Coping with Corruption in Trading with China

CASE 2-5 Coping with Corruption in Trading with China Corruption is on the rise in China, where the country’s press frequently has detailed cases of corruption and of campaigns to crack down on it. The articles primarily have focused on domestic economic crimes among Chinese citizens, and on local of? cials who have been ? red or assessed other penalties. Indeed, China has been rated by Transparency International as number 59 of the 102 countries the German organization rates on its â€Å"Corruption Perception Index. †1 Finland is rated the least corrupt at number 1, the United States at 16, and Bangladesh the most corrupt at number 102.Corruption’s long arm now is reaching out to touch China’s foreign business community. Traders, trade consultants, and analysts have said that foreign ? rms are vulnerable to a variety of corrupt practices. Although some of these ? rms said they had no experience with corruption in the People’s Republic of China (PRC ), the majority said they increasingly were asked to make payments to improve business, engage in black-market trade of import and export licenses, bribe of? cials to push goods through customs or the Commodity Inspection Bureau, or engage in collusion to beat the system.The Hong Kong Independent Commission Against Corruption reports that outright bribes as well as gifts or payment to establish guanxi, or â€Å"connections,† average 3 to 5 percent of operating costs in the PRC, or $3 billion to $5 billion of the $100 billion of foreign investments that have been made there. The most common corrupt practices confronting foreign companies in China are examined here. ANGLING FOR CASH MNCs also are asked sometimes to sponsor overseas education for children of trading of? cials. One person told a Chinese source that an MNC paid for that individual’s U.S. $1,500-a-month apartment, as well as a car, university education, and expenses. Firms ? nd direct requests for cash payme nts—undeniably illegal—the most dif? cult. One well-placed source said that a major trader, eager for buyers in the face of an international market glut, had fallen into regularly paying large kickbacks into the Honduran, U. S. , and Swiss accounts of of? cials at a PRC foreign trade corporation. Refusing to make payments may not only hurt sales, it can also be terrifying. A U. S. ?rm was one of several bidders for a large sale; a Chinese of? ial demanded the MNC pay a 3 percent kickback. When the company representative refused, the of? cial threatened: â€Å"You had better not say anything about this. You still have to do business in China, and stay in hotels here. † Not surprisingly, the U. S. company lost the deal. Traders of certain commodities may be tempted to purchase on the black market those import and export licenses that are dif? cult to obtain legally. A fairly disorganized underground market, for instance, exists for licenses to export China-made ga rments to the United States.Some branches of the Commodity Inspection Bureau (CIB) also have posed problems for some traders. Abuses have emerged in the CIB since it started inspecting imports in 1987. A Japanese company, for instance, informed CIB of? cials of its intention to bring heavy industrial items into China—items that had met Japanese and U. S. standards. The of? cials responded that they planned to dismantle the products on arrival for inspection purposes. The problem was resolved only after the ? rm invited the of? cials to visit Japan. Some traders get around such problems by purchasing inspection certi? ates on the black market. According to press accounts, these forms, complete with signatures and seals, can be bought for roughly U. S. $200. Some claim that, for the appropriate compensation, customs of? cials in a southern province are very willing to reduce the dutiable value of imports as much as 50 percent. Because the savings can far exceed transport costs, some imports that would logically enter China through a northern port are redirected through the southern province. PAYING TO IMPROVE BUSINESS Foreign traders make several types of payments to facilitate sales in China.The most common methods used are trips abroad. Chinese of? cials, who rarely have a chance to visit overseas, often prefer foreign travel to cash or gifts. (This was especially true when few PRC of? cials had been abroad. ) As a result, traders report that dangling foreign trips in front of their PRC clients has become a regular part of negotiating large trade deals that involve products with a technological component. â€Å"Foreign travel is always the ? rst inducement we offer,† said an executive involved in machinery trade. In most cases, traders built these costs into the product’s sale price.Some trips are â€Å"reasonable and bona ? de expenditures directly related to the promotion, demonstration, or explanation of products and services, or the e xecution of a contract with a foreign government agency. † But other trips, when of? cials on foreign junkets are offered large per diems and aren’t invited speci? cally to gain technical knowledge, may be another matter. Foreign travel isn’t always an inducement—it also can be extorted. In one case, a PRC bank branch refused to issue a letter of credit for a machinery import deal. The Chinese customer suggested that the foreign trader invite the bank of? ial on an overseas inspection tour. Once the invitation was extended, the bank issued the letter of credit. QUESTIONS 1. List all the different types of bribes, payments, or favors represented in this case and say why each is either legal or illegal. 2. For those practices that you say are illegal, classify each as lubrication, extortion, or subornation, and tell why. 3. Which of the payments, favors, or bribes are illegal under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA)? 4. Assuming that the FCPA did not e xist, what is the ethical response to each of the payments, favors, or bribes you have See www. transparency. org for more details about their 2002 index. 572 Cases 2 The Cultural Environment of Global Markets you think bribery will become less prevalent in markets like China? 573 identi? ed? Read the section titled â€Å"Ethically and Socially Responsible Decisions† in Chapter 3 as a guide to assist you in your decision. 5. Now that the OECD has approved an FCPA-like treaty to ban commercial bribery by ? rms in member countries, do 6. List alternatives to paying bribes in international markets and discuss the pluses and minuses of each.

Justice with Michel Sandel

Justice with Michel Sandel Silvia Molina University of Texas at El Paso Justice with Michel Sandel Harvard university professor Dr. Michel Sandel introduces two lecture episodes that discuss a number of philosophy related issues. In the first episode â€Å"The Moral Principles† Dr. Sandel begins the lecture with a story of a trolley cart in a path that may lead kill one, or five people. The decision to kill the one person in oppose to five, is left to a show of hands by participating students. The hypothetical scenario he paints in the story is to introduce moral reasoning.The students then participate in a critical thinking discussion to conclude what would be morality correct, whether to kill the one person so that five should live or vise versa. His story quickly unfolds to introduce two moral principles, one being consequentialist moral reasoning and the second is categorical moral reasoning. In the second part of his first lecture, Dr. Sandel discusses a very popular nine teenth century law case involving an ocean stranded crew of four. Sandel proceeds to initiate the discussion of the principles of utilitarian philosopher, Jeremy Bentham.The inauguration of arguments of utilitarianism follows what is discussed in the second episode â€Å"Putting a Price Tag on Life/How to Measure Pleasure†. The lecture in episode two also includes discussions of critical thinking and arguments by the students to support their contrasting views. Part one of the second episode discusses the cost benefit analysis that companies follow to put a price on human life. The second part in episode two introduces British philosopher John Stuart Mill who argues that utilitarian, those who have experienced high pleasure and lower pleasures will desire the higher pleasure.Utilitarianism is further debated in the lectures of Dr. Sandel as he goes in to details showing how utilitarianism plays a large role in everyday life circumstances as well as in economic situations. The Moral Principal Episode part one opens up with Michel Sandel sharing a story about a trolley cart. The story is as follows, a trolley cart is on a deadly path headed to the fatal crash that will kill five people. The wheel on the trolley cart works and can be steered to kill only one person. The students are asked their educated opinions on what is the right thing to do given the circumstances of the story.Most students answered saving five human lives with the expense of one human life would be the right thing to do. When the story is changed by Dr. Sandel and the human that is to save the lives of the five others is murdered the students opinions change. Sandel then proceeds to introduce the two moral principles that take place which are cosequentialist and categorical. Consequential moral reasoning is one that locates morality in the consequences of an act. Categorical locates morality in certain duties and rights. Both these moral principals where greatly debated by the student s. On the second part Dr.Sandel gives a brief introduction to utilitarianism and the British philosopher Jeremy Bentham. It describes Bentham’s view on the balance of pleasure over pain and the belief of the happiness or well being of the greatest number. The real life case presented, describes four sailors that survive after a massive shipwreck and are now fighting for survival at sea. One of the four sailors gets sick and the others decide to kill him to feed of his body. One of the students finds the idea of cannibalism in the case of necessity morally wrong and that it should not justify murder even though it would keep the rest of the three crew men alive.Another student defended the opposing view, by saying that as humans in a situation like such â€Å"we got to do what we have to do to survive†. Other circumstances are debated and the positions of the students change to be morally ok to have eaten the fourth member of the crew to keep the greater good for the gr eater number. In the opposing view some students still believe that it is morally wrong to not value human life as equally as the weaker sailor. The thoughts of this very famous case are the debates of categorical morality and of Bentham’s idea of the greater good for the greater number.Michel Sandel opens the second episode with a brief history on philosopher Jeremy Bentham. Bentham’s views on utilitarianism is that the highest principal of morality whether personal or political it is to maximize the general welfare or utility. Bentham states that we are all governed by pain and pleasure and must find a balance to achieve the greater good for the greatest number. Maximized utility is best attained when all the benefits are added up and all the costs are subtracted and the result is that happiness is greater than suffering. Dr. Sandel describes utilitarian logic as a cost benefit analysis that many corporations as well as overnments use to give measure to human life us ually in a monetary figure. A cost analysis example is based on a proposal to increase sales tax to cigarette sales in the Czech Republic. The analysis concludes that the Czech government benefits more from smokers. The cost analysis conducted states that the benefits of smoking are greater because smoking increases tax revenue, increases health care savings when people die early, and no more pension payments to those elderly that die early. Therefore the only costs would be an increase health care, which in this case does not outweigh the benefits of smoking.In a way the analysis are giving a monetary value to human life. Another view point by Dr. Sandel, is the Pinto case where a cost analysis was conducted to see if the benefits of adding a protective plate to the car were lower than the costs of human lives affected by not adding a protective plate to the fuel tank of the Pinto car. In argument, the utilitarian principle is discussed by some students that those lives and opinion s of the minority should not be less valuable than those of the majority. Some students believe that no monetary value should be placed on human lives.In other circumstances the students think someone has to make those decisions to be able to adequately take risks in certain situations. The monetary value that is placed on a human life by conducting cost analysis is done for the well being of the greater good to conclude into making important decisions by companies as well as governments. The second part in episode two Dr. Sandel mentions a personal experience that raises the question if all values can be turned into utilitarian terms. The objection to transform all values in to a single uniform measure such as utilitarian is objected by John Steward Mill.Mill believed that utilitarianism can be aligned with defending human rights. Mill also reasons that utilitarianism can distinguish higher pleasures from lower pleasures. The distinction of the lower and higher pleasure can be dist inguished by having experienced both pleasures and one who has experienced both will choose the higher pleasure always. Dr. Sandel proves his point by showing the class three videos in which they must choose one that can be described as the higher pleasure. After the viewing all three videos which were a clip by Hamlet, the other by fear factor, and finally The Simpsons.The class greatly agrees that the majority would pick the highest pleasure to be the clip by Hamlet and that Shakespeare is the highest pleasure out of all three. Exploring further the idea of utilitarianism a series of hypothetical moral reasoning situations can occur in the brother cities of El Paso, TX and Juarez, MX. The drug war happening in the city of Juarez is crucially affecting a developing economy that participates in the NFATA trade agreement. Large corporations have positioned its manufacturing plants to operate in the city of Juarez.With Juarez and El Paso trading goods and money extensively among count ries raises the idea of the following hypothetical scenario. In this hypothetical scenario involves a professional CEO of a major corporation residing in Juarez. The CEO of the corporation lives in El Paso and has to cross the international border to Juarez to be able to attend work on a daily basis. Sadly on any given day the CEO finds himself kidnapped by one of the drug cartels that are at war in Juarez. The drug cartel is asking for five million dollars in ransom for the CEO of the company.Therefore the company is suffering 10 million in losses a day without its CEO leader that conducts all major profitable operations run by him in the company. This scenario brings up the use of cost benefit analysis or utility discussed by Bentham. What would the company do in this situation? What is greater good for the greatest number is the question that should be asked? Would it be worth it to the company to pay the ransom or would the death of the CEO result in greater profit of interest t o the company. This example shows how a cost benefit analysis that can be conducted by the company in which it gives a monetary value to human life.It can be argued that there are other moral benefits to saving the CEO not just for the company but maybe because his family needs him. In a way it can also be argued that it is morally wrong to put a price on human life and that no matter what the company should pay a ransom no matter the amount. It can also be said that the CEO can easily be replaced in less than half a day and that the company could save its 10 million dollar losses for the day. Whatever the decision in the hypothetical scenario might turn out to be, the idea of cost benefit analysis is one that is used by all companies and business around the world.One, especially in business must sometimes come across difficult decisions and it is then when all theories moral reasoning and utilitarian must be applied to come to a conclusion. In sum, the discussion of the two episode s concludes that utility is applied to most certainly justice but to everyday decisions that are made by businesses around the world. Utilitarianism is referred by Bentham as the greater good for the greatest number in episode one of Justice with Michel Sandel.Last but not least in episode two, John Stuart Mill defends the concept of human rights in these words â€Å"Justice is a name for certain moral requirements, which, regarded collectively, stand higher in the score of social utility and are therefore of more paramount obligation than any others†. This quote, Mill says that it is ok to keep the laws and rules that exist only if there is a much greater reason for breaking them. Therefore utilitarian’s reason could be that saving a human life is a better reason in comparison to the loss of millions of dollars a company could sustain.Mill and Bentham dispute significantly ideas and create extensive room to ponder, but it is in our reasoning that these ideas can be co ncluded and interpreted only by one’s own moral reasoning. References Episode 01 – Justice with Michael Sandel. (n. d. ). Justice with Michael Sandel – Online Harvard Course Exploring Justice, Equality, Democracy, and Citizenship. Retrieved June 12, 2012, from http://www. justiceharvard. org/2011/03/episode-01/#watch Episode 02 – Justice with Michael Sandel. (n. d. ). Justice with Michael Sandel – Online Harvard Course Exploring Justice, Equality, Democracy, and Citizenship.Retrieved June 12, 2012, from http://www. justiceharvard. org/2011/02/episode-two/#watch Jeremy Bentham, Principles of Morals and Legislation (1780) – Justice with Michael Sandel. (n. d. ). Justice with Michael Sandel – Online Harvard Course Exploring Justice, Equality, Democracy, and Citizenship. Retrieved June 13, 2012, from http://www. justiceharvard. org/resources/jeremy-bentham-principles-of-morals-and-legislation-1780/ The Queen vs Dudley and Stephens (1884) (The Lifeboat Case) – Justice with Michael Sandel. (n. d. ). Justice with Michael

American workforce

The American workforce is becoming diversified than ever.   The issue on workplace discrimination has been around since time immemorial. Discrimination is part of the process of three components, the cognitive, affective and behavioral. The behavioral component means the tendency to take negative actions against a particular group. The behavior stems form attitudes and feelings which constitute prejudice. Although prejudice is generally negative it is not as damaging as discrimination. The behavior component makes it possible to make the thoughts become real. Research has found that discrimination in any form is detrimental to the well being of the discriminated individual (Mathis & Jackson, 2004). The workplace is the place in which the employee comes to work on his tasks and to carry out his profession. If the workplace is non-discriminatory, the employee is more likely to work effectively and efficiently and to increase productivity and performance as well. The most common methods employed by organizations to ensure that their work environment is non-discriminatory are to conduct sensitivity trainings, to provide provisions for grievances and complaints of discriminatory behavior and to follow non-discriminatory guidelines in terms of hiring, selection and promotions. Sensitivity trainings are common in most organizations especially if the company is culturally diverse as well as sexual orientation, disability and religion. The advantages of using sensitivity trainings to make employees become aware of the prejudices and discrimination they may have for other people and teaches the employees how to change their thoughts about minority groups in an experiential manner. It also communicates to each employee that an individual is a person in his/her own right and should be respected as such, and not be accorded respect based on one’s race, religion or sex. The disadvantage in using this method is that if  employees do not have a positive attitude towards the training then this would surely limit their capacity to learn from the sessions. Moreover, sensitivity trainings are periodically given and is not reinforced thus limiting its effectiveness. The provisions for grievances and complaints communicate to the employees that discrimination will not be tolerated by the management. It is effective as a control mechanism to lessen discrimination in the workplace and make the employees become cautious of their behavior. This method does not really ensure that the workplace would be discrimination free since it does not teach the employees why discrimination is wrong. It only holds people accountable for their actions, although it gives the employees who belong to the minority group comfort. Besides, discrimination may come in subtle forms and not even many employees who are victims of discrimination will file a complaint for fear of repercussions in terms of inter-office politics. Hiring, selection and promotion of employees based on merit and performance is a non-discriminatory principle to ensure that people become part of the organization based on criteria that can be achieved by most people. The difficulty with this measure is that although it is an objective measure, subjectivity is still present. It is common knowledge that when it comes to promotions and even selecting candidates for the job a certain amount of subjectivity that cannot be monitored by a guideline. It also does not consider that mangers may have their own prejudices which may dictate their decisions on hiring and promotion. References Bohlander, G. & Snell, S. (2003). Managing Human Resources 13th ed., South-Western College Publication Fitzenz, J. (2001). How to Measure Human Resource Management 3rd. ed , New York; McGraw-Hill Mathis, R. & Jackson, J. (2004). Human Resource Management 11th ed., South-Western College Publication    American workforce The American workforce is becoming diversified than ever.   The issue on workplace discrimination has been around since time immemorial. Discrimination is part of the process of three components, the cognitive, affective and behavioral. The behavioral component means the tendency to take negative actions against a particular group. The behavior stems form attitudes and feelings which constitute prejudice. Although prejudice is generally negative it is not as damaging as discrimination. The behavior component makes it possible to make the thoughts become real. Research has found that discrimination in any form is detrimental to the well being of the discriminated individual (Mathis & Jackson, 2004). The workplace is the place in which the employee comes to work on his tasks and to carry out his profession. If the workplace is non-discriminatory, the employee is more likely to work effectively and efficiently and to increase productivity and performance as well. The most common methods employed by organizations to ensure that their work environment is non-discriminatory are to conduct sensitivity trainings, to provide provisions for grievances and complaints of discriminatory behavior and to follow non-discriminatory guidelines in terms of hiring, selection and promotions. Sensitivity trainings are common in most organizations especially if the company is culturally diverse as well as sexual orientation, disability and religion. The advantages of using sensitivity trainings to make employees become aware of the prejudices and discrimination they may have for other people and teaches the employees how to change their thoughts about minority groups in an experiential manner. It also communicates to each employee that an individual is a person in his/her own right and should be respected as such, and not be accorded respect based on one’s race, religion or sex. The disadvantage in using this method is that if  employees do not have a positive attitude towards the training then this would surely limit their capacity to learn from the sessions. Moreover, sensitivity trainings are periodically given and is not reinforced thus limiting its effectiveness. The provisions for grievances and complaints communicate to the employees that discrimination will not be tolerated by the management. It is effective as a control mechanism to lessen discrimination in the workplace and make the employees become cautious of their behavior. This method does not really ensure that the workplace would be discrimination free since it does not teach the employees why discrimination is wrong. It only holds people accountable for their actions, although it gives the employees who belong to the minority group comfort. Besides, discrimination may come in subtle forms and not even many employees who are victims of discrimination will file a complaint for fear of repercussions in terms of inter-office politics. Hiring, selection and promotion of employees based on merit and performance is a non-discriminatory principle to ensure that people become part of the organization based on criteria that can be achieved by most people. The difficulty with this measure is that although it is an objective measure, subjectivity is still present. It is common knowledge that when it comes to promotions and even selecting candidates for the job a certain amount of subjectivity that cannot be monitored by a guideline. It also does not consider that mangers may have their own prejudices which may dictate their decisions on hiring and promotion. References Bohlander, G. & Snell, S. (2003). Managing Human Resources 13th ed., South-Western College Publication Fitzenz, J. (2001). How to Measure Human Resource Management 3rd. ed , New York; McGraw-Hill Mathis, R. & Jackson, J. (2004). Human Resource Management 11th ed., South-Western College Publication   

Developing Writing Skills Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Developing Writing Skills - Essay Example My gretest wekness in writing hs lwys been to pln, write, nd revise n essy. In generl I lck bsic knowledge bout how to pproch writing nd the writing process s whole. Prticulrly, I hve difficulty in developing n essy in the following res: () generting content, (b) creting nd orgnizing structure for compositions, (c) formulting gols nd higher plns, (d) quickly nd efficiently executing the mechnicl spects of writing, nd (e) revising text nd reformulting gols. Generting content for n essy typiclly begins with brinstorming. During this pre-writing phse, writers tke time to reflect on their topic, select n udience, nd develop ides. Skilled writing depends, in lrge prt, on student's bility to pln before composing during this phse. My wekness is tht I do not spend much time prepring to write. Insted, I often begin writing s soon s I m given n ssignment with little or no preprtion. Furthermore, I tend to rely on n ssocitive technique wherein I simply write whtever comes to mind. Beginning to write immeditely fter receiving n ssignment does not llow dequte gol setting or plnning--two importnt techniques pplied by successful writers. Subsequently, I pper unsure of wht to do when I m given time to pln. Sometimes I do not regrd strtegies in the prewriting phse s vluble tools nd fil to utilize meningful techniques to become successful writer. I lso experience difficulty when ttempting to generte content nd orgnize structure for compositions. This problem my be ttributed to their under-utiliztion of strtegies for retrieving useful informtion. Thus, sometimes I view writing ssignment s question/nswer tsk involving little preprtion. Formulting gols nd objectives, strtegy tht experienced writers use to pln nd execute higher-level writing skills, is third re of difficulty for me. Writing cn be chrcterized s problem-solving tsk tht includes identifying gols for writing s well s the mens to chieve them. During nd fter writing, these gols re ssessed to determine whether student needs to redefine the gols or continue with the writing process. In my writing strtegy I choose from list of gols tht I feel my pper should ccomplish nd thn I brek the writing tsk into severl prts: () generte product nd process gols, (b) develop notes, (c) orgnize notes, (d) write nd continue the process of plnning, nd (e) evlute success t obtining gols. fter being tught the gol-setting strtegy, I meet the gols I hve set for my essys 90% of the time. My strength in writing is tht I m ble to quickly nd effectively execute the mechnicl spects of writing. Specificlly, in comprison to my peers, I mke considerbly more spelling, cpitliztion, nd punctution errors in compositions, nd my hndwriting is less legible. Bsic skills like spelling, grmmr, nd hndwriting re usully not tught t the high school level. I lso think tht my strength in writing is in formtion sentences. I hve well-developed sense of sentence style nd produce long nd completed sentences. Thus, the repetition of simple sentences nd frequent use of run-on sentences re not common for my style. For exmple, I edit for the conventions of writing s they proceed with composing their ides nd during the post-writing stge for refinement. nother re of difficulty in writing for me is the revision of my writing. The revision process is n

Transfer pricing case Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Transfer pricing case - Coursework Example The company’s management decided to expand its product line and consequently many new and innovative products were developed. As a result a broad array of cell phone products developed among which the Energy Saving System or ESS was most significant. The company’s growth enabled it to reach the broader markets including international markets and diversification. In 2003, the company’s management decided to diversify internationally into Asia-Pacific markets which were expected to experience the highest growth retain cell phone usage in near future. The management team at Prime Co. decided to discuss the possibility of expanding into international markets. They decided to enter the Asian-Pacific market as it was expected to experience the highest growth in cell phone usage in near future. Some of the strategies that were being considered by the Prime Co’s management team include exporting, licensing, contract manufacturing, strategic alliances, or starting a wholly owned subsidiary. Exports mean to transfer goods and services outside domestic borders. Exports can be favorable when the domestic market’s demand has stabilized and there is huge demand in the developing countries for the target products. The benefits of exports can be reduced by the foreign government by introducing trade and tariffs which act as barrier for importing foreign goods in developing countries. The foreign governments generally adapt such policy to protect the domestic markets from foreign competition. In these kinds of situations the company does not have direct control. Licensing is the granting of permission by licensor to the licensee as an authorization for carrying out activities by the licensee and also use the licensed material of licensor. The biggest advantage of licensing is that it involves less cost of investment on R&D with limited financial risk. So, if the product fails in foreign country

The AISD Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The AISD - Essay Example It has been viewed that most of the districts in AISD perform their board meetings which are recorded and are available to the citizens through their website (Arlington ISD, 2012). This particular paper will deal with the discussion of the subject matter of introduction of libraries in different schools especially in Texas according to the different board meetings that AISD publishes in their website. Moreover, the implications of the discussion topic i.e. the introduction of libraries in various schools located at Texas synthesizing with the article published by Norman D. Kerr along with the text book i.e. â€Å"The Educator’s Guide To Texas School Law† will be portrayed in the discussion. Implications of the Discussion Topic The board meeting about the introduction of libraries in different schools had a positive implication upon the community of Arlington. While discussing the topic in the board meeting, Cary Siegfried who is the Director of the Department of Librari es belonging to Arlington City emphasized upon the topic of the Library Link program which was established in the year 2007.

Ss Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Ss - Assignment Example This defect reduction means a substantial reduction in: 10. A call center for processing book orders is investigating their error rate. The procedure calls for the customer service representatives throughout the distributed system network to gather the following information for each order (those marked with an asterisk were determined to be critical to the processing of the order) Note that the annual ‘rolling error rate’ is shown in , as computed on a monthly basis: 12. Two critical characteristics were inspected in a sample of 500 orders. Fifty errors were found on 25 of the orders, but 20 of these orders were reprocessed to correct the errors. The Throughput Yield is: 18. The non-conformance records for the Painting Dept. are as follows, where the number reported is the number of defective units for each non-conformance type (cracked, chipped, off-color, wrong color, other): 21. If the optimistic, pessimistic, and most likely times for step 1 of a process is (2 days, 9 days, 5 days) and for step 2 is (4 days, 13 days, 8 days), then the best estimate for the total cycle time for the two steps is: 51. When a one way ANOVA is computed, the results can tell you that at least two means are different but it cannot tell you which ones are different? If you were testing three treatment groups, which test could you use to discern specific differences? 60. Peter’s project seemed to be going along well until the project team started to implement the solution. At that point, a department that hadnt been involved, but will be affected, starting raising objections and pointing out problems to the proposed solution. 61. Phebe, a team leader, is having trouble getting buy-in from various members of the team. In one particular problem-solving meeting, these team members didnt seem to listen to any of Phebe’s ideas, and were insistent that their ideas were more credible. Some reasonable advice to Phebe would be: 64. Jill is

The Developing Manager Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

The Developing Manager - Assignment Example This essay discusses that delegation involves assigning duties to workers so that they can complete them on behalf of the manager. Delegation enables managers to assign duties to employees who have the right skills; this enables companies to achieve their targets because workers complete numerous duties simultaneously. The author of the report has the skills of determining the workers who are suitable to complete certain tasks because he matches their skills with those required to carry out certain duties. If the organization lacks workers who can complete certain tasks efficiently, he organizes for them on the job trainings that fill their skills gaps.From the report it is clear that  leadership involves showing individuals the right way to follow when they are completing their tasks. Managers should possess this skill because they cannot manage successfully if they are not efficient leaders.  Problem-solving skills enable managers to solve conflicts that arise in their organiza tions successfully. The author uses his problem-solving skills to resolve conflicts among workers and departmental managers in the organization. He finds solutions that end the conflicts in a way that satisfies all the parties who are involved in the problem. This increases the satisfaction of workers and it motivates them to work hard for the organization.  Team management is a skill that enables leaders to organize various players in a company so that they can work in union. The author manages teams by first determining the workers who should work in a team.

Subject area is International Business Crimes Essay

Subject area is International Business Crimes - Essay Example years these criminal groups have significantly increased the extent of their activities by taking advantage of opportunities such as the lowering of economic and political barriers; the end of communist regimes and the founding of delicate new democracies; the increase global trade; and the advances in technology that aid global communication and transport.1 Business crimes, also known as white-collar crimes, are illegal acts against businesses or individuals with the use of paperwork (or computers). As a result, businesses often react by changing their hours of operation, raising their prices to cover their losses, relocating outside the community, or simply closing. Fear of crime isolates businesses, much like fear isolates individuals—and this isolation increases vulnerability to crime. Reducing business crime must be a community effort. Law enforcement have to work with business owners in order to improve security.2 Business crimes, which are mostly run by internationally organised criminals, include market manipulation, monetary counterfeiting, money laundering, fraud and bankruptcy fraud, bribery, insider dealing, embezzlement, computer crime, medical crime, public corruption, identity theft, pension fund crime, RICO crimes, consumer fraud, occupational crime, securities fraud, financial fraud, and forgery. Make large sums of money through drug trafficking, arms smuggling and financial crime. ‘Dirty money’, however, is of little use to organised crime because it raises the suspicions of law enforcement and leaves a trail of evidence. Criminals who wish to benefit from the proceeds of large-scale crime have to camouflage their ‘Dirty money’ without compromising their operations and themselves. The process of hiding ‘Dirty money’ is called money laundering. Every criminal needs to "launder" the proceeds of crime, but where organised crime, drug trafficking and corruption are involved. Today, nternational business criminals are making use of the

Reality Television shows Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Reality Television shows - Essay Example Reality television began back in the 1950s. The show that is dubbed as â€Å"the granddaddy of reality TV† was a show known as Candid Camera. This show aired in 1948, and it was basically centered on taping how people would react to pranks, much like Punk’d. This show was responsible for placing hidden cameras or microphones in backyards or households, they were already there in the eyes and ears of concerned and vigilant citizens encouraged by government propaganda to report any signs of â€Å"un-American† activity (Holmes and Jermyn, 35). The very first Miss America pageant was aired in 1954, making the winner an instant celebrity. Since then, there have been many reality shows that have taken the nation by storm. Shows such as The Dating Game, An American Family, Big Brother, The Real World, American Idol, and so much more. People keep coming back to the show because they can associate to it, they fact that it’s unscripted makes the characters on the sh ow more relatable, and it offers you an inside view to almost anywhere. The hidden camera could document the world of institutions, from the judiciary system to the mental hospital (Oullette and Murray, 25) There are many genres on the reality TV front; one that is picking a lot of fans is the Reality competition genre. These shows follow the format of non-tournament elimination contests. The common scenario is the participants are filmed competing to win a prize, often living together in a confined environment. Usually, it goes on until only one person or one team is left, and they’re declared the winner/s. The elimination can be done either by voting, or by judges selecting who passes through. Examples of such shows are Big Brother, American Idol, America’s Got Talent, Star Search, etc. These shows don’t just come to mind. Social scientists continue to serve as consultants in reality TV to this day, screening contestants for shows and helping to design situati ons and guidelines for interaction (Oullette and Murray, 26). One show that has captivated is Survivor. This show was created in 1997 by Charlie Parsons. It premiered on May 31, 2000 on CBS. It was hosted by Jeff Probst and produced by Mark Burnett. As a result of the show, the latter has a second career as a management consultant, serving as motivational speaker and helping executives develop skills to compete effectively in the corporate â€Å"jungle† (Oullette and Murray, 27). The show centers on a group of castaways in different tribes left out in the middle of nowhere, and they must search and provide their own food, shelter, water, fire and they must look out for themselves. There are weekly challenges where rewards such as fine food, or much-needed rest is offered. The last three or two that are left standing are usually left at the mercy of the other eliminated contestants. They vote for who should win, and the winner gets one million dollars. This show has experience d a lot of success. It is commonly considered the â€Å"mother of American reality TV† because it experienced high ratings and was very profitable. It’s currently had twenty-two seasons and three-hundred and two episodes. Over the years, Survivor has been set in many different places such as Thailand, Polynesia, Australia, Malaysia, Vanuatu, Panama, to name a few. The most recent season is based in the beach of San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua.

What is executive privilege and when does it apply Include proper Essay

What is executive privilege and when does it apply Include proper in-text citations in APA format to support your answer - Essay Example Executive privilege was exerted by Presidents as many believed that information could be withheld if public interest was involved or if it interfered in the job of the President (What’s the legal basis, 2008). In the modern context executive privilege is exercised when there is a need to protect national security, to maintain confidentiality of certain deliberations or investigations made in the White House. An executive privilege memorandum that was issued during the Reagan administration stated that the privilege would be invoked only when there was a dire need for confidentiality and after a careful review along with an authorization issued by the President. There have been several controversies associated with the use of the executive privilege as in the case of the Watergate scandal involving President Nixon and post-Watergate cases as in the case of President Clinton. In these instances Presidential power was used to conceal certain wrongdoings which finally led to their resignations and impeachment respectively (Rozell, 2002). Also, several disputes associated with exerting the privilege by Presidents are related to requests made by the Congress for such privileged information. In such cases even the courts have not been able to balance the privilege claims made on behalf of the President and the congressional demand for information (What’s the legal basis, 2008). However, given the various issues associated with exercising executive privilege, its use has now become legitimate and can be invoked by the President if any subject is deemed as classified and therefore needs to be concealed. 1. Rozell, M. J. (2002). Executive Privilege Revived? Secrecy and Conflict during the Bush Presidency. Duke Law Journal, 52, 403-421. Retrieved 5 May, 2012, from

The United Kingdom and India Essay Example for Free

The United Kingdom and India Essay The purpose of this paper is to understand the benefits of the trade relationship between the United Kingdom and India particularly in the small and medium enterprises sector of each country. Introduction The relationship between the United Kingdom and India can be traced from centuries ago. The British Empire once colonized India and the British have already seen so many unique attributes of India in terms of products and resources that they began taking it to their shores. The Indian and British economy can be both very influential in developing peace and justice in the world economy. Thus it can only be done if both countries will begin seizing the opportunities today. India being the largest democracy is not only a very good potential market, but in the long run, this country is bound to contribute a lot of things to the progress of the world. Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said in (2007) India is one of the engines of world growth. I believe Britain must be a full participant and indeed your partner of choice. Research Question How does the current trade relationship between U. K. and India affect each other’s domestic economic growth? Objectives: †¢ To determine whether the current trade relationship of the United Kingdom and India is strong and beneficial (advantageous) or its opposite †¢ To understand whether to what extent each country influences the other in terms of monetary and non monetary investments †¢ To identify which factors contribute to the success (or failure) of the existing trade relationship Hypotheses †¢ India and the United Kingdom’s trade relationship is a strong and beneficial one †¢ The existing trade relationship between U. K. and India provides India with beneficial technology transfer and knowledge building which improves small and medium size entrepreneurial growth †¢ The existing strong relationship between U. K. and India paved the way for India to invest favorably in the U. K. Methodology This paper will particularly rely on secondary sources taken from the studies of experts in the said field, and primary data coming from government agencies that investigate and study this topic in the United Kingdom and India. Literature Review Gareth Thomas MP, Minister for Trade, Investment and Consumer Affairs in April 2008 further added that, â€Å"The UK can help India achieve this ambitious target. We are a natural ally of India in encouraging Europe to open up in areas of interests. As allies we need to support the global economy and restore confidence. The alternative risks nations succumbing to the growing tide of protectionism. The UK-India partnership – Governments and business – must continue to be at the forefront of those making the case for increased openness. I believe that strengthening still further UK-India trade will help India’s development, will help India to lift more of it’s people out of poverty and at the same time be good too for British business, British jobs and our economy. † This statement goes to show that such relationship equally benefits both countries, because more and more Indian companies are penetrating UK for investments thus providing the UK with more job opportunities, especially on the Northern Ireland part. Now, in the 21st century, the trade relations of both country has gone stronger. The United Kingdom’s strong trading relationships with India provides for advantages specifically in the area of business in the U. K. ’s domestic economy. According to Prime Minister Brown (2008), â€Å"The UK will invest another ? 825 million for development in India over the next three years. † Brown announced the funding during his India visit. UK’s aid in strengthening the education sector of India, will also prove to be beneficial for both countries in the long run. This is so because, there will be an increase in the talent pool which can help Indian and British companies. The UK investment is not merely for trade purposes, but this time a big chunk of the investment will go to humanitarian purposes and education wherein up to ? 500 million is expected be spent on health and education. The said funds will give 300,000 more teachers and another 300,000 classrooms ensuring that in total by 2011, 4 million more children half of them girls – will be able to go to school. This then, will definitely promote more equality in education. Prime Minister Brown in (2008) further added that, Over the last few years, India has made great progress in tackling poverty and sustaining economic development. But some grave challenges remain. The UK is keen to play its part and work in partnership with India to fight poverty. That is why I am pleased to announce this substantial package of support to help make a better future for India’s poorest. This is a very important statement because it reflects how committed the UK is in helping the Indian society. Definitely, a country can only achieve high quality of growth and very good business climate if it is able to sustain its own demands for change. UK is very particular with â€Å"just change†, or an equitable change. It cannot be that India continues to contribute to the most number of billionaires in the world and yet a lot of its citizens are still dying of hunger, unemployment, poverty and other diseases. The UK’s Secretary of State for International Development, Douglas Alexander, said: Without India getting on track, the world will fail to meet the Millennium Development Goals. That is why the UK contribution which accounts for 1/3 of all aid to India is welcomed. Past UK support has helped to raise primary school enrolment rates to 94 per cent and provided water and sanitation for 10 million slum dwellers. The ? 825m contribution will continue to benefit Indias poorest by improving health (including under nutrition) and education for all. Though parts of India are booming, the levels of child malnutrition in India are nearly twice as high as the average for all of sub Saharan Africa. India is home to one third of the world’s poor. Up to 400 million people live on under a dollar a day. UK’s contribution to India transcends business, it has to be also about development. UK believes that India is a huge talent pool, and yet it can only be sustained if education will not be limited to few. If India wants to be one of the largest economies, then it has to produce more leaders by means of education- and this is where UK is very helpful with.

The Issues Of Children On The Internet

The Issues Of Children On The Internet Abstract: This paper focuses on current studies on children and the Internet in historical context noting the main themes in various research papers, books and media research by summarizing both the pros and cons surrounding childrens use of computer and the internet, and on which factors society should focus when making important decisions about the role of the Internet technology in childrens lives. Is access to the Internet for children important or not? What is the purpose of access and who need the access? How parents can assure that access to the Internet for their children leads to positive and innovative learning experience at school and at home? As the Internet becomes must in our daily lives, it is necessary to understand how the growth and the development of our child is dependent on the use of the Internet and the computer technology. Parents should determine what their children should learn from the Internet and take actions which are necessary to steer them away from bad influenc es of the same. Introduction: Due to childrens passion for computers and internet, huge funds are being spent to give them access to computers and Internet in school, at home and in dorms. Now a days near about each and every school is equipped with computer systems and large number of children have access to the Internet at their home. But is the Internet and computer technology improving childrens lives? This paper examines not only how children are affected by this emerging era of computers and the Internet but also explores how the use of Internet is affecting childrens development by all means and different ways to overcome problems from these critical situations. Overview: People usually agree that, for children to enter socially and politically in this new competing world, they must get a certain level of comfort and knowledge using computers. National polls also indicate the necessity for providing access to computers and Internet for children to enable them learn computer skills and improve their education.[1] In most of the surveys parents and children believe computers and the Internet as an information highway, despite worried about exposure to inappropriate content like commercial, sexual or violent contents.[2] Some Parents also believes that the Internet can help children in their homework. They consider that children without Internet access have a lot disadvantages compared to those with access to internet. Thus, children with access to computers and the Internet at home are growing. The spread of the Internet access has been described as nine time faster than that of radio and four times faster than that of personal computers and also three times faster than that of television.[2] Also the Internet connections are rapidly increased from 15% to 52% over the five year periods from 1996 to 2000.[2] In addition to this, in USA Congress has made a national priority to give access to the Internet at school for all their nations children. Stating that the use of such technology can help students to develop and maintain a technologically literate citizen.[3] For this Congress has established many acts like Educate America act, The Improving Americas school act etc. As a result, the percentage of schools with computer with Internet increased from 35% to 95%.[3] On the other hand, children spend most of their time in computer activities at home. Such excessive and unmonitored use of computers combined with use of other screen technologies like television can place children at harmful risk on their social development. Too much time in front of computer can deviate their mind from playing sports and other social activities which are beneficial and essential to child development. In addition, also there are chances for children to get exposed to some violent and sexual inappropriate contents beyond both at school and at home internet.[11] Currently, excessive use of computers and the Internet among children is not typical. National survey indicate that children ages from 2 to 17 spent on an average about 34 minutes per day on computers at home.[4] Usage is high, however especially older children have reported spending at-least 4 hours a day on internet.[4] Children who spend high amount of time on computers and on the Internet most likely get apart from activities required for healthy development and increasing risk of obesity and could expose them to harmful impact on their eyes. Although, the number of studies suggests that the risk of excessive computer use can be significant.[4] To reduce increased risk of obesity and several other harmful effects because of extensive use of internet, the American Academy of Pediatrics suggested parents about limiting childrens time spending on the Internet should not exceed one to two hours per day.[5] In addition to this time extent, they also suggested that various activities children perform on computers and on the Internet can also affect their psychological and intellectual will-being.[5] Children can use computer and the Internet for a wide range of purposes. For example, they can choose to get engage in activities across a broad range of possibilities like making projects, creating cartoons, learning different basic computer tools such as painting, power-point etc. Games: Video games introduces children to the computer technology and the internet world. Computer games have long been the most common activity for children. Online games make children adapt and be comfortable with diverse concepts of computing. This is mainly important for girls who typically not interested in high technology as much as boys. In concern with online games, boys spent much more time than girls on computers. however, now a days the computer applications has widened, as a result girls also spent time on computers as often as boys do. Children surf the Internet mostly for music and for pictures of their favorite movie stars, and also for use of email to exchange messages among their friend. However, the effect of computer and Internet usage, vary significantly by activity children perform and quality of content the child handles. For example, the experiences of children playing offensive games on computer are different from children playing educational and puzzle games online and the experiences of children using emails to exchange messages with family and friends are quite different from children using emails to chat with strangers in MUDs and chat rooms. These games vary diversely in concern with type of content and behavioral effects. Some games have been shown to have high educational value. For example SimCity. By playing this game children can develop their problem solving skills and visualization skills . But, online games like Doom 95 and counter-strike, expose children to extreme violence, possibly exposing them to aggressive behavior. However, studies suggest that the use of computers for playing games has least significant impact on childrens behavior, on their friendships and on family relationships.[12] It can also enhance certain visual or graphical intelligence skills like to visualize 3D images and to track multiple images of different colors and shapes simultaneously. Such skills can be important building blocks, for children in computer literacy and can be very useful for children to succeed in their life. In addition to the negative impact of online games, studies have shown that the more the time children spend on playing computer games and online games, the poorer is their performance in school exams.[12] It also show that many children who play online games routinely, skip their homework to play games and many student admitted that their online game playing habits are often responsible for their academic degradation. Children can pick up bad language and behavior from other people while playing online and it can make children vulnerable to online threats. According to new study published in February 2012, children spending excessive time on playing online games may show impulsive behavior and have attention problem.[13] According to this study attention problems were defined as difficulty engaging in to reach a goal. Education: Next to games, most frequently found activity at home computer and on the Internet by children is school assignments. The use of computers at home is assumed to have a positive effect on childrens learning. An evidence shows that use of home computer has slightly better academic performance but such studies failed to control other factors.[6] A study shows that children who participated in the computer program to get knowledge in mathematics and computer knowledge were better able to score higher in school tests as compared to non-participants.[6] The dark side of this is many of the educational sites on the Internet are being obscure by the commercial sites. In that, many sites are tied to some interesting television shows and attractive toy companies. By using an unique feature of internet, companies are able to integrate their advertisement on such web pages with their brand names or brand logos encouraging children to become their consumer at very early age. According to an industry report, teenagers spent approximately $161 million online in recent years.[7] In addition to this, much more information which is not intended for the children is readily available on the Internet such as bomb making procedures, and sexually explicit images and videos. It give rise to exposure to inappropriate contents and child abuse. Although, studies shows that children who viewed more cartoons and other animation type films improved their visualization skills and academic performance. [7] The extended use of the Internet to get linked with virtual world of multi user domains as MUDs, chat rooms and multiplayer games tends children to get in loneliness and depression. In this virtual world, children assume multiple identities and starts interacting with strangers. So, no one cannot predict whether a child is really communicating with a real person or with a simulator. Sometimes children are curious about sexuality and sexually explicit materials. Children may seek to establish new relationships outside their family as they are curious about use of Internet access to actively seek out such materials. So many of the sex-offenders target children and exploits these characteristics and children need. Some children also may get attracted to online offenders , although not technically, may also be dangerous.[10] Apart from this, children also make online payments because of some attractive ads to get access to those contents. However, because of such activities childrens and ultimately their parents personal and financial details may get hacked by some third party pirate and children are unaware of this.[10] Suggestions: An executive director of a non-profit group named GetNetWise which aimed at improving online safety says that parents should talk with their children about online privacy.[9] Such discussion can address many aspects of online privacy from the use of social networking sites and the disclosure of personal information.[9] Parents should remind their child not to provide their names or other personal details online without asking them.[11] Parents also should alert their child to common tricks like flashing pop-up ads that may be dangerous to their computer and on clicking them these pop-ups may installs spywares and malicious software into childrens computer to steal their personal information. To help parents and adults protect their children from such violent content, many steps have been initiated like helping children be safe and savvy, efforts to protect children from inappropriate materials on Internet that is Childrens Online Privacy Protection Act in 1998 passed by congress, efforts to promote computer literacy etc. Many companies have created several filtering and blocking tools for parents to keep their children away from online violent and inappropriate contents. However, the study found that half of the children using Internet at home have no parental restrictions on amount of time spent online and type of content they access.[3] So it is highly recommended for parents and teachers working with children that they should limit the time for children to access Internet and also supervise for the contents their children exposes to. Schools, Universities and community organizations should also provide a guideline to parents, teachers and also to children to strengthen themselves in their critical understanding and always teach children in making right choice about their computer use. Teacher should encompasses a more active role for children that allows themselves to use computers to create good applications, to invent new technologies and to design innovative models and not to just receive information passively from computer screen.[10] To reduce the potential threats of excess use of computers, as a next step, guidelines for how long, children of different ages should use Internet each day would be helpful. State and local education agencies should bear some age appropriate guidelines for childrens computer literacy. Such guidelines should be provided to all elementary and secondary teachers and also incorporated into technology centers.[8] Conclusion: Thus, computer technology is a vast and rapidly growing field. The government should ensure that schools should be well equipped with latest hardware, updated high-quality software, and well-trained mentors, resulting children to learn the required skills to live, survive and work efficiently in the twenty-first century. Although, the task is already accomplished to a certain level, appropriate monitoring and controls must be put to practice so that there is a very little abuse of the Internet technology among children and it helps in overall development of not only of their lives but also the future of the nation.

Implementation Of Marketing Strategies In Marvel Inc

Implementation Of Marketing Strategies In Marvel Inc Ronald Perelman an investor brought Marvel and caused a decline in late 1990s when Marvel filed for bankruptcy. This caused chaos in the company and battles were common among the various parties. But like Marvels characters a savior called Toy Biz, Inc came to the rescue and on October 1, 1998 they acquired Marvel Entertainment Group and named it Marvel Enterprises, Inc. After this change the company started to perform and the future was looking better. At present it is owned by The Walt Disney Company and known as Marvel Entertainment, LLC. Marvel provides its services through the means of comics, T.V., movies, toys, video games, etc. and has created a universe of great characters for the audiences. Marvels Characters Profile Marvel has 8000 various characters in all and each of these characters has helped to create Marvel Entertainment, LLC, therefore in this section some of the valuable characters of the company will be identified and what they brought to Marvel. The most famous characters in the Marvel Universe are Spiderman, Wolverine, The Hulk, Captain America the Punisher; these are considered to be among the top 10 comic characters ever (Albert, 2010). Five of Marvels characters are among the top 10 and in terms of market share for the year 2010 Marvel has acquired 45.52% of unit share and 40.66% for dollar share (Doran, 2010), which makes them number one in the world. In addition T.V. and movies have also helped in the popularity of the characters, as due to the release of Spider-Man Trilogy, X-Men Trilogy, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, X-Men Origin: Wolverine, etc. in the movie section and The Avengers: Earths Mightiest Heroes, Iron Man Armored Adventure, Wolverine and the X-Men, The Spectacular Spider-Man, etc. have been ruling the T.V. (Marvel Characters, Inc., 2010). Among the five top Marvel characters Spider-Man is considered to be the most popular as the story line has been innovating through the years. The popularity of this character is so huge that every kid and adult appreciates this character and this craze has grown with the release of several comics, T.V. shows, action figures, movies, video games, etc. The story of Spider-Man begins by Peter Parker being bit by a spider that ends up causing a mutation in him, which giving him extra-ordinary powers like climbing walls, shooting webs and a spider sense. The actual cause for this characters popularity was the character Peter Parker (Spider Man) who has issues like every other teenage boy and is also in love with one of the lead characters Mary Jane Watson and together it created not just a superhero story but also a love story that helped to attract teenagers. As for the other characters they also have similar story lines e.g. The Hulk and Captain also got their powers due to mutation, where as Wolverine is a Mutant himself and The Punisher takes revenge for the loss of his loved ones. In terms of villains that Marvel has created characters like Magneto, Doctor Doom, Galactus, Loki, Dark Phoenix and Kingpin, which are also among the top 10 comic book villains. As can be seen in the above table Marvel holds the market in this aspect as well and these characters have also played a major role in the popularity of the comics as people love to see their heroes defeating the most powerful villains. Marvel has always tried to give exactly what their market demands, whether it is their heroes, villains or story line and this has given them great success. Market Segmentation and Distribution Plans Comics Books The most famous characters have been the Spider-Man, X-Men and Fantastic Four and have also provided huge revenues. The major segments could be identified as male teenagers and young adults. These comic books were distributed using three ways which were direct market, mass market and subscription sales basis. The direct market distributers consisted of comic book specialty stores who had a large carrying capacity that could take as many products as Marvel liked; this was also lions share to the net revenue. The mass market consisted of bookstores and newsstands and these were distributed in huge stores like Wal-Mart and Target but offered a limited selection of comics. The subscription sales basis was a concept where the target market could directly purchase comics from Marvel for a subscription fee which tends to be on monthly or yearly basis. In 2003 Marvel sold almost 3.6 million copies and this were divided among the kids teens market and young adult market. The figure below wil l identify the market share of the market segments on the comic books in terms of percentage which is 56% for Young Adults and 44% for Kids and Teens. Figure : Comics Market Segment sales for 2003 Toys Manufacturing Toys are not the major revenue provider for Marvel but play a critical role towards loyalty as the major market for these products are kids from the age of four to twelve and collectors who increase the market value of the products especially action figures. Marvel sold the entire characters toy manufacturing license to TBW a Hong Kong based independent company for a royalty fee of 15% but this was with the exception of Spider-Man who rights belonged to Sony. The marketing and even the sales of these toys were done by Marvel themselves. With exception of some few selected figures that were sold through specialty stores and comic-book stores the figures were sold using the means of retailers, mass merchandisers, mall-order companies and variety stores. In terms of market segmentation kids accounted for 80% and the other 20% were collectors and this will be shown using a pie chart. Figure : Toys Market Segment in terms of Market Share Licensing Motion Pictures Marvel licensed all of their major characters to Movie Companies some of them being Spider-Man to Sony, X-Men to 20th Century Fox, The Hulk to Universal, The Punisher to Lions Gate, etc. and with exception of The Punisher all the other major characters were box office hits. The Movie that has made the most gross revenue was Spider-Man whose production cost was $139M where as the gross revenue was $404M in US and $822M worldwide. In relation to the rights the various studio determine the release timing and strategy but Marvel retained the merchandising rights and never contributed to the movie production marketing expenses. The revenue sharing consisted of 7% to 16% on gross revenue and 50% on the operating profit minus production costs, costs of prints, advertising expenditures, and distribution fees. In terms of market segmentation all of the motion pictures are R or PG-13 rated and this meant that the major segment consisted of Adults above the age of 18, as for the other segments they would teens between the age of 13 and 17. Other Media These are mainly DVD, video games, and also licensing to theme parks, shopping malls and special events. In relation to DVD a certain number of characters appeared in Lions Gate animated DVD and as for video games licensing Marvel have several licensing contracts with various game creators like Activision, Encore, Universal Games, THQ, and Electronic Arts (EA). In terms of market segmentation these were similar to motion pictures and were mainly teenagers and adults. Strategy and Recommendation In this section specific strategy with some recommendations will be mentioned which would help Marvel Enterprises, Inc. to grow and improve their present strategies. Comic-Book Publications At present Marvel is ranked as the best comic book publisher with market share above 40% and some of their recent growth has been due to the Avengers, Siege, Secret Avengers, and Uncanny X-Men and most of their new releases sold for $3.99 which is $1 more than their usual prices which means that even though prices increased the readers were willing to pay for them. In the above table it can be noticed that DC has many more comics in the list than Marvel but in actual The Avenger made huge sales which contributed to the increase in market share of the company. Marvel underperformed with the sales of graphic novels trade paperbacks as DC was able to achieve three of the top five spots (Doran, 2010). This clearly means that Marvel need to reconsider their strategy and they should consider bringing back Wolverine, Spider Man, The Hulk, etc. and even though Deadpool and Iron Man have been in the top ten they still are not one of the major sales characters for Marvel (Doran, 2010). Marvel at present is trying to bring some of the older and non famous characters in to the picture but the issue is that these characters have never been able to attract the market in the past so even considering bringing them would be to some extent risky but instead Marvel could consider making special appearances from some of the more famous characters like Spider Man, Wolverine, The Hulk, etc. and this intern would give the newer character some much needed support to become famous. Toy Production Toys play an important role in creating customer loyalty as kids and adults alike can read or watch their favorite characters and as long as there is nothing new but when it comes to toys and action figures there will always be a continues demand for it, thus it is important to focus more on trying to bring new toys to the market. The most sold toy for Marvel in a decade has been The Hulk Hands which sold 4 million units in 2003 but the thing to notice is that after the release of The Hulk Hands no other toy as mad an impact on the sales, thus Marvel might consider creating newer toys that could be in the same standard as The Hulk Hands. Another strategic issue is their toy makers as at present Marvel produces all their toys from one Toy Company and this is also the reason why there is no new creative ideas coming forth as after some period of time every company exhausts their creativity and resources, consequently the right decision for Marvel would be to change their producers or m ay be even have more than one producers for various characters and this will force competitions between the producers to make newer and better products one of the products that could work is making trading cards like Baseball, WWE, Yu Gi Oh, etc., this is an easy method to keep the children and youngsters interested in the characters. In addition to that the company could also hire an external company to keep a track of the quality and durability of the products this will help to keep the company on their toes thus driving them to success. Motion Pictures Marvel has sold rights of Spider Man, Iron Man, The Hulk, X-Men, etc. to various studios and there are many more characters that have been expected to make the re-entry in the movie industry like Thor, Captain America, Ghost Rider, Deadpool, Magneto, etc. but the issue here is that due to whatever reasons the movies are releasing at an extremely slow pace which to some extent is causing a fall in the market share and according to speculations the major reasons for releasing some of these characters is to make the movie The Avengers which includes some of the most famous characters of Marvel but the issue would be that it would take at least three years for the release as there are at least 3 more characters that have to be released. So a valuable recommendation would be to try to force the studios to release these movies at a quicker pace or to give the rights of the other remaining characters to the other studios as most of these characters could be released at the same time period. Other Recommendation Marvel has to first embrace that DC comics may not be performing well at present but their misfortunes could change quickly thus Marvel needs to understand that DCs major hope in terms of movies, comics and T.V. are Superman and Batman. Batman has recently gained a large market due to the release of The Dark Knight which has shifted the movie market in their favor and this is mainly due to their villain The Joker played by Heath Ledger. On the bright side Marvel has also released several movies that have created interest in the market but to tackle this problem Marvel will need to try and release the Avengers which seems to be the only story in their arsenal that could shift the whole market and at the same time release toys and video games which will help the market growth. Another recommendation would be to take more interest in the companies that are producing their characters whether through toys or movies as any mistake from the companies could truly damage their characters imag e and having control on what goes on in the movie and the toy company would be one of the better options for them and this could easily be done by sending one of their creative personals to be involved in the products.

Personal Narrative :: essays research papers

A calm crisp breeze circled my body as I sat emerged in my thoughts, hopes, and memories. The rough bark on which I sat reminded me of the rough road many people have traveled, only to end with something no one in human form can contemplate. â€Å"How can the complex working of the universe and the world around me end in such a simple catastrophe?† I wondered. I sat back and let the sun bathe me in its bright, reminiscent light. The atmosphere around me was quiet, but just a few feet away people were mourning a great life. It was a life that some say was â€Å"lived to the longest and the fullest.† I ,on the other hand, held a solid disagreement. The â€Å"longest† couldn’t yet be over, could it? Seventy-five just seemed too short when I had only shared thirteen years with this fabulously, wonderful woman. I stood up, as the loud vibrations of the church bells seem to touch my heart. I crossed the long, seemingly endless stream of soft healthy green grass to the black box, which lay just as I had left it in its own solitude. Inside of it lay the violin in which I had devoted a lot of my middle school life to. I had spent many hours practicing on this wooden contraption. Now all of my hard work, all of my hours practicing, would go into making this one piece sound amazing, spectacular, and memorable. This wasn’t something I was doing for myself. This was something I was doing for my family, friends, and most importantly the sweet, cherished soul of my dearly departed grandmother. I wanted there to be one last remarkable token of my love for someone who had made such a large impact on my life. I knew that my grandmother had absolutely loved the fact that I play a violin. She had always said that I held so much talent. â€Å"This,† I thought, â€Å"will be something that she truly would have wanted.† I opened the box and looked at the soft velvet casing. The freshly polished wood of my instrument glittered golden brown in the evening sun. I reached for it and picked it up. The usually very light instrument seemed to weigh more than I could ever remember. I walked in a straight line up the side of the church building. I passed the graves of many of the dead as I made my way to the door.

Graduation Speech: Praise be to God -- Graduation Speech, Commencement

First of all, I would like to thank God for giving me this opportunity to speak tonight. Had it not been for God, I wouldn't be here right now because He is the One who's given me the strength and courage to press on both academically and spiritually through my high school years, especially in times of discouragement. I am a international student. I came to the U.S. about five years ago. Studying in a second language and being away from parents many times have been really overwhelming for me, sometimes even to the point where I just wanted to quit and go back. But, through such times of discouragement and loneliness, God assured me that He is always with me, and also that through him I can do all things. During my five years at the Academy, God has taught me tremendous lessons throug...

Essay --

R.K. Narayan’s initial works drew inspiration from his own childhood and school days. In his first few books, he tries to introduce Malgudi and its characters to his readers. This had helped in creating a strong base among his readers about the settings of his books. As in seen in his initial four books, starting from ‘Swami And Friends’ to ‘The English Teacher’ , the characters are confined to Malgudi and most of the story takes place in that town. ‘Swami and Friends’, R.K. Narayan’s first book was described by The Guardian,in 2011, as one of the best novels ever written by an Indian author. Undeniably, an average Indian always thinks of ‘Swami and Friends’ and ‘The Guide’ as Narayan’s best work. The novel follows the life and adventures of Swami, a schoolboy in British India. The characters in this book are very typical of an Indian village: a dominating father, a submissive mother, a religious grandmother who mollycoddles her grandchildren, a stern headmaster and of course, the playful Swami. After having been dismissed from Albert Mission School, Swami is made to join Board High School. While his close friends, Rajam and Mani from his previous school decides to form a cricket team called Malgudi Cricket Club (MCC), Swami has little choice but to skip his Drill classes and go for daily evening practice. Problems ensue when he decides to leave Malgudi after being reprimanded by his Headmaster. After a series of dramatic events, Swami misses the much anticipated and much prepared for match, against Young Men’s Union, a team from Chennai, to Rajam’s ire. The novel ends with Rajam leaving for Trichinopoly, while Swami and Mani bids him farewell at the Malgudi Rail way Station. As with a lot of his other novels, Narayan leaves the ... ...is wife to return home, assuming that it was just another tantrum that she throws. Though the novel ends on a negative note in regard to women rights, it makes a successful attempt in at least bringing the issue to the forefront. With ‘The Dark Room’, Narayan tries to bring to the attention of his readers the plight of women at that time. While Savithri’s house is symbolic for the conservative and orthodox customs, practices and beliefs in Malgudi, the dark room in her house where she seeks refuge from her husband’s tantrums represents the space where a woman is separated from the rest of the world. The dark room is just a temporary retreat for women struggling to survive in an old-fashioned world. The author, in all probability gained inspiration for this work from the women’s movement that gained strength in the 1930’s along with the nationalist movement in India.

Introduction to Integrated Christian Apologetics Essay

Over the past centuries, many religious beliefs have been criticized by many philosophers and critics. Christian faith has never been saved from these criticisms. In fact it has received one of the major blows of disparagement. This criticism of the Christian faith has caused damage to the Christian believers. Due to the criticism of Christianity, Christian believers were also criticized and were questioned by their fellow human beings. And because of these, Christian believers were caught unaware and did not know what to do. Furthermore, this also caused believers to have weak faith in Christianity. There were even others who lost their faith because of these attacks. Due to a lot of criticisms, it was seen by many school of thought in Christian Theology that a solution must be provided to the arising problem. According to the scholars, apologetics is the solution to the dilemma. Christian Apologetics is a branch in Christian Theology that defends the Christian faith. It tries to answer the question â€Å"is Christianity believable? †. It originated from the Greek word â€Å"apologia† which means ‘making a defense†. Attacks of the Christian faith coming from the outside of the church are mean dealt with apologetics (Philip and Cherian). Presently an integrated approach in apologetics has been developed which sees apologetics in a holistic perspective. A person who is studying or has background on Apologetics is called a Christian Apologist and can help inquirers about their question in Christianity. A Christian Apologist can teach and help the person having doubts on Christian beliefs to see and find the answers to the problems and questions that he is facing. The Apologist can also teach the inquirer the humanistic philosophy which can help them overcome their doubts and will help them find the root causes of the problem. These also give the inquirer capability to deal effectively with the questions being raised to them. The basis of Christian Apologetics could be traced back to the bible. According to Philip and Cherian, Apologetics is a biblical activity which has been advised and demonstrated in the Bible at various places. One of the example is the verse from 1 Peter 3:15 which goes â€Å"always be prepared to make a defense to any one who calls your account for that hope is in you†. Many verses in the bible give a good definition of the character of Apologetics. According to Philip and Cherian, almost all of the books of Jobs are an Apologetic to justify to God’s dealings with mean. Furthermore, they also mentioned that verses in Psalms 14 and 19are apologetic in character. Romans 1:20 is also another verse in the bible that describes the character of Apologetics. With this few examples it can be said that all activities in Apologetics is referred from the Bible. An important role of Apologetics towards the Bible is that it answers inquiry of people who have been attacked by nonbelievers. Base on the module written by Philip and Cherian entitled â€Å"Introduction to Integrated Christian Apologetics†, the Bible places a great deal on faith and belief, though I condemns deliberate skepticism and unbelief, it does not speak against reason and investigation. The Bible encourages the use of reason and investigation when they are done sincerely and is an aid to honest inquiry. This is where Apologists play an important role, providing answers to honest inquirers. Furthermore, Apologetics is also related to Polemics which deals with attacks originating from within the church (Philip and Cherian) which is a bit unusual. Attackers from within the church includes everyone who teach perverted doctrines which could take in two forms. The first form is in the form of distorted bible and the second is through those of false cults who claim that they are a true Christian group. Apologetics and Polemics have the same purpose, which is to refute error and to establish truth in Christianity (Philip and Cherian) though they are two different activities. However, with the various forms of attacks that the Christian Church has undergone and undergoing, both polemics and apologetics has to know hw counter all the forms of attack which means that if you’re an Apologetic you should have knowledge on Polemics and vice versa. In this way, the person is well prepared for the things that will come his way. Attacks of the word of God are no just recent. Apologetics has its roots in the Bible. The Old and New Testament gives enough evidence of this (Philip and Cherian). The attacks can be rooted back to the Old Testament. It can be noticed that during the old times many people have already questioned the existence of God which had form doubts on the Christian Church and has never ceased up to the present date. Thus, from then on Apologetics has been part of history. During those days, it is the Jewish Fathers and leaders that have to face so much opposition from non-believers. The non-believers published a lot of written works to question and discard the Christian faith. At this point also, the Jewish fathers and Leader also wrote some books to counter the attacks and one famous apologetic works is Contro Apion which was written by the first century army officer and historian name Flavious Josephus (Philip and Cherian). During the rise of the New Testament, the attacks to Christian faith were a little different compared to the Old Testament. The attacks to the Christian faith were a lot faster because of the new technological advancements on this time. Aside from the advancements, Philip and Cherian stated that during this time the availability of the New Testament itself cause the rise of many critics, heretics and heretical movements. However, this was countered by the authors of the New Testament. Majority of the readings in the New Testament is an opposition to scornful people and heretics that distrust biblical truths. To make the truth heard, the writers of the New Testament wrote extensively to expose errors abut the attacks that has been made (Philip and Cherian). The existence of the New Testament has caused more damage to the Christian faith since the teaching found in the New Testament were in contrary to the beliefs of the heretics, criticizers and rebel Christians (Philip and Cherian). In addition, the New Testament insists of Bible alone, Christ Alone, Grace Alone, and faith alone which further provoked the doubtful believers. These non believers were also afraid that Christianity would spread very fast that they tried to stop it by destroying or saying things against the Bible, Jesus Christ and Christianity. However, this has not shaken Christian Apologist at that time, instead of giving in, they fought the non-believers of Christian faith by producing volumes of Christian Apologetics and Polemics. However, during the recent years, the fight of Christian Apologist became dormant when the Roman Catholic Church ruled the Christian world stiffly. The roman Catholic Chruch at this time (fourth century to the 14th century) indulged in a great struggle for ecclesiastical as well as temporal power that they tend to silenced, torture, and killed millions of dissenting people (Philip and Cherian). So instead of fighting back, Christian Apologists tend not to speak because of the life threatening situation. When the dictatorial rule of the Catholic Church was over, Christianity was rejected by many people since the didn’t understand the difference between Roman Catholic Church, the true church of Christ, and the Christ of the Bible. This was coupled with the rise of a lot of anti-Christian thinkers, philosophies and movements. A lot of anti-Christianity group arise during the 19th century and there common goal is to oppose to the Bible and to Christianity as well. They also believed that Christianity could be challenged but they haven’t got sufficient information to do so (Philip and Cherian). During this time, Charles Darwin, a scientist who proposed the Theory of Evolution for the first time in a theory of science united all the dissenting movements. This Theory of Evolution had greatly affected Theology by the end of the 19th century. Many theologians from Europe and America accepted the Theory of Evolution and convinced other theologians especially German Theologians. However, these German Theologians began to act as mercenaries and destroyed the belief in the Bible. And one of their major goals is to destroy Christianity. They published lots of books that were spread worldwide. But despite the eagerness of German Theologian to destroy Christianity, many still don’t agree with them. Many were interested in keeping both beliefs together. However, this did not give Christianity a positive light. Instead, it created more conflict especially on the creation. Defenders then of the doctrine became so few. Belief on Christianity and the Bible, was risen during the fifties were in a group started writing aggressively on themes defending the historical and scientific reliability of the Bible which gave birth to the modern interest in Apologetics and Creation (Philip and Cherian). In India, the theological situation is the same with the West. Thus, it was expected that is would turn out the same with what had happened in the West. However, there were few people who stood up against these teachings. One of the first was Prof. H. Enoch, during the 60’s he published a book entitled â€Å"Evolution or Creation† which has influenced a lot of young Indians (Philip and Cherian). During the 60’s and 70’s in India it was only Cross and Crown, a Pentecostal Magazine that publishes articles defending the history of the Bible and creation. This magazine was edited by Dr. Thomas Mathews from Udapair, Rajasthan (Philip and Cherian). In the 70’s A. K. Skariah, a secretary of the fellowship of scientist known as FOCMOS or Fellowship of Christian Men of Science, which was later called Creation Scientist Fellowship (CSFI), became a tireless campaigner for creation and Apologetics even if their organization is not functioning anymore (Philip and Cherian). Another important person in India who studied apologetics is Dr. Johnson Philip who founded a project namely Creation Research in 1970’s. The objective of his research is to publish articles about apologetics and creation. Currently, the book has more than 1500 articles and is publish in six different languages. This movement is now known as Calvin School of Apologetics and Theology (Philip and Cherian). This man also, Johnson George, born in Kerala is another person who palyed a significant role in Christian Apologetics. He has contributed writing on apologetical themes in several languages. Other people such as Dr. Ezhamkulam Samkutty, J. C. Dev, E. S. Thomas and Paul K. Ramakrishan also played a role in apologetics. Recently an apologetics organization entered India known as RZIM which was founded by Dr. Ravi Zacharias from the U. S. A. (Philip and Cherian). Through the years, apologetics has been very important in the everyday living of many people. Together with the constant change that humanty is facing, approaches used by Christian Apologetics has also been changing with time. However, certain puposes of Apologetics has never changed with time which includes: a) to refute all the accusations that are brought against the Bible and the Christian faith; b) to demonstrate that only the Bible and the Christian way of life work in the actual life and that only the Bible and Christian faith provide permanent peace and happiness; c) to remove the sincer doubts in the hearts of believers and unbelievers, so that the hindrances to the growth and establishing their faith are eliminated and; d) to provide sufficient evidence for achieving the above goals. Thus, t is necessary for the apologist to understand the difference between sufficient and total proof (Philip and Cherian). In Christian apologetics, everything is decided on the basis of proof. However, there are still people who think of it differently. There are many people who views Christian Apologetics through skepticism, Christian Rationalism, Local Christianity and through faith (Philip and Cherian). Apologetics is a fast changing and fast growing field in Christian Theology. Thus, people who want to study this field should not misunderstand its role, purpose and contributions. It should be noted that Apologetics is a â€Å"manward operations† (Philip and Cherian) which means that its main purpose is to help those who are confused and in anguished due to doubts. It does not defend the bible a though it were a helpless book. In apologetics, the bible is defended to those who have doubts about it so that they will have a clear belief about the bible. Apologetics is not there to preserve the Bible but it there to preserve the faith of the doubting believer. For this to take effect, the apologist should b able to briefly understand the aim and goals of apologetics because only a person with proper understanding of apologetics can do his job properly. It should also be taken into consideration, that though the main purpose of apologetics is to defend the Christian faith, it also has limits. One of its limit which is crucial is that it should never be use to prove that the Bible is the word of God. It can only point to the unusual character of the Bible in matters of unity, accuracy, consistency, historicity and life-changing power. At this point an apologist should take note that it’s purpose is to aid a person to see that the attacks bought up against the bible are not valid (Philip and Cherian). Another purpose of apologetics is to remove the barrier that hinders faith (Philip and Cherian). The removal of these barriers helps accepts Christian faith whole heartedly. It also helps them make deeper commitments to the church. With this, the Christian faith and church becomes stronger with believers that have a complete trust to it. In addition to the purpose of apologetics is to inform honest inquirers on how reliable the rational content of the Bible is and that the Bible is not for rationalist. However, the demands of rationalists have been a benefit to Christian apologist because it formed an excellent standard to evaluate the statements of apologists (Philip and Cherian). To help a person who wants to abandon his unbelief that has been there due to his lingering but sincere and honest doubts is another purpose of apologetics (Philip and Cherian). It is not a treatment for deliberate unbelief but it is meant to serve as a cure for sincere doubts. Apologetics is not there to prove the divinity of the Bible instead it is there to point to the uniqueness of the scriptures which places the scriptures in proper sequence (Philip and Cherian). It should also be noted that apologetics is not scientism. They are of two different schools. Scientism is the belief that ultimately everything has to be explained with the help of science which is a false belief (Philip and Cherian). It should be taken into consideration that not all things happening in this world can be explained by science. There are certain things that happen what cannot be explained by science and it in manner faith is strongly given emphasis. Moreover, studying Christian apologetics has many practical values. Studying apologetics conserves the faith of an individual which means that he is ready to face the questions that will bombard him in his everyday living. Individual who is ready for such will not be able to loose his faith because he already knows what to do to the attackers. Ability to combat a foe is also improved when one is studying or has a background in Christian apologetics. He becomes better in answering the questions of unbelievers. Aside from this he can provide believable answers to the inquirers and wile main composed in circumstances. In addition, apologetics can also aid the youth in there sincere queries about Christian faith. In this manner apologists serves as a guide to the young minds. It should also be taken into account that there are also people who are not interested in Christian apologetics. This people became uninterested in apologetics due to their misconceptions and misunderstandings of the study. These people are categorized by Philip and Cherian into six categories which are: a) those people who never had any doubts in Christian faith; b) people who never had to face questions and attacks from scornful people; c) people who have indeed faced personal doubts and external attacks but who have been running away from facing the challenge; d) people who have lost sensitivity towards the pains and problems of other and pseudo-apologists who love prestige, but who have never mastered the subject. These six categories of people do not have any sufficient evidence to object or question Christian apologetics. Most of their objections are base on their personal views on how they view the subject. They are not sincere inquirers but rather they only want to impose what they believe and think is right. They believe that the bible contains errors and are insensitive to other people. Aside from non-believers, there are also people who oppose to Christian apologetics. These people who oppose to apologetics do not agree that reason and faith should be placed in the same dominion. They believe that the human understanding is not capable in the spiritual realm. This belief is highly in contrast with the Christian approach to truth wherein one has to accept that faith and reason do mix with each other in many realms of spiritual truth (Philip and Cherian). In addition to distrust, fear of being attack or questioned about faith is another reason why people oppose to apologetics (Philip and Cherian). They are afraid to face attacks because they feel that they aer capable of doing such things. So instead of facing the problem, these people tend to run away from the problem. Ignorance is also another reason why people are opposing to Christian apologetics (Philip and Cherian). They are completely ignorant about the things that are happening that when they are faced in certain problem or situation they tend to react to things because of their ignorance. Due to the much opposition of apologetics, an apologist should be very careful in handling situations. A debate is a big no in apologetics except when the crowd is mature enough and is made up of small number of seekers (Philip and Cherian). If engage in a debate, the apologists should still be very careful and should bot deliver the debate in a form such as speaker-to-audience. Apologists should bear in mind that they should always take control of the situation they are in. Apologetics is such a very complicated topic and because of it’s complexity, many apologists tend to make compromises to patch some things that cannot be resolved. However, this kind of act is not advised by Christian apologists as it can cause more damage to the truth. Compromise is like a slow poison that attacks the Christian faith which can be more destructive than the fiercest direct attack in the Christian faith. When opposing systems are synthesized into one, it is the truth that always suffers (Philip and Cherian). In the integrated approach to Christian apologetics, the following statements are the benchmark: Bible alone, Grace alone, Faith alone, Christ alone, to God alone be Glory. Christian apologetics shall always stand in favour of truth, total truth and truth alone (Philip and Cherian). The truth will always be the truth and should always be separated from error. Reference Philip, Johnson and Cherian, Saneesh. Introduction to Integrated Christian Apologetics. A Calvin Research Group Academic Resource, Module 001A1. Retrieved on 22 January 2007.