Constitutional Law Paper

Constitutional Law Paper BY ctndoee_272 Constitutional Law Mid Term Paper It is evident that over the past few years, American Democracy has been loosing its power. The causes toward this effect are many. Some amongst the many are decreased political participation and the minimum quality of functioning of government. Before understanding that these are some of the effects that has caused the waning in American Democracy one must understand what Democracy is and its measures as well. Democracy is a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state.It is equal access to power where the people are the supreme source of that power. There are rights, laws, and policies that reflect the will of the people, consent of the governed, and popular sovereignty. Amongst the government, there are 6 basic principles within the democracy. They are Popular Sovereignty, Rule of Law, Separation of Powers, Checks and Balances, Judicial Review, and Federalism. The U. S C onstitution is built upon these basic principles. It is logical that by having these 6 principles to abide by, the U. S Democracy would have the highest ranking hen it comes to measures of Democracy.It would make sense that American Democracy would have a high rank in the following categories: Electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, functioning of government, political participation, and political culture; but, in reality it isn't that way. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIIJ), the United States has a world rank of 19 as opposed to Norway who has a ranking of 1 . The Democracy Index developed by the Ell-J shows that the U. S is has the lowest ranking for political participation. This is one of the factors that are causing our government to lose power.This political issue is caused by the voting requirements set. Under California law, you must meet several requirements in order to be able to vote in state and local elections. You must be a U. S. citizen, and a resident of California, who is eighteen years of age or older, or who will be eighteen years or older on the date of the next election. Additionally, you must not be in prison or on parole for a felony conviction. Finally, you must not have been found to be mentally incompetent by a court. With these voting requirements set, we are limiting the amount of people who can vote and participate in elections.Democracy, as a system of governance, is supposed to allow extensive representation and inclusiveness of as many people and views as possible to feed into the functioning of a fair and Just society. â€Å"Limitations to the amount of people who can vote, voter apathy, disenfranchisement, parties not representing people, and voter intimidation are all reasons for a low voter turnout† . The common criticism leveled at those who do not vote seems to be to blame them or being apathetic and irresponsible, noting that â€Å"with rights come responsibilities. There is often some tr uth to this, but not only are those other reasons for not voting lost in the assumption of apathy, but voting itself isn't the only important task for an electorate. Being able to make informed decisions is also important. In a local voting survey conducted by the class the question that followed if the person was eligible to vo e † Then why don't you vote? † was asked t . I was discovered that the reason many people do not vote is because they are not informed correctly or there is the bservation that the leading parties are not that different from each other and they do not offer much said to the voter.The media not being much help or being biased sometimes also make it harder for the electorate to make an intellectual decision. In addition, the other percent of the people surveyed responded that they have little or no time to vote. A solution to this political issue is to make voting easier and more convenient. With this said, establishing no excuse absentee ballots w ould introduce an early voting system that would allow thousands of voters to vote at their onvenience. Currently, registered voters can only obtain absentee ballots if they are unable to be in the polling place on Election Day due to illness, travel or religious reasons.By doing away with these restrictions, registered voters could apply for the ballots and vote without having to fgure out when or how to get to their polling place. As our world has been more fast-paced and as California residents are busier trying to hold on to their Jobs in this difficult economy, our voting system needs to catch up. If voting is made easier, more people will vote increasing our political articipation. The Democracy Index provided by the Ell-J also shows that the United States has a score of 7. 5 in functioning of government.This data ultimately corresponds to the score the U. S has in political participation. The United States, as a form of democracy utilizing the â€Å"First Past the Post†(FPTP or FPP) system and gerrymandering results in a government, would ultimately yield a relatively moderate two party system. Additionally, the United States Government doesnt function according to the will of the people. The United States Government as a representative government means that the representatives in its political office represent the people but function based on their own beliefs and opinions.Thirdly, the average person has no direct impact on who the president is. â€Å"That Privilege falls to the Electoral College, under the 23rd amendment of the constitution. â€Å"00Ultimately, this government â€Å"of the people, by the people, for the people†, fails to truly recognize the power and worth of those on the outskirts of society, those who can't fend for themselves, those who don't conform to he status quo, those who are not well off or better, and those who â€Å"fail to contribute† to society.Again, attempting to increase the voting rate will ass ist our ranking score for the functioning of government, as it will be more accurate toward what the people want. Over the past few years, American Democracy has been loosing its power. One of the main causes is that there is not enough political participation amongst its citizens. ‘As their responsibility our government has to find a way to facilitate the voting process for electorates and that way increasing our political participation that ill then establish a more democratic functioning of government.The best action to revitalizing democracy in the United States is to change the voting system itself – the method that determines how we cast our votes for candidates and how the winners are decided. Our current winner-take-all voting system is one of the least representative and least democratic of all forms of elections. Adopting a better voting system could go along ways toward enhancing the political power of average citizens, and this would help to blunt the influe nce of private economic power.

Nike †Social and Ethical Issues Essay

Nike has become one of those global companies targeted by a broad range of campaigning pressure groups and journalists as a symbolic representation of the business in society. In Nike’s case, the issues are those of human rights and conditions for workers in factories in developing countries. In the face of constant accusations, Nike has developed a considered response but the criticism of Nike still continues. Nike produces footwear, clothing, equipment and accessory products for the sports and athletic market. It is the largest seller of such garments in the world. It sells to approximately 19,000 retail accounts in the US, and then in approximately 140 countries around the world. Just about all of its products are manufactured by independent contractors with footwear products in particular being manufactured in developing countries. The company manufactures in China, Taiwan, Korea, and Mexico as well as in the US and in Italy. The Global Alliance report on the factories in Indonesia gave the following workforce profile: 58% of them are young adults between 20 and 24 years old, and 83% are women. Few have work-related skills when they arrive at the factory. Nike has around 700 contract factories, within which around 20% of the workers are creating Nike products. Conditions for these workers have been a source of heated debate, with allegations made by campaigns of poor conditions, with harassment and abuse. Nike has sought to respond to these allegations by putting into place a code of conduct for all of its suppliers, and working with the Global Alliance to review around 21 of these factories, and to pick up and respond to issues. The main concerns expressed by workers relate to their physical working environment. A further report has been produced relating to a site in Mexico, which has experienced serious problems leading to labour disputes. In both cases, Nike responded to the audit reports with a detailed remediation plan. Naomi Klein, in her widely read book â€Å"No Logo† deals quite extensively with Nike, accusing them of abandoning countries as they developed better pay and employment rights in favour of countries like China, where these are less of a cost. She points to a photo published in 1996 showing children in Pakistan stitching Nike footballs as an example of the use of child labour. Other critics have suggested that Nike should publicise all of its factories, and allow independent inspection to verify conditions there. Any auditing carried out by Nike should be made public. Nike accuses Naomi Klein of peddling inaccurate and old information. They point out that they have not abandoned countries as she claims, and remain in Taiwan and Korea despite the higher wages and labour rights. They admit that the 1996 photo documented what they describe as a â€Å"large mistake† when they began to order soccer balls for the first time from a supplier in Pakistan. They now operate stitching centres where the non-use of child labour can be verified. The Global Alliance was quite complimentary. It said â€Å"Upon due consideration, members of the Operating Council unanimously expressed their judgement that upon learning of the alleged violations surfaced through the Global Alliance assessment process, that Nike had acted in good faith, and developed a serious and reasonable remediation plan.† Bibliography The Economist (1999), US Edition, Sweatshop wars, 14th February, pp. 62Wheelen, T. L. & Hunger, J. D., (1995), Strategic Management & Business Policy, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company Inc. Zaino, J., (2001), Companies Give Back to Their Communities, Information Week, 12th March, pp. 163.

Groupon Essay

Groupon gets commissions from the product and service providers. The providers are able to promote their products and gain benefits from the large quantity of orders. It is a model that can satisfy all the people: the customers, product sellers and the Groupon company. However, this business model is easy to imitate. It does not required high technology or unique skills to set up the business. Many internet companies, such as Google and Amazon, have stepped in this market. They have established similar business services. Those competitors are attempting to grab market share from the leader, Groupon. For example, Google has set up its own online group buying websites, Google offer, and released more attractive offers by lowering the price than the similar products or services on Groupon. Therefore, customers have more choices of online group buying providers. Customers are able to find better products from Groupon’s competitors. With intensive competition, Groupon needs to consider how to maintain its market share and how to improve its services to attract more return customers in the short run. In the long run, the company needs to think about how to improve the business model to make it more competitive. Alternatives Groupon could start a customer loyalty program to cultivate a high loyalty customer group. The company could build an award system for the program. The customers could earn certain points when they purchase the products. If they have achieved enough points, they could redeem those points to purchase new deals. The customers would spend more using this incentive because the customers could get more benefit if they shop more. The company could encourage its customer to keep shopping on its website and maintain the market share. But the reward system is easy to copy. Finally, the company has to choose whether to give more rewards than its competitors. Groupon could lose profits by giving away more benefits to the customers. Groupon could differentiate its service by sending customized offers. The company could require its customers to fill out preference information when they sign up for the website. The customers could get the customized deals regularly by emails. This strategy could periodically provide the customers with discounted services and products that they are interested in. But the process for the personal information may make the customers uncomfortable with it. Plan of action The company should choose the second alternative. By collecting the personal information, the company is able to analysis its customers’ needs in a more precise way. The company can build huge customer data base to find right products for the customers. The company could give special discount if the customer s can submit their preference information.

According to the requirement Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

According to the requirement - Assignment Example The hand signal language penetrated the country since the deaf community was capable of conveying information without difficulties as was previously evidenced. The role of adults in this process was allowing the deaf children to attend the newly established schools where they could learn the art of the innovative sign language (Fasold 226). The Homo sapiens might have developed a language due to their environmental conditions and natural requirements. The Homo sapiens used gestures to communicate with each other in the olden times. This shows that the development of language depends with the acceptance of the linguistic meanings by the other people. For instance, the environment helps a person to create a sign language system, which helps in its acquisition and penetration to others (Fasold 280). This implies that the signs used in separate environments may vary to suit the needs of the individuals embracing the language. The concept of the deaf children in Nicaragua shows that signs differ in meanings due to the ability of the others to understand and react to

Civil War Railroads Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Civil War Railroads - Research Paper Example To a greater scale, the Civil War marked the first and successful militarization by utilizing the railroads and resulted in a continental scale conflict. In addition, the Civil War contributed to the invention and use of conventional weaponry that included machine guns and artillery and to top up, railroad weapons1. This paper explores the role played by the Civil War Railroads. The impact of railroads on operations Railroads played a role in facilitating logistical support during the Civil war, for armies while on the other hand, they proved significant in advancing the economies of warring nations. In essence, railroads influenced operations during the Civil War by enhancing mobility of armies in terms of transporting troops and other supplies. Railroad technology improved the production of weapons since, it provided a means of transporting large loads, efficiently2. The strategy adopted by the Union arm entailed an effective logistical operations that would replenish supplies and a sophisticated means of transport that, enable a rapid shift of troops to critical locations. As a result, an extensive railroad system allowed the Union soldiers to transport more soldiers that was impossible without a railroad network. Compared to the Southern army, the Northern army received more supplies as a result of controlling over 30,000 miles of railroad in America. In other situations, locomotives served the purpose of reconnoiter and enhanced the process of gathering information related to the enemy troop disposition. In addition, the mobility of locomotives, provided an effective means as courier vehicles for commanders rushing intelligence information to their headquarters. The railroad provided a rapid communication service and played an important role in terms of gaining advantage against frequent raids on telegraph lines that characterized the Civil War3. The railroads further enabled locomotives to operate as rams where, troops used these locomotives to destroy en emy train and railroad facilities. The railroads also enabled troops to launch modified cars that were set on fire to destroy bridges used by opponents. On another note, freight trains during the Civil War, served the purpose to deceive the enemy by running a train back and forth within one location. This tricked scouts into giving false information about opponents reinforcing their positions while, the trick acted as a cover for troops leaving an area. The railroad further revolutionized warfare and operations as a result of the introduction of railroad monitors that transported a large contingent of infantrymen. The rail monitors, increased fire power and improved the troop’s capacity to combat the invading enemy. However, the railroads on the other hand, impacted negatively on operations as a result of fierce completion that existed among railroad owners. Further, the maintenance of the rail lines, and including the trains presented a hurdle to owners. As a result, the rai lroads begun to experience difficulties because of a lack of new parts to replace the worn out parts. This affected the speed of locomotive that dropped to almost 10miles an hour from averagely 25 miles an hour. Fuel too, became an issue and especially, for the southern locomotives that relied heavily on wood. The strategy by the Confederate government to conscript skilled railroad workers into military also impacted on

Positioning and Differentiation Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Positioning and Differentiation - Research Paper Example They also need to differentiate themselves from the competitors in order to be attractive to the customers. Failure to position and differentiate from competitors will make it highly difficult for business to survive and sustain growth in today’s highly competitive business world. This paper analyses and compares the positioning and differentiation strategy adopted by two health insurance companies in the US. The two companies chosen are: UnitedHealth Group and WellPoint, Inc. Positioning Positioning is a marketing process used to position a product or a service in the mind of the customer in the best way that the company believes that the product or service must be perceived by the customer. There is very little change that is made to the product unlike the name product positioning suggests. Positioning is all about changing how the product is perceived by the customer (Ries & Trout, 2001). Therefore, positioning is the essence of a marketing mix. It throws light on how the c ompany defines its market segments, its competition and target markets (Schiffman & Kanuk, 2007). It does not induce any new features into a product or service but uses the existing features in order to project the product or service in an effective way to the target market. ... By highlighting the differences between its competitors, businesses try to make its products and services more attractive to the target customer group (Hoskisson et al., 2008). Differentiation is vital for any product or service as it will create a niche for the product or service within a well defined closed target market group. Therefore, a well differentiated product or service will have a competitive advantage over its competitors. Successful differentiation will also give a business the freedom in pricing the products and services as the differentiating features will make for the extra cost from a customer’s perspective (Hoskisson et al., 2009). UnitedHealth Group With headquarters in Minnetonka, Minnesota UnitedHealth Group is one of the leading health care companies in the world. Across the globe, the company serves more than 75 million people. It offers a range of products and services to its customers. UnitedHealth Group was created in 1977 but its origin can be dated back to 1974 when a group of physicians and healthcare professionals founded the Charter Med Incorporated. The company was incorporated with the main purpose of increasing or expanding consumer’s health coverage options (UnitedHealth Group, 2012). Today the company has grown on to become the biggest health carrier in the United States. Positioning UnitedHealth Group which primarily started as an insurance company has diversified its products and services to cater to the needs of the entire health care industry. The company positions itself as leading health care companies which not only address the needs of consumers with heal benefit products and services but also the service sector of the health care industry. It

Everyday life with Algebra in the Real World Research Paper

Everyday life with Algebra in the Real World - Research Paper Example In the field of biology, computations are carried out in the process of simulating experiments or the calculation of features of a biological structure of the process. For example, algebra is applied in computing mathematical predictions of cellular interactions, analysis of heritage, body reactions to chemicals and intercellular features. Techniques from algebra, discrete mathematics and algebraic geometry have lately acquired new applications in systems biology causing the emergence of the fields of â€Å"algebraic biology†. The close interaction between biology and algebraic statistics has also led to new applications of the latter to problems in biology. (Kastner, 2012) Algebra is applied to chemistry to manipulate equations and work out problems. E.g. A gas equation commonly used to compute quantities in chemistry is PV=nRT: P is the pressure (in atmospheres), V is the volume (in Litres), n is the number of moles, R is a constant (.082059 L*atm mol-1 K-1), and T is the temperature (in Kelvin). In current years, computer algebra techniques have acquired widespread application in chemistry education and solving chemistry problems. In case you are given the values of all the other quantities and you are required to obtain the temperature, you could do this by substituting all the variables into the algebraic equation: T= PV/nR.  Algebraic concepts to solve everyday problems  In business, Linear equations such as T = Ax +By is applied to the total cost of items when every item has the same cost, total quantities of materials used in producing objects. In everyday life, algebraic equations can be used to calculate the total cost of electricity, energy costs on household bills, costs of long distance calls and the cost of renting a car. For example, from a phone bill algebra can point out the initial cost and the additional cost per minute on a long-distance call, and indicate how long a person could talk for any specific amount of money. Slope indicates the rate at which a quantity changes and is applied in business to calculate how much the cost of production of items changes when one more item is produced, i.e. the marginal cost. The rate at which your money decreases or increases can affect ones financial status whereas how quick the rate of unemployment goes down or rises can influence inflation. The algebraic concept of slope can be utilized to analyze all these notions. (Knapp, 2007) The concept of exponents or exponential growth is applied in all money matters affecting people’s daily life, like the compound interest used by banks and savings institutions to calculate interest, mortgage, car and credit card payments for items bought, life insurance and retirement funds. This concept is also applied in prediction of populations, sizes of tumors and other characteristics of the disease. Algebra applied to personal life, Linear equations from

Business Ethics Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Business Ethics - Term Paper Example Business Ethics The other pressure that is involved is the fact that Doug had stated that the last person who had tried to raise the issue was sacked because of asking about the issue. That means that the job may be at risk and it could be lost if the management is not accommodative enough. In this situation, the questions that I would ask myself include the following, if there is an ethical issue at hand. The ethical issue that is under consideration is the fact that the bikes will not be effective and that may lead to loss of lives and other bad outcomes. The other thing I would do is to establish the key principles and values that are involved in the issue. The issues that are involved include the fact that the bike will be ineffective after 4 hours of usage. That can be checked to ensure that is a fact. The other thing would be to rank ethical principles that are relevant in the dilemma. The issues that can be ranked include the company’s profitability against the value of people’s lives. The other step would be to prepare an action plan that should be in line with the ethical principles. The action plan will be to suggest that the bikes be improved or totally scrapped off to ensure the safety of the users. After that, I would implement my plan laid down. I would not recommend that the company pays the special $5,000 for the pedal to be placed on shelves of shops. That is not legal and ethical. Every product should be placed on shelves at the will of the buyer but the shop owners should not demand a price for putting the products on the shelves. That may be viewed, as a bribe and it would not be ethical. The considerations that can be put in place are the reasons that are behind the payment of the special fee. Green Move Company should not apply the cost/benefit analysis on the safety of the product. The costs may be more adverse and also the life of a person is not something to gamble with and it should be the first consideration while the rest come last. The risks that are involved include the company being sued for more money in case there is a loss that occurs and it becomes associated with the manufacture of the zero pedals. The other risk is the fact that the company may lose its reputation and that will be a risk factor because that will imply that the products that the company will sell in the future may not be considered by the customers. Question B Every organization should be a different entity from the affiliate companies and the owners. The owner of a company cannot be judged because of something that may have happened in his or her company. That also applies to the companies that are associated with a supply chain. A supply chain will involve wholesalers and retailers. All the businesses that are found in the supply chain are independent not unless they are owned by the same company. That means that each company transacts its businesses independent of any other business. In the case of the agreement between Green move and solar group, the agreement is not legally binding. The agreement is one that interferes with the internal affairs of another company and that means that the independence of the other company is interfered with. Anything that happens in another company can not affect

Close reading Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Close reading - Essay Example Matusky and Sooi (2004) studied the Malaysian dance and commented that the Malaysian musical traditions were always accompanied with dance or dance drama that did not have any dialogue as its essence was to engage the audience to the set act so that they could derive a meaning out of the performance. This acted as an act that included the attributes of the classical or folk music2. As a result, the dance incorporated the use of the body more so the hands and the feet. Thus through their traditional Malay music, the Malay dancer(s) introduced the use of hands as they swayed their hands from side to side or up and down as a form to express emotion and attachment to the song. Malay classical dance history and characteristics The early Malay dances incorporated various dance forms such as mak yong, mek mulung and manohra and these were practiced often in the courts thus their origination. The mak yong comprised of a much dramatized dance act that depicted the stories of the princes and p rincesses. The women who acted as princesses wore royal costumes while the men wore the same costumes and an additional male clown. Their dance was also accompanied by drums, gongs and a serunai. The dance is also related to Puteri, which is an ancient ritual that was believed, that when it was performed by the dancers, it was prone to release supernatural powers and as a result, the kings did not follow much on that, rather they adopted the dance that was related to theatrical performances. This dance involved the simple act of a female and a male at the courts. Manohra also shares some aspects with mak yong such as the dance that consists of the female and the male and it also incorporates more of dance rather than the story that is behind to the dance set being performed. Manohra also served as a traditional and respected ritual and it was also believed to have the aspect of super natural powers. When the dance was performed, it was always accompanied with the serunai, two gedung , two gedumbak, kesi, bamboo or wood clappers and gongs. As of today, there exists only two active manohra groups’ in Malaysia and tey happen to occupy the parts of Kelantan. Mek mulung on the other hand involved a dance drama that depicted a local legend that had happened in the community. As a result this dance also had the same aspects in meaning and body gesture when compared to mak yong and manohra. When the dance was performed, it was always accompanied with the use of the serembong, gong, serunai and ceruk. The oldest surviving Malaysian performance traditions can be dated back to the peoples of the Orang Asli communities of Peninsular Malaysia who are very scarce in numbers in the region. Some of the community sub groups include the Negrito communities that include the Bateq, Jahai, Kensui, Kintak, Lanoh and Mendriq peoples and they are located in the Kelantan, Pahang, Perak and Terengganu regions. The Senoi include the Che Wong, Jahut, Mahmeri, Semai, Semoq Beri and Temiar peoples who are located in Kelantan, Pahang, Perak and Selangor, and the Proto-Malay peoples incorporate the Jakun, Orang Kanaq, Orang Laut, Orang Seletar, Semelai and Temuan) majoritively in Johor, Melaka, Negeri Sembilan and Pahang. The Orang Asli performances involved the incorporation of music, song and dance and they were preformed mainly at social events

Liberal Reforms Essay Example for Free

Liberal Reforms Essay By the early twentieth century the Liberal Government was worried that Britain’s military capability and general military power was not as strong and it once was. Therefore, the Government’s concern over national security definitely influenced the decision for the reforms. However, there are three main factors that also need to be taken into account when deciding if concern over national security was the real reason for the reforms: the Social reasons, concerns for Britain’s Empire and the Political motive. The Social reasons played a large part in persuading the Liberals to reform. The detailed reports of Booth and Rowntree, and the evidence which was brought to light, highlighted that nearly a 1/3 of Britain’s population lived in poverty. This needed to be addressed by the Government. In addition, criticisms of the Poor Law effectively put pressure on the Liberals. The Boer War shone light on the ineffective and malnourished British Army. Britain’s embarrassing performance and recruitment in the War raised concerns over Britain’s overall military capability and the general health of Britain’s populace. In addition to this, the Liberal Government was concerned that Britain was losing its status as a major industrial power. Political motives for reform include the changing attitudes within the party, New Liberalism, the fear of the ever increasing popularity of the Labour Party and the party advantage which the Liberals would have received from introducing reform. In 1899, Britain became involved in a war, known as the Boer War, in South Africa, which was part of the British Empire at that time. As a result of Britain having a relatively small army, volunteer recruits were needed to increase the army size. However, the British Government became alarmed when almost 25% of the volunteers were rejected because there were physically unfit to serve in the armed forces. This figure was even higher among volunteers from the industrial cities. Politicians and the public alike began to ask if Britain could survive a war, or protect its empire against a far stronger enemy than the South African Boers, if the nation’s fighting stock of young men were so unhealthy. The national reforms introduced a variety of bills which would hopefully solve this problem. The 1906 Bill was passed, allowing local authorities to provide school meals to children. In 1914 this was extended to becoming compulsory to offer school meals. This bill meant that poorer children, who previously could not afford a proper nutritious meal, were now receiving regular, healthy food. This would hopefully improve the health of Britain’s army as in the long term, the children who would eventually make up Britain’s army, would be nourished, fit and able to serve their country. The 1907 Bill made the medical inspection of schools compulsory. Doctors had to the Board of Education on their findings which resulted in the introduction of the 1912 bill which saw to the establishment of school clinics. The improved lifestyle and eating habits of Britain’s youngsters, combined with the introduction of medial inspections for them were the result of the Liberal reforms. Therefore, the Liberals concern over national security played a major role in achieving reform which would effectively benefit the country as a whole. However, there are still other reasons which influenced the Government’s choice to reform. Through the Poor Law of 1845 (1834 in England), local rate-payers provided â€Å"poor relief† for destitute people. This help was often provided in a poorhouse. Conditions in these poorhouses were designed to be very harsh indeed. Conditions in poorhouses were extremely harsh because it was to deter people who were just lazy and thought of the poorhouses as the â€Å"easy option†. Glasgow had three poorhouses: One in the city centre, Barhill in Springburn and Govan. The percentage of the public relying on the Poor Law relief, by 1900, was 2. 5%. This may seem very little but this figure does not represent the number of people in Britain who were in poverty. Destitute people who accepted help from the Poor Law became â€Å"paupers† and automatically lost many civil rights such as the right to vote. By 1900 many critics of the Poor Law believed that it failed to deal with poverty adequately. In addition to criticism of the Poor Law, the evidence discovered from both Booth and Rowntree’s studies concluded that there was a large percentage of Britain’s population living in poverty. Charles Booth, a London businessman who doubted the claims of socialist that a quarter of the population lived in extreme poverty. Working with a team of researchers from 1886-1903, Booth’s work was based on hard, statistical facts, and not opinion. His book, â€Å"The Life and Labour of the people of London†, consisting of 17 volumes, showed that 25% of London’s population lived in extreme poverty. Much more than the socialists claimed. The second investigation into poverty was carried out by Seebohm Rowntree, in the city of York. After two years of research, he published a book in 1901 which showed that almost 30% of York’s population lived in extreme poverty. If York had such poverty problems as a â€Å"typical English city† then as did other cities in Britain. The reports of Booth and Rowntree produced solid evidence to suggest that sections of society-regardless of hard work- would never pull themselves out of poverty. The reports showed poverty to have causes and the cities were beyond the individual efforts of the poor. The concept of â€Å"deserving poor†, an ideal created by Rowntree, was important and took root, becoming an important theme of the Liberal Reforms. Finally, evidence which suggested that the scale of poverty in Britain was much larger than the figure of 2. 5% suggested by Poor Law Records, indicated to politicians that the Poor Law was not working. When the Liberals came to power they had a majority of 400. In the elections in 1910 this majority dropped to 2. The Labour Party threatened the Liberals hold onto power. Labour promised pensions, action against unemployment and other welfare reforms. Following voting reform from 1980 the majority of voters were working class. Liberals worried that Labour would win working class support and threaten the position of the Liberals. In 1900, the Labour Party formed with 2 seats in parliament, by the 1905 election, Labour had increased this to 29 sears. It was becoming more increasingly aware that the Labour Party was a direct threat to the Liberals. In 1907 the Liberals lost 2 ‘safe’ seats in Jarrow and Colne Valley to Labour. David Lloyd George recognised the need for welfare reforms for political survival and to maintain working class support. In addition to the fear of the Labour Party, the Liberals also faced the problem of trade unionism and radical socialism. Radical Socialism called for the destruction of capitalism. From 1910-14, there was a wave of miners’ and dockers’ strikes. Liberals realised welfare reforms could prevent political unrest. Historians argue that the sudden increase in the Labour Party’s popularity and the problems the Liberals faced regarding trade unionism and radical socialism persuaded the Liberals to introduce pensions the next year, and furthermore, encourage the Liberals to reform. Before 1905, many Liberals believed in ‘Lassiez-faire’. However, new groups in the party believed that it was the duty of the Government to take action to help Britain’s poorer citizens. This group was called â€Å"new liberals†. It included David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill. Churchill aimed â€Å"to draw a line below which we will not allow people to live and labour. † The Liberals, wanted to help the deserving poor out of social conscience but they recognised the political advantages it could bring too. The Labour Party was offering such reforms that would bring them political success. This could be soon through their increased popularity. Therefore it is likely that the Liberals reformed due to the pressure put on them by the ideal of New Liberalism. In conclusion, the Liberal reforms came about as the result of many influences from both different areas of the Government and the public. On one hand, the embarrassing performance by the British army in South Africa and the lack of able volunteers to increase Britain’s army’s capability was definitely a main influence why the Liberals introduced the reforms when they did. On the other hand however, the evidence brought to light by Rowntree and Booth cannot be disregarded as not being an influence to the introduction of these reforms. In addition, other factors such as the Liberal’s fear of losing votes to the new Labour Party and the political readiness to pass reforms influenced by new ideas about New Liberalism made the reforms a more pressing necessity. Overall, it cannot be seen that concern over national security was the only reason for the Liberal reforms, as there were other influences which encouraged the Governments decision.

Huawei Business Model and Organisational Culture

Huawei Business Model and Organisational Culture Introduction The purpose of this report is to use Huawei as the focus of an analysis and compare and contrast business models adopted by other companies that operate within the smartphone industry. The analysis will then include a description on Huawei’s organisational culture and the impact this has on the company’s success. An analysis of Huawei’s relationships with other companies and countries will be done to try and determine how this influences the supply chain and the distribution and logistics strategies. Comparison of business models, market positioning and market development of Huawei and its competitors at home and overseas A firms Business Model (BM) is the articulation of the processes through which resources are leveraged to create and deliver value to stakeholders allowing the firm to generate a profit (Chesbrough,2010). For years the high-end smartphone industry has been dominated by Apple and Samsung with both companies being involved in a worldwide corporate battle since 2010 as Samsung who was back then a supplier to Apple had released a product that was far to similar to the iPhone. For years, these two companies have been battling for superiority within the industry and only focusing on beating each other but however one Chinese phone manufacturer is hoping to battle both companies to be recognised as one of the best. Huawei was previously known for distributing smartphones that were cheap and un-branded but the company is dumping this business model and has re-invented its self to become a globally recognized brand by advancing rapidly into markets worldwide. Huawei has now become the worlds number three smartphone brand and earned itself a 10% global market share (Samsung-23.3% and Apple-14.7%). Innovation of new business models   As the industry is getting more and more intense and populated with smartphones that are constantly improving to be better than their competitors it’s getting more complicated to design a business model that can meet targets and be the dominator of the smartphone industry. The business model is a key indicator of who is going to be at the top of the telecom market and the traditional smartphone business model is facing challenges that have never been dealt with before from issues that the companies have not necessarily had any influence on such as globalization and the important role that internet plays in todays world. Having a successful business model has been key to the rise and success of Huawei, they have even got their own Business Model Innovation Centre (BMIC) which has been praised for analysing current business models from its competitors to see an end result of them bettering themselves as a global organisation. The BMIC develops methodologies and tools to help allow the business innovate there current business model to help the business to continue growth to be multilingual, multicultural and multinational with plenty of recognition in key international markets. With the innovation of the business model, its expected that new opportunities will arise but with threats also emerging from industry competitors it is imperative that the business model can capitalize on these issues to ensure that a well sustained profit is achieved along with having that competitive advantage over its major competitors. Challenges of implementing a successful business model To ensure that these can be overcome as quickly and as safely as possible there are numerous challenges that must be overcome, including: Revenue enhancement through differentiated user experienceBusiness model innovation that supports/monetizes new servicesCost structure optimization for sustained profitabilityTransaction model adaptation that improves financialsParticipation in emerging disruptors such as cloud computingHuawei’s role is to help clients understand how and when to do these things so that time-to-market and commercial risk are minimized. In recent years Huawei has worked hard to establish itself as the undisputed number one smartphone brand in China and part of their business model has been to establish themselves within other markets. Huawei has advanced aggressively into other markets and focused mainly on boosting brand awareness and increasing sales especially in Europe. Global recognition   In Europe, the company is growing at an unprecedented rate due to the company releasing better quality products and re-inventing the brands image with high end marketing campaigns. In particular, Europeans have been receptive of Huawei and are ditching previous mentality of either getting the latest iPhone or Samsung and open to trying new technology released by Huawei. Around half of Huawei’s 100+million phone sales and 65% of the company’s revenue in 2016 was generated from markets outside of its home country, China. Huawei saw an increase in market share as its popularity rapidly rose in countries such as Germany, Italy and Spain. The rise of Huawei has stifled the iPhones momentum in China and is now being recognised as the worlds third largest smartphone make in 2016. For Huawei to continue this rise they have to continue to pursue a business model that can allow them to compete with Apple and Samsung. Adaptation of new business models When you look at the rise of the Huawei it’s clear that the success has come from adopting new business models to fit current market trends and to ensure that they remain competitive towards its competitors. The adaptation and change for its business models over the years has ensured that it remains a dark horse in the smartphone industry. Many years ago, Huawei was known for selling ‘cheap and cheerful’ products, which were renowned to not last very long. As a company, Huawei has invested millions in R&D to help them pursue better approaches to the industry and to try and get the company renowned as one of the best. As you can see from the image below the amount of units that Huawei now sells compared to back in 2013 is a substantial improvement, which can effectively be down to several improvements it has made as a company over the period of 3 years. The willingness of adapting and changing its ideas to fit and match companies such as Apple and Samsung will be a major factor of its success. Huawei’s organisational culture Huawei has a sharp vision, a vision to enrich life through communication. It focuses on its customers’ challenges and needs and strives to create maximum value through excellent service (Huawei, 2013) The rise and success of Huawei has been brilliant and the visionary founder Ren Zhengfei who started the company when he had no money and no connections within the technology industry. He has been praised for implementing and sustaining a culture that thrives Huawei’s employees in day-to-day business and its this mentality that is continuously praised but has had some implications in the past. Back in 2008 once of Huawei’s employees jumped to his death in the company’s headquarters and was the sixth employee to have committed suicide with the same mysterious circumstances. It has been blamed on Huawei’s aggressive and ruthless corporate culture of adopting the ‘wolf-culture’, which is explained below. In most top companies today, they rely strongly on continuing the culture of the organization, which can often relate to beliefs and values which were originally set out when the company was first generated. For Huawei these factors have determin ed the success of company and it has been stated that this also differentiates them from other market leaders such as Apple and Samsung. ‘Wolf-Culture The main organisational culture of Huawei, which sets out its key values, beliefs and attitudes, which is followed by all of its organisational members, is known as ‘wolf-culture’, this has three main characters, which are defined as: Character 1 Wolves are bloodthirsty, employees of the company are extremely sensitive to information related to its main competitors and any changed within the market itself and they could respond promptly and adapt to any changes to ensure they remain successful. Character 2- Wolves are resistant to coldness, the fearlessness of difficulties that may rise and eagerness of making progress are insisted to every member of Huawei no matter how complicated the challenge may be.Character 3- Taking actions in teams, The atmosphere of team cooperation is particularly strong in Huawei and people are encouraged to develop and share personal opinions with each other (laoyzy, 2011). The ‘wolf-culture’ brings Huawei a high level of keen insight about the unsteady market and assists the company to quickly react to any existing opportunities. As a result, Huawei could expand its business volume about approximately twenty percent every year (Heissougly, 2010). Huawei vision, mission and core values Vision To enrich life through communication. Mission To focus on our customers’ market challenges and needs by providing excellent communications network solutions and services in order to consistently create maximum value for customers. Core Values To put the customers firstDedication Continuous ImprovementsOpenness and initiativeIntegrityTeamwork Huawei’s relationships and partnerships in host countries Huawei is the only Chinese company out of 91 mainland Chinese companies listed on the Fortune Global 500 list, which earns more revenue abroad than in China. Huawei’s revenue from overseas markets exceeded that from the Chinese market for the first time in 2005. For the company this is a massive achievement and a step towards being recognised as the leading smartphone provider. Marketing Campaigns In recent years Huawei has witnessed itself becoming increasingly popular out of China and seen a dramatic rise in its European sales, this surge in sales was initiated by the improvement in product quality and the high profile advertising campaigns it has created. Promotions for Huawei newest products are being advertised in several cities across Europe, some campaigns are: Covering the trams of RotterdamThey have opened a flagship store in a prominent location at downtown BrusselsGigantic Banners in Berlin and Lodz (Poland)In the city centre of Warsaw looks like an advertising convention and Huawei is the guest of honour This successful campaign across European cities has also seen the company sponsor major European football teams such as Arsenal, AC Milan and Paris Saint-Germain. Huawei is not messing about when it comes to marketing, they are figuring out what can generate the most attention and ensuring that they get the brand more recognition as being one of the top smartphone providers. These campaigns across Europe is just a fraction of what they are actually doing, they are also recruiting European athletes such as Lionel Messi and Robert Lewandowski to be brand ambassadors along other entertainment stars such as Scarlett Johansson to endorse its high-end products. Europe has become Huawei’s most successful overseas territory and they have overtaken Apple and became the world’s second largest smartphone maker by shipment in several countries including Finland, Italy, Poland and Spain. It has ranked number three in Germany and number four in France, (Canalys, 2016). One of the mai n factors that has influenced Huawei’s presence in Europe is its relationship with local phone carriers. Before they started, selling phones Huawei were building telecom stations for European carriers such as Orange in France and Elisa Oyj in Finland. After previously building a successful relationship with already, well established businesses it has allowed Huawei a quick market entry and allowed them to spend its marketing budget on the best display positions inside local retailers, (Jeronimo, 2016). Retaining a strong relationship with previous clients has obviously benefited the company in establishing the brand outside of China but there are bigger problems that the company has been encountering. Although it is a huge success Huawei, starting to be recognised on a global scale but the company hasn’t got much closer to its end goal of profitability due to the fact shipment of all the high-end products still remains limited. The rise of Huawei does deserve praise wh en you look at how far they come, when comparing the amount of products its shipped with Apple and Samsung its still only a fraction of what there figures are. In the first half of 2016 Huawei only shipped 3.6 million smartphones priced higher than $600. When comparing this statistic with Apples 77.8 million and Samsung’s 31.6 million it just shows that there is still a lot of work needed to be done. Political Uncertainty The main factor that is restricting Huawei from achieving figures as high as its competitors is the fact that its unable to replicate its European strategy in the US. Reasons for this is that is doesn’t have a strong relationship with any of the ‘big four’ phone carriers in the US (Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint). The US is a market where phone carriers dominate smartphone sales and without the support of the industry dominators, it has and will continue to make Huawei’s US ambitions a failure. In 2012, a congressional report was made stating that Huawei’s hardware could be used by the Chinese government for spying purposes. This is an allegation that the company continues to deny but with anti-china talks often occurring under the Trump administration this is likely going to continue as a threat for the company. For now, Huawei has to carry on with a less effective strategy in the US of selling phone through lesser known carriers and online stores such as Amazon. Last year Huawei was nowhere near the top five smartphone makers in the US as it only shipped 1.4 million units (Canalys ,2016). This figure alone proves to Huawei that not enough is being done in the biggest market in the world but with allegations being made politically, does not give them much confidence and belief that the issue can be rectified any time soon. Huawei’s supply chain, distribution and logistics strategies A strong and reliable supply chain is essential to the survival of any company, for Huawei it is essential that they can rely on all stakeholders within the supply chain as this enables them to ship products all over the world once they have been manufactured. When it comes to logistics Huawei’s strategy has been to adopt the asset-light strategy which allows them not worry about any large expenditure costs to purchase any large fleet of transport themselves, they will instead use courier companies to ship products all over the world. Huawei’s CEO has previously mentioned that they are hoping to work with suppliers all over the world to help build a business ecosystem in which all stakeholders can all create value to share the risks involved and to enjoy the benefits that the success of working with each other will hopefully bring. Huawei believe that working closely with their suppliers is essential to building that competitive edge and this can help them achieve the positive results needed. With the increase of popularity of smartphones it has led to companies like Huawei to change the strategy in which these phones are distributed. The most common source of distribution has previously been phone carriers distributing the phone them selling it with a monthly payment plan requiring users to sign a fixed contract during a fixed duration. Due to the popularity of companies like Amazon, Tesco and Ebay this has given smartphone companies another platform to advertise and sell its products and gives millions of sales each year. It is imperative for companies like Huawei to keep up to date with key trends that are trending in different markets that it’s operating in. In emerging markets such as Russia and Africa it is common for consumers to purchase just the phone and not fixed to any contract with any phone carrier, however, in Europe and the US it is getting increasingly popular to purchase the phone on a fixed contract basis. When it comes to distribution since 2012 Huawei has been pushing to be active in as many distribution channels and using the UK as an example it has succeeded in doing this. In doing so Huawei sets out clear guidelines to its suppliers and distributors that it expects them to follow. One of the main factors that it sets out is to pursue a sustainable approach. Sustainability is part of Huawei’s procurement strategy and to be eligible to be part of Huawei’s supply chain they insist that all members must comply with applicable laws and regulations set out in Huawei’s supplier sustainability agreement. They use this agreement to continuously drive supplier improvements and to monitor and control any risks that are can occur. Managing risk   All these factors enabled Huawei to minimize supply risks, increase customer satisfaction, and boost the competitiveness of the supply chain. To help the company ensure that all companies are complying with this agreement they risk rank and audit each company. Each year they will conduct an audit for suppliers which represents around 90% of their procurement spending and assign a priority level of high, medium or low. The factors, which determine which level is given, are: Supplier locationProduct/material manufacturingSustainability performanceRisk management systemsEnvironmental risks Once this audit has been conducted, it then allows Huawei to manage the performance of everyone involved in its supply chain and they will do this annually and audit the results and any improvements that can be made. Performance appraisals are in place to determine the reliability and performance for Huawei’s suppliers and then this allows them to determine who they need to offer improvement to and who needs to be praised for the continued hard-work and loyalty given to the company. The appraisal cover a few different factors: LabourHealth and safetyImpact it has on the environment (sustainability)Business ethicsManagement systems In the event of a new supplier being added to the supply chain, Huawei has a qualification process the company must pass to enable them to become business partners. This process will examine the supplier’s capacity and their compliance with applicable laws and regulations set out in their own supplier sustainability Agreement. To ensure that all suppliers comply with the sustainability agreement they provide training and coaching that is necessary and they also encourage them to include sustainability into their business models and strategies. They do this as they view sustainability as a key to reduce business risks and to perform operations more efficiently. Prohibition of ‘conflict minerals’ As sustainability is the main focus of Huawei’s supply chain another focus of theirs is that companies must have good business ethics so they prohibit the use of ‘conflict minerals’. This refers to minerals that are sold to finance ongoing-armed conflicts in which the countries are mined or smelted. This is a common occurrence in Africa. The problem of this is making not just Huawei but other smartphone providers more aware of the issue and the US and Europe have just passed new laws to help deal with the issue and prevent the armed militias from making an come from top companies. This is not necessarily just associated with smartphone providers but the issue is a complex one that will be resolved through an organised global commitment and close cooperation between businesses and governments. All these factors will contribute to a successful and sustainable supply chain. It is also imperative that Huawei stays in a close partnership with other businesses in the sa me industry; this will allow them all to address problems that the companies may be facing or to rectify any problems that can occur. In a nutshell, collaboration allows us to combine strengths and gain advantage to boost industry competitiveness (Huawei, 2016). References Anon, (2018). 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