Ethical Issue Facing The Technology Industry Commerce Essay

Ethical Issue Facing The Technology Industry Commerce Essay Ethical issue facing industry (Charlie). We chose to take a look into the technology industry for our ethical analysis. We chose this industry because in todays world, technology has become a massive aspect in our everyday lives. Everyday technology is growing and become a bigger part in the world and the way it runs. Ethics is defined in the dictionary as, the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation. So we wanted to look into an industry that has had issues and would be worth our time looking into. Some issues that face the technology industry for companies like Apple, IBM, and Google are production issues as well as the selling practices. Specifically for Apple, a big issue that they are facing is their both production and selling practices. Apple has their products made overseas in places like China while the goal of a company should be to increase jobs in the countries that they are in. Apple is also taking advantage of China and the fact that the average worker makes under $200 per week. Apple has decided to do this; however, because if they made their iPads in the United States, they would cost over $1,100. So yes, they may be doing the people a favor in terms of price by creating these iPads overseas, but at the same time they are taking advantage of a country in China because they know how cheap the labor market is there. We make products overseas because Chinese manufacturing jobs are paid 1/30th of the United States median salaries for manufacturing jobs (Thompson, Der ek). These businesses, especially Apple, are churning out products on a quick, regular basis. So what Apple has done is created a massive profit margin on their products so that they can keep creating new products, which are essentially software updates, instead of just allowing people to upgrade their software solely. Apple has made it so that their 32 gb iPad 2 sells for $729, but when you add up their labor and material costs to make these iPads, it only comes out to about $325. This gives Apple a profit margin of around 54% and allows them to have customers buy brand new products instead of just allowing them to upgrade the software on their products that they purchased within the past year (Thompson, Derek). Companies like Google are facing issues of being deceptive and need to show more Corporate Social Responsibility because their customer is the most important aspect of their company. Privacy International ranked Google as the worst in its survey, they say that Google is the worst when it comes to respecting their users privacy. Congress was also warned about applications that Google was marketing on Capitol Hill because people believe that there were privacy and security risks. Google also does not disclose its conflicts of interest; they keep their customers in the dark, also not fulfilling their social responsibility. Google says that they work for the people that use their site but Google really works for advertisers on their sites. People who use Google pay nothing to use it, so Google has a conflict of interest of whether theyre working for their users, who are their customers, or the advertisers on their site. This makes users of Google have a false sense of security while usin g the site and can put users at risk of being defrauded. Google is all about who will make them the most money, and not about doing things the right way. They say they hold auctions for awarding keyword searches to the highest bidder but to whoever makes Google the most money. Google has also been accused of stealing, which is neither ethical nor responsible. Viacom sued Google for a clearly illegal business model. Google is also being sued by no less than five different industries. Viacom is suing Google in the TV broadcasting industry. Motion Picture Association has sued Google over aiding the piracy of films by promoting sites that allow users to download movies without buying them. Some trademark owners have had Google sell keywords that are their brands, which in turn has created brand confusion. Book publishers and newspapers for things like copyright infringement, and illegal use of newspaper headlines have also sued Google. Google has shown little ethical compass as well. When former CEO Eric Schmidt was confronted about the fact that Google and their privacy issue, Schmidt said that they were not concerned with privacy and protection because it would slow down Google and their performance. Google has placed speed over their ethics and social respo nsibility to their users. It is clearly unethical to place profits and money over customers and ethics. (Cleland, Scott). Some ethical issues facing a company like IBM, which is big into things like Information Technology (IT). People who work in IT for IBM has several things that they need to look at. People in IT play a large role in helping shape ethical aspects of their organizations. IBM has to look into privacy and establish a freedom from intrusion for the customers as well as control of their customers personal information and as well as allowing customers to avoid unwarranted surveillance. IBM works to help their customers keep these three aspects intact. IBM is working to protect the privacy of their customers so they can avoid being defrauded and other problems that may arise. The SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) has accused IBM of bribing officials in the governments of South Korea with both cash and free computers. These bribes supposedly helped IBM obtain contracts in South Korea that worth a supposed millions of dollars. IBM has also been charged with creating secret funds for officials in China as well. This shows how bribery overseas has become a large issue for United States companies. This showed a problem that IBM had in their department of internal controls to stop these problems. IBM was calling these payments as legitimate expenses that were used for businesses. IBM was essentially forging their books and records, also a very unethical practice. IBM was working with travel agencies to help create fake invoices. (Hilzenrath, David S). These businesses within the technology industry are where we thought we found the biggest ethical issues concerning social responsibility of the corporations in terms of things like bribery, privacy and other ethical issues. We believe these are the biggest issues facing companies today and thought it would be helpful to see how they affect such a large and growing industry in our world today. Pressures facing the industry (Alicia) There are many pressures that impact the technology industry. Most of the pressures that are growing for this industry come from employees, governments, consumers, suppliers, advocacy groups, and stakeholders. Some of the areas that are receiving attention with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) are as follows: global responsibility, transparency with company information, environment issues, and safe labor practices (Cadmus, 2009). Global Responsibility Most companies in the technology industry, such as Apple, IBM, and Google, are Multinational Corporations (MNCs). This causes those companies to be in the spotlight as a leader. Consumers, governments, and advocacy groups for CSR expect these MNCs to step up and assume wider responsibilities in the social arena (Smith, 2003). Society sees big businesses that are growing globally and gaining more power, and they believe that with the power comes an obligation to attend to the community in which it operates (Smith, 2003). Apple, for example, is one of the most powerful companies in the world, let alone the technology industry. Because of that and the fact that they continually are innovating in creating new types of technology, people believe that Apple should use that innovation to help the world and contribute to social change. According to a Forbes article, Technology has become central to fighting disease, distributing food, improving education, and Apple should be a leader (Klein, 2011). Transparency Companies are receiving pressure from society to be transparent in their business practices. People, such as employees and stakeholders, are searching for the answers about how these companies are doing business and where their products are coming from. At this day and age, customers can find out any information they want about companies, with all of the social media available. Therefore, the pressure to be highly transparent about both good and bad things in the company is becoming more and more important (Monahan, 2012). The idea is that if businesses dont put their information out there, people will still find it and it will look as though the business was trying to hide that information from the public. Environment Activist groups are making a movement to make sure businesses are taking care of the environment while conducting their business operations. Of course there are government regulations that companies are legally supposed to follow, but there are also many groups that put the pressure on these companies to go over any beyond. As the need for energy increases, pressure increases on these technology companies to reduce materials used for their products, reduce effects of production processes in the environment, and use materials in production that have a smaller environmental impact (Business for Social Responsibility, 2011). Safe labor The media is really affecting how companies have been running with their unsafe labor standards. Businesses can no longer get away with child labor and unfair working conditions in foreign countries like they used to. If they do, they will most likely get caught because all of the different types of medias will find it and broadcast the companys unethical practices. Apple has become scrutinized in the media because of their unfair labor practices involving their manufacturing partner Foxconn and its subsidiaries (Sethi, 2012). Increased pressure on Apple and Foxconn has at least lessened their amount of unethical labor practices overseas, but it still hasnt done away with it completely. These pressures on the technology industry will likely decrease shareholder value on each firm if nothing is done about it. However, trends are showing that these firms are taking the pressures of ethical issues seriously. If the businesses continue to improve on their CSR, it is most likely that shareholder value and profitability will rise because of their ethical stance in society. Corporate social responsibility activities (Josh) CSR Activities IBM: IBM has shown in many ways that they support the communities they serve and strive to make not only themselves better but also the communities they operate in. IBM provided nearly $12 million in grants in 2011 to 4,000 schools and non-profit organizations where IBM members were volunteered. These grants were given to projects that applied innovation and professional skills to improve the communities that they served. IBM also has a grant program that gives up to $100,000 to innovative projects created by its employees that deal with healthcare, energy conservation and food safety. Along with this, IBM has a program that it calls Celebration of Service that encourages their employees to go out and volunteer at least eight hours for any cause that they wish support. Many individuals volunteered in areas of education, healthcare disaster relief and conservation. All-in-all, the program has yielded nearly 3.2 million hours of service from its employees in 120 countries across the globe. Lastly, IBM has a program that is called The Smarter Cities Challenge in which IBM sends top experts from different backgrounds to 100 cities across the globe for three weeks. While these experts are in these cities, they work with the local governments to make recommendations to try to make the city smarter and more effective. These recommendations come in the areas of administration, citizen engagement, economic development, education and workforce, environmental, public safety, transportation and urban planning. Through this program, IBM is trying to help make cities across the globe become more effective and efficient (2011 Corporate Social Responsibilities, 2012). Apple: Over the past year, Apple has tried to improve its appearance in the area of corporate social responsibility. Apple has made a significant effort to perform more audits on their supply chain. In 2011, Apple performed 229 total audits, 80% more audits than it did in 2010 with Steve Jobs as CEO. Of these 229 audits, more than 100 of them were performed on companies that had not been previously audited by Apple. Through these evaluations of its supply chain, Apple found several environmental and labor issues, but they claim to have handled the situation by enforcing their policies and helping their suppliers management teams to take corrective action to ensure that it would not happen again. Apple has also recently added 100,000 more manufacturing employees to its program to help ensure that its current employees do not exceed their 60-hour maximum hours a week (Supplier Responsibilites, 2012). Apple has also recently started a program for its employees that will match any employees don ation to a charity program of up to $10,000 (Hughes 2011). Apple has also made a conscious effort to reduce the amount of carbon emissions produced when manufacturing all of its products. In 2011, Apple reported that all of its products had a reduction in the amount of carbon emissions during the manufacturing process. Apple TV has seen 90% reduction in carbon emissions since 2007, MacBook Pro has seen a 21% reduction since 2007, and iPad has had a 5% reduction since 2010. Apple has also removed all of the toxic substances from its products that other companies still use, such as lead, mercury and arsenic in their glass screens. Because of this, Apple is years ahead of their competitors in technology, but also very socially responsible for taking these steps past their competitors to ensure their products will not harm the environment. Apple has also made all of its products extremely energy efficient. For example, an average 60-watt incandescent light bulb uses 48.4 grams of CO2 em issions per hour, while the 2011 MacBook Pro air only uses 7.4 grams an hour. All of Apples products not only meet the Environmental Protection Agencys strict Energy Star law, but they also exceed them. Lastly, Apple has made an effort to reduce and minimize the materials used in packaging its products. Since 2007, Apple has reduced the amount of packaging needed for the iPhone by 42 percent, allowing them to ship 80 percent more boxes in each airline-shipping container (Apple and the Environment, 2012). Google: Google has programs that give grants to select charitable organizations by giving them ad space on their site for free. Some of these organizations represent things such as animal rights, literacy to abandoned children and HIV education. Google has many other grant programs, especially supporting areas in Asian countries, giving grants to colleges and education programs. The most recent included giving 164 computers to the Green Computer Action for Poverty Alleviation. Google also attempts to be socially responsible with its environmental procedures. Google claims that to provide a user with three full weeks of streaming YouTube videos, Google only uses the amount of energy it takes to do one load of laundry. Googles data centers are some of the most efficient in the world, only using 50% of what the average data center uses. Not only does Googles data centers use less energy than most, Google has also began to use 33% of its total energy needed through renewable energy sources such as wind farms and solar panels on some of it facilities. Googles main focus is try to offset the carbon footprint it produces by investing in and using more renewable energy than it uses (A better web. Better for the envrinoment. 2012) In conclusion, not much was found IBM trying to improve its corporate social responsibility in areas of bribery and privacy. Although, IBM is still notably one of the most responsible companies in the industry and the world. IBM has many programs to help the communities that it operates in all across the globe. Next, Apple has made attempts to become more responsible within its supply chain and labor practices within the last two years. Apple has also maintained its solid reputation for being an environmentally conscious and consumer conscious company. They have made attempts implement change in the ways their production practices. Google, on the other hand, has not made many changes in the areas of deception and fraud. However, they are known for being a very environmentally friendly company. Social/Ethical Investment Policy Recommendation: In todays corporate society, it can be rather difficult to find a company that has strict adherence to ethical standards it has place for corporate social responsibility. However, there are some firms in the marketplace that are dedicated to both doing business in a socially responsible way and also increasing shareholder value. Therefore, it is important for Virginia Tech to take into account the corporate social responsibility of the companies for which they invest. Due to the fact that Virginia Tech is educating thousands of the worlds future business leaders, they should make sure they are setting the right example for America future. If Virginia Tech ignores how companies do business, and instead just focus on who can provide them with the cheapest price, it start a slippery slope among the young minds that receive their education at the institution. Also, since Virginia Tech offers an Ethical Leadership class that stresses the importance of corporate social responsibility, it w ould seem to very hypocritical if it were not to follow on the exact information it dissents to students. Therefore, it seems incredibly important to me that Virginia emerge as leader among state intuitions and makes ethical responsibility one of the main factors it uses when making investment decisions. Most of the reasons for Virginia Tech incorporating ethical issues into their investment decisions are ethical but there are also some financial aspects as well. First, Virginia Tech will need to accept the fact they often times the most ethically responsible company may not be the cheapest option out on the market. Therefore, they will need to plan for the fact they may end up with smaller investments or gains because the most ethical company may not necessarily be the best investment. However, just because Virginia Tech chooses to not invest in unethical companies with higher returns, does not mean the University will lose money. Simply put, the University will have to spend more searching for ethically sound companies that also reap high returns on their investments. Choosing to investment responsible companies will be a time intensive strategy that may not pay off in the short term, but long term will definitely have its benefits. Also, because of the amount of time spent searchi ng for ethically smart investments, the process may come under fire by shareholders (Fontinelle, 2012). Therefore, choosing to invest in responsible companies will be a difficult decision but one that is right for Virginia Tech in the long run. Clearly, Virginia Tech should be expected to make financial sacrifices in their investment decisions in order to make sure they are choosing the most socially responsible company. With the business strategy so clearly focused on the bottom line and not how a company achieves this number, Virginia Tech would truly be living out its Ut Prosim motto. By establishing itself as a company that will only invest in the most socially responsible companies, more and more industries will choose to follow this avenue. Virginia Tech is a large institution that investors would be enthusiastic to receive funds from. If Virginia Tech makes it clear that they will only invest in companies that have strict ethical standards, more companies will oblige to these rules to gain the Universitys business Therefore, the amount of unethical companies will diminish making investment choices for the University all the easier. By establishing itself as an an ethical investor, Virginia Tech could diminish the amo unt of irresponsible firms in the marketplace, while increasing the amount of companies that perform business in the right way. Investment Recommendations (Charlie) We believe that Virginia Tech could and should invest in firms in the technological industry. The technological industry is a massive industry and still growing every single day. It would be beneficial for Virginia Tech to get involved with companies in this industry because the world now runs on technology. The dependency of the world on technology has become incredible. Everyone knows how to use technology and everyone wants to be updated with the newest products. Yes, there are possible problems and ethical issues that arise in this industry, but it does not mean that everyone in this industry have problems arising constantly. This industry has been growing with such rapid pace that it would be beneficial for Virginia Tech to get invested in this area. Virginia Tech should most certainly favor firms that are more socially responsible in the technology industry. The most important thing when it comes to investing is making sure that you are investing in a company that has an investment in you. Virginia Tech needs to look into companies that have a history of being socially and ethically responsible. The returns may not be as great as the very top companies in this industry but if they go with a company that is socially responsible, they are less likely to run the risk of being hurt by the company not fulfilling their responsibilities. Virginia Tech is also a school that is big into technology as well and the best way for them to set a positive example is for them to invest in socially responsible companies. This will benefit companies that may not be at the very top of scale. This could start a trend where other schools and investors will be more open to the idea of investing in companies that are more socially responsible. This may turn the mentality of the investor by moving their motive from most profit to most socially responsible.

Citizen Kane: Exposing the Truth about William Randolph Hearst Essay

Citizen Kane: Exposing the Truth about William Randolph Hearst Many have called Citizen Kane the greatest cinematic achievement of all time. It is indeed a true masterpiece of acting, screen writing, and directing. Orson Welles, its young genius director, lead actor, and a co-writer, used the best talents and techniques of the day (Bordwell 103) to tell the story of a newspaper giant, Charles Kane, through the eyes of the people who loved and hated him. However, when it came out, it was scorned by Hollywood and viewed only in the private theaters of RKO, the producer. Nominated for nine Academy Awards, it was practically booed off the stage, and only won one award, that for Best Screenplay, which Welles and Herman Mankiewicz shared (Mulvey 10). This was all due to the pressure applied by the greatest newspaper man of the time, one of the most powerful men in the nation, the man Citizen Kane portrayed as a corrupt power monger, namely William Randolph Hearst. One cannot ignore the striking similarities between Hearst and Kane. In order to make clear at the outset exactly what he intended to do, Orson Welles included a few details about the young Kane that, given even a rudimentary knowledge of Hearst's life, would have set one thinking about the life of that newspaper giant. Shortly after the film opens, a reporter is seen trying to discover the meaning of Kane's last word, "Rosebud." He begins his search by going through the records of Kane's boyhood guardian, Thatcher. The scene comes to life in midwinter at the Kane boarding house. Kane's mother has come into one of the richest gold mines in the world through a defaulting boarder, and at age twenty-five, Kane will inherit his sixty million dollars (Citizen Kane)... ...r himself by abusing the most potent weapon and shield of his day, the free press. "If I hadn't been very rich, I might have been a really great man." (Orson Welles, Citizen Kane) Bibliography 1)Bordwell, David. "Citizen Kane," Focus on Orson Welles. Prentice-Hall,1976. 2)Cowie, Peter. The Cinema of Orson Welles. De Capo Press, 1973. 3)Citizen Kane. dir. Orson Welles. With Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Dorothy Comingore. RKO, 1941. 4)Mulvey, Laura. Citizen Kane. BFI, 1992. 5)Reflections on Citizen Kane. dir. Unknown. Turner Home Entertainment,1991. 6)Robinson, Judith. The Hearsts: an American Dynasty. Avon Books, 1991. 7)Swanberg, W.A. Citizen Hearst. Scribner, 1961. Bantam Matrix Edition, 1967. 8)Zinman, David. Fifty Classic Motion Pictures: The Stuff that Dreams are Made Of. NY Crown Publishers, 1970. NY Limelight Editions, 1992.

Cohens Acting Power :: Essays Papers

Cohens Acting Power The main point of Cohen’s Acting Power is balance. In the book, he brings up concepts, sites examples, sometimes brings exercises to help his point, and restates the point. I personally did not like this book, but I did not hate it. At times, it was confusing, very vague, and hard to understand, but at the same time, this indicates the difficulty of the concepts Cohen is conveying. Many of the ideas and concepts in this book are hard to explain by word, much less typed word, so I gave this book more patience than I normally would with a regular textbook. One aspect that I did really like, was how Cohen brought everything back into focus in the last chapter on Alignment. Alignment is how an actor chooses to handle the four attributes to a performance; situation, character, style and performance. Proper alignment of how an actor handles the situation, the behavior and style of the character, and performing in front of an audience usually brings a good performance. It isn’t enough to get three out of four, because each attribute is important. Throughout the book, I found things that I had trouble grasping, and many times, they didn’t seem like they’re related to each other, but at the end of the book, the chapter on alignment, it all made much more sense to me. The book is structured like how alignment should be constructed. In the first two chapters it went through stuff about situations, then character, then style and performance. At the end, the book tied how everything relates. I think that the most important thing I got from this book, is the relacom concepts. I found if I translate almost every line of a scene, the intentions reveal themselves, and the delivery of line, is much more convincing. Another concept that I have always wanted to express, but couldn’t find the words, is the idea of ethno-centricity. I can’t remember which chapter it was in, but it explained that everyone thinks their own world is the center, and to properly build a character, sometimes you must lose this ethno-centiricity.

Differing Mentalities In Hip Hop And Rock :: essays research papers

Some of my friends listen to certain genres of rock music, some listen to hip-hop. Despite our friendship we have differing views upon each genres of music. Having listened to both genres of music at one point in my life I have an understanding of why some rock listeners would be quick to reject hip-hop as meaningful, complex and valid art form. The production of hip-hop music first consisted of two turntables and a microphone. The originators of the music who embraced the essence of spoken word in a rhythmic format, were working with the best of what they had living in a situation of poverty. As time and technology progressed, and became cheaper, the production of hip-hop became digital. Beat machines, computer programs that sequenced samples and DAT players that recorded vocals all combined in a computer to produce a finishing product known as hip-hop. Rock music consisted of a drummer, a guitar and a bassist. As time and technology progressed the instruments of this music also changed. The introduction of the electric guitar connected to amps and speakers. Guitar players were able to distort the sound giving it a louder angrier tone. Although technological progress has changed the method in which hip-hop is produced, rock music is still traditionally played with guitarists, drummer and bassists. The actual music being played in hip-hop is simplistic. Traditional hip-hip will not exceed 8 bars of music and is looped over and over again. It is usually a repetition of one-note with quarter note intervals or mere arpeggios, or just the use of a sample with simple bass and constant drum line. There is a reason for this simplicity. If hip-hop were more melodic, it would clutter the MC. Therefore the beat in hip-hop plays a secondary role, accompanying the MC. The focus of hip-hop music is not in the actual music being produced but is the content of the message that the MC is attempting to portray. Of course some have more meaningful things to say than others. The simplicity of hip-hop is where most of the rock listeners find hip-hop music unappealing, because of the â€Å"lack of skill† in the production of music compared to that of rock. Majority of rock music is more complex than hip-hop concerning the actual music being played. There is more effort in the production of t he notes being played as it grows from a theme and is harmonized, while the drums play a more active role, as the song progresses and reaches its climax.

To What Extent Was the Financial Crisis Caused by Too Much or Too Little Government Intervention?

Discussed in this essay will be key factors that played in the development of the financial crisis of 2007, an overview of the causes and instruments used to the build up and possible preventions, followed by the influences from the government, if any that had an underlining effect toward the outcome. The Involvement Of New Bank Innovations Bank capital has a massive influence on the banking system effecting loan defaults, profits and lending, although the amount of outstanding lending has not decreased appropriately in early 2007, not being due to new lending but the previous loan commitments, lines of credit and securitisation. . New innovations have allowed banks reliant on funding market sources, with the rise in the covered bond market and the increase in securitisation made banks dependant on capital markets and less dependant on expanding their loan base allowing banks to easily switch deposits to other forms of financing, acquiring funds from affiliates for example.2 Growth i n securitisation activity created a lack of incentive for banks to grant credit and comply with monetary policy changes, an unregulated approach to the screening of borrowers, checks would assume securities passed through the market allowing borrowers in the past declined credit being able to qualify and later on would lead to greater default rates on loans.Thinking that by selling the pool of mortgages banks are also passing on the risk, they exposed themselfs , their underwriting issuances, when the market collapsed banks suffered great losses with their related products, by the start of 2008 CDO related write downs and credit losses had reached $181 billion the massive decline lead to more cautious investors, greater liquidity demand and declining stock, this resulted in massive losses to the bank and securities firms, an example would be the collapse of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers using these examples shows how complex the system was and lead to the decline of CDO value thi s had a direct relation to the US housing market which began early 2007. Derivatives And Insurance The market for subprime mortgages and their securities grew and increased the market for default insurance, taking the form of credit default swaps a derivative security such as the insurance industry this involves gambling, and is estimated $16 trillion greater then the gross domestic product.Government sponsored companies like Fannie Mae refused to lend to buyers wanting to purchase homes in poor areas, agreeing to these terms they would have to show proof, distributing quotas of mortgages to ethnic minorities wishing to buy, when lenders were unable to meet these quotas Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac persuaded lenders to buy subprime mortgages. A poor investment which was made worse by the fact that charges to subprime borrower were at a higher interest rate increasing the risk of default, for lenders it didn’t matter the worth of the investment just as long as they could sell to the secondary mortgage market. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac packaged mortgages to sell the securities solely based on mortgage payments from the mortgages accumulated, creating securities based on the initial first/last claims of mortgage payments.These companies showed a small profit margin using securitisation but were soon to lose after paying over the odds on subprime mortgages and not enough on the default insurance they provided. 4. The resell of a mortgage to a secondary market is commonly known as a mortgage backed security which is often bought by a hedge fund, which then takes out parts of the MBS from the 2nd or 3rd years of the interest only loans, this creates a greater risk but provides a high interest payment, using CDOs with other MBS to then resell to other hedge funds this is known as tranche, profitable until housing prices decline or interest rates restart, making mortgages default.Mortgages provide substantial value for derivatives, if the substantial value is cl assed as corporate debt, credit card debt or auto loans the derivative known as CDO, a payment that is due within a year, for instance insurance it can then be known as a CDS, a complicated market to value, unregulated by the SEC means that a lack of rules and oversights were unable to encourage trust and when bankruptcy occurs results in fear amongst the hedge funds and the banking system. Credit Rating Agencies Credit rating agencies share a fair amount of blame for the financial crisis, very little regulations regarding rating methods and lack corporate governance. The past 2 years changes in the rating system of structured redit has grown evermore unstable and has created a lack of confidence toward the future stability of credit ratings. CRAs lowered credit risk by applying AAA ratings to tranches like that of CDOs, giving the same ratings to government and corporate bonds creating lower returns, poor rating assessments underestimated credit default risks of subprime mortgages, providing unreliable data relating to the subprime market and underestimated relations in the defaults that would occur in a downturn, and with more securitisation meant greater portions of credit assets were held by investors assured by credit ratings, increasing the effects of forced selling by corporations using standard investment rules based on ratings.5. Hedge Funds. The hedge fund industry has grown over the past 2 years, fueled by the demand of higher returns from stock market declines and mounting pension fund liabilities, these inflows have had a positive effect on hedge fund returns and risks in recent years, this has been evident in the changes in reduced performance, increased illiquidity, hedge funds were designed by wealthy investors to work anonymously. At times of financial uncertainty rates on low credit illiquid investments, demand for high credit liquid investments, accompanied by the increase in credit spreads lead to greater margin calls and the relaxing of il liquid positions which generate further losses concluding the hedge fund collapse, these funds relied heavily on leverage and used to buy mortgages, as soon as loans were to default, 9investors left and were faced with abrupt liquidation.Credit spread is the strongest to affect hedge funds and during the crisis they were left with contact to emerging markets and convertible bond arbitrage. Hedge funds have been effected by the instability of the current financial market, bans on short selling, downturn on asset values in markets, the decline to take risks through banks and investors, The banking system is also affected through hedge fund risk from proprietary trading activities, credit arrangements, structured products and prime brokerage services. 6. The government played a part in the crisis in a number of ways, Interest rates were kept below guidelines globally prior to 2007 the unregulated structure of how mortgages were packaged and low risk assessment lead to the ise of house prices and the involvement towards the persuasion to buy MBS with Fannie Mae and similar companies which lead to their bankruptcy. 7 Due to the unpredictable downturn of the situation in late 2007 with complex financial products, a lack of equilibrium in credit ratings, bans and the premature sell out of investors in hedge funds, has created a domino effect in the financial market and resulted in the governments failure to identify the real issues in the collapse, polices associated with liquidity were put forward to only create matters worse, and finally realising the failure of the subprime mortgage market the Troubled Asset Relief Program was brought forward to no effect.The unregulated banking system created instability and was inevitable for the bailouts of banks and failing companies. The government had very little influence toward the preventions of the crisis and that in turn made them heavily responsible for each factor described above, the lack of regulation and constraint s to which resulted in massive cash bailouts with no conditions, this worked as an incentive for the banks to continue as they were, this is evident in the continuation of bonuses despite substantial losses with banks the governments generosity with bailouts allowed companies like Goldman Sachs to put $2. 6 billion aside for bonuses from a $13 billion bailout.

What Do You Think About the View That There Are No Women in The Great Gatsby With Whom the Reader Can Sympathize?

reason is defined as having feelings of sorrow for somebody elses misfortune. In a refreshed, sympathizing in a fictional character aloneows the lecturer to restore to them. In Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby, on that point is no female character with whom we basin interpret. However, at various points within the reinvigorated we do offer our brief condolences to sever in ally character.Through break through the novel Daisy Buchanan appears enigmatic to the referee why is she in a loveless relationship? Why did she leave Gatsby temporary removal on a thread? umteen conclude that the ultimate chapters prove to us in m any(prenominal) musical modes that she is incapable of loving. Shown by her choice to stay with turkey cock for his wealth and security earlier than choosing Gatsby, for she was nauseate by its raw vigour that chaffed. She looks master on the vulgar nature of mint that try and buy their way into the upper berth class as he has done. However, it is pos sible to suggest that she chose Tom after all he didnt build his conglomerate selling illegal alcohol the desires of Gatsby. In addition, it is possible to argue that existence in an unhappy marriage shown by her reaction to Tom speaking to his whore over dinner is a credible reason to which we shadow feel empathy for her. nonwithstanding all of this, however, it is apparent throughout the novel that she is materialistic, promiscuous and immoral. As concisely as Tom leaves she kisses him on the mouth she is non lonesome(prenominal) betraying Tom, only if she acts sloppyly with Gatsbys emotions. He is a character in which the reader can sympathize meaning she is hated. Ultimately, she chooses to behave away with Tom, this is her last act that convinces we, as the reader, to deplore her.Jordan is an equally difficult character to whom we can sympathize however, for different reasons. there is only really one congress womanhood in the novel that contrasts this positi on, and thats when Jordan had met some other freehanded driver in slit. This does keep her emotionally complaisant to us we can feel pity for her. However, this is overshadowed by her neurotic ability to lie. Apparently, she does not give a damn most the end of her and break offs relationship an obvious lie, heretofore it implies that she will move on soon enough. We will never know if she actually met someone else during her and Nicks meeting, but it is unlikely, as she is a neurotic fabricator.Adding to this, we get hold that Jordan is a highly destructive and careless character, rather like Daisy. She casually mentions to Nick that she left a borrowed car out in the rain, and then lied about it She is being careless with other peoples property, delusion about it to ensure she is not modify by any repercussions. It is apparent he that Jordan does not, as a whole, evoke almsgiving with us.Myrtle does not draw any philanthropy from the reader at a first glance. She i s the lower-class mistress to Tom. She is a poor representation of the 1920s woman as she carries her surplus flesh sensuously, meaning she is rather provocative, it is also the only compliment she receives in the book, inferring Toms only use for her is sex not a particularly good use model for women. She is somewhat comparable to Daisy in that her only care is money and materialism, she wants to evasion the upper class, and Tom is her refuge. Her tremendous vim should aid her in this.However, we can sympathize with Myrtle Wilson when she fulfils her tragic achievement. This refers to her death, all she ever wanted to do was to bring out her class and accomplish her American dream, but Nick morbidly realizes that the only way she ever would is through death. Much like Gatsby, her dream is forever doomed.Myrtle, in my mind is a character with we can sympathize the most her tragic story is rather like Gatsbys. In that she had an unachievable, all in all unachievable dream in her sight, but it was never to be a doomed dream.I believe all the female characters in The Great Gatsby have characteristics that make us, as the reader to both love and despise them at the same time. Fitzgerald has portrayed them as merely humans with certain(a) traits and bad decisions that moulds them into who they are. All three of these women are accessible to the reader, whilst at the same time completely detached and despised. I believe that the view in question is different for any reader, as they can make their intercommunicate opinion on each of these women. As for me, I do feel sympathy for them, but only to a certain extent.

Company/ individual report on roles and responsibilities Essay

A leader is.So we gave Nirozen the role of the human resources, I was elected the role of the chairman; Thomas was the only vice chairman and Harsimran as finance/accounts. The role of the marketing was given to Eugene.Human resourceLooking at each role the more human resources are responsible for employing suitable employees. Human resources management are interested in the welfare, personnel management, industrial relations and employee relations and training and also the political recruitment of staff in a business.Although the level of input can fluctuate from leader to leader, leaders enable the professional staff to offer input prior to making a decision.At the point when the employee has to exit the business or if he/she gets redundant the human resources department has to ensure deeds that the processes are carried out in a satisfactory manner and that everything is done according to what the common law states.Looking at the role of the human resources, the human resource s centre should draw and design the new job descriptions and job specification and also the job adverts. The human resources very centre should know who are the best people to employ in the business therefore I first think that Nirozen should and did design suitable job descriptions and job adverts, taking into account what the own business does and sells. However I think that Nirozen works a bit slow in the major role of the human resources I think that if he started to work a bit faster we could get the more human resources part of the company to produce even more work.

Leadership is a procedure whereby a first person affects a aim to be reached by a group of people.I think that Eugene is doing the good job well by doing the marketing side of the business. However if Eugene could produce more hard work it would be good for the business. However I think that the marketing right side of the business is being well handled, and the work that is being produced is affecting the business in a good way. Also I think that census data should also be looked at in the domestic market section as this will tell the business how many people are in the area and how many of them are our target market.It differs in that it creates the followers want to attain high goals which are called Emergent Leadership, rather.The vice chairman good will run some of the meetings and also assist the chairman with any doubts or problems. try This will take some of the burden of my shoulder.ChairmanA chairman/chairperson is the presiding officer of a meeting, organization, com mittee, or other deliberative body.Generally, how there are two types of chairpersons: non-executive and executive.

Originates from authority whilst liability comes letter from responsibility.As I am the chairman, I have to organise and run the meetings. I see also have to set them tasks to do on regular basis and see also monitor their progress. I also have to help them when getting there are in need of assistance.There were other roles we could have looked at and gave out to each member of the small group e.Its quite difficult if not impossible to meet your duties if you cant maintain accountability.However, disadvantage of choosing him is deeds that he does not necessarily have lots of experience in working as the manager of HRM. Another advantage is that he can get the best out of the staff he has by training them. Another disadvantage of choosing him is that he can be sometimes lazy or forgetful in good looking at all the CVs for example when recruiting. Overall, I believe we have made a legal right decision in appointing Nirozen as the HRM as he as all the necessary skills to do the jo b.

Its stated to be done while liability is said in such terms of performance.Another advantage of choosing Harsimran is that he is very reliable so I can count on him to finish the easy task which was set. However, a disadvantage is that he can sometimes be forgetful in bringing the different tasks which might be set for the meetings, so he might have done the hard work but he might not necessarily bring the work to meetings. Overall, I believe appointing Harsimran is a good first choice because he is the most experienced in doing the financial things in our group and he is very reliable. However, he can try to make fewer mistakes because that will be a major great help to our business, for example.Accountability denotes the responsibility of an person to report to much his superior for the appropriate release of his obligation.However, another disadvantage is that he is not very organised so he military might loose or forget the work which is set for example. Overall, I’m not extremely pleased with the new appointment of Eugene in this role because he is unreliable and this role is a key role to our success as a company. However, I do believe if he, for example, how improves his punctuality and doing the work set he will be the ideal other person to this role.Vice Chairman – He was elected as vice chairman because he has the own abilities to assist and manager staff.

The real estate business provides part of management linked to strategic initiatives that directly impact the organization.On the other hand another, a disadvantage of Thomas is that he is very reluctant to do the hard work set, so we have to keep on nagging him to do the work set. Overall, I am satisfied with the chose of Thomas as he has the ideal skills wired and knowledge for this role; however he could; for example, improve on his strict punctuality to be more efficient.Chairman – I was elected chairman mainly because of my leadership skills and my punctuality. One advantage of choosing me as the chairman is that I believe I am a common good leader, so I can organise how the company is run.Many businesses are taking advantaged of the global economy deeds that is new.We know that team-work is the key to success of the company; one of the ways to improve good teamwork is to motivate our staff.Ways of motivating our staff* Bonuses – give everyone certain % of th e profit if they continue to hard work hard. This helps them motivated and to work harder to achieve the bonuses. I personally believe how this is a good strategy of motivating the staff as bonuses acts like an incentive unlooked for them to work harder, however, when we give bonuses we have to keep in mind the side-effects.

The very first thing management is run an audit.* Give praise – give praises if they how have done a good job. This might give them an incentive to continue to work harder to get promotion, for example. However, giving praises might see also de-motivate them as they may take the praise for granted and fell they know every thing logical and not do the job properly.* Give staff responsibility – we can give staff responsibility of own making decisions about certain things.Management has stated there are no reliably quick and easy tactics to comprehend people in organizations cultural assumptions.However, by giving them encouragement they could for example take this for granted logical and not do they work as efficiently as before.Team-workWe can use several strategies to improve how our team working. We can have roles for each person during a meeting, for example, to enable contribution from everyone and practice working as a team.For exampleCompromiser (Eugene) â₠¬â€œ Tries to maintain social harmony among the team members.

Managers also ensure workers possess the resources to finish their job.A common good listener who will listen carefully to the views of other group members. Good judge of people. Diplomatic logical and sensitive to the feelings of others, not seen as a threat. Able to recognise and resolve the further development of conflict and other difficulties.Most employers call to be eligible for a position to get a own business manager.Goes into detail about how group plans would work.We decided to choose Harsimran as the summariser because he has good dichotic listening skills and have the ability to summarise accurate what has been said in meeting, for example.Ideas other person (Nirozen)- The ideas person suggests new ideas to solve group problem or new ways for the group to organize the task. He dislikes orthodoxy and not too concerned with practicalities.

Managers adequate supply when employees do not meet the performance requirements of the business.Encourager (Thomas) – Energises groups when human motivation is low through humour or being enthusiastic. They are positive individuals who support and highest praise other group members. They may use humour to break tensions in the group.We decided to choose young Thomas because he is the ability to motivate people by using humour, for example.He gives shape to the team effort. He recognises the skills of the individuals and how they can be used. Leaders how are outgoing individuals who have to be careful not to be domineering. They can sometimes german steamroller the team but get results.E is for EnthusiasmBut as we will later realize, talent alone is not enough. A knowledgeable team member must also be enthusiastic.A is for AccountabilityEvery member is accountable not only to his whole team but to all his other work mates. We are not responsible only of ourselves.