Nicotine And Tobacco Essays - Smoking, Tobacco,

Nicotine And Tobacco "One out of three people who use tobacco will die from it." Nearly 3,000 young Americans each day become regular smokers. Of these, 1,000 will die early from tobacco-related diseases. More Americans die due to complications from smoking than from any other major killer such as AIDS, car accidents, drug abuse and homicide. Why do so many people continue to smoke when they know the possible risks involved? Many have become addicted to cigarettes because of the addictive substance, nicotine, which cigarettes contain. How much did tobacco companies know about this addictive substance, and what is their defense for making addicts of their customers? Also, do people realize how much money they are actually spending on cigarettes? These reasons and many more are the reason tobacco is so addictive (www.tc.bmjjournals) Nicotine, the chemical substance found in tobacco leaves, is recognized as a highly addictive drug. Tobacco originated from the Western Hemisphere and eventually spread to Europe by explorers such as Columbus. In the early 1600's the colonists introduced tobacco to America, and eventually it became one of the major crop and trading commodities of the Jamestown colony. Unfortunately people were not aware of the adverse affects of tobacco until the 1960's. Since the public has been informed about the possible health risks of smoking, over 38 million people have quit smoking. Matherne 2 However, 50 million Americans, regardless of the medical research, continue to put their health at risk. (www.historian.org) The cigarette manufacturers used a series of unscientific techniques to make people be skeptic about the addictivness of nicotine. The manufacturers invented a definition of addictiveness, which said, addiction is "intoxication, tolerance and a physical dependency that was manifested by withdrawal"(www.tc.bmjjournals). Because smokers are not intoxicated, the industry argued that it was ridiculous to concur that nicotine was addictive. The tobacco industry also falsely claimed that because smokers can quite on their own that it is impossible to be addictive. However, they failed to note that no scientific authority on addiction ever considered being able to quit on your own an attribute for a non-addictive substance (www.tc.bmjjournals). According to the FDA, "many heroin addicts become abstinent by themselves, and more than three-quarters of recovered alcoholics in a recent survey achieved success without formal treatment" (www.tc.bmjjournals). Another erroneous statement made by cigarette companies is that because smokers do not use "ever-increasing amounts to achieve a desired effect," than nicotine does not influence tolerance. Despite the manufacturer's feeble attempt to manipulate the facts, the truth is that over a third of occasional users do become daily smokers. To attach further information that nicotine is an addicting substance, a new study shows that nicotine stimulates the "reward system" in the brain (www.news.bbc.co). This area of the brain is proven to be targeted by such drugs as cocaine, amphetamines, and morphines. Results from research on this new documentation suggest that some methods used to treat cocaine addition may be useful Matherne 3 for smokers as well. Hopefully smokers will have enough money to afford help if they didn't already spend on their cigarette addiction. (www.http://cnn.com) The cost of cigarettes lately is outrageous. One pack is almost four dollars. If you smoke two packs a day, in a week you might have spent over thirty-five dollars or more. That's money that could be used to pay car notes, or insurance. Many people do not realize the amount of money they spend on healthcare due to cigarette smoke. "Nationally it cost 72.7 billion dollars a year to treat smokers who suffer from smoking-related diseases" (www.health.state). That is a lot of tax dollars that's going to people who are only hurting themselves. All you are really paying for by smoking is an early ticket to see God. Most smokers are not aware of the possible damage smoking can cause to their health. In women "smoking increases your risk of cervical and rectal cancer....smoking worsens your period....smoking damages your fertility....and smoking can affect your unborn babies" (www.cnn.com). If all women smoker's knew the actual effects smoking has on them and their future offspring, there would be many soon-to-be nonsmokers. Men aren't off the hook either. In a man " smoking increases the chance of impotence....smoking impairs sperm mobility....and smoking changes the shape of the sperm, which may be related to a greater incidence of miscarriages and birth defects" (www.health.state). So all the myths about "it's the women's fault for miscarriages" is false. Men who smoke have a 50% responsibility for the absence of a newborn child. Even though all this information on smoking is out there, people continue to smoke and

Friedrich Froebel, Founder of Kindergarten Essay Essay Example

Friedrich Froebel, Founder of Kindergarten Essay Essay Example Friedrich Froebel, Founder of Kindergarten Essay Paper Friedrich Froebel, Founder of Kindergarten Essay Paper Friedrich Froebel was a German pedagogue of the 19th century who developed an Idealist doctrine of early childhood instruction. He established kindergarten and instruction for four and five-year-old kids. Kindergarten is now a portion of instruction worldwide. Friedrich Froebel was born in the little town of Oberwiessbach. Germany in 1782. His female parent died when he was a babe. His male parent remarried. but Froebel neer liked his stepmother. His feeling of rejection and isolation remained with him for life. This had a strong consequence on his theory of early childhood instruction. He believed the kindergarten teacher should be loving. sort and maternally. Froebel besides had an unsatisfactory relationship with his male parent which. along with his shyness. caused him to be â€Å"introspective and socially inept† ( Gutek. 2005. p. 261 ) . Therefore. he wanted his kindergarten to â€Å"foster a sense of emotional security and self-pride in children† ( Gutek. 2005. p. 261 ) . At the age of 10. Froebel went to populate with his uncle. As a immature kid. Froebel spent a batch of clip playing in the garden around his place. This led to his love of nature and had a profound consequence on his educational doctrine. : When he was 15 old ages old. Froebel apprenticed with a Forester and surveyor and studied forestry. geometry and surveying in school. He briefly attended the University of Jena from 1800-1802. Then he studied architecture at Frankfurt University. Although he ended his surveies without having a grade. Froebel gained a sense of artistic position and symmetricalness he subsequently used to plan his kindergarten â€Å"gifts† and â€Å"occupations. † While in Frankfurt Froebel was hired as a instructor at the Frankfurt Model School. which was a Pestalozzian school. He studied the Pestalozzi method of direction which emphasized utilizing objects to learn. His method rejected the usage of bodily penalty and emphasized esteeming the self-respect of kids. This method of learning really much appealed to Froebel. Froebel wanted to integrate Pestalozzi’s method and creative activity of a loving and secure environment for kids in his ain instruction methods. After learning at the Model School for three old ages. Froebel studied with Pestalozzi for two more old ages Froebel besides decided to analyze linguistic communications and scientific discipline at the University of G? ttingen. He wanted to place lingual constructions that could be used in linguistic communication direction. During this clip he became really interested in geology and mineralogy. and besides pursued this in his surveies. Froebel believed that the procedure of crystallisation ( traveling from the simple to the composite ) emulated a â€Å"universal cosmic jurisprudence that besides governed human growing and development† ( Net Industries. 2008. Biography subdivision.  ¶ 3 ) . He would subsequently integrate the geometric forms and formations in crystals to make his kindergarten â€Å"gifts. † In 1816. Froebel started a school in Griesheim called the Universal German Educational Institute. He enrolled pupils who were 7 old ages old or older. The school finally moved to Keilhau. The school remained opened until 1829 when it struggled and was forced to shut. However. Froebel was able to prove and develop some of his educational thoughts in his school. In 1818 Froebel married Henrietta Hoffmeister. She shared Froebel’s love of kids and assisted in his educational work until her decease. Froebel established an educational institute at Wartenese in 1831. Subsequently. he was invited to set up an orphanhood at Burgdorf. Here he conducted a school for the town kids and a boarding school for those who lived off. He trained instructors and established a nursery school for 3 and 4 twelvemonth olds. He developed vocals. rimes. games. physical exercisings and other activities for the nursery school. He experimented with the objects and other stuffs that finally became his kindergarten gifts. He besides stressed drama and its function in instruction. In 1837. at the age of 55. Froebel relocated to Blankenburg and established a new type of school for early childhood instruction. He called it â€Å"kindergarten. † or â€Å"the children’s garden† ( Smith. 1999.  ¶ 5 ) . This word expressed Froebel’s vision for early childhood instruction: â€Å"Children are like bantam flowers ; they are varied and need care. but each is beautiful entirely and glorious when seen in the community of peers† ( Smith. 1999.  ¶ 6 ) . He used drama. vocals. narratives. and activities to set up an educational environment in which kids. by their ain activity. could larn and develop. Harmonizing to Froebel. this meant that kids. in their development. would larn to follow the â€Å"divinely established Torahs of human growing through their ain activity† ( Net Industries. 2008. Biography subdivision.  ¶ 5 ) . This is where he used his kindergarten gifts and businesss. â€Å"Gifts were objects Froebel believed had particular symbolic potency. Occupations were the natural stuffs kids could utilize in pulling and edifice activities that allowed them to concretize their ideas† ( Gutek. 2005. p. 265 ) . Froebel became celebrated as an early childhood pedagogue in Germany and by 1848. 44 kindergartens were runing in Germany. Froebel began developing immature adult females as kindergarten instructors. Kindergarten achieved its greatest influence in the United States. It was brought to America by the Germans after the European Revolution of 1848. Kindergartens appeared wherever there was a big concentration of German immigrants. Henry Barnard. the first United States Commissioner of Education. introduced Froebel’s kindergarten into educational literature in the 1850’s by including it in the American Journal of Education. of which he was the editor. He besides recommended to Congress that a public school system be established for the District of Columbia that would include kindergartens. In 1873. William Torrey Harris established a kindergarten at a school in St. Louis. Missouri and incorporated it into the public school system. This event led to more public schools integrating kindergartens into their systems. Finally. Harris became the U. S. Commissioner of Education and he continued to press for the incorporation of kindergartens into public school systems throughout the United States. Before Froebel started his kindergarten. kids under the age of seven did non go to school as it was believed that these immature kids did non hold the ability to develop the cognitive and emotional accomplishments needed to larn in a school environment. However. Froebel believed in early childhood instruction: â€Å"because acquisition begins when consciousness erupts. instruction must also† ( Pioneers. 2000.  ¶ 7 ) . In his book. Education of Man. Froebel states the dreamer subjects of his doctrine: â€Å" ( 1 ) all being originates in and with God ; ( 2 ) worlds possess an built-in religious kernel that is the vitalising life force that causes development ; ( 3 ) all existences and thoughts are interrelated parts of a expansive. ordered. and systematic universe† ( Net Industries. 2008. Froebel’s Kindergarten Philosophy subdivision.  ¶ 1 ) . This is what Froebel based his work on. claiming that each kid had an â€Å"internal religious kernel – a life force† ( Net Industries. 2008. Froebel’s Kindergarten Philosophy subdivision.  ¶ 1 ) . This life force seeks to be manifested through self-activity. He besides believed that â€Å"child development follows the philosophy of preformation. the flowering of that which was present latently in the individual† ( Net Industries. 2008. Froebel’s Kindergarten Philosophy subdivision.  ¶ 1 ) . Froebel’s kindergarten created a particular educational environment in which this self-activity and development occurred. Froebel used his kindergarten gifts. businesss. societal and cultural activities. and particularly play to advance this self-activity. Froebel besides believed that kids were to larn that they were members of â€Å"a great universal. religious community† ( Gutek. 2005. p. 266 ) . Thus the usage of games and societal activities. Harmonizing to Froebel. drama was indispensable to educating the immature kid. He believed that through prosecuting with the universe. understanding would develop. That is why drama was so critical – it is a originative activity through which kids become cognizant of their topographic point in the universe and the universe around them. Education was to be based on each child’s involvements and self-generated activity. The kindergarten teacher’s occupation was to make an environment that would excite the child’s development. She was besides to make a safe. secure environment that prevented anything from upseting this procedure. It was indispensable to the kindergarten children’s advancement that the instructor did non impede the child’s free drama and individualism. Each kid would larn what he was ready to larn when he was ready to larn it. As Froebel provinces: â€Å"Education in direction and preparation. originally and in its first rules. should needfully be inactive. following ( merely guarding and protecting ) . non normative. categorical. interfering† ( Sniegoski. 1994. p. 8 ) . Froebel believed the kindergarten should hold a pleasant physical environment. He recommended the usage of an bordering garden or a brilliantly painted room with workss. animate beings and images. This should besides be a prepared environment which would supply the instructor with the proper tools which the instructor felt would be most good to the acquisition environment. And alternatively of traditional books. the kindergarten should learn utilizing geometrical drama objects of different forms. sizes and colourss ( â€Å"gifts† ) . He besides believed in symbolism and that if a kid played with the â€Å"gifts. † they would assist the kid to understand cardinal truths. Froebel’s gifts consisted of: six soft colored balls ; a wooden sphere. regular hexahedron. and cylinder ; a big regular hexahedron divided into eight smaller regular hexahedron ; a big regular hexahedron divided into eight oblong blocks ; a big regular hexahedron divided into 21 whole. six half. and 12 one-fourth regular hexahedrons ; a big regular hexahedron divided into 18 whole oblongs with three divided lengthwise and three divided breadthwise ; quadrangular and triangular tablets used for set uping figures ; sticks for sketching figures ; wire rings for sketching figures ; assorted stuffs for pulling. punching. embroidering. paper cutting. weaving or lacing. paper folding. mold. and intertwining. ( Net Industries. 2008. The Kindergarten Curriculum subdivision.  ¶ 1 ) . Besides. Froebel designed â€Å"occupations† to be used in the kindergarten. These allowed more freedom and were things that kids could determine and pull strings. Examples of â€Å"occupations† are threading. sand. clay. and beads. As ever. there was an implicit in significance in all that was done in Froebel’s kindergarten. â€Å"Even clean up clip was seen as a reminder to the kid of God’s program for moral and societal order† ( Nichols. N. d. . Occupations subdivision.  ¶ 1 ) . Froebel’s careful survey of the nature of kids and their portion in the universe continues to be of great importance. as it opened a door to a new universe in childhood instruction. Froebel attached importance to what â€Å"originated in kids. non simply what grownups gave them to make or learn† ( Sniegoski. 1994. p. 15 ) . He besides discovered the educational value of drama and the usage of new non-book. hands-on stuffs in learning kids. Froebel provided a â€Å"theoretical footing for early childhood instruction that recognized phases of rational growth† ( Sniegoski. 1994. p. 15 ) . The one facet of Froebel’s theories that has disappeared for the most portion is the cryptic symbolism that overcastted his educational doctrine. However. his ideals of liberating kids to develop harmonizing to their ain involvements and demands and giving them a bright. playful. fostering environment in which to larn remains an of import and critical portion of early childhood instruction today. Mentions Gutek. Gerald Lee. ( 2005 ) . Friedrich Froebel: Laminitis of the kindergarten. In Historical and philosophical foundations of instruction: a biographical debut ( 4th ed. ) ( pp. 256-273 ) . Upper Sadle River. New jersey: Pearson Education. Inc. Lucas. Bill. ( 2005. October 24 ) . Analyzing the creative activity of kindergarten. In Boxes and Arrows: The Design Behind the Design. July. 2008. Retrieved July 12. 2008. from hypertext transfer protocol: //www. boxesandarrows. com/view/studying_the_creation_of_kindergarten. Net Industries. ( 2008 ) . Friedrich Froebel ( 1782-1852 ) : Biography. Froebel’s kindergarten doctrine. the kindergarten course of study. diffusion of the kindergarten. In Education Encyclopedia. Retrieved July 10. 2008. from hypertext transfer protocol: //education. stateuniversity. com/pages/1999/ Froebel-Friedrich-1782-1852. hypertext markup language. Nichols. Rachel. ( n. d. ) . Friedrich Froebel: Laminitis of the first kindergarten. Retrieved July 11. 2008 from hypertext transfer protocol: //hubpages. com/hub/ Friedrich-Froebel-Founder-of-the-First-Kindergarten. Pioneers in our field: Friedrich Froebel: Laminitis of the first kindergarten [ Electronic version ] . ( 2000 ) . Scholastic: Early Childhood Today. August. 2000. Retrieved July 11. 2008 from hypertext transfer protocol: //www2. scholastic. com/browse/article. jsp? id=3442. Smith. Mark K. ( 1997 ) . Friedrich Froebel. Retrieved July 12. 2008 from hypertext transfer protocol: //www. infed. org/thinkers/et-froeb. htm. Sniegoski. Stephen. ( 1994 ) . Froebel and early childhood instruction in America. Retrieved July 12. 2008 from the Educational Resources Information Center Web site: hypertext transfer protocol: //www. eric. erectile dysfunction. gov/ERICDOCS/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/ 00000196/80/14/19/02. pdf.

The best way to influence the government by ordinary people Essay

The best way to influence the government by ordinary people - Essay Example make sure that the government listens to the views of the ordinary citizen, and in recent times social networking sites and blogs are proving to be an excellent pathway. The great advantage of social networking sites like facebook, or even twitter, is that they can reach a large number of people very quickly. When an idea takes hold on the internet and is passed from person to person, then it is called a â€Å"viral† process, because it spreads like a virus through the contacts that are made. We can see in the so-called â€Å"Arab Spring† that dissatisfaction with government performance has resulted in protests all across North Africa and the Middle East. Demonstrations and rallies are co-ordinated by facebook, in the large cities at least, and this means that many voices can be heard at the same time, forcing the government to take notice. This has resulted in violence on some occasions, because of the strong feelings of the protestors and the harsh reaction by the governments concerned. Violence, however, is not the best way bring about change. People suffer because of it, and many become bitter, resulting in a cycle of destruction t hat helps nobody. A more effective use of social networking, and one which is used in the United States, is to make concerns public on the internet, and to draw attention to issues that a lot of people would like to change. Many pathways from the twentieth century like writing letters to a member of Congress, or drawing up a petition, or even lobbying key politicians, can now be done online in the twenty-first century. The issue of climate change has many different dimensions, and an ordinary citizen can choose social networking sites for different types of action. For local issues, it is possible to join a local lobbying group, and to participate in meetings, for example to protest about any environmental damage being done by a local factory. Dates and times can be published on the protest group’s web, or blog, or facebook page,

Developmental Psychology Observation paper Essay

Developmental Psychology Observation paper - Essay Example By this time, there were about five of us outside watching her out-of-control behavior. My brother took her arms and tried to make Annalise laugh, and in turn she smacked him right in the face. Lisa, Annalise's mother, finally came out to help, but by this time Annalise was on a mission. She went after her mother, kicking her in the legs. As Lisa tried to pick her up, she pulled her mother's hair and wanted down. Annalise was so disturbed that she took off down the driveway, into the street, and laid down in the middle of the road. Although they eventually managed to get her back into the yard, her tantrum continued for at least fifteen minutes longer. By this time, my son had woken up crying because of the commotion going on outside, and I just wanted to go home. Luckily, the whole ride home went smoothly because Annalise fell back asleep. This episode left me asking myself many questions. Who are the parents here How often does this happen Does Annalise become angry often What woul d I do if this were my child Many theorists could place Annalise's behavior into their developmental stages. Freud would say that Annalise fits perfectly into the anal stage. During this stage, the biggest challenge faced by the child is potty training.

EMAAR PJSC Financial Company Analysis Term Paper

EMAAR PJSC Financial Company Analysis - Term Paper Example The present study would focus on the Emaar Properties PJSC that was incorporated in Dubai in 1997. The company is involved in property investment and development. It also transits property management services, along with engagement in investment in providers of financial service. The company is also engaged in development and sale of condominiums, commercially viable assets such as leasing and management of land, malls, villas and hotels. It was ranked 462nd in the 11th Financial Times Global 500 and was assigned A- and A3 ratings by Standard & Poor and Moody’s Investor services. The company scale of operations is spread internationally in 17 countries namely Syria, Jordan, India, Pakistan, China, US, Canada, UK. The company currently has a market capitalization of AED 15.3 B with 6.1 B shares outstanding. The group is basically divided into three business segments, namely, real estate (develop and sells condominiums, villas, commercial units and plots of land), leasing and re lated activities (develop, lease and manage malls, retail, commercial and residential space) and hospitality (develop, own and/or manage hotels, service apartments and leisure activities). The group has been witnessing a decline in their key performance indicators in the past five years but FY 2010 turned out to be prosperous as the profitability has grown to a respectable state as compared to the last two years. They are ranked just above average in the industry but the future prospects look bright as UAE has started to recover from the massacre of recession. The construction business will see a boom in the near future and company’s market position will glue back to the one in the year 2007.The company has achieved the recent rise in profitability by improving efficiency and squeezing their expense block. Trend Analysis Trend analysis show positive signs for Emaar Properties. The revenue account has seen a U-curve as it fell from AED 10,717,000 in 2008 to 8413,000 in 2009 bu t it increased by 13.37% in 2010 in comparison to the base year. The y-o-y growth would look more attractive in this case. The company increased its investment in hospitality services which led to the rise in revenues this year. (Khan & Jain, 2007) Gross Profit margin has seen a decline in the last two years. The margin dropped by 21.6% from 2008 in 2009 but increase marginally in 2010. The overall gross profit declined by 13.05% in 2010 as compared to the base year. The cost of revenue has been surging which led to the detrimental decrease. The net income has been the highlight of Emaar Properties’ financial statements. The net income has jumped by a staggering 97.64 in 2009 and jumped by more than a multiple of ten in 2010 as compared to the base year. This rise is primarily attributed to the squeezing selling, administrative and general expenses as compared to the sales (Emaar, 2010). The expenses have risen by a minute proportion as compared to the handsome jump in the sa les. Total assets have shown a marginal fall of 3.8% and 6.26% in 2009 and 2010 respectively. This fall is attributed to the reduction in investments, receivables and intangible assets. Total Liabilities have seen a fall as well. It dropped by 7.39% and 18% in 2009 and 2010 as compared to the base year. Although, the group took up various debt financing facilities but, it was mainly due to restructuring of their previous debt. The market price has surged in the past two years by 70.8% and 57% in 2009 and 2010. The fundamentals in 2007 were better and AED 2.27 justified the price at that time. The market has developed since then but due to weak profitability in the last two years, the price has not jumped to a level which is satisfactory for the group. The price as of

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the UK

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the UK ABSTRACT 1. INTRODUCTION Corporate social responsibility (CSR) involves with differentiating right from wrong and doing right (Scott, 2007). CSR is the compulsion to make choice and take actions that will contribute toward the wellbeing, interest, and benefits of the society as well as the company. 1.1 Problem of CSR CRS does not act like law which require people to follow. In contrast, it covers wide range of issues and many of which are unclear with respect to right and wrong (Frankental, 2001). As CSR is a self-interest practice, thus it is difficult to control the use of CSR because different companies which have different beliefs about which actions improve the welfare and benefits of the society (Luck, 2006). Companies can find themselves in difficult situations where they do not know how to act or what to do. In recent years, CRS is the key issue in all business sectors, including retailing industry. It is rather controversial to discuss whether supermarkets like Waitrose and Tesco should focus on driving toward or go beyond the field of strategic management. In countries with a dynamic market economy like the UK and the US, it is widely agreed that firms should not only concentrate on pursuing strategies that make economic profitability, but they must also have certain social responsibilities that must be fulfilled as well (Enquist et al., 2006). However, the agreement for firms to pursue both profitability and social responsibility and this should be the end of the discussion. Opinion about the issue, however, differs more or less with regard to the importance of profitability and social responsibility (Downey, 2004). Some people in a society look at the view of profitability as the most important purpose for economic organisations and that only social responsibility of companies is to achieve and pursue profitability within the boundary of law. Tesco is the UK leading supermarket with largest market share in retailing industry. As a face of capitalism, Tesco has been accused, criticised and involved in many social responsibility issues. According to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC, 2007), with substantial evidences, Tesco was revealed to make huge profits at the expense of farmers, communities and the environment. It is also abusing the power that results from its huge market share. In Tescos CSR report (BBC, 2007), Tesco was exposed to fail in supporting the UK farmers. In 2002, at the height of the UK apple season it was disclosed that less than half of apples on Tesco shelves were UK sourced. This practice is obviously contrasted with the Supermarket Code of Practice, which was meant to redress the balance between the biggest supermarkets and their suppliers. The big four supermarkets, including Tesco, were still using the same unfair trading practices that the Code was meant to stop. In response to such claim, Tesco states: We have a long-standing commitment to source as much UK produce as possible (Tesco, 2007). Tesco refers to its commitment to UK farming and claims that it has always provided support to British farmers in the past years. It said that as its business grows, so has that of its suppliers. It claimed that it has been developing long term working relationships with its suppliers and by working together, they can both meet customer needs and have both grown their market share together. In addition, according to the BBC (2006), Tesco has been blamed after one of its suppliers, Northern Foods which announced that it will close its Trafford Park Bakery in Manchester and this action lead to 690 jobs cut. The closure of Northern Foods is part of a shake-up announced in May after poor sales triggered two profit warnings. Critics claimed that as part of CSR practice, Tesco should be more supportive as promised in its CSR policy which stated that it has always been supportive to everyone involved in its business. In contrast, Tesco surprised and shocked the General Workers Union by doing nothing to support these 690 workers. Critics stated that this action of Tesco showed that it is throwing its buying power weight about by depressing prices and moving production at will to other plants (BBC, 2006). In response to the claim that it does not employ CSR practice and abuse power, a spokeswoman of Tesco said in respond that Tesco is regret to learn that Trafford Park is closing and that Northern Foods have taken the decision to resign Tescos pastry business at the site. Tesco spokesman said that they have been as supportive as they can be to improve the performance of the site. A spokesman of Tesco also added that when it was told by Northern Foods about the closure of Trafford Park, Tesco did ask if it could move this business to another site or sites. However, Northern Foods told that there is not enough capacity to do the business. Tescos spokesman also said that Tesco will continue to work closely with Northern Foods who will still supply it with a significant number of other products across other areas of its business. Tesco also emphasised that it will be working with its supply base to ensure the availability of sausage rolls, pies and quiches for its customers (BBC, 2006). However, from the eyes of critics, Tescos action does not fall into the scope of CSR practice. In the past years, many retailers have been taking part in Fare Trade products as they have become in the interest of customers. Thus, as the demand in for Fair Trade products, especially bananas has been increasing, Tesco has decided to support the scheme. However, a survey has revealed that Fair Trade bananas in Tesco are fall in the scope of Unfair Trade (Friend of the Earth, 2003). Banana Link, a small and dynamic not-for-profit co-operative founded in 1996 to campaign for a fair and sustainable banana trade, approximated the weekly profit from banana in Tesco for  £1 million and this is enough to employ 30,000 full-time banana plantation workers at a living wage. And this would be twice of what they are earning now. This means that workers in banana plantation are paid just a penny for every pounds worth of bananas sold in Tesco and this without a doubt is not enough to feed their families. While Tesco takes  £0.40p, importers hardly hit break even point just to stay as Tes co suppliers. If Tesco finds that suppliers make a mistake in packaging requirements, they have to pay Tesco  £25,000 as emergency product withdrawals (Friend of the Earth, 2003). Tesco requests suppliers to make the payments to cover the costs of its compliance with the Ethical Trading Initiative. This means that this demanded payment would be tough for smaller businesses. Supermarkets, including Tesco use bananas as a key item in their price wars. However, Tesco is not the one that suffers the cut in price. Since 2003, Tesco banana contract put its suppliers in the position where they cannot pay legal minimum prices in most banana exporting countries and are forced to supply fruit from the most environmentally and abusive socially sources. To rid such claim, Tesco insisted: Tesco supports the work of the Fair Trade Foundation. This year we launched our own brand Fair Trade bananas sourced from the Windward Islands (Tesco, 2008). However, many critics still find that this statement is unjustified and that the public did not get the whole truth, suggesting that Tesco needs to fully employ CSR practice. In term of sustaining communities, Tesco failed to meet the code of CSR practice. According to the BBC (2004) Tesco is facing a challenge to its purchase of the London-based Europa, Harts and Cullens stores. Trade body the Federation of Wholesale Distributors (FWD) made an appeal with the Competition Appeals Tribunal with an aim to block the deal. Tesco had received a clearance from the Office of Fair Trading to buy the convenience stores from their parent company Adminstore. However, the FWD said the deal would be both bad for consumers, competition and communities. This is because the FWD found that every time a large supermarket like Tesco opens, there would an average 276 jobs lost (BBC, 2007). The FWD said that Tesco may use convincing evidences to perverse that it boosts the local economy every time it opens new stores. However, what Tesco does is the opposite when it opens new supermarkets. It has been approximated that a supermarket opening will cause the closure of all village shops within a seven mile radius (BBC, 2007). And Tesco tends to import food into the area, making local sourcing to be just a niche market. To deal with such criticism, Tesco states in its official website and CSR policy: Tesco invests in all types of communities throughout the UK, providing jobs and careers for local people. Making jobs and economic activities stay in, or close to, local neighbourhoods starts to boost the local economy (Tesco, 2008). With regards to environment, the BBC (2007) disclosed that Tesco recycling campaign and its claim in the CSR report do not relate to the products on Tesco shelves. It was revealed Tesco stated its success rate of recycling in its CSR report as nearly 80% of its packaging waste relates to waste from its own operations, mainly from a long distance transit of produce which requires additional packaging. Thus, critics suggested that the best way for Tesco is to reduce packaging waste is to lessen the use of packaging materials in the first place rather than to recycle the materials after use. In response to this critic, Tesco say in its CSR report: Tesco is committed to protecting the environment by doing what we can to reduce our waste. We are looking for ways to minimise product packaging recycling wherever possible (Tesco, 2008). CHAPTER 2 2. LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Overview of Corporate Social responsibility (CSR) According to Kotler. P and Lee.n (2005, p.2) doing the most good for your company and your cause. By comparing good it has too many sights to give attention. A quick browse of different web sites for the fortune 500 reveals that good goes by many names, including corporate social responsibility, corporate community involvement, community relations, community affairs, community development, corporate responsibility, global citizenship, and corporate societal marketing. In order to do the best practice of CSR the authors prefer to use following definition: Corporate social responsibility is a commitment to improve community well being through discretionary business practices and contributions of corporate resources. A key element of this definition is the word discretionary, it referring to business activities, which are managed by law or moral ethics. Like as voluntary commitment to its serving community. If this sort of practices is managed by the company than it will be describe as socially responsible. According to Price Waterhouse Coopers (2005-2008) the greatest asset of any retail and consumer product company is its reputation and its perceived value among consumers. Today, consumers around the world, particularly in Europe, are concerned how a company manufacturers its product and whether it is managing for continued sustainability through attention to economic, environmental, and social performance. If not, a brands reputation can decline, and with it, an attendant decreases in future sales and profits. It is especially important for retail and consumer product companies to maintain the reputation integrity of their brand and to be socially responsible throughout their business operations since their products and services are usually marketed directly to product purchasers. According to the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) defines CSR as the commitment of business to contribute to sustainable economic development, working with employees, their families and the local communities (WBCSD, 2001). Hence the fundamental idea of CSR is that business corporations have an obligation to work towards meeting the needs of a wider area of stakeholders (Clarkson, 1995; Wad dock et al., 2002). More generally, CSR is a set of management practices that ensures the company maximizes the positive impacts of its operations on society or operating in a manner that meets and even exceeds the legal, ethical, commercial and public expectations that society has of business(BSR, 2001). 2.2 Definition of CSR The Institute of Directors, a UK-based trade group, has also presented another Good definition of CSR: CSR is about businesses and other organizations going beyond the legal obligations to manage the impact they have on the environment and society. In Particular, this could include how organizations interact with their employees, suppliers, customers and the communities in which they operate, as well as the extent they attempt to protect the environment (Lea, 2002). I think the above definition captures most of what CSR is all about. According to Tom Cannon (1994, p, 32, 33, 38, 44, 45,) corporate responsibility, the role of business in society is depending on business types and as well time of change. Business corporations exist primarily to produce goods and service that society wants and needs. Achieving this objective is their first and foremost responsibility; if they are unsuccessful in this mission, they cannot reasonably be expected to assume others. Simultaneously, business depends for its survival and long-term prosperity on society providing the resources such as people, raw materials, services, infrastructure which it needs to convert inputs into profitable goods or services. Business relies on society supplying a means of exchange typically money to allow it to convert the goods it produces into assets. Society is expected to provide an environment in which business can develop and prosper, allowing investors to earn returns while ensuring that the stakeholders and their dependents can enjoy the benefits of their involvement without fear of arbitrary or unjust action. An organization must support the established or prestigious programme; develop those activities, which endorse or sustain its position; and concentrate its investment in certain areas. Society expects many things of its corporate sectors, from the corporate its stakeholders expects lots of outcomes and they are classified by the relationship to the business. For the owners point of view the primary expectation will be financial returns, if the corporate is able to return good financial returns to its owners then the corporate will added values to the company. Same like the employees pay and additionally the working environment and training facilities. For customer it needs to supply of goods and services and secondly the quality of goods. Creditors need to have the assurance and secondly the security of money backs on time. The supplier wants firstly their payment and secondly long-term relationships. The community wants safety and security and secondly wants contribution to community. And the government wants from the business the compliance and secondly wants the improved competitiveness. According to Ramanathan (1976) argued that there is a social contract between organization and society. Jaggi and Zhao (1996) also agreed with the social contract view when they argued that organizations do not exit in a vacuum, but are part of a society, which creates and supports them. Society will not take too kindly to corporations, which fail to recognize and support important social values. Organizations are aware that society will not hesitate to use different sanctions to punish or bring to book any irresponsible act or omission by an organization as and when deemed necessary. In work done by (Gray et al, 1995, 1996; Guthrie and Parker, 1990; Patten, 1992; Roberts, 1992). Holland and Foo (2003) noted that the unregulated nature of the disclosure in CSR reports could only allow the development the relationship of reporter, which provides a degree of accountability. Corporate stakeholders have the right to know what contributions corporate entities are making to society. The provision of information, which satisfies this need, is known as accountability; hence Gray et al. (1996) defined accountability as the duty to provide an account of action or reckoning of those actions for Which one is held responsible. Hackston and Milne (1996) also supported the view that corporate entities should be held responsible for their actions that affect society. In the light of this, a recent survey (DTI, 2001) of 45 global and large companies operating in the EU showed that over 90 per cent reported on their mission, vision and values, workplace climate, community involvement, local economic development, market place and environmental impact. 2.3 History of CSR The nature and scope of corporate social responsibility has changed over time. The concept of CSR is a relatively new one—the phrase has only been in wide use since the 1960s.In the eighteenth century the great economist and philosopher Adam Smith expressed the traditional or classical economic model of business. In essence, this model suggested that the needs and desires of society could best be met by the unfettered interaction of individuals and organizations in the marketplace. By acting in a self-interested manner, individuals would produce and deliver the goods and services that would earn them a profit, but also meet the needs of others. The viewpoint expressed by Adam Smith over 200 years ago still forms the basis for free-market economies in the twenty-first century. In the century after Adam Smith, the Industrial Revolution contributed to radical change, especially in Europe and the United States. Millions of people obtained jobs that paid more than they had ever made before and the standard of living greatly improved. Large organizations developed and acquired great power, and their founders and owners became some of the richest and most powerful men in the world. In the late nineteenth century many of these individuals believed in and practiced a philosophy that came to be called Social Darwinism, which, in simple form, is the idea that the principles of natural selection and survival of the fittest are applicable to business and social policy. This type of philosophy justified cutthroat, even brutal, competitive strategies and did not allow for much concern about the impact of the successful corporation on employees, the community, or the larger society. In the 1960s and 1970s the civil rights movement, consumerism, and environmentalism affected societys expectations of business. Based on the general idea that those with great power have great responsibility, many called for the business world to be more proactive in (1) ceasing to cause societal problems and (2) starting to participate in solving societal problems. Many legal mandates were placed on business related to equal employment opportunity, product safety, worker safety, and the environment. Furthermore, society began to expect business to voluntarily participate in solving societal problems whether they had caused the problems or not. This view of corporate social responsibility is the prevailing view in much of the world today. 2.4 Benefits of CSR Disclosure Implementing the CSR concept in an organization, there are lots of benefits an organization can get examples are: increased customer loyalty, more supportive communities, the recruitment and retention of more talented employees, improved quality and productivity and the avoidance of potential reputational risks which may arise from environmental incidents. However, Cooper (2003) noted that the practical experience of early adopters of CSR reports was mixed. Some companies noticed that instead of the provision of the reports enhancing companies reputation, it actually attracted adverse comments by drawing attention to divergences between the values espoused by the company and its actual behavior. One can only view this as an inevitable teething problem, which would over time disappear from the corporate scene. Coopers survey of FTSE 250 companies found that less than 33 per cent of companies considered that their CSR activities resulted in improved customer loyalty while only 20 per c ent believed that it enhanced staff recruitment and retention. Cooper concluded that the benefits may be more subtle and realized over a longer timescale than is sometimes suggested, but there is no doubt that the resulting benefit will be enormous in the long run. Despite these perceived benefits, Schaltegger et al. (1996) have argued that one of the driving forces in the popularity of CSR reports was the need to appease some user groups, e.g. environmental activists. 2.5 Framework of CSR CSR framework provides a standard for social and ethical accounting, auditing and reporting. It includes mandatory external verification and stakeholder engagement. Tescos CSR report published in annually and it has KPI, where the CSR people have to work hard to develop in next financial year. Work has done by the Institute of Business Ethics covers the fairness to employees, suppliers, customers, equity and loan creditors, contribution to community and protection of the environment. The framework provides that an independent verifier should assess the company performance annually. According to Social Accountability (SA) there are lots of fields to look at which are trade union, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on the basis of International Labors Organization (ILO) conventions the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the UN convention on the Rights of the Child. This standard focuses on child labors, forced labors, health and safety, working hours, discrimination, discipline, free association and collective bargaining. Any organization recognizes that it has a duty to act as a responsible corporate citizen, by meeting its obligations to all its stakeholders shareholders, customers, employees and the local, national and global communities in which it operates. In this work done by Peter Jones, David Hillier, Daphne Comfort, Ian Eastwood in Management Research News, at Patrington: 2005. Vol. 28, Iss. 1; pg. 34, 11 pgs describes the awareness of consumerism and sustainable development. It provides the basic outline of sustainable development and how it relates to the business as a successful retailer. Here the retailers are increasingly recommending on social issues, for example, social inclusion, ethnical trading, healthy living, training, health and safety, community support initiatives under a broadly sustainable agenda. However, on this report there is no model used for measuring the standard of CSR. Here the author looking in different companys report and letting the reader, sustainable development is important and it gives the stakeholders enough confidences to invest or employees to work for the company. If the author add the model of Key performance Indicator (KPI) then it will be good enough to measure the level of CSR. In this wor k done by Peter Jones, David Hillier, Daphne Comfort, Ian Eastwood in International Journal and Retail and distribution Management, Bradford: 2005. Vol. 33, Iss. 2/3; pg. 207, 8 pgs suggests that the majority of the major retailers are addressing sustainability agendas, that they recognize, albeit in varying measure, the impacts their businesses have on the environment, the economy and society and several of them are looking to measure and benchmark their performance. But on this report the author did not mentions about fair trade and how it will impact on the supply chain on the organization. If any organization can build up a good relation between supplier and consumer providing good money to the supplier and best product and service to their customer then it will increase the market loyalty, which will increase the goodwill to its whole stakeholders. 2.6 CSR in UK Practice Within the last few decades corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been fast momentum across the business community and it is seen to be gradually higher on boardroom agendas. Many of the UKs top retailers are major employers, they continue to be very much at the leading edging of innovation and growth and many of them recognized the impacts they have on the environment, on society and on the economy. They are increasingly keen to communicate their commitment to CSR to their shareholders, their customers, their employees, to government and to the public at large. Mixtures of factors are cited as being essential in building the current momentum behind CSR. Ernst Young (2002) recommend that there are five key drivers, which have influenced the increasing business, focus on CSR namely greater stakeholder awareness of corporate ethical, social and environmental behavior; direct stakeholder pressures; investor pressure; peer pressure and a heightened sense of social responsibility. Th e Governments approach is to encourage and incentive the adoption and reporting of CSR through best practice guidance, and, where appropriate, intelligent regulation and fiscal incentives. The government also looks at Pensions Act Amendment, Transparency. The Government encourages companies to report on their CSR performance in a number of ways such as Issued guidance on environmental reporting, Supported initiatives promoting company reporting, Provide the guidance for the financial services sector and the ACCA sustainability reporting awards, Supported the Global reporting Initiative and The enhanced business review requirements of the Companies Act. The UK government focusing their attention in four key areas, namely promoting good practice, supporting work to demonstrate the business case, promoting international action on CSR and joining up action across government (DTI, 2001). The recommendations in the European Unions Fifth Action Programme on the Environment embedded in the report Towards Sustainability (1992) has contributed to the current interests in this area. The report calls on organizations to provide information on a number of areas, namely: details of their environmental policy and activities and the effects thereof in their annual reports, their expenses on environmental programmers, and make provisions in their accounts for environmental risks and future environmental expenses. A number of the top ten retailers report on the improvement and/or use of CSR Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Tesco, for example, employs some 18 CSR KPIs covering economic, environmental and economic issues and containing 24 specific targets. In choosing these KPIs the company uses one or more of four criteria, namely customer priorities; staff priorities; business priorities; and compliance with legislation or public policy. The companys CSR report provides a brief description of the annual target for each KPI, outlines the actual performance against each target and sets a target for the following year. During 2003/2004 the company exceeded expectations on 18 of its targets, met 13 and was below target on three. Where possible verification of the data used for the KPIs is carried out using external sources including market share data, independent surveys, services bills and audits for the Emissions Trading Scheme and Climate Change Levy Agreement. 2.7 Criteria of CSR practices and Effectiveness In order to practices effectively it needs accuracy of commitment, facing the challenge and work with coordination in between corporate bodies in the entire business. In this case the effective can be measured by (KPI) at annually while doing the financial report. It also monitored and justified their work by different independent person for whole year and makes a comment for improvement if needed. By doing survey, how the business can improve such as expectation from stakeholders, community, and government and for its own employees then it can find some direction, which they can follow. By following those steps the company can reach its most effective practices at CSR level. 2.8 Conclusion This chapter has reviewed the literature regarding the CSR, measuring the performance within organizations. The literature review has examined some common themes emerging from the implementation of the CSR in real practices. After reviewing the past works, it is very clear that CSR is vast growing concern and its important in business is essential. So in real business CSR is seen quite common and practices by the corporate bodies effectively. In order to measurement the performances of CSR, they have to maintain the model, which called (KPI). Around the business many related groups looking for improvement of CSR performances because of their profit interest. CHAPTER 3 3. METHODOLOGY 3.1 Data collection After some deliberation, we decided on asking for perceptual data from the middle management individual responsible for CSR activity at the firm. Previous studies have principally relied on aggregate measures of financial performance that have provided inconclusive evidence for a CSR-financial performance linkage. Accordingly, we have focused on the firm project level in order to discover how value is created by strategic CSR. We began this paper by stating that Corporate social Responsibility in Tesco . As we argued earlier, there is no consensus that CSR can, or even should, be managed for profit, just as other business processes are managed for profit. As a result, well-intentioned CSR researchers have sought to find a way to demonstrate CSR profitability without having to claim that management takes strategic action to create value. This research agenda did not succeed because it could not specify how competitive advantage and value are created. In order to do so, we have chosen to focus on middle management, precisely because they are in the best position to explain the strategic intent of their portfolio of social action projects, Working from managerial intent requires accepting certain trade-offs. By shifting to a more micro focus, we also leave behind more objective indicators of value creation. On the project level, one would almost have to engage in a cost-benefit analysis of each project in order to determine the value created. Firms do not yet engage in such fine-grained evaluation of their CSR projects. Given the current state of the art of CSR management and reporting, we decided that we needed to rely on the perceptions of the managers responsible for CSR regarding the strategic goals of CSR projects. Such perceptions of firm benefits and of the quality of stakeholder relations may be biased. In response to this issue, we have applied the necessary methods to control for possible bias. Support for using perceptual managerial data rather than external stakeholders and other secondary databases come from the theoretical literature and from practical research issues. There is considerable theoretical support for using perceptual data if, in fact, managerial decision making is driven by the beliefs of top management, it makes sense to ask how management perceive the environment and the extent to which they believe they are responding to CSR challenges in a strategic fashion. It is crucial to test the extent to which top management seeks competitive advantage and value creation via CSR in an uncertain environment. On a practical level, external databases of CSR and reputation surveys in UK principally ask top management which firms they most admire. The resultant reputation and CSR rankings overweight firm size and profitability. External stakeholder groups, in particular NGOs, rarely deal with a large cross-section of firms and either speak favourably of partners with whom they collaborate or negatively of large firms that have conflicts with specific stakeholders. However, the managers we questioned are well aware of their firms PR and marketing programs for CSR and corporate reputation. These managers from the kinds of large companies we surveyed are well aware of their rankings in the CSR and reputation surveys. Our use of perceptual measures

Representation of Manners :: essays research papers

Representation of Manners   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The novel of manners is a novel that focuses on the customs, values, and mindset of a particular class or group of people who are situated in a specific historical context (Bowers and Brothers 5). The context tends to be one in which behavior has been codified and language itself has become formulated, resulting in a suppressing or regulating of individual expression. Often, this type of novel details a conflict between the individual’s desires and the ethical, moral, economic, or interpersonal mandates of society (Bowers and Brothers 5). The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton is a novel of manners concerned with the subtle nuances of behavior and standards of correctness portrayed by the upper-class of New York in the late 1890s. In the novel, Wharton uses the genre to depict Lily Bart’s struggle to maintain individualism while conforming to society’s expectations.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The novel of manners developed in the 19th century as authors explored the place of women in society and the social effect of marriage (Bowers and Brothers 4). These authors wanted to show in particular the problems that come with marriage as well as with the problems of conforming to society. The world of the novel of manners was perceived as a woman’s world, viewed from a woman’s perspective (Bowers and Brothers 4).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The genre developed four specific conventions in the 19th century. Out of the four, three of the conventions are represented in The House of Mirth. One of the conventions was that the protagonist of the novel was usually a single woman looking to get married. The second convention dealt with the woman’s understanding of the socio-economic class within the novel. This was an important factor because it determined whom the woman would marry. The third convention found in The House of Mirth was the novel ending with the marriage or death of the protagonist, the case of Lily Bart, death. The House Mirth portrays all these conventions in the novel but instead of Lily conforming to society, Lily attempts to develop her own self-identity and independence.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Lily Bart, the protagonist of The House of Mirth, was an unmarried 29 year old woman who desired to be a social success â€Å"[or] to get as much as one [could] out of life†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Wharton 81). Her mission was to marry a relatively wealthy man, thereby ensuring her financial stability and a place in the higher levels of New York society.