How I Taught My Grandmother Essay

a) Triveni was a popular writer because of her style of writing was very easy-to-understand and also convincing. Moreover, she used to write on the complex psychological problems in the lives of common people which was another reason of her popularity. (b) The grandmother could not read the story that appeared in the magazine as she had never been to school. So she used to depend on her granddaughter who read the story to her. (c) The following two sentences spoken by the grandmother tell us how desperate was she to know what happened in the story: 1. â€Å"Many times, I rubbed my hands over the pages wishing I could understand what was written.† 2. â€Å"I even thought of going to the village and asking you to read for me.† (d) Yes, the grandmother succeeded in accomplishing her desire to read. To accomplish this she worked hard with some target. She made the ‘Saraswati Pooja’ day as the deadline. And by this day she was able to read a book independently. (e) The grandmother had a strong determination and also emotional. She was determined to learn to read. She worked hard with strong determination in order to achieve her target before the deadline she had set to herself. After she had accomplished her desire, she expressed her gratitude to her granddaughter. She touched the little girl’s feet because she felt it was her duty to respect her teacher irrespective of the gender and age. The grandmother was seemed to be very emotional when she told the story of her life to her granddaughter.

Why did the authorities start using transportation as a punishment in the 1660’s and stop using it in 1868?

Since the 1660’s, the British government had been ridding Britain of rebels and criminals they no longer wanted in the country. This method of punishment was typically known as transportation. This involved sending the convicts to another country to commit hard labour and to live in deserved difficult conditions. Since the 1660s, the main transportation location from Britain was to the American colonies. However, when the American colonies had won their independence, transportation to there stopped suddenly.This created trouble for British convicts, as they desperately needed a new place to put the criminals; their prisons and hulks were becoming too overcrowded. Australia was then chosen as the main settlement because it at that time had recently been discovered (1770) so it would be deserted and available for labour. One of the reasons why authorities started using transportation as a punishment was to provide an alternative to hanging. Whilst the Bloody Code was present as the law, the majority of the public believed that hanging was too extreme, especially for minor crimes.They felt that having the same cruel punishment for a minor and major crime was a ridiculous rule. Juries would often not convict people and judges would find excuses not to hang people. As hanging was out of the question, another punishment that was not as cruel as the death penalty needed to be made; transportation being a suitable consequence for criminals and rebels as it still acted as a punishment because of the labour, and it didn’t have the intention of killing people.During the 1660’s, there were very few prisons and building new ones would cost authorities a lot. This also created another reason for transportation to become a new punishment, as it would give criminals a place to stay that wouldn’t cost the British authorities. Another reason why transportation started was because it was a satisfactory method to reform the criminals; thought better tha n prisons. The criminals would learn skills from the forced work that would benefit their future as a person.This reason was the least important reason behind transportation but it still worked upon the criminals. These criminals were thought to lead law-abiding lives after their release than criminals from prison. Transportation was a good deterrent as Australia was still an unknown country. The government hoped that the idea of being sent to the ‘edge of the world’ would terrify people and therefore put them off from breaking the law. Sending criminals off to Australia was also a way to get rid of criminals in Britain.This would reduce the crime rate and the number of criminals in the country. Sending British criminals off to Australia also helped the settlement and development of Australia as part of the British Empire. Transportation helped Britain to claim Australia for their empire. This would stop France and other rivals gaining whatever resources Australia had. From the 1800’s onwards, transportation started to lose it usefulness it once had. One reason being the Gaol’s Act in 1823 led by Fry and Peel.This movement led prisons become more suitable places as they were improved by better treatment of criminals and better living conditions. This gave the opportunity of criminals from now on being sent to prison instead of Australia as there were myriad reasons why transportation was becoming an issue. One reason being that the transport was costing ?0. 5 million per year and seeing as there were more prisons built, it cost them less money so keeping the criminals in the country was saving the authorities funds.Also, many of the ex-convicts reformed and were now living peacefully and finding work in Australia. The free settlers in Australia started to set up societies within Australia protesting against Britain ‘dumping’ convicts in their country. Wages were also higher in Australia than in Britain once a prisoner ha d won their ticket of leave. By the 1860’s, Australia was well established as a secure part of the British Empire so they no longer needed to make their claim over it as no other country would be able to.Overall, transportation started because of the many factors that lead the British authorities to sought out another punishment that was still effective but not as harsh as the death penalty. Factors such as hanging being too harsh, a new form of a deterrent and reformation for criminals. Also to claim the newly discovered land, Australia, for the British Empire. Whereas, transportation was seized because of Australia becoming more and more developed, it was not lowering the crime rates in Britain and prisons became more useful to use because it was cheaper for the British government and they were under more control.

Evolution of Distance Education Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Evolution of Distance Education - Research Paper Example Reports on the same reveal it to have practiced this method of education for over 20 years. The advancement of the current technology has resulted to intensification of this practice in majority of institutions in the US. The WVU has implemented online learning sessions for delivering special education. Since the time before, mediation of the distance between students, institutions together with the respective instructors have been determined by the most current technology utilized. Therefore, this script is of profound significance, as it would efficiently describe the evolution of distance education by presenting a research plan (Ludlow & Duff, 2009). Statement of the research problem This study aims at the identification of how distance education has evolved since its initiation. A number of sources addresses the same issue but from dissimilar perspectives. The application of distance education has been exploited in different parts of the globe, and this brings about the noted var iations. It is in noting the extent to which this form of education has evolved that identifying those factors necessary for such an occurrence would be easier. This study aims to reveal strategies that those involved ought to implement in enhancing efficacy required in this form of service delivery. The less developed and developing countries are deficient of the most current technology that is decidedly in use by the already developed states. These nations, especially those from Africa will be able to learn the concepts to adopt in order to initiate the distance education program. Therefore, the research question is; does enhancement in technology contribute towards the evolution of distance education? Review of the related literature The augmentation in the current technology has allowed WVU to utilize the technology aided distance education. According to a research conducted by numerous scholars, such a university has practiced distance education for more than two decades since 1980s (Ludlow & Duff, 2009). As this university initiated this process, it only endeavored to experiment whether it could work. However, their experimental attempts have resulted to the current expansive development in the use of this concept. The WVU distance education deals with offering programs on special education. The careful review of the literature designates an increase in the fraction of those enrolling in these programs each year. Additionally, it also depicts a rise in those completing such a program each academic year. During the introduction of this concept in the university, the majority of the participants were from within, but currently the participants emanate from all over the US. Moreover, the technology advancement has enabled individuals from all over the globe to participate in the distance learning activity. Literature indicates that the broadcast television; the most complicated technology of the day was used during the introduction of distance education pro grams. The development of courses that could be made available to students via the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) is what resulted to utilization of the television (Huett et al., 2008). After these students completing the syllabus, they sat for assignments later submitted for marking via the mail. The initial use of satellite for education purposes encountered numerous challenges. For instance,

Browser-specific Web Sites. Good or Bad Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Browser-specific Web Sites. Good or Bad - Essay Example The development of browser specific websites has come a long way from when Netscape and Internet Explorer who were the major players in the market. During this development, the various browsers developed HTML tags that could only work with a particular browser. The browser specific elements like the HTML tag are specific to individual browsers. For instance, the Netscape blink set of tags specifically apply to Netscape. Other social networking sites such as facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, Google + etcetera are designed to be browser specific sites. Setting up the web sites to be viewed using particular web browsers leads to both merits and demerits. (Negrino & Smith, 2009) According to Manian, (2012), the merits resulting from browser specific sites are as follows. Firstly they are good for companies that employ a standard browser and thus the time and cost incurred in designing the website will be much lower. Secondly, they provide rewards and incentives at different locations. They can also be used to generate badges that people unlock when writing something detailed at a given place. Another merit is that, people who work with recycling can be heard directly by the audience. More so, have the benefits of sharing experiences or opinions about news and events. It personalizes and localizes recycling. One may draft posts and publish them later. It has irregular and spread out updates. Securing the web browser eliminates computer problems which are always caused by spyware being installed without the users’ knowledge to intruders taking control of the computer. In addition, it enhances access to cloud services is properly managed and audited in spite of whether the employees are working within or outside the corporate firewall. Browser specific websites hold up conformity reporting and forensics by giving the option to capture a screen-shot of browser content and create a visual audit trail of interactions with managed applications.

Shadow Side of Leadership Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Shadow Side of Leadership - Assignment Example Harper’s article explains the shadow side of leadership as being founded on â€Å"A combination of self-centered attitudes, motivations, and behaviors that have adverse effects on subordinates, the corporation, and the mission performance† (Harper 2014). Toxic leadership has numerous ethical concerns that violate both the code of ethics and conduct and code of human resources (Mason 1993). In every organization, a leader stands at the peak of the hierarchy or structure of management. Followers or employees stand at the base of the hierarchy. Therefore, employees report to the leaders. Toxic leaders lack respect, integrity, competence, and general responsibility towards the employees. The outcomes of such are high staff turnover, job dissatisfaction, employee disempowerment, and redundancy. According to Peters and Austin, (2003) leadership is not innate. Leaders must be followers at one point in time. It should be noted that, a leader decides on the best way possible to govern the organization through working with a human resources team. There are many ways to lead a team effectively. Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and Steve Jobs portrayed effective leadership styles. In the same way, leaders can prevent themselves from being perceived as toxic and ensure that those reporting to them become the best that they can be. Leaders ought to integrate the code of ethics and conduct and code of human resources to govern a human resources team effectively. Both the code of ethics and conduct and code of human resources require that leaders uphold respect, integrity, competence, and general responsibility (Embse et al., 2010). In addition, effective leadership ought to focus on empowering the employees, who are prospective leaders. Leaders enhance job security among the empl oyees by ensuring that they [employees] realize their full potential. The leadership style adopted

THE RETAIL GROCERY MARKET Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

THE RETAIL GROCERY MARKET - Essay Example dominate the UK grocery market, accounting for around three quarters of total sales, which IGD values at  £88.2billion  in 2005.   However, this share of total grocery has fallen slightly in recent years as other sectors have grown more quickly. The Convenience sector continues to be a strong driving force behind the overall growth within the UK grocery market.  Ã‚   For every pound spent on food and grocery, consumers now spend 20p in convenience stores and IGD currently values the sector at  £23.9billion, up 4.9% on 2004, which now accounts for a 19.9% share of total grocery. So let’s try to identify the mission objectives and responsibilities of an organisation within its environment. To make our ideas more clear we’ll take a certain retailer, using for instance Tesco Company. Everybody can agree that the main aim of any business is profit earning. Even the relevant definition of â€Å"business† approves that any enterprise or company is created to earn money. Of course, shareholders of any business are its owners and want to get maximum profits. If a company stops producing profits it can be adjudicated a bankrupt. Everybody knows that retail is one of the most competitive economics sector. Shops, marketplaces, boutiques, super- and hypermarkets offer us great choice of different goods and foodstuffs. That’s why if any company has been taking the top positions for almost 10 years, - it is considered as a great success. Britain hypermarket net Tesco is one of such leaders. This company sails one third of all foodstuffs in the country. Tesco can firmly be named as a â€Å"national shop†. Rich, average and poor customers can find the foodstuffs according their wishes and financial abilities. Comfortable location, competitive prices, polite staff, great variety of goods and products, mainly, circumspect development strategy helped Tesco to become a really national shop. Let’s analyze the most important responsibilities, among which the main is

Observation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 4

Observation - Essay Example Whole foods are widely recommended for any person any time but in most cases those who consume them want to manage their weights. This is an observation essay about Whole Foods and the people who partake of whole foods (Steve, 2002). Nutritionists and health professionals recommend that foods are best taken in their natural form or when they have been minimally altered to derive maximum benefits from the nutrients. The human body works best with natural foods and consumption of processed foods means that the body has to go the extra mile so as to digest the food. Consumption of such foods means that the body derives maximum nutritional value from the foods which translate to better health. Another reason as why people opt for whole foods is due to health reasons such as vegetarians or heart conditions that could be eliminated by taking the right foods in their natural state. To such people, eating of this group of foods is necessary for their health to keep diseases at bay. Most people who consume whole foods also do so that they could lose weight while at the same time managing it. Different people come in and out Whole Foods depending on their reasons for opting for eating these kinds of foods. In most cases, the main group of people who opt for such foods is those who would like to lose and manage their weight (Steve, 2002). You will notice mostly women who look big and walk as if their weight is a big luggage to them. Others are mostly women who would like to lose their birth weight and consequently being in such a diet ensures that it reduces their chances of craving for junk food which ultimately adds more weight. Similarly, they need to stay healthy for their babies who feed exclusively from their breast milk. The elderly people also opt for this group of foods since their immune system is deteriorating, and they should be at a position to maximize on the nutritional content of everything that they consume. The majority of these people walk into this

Building Lasting Customer Loyalty Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Building Lasting Customer Loyalty - Essay Example The variable that drives customer loyalty the most is price. A company that has been able to build tremendous customer loyalty because they offer better price than the competition is Wal-Mart. A lot of customer supports private label brands because they offer greater value than national brands. The quality of the product is another important variable when a company is trying to build customer loyalty. Customers are willing to pay more for products of higher quality. Three additional variables that drive customer loyalty are location, selection, and service. Companies that are able to achieve customer loyalty obtain lower customer switching, increased profitability, and great word of mouth advertising. Six key elements of customer loyalty are: a) build on the foundation of a brand; b) use price to communicate a fair value; c) engage customers with great customer experience; d) recognize good customers; e) reciprocate customer loyalty; f) build intimate relationship with best customers (Bradner, 2007). If your customer has a business that offers items that your company uses it is a good idea to purchase from them to support the business of a client that is providing you with revenues. Marketers must pay close attention to their top customers to ensure customer retention of these key clients. Four types of loyalty tactics are price, experience, programmatic, and relationship loyalty. In the airline industry a company that has had success by offering low fares is RyanAir. s. Programmatic loyalty provides companies with discount and tcalled BK rewards that offers its customers a 5% credit towards the purchase of future food items. In the service industry having a good brand experience is very important to achieve a higher level of customer retention. Chapter 21 Summary The business world has become more interconnected than ever due to faster communication, transportation, and financial flows. The story of Red Bull is a great example of a company that was able to suc ceed in the foreign markets. Today Red Bull has penetrated over 100 countries worldwide. Corporations hold most of the wealth of the world. There are 200 companies that have more money than a quarter of the world’s countries. In 2003 international trade accounted for one-quarter of the U.S. GDP. A global industry is an industry in which the strategic positions of competitors of major geographic or national markets are affected by the overall global position. An example of a global industry is petroleum due to the fact that the majority of the automobile worldwide are powered by gasoline. A global firm is a firm that operates in more than one country. Five major decisions in international marketing are: 1) deciding whether to go abroad; 2) deciding which markets to enter; 3) deciding how to enter the market; 4) deciding on the marketing program; 5) deciding on the marketing organization. Many international markets offer opportunities to achieve higher profitability than the do mestic market in which the companies operate. Expanding into international market allow companies to achieve economies of scale. It also helps companies reduce their dependency on one market. When a company gets attack by international competition a good strategic option is to counterattack by penetrating the domestic market of the international competition. Prior to penetrating a foreign location companies must identify the risk involved with the decision. The company might not understand the foreign nation business culture. The regulation of the country must be understood prior to establishing a presence in a location. For example the environmental laws of the country might impose additional cost the company was not incurring in its domestic marketplace. The four

Sony PlayStation 3 Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Sony PlayStation 3 - Case Study Example Retrieved November 7, 2009 from Gomo News: http://www.gomonews.com/the-global-mobile-gaming-market-will-grow-at-a-166-percent-cagr-to-reach-18-billion-in-2014 18 This report presents a detailed discussion on how Sony has been able to identify and use key elements of the marketing mix to build and maintain its market position in the fiercely competitive world of video games consoles. The market is basically an oligopoly dominated by its three main players - Sony's PlayStation, Nintendo's Wii and Microsoft's Xbox 360. It is marketing driven organisations that put their customers first and are ultimately the most successful businesses. This is the classic marketing practice of producing the right product at the right price and in the right place - three of the four 'Ps' of marketing - the other, of course, being promotion. Timing is also critical. If all of this can be achieved when the customer needs or desires the product then the formula for success is complete. Of course marketing is not as simple as the 'four p's'. There are many subsets to the broad headings of product, price, place and promotion. This report does not attempt to cover all of these headings and subsets but rather it focuses on three distinct but interrelated areas that are crucial to a) understanding the marketplace in which the Sony PlayStation product is operating and b) implementing strategies in that marketplace to both enhance customer value and improve Sony's business performance. This report focuses on the three strategic areas, namely, competitive advantage, consumer buying behaviour, and marketing communications strategy. It examines how Sony has used and managed them to improve its market understanding and performance. The understanding of these three strategic marketing areas and their integration at the planning and execution stages of the marketing process will be shown to be capable of delivering positive benefits to Sony. Organisation Sony is a multinational corporation with headquarters in Japan. It is one of the world's leading manufacturers of electronics. Its annual revenue exceeded US $78.88 billion for the financial year ended 2008 (Sony financial results, 2009). With the global recession taking hold in the first two quarters of 2009, the company reported losses and the third quarter is expected to follow a similar pattern (iStockAnalyst, 2009) Sony Corporation is the electronics business unit that is responsible for the production and marketing of its video games consoles including the Sony PlayStation. The history of the PlayStation began in 1988 when Sony and Nintendo worked together on a product called the Super Disc. However, Sony and Nintendo parted company and the Super Disc was never launched by Nintendo. In 1991, Sony

RESEARCH PAPER ON NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

RESEARCH PAPER ON NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE - Essay Example â€Å"Nathaniel’s passivity and indolence appeared especially unmanly in the presence of Robert Manning’s energetic capabilities, not only to the uncle but to the boy himself. The resulting self-distrust was to be permanently in conflict with Hawthorne’s innate pride† (Erlich, 1984). His family’s Puritan past would weigh heavily upon him throughout his life and would be strongly reflected within his writings. Although he was strongly encouraged to take up the family trade and become a merchant marine, Hawthorne had decided, by age 17, that he wanted to be a writer. Hawthorne’s official education started at the age of 15 when he attended the Samuel H. Archer School as preparation for college. He entered the Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine by 1821 (Swisher, 1996). While he was there, he formed lifelong friendships with future literary giant Henry Wordsworth Longfellow, future president Franklin Pierce and future Navy Commander Horatio Bridge. He also spent another 12 years following college living in his mother’s house and educating himself in how to be a good writer by studying his Puritan past, nonfiction and fiction works of note (Swisher, 1996). While he always styled himself a writer, he held several small jobs necessary to support himself. These included magazine editor, customs house worker (in a variety of capacities) and as a farmer for a brief period at Brook House, an experimental commune (Swisher, 1996). After he moved to the Lenox countryside to escape angry Salem residents, he met Herman Melville who was to have a profound influence on The House of Seven Gables. â€Å"The presence of this brooding mariner, poetic soul such as Hawthorne’s father had been, stirred the deepest memories – and doubts – of the older writer. Melville’s talk of the sea, of time, eternity, death, myth, and literature, his metaphysical leaping, struck

Debut Albums and Dear Friends Essay Example for Free

Debut Albums and Dear Friends Essay Honorable Chief Guest of the day, distinguished guests for the occasion, teachers, parents and all my dear friends, this day 15th August of every year is a golden day engraved in the history of the world. We got freedom on this date and it is a day worth a celebration. When we celebrate it hoisting the flag, playing our National Anthem with enthusiasm, distributing sweets, we need to sail back into the past to remember and pay homage to the builders of our nation. My dear friends, we were the privileged lot to have been born in free India. We were able to breathe the fresh free air since our birth. If at all we want to know the pangs of agony of being slaves under a foreign rule, we must ask our elders born before 1947. It was indeed a Himalayan task for every Indian those days to fight against those powerful giants – the British rulers. We must not allow those hard times and struggles fade away from our memories. Hence it is befitting for us to celebrate such National festivals and recall those heroic deeds of our National heroes. We remember them today. Right from Mahatma Gandhi to the local patriotic leaders we owe our gratitude. When we regard those martyrs who laid their precious lives for our sake, we must not ignore the common people who sacrificed their lot for the good cause. There were farmers, land lords, businessmen, teachers, writers, poets and students who helped the land achieve the long cherished freedom.

U.S. automobile industry.

U.S. automobile industry. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Car is great invention of human development. After more than two centuries of development and innovation, automotive products remain irreplaceable in the transportation. Automobile industry is always one of the most important industries of each country and the world in general. The U.S. automobile industry was born in the beginning of 19th century, contributes a huge amount in GDP of American as well as one of the domination industries in American particularly and globe generally. This project provides an overall and comprehensive view about the U.S. automobile industry. Through application of appropriate strategic analysis tools, this topic focus on analyze four following parts: Firstly, the overall current macro-environment of this industry is provided, especially the key forces driving change in the U.S. automobile industry. Secondly, using the Michael Porter model to analyze the competitive environment or also called task or industry environment, the strengths and extent of competitive forces, which affect the attractiveness of the U.S. automobile industry. Next, map of the key strategic group in the U.S. automobile industry and analysis of the competitors in a main strategic group. Finally, based on the analysis of both environments, this report offers comments of the key opportunities and threats facing by the firm in the U.S. automobile industry and its attractiveness of the present incumbents and potential new entrants. I. INTRODUCTION The United States, with its total current resident is about 308 million, is the third most populous country in the world. It is the second largest country in Western Hemisphere, and the third or fourth largest in the world by total area. With an estimated 2008 gross domestic product (GDP) of US $14.4 trillion (a quarter of nominal global GDP and a fifth of global GDP at purchasing power parity), the U.S. economy continuingly occupies the most important position in global economy. Based on these advantages, the U.S. automobile market is one of the third largest markets, after China and Japan, both of manufacturing and consumption. The U.S. automobile industry has long historic development from the early decades of the 19th. There were over 1800 automobile manufacturers in the United States in the past. Although very few can survive and only a few new ones were started after that period, they are on the top automakers of the world. Moreover, it attracts most of the biggest foreign automakers to locate factories and invest, such as Toyota, Honda, BMW, Mitsubishi, etc. Recently, the automobile industry dramatically down caused the shortage resource and the current economic crisis. The U.S. automobile cannot avoid this trend. However, the general industry and Big Three U.S. automakers General Motors, Chrysler, and Ford recover gradually whereby the timely auto industry bailout and restructuring of the President Barack Obamas government. II. THE CURRENT MACRO-ENVIRONMENT OF THE AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY There are many external forces that can affect an industrys performance and hence to know well about the environment is the best way for improving the strength as well as reducing the weaknesses of companies in the field. This analysis of Socio-cultural, Technological, Economic, Ecological, Political and legal forces that affect the automobile manufacturing industry will be presented as follows. 1. Socio-cultural forces It cannot be deny that in todays society, people are judged on the type of cars they drive. Anyone who drives a nice and expensive vehicle is thought to be wealthy and success. People will find them-selves more valuable and feel better when they drive a nice and new car and therefore, car manufacturers target their markets by these thoughts. For example, with Mercedes-Benz, the producer launched three types of cars, which represent the brands value: luxury, safety, innovation. They are A-Class, F400-Carving and C-Class which being able to appeal the significant diversity of Mercedes-Benz in conquering the customers. Another thought provoking issue of the socio cultural is the environmental concerns for the need of fuel-efficient vehicles. Many environmentalists are worried about the impact that the gas cars have on the environment. The lower amount of gas emission emits into the air, the better the environment becomes. Therefore this problem also is taken into consideration by specialists of automobile companies. 2. Technological forces The U.S. is the worlds largest producer and consumer of motor vehicles with production of 16 million units every year. To increase its scale, the U.S automotive industry continues to experience technological change by investing on research and develop projects every year. These plan aim at finding out clean and renewable energy resources so that car can be used in the most efficient way. In addition to this, improving the quality of engine, making new more functions, changing technical innovation and styles for cars are also the objects that car-manufacturers want to bring to customers. Getting success as today, automobile industry should consider Internet as an important and useful instrument that make the business easier and more convenient. Thanks to its functions, the business of automobile industry becomes more efficiency and lower cost by e-booking, payment, connecting suppliers and customers online. For example, Ford, GM, and Daimler Chrysler created a global online exchange for suppliers and the original equipment manufacturers. 3. Economic forces In the past, the automobile manufacturing industry is regarded as one of the largest and vital industries within the U.S due to its great contributing to this economy in employment and productivity. Reports indicate that motor vehicle production represents over 5 % of the U.S. private sector GDP. However, because of the global crisis and the increase in oil price, 2008 and 2009 are the most difficult periods for automobile companies all over the world. In US, the number of cars sold is significantly reduced to be lower than 30% in 2008 and predicted 50% in 2009, making many automobile companies got into trouble, especially big ones like General Motors, Ford and Chrysler. 19.4 billion aid from the U.S. government with 9.5 billion from Canada government can not help General Motors avoid from breaking in 1/6/2009. The car consumption of Ford Corporation also decreased significantly, they had to close four plants in the U.S. and thousands of workers to leave work until now. The head of corporate manufacturing automotive components Continental (Germany) Karl-Thomas Neumann is predicted, the crisis in the automobile industry could take up to the next 5 years. This means that over 50 million people live based on the automobile industry will have to face unemployment in this period. 4. Ecological forces After the crisis, major technology trends that automobile production corporations want to aim at are comfortable, friendly environment with consumption of fuel savings cars. In present, Hybrid vehicles with fuel economy of fuel consumption at 35 km per liter gasoline are taken into consideration and eventually moving to the car model that does not use fuel as crude oil is development direction of the automobile industry in the near future. Besides, Pollution Prevention Project will be carried out regularly with the hope of finding innovative ways to keep our environment healthier and cleaner. 5. Political and legal forces Since the 1960s, the U.S. government has issued regulations that affect the production and consumption of cars in this country. Accordingly, almost all of the provisions are about environmental related problems and the safety of the drivers as well as passengers. The first National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act that forced manufacturers to improve the safety for the passengers, the driver visibility, and the braking of the car were approved in 1966. After that, there was also growing concern for the environment, many Acts were introduced in order to set standards for automobile pollution and decrease in automobile emission such as The Vehicle Air Pollution and Control Act, Clean Air Act. Then, after the oil crisis in the 1970s, The Energy Policy and Conservation Act stated that all automobiles must meet a certain mileage per gallon to ensure that the amount of energy could be saved as much as possible. III. THE COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT In todays fierce competitive environment, the firms need to achieve competitive advantages for competing, existing and growing. Accordingly, the firms must recognize the environment that powerfully influences the firms. In American automobile industry, the automobile manufacturers have realized the environments influence to automotive industry. At the same time, they must look at the main sources of competitive forces and how high or low competitive force is. As stated by Wheelen and Hunger (2008, p. 83) about the six sources of competition in Porters Five Forces model. This framework is used to identify the opportunities and threats for entering in to a particular industry. It is featured as follow: Rivalry amongst existing firms in the industry The American automobile industry includes three major manufacturers, General Motors, Fords, and Daimler Chrysler. On the other hand, it has also two Japanese biggest competitors, Honda and Toyota. Now we will discuss about how strong each competitive force is and which they affect on the attractiveness of the American automotive industry. 1. The threat of new entrants-Barriers to entry New entrants can threaten the market share of existing competitors. One reason new entrants pose such a threat is that they bring additional production capacity, reducing the attractiveness. (Hitt, Ireland and Hoskinsson, 2008). The threat of new entrants is low in the American automobile industry because of some main reasons. First, the American automobile industry now is mature and it has attained economies of scale. Although Honda and Toyota have invested heavily in America to produce cars, now the crisis in the auto industry and the slow sluggish state of the global economy lead to small demand; therefore, new entrants are not interested to enter this sector. Besides, this heavy industry requires a significant amount of capital for producing automobiles as well as research and development new designs. It also demands modern technologies, management and marketing skills. Besides, establishing the intermediaries for distributing the products is not the simply problem in America. The firms must look for the dealership to sell their automobiles. These entry barriers are substantial that make it difficult for new automakers. Accordingly, it is not easy for any new entrants to enter the American automobile industry. 2. Bargaining power of suppliers According to Hill and Jones (2008), the bargaining power of suppliers is the suppliers ability to raise input prices or the costs of the industry by providing poor quality inputs or poor services. In the automobile industry, the bargaining power of suppliers is low. The auto manufactures need several components from suppliers. Moreover, there are many suppliers in this sector. We can see that suppliers in the U.S automobile industry have little power. Therefore, the auto manufacturers have many options for bargaining prices and deliveries. If suppliers do not meet some main qualifications such as quality and delivery, the auto manufacturers can switch to other suppliers. Besides, the automakers can have many opportunities to force down input price as well as demand higher quality inputs. 3. Bargaining power of buyers Wheelen and Hunger (2008) mentioned that buyers could have an effect on an industry through their ability to force down price, bargain for high quality or more services. Thus, powerful buyers should be viewed as a threat of the industry. The bargaining power of the buyers in the American automobile industry is high. Nowadays, customers easily get information and have many options in choosing brands and models of cars between auto suppliers. Some of qualifications that they based on in choosing cars are quality, price, appearance, efficient, and so on. Because of the variety of lifestyle, customers purchase the cars in different ways. Besides, the switching costs are low in automobile industry. As a result, the buyers can play off the supplying company against each other to force down price. Whats more, a buyer has the potential to integrate backward by producing the product itself as a bargaining tool. Ford and General Motor have used the threat of manufacturing a component themselves instead of buying it from suppliers. 4. The threat of substitute products Hitt, Ireland and Hoskinsson (2008) pointed out that substitute products are goods or services from outside a given industry that perform similar or the same functions as a products that the industry produce. The threat of substitute products in U.S automobile industry is medium. Although people can travel by several public transportation means such as subways, trains, buses, the need of automobiles is inevitable in todays modern life. Traveling by automobiles bring conveniences and dependences for people whenever and wherever they want to go. Moreover, in using subways, trains, buses, the switching costs are high in considering of time, money and convenience. The cost of fuel consumption, the maintenance costs, the annual insurance fee, and so on in using automobiles may be higher than traveling by public transportation means. Thus, we can see that the threat of substitute products is depend on personal preference and it can be seen mild in automobile industry. 5. Rivalry among existing firms in the industry Rivalry refers to the competitive struggle between companies in an industry to gain market share from each other (Hill and Jones, 2008). Rivalry among competitors is extremely intense in the American automobile industry. There are few competitors in this sector and they are roughly equal in size. We can consider that American automobile industry is a consolidated industry because a small number of large automobile companies dominate this industry. They are General Motors, Fords, and Daimler Chrysler. In todays economic recession with slow market growth, each auto company watches each other carefully and fights to take market share from each other. They compete with each other by offering long-term warranties to customers. Besides, the rivalry among existing firms is high in this industry because of not much differentiation opportunities. General Motors, Fords, and Daimler Chrysler produce automobiles and sport utility vehicles. They evaluate about the price, quality, product design, and after-sales services and support of each other in competing to gain market share. Overall, the competition between American automakers can strengthen the attractiveness of automobile market as well as improve the product quality and after-sales services in automobile industry. 6. Relative power of other stakeholders The US government has low power over the automobile industry. General Motors, Fords have plants outside the United States, where U.S laws are not applicable. Forces driven by market demand are the only forces that significantly affect profit potential of auto industry. Accordingly, the relative power of other stakeholders ability to affect profit potential is low. After analyzing the Porters Five Forces model in the American automobile industry, we can see that the threat of new entrants is low through high entry barriers. The rivalry among existing firms is extremely intense because of few automakers in this sector. The overall impact from buyers bargaining power to the industrys attractiveness is high because customers have many options. Suppliers have limited bargaining power in this industry. The threat of substitute products is moderate and the relative power of other stakeholders is low. IV. MAPPING OF THE KEY STRATEGIC GROUPS AND ANALYSIS OF THE COMPETITORS According to Anthony Henry (2007) and Gregory, Lumpkin Marilyn (2002), the purpose of strategic group mapping is help organization identify their directly competitors, recognize mobility barriers, indicate the direction in which their strategies are moving to determine industry competition and analyze trends in the general and competitive environment. Automotive industry is one of the most complicated industries in which the giant corporations own many brands and focus on many different market sectors. The price of the product in the automotive industry is not only depended the cost but also related to the brand image of the firm. Those are the reason why this report chose the brand image and product ranger as the two variances for the two dimensions. Base on two dimensions as mentioned above, five strategic groups are formed. These groups are mainly formed base on the difference of brand image. However, the criterion of product ranger is very useful when mentioning about the luxury and extreme luxury group. The first group includes firms that have the brand image as low class / low price (Hyundai, Kia, Tata†¦). However, this group is the second highest wide range of product cluster. All most of those firms are defender. The short-term strategy of the companies mostly is cost orientation. The strategy of these organizations is try to clear the image of the low class, low quality brand and endeavor to enter to the second group which is middle class brands. The way that Hyundai try to do is build a new image of a quality brand when they offer an extensive warranty (7 years, 100,000 miles) (Gregory at all, 2002) The second group is the most powerful cluster. They have the most wide range of product which cover all most of segment of the automotive market exclude S-segment (Appendix I car classification). Majority of them are analyzers type. Toyota is a typical example. They have a wide range of current traditional engine product, which can give it a stable fundamental for them to innovate in the other sector. On the other sector, Toyota innovate the new generation hybrid engine (Toyota Prius), which is the solution in the world of traditional energy shortage nowadays. In the future, as the competitors in the same strategic group, Honda and Ford are going to introduce the new generation hybrid cars to compete with Toyota. To reach to the higher class of customers, these firms that stick with the image of middle class car try not to introduce a new high-class line but create a new higher-class brand or purchase an existence higher-class brand. With this purpose, Toyota creates Lexus, Nissan owns Infiniti, Volkswagen has Audi, Bentley and Bugatty etc. The third group is the high-class cluster. The price is higher than the middle-class mainly because the brand image and the performance of engine. In this group, the ranger of product is narrower than the middle class group because of the focus on the higher income group. To reach the higher class of customer, those firms also implicate the same strategy with the second group, which create new brands or purchase new ones. For example, BMW owns Rolls Royce. The fourth and fifth group is the luxury and extremely luxury car. Those two groups differ between each other not only on the price but also on the target customer although they are seemed in the same position when we mention in the ranger of product. The fourth group mainly focuses on the sport car, which has the high speed and hi-end technology. The target customers are young successful businessperson and celebrities. On the other section, the target customers of fifth group are people have the high state in the society, successful executives and of very rich. Because of the difference in the target customer and brand history image, the barrier of motivation is very high between those two groups. The group that this report focus on is the middle class which is the most profitable and innovative group in the automotive industry FORD Henry Ford in June 16, 1903 founded Ford Motors Company, which would go on to become one of the most profitable and largest companies in the world. As known one of the largest family-controlled companies, Ford family has been continuous controlling this company for over 100 years. The company locates the head-quarter in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. Ford is currently the fourth-largest automaker in the world and the third in US based on number of vehicle sold annually which records 1,602,011 in the U.S. market and 5,407,000 in the global market. In 2008, Ford employed about 213,000 employees at around 90 plants and facilities worldwide. STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES Well-known brand and history Product diversification Offering hybrid and environmental friendly cars Good marketing plan: Bold Moves Sponsoring and financing for big event. Product has a good review: quality, reliability, moderate price. Firestone tire recalls. CEO Jacques Nasser and Chairman Bill Ford Jr. cannot get along. Their overseas allocation and outsourcing creates fewer jobs in America. Their products are getting lower quality due to use cheap ways to make them. HONDA Soichiro Honda found the Honda Technical Research Institute in Hamamatsu in October 1946, to develop and produce small 2-cycle motorbike engines. Two years later, Honda Motor Company, Ltd. was born, and in 1959, Honda opened its first storefront in Los Angeles with six industrious employees. Today, Honda employs nearly 27,000 people in all 50 states. STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES Good brand in producing high quality products from cars to motorcycles to lawn mowers. One of the largest manufacturers of motorcycles in the world Awards for initial quality and customer satisfaction Pioneer in engineering low emissions internal combustion and hybrid technology. Higher price for non-luxury vehicles. Non-attractive in truck product. High technology cost cause over-price for consumer. MITSUBISHI MOTOR Basically, Mitsubishi Motors is one member of Mitsubishi group was found on April 22, 1970, and was based on the successful introduction of the first Galant. Until now, MMC has 33,202 employees and 12,761 non-consolidated employees, as of March 2008. The Mitsubishi brand was introduced to the American market for the first time in 1971. Until now, they employ about 18,500 employees across United States. Nearly two-thirds of the Mitsubishi vehicles are sold in the U.S; particularly this number is 58,963 in the end of 2008. STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES 4th largest automaker in Japan Restructuring Recovery plan. Strong brand awareness. Member of Mitsubishi Group. Poor model awareness. Loss of RD engineers. Weak uncertain leadership. Eclipse brand strongly associated with Female buyers. History of product recalls TOYOTA Toyota Motors Corporation was established on 28 August 1937 as independent company, headquarter is being located in Toyota city, Japan. The founder of Toyota was Kiichiro Toyoda. Nowadays, Toyota is basing 26 factories to produce vehicles, and marketing distribution in more than 170 countries in the world. In 2008, Toyota passed General Motors to become the No1 automaker in USA and the worlds largest automaker in global sales for the first time in history. STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES Well-trained employees. Strong leadership. Global organization, with a strong international position in 170 countries worldwide. High financial strength. Strong brand image based on quality, environmental friendly (greener), customized range. The largest automaker. Well culture-friendly, family†¦ encourages employees. Product diversification, developing the hybrid- motor product ranges. Japanese car manufacturer seen as a foreign importer. Quality issues due to rge-scale re-call made in 2005. Most products targeted to the US and Japan only shifting attention to the Chinese market. VOLKSWAGEN Founded by Ferdinand Porsche on May 28, 1937 as â€Å"Grsellschaft zur Vorbereitung des Deutschen Volkswagens mbH† and renamed as â€Å"Volkswagenwerk GmbH† in 1938, from a small car company, nowadays Volkswagen becomes the largest automobile maker in the world by vehicle production (Autocar, 2009) STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES Aggressive and talent leadership High financial strength. The largest automaker. High reputation German quality engine Cost-control with the purchasing list Non-stop requirement for the new project Special production testing process (manager attend the test drives) Lower position than Toyota and Honda in the market share Bad public image because of GM sue Not good relationship with their investors V. THE COMMENTATION VI. CONCLUSION Automobile industry is one of the most important industries contributed the U.S. worldwide dominated position. However, this industry now is facing the worst crisis of the car industry in the past decades. The most urgent task is recovering this crisis. Moreover, finding out the new developed trend is the main strategic for whole the industry.

Equity and Trusts †Problem Question

Equity and Trusts – Problem Question James has died recently, and has left a properly executed will in respect of his estate. There are a number of provisions in this will, including a substantial financial legacy to his sister, a trust over James’ leasehold estate for which the trustee has since died, a trust of  £100,000 for the purpose of benefitting James’ friends’ dependants completing studies, a gift of his collection of coins and mints, and a gift of Jack Daniels whiskey and some money to his niece. Each of these provisions of the will present certain problems. The provisions will be addressed individually in order to assess their status, and determine who will actually get what under James’ will. The first provision, then, is a gift of  £100,000 to his â€Å"beloved sister† Emily, with an obligation on Emily to use a â€Å"reasonable amount† to look after James’ step-daughter, Mary. This would appear to create a trust over a portion, but not all, of the  £100,000 in question. As identified in the seminal case of Milroy v Lord (1862), a trust can be created either where a person declares himself or herself a trustee over property the legal title of which he or she holds, for the benefit of (that is, beneficial ownership lies with) another; or where a person transfers his property to trustees on trust. It is established, however, that a trust obligation can only subsist in relation to specific trust property. James’ clear intention here to create a trust will not, on its own, be sufficient to benefit his step-daughter if it cannot be ascertained exactly what the trust property was intended to be. This brings us to a fundamental requisite of valid trusts; the so-called three certainties, identified by Lord Langdale in Knight v Knight (1840), when he was Master of the Roll. The three certainties that must be present are certainty of words (or intention), certainty of subject matter and certainty of objects. In relation to certainty of intention, one must consider James’ wording. He does not specifically mention a â€Å"trust†. This may not be fatal to the successful establishment of one, however, as his â€Å"absolute confidence† that his sister will use some of the money for the specified purpose would probably qualify as â€Å"precatory words†; which would be sufficient. In Re Adams and Kensington Vestry (1884), the words used in a similar provision were â€Å"in full confidence that [the testator’s wife] would do what was right as to the disposal [of the trust property] between his children†. Cotton J, in the Court of Appeal, suggest ed precatory words alone were insufficient, but a valid trust may be created in the wider context of the will. Again, James’ words would appear to qualify as he has created other trusts. There may also be a problem with this provision in relation to the specific subject matter of the trust. Trust property must be clearly defined, otherwise the trust will fail for lack of certainty. Here, James has asked that a â€Å"reasonable amount† be used for the upbringing of his step-daughter. The court may be prepared to define a â€Å"reasonable amount†, however, following such cases as Re Golay’s Will Trusts (1965). Here, the wording provided for a â€Å"reasonable income† for the legatee, and Ungoed-Thomas J considered the term to be sufficiently objective to be capable of quantification. It seems this provision will be valid if two conditions are met; namely James’ use of precatory words are considered sufficient in the context to create a trust, which seems likely, and the court is prepared to define â€Å"reasonable amount† as the subject matter of the trust which, again, seems likely. The second provision in James’ will relates to his leasehold estate in Blackacre, which he wishes to pass to his nephew John, whom he desires to use the rent for the estate for either James’ children who John thinks are most deserving, or for John’s own children. There are a number of interesting, and potentially problematic, aspects of this provision. The first is that it relates to a trust over land. Under the Law of Property Act 1925, there are further formalities that must be observed when creating a trust over land. The trust will only be validly constituted if legal title to the trust property is effectively transferred to the trustee, John. Section 52 of the LPA 1925 states that any conveyance of land must be effected by deed. Mere writing (such as in James’ will) or an oral transfer, or even physical possession of the land will be insufficient. An assignment of title to a testator’s leasehold estate to an intended beneficiary’s mother was held invalid because it was not done by deed in Richards v Delbridge (1874). It seems that this trust would have failed for this reason. The trustee, John, however, died without distributing any of the rent from the leasehold property. The trust has therefore failed for two reasons (the trustee’s death and the absence of a proper assignment of legal title to the trustee). What, then, happens to the leasehold estate? It will become a resulting trust. The beneficial interest â€Å"results† back to the settlor or his successors, and the trustee holds on bare trust for that party. This is known as an Automatic Resulting Trust (ART). In probate terms, the interest will revert to James’ estate and will be distributed in accordance either with other provisions of his will, or with the intestacy rules. The third provision in James’ will relates to  £100,000 which he has given to Mark in order that Mark can invest it and use the income to help â€Å"any of [James’] friends’ dependants complete law degrees. This will meet the requirements of an express trust in terms of its certainty of subject matter. The  £100,000 is a specific sum of money that is to be made the subject of the trust. In this instance, however, we must consider the nature of purposes in the context of trusts. The law of trusts allows individuals to devote their property to the carrying out of specific purposes. There are, however, a number of restrictions on how this can be done. Purposes often involve both trusts and contractual obligations to carry out some action. The general starting point in this discussion is that unless it is a charitable purpose, the law in England does not generally allow the simple transfer of property on trust to carry out a particular purpose. Using Penner†™s example, â€Å" £10,000 on trust to oppose UK entry into the common European currency† would be likely to fail.[1] In order to assess whether James’ provision to Mark of  £100,000 for the designated purpose is valid, the â€Å"beneficiary principle† must be considered. This states that for a trust to be valid, it must be for the benefit of ascertainable individuals. This provision is not a pure purpose trust, which would fail under English law, but rather it is for the benefit of certain individuals. In Morice v Bishop of Durham (1805), Sir William Grant, then Master of the Rolls, said â€Å"there can be no trust, over the exercise of which this Court will not assume a control; for an uncontrollable power of disposition would be ownership, and not trust †¦ There must be somebody, in whose favour the court can decree performance.† In this case, as mentioned, there are a particular group of potential beneficiaries of the trust; it is not simply â€Å"for the general advancement of legal studies†, for example. Although the beneficiary principle would appear to be m et, then, it is a corollary of the requirement of certainty of objects, to which we now turn. For a trust to be valid, the objects of the trust (that is, the beneficiaries), must be certain. In other words the trust must be expressed in such a way as to enable the trustees, or in their default, the court, to identify who exactly the beneficiaries are. The trust of  £100,000 to Mark is characteristic of a discretionary, rather than a fixed, trust, meaning that the precise benefit to specific individuals is not defined by James. Rather, Mark will exercise discretion as to who, from the group of possible beneficiaries, will benefit. In McPhail v Doulton (1971), the House of Lords stated that the test for certainty of objects in trusts such as this one should be similar to the test for objects of powers. It should, in other words, be possible to say of any given individual that he or she is, or is not, part of the specified class of beneficiaries. Subsequently, in Re Baden’s Deed Trusts (No 2) (1972), the Court of Appeal stated that when this test is applied, a discretio nary trust will be valid so long as the beneficiaries can be identified with â€Å"conceptual certainty†. How does this apply to the present case? The discretionary trust relates to â€Å"any of my friends’ dependants†. This is of course, subjective. Who is, or is not, James’ friend? And who qualifies as a dependant of those friends? An early test for this problem was the so-called â€Å"complete list† test, which was applied in IRC v Broadway Cottages Trust (1955). Jenkins LJ stated that â€Å"a trust for such members of a given class of objects as the trustees shall select is void for uncertainty, unless the whole range of objects eligible for selection is ascertained or capable of ascertainment.†[2] Clearly, in the present case, it is unlikely that an exhaustive list of the potential beneficiaries will be able to be compiled. The test was, however, criticised in subsequent cases as failing to deal adequately with developing discretionary trusts that covered larger groups of potential beneficiaries. In McPhail v Doulton (mentioned above, in which the purported discretionary trust was very similar to the present one), the complete list test was discarded in favour of the â€Å"is or is not† test. Unfortunately for the present trust, however, it would most likely still be invalid on the basis of administrative unworkability. Again, this concept arose in McPhail v Doulton, when Lord Wilberforce stated that there may be classes where â€Å"the meaning of the words used is clear but the definition of the beneficiaries is so wide as to not form â€Å"anything like a class† so that the trust is administratively unworkable†¦Ã¢â‚¬ [3] Given the potential size of the class of beneficiaries here (depending of course on James’ popularity), this trust would probably fail. The fourth provision relates to James’ collection of coins and mints which he gives on trust in order that any of his colleagues who wish to do so to purchase them at half price. The rest are to go to James’ sister, Lora. The first issue here is the identity of James’ trustees. He has not specified who will be the trustee(s) in this case. This is not, however, a significant problem as it is well established that trusts will not fail for want of a trustee. This applies either where no trustee is specified (as is apparently the case here), or where the specified trustee is unwilling to accept this responsibility. If no willing trustee can be found, Public Trustee will be appointed as a last resort. Provision for this office was made in the Public Trustee Act 1906 (section 2(3)). Alternatively the court may appoint a trust corporation to administer the trust pursuant to section 42 of the Trustee Act 1925. This first issue with the present trust, then, presents no re al problem. The trust property is James’ â€Å"valuable collection of coins and mints†. This is unproblematic, assuming that the collection can be physically located. It should be relatively clear what forms part of the collection and what does not. The requirement for certainty of subject matter will therefore be met. The class of beneficiaries is expressed as being James’ colleagues. This is not a discretionary trust in the same way as the one discussed earlier, as the trustees have no discretion as to who will benefit from the trust. Rather it is the potential beneficiaries who may exercise their discretion to purchase items from the collection. The equitable maxim that â€Å"equity treats as done that which ought to be done† would apply a constructive trust here, if there was a specifically enforceable contract to sell the property to the beneficiaries. There is not, however, as the potential beneficiaries have not yet decided to accept. In the present context, a further requirement of a valid trust is worth considering; namely that where a settlor wishes to create a trust over which a third party is trustee, the legal or beneficial title to the subject matter of the trust must be effectively transferred to the trustee. James’ words here refer to his â€Å"trustees†. In Choithram (T) International SA v Pagarani (2001), it was held that where it is intended that there be a body of trustees, it will be sufficient to transfer title to one member of that body. The rules of effective transfer of title vary according to the type of property in question, and are most lenient in relation to chattels (which cover the collection here). Title may be transferred either by deed or gift, or delivery of possession. It is likely that the will, if correctly executed, will be sufficient for this transfer. There is, in trust law, a rule against perpetuities. This states that gifts of property must vest within a certain period of time. James’ sister is due to inherit the remainder of the collection at some point in the future, but this is not defined. The perpetuity period is â€Å"a life in being plus twenty-one years†.[4] This limits the period of time in which the remainder of the collection must vest in Lora. The final provision in James’ will relates to 20 bottles of Jack Daniels whiskey that is stored in his cellar, and  £500 from his City Bank plc savings account, which he gifts to his niece, Emily. This is, on the face of it, unproblematic. It would appear to meet the requisite standards of certainty in relation to words (or intention), subject matter, and objects. The wording clearly creates a testamentary gift. Assuming James has only one niece called Emily, the intended beneficiary will be clearly identifiable. Ostensibly, also, the subject matter of the trust should be sufficiently certain. The problem, however, relates to the fact that in James’ cellar there are 40 bottles of Jack Daniels; and in the relevant savings account, there is  £1000. The testamentary gift therefore relates only to half of these items. It is clear that a trust cannot exist in abstract. It must relate to specific assets or else it will fail. By way of example, in Hemmens v Wilson Browne (a firm) (1995), an agreement allowing a person to call for a payment of a specified sum at any time did not create a valid trust because no specific property had been identified as the subject matter of the obligation. There â€Å"was no identifiable fund to which any trust could attach.†[5] In the present case, there is no conceptual uncertainty as to the intended trust property, however, as it explicitly relates to bottles of whiskey and money. The problem arises, however, because the property is unascertained. In Re London Wine Co (Shippers) Limited (1975), a customer order for a consignment of wine was unable to create a trust over specific bottles in the seller’s warehouse because the specific property could not be ascertained. The customer’s specific order had not been appropriated from the general stock. This would suggest that the gift to Emily would fail for similar reasons. The Privy Council confirmed the approach in Re Goldcorp Exchange Limited (In Receivership) (1995) in relation to gold bullion. Again, specific orders had not been appropriated from the general stock so the trust failed. This is not conclusive, however, as an alternative approach occasionally adopted by the courts should be considered. In Hunter v Moss (1994), an oral declaration of trust was made over 5% of the issued share capital of a private company in which the settlor owned 950 shares. The court held that this was not void because the specific shares had not been segregated from the remainder of the shares. This decision, although it might help on the successful implementation of Emily’s trust, has been criticised as being inconsistent with the earlier Privy Council decision. One justification for following the decision in Hunter was offered in Re Harvard Securities Limited (In Liquidation) (1997) a s being that Hunter related to shares and not chattels. In the present context then, it seems that the trust over the money in the account might be valid, but that over the whiskey may not be. BIBLIOGRAPHY Statutes Law of Property Act 1925 Public Trustee Act 1906 Trustee Act 1925 Cases Choithram (T) International SA v Pagarani [2001] 2 All ER 492 Hemmens v Wilson Browne [1995] Ch 223 Hunter v Moss [1994] 1 WLR 452 IRC v Broadway Cottages Trust [1955] Ch 20, CA Knight v Knight (1840) 3 Beav 148 McPhail v Doulton [1971] AC 424 Milroy v Lord (1862) 4 De GF J 264 Morice v Bishop of Durham (1805) 10 Ves 522 Re Adams and Kensington Vestry LR (1884) 27 Ch D 394 Re Baden’s Deed Trusts (No 2) [1972] Ch 607 Re Golay’s Will Trusts [1965] 2 All ER 660 Re Goldcorp Exchange Limited (In Receivership) [1995] 1 AC 74 Re Harvard Securities Limited [1997] 2 BCLC 369 Re London Wine Co (Shippers) Limited (1975) 126 NLJ 977 Richards v Delbridge (1874) LR 18 Eq 11 Secondary sources Martin, J.E. (2001) Hanbury and Martin – Modern Equity, 16th Edition (London: Sweet Maxwell) Pearce, R. and Stevens, J. (2006) The Law of Trusts and Equitable Obligations, 4th Edition (Oxford: OUP) Penner, J.E. (2004) The Law of Trusts, 4th Edition (London: LexisNexis) Footnotes [1] Penner, J.E. (2004) The Law of Trusts, 4th Edition (London: LexisNexis), p254 [2] [1955] Ch 20, CA, per Jenkins LJ at 31 [3] [1971] AC 424, per Lord Wilberforce at 457 [4] Pearce, R. and Stevens, J. (2006) The Law of Trusts and Equitable Obligations, 4th Edition (Oxford: OUP), p404 [5] [1995] Ch 223, per Mosely J at 232

Oliver Twist, Hamlet, and Autism :: essays research papers

There are things in life which have an impact on us, an event, a place, movie, a person and many other experiences influence our thoughts and emotions. People also feel touched by things they read. There are books which make you cry or keep you in tension all these things are considered memorable. I have been affected by innumerable books and articles of which I am going to discuss the three most memorable pieces of literature I have read. Which are: Hamlet, Oliver Twist and an article on Autism. I chose to write about these pieces of literature because apart from having impacted me they have a similar topic which makes the term paper more appealing. Hamlet is one of my favorite plays written by William Shakespeare. Just by being written by my favorite author, Shakespeare, makes it memorable, but apart from that the play has a well structured plot and vivid characters. The play, Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, was first performed around 1600. Since then, it has proven to be one of the English language's most enduring stories, and there has never been a decade that hasn't seen dozens of new productions. Hamlet has come to the screen numerous times, in incarnations varying from early, silent versions to grand, colour epics.1 The story centres on Hamlet, a thirty-year old Prince of Denmark during the twelfth century, who is mourning the death of his beloved father and the untimely wedding of his mother, Gertrude, to his uncle Claudius.2 Hamlet sees his mother's sudden re-marriage as a betrayal of her union with his father, but worse news is yet to come. An apparition, appearing in the shape of Hamlet's father, haunts Elsinore Castle, and when Hamlet confronts the ghost, it claims to be the true spirit of the late king, doomed to walk the Earth for a set time. It also states that, by using a fast-acting, deadly poison, Claudius committed murder to claim both queen and crown for himself. Hamlet vows revenge, and thus begins either his slow spiral into madness or his carefully orchestrated act to appear insane.3 The mixture of fantasy and reality if one of the things I like about Hamlet. The appearance of the â€Å"ghost† at the beginning of the play makes the plot exiting and grabs people attention immediately.

Promoting Morality in the Aeneid and Metamorphoses Essay -- Comparison

Promoting Morality in the Aeneid and Metamorphoses    Just as the authors of the Bible use an evocative, almost mythological vehicle to convey covenants and laws that set the moral tone for Hebrew and Christian societies, Latin poets Virgil and Ovid employ a similarly supernatural method to foster their own societal and moral goals in Roman society. Where Virgil's Aeneid depicts Aeneas as the ideal, duty-bound Roman patriarch absent from the conflicted Rome of Virgil's youth, Ovid's Metamorphoses lacks the patriotic undertones of Virgil's epic. Instead, Ovid's lighthearted Metamorphoses depicts several mythical stories - some not unlike the etiological justifications found in the early Hebrew scriptures - which chronicle the transitory nature of life and its effect on society. When Augustus defeated Marc Antony at Actium and began the first acts in his rule of what would be one of history's most powerful empires, he sought to restore the morality and patriotism characteristic of pre-civil-war Rome. The stolid Roman patriarch, thought lost in the melee of civil strife, became the center of Augustus' propaganda and legislative campaign to once again bring honor and morality to his empire. It is from Virgil's unfinished epic The Aeneid that this exemplary citizen arises, one who is not only a fierce warrior but foregoes personal happiness for the welfare of his country as well. Virgil's unfinished epic - almost discarded by its author until Augustus intervened - not only serves to smooth over the violence and slaughter of the past civil wars by attributing them to the course of fate but also uses this strife as a tool to carve Aeneas as an ideal patriarchal figure. All these images on Vulcan's shield His mother's gif... ...y. 6 Oct. 1999 Gillis, Daniel. Eros and Death in the Aeneid. L'ERMA, di BRETDCHNEIDER, ROMA, 1983. Henry, Elisabeth.   The Vigour of Prophecy, A Study of Virgil's Aeneid. Bristol Classical Press, Great Britain, 1989. Lyne, R.O.A.M. Further Voices in Vergil's Aeneid. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1987. Mandelbaum, Allen, trans. The Metamorphoses of Ovid. By Ovid. San Diego: Harcourt Brace & company, 1993. Poschl, Viktor. The Art of Vergil, Image and Symbol in the Aeneid. Trans. Gerda Seligson, Greenwood Press, Connecticut 1986. Silvestris, Bernardus. Commentary on the First Six Books of Virgil's Aeneid. Translated by Schreiber and Maresca. University of Nebraska Press. London, 1979. Quinn, Kenneth. Vergil's Aeneid, A Critical Description. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London. 1968.

Reducing My Personal Impact on Global Climate Change Essay -- Global Wa

Over the years scientist and international stakeholders in global climate and environment such as the IPCC and UNEP have overwhelmingly agreed that the major cause of the earth’s climate change and environmental degradation is of anthropogenic origins. These anthropogenic activities include the release of large volumes of gases into the atmosphere especially carbon gases from both industrial and domestic sources, deforestation, landfilling and encroachment of swamps and wetlands. The effects of the impact of human activities on the global climate and environment are already being experienced by humans in the form of rising sea levels threatening low lying areas, extinction of certain animals and plant species, increase in neoplastic and respiratory diseases especially in newly developing industrial countries such as China. Although others have questioned the validity of the assertion that human actions are responsible for current global climate and environment predicaments, it remains an undeniable fact that the current changes we are experiencing in the global climate and environment is as a result of our actions and the inactions to alter these adverse actions. The adverse effects of climate and environmental change and the rapid rate of damage emanating from this phenomenon place an urgent call on us, as individuals and society, to change our behavior (Ehrlich & Ehrlich 2012, Patchen 2006, Schellinhuber et al. 2006). Although in the last decade many people around the world have been trying to bring relevant changes in policy and behavior in the form of political parties, non-governmental organisations and lobby groups; however, a great number of people seem to be unperturbed about climate and environment change and as such ... ...k, NY, USA. Patchen, M. (2006). Public attitudes and behavior about climate change: what shapes them and how to influence them. East Lafayette, Indiana, University of Purdue. Schellnhuber, H. J., & Cramer, W. P. (Eds.). (2006). Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change: Key Vulnerabilities of the Climate System and Critical Thresholds; Part II. General Perspectives on Dangerous Impacts; Part III. Key Vulnerabilities for Ecosystems and Biodiversity; Part IV. Socio-Economic Effects; Part V. Regional Perspectives; Part VI. Emission Pathways; Part VII. Technological Options. Cambridge University Press. Schlitz, M.M., Vieten, C. and Miller, E.M. (2010) â€Å"Worldview transformation and the development of social consciousness†, Journal of Consciousness Studies, 17 (7-8): 18-36 Steffen et al. 2011. The Anthropocene: From Global Change to Planetary Stewardship. Ambio 40(7): 739–761

Governments and Intergovernmental Relationship

Each state consists of a state government as well as local governments. In order for a state to be a well-oiled machine the two must work together to insure it is running well. In some instances the State will mandate rules and regulations that govern the whole state such as the drinking age or State highway speed limits. Other times local cities will determine what is best for their city. You might have county that is a dry county, and the county next to it allows drinking. One example of how all the local governments work together for the good of the State would be the issue on water.Water is a major issue for a lot of states that face major droughts throughout the summer months and even into the winter months. One such state that seems to have some type of drought issue every year is the great state of Colorado. Currently Colorado according to The U.S Drought Monitor have drought issues ranging from exceptional which is very high, to abnormally dry as being more normal, but still falling under drought guidelines.The Governor in 2011 called for the development of a statewide water plan for the whole state in the next five years. Many different agency in Colorado are working together to come up with a solution to the drought problem The Colorado River Cooperative Agreement was set up to bring together both the Denver Water, the West Slope and soon to follow the Northern Water Conservancy district to work together to insure the Colorado continues to have an ample amount of water.Now that the State has recognized that drought is an issue they want every city to get on board to find a solution to this problem.Part of the plan that the state has taken to combat the drought problem is to have each city monitor their lakes and rivers and put registrations on how many times a week people can water. This year certain cities had to put  restrictions on watering days as they did not thing they had enough water. Fort Collins, Colorado put a restriction in early spring that allowed only three days a week of watering. Shortly after that the restrictions were lifted, but some cities still have some type of restriction in place. They also left some restriction on town along the foothill so that more water was able to reach the Eastern slopes where much of the states agriculture is grown.The advantage of the state and local governments working together is that it benefits everyone in the state. It also takes the burden off the agriculture industry when they restrict homes from water so much and give more to the farmers. If the state and local governments did not work together we would all but see the decimation of the farms out east as well as some town in the south. Colorado has shown other states that if the many governments can work together as one, they can insure a better quality of life for their citizens.

South African Financial Industry

Non-traditional participants continue to aggressively explore revenue opportunities offered by the South African banking industry. The increased market threats, highly competitive and continually changing environment has led to Strategy& (2017) to refer to it as â€Å"a market place with no boundaries†. Figure 1 below, shows how the South African financial industry has progressed into the current state from just over a decade ago. The environment is characterised by intense competition, globalisation, heightened customer mobility and demand and deregulation (Bedeley, 2014; The Banking Association South Africa, 2014). Advancements of digital solutions has been the key enabler for the non-traditional participants to re-shape their value proposition and endeavour into the banking market. This has resulted in empowered global customers (Somal, 2017). To combat the increasing threats and outperform the new entrants, traditional banks continue to seek out digital transformational strategies (Bedeley, 2014; Somal, 2017; Strategy&, 2017). To South African traditional banks, the more threatening challenge is customer retention over attraction (Bedeley, 2014). They acquire vast customer data from the large market share evident in the second paragraph. This data continues to emerge at an alarming rate, due to increased market shared, increased customer base and innovation (Bedeley, 2014). The South African Banks have the opportunity to develop more customer centric strategies to respond to the wealth of data at hand. The key lies with translating this customer data into insight to enhance relationships with existing customers. Referred to, in the modern age, as data analysis. Data collection and analysis need to be a crucial part of business strategy (Somal, 2017). Data analysis depicts what has changed, and how to respond to it (McKinsey&Company, 2018; SAS, 2018). This implies the data capture, storage, processing and analysing strategies must make full use of the technologies available to take up the challenges born from the data surge (Bedeley, 2014). Harvesting data and looking for patterns and anomalies to provide insight lead to better business decision making and outcomes. This is not limited to, but includes, reduces operational costs, business risk analysis, reduced business uncertainty, consumer behavioural predictions, and guide smarter strategies to optimise current offerings or develop new ones (Bedeley, 2014; EY,2017; Stringfellow, 2014). Collecting and analysing customer data is not a new trend, the challenge is storing vast amounts of data, but, new technologies have relieved that liability (Forrester, 2018; TDWI, 2011). Organisations that adopt data analysis surpass their competition by 5% in productivity, and 6% in profitability (EY, 2017; Stringfellow, 2014). According to EY (2017), by 2020, each human being will generate 1.7 megabytes of new information per second. And, in the past two years, human beings have generated more information in the history of humankind. Effective internal and external knowledge management grants organisations the agility to detect opportunities and threats (e.g., reacting to new products or services of competitors); grasping possible opportunities (e.g., expanding into new markets), and staying afloat in a market whilst possessing competitive advantage (e.g., digital strategies to deliver efficient products or services) (Cà ´rte-Real, Oliveira & Ruivo, 2017; Bedeley, 2014; EY, 2017; McKinsey&Company, 2018).Understanding the South African MarketThis section aims to put into perspective the current market that South African banks serve. In 2017, 80.1% of South Africans lived in formal dwellings, 16.5% in informal dwellings, and 5.5% in traditional dwellings (StatsSA, 2017). According to a report by Standard Ba nk (as cited by BusinessTech, 2014), the poorest of the households in South Africa account for 62.3%, with members who earn a combined income of R7, 167 per month. Middle class households, earning from R86, 001 to R1.48 million per annum, account for 26.4%. Affluent households account for 0.4%, with an income of more than R2.36 million per year. The bank notes, only 5.5% of households possibly have the capability to save each month; Furthermore, the affluent households have a 65% saving capability each month of their income after-tax. The poor households contribute 11.2% to the country's income, the middle class contribute a total of 64.6%, whilst the affluent contributes 22.6%. This report highlights the severity of inequality in South Africa, whilst on the flip side highlights growth in the middle class (BusinessTech, 2016). Businesslive (2017) states, in the fourth quarter of 2016, there were 24.31-million credit consumers in South Africa, which is 8 million more than the employed South African population; Moreover, two out of every five credit-active consumers have an impaired record, which is 40% of the 24.31-million credit-active consumers; However, other debt including loan sharks debt were not included. In 2015, the World Bank report, declared South Africans as the world's largest debtors (Businesslive, 2017).?Costumer Satisfaction Index for the South African Banking IndustryIn the fourth quarter of 2017, Consulta released a Customer Satisfaction Index (SAcsi) for the South African banking industry. This satisfaction index is based on brands exceeding or falling short of customer expectations, and the respondents' idea of the ideal product to achieve an overall result out of 100 (Consulta, 2017). The report reveals the degree of satisfaction of South Africans with their banks. Survey participants included 13,099 bank customers across various segments selected at randomly (Consulta, 2017). The table below shows the year-on-year SAcsi scores for the South African traditional banks from the year 2017 till 2017. Absa shows a decline in the past three years, dropping from 74.8 in 2014 to 73.3 in 2017, resulting in obtaining the bottom position among the banks included in the benchmark. Standard bank previously held the last position, but, made a recovery with a substantial 3.3% increase in 2017 from the previous year. Nedbank suffered a 0.9% in 2017 from the previous year, 2016 77%, obtaining a 76.3% moving it to below the industry average of 77%. FNB obtained a 0.4% decrease in 2017 from the previous year, 2016 81.3%, but remains above the industry average. Capitec customers have remained the most satisfied for past five consecutive years. The 2017 Capitec score was 85.3%, 8.3% above the overall industry average.Gap Withing the South African Banking Industry Regarding Data AnalysisBanks are only using a portion of the customer data that is available to them to generate insight to optimise current offerings. The reasons for the low insight is silos and organisational structures, skills and talent gaps, data privacy, regulatory and legal framework or ethical issues and high costs associated to data analysis strategies (Somal, 2017). This prevents them from responding to changing customer needs; hence, leads to missed revenue opportunities. By prioritising data analysis to a key component to daily decision making, South African Banks can be equipped to integrate data from the different sources and develop solutions to better serve their customers, which will deliver noteworthy benefits (Strategy;, 2017). The outcome of this section suggests that with data analysis South African banks can provide business value by facilitating the acquisition of supply chain and marketing knowledge (Cà ´rte-Real et al., 2017). That translate to the right person offered the right product on the right device at the right time (Bedeley, 2014). Since banks have so much data available with the necessary analysing tools, they have a 50% chance of retaining a customer that is about to leave (Somal, 2017). Section three forms the fundamentals of the investigation of this paper. The section begins with the use of insight harnessed from customer data analysis to enhance customer experience by reviewing closely related literature; and then grants much needed detail on the data required for this resolution; how it will be collected from diverse sources to build better models and gain more actionable insights; improved to generate the right results and avoid making incorrect conclusions; and analysed for better decision making. The section concludes by presenting some key challenges and benefits of data analysis.

Primal Leadership Case Essay

The article Primal Leadership centres around emotional intelligence and the authors investigation into how a leaders mood or â€Å"emotional style† filters through the organisation and can affect the bottom-line results. If a leader is able to recognise this, they can monitor their own moods through self awareness, change them accordingly and act in the ways that will boost others moods which in turn will help the company’s performance. Studies show that when a leader is in a happy mood then the people surrounding them view things in a more positive light. An upbeat environment fosters mental efficiency – making people better at staying focussed, retaining information and therefore better at their jobs. Emotional intelligence affects the whole company’s performance, so it would be easy to assume that a manager with a positive outlook or disposition would raise the company’s performance. But emotional leadership isn’t just fake or putting on a game face every day, it is necessary to understand the impact you have on other employees as a leader. The more we act a certain way – for example happy – the more the behaviour becomes ingrained in our brain circuitry, and the more we will continue to feel and act that way. The key points made in Primal Leadership are covered by the authors in the five step program they recommend to help leader’s achieve higher levels of emotional intelligence. This process is based on brain science rather than more traditional forms of coaching, and has been designed to help leader’s rewire their brain towards these more emotionally intelligent behaviours. Step 1 – â€Å"Who do I want to be?† This step asks the leader to picture the kind of leader they aspire to be and what that emotional leadership looks like. Step 2 – â€Å"Who am I now?† This step is where the leader comes to terms with seeing their leadership style as others do, through receiving feedback from peers, bosses and subordinates. A key issue highlighted for this step is that as a society we tend to avoid talking about a leader’s emotional style and its impact in case we are perceived as being ‘soft’. Another key issue is that of resonance. How do leaders know if they have resonance within their organisation? Primal Leadership points out that employees don’t want to be the messenger for fear of being punished, and can often even feel as if it isn’t their place to confront a leader on this personal topic. So the way that they suggest CEO’s, manager’s and/or leader’s get the full picture is through feedback from not only subordinates but also peers, bosses and mentors. Step 3 – â€Å"How do I get from here to there?† The identification of the gap in emotional intelligence for the leader helps decide the action process of getting the leader from who they are now to the leader they aspire to be. Adapting in accordance with regular feedback, the leader can work on their mood and performance therefore affecting all the people they work with in a more positive way. Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee also state that leader’s should look at areas outside of work to close the gaps in their emotional intelligence, for example coaching a sports team or volunteering. Step 4 – â€Å"How do I make the changes stick?† Goleman, Boyatzis and Mc Kee explain that the way to lasting change and a leader’s growth in emotional intelligence is rehearsing or even visualising the new behaviour until it becomes automatic or implicitly learnt. Imagining an activity or response in vivid detail can fire up the same brain cells involved in actually doing that activity. Step 5 – â€Å"Who can help me?† The last step Primal Leadership recommends is the forming of a community of supporters. The authors emphasise how important it is to have these relationships and feedback from people you trust because these supporters are necessary in order to improve your emotional intelligence and help change leadership style. The bottom line in this case for me is emotional leadership is the spark that ignites a company’s performance, and leader’s need to understand how their mood is so influential to a business’s success, and therefore a leader’s most important task should be emotional leadership. It seems so obvious and full of common sense that advancing their emotional intelligence should be a leadership priority, and yet there are so many toxic work environments out there. Happy, positive moods might filter down from bosses to floor staff, but it will only result in happy people if the sentiments are genuine. In my opinion, leader’s need to be aware that an overly enthusiastic, fake happy boss can be just as toxic to a work environment as a grouchy one. It is not often that someone is told how their current personal mood is affecting their job performance or the business’s success – especially in New Zealand, where the culture expects a â€Å"tough† attitude and unfortunately the topic may be considered as â€Å"soft†. I know from personal experience how hard it is to give honest feedback to a terrible or intimidating boss, but if all leader’s took the time to go through Goleman, Boyatzis and Mc Kee’s five step program and evaluate/improve themselves as leaders then there would be a lot more happy employees.

Wal-Mart (Bus 644)

Wal-Mart BUS 644 Operations Management November 6, 2011 Introduction Wal-Mart is the largest corporation in the world, and it has obviously enjoyed tremendous success. But while many welcome its location in their communities, others do not. Some complain that its presence has too many negative effects on a community, ranging from traffic congestion to anti-union sentiment to unfair competition. â€Å"According to a recent study from Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business, the entry of a Wal-Mart does significantly impact sales at other local establishments (McDevitt, 2009). In regards to Wal-Mart impacting small businesses and town residents, it varies. There are both pros and cons of having Wal-Mart in local communities despite biases or beliefs of critics. Owners of small businesses located nearby. After observing the effects of seven Wal-Mart openings, researchers saw a 40 percent sales drop at nearby mass merchandise chains and 17 percent sales drop at supermarkets† (McDevitt, 2009, P. 1). Those small businesses within the same area of Wal-Mart often lose out on a lot of money or go out of business due to Wal-Mart’s everyday low prices and convenient shopping. With gas prices being at $4 a gallon, people wonder if customers will stay closer to home to shop, causing Wal-Mart to lose out on customers (Barett, 2008). There are those that think Wal-Mart is bad for local small business owners and those that oppose this viewpoint. Andrea Dean of West Virginia University argues that Wal-Mart has not had a negative effect on small businesses as critics think. Instead, the company has unleashed forces that have changed the nature of small businesses in this country in unexpected ways (Bandyk, 2008, P. ). Town residents and residents of nearby towns Town residents may have concerns ranging from an increase in noise pollution to a decrease in property values and those residents in favor of having Wal-Mart in local communities argue that Wal-Mart could be beneficial to residents; bringing in new jobs and tax revenue. Many Seekonk residents are not pleased about the soon to be Wal-Mart supercenter that is to be built at 150,000 square feet and located on 2 acres. â€Å"Another concern is the possible increase in crime in the area. Mello says that police officers have come to her house in the past to search the property for alleged shoplifters that fled through the woods from one of the retail stores† (Calverley,2011 P. 1). Another Seekonk resident is concerned that the pollution and dust will affect her husband’s health that is suffering from a respiratory illness and requires oxygen 24 hours a day (Calverley, 2011). Decrease in property value is likely to occur with there being a decrease of 10 to 18 percent in property value. Wal-Mart handling criticism I think that despite the criticisms Wal-Mart face, their success speaks for itself and customers always come back. Businesses worldwide will always face criticism, its how these businesses decide to follow up on these criticisms that truly matters. Wal-Mart needs to be careful when deciding where to station Wal-Mart centers; making certain that people in the local community are affected a minimal amount. People will ultimately be affected by location no matter where; however, the level in which they are affected should be strategically thought up so that few people are affected. So, instead of remaining silent on the sidelines as critics and watchdogs continue to tear it down, Wal-Mart is recruiting its own positive watchdogs as a combative measure (White, 2008, P. 1). It’s important for customers to feel valued and the network that Wal-Mart has collectively created will help to achieve this. Conclusion While there are downfalls of Wal-Mart supercenters being placed in local communities, there is without a doubt positives and Wal-Mart seems to be taking measures to reach out customers, for example, the efforts to establish the Customer Action Network, they are giving their customers a voice in hopes of helping them feel valued. There are several problem areas to be worked out on the behalf of Wal-Mart, however, with Wal-Mart being the largest Corporation in the world, critics will always pay careful and have negative feedback. References Barett, A. (2008)Does Wal-Mart Really Hurt Small Businesses? Retrieved on November 6, 2011 from http://www. businessweek. com/smallbiz/running_small_business/ Calverley, L. (2011). Residents Concerned about Proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter. Retrieved on November 6, 2011 from http://reportertoday. com/seekonk/seekonk/stories/Residents-Concerned-About-Proposed-Walmart-Supercenter Bandyk, M. (2008). Should Small Businesses Fear Wal-Mart? Retrieved on November 6, 2011 from http://money. snews. com/money/business-economy/small-business/articles/2008/08/01/should-small-businesses-fear-wal-mart McDevitt, C. (2009). Is Wal-Mart Killing your Business? Retrieved on November 6, 2011 from http://www. inc. com/news/articles/2009/04/walmart. html White, B. (2008). Wal-Mart Fights back Against Opponents. Retrieved on November 6, 2011 from http://www. bloggingstocks. com/2008/11/24/wal-mart-weekly-wal-mart-fights-back-against-opponents/