both the stated and implied requirements of the customers. The organization should not only fulfill the contracted requirements, but also make it appoint to provide unanticipated additional services to delight the customers and retaining them forever. The most important point is that organizations should provide COMFORT to the customers while serving them. Thus, the business should be oriented towards satisfying customers. (Subburaj Ramasamy; TQM-Int’l Edition 2012)Customer satisfaction is the state of mind that customers have about a company when their expectations have been met or exceeded over the lifetime of the product or service. The achievement of customer satisfaction leads to company loyalty and product repurchase. Customer satisfaction measurement must be undertaken with an understanding of the gap between customer expectations and attribute performance perceptions. Clearly defining and understanding customer satisfaction can help any company identify opportunities for product and service innovation and serve as the basis for performance appraisal and reward systems. Kevin Cacioppo; Measuring and Managing Customer Satisfaction) Customer satisfaction has been a popular topic in marketing practice and academic research since Cardozo's (1965) initial study of c ustomer effort, expectations and satisfaction. Despite many attempts to measure and explain customer satisfaction, there still does not appear to be a consensus regarding its definition (Giese and Cote, 2000). Customer satisfaction is typically defined as a post consumption evaluative judgement concerning a specific product or service (Gundersen, Heide and Olsson, 1996).It is the result of an evaluative process that contrasts prepurchase expectations with perceptions of performance during and after the consumption experience (Oliver, 1980). The most widely accepted conceptualization of the customer satisfaction concept is the expectancy disconfirmation theory (Barsky, 1992; Oh and Parks, 1997; McQuitty, Finn and Wiley, 2000). The theory was developed by Oliver (1980), who proposed that satisfaction level is a result of the difference between expected and perceived performance. Satisfaction (positive disconfirmation) occurs when product or service is better than expected.On the other hand, a performance worse than expected results with dissatisfaction (negative disconfirmation). Studies show that customer satisfaction may have direct and indirect impact on business results. Anderson et al. (1994), Yeung et al. (2002), and Luo and Homburg (2007) concluded that customer satisfaction positively affects business profitability. The majority of studies have investigated the relationship with customer behaviour patterns (Soderlund, 1998; Kandampully and Suhartanto, 2000; Dimitriades, 2006; Olorunniwo et al. 2006; Chi and Qu, 2008; Faullant et al. , 2008). According to these findings, customer satisfaction increases customer loyalty, influences repurchase intentions and leads to positive word-of-mouth. Given the vital role of customer satisfaction, it is not surprising that a variety of research has been devoted to investigating the determinants of satisfaction (Churchill and Surprenant, 1982; Oliver, 1980; Barsky, 1995; Zeithaml and Bitner, 2003). Satisfaction can be determined by subjective (e. g. customer needs, emotions) and objective factors (e. . product and service features). Applying to the hospitality industry, there have been numerous studies that examine attributes that travellers may find important regarding customer satisfaction. Atkinson (1988) found out that cleanliness, security, value for money and courtesy of staff determine customer satisfaction. Knutson (1988) revealed that room cleanliness and comfort, convenience of location, prompt service, safety and security, and friendliness of employees are important. Barsky and Labagh (1992) stated that employee attitude, location nd rooms are likely to influence travellers' satisfaction. A study conducted by Akan (1995) showed that the main determinants of hotel guest satisfaction are the behaviour of employees, cleanliness and timeliness. Choi and Chu (2001) concluded that staff quality, room qualities and value are the top three hotel factors that determine travellers' satisfaction. Providing services those customers prefer is a starting point for providing customer satisfaction. A relatively easy way to determine what services customer prefers is simply to ask them.According to Gilbert and Horsnell (1998), and Su (2004), guest comment cards (GCCs) are most commonly used for determining hotel guest satisfaction. GCCs are usually distributed in hotel rooms, at the reception desk or in some other visible place. However, studies reveal that numerous hotel chains use guest satisfaction evaluating methods based on inadequate practices to make important and complex managerial decisions (Barsky, 1992; Barsky and Huxley, 1992; Jones and Ioannou, 1993, Gilbert and Horsnell, 1998; Su, 2004).The most commonly made faults can be divided into three main areas, namely, quality of the sample, design of the GCCs, and data collection and analysis (Gilbert and Horsnell, 1998). In order to improve the validity of hotel guest satisfaction measurement practice, Barsky and Huxley ( 1992) proposed a new sampling procedure that is a „quality sampleâ€Å". It reduces nonresponse bias by offering incentives for completing the questionnaires. The components of their questionnaire are based on disconfirmation paradigm and expectancy-value theory.In this manner, guests can indicate whether service was above or below their expectations and whether they considered a particular service important or not. Furthermore, Gilbert and Horsnell (1998) developed a list of criteria for GCC content analysis, which is adopted in this study as well. Schall (2003) discusses the issues of question clarity, scaling, validity, survey timing, question order and sample size. Customers’ requirements for satisfaction are difficult to comprehend. They have different preference when it comes to availing services from providers.Same with hospitality industry – for establishments like Bayleaf hotel of Intramuros there’s a lot of effort to make, creative thinking and strategy to stay in the competition. To be the only hotel in Intramuros, a great expectation among visitors is always present. Unless an organization evolves specific methods for measuring customer satisfaction and quantify the results, it may be difficult to say whether the customers are satisfied or not; whether customer satisfaction is improving or not it also vey essentials to measure customer satisfaction so as to stay ahead of competition.Each business unit has to conduct its business in such a way that it is able to achieve more customer satisfaction than its competitors at all times. Therefore, to face and win the competition, every organization should continue to improve their products and services and attain higher levels of customer satisfaction. Regarding on customer satisfaction, the following statement could indicate that the establishment has a lot of services to offer. Statement of the experienced customers will prove that Bayleaf Hotel can stand in a competition as a boutique hotel yet can provide 5-star experience to its valued customers.According to Dr. Deo Baraan the owner of the website (thegrandeurtraveler. com) â€Å"If you are looking for a new hotel that will show you Manila's rich history, lost magic and inimitable views, nothing would be more perfect than the Bayleaf Hotel. † In addition to what he says, â€Å"Everyone can now have a taste of an upscale accommodation in the heart of Manila's historic district†. When it comes to money issues, Vic Nair of Kuala Lumpur (tripadvisory. com) stated â€Å"Bayleaf is a great hotel with value for money.Excellent service from their young staff members. † Another statement that we got from redheelsinthecity (tripadvisory. com) â€Å"Manila, in general, is a busy, polluted and messy city. Finding a place like this is close to impossible. 9 spoons restaurant has the best food and ambiance. However what I love about the place is the Sky Deck View Bar. Especially on a cold nig ht, having a beer absolutely scratches your stress away. Not to mention you get even more amazed by the view around, very conducive for unwinding.The place can immensely cater a good service especially for occasions. Most of all, it stands in the heart of the old city called Intramuros, which I think is the best location in manila. Service of the staff and management is impeccably wonderful and impressive. â€Å" It is certainly not easy, at least to start with, to compute indices for customer satisfaction. It requires innovative people, a determined management and additional efforts by the organization for this purpose. This will pay for more than itself in the ultimate analysis.Therefore, the chief executive of the organization should be committed and persuasive in measuring customer satisfaction in the interest of the organization and provide resources for this task. A feedback or a complaint criticizing the organization should be taken as a blessing in disguise and in the right spirit. If there is no direct feedback or complaint, then the organization should look for other ways for finding out the same, since feedback is one of the most important triggers for improvement.If complaints are made, the organization should seriously make efforts to see that the complaints are result to the satisfaction of the customers. (Subburaj Ramasamy; 2012) According to Ms. Glenda G. one of the experienced customer of the Bayleaf Hotel â€Å"We booked ; paid the rooms 6 months ago ; requested a queen beds but we got 2 twin separate beds, it's also a terrible service at the roof top restaurant they're so slow in accommodating. We even said give us a wash cloth will clean the tables† Another experienced customer (tripadvisory. om) WWWorkes of Vilnius state that â€Å"All in all, this is a clean, comfortable hotel in a great location – but don't expect to be able to spend any amount of time relaxing in it – it has little to offer and generally doesn't m eet its potential† VIP on Bangkok also commented on the website regarding in his experience on the hotel – â€Å"I like its surrounding and location, but ventilation need improvement to get rid of damp smell in the room. Towels smell too strong chemical† Every complaint should lead to determine efforts by the organization to make improvements so as the result in non-reoccurrence of such complaints in the future.In short, the service provider should have a system to solicit feedbacks and complaints, deal with them dispassionately, rectify the defects immediately, compensate where not possible to rectify and analyze such mistakes to find out measures for their non- reoccurrence and implement the measures strictly. The above is also known as complaint recovery process. Every organization should have a well-defined process and procedure for getting feedback and receiving complaints from the customers and use every complaint as an instrument for improvements. SYNTHESI SChapter 2 is about the review of related literature; it is about the purpose of the review to analyze critically a segment of a published book of knowledge through summary, classification and comparison of prior research studies, reviews of literature, and theoretical articles. We have the foreign and local literature. In foreign literature we based on the research book. What we had is the article of Subburaj Ramasamy, Kevin Cacioppo, Cardozo's (1965), Giese and Cote, (2000), Gundersen, Heide and Olsson, (1996), Oliver, (1980), Anderson et al. (1994), Yeung et al. 2002), and Luo and Homburg (2007), Barsky, 1992; Oh and Parks, 1997; McQuitty, Finn and Wiley, 2000, Soderlund, 1998; Kandampully and Suhartanto, 2000; Dimitriades, 2006; Olorunniwo et al. , 2006; Chi and Qu, 2008; Faullant et al. , 2008, Churchill and Surprenant, 1982; Oliver, 1980; Barsky, 1995; Zeithaml and Bitner, 2003), Atkinson (1988), Knutson (1988), Barsky and Labagh (1992), Akan (1995), Choi and Chu (2001),Gilber t and Horsnell (1998), and Su (2004), and those books associates some knowledge and ideas regarding customer satisfaction and hospitality industry.For instance we also got statements from foreign customers who had an experience in staying at Bayleaf Hotel namely; Redheelsinthecity, WWWorkers, and VIP on Bangkok. For local literature we have Ms. Glenda G. and Dr. Deo Baraan, who experienced Bayleaf Hotel as well. Therefore, the purpose of this review is to analyze critically a segment of a published body of knowledge through these articles. INPUT: Bayleaf Hotel, Intramuros as the focus of the study and as a new hotel caters to satisfy tourists within and outside Intramuros.CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK PROCESS: * Surveying through questionaires * Interview OUTPUT: Determine the level of customer satisfaction in Bayleaf Hotel and competitiveness of the establishment. The conceptual framework above shows that the input in Bayleaf Hotel, Intramuros as the focus of the study and as a new hotel ca ters to satisfy tourists within and outside Intramuros. The process of the study is done by giving survey through questionnaire and conducting interview to determine the level of customer satisfaction and competitiveness of Bayleaf Hotel.

Esophageal Cancer Paper

Esophageal Cancer Paper Esophageal Cancer Paper Esophageal Cancer Esophageal Cancer Angelina Poindexter Phoenix University Esophageal Cancer The esophagus main purpose is to control the passage of food to the stomach, but painful and/or difficulty swallowing makes it hard for food to pass through (dysphagia). Cancer of the esophagus is presented as a malignant tumor arising from the tissue of the esophagus and is known as one of the leading causes of cancer deaths. There are two main types of esophageal cancer and are named according to the area where the cancer starts. Cancer of the esophagus is more than like to happen for males 60 years of age or older, but can happen at any age if tobacco and alcohol use is present. Other risk factors are poor diet (lacking fruits and vegetables), obesity, and have other esophageal diseases such as Barrett’s esophagus or acid reflux disease. Barrett’s, is a serious complication of GERD (Gastroesophageal reflux disease) where normal tissue lining the esophagus changes to that of the intestine. A small percentage of patients with GERD develop Barrett†™s esophagus after having GERD symptoms for a long period of time. In most cases this disease is fatal, due in part to the symptoms from it. As the cancer grows, it narrows the esophageal lumen leading to the symptoms of dysphagia, hoarse voice, vomiting, bad breathe, and sour taste in mouth. Loss of weight normally follows with the vomiting and painful swallowing, causes the person not to eat much. Once diagnosed, many thoughts will go through your mind, but it is best to seek a second opinion about your diagnosis and the method of choice planned to fight the disease. I have not personally had this disease, but have had to go through the many stages that come with fighting it with my dad. My dad was diagnosed with Adenocarcinoma of the esophagus on my birthday (6/12/2007). My step-mother and father had a second opinion done in a matter of days and chose a very aggressive action plan due to the fact his cancer was in stage three. Over the course of four months, he had chemoradiation therapy in large doses, then surgery to remove all of his esophagus and a portion of his stomach. The battle was hard on his body, he quit smoking without any outside help and began the treatments. He lost well over 100 pounds within that time, had several hospitalizations due to breathing and heart problems brought on by the chemo. Towards the end of October, he was to have surgery, but could not due to a clot in his brain that caused a mild stroke. The surgery was done early part of November in 2007. He has been cancer free since

Human

Human AbstractThis paper will attempt to analyze cross-cultural and cultural psychology. It will examine the relationship between both, discuss the role of critical thinking in cross- cultural psychology, and discuss the methodology associated with cross-cultural research. Culture is a full range of behavior patterns (N.A. 2010, p. 1). Culture can be distinguished by a set of beliefs and attitudes from a given generation (Shiraev, Levy 2010, p. 2). It is a way of life passed down from generation to generation. Cross-cultural psychology deals with the culture and human behavior. In today's society cross-cultural psychologists investigate how culture affects individuals everywhere.Cross Cultural PsychologyCultural and Cross- Cultural Psychology"Culture is a set of attitudes, behaviors and symbols shared by a large group of people and usually communicated from one generation to the next (Shiraev Levy, 2010p2). Before reaching adulthood individuals learn how to understand their environment a ccording to his parents."English: Moulton Hall, formerly the Metcalf School...Culture is a full range of learned behavior patterns"(N.A., 2010, p .1). We notice individuals of African, Japanese, Italian descent; individuals are referring to the customs and ideals that their parents used. It has become a way of life passed down from generation to generation. " in most cases, those who share your culture do so because they acquired it as they were raised by parents and other family members who have it" (N.A., 2010, p. 1). "There are certain behaviors that are associated with culture such as norms, roles, customs, traditions, habits, practices, and fashions" (Shiraev Levy, 2010, p.3). Cultures can be explained as experiencing explicit and implicit (Shiraev, Levy 2010, p .4). Certain practices in some cultures that are more dominate than others, for example saying, goodbye, and hello in our culture. "Implicit culture implies the information and cultural rules are implied and already.. .

Business strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 2

Business strategy - Essay Example of these components in one software program was instrumental in facilitating a rapidly expanding enterprise with the capability of enabling businesses to realize a marked improvement in its underlying environmental management without any detrimental fiscal effects. In order to accomplish this, Entropy International utilized a unique business strategy. At the heart of this strategy is the notion that there is a singular vision throughout the organization. This vision serves as a guiding force for strategic planning and incorporates the necessary components for the systematic expansion of Entropy’s customer base and its quest for the lion’s share of the market. One of the most significant focal points of Entropy’s business strategy is a dedication to addressing the needs of the customers. In so doing, the management of Entropy ensured that in developing their product, the customer was consulted first and foremost. As a direct result of consulting with the customer and obtaining feedback, Entropy was able to develop a product which satisfied the current needs of its customers and the up-and-coming needs of the market. Secondary to its focus on product development was its commitment to sales and marketing. Entropy was able to realize a great deal of success by expanding its marketing and sales force. In so doing, the company went from one full-time sales person in 2002 to a complete sales and marketing force consisting of three dedicated marketing and five sales managers. The marketing and sales managers worked to procure contracts with new organizations by utilizing an in-house software product which coordinates the sales process. Th is software has been very effective in that it has been responsible for a 40% sales conversion rate for leads and a 60% rate for proposals. These figures far exceed the current market rates. An integral part of Entropy International’s business strategy is its relationship with governmental bodies. In 2002 Entropy

David Cole Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

David Cole - Assignment Example One allegedly glaring lie which the Soviets invented is about the number of people who perished in the camp which they placed at no less than four million. Cole pointed out that most Holocaust revisionists believe that the actual number of persons who died was less than 1.1 million. In the video, Cole presented a tour of the camp, specifically the so-called â€Å"gas chamber† which was later turned into an air-raid shelter. Cole’s interview with the tour guide, Alicia and Dr. Piper revealed two opposing views about the gas chamber. Whereas Alicia claimed that the gas chamber was in its original state, Dr. Piper stated that there were reconstructions made in the original gas chamber. Aside from inconsistencies regarding the gas chamber, other information given by Dr. Piper was also questionable according to Cole. Particular among this is about the difference in the traces of Zyklon B in the gas chamber and the disinfection chamber. At the end of the video, Cole has not given a definitive answer about the authenticity of the Auschwitz gas chamber, instead, he leaves the viewers hanging and maybe deciding for themselves on whether to believe the revisionists or the Holocaust defenders. What was clear to Cole is that there are still questions left unanswered regarding the genuineness of the

Company profile Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Company profile - Coursework Example This individual would be old enough to own a credit card that is mandatory for making the purchases and is adventurous to try out new products/services because these make up most of the discounted offers. Groupons’ success so far Groupon.com has carved out a unique market space, considering that it offers diverse products and services, which differentiates it from traditional retailers: both brick-and-mortar and pure-play. Its major strengths are its brand as the trailblazer, its huge market presence, and its large financial backing of about US$ 1.2 billion. Groupon’s greatest opportunity is in the ease with which it can extend its service to more cities throughout the world. In fact, the company is currently leveraging its brand by extending its offering to willing collaborators through its Groupon Affiliate Program. The macro-environmental climate appears favorable for Groupon.com. The possible difficulties that it may have encountered due to political, legal, social, cultural and technological issues have for a greater part been addressed by other major online retailers such as Amazon.com and E-bay. Secondly, the fact that the world is emerging from an economic recession, consumers are more keen to watch on their expenses and as such it would not be foolhardy to anticipate an increased market for coupon / discount / bargain shoppers who would appreciate Groupon’s value proposition. However, as Gans (2) points out, Groupon’s prospects for long-term success are not guaranteed. Groupon’s unsecure future Groupon.com’s success has spawned numerous clones across the globe which Gans (2) estimates to be 400 competitors so far. The organization’s greatest weakness is that its business model is easy to replicate and even perfect. This makes Groupon’s first-mover competitive advantage difficult to sustain. Moreover, the low barriers to entry may make it tempting for some of the company’s suppliers to c ontemplate integrating forwards. We cannot also neglect the threat posed by the big Internet companies such as Google, Facebook, and Amazon that have the resources necessary to acquire rival coupon companies and enter the industry. One of Groupon’s major strategic blunders was not to have taken the purported $6 billion bid from Google when it had the chance (Gans 2). Other than its leadership in having a big solid base of accounts, every other aspect of Groupon’s business is easily replicable. Furthermore, the company’s US$ 1.2 billion current financial base is meager in comparison to, say, Facebook or Amazon, if they decided to acquire one of Groupon’s rivals and enter this new industry. The coupon industry is at a point where the early Internet companies where before the shakeout in the early 1990s. Groupon’s rejection of the Google offer could be viewed as a strategic blunder because Groupon.com could have utilized not only the cash injection but other resources available to Google to explore, discover and build a sustainable competitive advantage. Groupon.com’s current strategy may not be able to ensure that the organization retains its current industry leadership status. For starters, with 400 competitors, most of who are beginning to focus on niches such as city or through their offerings, consumer power continues to increase. Moreover, the information-rich Internet gives customers an edge when it boils down to selecting a coupon

Traumatic Brain Injuries in Prison Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Traumatic Brain Injuries in Prison - Essay Example These incidences are seen to increase as one ages where one becomes a danger to those around them. When a person that has suffered from TBI gets incarcerated, the cognitive and behavioral tendencies related to TBI make it difficult for them to adjust to prison life. For this reason, rehabilitation efforts get complicated especially since TBI resultant habits such as drug dependency and psychiatric problems make it difficult for a prisoner to adjust to prison life and life after their conviction (Ferguson et al 11). A large number of prisoners serving their sentences are doing so while suffering from TBI and this complicates the rehabilitation efforts and their ability to function properly when they get back to society. There are approximately two million people living in jails and prisons in America, 25-87% of these are reported as having suffered a TBI or head injury. Further broken down, women imprisoned for violent crimes have a higher chance of having suffered a TBI or another kind of physical abuse prior to their crime. Also, women with a substance abuse disorder are likely to suffer from a TBI while in prison (â€Å"Traumatic Brain Injury†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ). This is an alarming situation as TBI often leads to long-term cognitive impairment making it difficult for persons suffering from it to go through their daily activities and sustain jobs; particularly with persons who are come from prisons or jails. It becomes important to highlight the burden that TBI casts on persons suffering from it. The long-term cognitive impairment depicts its first detrimental effect, which is that it is a disabling injury and this is evidenced by the fact productivity lost as a result of TBI is at 15.7% and this is 14 times that linked to spinal cord injury. The number of persons suffering from TBI is likely to be higher as there are persons that are likely not

The Marketing Management In Hotel Industry Essay

The Marketing Management In Hotel Industry - Essay Example The reason why the author does this research is that of his interest in both subject quality manufacturing and HRM and also because he wants to improve the knowledge in both areas that he is interested in. For the manufacturing area the author has some knowledge and regarding HRM is due to the fact that the author is doing the Masters degree in HRM. Also, because the author is from the south UK, so he is interested in understanding how the HRM works in the UK. The author also would like to work and a HR department especially in the manufacturing industry. To achieve the above-mentioned aim, the author has set out two objectives that need to be answered. The first objective that the author state is: To find out how individuals with chocolate retail industry difficulties are treated by the hotel chocolates in the UK (i.e.: the application of the law on equal opportunities towards chocolate retail industry). ... In Chapter two the study continues with the Hotel Chocolat's' Growth in the UK chocolate manufacturing sector about the areas of this study. Next, in Chapter three the study continues with the Customer-Based Analysis. In Chapter four the study continues with the conclusion, recommendations, and statistical reliability and in the last chapter, the author suggests his own personal Recommendations be made in the area of research. Conclusion To conclude after taking into consideration these suggested recommendations, the Chocolat's functions will operate in a better way and a high level of performance will be introduced and the employees will be kept satisfied. What can be done is to recruit more full-timers because the Hotel will be able to invest more, for example in training. In the case where the hotel will have to recruit part timers, it must be ensured that these employees will sign a temporary contract for the summer period. This move will provide the hotel the opportunity to plan in long term in respect with the recruitments.

Financial management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Financial management - Essay Example Shareholders are interested to know if the risk they took in investing in the company provided returns that increase the wealth not only of the company but also of the shareholders as well. II. Critical evaluation of corporate governance of a selected company   The company that is the subject for evaluation of governance in this paper is Leeds PLC. Leeds PLC is the Group has been mainly engaged in textile processing, specialising in fabric printing and yarn dyeing, and by 1996 had manufacturing operations in UK, Holland and Italy. Leeds Group’s trading operations are conducted by Hemmers-Itex Textil Import Export GmbH. Hemmers is based in Nordhorn, Germany and has a Chinese subsidiary based in Shanghai. Together these companies employ some 120 people and achieved fabric sales of 13.1 million linear metres in the year ended 30 September 2009 (Leeds Group 2012). Inferring from the annual report of Leeds PLC, it can be said that the company is conservative in applying its cost. Conservative in applying cost meant providing generous allowance for expense to have a more accurate and realistic cost of the company. In fact, Leeds PLC may be one of few companies who are â€Å"honest enough† to reflect a s of ?454,000 in the fiscal year 2012 (Leeds Group PLC 2012) that would be seen by its shareholders. It is tough for the company to reflect a loss on annual report because it may not sit well with the shareholders who might withdraw their investments in the company and leave the company broke affecting not only its liquidity but also its financial position. The company recognized its loans and receivables at its fair value and subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest rate less provision for impairment (19). Impairment is the difficulty of the part of counter party or default or significant delay in payment. This is significant to mention because Leeds PLC recognize the risk associated in loans and receivables with the provision of impairment which a typical company may not recognize because this could mean an expense that will deduct income. It also reflect as current liabilities cash and cash equivalents that have maturities of three months or less which a less prudent company may hesitate to reflect it in their current liabilities because it will adversely affect their profitability ratio. The company can also be construed as prudent and perhaps more ethical in its expenditure because it made no contributions to political parties but rather donated to UK charities amounting to ?250,000. It also tests its goodwill whether it has suffered any impairment which is a good business practice because it helps the company to remain a going concern in the future. III. Theory   Corporate governance is the business practice of organizations being more mindful to their responsibilities to future generations as well as stakeholders, government and the general public. Until recently, there is a growing trend that or ganizations success’ are not only measured in financial terms but also in the socially responsible practice of f corporate governance because such practice has also economic value (Kemp 2011). Such ethical corporate governance are also to be incorporated in Company Social Responsibility (CSR) which Moir defined as the ‘‘enlightened self-interest or a moral approach linked to social expectations’’ (2001: 17). IV. Relation between performance and corporate governa

Traumatic Brain Injuries in Prison Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Traumatic Brain Injuries in Prison - Essay Example These incidences are seen to increase as one ages where one becomes a danger to those around them. When a person that has suffered from TBI gets incarcerated, the cognitive and behavioral tendencies related to TBI make it difficult for them to adjust to prison life. For this reason, rehabilitation efforts get complicated especially since TBI resultant habits such as drug dependency and psychiatric problems make it difficult for a prisoner to adjust to prison life and life after their conviction (Ferguson et al 11). A large number of prisoners serving their sentences are doing so while suffering from TBI and this complicates the rehabilitation efforts and their ability to function properly when they get back to society. There are approximately two million people living in jails and prisons in America, 25-87% of these are reported as having suffered a TBI or head injury. Further broken down, women imprisoned for violent crimes have a higher chance of having suffered a TBI or another kind of physical abuse prior to their crime. Also, women with a substance abuse disorder are likely to suffer from a TBI while in prison (â€Å"Traumatic Brain Injury†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ). This is an alarming situation as TBI often leads to long-term cognitive impairment making it difficult for persons suffering from it to go through their daily activities and sustain jobs; particularly with persons who are come from prisons or jails. It becomes important to highlight the burden that TBI casts on persons suffering from it. The long-term cognitive impairment depicts its first detrimental effect, which is that it is a disabling injury and this is evidenced by the fact productivity lost as a result of TBI is at 15.7% and this is 14 times that linked to spinal cord injury. The number of persons suffering from TBI is likely to be higher as there are persons that are likely not

Financial management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Financial management - Essay Example Shareholders are interested to know if the risk they took in investing in the company provided returns that increase the wealth not only of the company but also of the shareholders as well. II. Critical evaluation of corporate governance of a selected company   The company that is the subject for evaluation of governance in this paper is Leeds PLC. Leeds PLC is the Group has been mainly engaged in textile processing, specialising in fabric printing and yarn dyeing, and by 1996 had manufacturing operations in UK, Holland and Italy. Leeds Group’s trading operations are conducted by Hemmers-Itex Textil Import Export GmbH. Hemmers is based in Nordhorn, Germany and has a Chinese subsidiary based in Shanghai. Together these companies employ some 120 people and achieved fabric sales of 13.1 million linear metres in the year ended 30 September 2009 (Leeds Group 2012). Inferring from the annual report of Leeds PLC, it can be said that the company is conservative in applying its cost. Conservative in applying cost meant providing generous allowance for expense to have a more accurate and realistic cost of the company. In fact, Leeds PLC may be one of few companies who are â€Å"honest enough† to reflect a s of ?454,000 in the fiscal year 2012 (Leeds Group PLC 2012) that would be seen by its shareholders. It is tough for the company to reflect a loss on annual report because it may not sit well with the shareholders who might withdraw their investments in the company and leave the company broke affecting not only its liquidity but also its financial position. The company recognized its loans and receivables at its fair value and subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest rate less provision for impairment (19). Impairment is the difficulty of the part of counter party or default or significant delay in payment. This is significant to mention because Leeds PLC recognize the risk associated in loans and receivables with the provision of impairment which a typical company may not recognize because this could mean an expense that will deduct income. It also reflect as current liabilities cash and cash equivalents that have maturities of three months or less which a less prudent company may hesitate to reflect it in their current liabilities because it will adversely affect their profitability ratio. The company can also be construed as prudent and perhaps more ethical in its expenditure because it made no contributions to political parties but rather donated to UK charities amounting to ?250,000. It also tests its goodwill whether it has suffered any impairment which is a good business practice because it helps the company to remain a going concern in the future. III. Theory   Corporate governance is the business practice of organizations being more mindful to their responsibilities to future generations as well as stakeholders, government and the general public. Until recently, there is a growing trend that or ganizations success’ are not only measured in financial terms but also in the socially responsible practice of f corporate governance because such practice has also economic value (Kemp 2011). Such ethical corporate governance are also to be incorporated in Company Social Responsibility (CSR) which Moir defined as the ‘‘enlightened self-interest or a moral approach linked to social expectations’’ (2001: 17). IV. Relation between performance and corporate governa

Financial Aid is Not Always the Answer Essay Example for Free

Financial Aid is Not Always the Answer Essay The United States is known for getting involved in affairs that does not concern them all in the name of foreign policy. Nonetheless, its stance regarding its foreign policies have undoubtedly helped other nations especially those economically-challenged at the same time serving the US’ own interest. However, its policy in relation to Armenia and the so-called Armenian Genocide is nil to the least. As it is the United States’ aim to help Armenia, it has not yet officially recognized that the Armenian Genocide indeed occurred. Admittedly, democracy in Armenia is still a work in progress and it still has a long way to go especially now that elections are set this year. The United States despite its hesitation to fully acknowledge the atrocities committed by the Turks in 1915 and even until now against the Armenians, can nevertheless help in aiding Armenia and put a stop to the Armenian genocide. There is no easy way but to go head on. The first step would be to appoint and send an Ambassador that fully knows and understands the situation and plight of the Armenians. When John Evans, Ambassador to Armenia used the word â€Å"genocide† in public to describe the deaths of some 1. 2 million Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Turks, this prompted a controversy that eventually cost Evans his job. Although none of the Ambassadors, other than Evans has affirmed and recognized the Armenian genocide during Senate confirmation hearings, it is imperative that the members of the diplomatic corps or nominees for the ambassador post must recognize and understand as well as refer to the Armenian genocide. Once this is done, other forms as well as policies of aiding will soon follow. Nonetheless, it cannot be denied that despite the aids sent by the United States, totaling to $75 million seemed to be not working at all. In fact, instead of going back to their national homeland, Armenians have left the country, including the 30 percent of its working population. The country is wrought with corruption and poverty and despite the immense aid provided from foreign sources, the country seems like it has just recovered from the genocide. Hence, in order to help the Armenians, change must start from within the country because admittedly even if foreign aid would still continue, it would still be useless considering that the money for aid sent is not used for the growth of the country. The United States has supported the Georgians and the Ukrainians in their quest for change in their respective countries. If it will support, even encourage the Armenians in its quest for a revolutionary and peaceful change, through its policies, perhaps it could help the Armenians who are still languishing in poverty and corruption. Therefore, the financial aid that it is providing for the Armenians is not the way to aid the Armenians and the victims of genocide. It is to help them shape their internal policies and shape the country into a clean and habitable homeland. The bottom line for this is: if we really want to help the Armenians and the victims of genocide, then it is imperative that we recognize what happened in 1915 as it is – genocide in the least. The Armenian Genocide undoubtedly has prompted the first large-scale international human rights movement in the United States and financial aid is not just enough, we have make sure that this does not happen again, not only in Armenia but in other countries as well to which the United States has vested interests.

The poverty trap

The poverty trap SHORT ESSAY Topic: Getting households out of the poverty trap requires a greater focus on the â€Å"demand† side rather than the â€Å"supply† side. Introduction Despite the substantial amount of research undertaken to study the economic growth and development and analyse how it facilitates the poverty reduction, there has not been still one remedy discovered to make poor countries rich. Poverty continues to be the cause of suffering of millions of people around the globe, who are caught in a poverty trap. Azariadis and John Stachurski (2005) define the poverty trap as â€Å"any self-reinforcing mechanism which causespoverty to persist†. Those mechanisms causing poverty to persist can include, for instance, limited access to education, inadequate nutrition, lack of public health care, limited access to credit and capital markets, inefficient governance, social instability and poor infrastructure. We can use one of the listed mechanisms to illustrate the emergence of the poverty trap. Limited access to education leads to an increased level of illiteracy among the poor, which further determines the niche the poor can take in the labour m arket. Being uneducated, the poor is restricted to perform unskilled labour, which does not pay high wages and brings the poor’s income level down. Income deprivation subsequently leads to inadequate nutrition, limited access to education, etc. That is the trajectory poor households follow towards falling into the poverty trap. What are the ways to get households out of the poverty trap? There are two types of policies, â€Å"supply† and â€Å"demand† side policy interventions, which are applied to break the poverty trap. â€Å"Supply† side policies aim to directly provide services to the poor that may focus among other spheres of concern on education, health, or infrastructure, whereas the â€Å"demand† side policy proponents argue that first poor should demand these services, otherwise they are going to be ineffective. The author of this essay shares the latter point of view as well. Evidence suggests that enabling poor people to participate in determining services they need, their quality and quantity is critical in ensuring policy intervention’s success. To guarantee sustainability of the results there should be social accountability in place, which allows poor people to hold the government accountable for the decisions and choices it makes for the poor. We also build our argument based on a country example from Bangladesh, where a â€Å"demand† side financing intervention has outperformed a â€Å"supply† side financing intervention in the healthcare sector. Hence, this essay aims to argue that getting households out of the poverty trap requires a greater focus on the â€Å"demand† side rather than the â€Å"supply† side. Voices of the Poor Mani et al (2013) argue that being preoccupied with pressing financial concerns the poor have fewer cognitive resources to guide their choice and action; therefore, they are unable to take informed decisions due to their poor mental capabilities. Thus, taking this fact into consideration â€Å"supply† side policies are designed to help the poor to get out of poverty without hearing their voices. It is believed that the government can decide better what is needed to get the poor out of the poverty trap on poor people’s behalf. However, according to the World Development Report (2004), â€Å"public services often fail people – in access, quantity, and quality†. The report emphasizes that the main reason of the failed efforts of the developing countries to make services work for the poor is the extent to which poor people themselves are engaged in determining the quality and the quantity of the services which they are entitled to. Services can work better if â€Å"poor people are put at the centre of service provision by enabling them to monitor and discipline services providers by strengthening their voice in policymaking and by reinforcing the incentives for providers to serve the poor† (World Development Report, 2004). However, the â€Å"supply† side proponents will argue that a well-targeted strategy of the â€Å"supply† side performance incentives could on its own be enough to achieve the desired outcomes, for instance, drawing upon an example from Nicaragua where a conditional cash transfer program showed â€Å"significant improvements in immunizations, growth monitoring, and reductions in stunting† (Regalà ­a, F. and Castro, L., 2009). Upon completion of the program an evaluation was conducted to identify the impact the combined â€Å"supply† and â€Å"demand† side intervention had. The evaluation showed that combining â€Å"supply† and â€Å"demand† side policies can significantly increase the use of health services among poor households and improve health outcomes. Furthermore, the evaluation aimed to assess the impact â€Å"demand† side incentives alone played in this intervention. For this purpose, an evaluation about ten months after â€Å"demand† side incentives had been stopped in certain areas was conducted, and it revealed that take-up rates for preventive health care services still remained high. The evaluation explained this result by the possibility that the program strategy dramatically improved provider outreach activities during the initial stage of implementation and thus the access of poor households to health services, reducing the costs of time and travel to reach healthcare service delivery points was also improved. It is possible, therefore, that a well-targeted strategy of â€Å"supply† side performance incentives could, on its own, be enough to achieve and maintain high levels of health care service use among poor rural populations in Nicaragua (Regalà ­a, F. and Castro, L., 2009). Although this example shows that â€Å"supply† side policies on their own can be efficient in helping the poor to get better access to health care services, we need to bear in mind that this is only one example and, therefore, it cannot be representative of all â€Å"supply† side policy interventions. It is also stressed by the evaluation that the success of the program might be because provider outreach activities were improved; thus, we question here that should â€Å"demand† side incentives, such as incentives for health providers to develop efficient plans to expand coverage rapidly in underserved areas, were not there from the beginning of the program the outcome of the program could have been less successful. Sustainability and Social Accountability Designing policy interventions based solely on the â€Å"supply† side approach ensures less sustainability. When the poor are not knowledgeable enough about the policy intervention and, therefore, less concerned about maintaining the results of the policy once it is completed, the intervention will have a short-term impact. This is one of the concerns often raised by aid agencies (International Labour Organization, 2001). A policy intervention is regarded as sustainable in case it carries on indeterminately with no further donor involvement or support, whether it be financial or otherwise. With a greater focus on the â€Å"demand† side, this concern is more likely to be addressed. In particularly, focusing policies on capacity building of the poor in terms of educating them about their rights, public services they are entitled to receive, the role they can play in improving their livelihood, providing more information about the stakeholders involved in policy design and implementation, etc., can be conducive to poverty reduction and, hence, to sustainable development. For instance, Economic Development Institute (1996) suggests that non-governmental organizations can assist the poor to identify their needs and identify their priorities. These measures will build poor people’s capacity to demand services they need and hold policymakers accountable for their actions and policy choices. In other words, this will strengthen social accountability that relies on civil engagement, i.e. in which â€Å"the poor can participate directly or indirectly in exacting accountability† (World Bank, 2004). This mechanism can function only through the demand side approach as it operates from the bottom-up (World Bank, 2004). It can be though argued that poor people caught in the poverty trap will be less concerned about social accountability when, for instance, they lack basic access to nutrition and clean water in the first place. Therefore, it is inefficient to consider developing soft skills of the poor until they have basic infrastructure, which would allow them to sustain their living and only then they can take a next step to improving their capacity and benefiting from social accountability. Poor people need immediate help today. Building capacity of the poor will take longer time to show its results. Additionally, the â€Å"supply† side of governance already uses certain measures such as checks and balances, administrative rules and procedures, auditing requirements, and formal law enforcement mechanisms to tackle the challenge of accountability. Indeed, â€Å"supply† side policies aim to address immediate needs of the poor. However, the intervention can be considered successful if it is sustainable. Relying on the present-bias, i.e. immediate provision of services â€Å"today† rather than investment in developing capacity of the poor for greater results in the longer term, does not guarantee sustainability in the long run. As a result, the poor can only temporary get out of the poverty trap and then again be trapped into poverty once the intervention is completed. Empowering the poor through social accountability enables sustainable development. While the supply based approach is an intervention that is limited to provision of services only and does not spread much beyond to improvement in governance, social accountability serves a multiple purpose and, therefore, has a long-lasting effect. As such, social accountability facilitates improvement in governance, ensures development effectiveness through a more-pro -poor policy design and, lastly, empowers poor people to demand goods and services they need most. As to the accountability measures used by the â€Å"supply† side of governance, evidences suggests that â€Å"these â€Å"top-down† accountability promoting mechanisms have met with only limited success in many countries, both developed and developing† (World Bank, 2004). As a result, social accountability measures described above are preferred. â€Å"Demand† Side Financing Furthermore, having analyzed a number of â€Å"supply† side interventions and behaviors of the poor we can restate that it’s crucial to focus more on the â€Å"demand† side interventions. One of the main sectors covered by the â€Å"supply† side polices is a healthcare sector. Studies show that despite considerable subsidies allocated towards the supply side the access to the health care systems among the poor remains low. To address this drawback new â€Å"demand† side financing mechanisms are introduced (Schmidt, J., Ensor, T., Hossain, A. and Khan, S., 2010). These mechanisms transfer purchasing power to the targeted groups for defined healthcare goods and services. This measure is aimed to increase poor households’ access to specified goods and services. In particularly, such mechanism was applied in Bangladesh, where a maternal voucher scheme was implemented. The scheme provided vouchers to poor women that entitled them to receive skille d care at home or a facility and also provided payments for transport and food (Schmidt, J., Ensor, T., Hossain, A. and Khan, S., 2010). The evaluation of the program suggests that the take-up of vouchers was more rapid when the scheme was implemented through the â€Å"demand† side financing than previously through the â€Å"supply† based financing. Authors of the report describe the earlier implemented scheme through the â€Å"supply† side financing as an â€Å"apparent failure†, when all resources were allocated to the supply side and it was assumed that those with need will be able to access services. While â€Å"supply† side financing schemes can improve their outreach to the poor by constructing hospitals in the remote rural areas or providing funds for transport or transport itself to reach hospitals in cities, and improving service quality, so that people can have easier access to public healthcare services. However, as practice shows that is rather challenging. Gupta, I., Joe, W. and Rudra, S. (2010)state that policymakers in developing countries have come to realize that public health services have not been achieving desired outcomes due to â€Å"a significant lack of efficiency, fairness in service provision and its quality†. Although, the â€Å"demand† side financing can be questioned with regards to the quality of healthcare services left to the providers’ discretion, the â€Å"demand† side interventions are implemented with an assumption that service providers are responsible for the service quality assurance, and if intervention beneficiaries are left to choose from a set of service providers, it is assumed that there is a considerable number of service providers to choose from. However, returning back to the example from Bangladesh we conclude that demand-side financing schemes are more effective based on the available data, which suggests that the rise in the voucher take-up appeared to be more rapid through the â€Å"demand† side financing scheme than through other non-demand side financing (â€Å"supply† side financing) areas. Conclusion In the course of this essay we aimed to emphasize that getting poor households out of the poverty trap requires a greater focus on the â€Å"demand† side interventions rather than the â€Å"supply† side interventions. In particularly, we highlighted the evidence proving this argument through examples of the assumed cognitive poverty of the poor, where practitioners on the contrary bring evidence that those interventions that involve the poor in determining the quantity and quality of services they need prove to be more efficient. We also brought up the idea of social accountability that is critical not only in ensuring effectiveness and efficiency of the poverty alleviation programs, but also in improving governance and maintaining sustainability of the policy outcomes. Finally, we dwelled into a particular example of a policy intervention from Bangladesh, which aimed to provide vouchers to poor women that entitled them to receive skilled care at home or a facility and also provided payments for transport and food. The evaluation of this intervention helped us to analyze the results of both â€Å"demand† side financing and â€Å"supply† side financing. We reconfirmed that evidence from Bangladesh also proves that â€Å"demand† side policies are more effective in reaching the poor and addressing their needs. Bibliography: Azariadis, C. and Stachurski, J. (2005). Poverty Traps,Handbook of Economic Growth. World Bank, (2004).World Development Report 2004: Making Services Work for Poor People. Washington D.C.: World Bank. Regalà ­a, F. and Castro, L. (2009).Nicaragua: Combining Demand- and Supply-Side Incentives. Washington D.C. Economic Development Institute (1996).The Design and Management of Poverty Reduction Programs and Projects in Anglophone Africa: Proceedings of a Seminar Sponsored Jointly by the Economic Management Institute. Washington D.C. Mani, A. et al (2013). Poverty Impedes Cognitive Function. Science, 341(6149), p. 976-980. International Labour Organization, (2001).Mainstreaming Poverty Alleviation Strategies through Sustainable Rural Infrastructure Development. p.14. World Bank, (2004).Social Accountability: An Introduction to the Concept and Emerging Practice. Social Development Papers. Participation and Civic Engagement. Paper No. 76. Washington D.C.: World Bank. Gupta, I., Joe, W. and Rudra, S. (2010).Demand Side Financing in Health: How far can it address the issue of low utilization in developing countries?. World Health Report. Background Paper, 27. Schmidt, J., Ensor, T., Hossain, A. and Khan, S. (2010). Vouchers as demand side financing instruments for health care: A review of the Bangladesh maternal voucher scheme.Health Policy, [online] 96(2), pp.98-107. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.healthpol.2010.01.008 [Accessed 1 Nov. 2014].