Government Surveillance in the Digital Age Essay - 2365 Words

Government Surveillance in the Digital Age Imagine walking along a busy street in the middle of a sunny day. Also imagine that someone is following you around, videotaping everything you do. Disturbing thought? Even more disturbing is the fact that the United States government is already doing this, and its perfectly legal. According to Robert Trigaux, a reporter for the St. Petersburg times, until August of 2014, in Ybor City, Florida, the Tampa Police Department used fourty-six surveillance cameras that scanned faces of all people walking around the entertainment district. These surveillance cameras captured facial images and then compared them to a police database of known felons. This same surveillance system was also†¦show more content†¦As technology allows for faster forms of communication, the Untied States government is quick to ensure that it can monitor the most popular forms of communication. Telephone calls and Internet communications are the standard medium of expression today, and the methods that may be used to monitor communication through these mediums are very developed. The telephone is a relatively simple technology, so monitoring someones telephone calls is a rather simple task. Mostly, only very large service providers maintain large networks, and so in order to monitor s omeone, the government can easily determine the specifics by contacting only a few companies. However, Internet communication is far more technologically advanced, and it is much more difficult to monitor peoples Internet communications than it is to monitor their telephone conversations. As the Internet is a relatively new creation, there is little centralization, and even finding someone online can be difficult enough. Still, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has software, nicknamed Carnivore, that it can use to monitor all of the Internet activity of a suspected felon, and the suspected felons Internet Service Provider is required to provide the FBI with a physical location through whichShow MoreRelatedSurveillance : The Act Of Surveillance1526 Words   |  7 Pages The act of Surveillance refers to continuous monitoring of activities of a particular area or a person. Mass Surveillance refers to monitoring activities of a sample population or target group. The video monitori ng at malls or stores and the installed CCTV at traffic signals is also an act of mass surveillance. However, such surveillance has become important part of business operation or road safety management due to video recorded proof in case of any crime. We stand at an age where nothing isRead MoreThe Value Of Digital Privacy In An Information Technology Age1799 Words   |  7 PagesThe Value of Digital Privacy in an Information Technology Age Introduction Individual citizens rights to digital privacy continue to be to challenged by the increasing need for national security one the one hand, and the increasing digital vigilance many companies are putting into place to protect themselves while learning more about their customers. These factors are a volatile catalyst that continues to change the ethical, legal and personal landscape rights of digital privacy in the informationRead MoreThe Great Technological Evolution And Emergence Of Social Media1573 Words   |  7 PagesIn the wake of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the United States went into defensive mode, increasing surveillance and dismantling privacy rights. The Patriot Act was hastily passed just a month later in October 2001 and it severely limited the privacy of Americans and gave unprecedented power to the government and private agencies to track innocent Americans, turning regular citizens into suspects.5 In addition, the great technological evolution and emer gence of social media that occurredRead MoreProtection Vs. Privacy : The Government s Use Of Surveillance1252 Words   |  6 PagesGovernment’s Use of Surveillance Since the industrial revolution, society has continued to grow larger, and more interconnected than ever before. Aiding in this process has been the advancement of technology and ideas. With the extensive advancement of technology, an equally sizable debate on its ethical implications has developed. In recent years an ethical dilemma has arose pertaining to the use of government surveillance. While the increased surveillance of citizens by the government is beneficialRead MoreSurveillance And Information Technologies For Administration And Control Processes Essay1191 Words   |  5 PagesSurveillance is ubiquitous in societies that depend on communication and information technologies for administration and control processes (Lyon, 1). Anyone who uses new media are subject to checking, monitoring and scrutinizing; it is near impossible to find an arena free from listening, watching or tracking (Lyon, 2). Some suggest that not doing anything criminal means they ought to have no conc erns with or that they are not interesting enough as an individual to be worth surveying (Buettner, 2015)Read MoreThe United Kingdoms Investigatory Powers Act 2016 : Case Study740 Words   |  3 PagesKingdom signed to law the Investigatory Powers Act of 2016 (IPA), a comprehensive law that grants the UK government expanded access for digital surveillance. A controversial piece of legislation, the IPA is especially relevant for discussions about import/export laws governing encryption, as among other things, it compels UK companies, and possibly also exporters to the UK, to provide the government encryption keys and/or other points of access during a criminal investigation (BBC 2015). What provesRead MoreDigital Privacy Concerns Essay1565 Words   |  7 Pages Digital privacy concerns, which have been a major issue in our country since 2001, increasingly violate our basic human rights as global citizens. The growing amount of government surveillance has manifested in the enactment of acts such as SOPA and CISPA. Although their intent on stopping digital piracy and attacks were clear, both were immediately met with harsh criticism; they allowed big corporations to violate our privacy rights by sharing our personal information with both other companiesRead MorePrivacy Risks in the Digital Age1271 Words   |  6 PagesPrivacy in Digital Age The Risk of Digital Age Indeed, the Digital age has been considered as one of the greatest development of the world today. It has brought different benefits to the lives of people and catered all their needs and wants. As the world gets into crave for things that are â€Å"quick and easy†, the Digital Age had posed threat to people’s privacy and security (Meeks, 2000). The advancement in new technologies and gadgets should not only be considered as something good that came intoRead MoreSecurity Camera Technology Is Good Or Bad1341 Words   |  6 Pagestechnology through a quick synopsis of its development over the past century and in arguments both for and against the use of it. At the end will be a conclusion on whether the use of security camera technology is good or bad. Modern electronic video surveillance has its roots in film photography. A person by the name of Mr.Norbury from the English town of Nottingham made a little known invention to find out who was stealing from him. He invented a contraption using a box camera and a trip wire that wouldRead MoreOnline Technology And Its Effect On Society917 Words   |  4 Pagesactivity to prevent criticism of the government.† With this, the government is manipulating their citizens, and violating their privacy. Many people have attempted to take stands on this issue, but the government does a commendable job of keeping situations on the down low. The president of the United States, Mr. Barack Obama, promised his nation that he Will strengthen privacy protections for the digital age and will harness the power of technology to hold government and business accountable for violations

Attracting Non-Traditional Students in Post-Secondary...

Despite the similarities between traditional and non-traditional students, differences in adult students’ experience of and perceptions about education make their transition to college unique. In order to be successful in recruiting and retaining non-traditional students, universities need to provide resources and incentives to this sector of students. In American in the mid 1970’s, only 30% of all jobs required higher education (Gonzalez). Today, the reality is that 63% now require post-secondary education (Gonzalez). The immense number of job losses in the last few years due to the declining economy has had a large impact on the non-traditional student population. With this growing trend in education, universities need to compete†¦show more content†¦(Early Childhood Education Programs). Students can also opt to volunteer at the center to help defer the cost. Not only does this help the student afford care, but it would cut down the cost of this progra m by reducing the amount of paid staff that would be on site. In addition, to defer the cost of this program to the University, internships could be offered to students that are pursuing a degree in Elementary Education or Human Development and Family Studies. For children that are in elementary school UC Berkeley also offers transportation to and from the campus to your child’s school. Types of programs like these are invaluable to the non-traditional student. Programs such as these make attending classes easier on the non-traditional student that may not be available at the times the classes are offered due to their commitments off campus. For a non-traditional student, financial aid is difficult to find. Most grants are tailored toward the traditional student. A substantial amount of non-traditional students are unable to quit or cut back on their career to attend classes especially when they are taking on an additional monetary hardship. Penn State University offers a 30+ program (30+ Program). This program allocates $2000 lifetime award per student. The amount you receive per semester is determined by the amount of credits that you carry each semester. While this is a great program, in the big picture, that doesn’t even begin to put a dent inShow MoreRelatedSample Resume : National Product1025 Words   |  5 Pagesnational product.† (Darden, 2009 p. 15). Consequently, if America is going to be successful in the twenty-first century, education is essential. Currently, manual labor is machine operated. Historically, individual persons built back-roads, dug for coal, and worked on assembly l ines. Today, workers operate a machine that assembles packages with the push of one button that is designed to accomplish the task (Darden, 2009). 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Create A Quality Workforce By Growing, Training, And Attracting The Finest Talent- Higher education will be a dominant, if not decisive, factor in preparing workers with the robust skills needed to adapt to changing job requirements. Support Current Business And Industry- Current business and industry receives support through the customized services offered by higher education. As technology and the economic climate change, higher education can be a valuableRead MoreWhy Are There So Few Women Of The Math And Science Professions? Essay1532 Words   |  7 PagesWhy are there so few women in the math and science professions? Sommers’ reviews the history of women’s involvement in science. In the nineteenth century, women’s accesses to education and opportunities for employment in science had greatly improved. 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FirstRead MoreRelations Between China And The United States1794 Words   |  8 Pages ABSTRACT This paper tries to study the relations of one superpower and another emerging power in the world. This bilateral relation has passed through a roller-coaster nature since the Cold War period. But then since post cold war period the relations had warmed and it became a ‘strategic partnership’ . This paper tries to do an in-depth study of the changing relation between two countries, with historical background, major events, understanding the importance of this bilateral relation with respectRead MorePolice Training: a Modern Approach Essay5040 Words   |  21 PagesApproach This research paper will examine the idea that traditional police training methods are inefficient for modern adult learners and new methods and techniques need to be utilized to ensure that today’s police force remains highly trained, professional and effective. The theory behind my thesis statement is that police officers are starting their law enforcement careers later in life (Mineard, 2006), are more diverse, have higher education and more life experiences. In the past, police officersRead MoreThe social and economic disparities between rural and urban communities in Australia are well2900 Words   |  12 Pagesof services, are typical of rural Australia. Although it would appear that Australia is paying too little attention to all of these factors in the rural context, it is argued that, for many rural young people, their restricted access to tertiary education is a significant barrier to the development of a skilled knowledge-focused workforce in rural and remote re gions of Australia. This essay delves into this area of research and seeks to answer the following question; how does geographical locationRead MoreThe Influence of Instructional Facilities on Students’ Academic Performance in Public Secondary Schools in Sapele Local Government Area of Delta State11042 Words   |  45 Pagesframework†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦13 Instructional facilities †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..†¦15 The importance of instructional facilities in teaching and learning†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.27 Importance of resources availability in secondary schools †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..33 Academic performance concepts†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦46 Importance of resources to the concept of academic performances†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.....................51 Appraisal of literature†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.53 CHAPTER

Macroeconomics †institutions by Acemoglu Free Essays

string(76) " that they can hold up the citizens after they undertake their investments\." In Progress. Abstract: In this paper, we discuss how and why institutions— broadly, the economic and political organization of societies— affect economic incentives and outcomes. After briefly surveying a number of theories of institutional differences across countries, we focus on two questions: why societies may choose institutions that are not good for economic development, and why institutions, even bad Institutions, persist. We will write a custom essay sample on Macroeconomics – institutions by Acemoglu or any similar topic only for you Order Now In light of the Ideas we develop, we discuss three case studies of Institutions alluding and persistence: the united States, India and Guatemala. L. Introduction Institutions, defined broadly as the political and economic organization of societies, differ markedly across countries and over time. For example, until recently, a large number of societies were organized along socialist lines, with widespread collective ownership of the means of production and centrally planned resource allocation, while much of the rest of the world was capitalist, with predominantly private ownership and resources allocated Vela markets. For much of the 1 8th and 9th centuries, a number of societies, Including the Caribbean, much of Central and Latin America, and parts of Asia, were organized with political and economic power concentrated in the hands of a small elite, and relied on productive relationships based on slavery and forced labor. In contrast, economic and political power was more equally distributed in parts of Europe, North America and Australia, and the majority of laborers were free. Similarly, as emphasized by North and Thomas (1973), North and Whiniest (1989) and Till (1 990), there were Important differences In the organization of the European societies during the 17th century. While England and the Netherlands had developed limited governments, France and Spain had absolutist regimes. Economic theory and basic common sense suggest that differences in the organization of society should have an effect on economic outcomes: when institutions ensure that a potential investor has property rights over the proceeds from his Investments, he Is more likely to invest than when he expects the fruits of his efforts to be taken by other parties In the economy or by the government. An obvious hypothesis is then to link variations in economic performance across countries to their institutions. We refer to this point of view as the institutions hypothesis. According to one version of this hypothesis, what is crucial is whether the organization of the society ensures that a broad cross-section of the society have effective property rights, so that those with productive emphasis on â€Å"a broad cross-section of the society’ is meant to capture the notion that it is not sufficient for the rights of a small elite, landowners, dictators or Politburo members, to be enforced. Citizens need to have effective property rights, and be involved in politics, at least some degree, to ensure the continuation of these repertory rights in the future. Do we see marked differences in the economic performance of societies with different institutions? The examples mentioned in the first paragraph suggest so: while West Germany prospered with a capitalist system, East Germany did much less well under socialism. While Western Europe, North America and Australia grew rapidly, the elite-dominated societies of the Caribbean, Central America and India stagnated throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. As emphasized by North and Thomas (1973), while England and the Netherlands prospered during the 17th century, Spain and France failed to do so. Also telling are cases where large changes in institutions are correlated with radically changed growth paths. Examples of this are Argentina in the sass’s with the rise of populism and Person, South Korea during the early sass’s with the transition from the Rhea to the Park regime, and Indonesia in 1965 with the transition between Saguaro and Short. In addition to these selective examples, much empirical evidence suggests that institutional differences are a major source of the differences in economic performance across countries. For example, cross-country work by a number of economists and political scientists found a first-order effect of institutions on growth or the level of income (e. G. , Knack and Keeper, 1995, or Hall and Jones, 1999). More recently, in Guacamole, Johnson and Robinson (2000) we found that as much as % of the income gap between the top and bottom of the world income distribution may be due to differences in their institutions. 4 But these findings pose as many questions as they answer: 1 . If some institutions generate more income and growth, why do a large number of societies adopt institutions that are bad for economic development? . Why do institutions that are detrimental to economic performance persist rather than being overhauled at the first opportunity? Despite the importance of these questions for understanding differences in economic performance across countries, there is relatively little research on this topic. In this paper, we develop a number of conjectures related to th ese questions. Then, in light of these ideas, we discuss three case studies of institution building and persistence: the U. S. , India and Guatemala. In the process, we also provide a brief survey of a number of theories of comparative institutions. II. Institutions As emphasized in the introduction, our focus is on the set of institutions— the organization of society— that determine economic incentives. Why such institutions and social arrangements will affect economic outcomes is clear: economic actors will only undertake investments when they expect to be rewarded for their spending and effort. In a society where property rights are not well enforced, investment and output will be low. We therefore take the degree of enforcement of property rights to be a central feature of the institutions and the broad organization of a society. To of private property, which we take to correspond to a set of institutions ensuring that a broad cross-section of society have effective property rights. 2. Extractive institutions, which place political power in the hands of a small elite. With extractive institutions, the majority of the population does not have effective property rights, since the political power of the elite means that they can hold up the citizens after they undertake their investments. You read "Macroeconomics – institutions by Acemoglu" in category "Papers" We expect institutions of private property to encourage investment and development, while extractive institutions are less likely to dead to high investment and successful economic outcomes. Notice that there is more to institutions than the legal code or the formal definition of property rights at a point in time; in particular, political institutions matter. This is for the simple reason that in a society where there are few constraints on political elites, these agents can change the legal code or manipulate the existing property rights to their advantage. Therefore, effective constraints on political elites are an essential ingredient of institutions of private property. In reality, there are many intermediate cases teens the extremes of institutions of private property and extractive institutions, and a complex interaction between the exact form of the political and economic institutions and whether they provide effective property rights protection to citizens. There is also a d eep and difficult question of how the state commits to providing property rights to the citizens (see Whiniest, 1997, for a discussion of this problem). To limit the discussion, we do not focus on these issues. So what determines whether a society ends up with institutions of private property or extractive institutions? Let us distinguish four broad theories, which we call: 1. The efficient institutions view. 2. The incidental institutions view. 3. The rent-seeking view. 4. The inappropriate institutions view. We now discuss what we mean by these different views, and examine some selective examples of institutional theories falling within each category. . The Efficient Institutions View According to this view, societies will choose the institutions that maximize their total surplus. How this surplus will be distributed among different groups or agents does not affect the choice of institutions. The underlying reasoning of this view comes from the Cease Theorem. Ronald Cease (1960) argued that when different economic parties could negotiate costless, they will be able to bargain to internalize potential externalities. The farmer, who suffers from the pollution created by the nearby factory, can pay the factory owner to reduce pollution. The same reasoning can be applied to political situations. If the current laws or institutions benefit a certain group while creating a disproportionate cost for another, these two groups can negotiate to change the institutions. By doing so they will increase the size of the total surplus (â€Å"the pie† that they have to divide between themselves), and they can hen bargain over the distribution of this additional surplus. Many different versions of the efficient institutions view have been proposed. Demesne (1967) argued that private property emerged from common property when land become sufficiently scarce and valuable that it was efficient to privative it. Other famous examples are Case’s (1936) earlier work and the more formal analysis by Grossman and Hart (1986), is more concerned with the governance of firms or markets than the political organization of societies, but his reasoning was guided by the same principle. North ND Thomas applied this reasoning to the nature of feudal institutions arguing that they were an efficient contract between serfs and Lords. While Williamson and North and Thomas do not specify how different parties will reach agreement to achieve efficient institutions, Becker (1960) and Whitman (1989) have investigated how democracies can reach such agreements via competition among pressure groups and political parties. In their view, an inefficient institution cannot be stable because a political entrepreneur has an incentive to propose a better institution and with the extra surplus generated will be able to make him more attractive to voters. We believe that, despite correctly emphasizing certain forces that are likely to be at work, the efficient institutions view does not provide the right framework for an analysis of the differences in institutions across countries. Both historical and econometric evidence suggests that the economic costs to societies of extractive institutions have been substantial. For example, our estimates in Guacamole, Johnson and Robinson (2000) suggest that changing Insignia’s or Sierra Lens’s institutions to those of Chile loud lead, in the long run, to a more than 7-fold increase in these countries’ income. It is difficult to argue that these institutions are therefore efficient for Nigeria, Sierra Leone or many other less-developed countries in Africa or Latin America. In the rest of the paper, we therefore focus on theories of institutions where societies may end up with institutions that are not optimal for aggregate growth or income. 2. The Incidental Institutions View The efficient institutions view is explicitly based on economic reasoning: the costs and benefits of different institutions are weighed against each other to determine which institutions should prevail. Efficiency arises because individuals calculate according to the social costs and benefits. Institutions are therefore choices. A different approach, popular among many political scientists and sociologists, is to downplay choices over institutions, but think of institutions as the byproduct of other social interactions. Here, we discuss three such theories. The first is the theory developed by Barrington Moore (1966) in his Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy, the second is Till’s (1990) and Herb’s (2001) theory of state formation, hill the third is Burner’s (1976) theory of the emergence of capitalism in England. Barrington Moore constructed his famous theory in an attempt to explain the different paths of political development in Britain, Germany and Russia. In particular, he investigated why Britain had evolved into a democracy, while Germany succumbed to fascism and Russia had a communist revolution. Moore stressed the extent of centralization of agriculture and resulting labor relations in the countryside, the strength of the ‘bourgeoisie,’ and the nature of class coalitions. In his theory, democracy emerged when there was a strong, politically assertive, immemorial middle class, and when agriculture had commercialese so that there were no feudal labor relations in the countryside. Fascism arose when the middle classes were weak and entered into a political coalition with landowners. Finally, a agriculture was not commercialese and rural labor was repressed through feudal relationships. In Moor’s theory, therefore, class coalitions and the way agriculture is organized determine which political institutions will emerge. Although Moore is not explicitly concerned with economic development, it is a direct implication of his analysis that societies may end up with institutions that do not maximize income or growth, for example, when they take the communist revolution path. While this theory is highly suggestive and clearly captures some of the potentially significant comparative facts there are clear problems with it. For instance, though Moor’s remark â€Å"no bourgeoisie, no democracy’ is famous, it is not clear from his analysis whether this is Just an empirical correlation or a causal theory. More generally, Moore does not clarify the connection between the formation of class coalitions and political outcomes. It is also not clear whether this theory is empirically successful. There are many examples of societies with relatively strong capitalist classes in Latin America, such as Argentina and Chile, which did not make the transition to a consolidated democracy until recently. In fact, in these societies capitalist classes appear to have supported the coups against democracy, suggesting that the role of the poor segments of the society (the working class) in inducing demagnification could be more important than that of the bourgeoisie (see Archduchesses, Stephens and Stephens, 1992, Guacamole and Robinson, Bibb). In a very different vein, Till (1990), building on the Hibernia tradition, proposed a theory of the formation of modern states. He argued extensively that modern state institutions such as fiscal systems, bureaucracy and parliaments are closely related to the need to raise resources to fight wars and thus arose in places with incessant inter-state competition. Herbs (2001) has recently provided a substantive extension of this line of research by applying it to the evolution of state institutions in Africa. He argues that the poor functioning of many modern African states is due to the fact that they caked the features–high population density and inter-state warfare— necessary for the emergence of the modern state. Although interesting and sweeping, this theory does not seem to accord well with a number of major facts. In Guacamole, Johnson and Robinson (2001 a), we documented that among the former colonies, it was the less densely settled places that became richer. In fact, North America, Australia and New Zealand were very sparsely settled in 1 500, especially when compared to West Africa around the same time. Despite this, they developed effective states and institutions of private property. This suggests that the issues stressed by Till and Herbs are not the major determinants of institutions, at least, in the context of the development of institutions among the former European colonies, including Africa. Burner’s (1976) theory of the rise of capitalism in Europe can also be thought as an example of the incidental institutions view. Although Brenner subscribes to the Marxist view of feudalism as an extractive institution (see next subsection), he interprets the rise of capitalism as the byproduct of the collapse of existing social institutions after the Black Death. Brenner argues that the decline of feudalism resulted from the successful class struggle by the relatively powerful British peasantry. Brenner, however, believes that the peasantry’s aim was not to build capitalism; capitalism just emerged like an incidental phoenix from the ashes of feudalism. Because, economic growth required this set of (extractive) institutions to be replaced by capitalist institutions. Therefore, Burner’s work also gives us an incidental- institutions theory for why some societies grow faster. None of these theories provide a framework that is at the same time consistent tit the first-order facts of comparative development and useful for generating predictions. Therefore, it is difficult to apply these theories to understand why some countries develop extractive institutions. Moreover, being trained as economists, we find it to be a shortcoming of this group of theories that institutions and political outcomes arise as byproducts, not as the direct consequences of actions taken by rational agents. The fact that the key outcomes are byproducts of other interactions, not choices, leads to the additional problem that these theories often do not generate tight empirical predictions (I. E. Comparative static). But an analysis of comparative development, above all else, requires comparative static results regarding when institutions of private property will emerge. In the remainder of the paper, we therefore focus on the rent-seeking and inappropriate institutions views to build a simple framework for comparative development. 3. The Rent-seeking View According to this view, institutions are not always chosen by the whole society (and not for the benefit of the whole society), but by the groups that control political power at the time (perhaps as a result of conflict with other groups demanding more rights). These groups will choose the institutions that maximize their own rents, and the institutions that result may not coincide with those that maximize total surplus. For example, institutions that enforce property rights by restricting state predation will not be in the interest of a ruler who wants to appropriate assets in the future. By establishing property rights, this ruler would be reducing his own future rents, so may well prefer extractive institutions to institutions of private property. Therefore, equilibrium institutions will not be those that maximize the size of the overall pie, but the slice of the pie taken by the powerful groups. Why doesn’t a Cease theorem type reasoning apply? Although a large literature, especially in industrial organization, has emphasized how informational problems may limit the empirical applications of the Cease theorem, we believe that the main reason for the non-applicability of the Cease theorem in politics is commitment problems (see Guacamole, 2001, for a more detailed discussion of this issue). If a ruler has political power concentrated in his hands, he cannot commit not to expropriate assets or revenues in the future. Effective property rights require that he credibly relinquishes political power to some extent. But according to the Occasion bargain, he has to be compensated for what he could have received using this power. Herein lies the problem. When he relinquishes his power, then he has no guarantees that he will receive the promised payments in the future. Therefore, by their very nature, institutions that regulate political and social power create commitment problems, and prevent Occasion bargains that are necessary to reach efficient outcomes. As an application, consider the decision of a powerful rich elite to mount a coup in a populist redistributive regime, such as that of Salvador Allendale in Chile in 1973. By undertaking a coup, the rich will ensure that economically. Why wouldn’t the elite enter into a Occasion bargain with Allendale who would wish to place future restrictions on taxes so as to remove the threat of the coup? The problem, as pointed out and analyzed in Guacamole and Robinson (2001 a), is that the democracy cannot promise not to increase taxes again once the threat of the coup disappears. By its very nature, taxes are set by the politically powerful agents, determined by the institutions at that time. Promises made at the past may be worthless when they are not backed by political power. The first systematic development of this point of view is the economics literature is North (1981), who argued in the chapter on â€Å"A Neoclassical Theory of the State† that agents who controlled the state should be modeled as self-interested. He then argued that the set of property rights which they would choose for society would be those that maximized their payoff and because of transactions costs’ these would not necessarily be the set which maximized social welfare. Though his analysis does not clarify what he meant by transactions costs, problems of commitment might be one mispronunciation for this. The notion that elites may opt for extractive institutions to increase their incomes is of course also present in much of the Marxist and dependency theory literature. For example, Dobb (1948), Brenner (1976) and Hilton (1981) saw feudalism, contrary to North and Thomas (1976)g’s model, as a set of institutions designed to extract rents from the peasants at the expense of social welfare. Dependency theorists such as Wholesalers (1974-1982), Rodney (1972), Frank (1978) and Cards and Falsetto (1979) argued that the international trading system was designed to extract rents from developing countries to the benefit of developed Mounties. Perhaps, the earliest, and often ignored, contribution to this line of reasoning is in the book by Beard (1913). Anticipating many of the insights of rational choice political science literature, Beard argued that the U. S. Constitution was an institution designed to benefit those who wrote it (such as James Madison) at the expense of the rest of society. Another important example of inefficient institutions designed to extract rents from the society is the Spanish colonial system (Stein and Stein, 1970, Coauthors, 1978, Lockhart and Schwartz, 1983). Finally, the notion that leaver is an inefficient institution designed to extract rents from slaves is also widespread (for example, Williams, 1944, Geneses, 1963, Beckoned, 1972). More recent, and for our purposes more relevant, contributions in this tradition have sought to explain comparative development. For example, in the context of Africa, Bates (1981) formulated an influential and important theory based on rent-seeking by elites. Bates argued that when elites were not invested in the productive sectors of the economy, mostly agriculture in the context of Africa, and had to rely on urban interests to remain in power, they were likely to distort prices, for example by using marketing boards to transfer resources from the rural areas to the cities. The implications of this for political stability and economic growth were disastrous. Anger and Soulful (1997, 2000) have used related ideas to analyze long-term development in the Americas. They argued that the different paths of development observed in North and Latin America in the last 300 years were due to institutional differences. In North America institutions promoted development, in Latin America they did not. Why did Latin America develop a set of institutions that impeded Caribbean, the factor endowments were suitable for growing crops such as sugarcane. Such crops had large technical scale economies and could be cultivated by slaves, factors that led to large concentrations of landownership and repressive institutions designed to control labor. Therefore, despite their costs for economic development, extractive institutions were adopted by elites who benefited from the system. On the other hand, in North America, factor endowments were suitable for growing crops with limited scale economies such as wheat, and this led to an egalitarian distribution of land, income and political power. Their theory therefore emphasizes the impact of factor endowments and technology on inequality and institutions building, and ultimately economic development. In Guacamole, Johnson and Robinson (2000, 2001 a), we developed a complementary theory, emphasizing how European colonialists set up institutions of private property in areas where they settled in large numbers, since these institutions were directly affecting their own investments and well-being. This led us to emphasize how European settlements ere often conducive to the development of institutions of private property in the colonies. In contrast, European colonists introduced or took over existing extractive institutions in other colonies. They were more likely to do so when they did not settle, for example due to an adverse disease environment, and when extractive institutions were more profitable, for example, as in Central America where the densely settled large population could be forced to work for low wages in plantations or mines. These extractive institutions did not benefit the society as a whole, but they were inefficacy for the Europeans, who held the political power and were the extractors. We believe that the rent-seeking view provides the best framework for thinking about why certain countries ended up with extractive institutions, and provides a number of useful comparative static, which will be discussed in Section Ill. 4. The Inappropriate Institutions View According to this view, institutions may be efficient when they are introduced, but they are also costly to change (see below on this). Therefore, institutions that are efficient for a set of circumstances may no longer be efficient once the environment hinges. Nevertheless, it may be difficult or too costly to change these institutions at this point. The idea here goes back to Crosschecking (1963). In the context of financial institutions, Crosschecking argued that certain arrangements, such as bank finance, might be more appropriate for backward countries trying to catch up. This is widely thought to be a good explanation for why banks are more prevalent in Germany, even today when Germany is no longer a backward country. So perhaps, social arrangements that were introduced at some point as an optimal response to the resistances may continue to prevail, even after they cease to be the optimal response. In the context of financial institutions, this point is developed in Guacamole, Action and Kilobit (2001). Another economic example is the QWERTY typewriter keyboard. David (1986) argued that this was appropriate at the time because it slowed down the speed of typing, when the rudimentary nature of typewriters meant that rapid typing would make them Jam. However, despite the fact that the QWERTY arrangement was inefficient once the basic technology improved soon after, it has similar thesis. Perhaps, extractive institutions were appropriate for certain resistances, but they continue to apply even after they cease to be the efficient institutional arrangement. Related ideas have been suggested in the literature. For example, Wittingly (1957) argued that centralized despotism, which may not have been very costly in terms of economic outcomes in China before the 1 5th century and arose as the result of providing desirable public goods such as irrigation, persisted almost to the present, creating a substantial economic and social burden. Given how long institutions persist (see Section ‘V) the view that institutions of a different age ay continue to apply even when they become costly to economic success is highly plausible. Nevertheless, in the context of comparative development, it appears more useful to combine the inappropriate institutions view with the rent-seeking view, explicitly allowing for political elites to introduce inefficient institutions. In fact, in Guacamole, Johnson and Robinson (2001 a), we suggested a hypothesis combining the rent-seeking and inappropriate institutions views, and provided evidence in favor of this hypothesis. We argued and empirically demonstrated that extractive institutions, tit power concentrated in the hand of a small elite, were much less costly during the age of agriculture than during the age of industry. When agriculture is the main source of income, and the political elite owns the land, this elite will have, to a first approximation, adequate incentives to increase the productivity of the land. In contrast, in the age of industry, many different agents, not previously part of the ruling elite, need to undertake investments and be involved in productive activities. Without effective property rights, these agents are unlikely to invest, so extractive institutions become much more costly once industrialization opportunities arrive on the scene. This explains why the sugar colonies of Barbados, Haiti and Jamaica were amongst the richest places in the world in 1700 but rapidly fell behind when industrial technologies became available. Overall, we therefore conclude that to understand the significant differences in how countries are organized, we need to move away from the pure efficiency view. Moreover, existing series of institutional differences based on the incidental institutions view cannot provide a satisfactory tarring point, and make less sharp empirical predictions, since institutions are simply byproducts of other social actions. Instead, we believe that conflict over the distribution of rents matters, and the rent seeking view provides the best starting place for an analysis of institutional differences across countries. In addition, there may be an important element of the inappropriate institutions view, so that institutions that were introduced at a certain point in time may become less appropriate and more â€Å"harmful† in the future, but may still remain in place. Ill. Institutional Origins The rent-seeking and inappropriate institutions views do not immediately generate a theory of comparative institutions. They simply point out that inefficient institutions may be chosen by political elites, and the institutions in place may become more costly for growth over time. As discussed above, by the institutions hypothesis, we mean that differences in the development experiences of countries can be explained by differences in their institutions. To make this hypothesis operational, we need to choose institutions of private property. In other words, we need to develop comparative static on institution building. This is not an easy task. In fact, some of the pioneering theories of institutions, such as North (1981), give us few clues about when we should expect extractive institutions to prevail. Here, we highlight a few potential determinants of what type of institutions politically powerful groups will choose: 1. Economic Interests: A first determinant of whether institutions of private property will emerge is whether they will lead to outcomes that are in interests of the politically powerful agents. For example, institutions that restrict state predation will not be in the interest of a ruler ho wants to appropriate assets in the future. Yet this strategy may be in the interest of a ruler who recognizes that only such guarantees will encourage citizens to undertake substantial investments or lend him money, or will protect his own rents. They will also be in the interest of the major groups that can undertake investment in production activities in the future. Anger and Solidify explanation for why extractive institutions emerged in the Caribbean but not in North America falls within this category. In the Caribbean, the factor endowments made extractive institutions more profitable for the elite. In particular, sugar production, which could exploit economies of scale and profitably employ slave labor, was conducive to a society where a small elite would control both political and economic power. Our argument in Guacamole, Johnson and Robinson (2000) for why European settlement in the colonies led to institutions of private property is also based on the same reasoning. When a large number of Europeans settled in an area, they preferred institutions enforcing property rights, since these property rights would enable them to undertake investments. Our argument in Guacamole Johnson and Robinson (2001 a) is also related. There, we suggested that high population density and relative prosperity (I. E. , GAP per capita) of the colonized territory encouraged European colonialists to set up extractive institutions. The reasoning is that high population density implied a large labor force that Europeans could force to work for low wages, and both high population density and the relative prosperity of the population provided Europeans with a greater resource base for extraction or taxation. Economic interests† therefore suggest that we should expect extractive institutions to develop when the powerful agents have little to gain from enforcing property sights because they have few investment opportunities themselves and are not linked to other productive agents in the society, and when there are resources, such as crops or abundant labor, that can be effectively exploited by extractive 2. Political Losers: Another important factor is whether institutional development will destabilize the system, making it less likely that elites will remain in power after reforms. An institutional setup encouraging investment and adoption of new technologies may be blocked by elites when they fear that this process of growth and social change will How to cite Macroeconomics – institutions by Acemoglu, Papers

Business Capstone Project Organic Food Market

Question: Describe about the Business Capstone Project of Organic Food Market . Answer: What factors influence the purchase of organic foods ways Rosebery residents in Sydney NSW? Introduction: The organic food market in Sydney is small niche markets. The organic products that are part of the domestic market are only 0.2 percent of total sales of food (Paul and Rana 2012). This percentage is related to less than 2 percent of all the agricultural land that is farmed organically in Sydney (Wikstrm et al. 2014). However, the sales from the organic food in the market of Sydney are only about 120 million dollars and this comes from exports from the global markets in organic food (Denver and Jensen 2014). Organic Production is a system that helps in the contribution of healthy people and soil (Henryks et al. 2015). It does not use chemicals; in fact, it promotes improved biological activity and encourages sustainability (Williams et al. 2015). Despite the fact that organic production is associated with acceptable characteristics very little research and development is carried out or accepted by the organic industry. The reason behind this is that there is restricted government funding for the research available in the organic industry and lack of communication for the support and growth of organic farming (Gracia and Magistris 2013). Opportunities: The small size of the market in Sydney makes it vulnerable to seasonal cycles and business. Since the number of producers is less, the industry is not able to maintain the supply of organic products and the quality is not maintained at the same time (Paul and Rana 2012.). Thus, there is a requirement that the organic market maintains stability so that the consumers are able to fulfil their needs related to organic products. In the coming years, the organic market shall increase as the number of consumers for the organic products shall increase (Liu et al. 2013). There is a likelihood that the, organic industry shall expand and increase in the coming years and that there was an increased awareness of organic food all over the world and not just Sydney NSW. Problems: In Sydney, the consumers have become frustrated due to lack of coordination from changes in the supply of products, co ordination from the producers and price disadvantages and they do not appreciate the benefits of foods that are produced organically (Solomon 2014). Thus, it was noted during the research that consumers in Sydney have poor understanding of the organic food that is available. Additionally, at the time of conducting the research it was seen that the consumers in Sydney do not have sufficient knowledge about the consumer behaviour that shall induce them in buying organic food (Gracia and Magistris 2013). Research Questions: How do consumers in Sydney identify and assess organic products? What the factors that influence the purchase decision of consumers in Sydney to buy products that are organic in nature? What is the purchase decision structure adopted by the consumers in Sydney when buying the organic products in Australia? Research Methodologies: This part of chapter 1 shall include the method of research that was used during the research. This section includes the qualitative and quantitative research method and it justifies the choice of method that was used to investigate on the given topic. The decision to adopt a quantitative or qualitative research method depends much on the contribution of solving the problem in the research. In the section of problems, the research problems were outlined and the research questions were formed based on the research problems. Following the step of formation of research question was the issue of adopting the accurate method of research, that is qualitative or quantitative research methods. It was therefore; decided that for this research a qualitative approach should be adopted so that a proper type of investigation is completed. The qualitative method enables the subjective standpoint to be captured successfully. The qualitative research method focuses on understanding and interpretation of the relevant theories and themes in practice whereas quantitative research focuses more on the statistical analysis of the problem depending on the hypothesis that is set by the researcher at the beginning of the research (Solomon 2014). In qualitative research methodology the theory can be casual or non casual and is often inductive. This is however relevant to the research that is been undertaken as it involves interpretation and understanding of the data that shall be available after conducting a primary and secondary research. Gantt chart Main activities Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 5 Week 6 7 Week 8 Selection of dissertation topic v Composition of literature review v Research methodology v Collection of primary data v Collection of secondary data v Results and findings v Analysis and interpretation of data v Conclusion and recommendation v Final submission v Table 1: Gantt chart (Source: Created by Author) Research Process: There are two types of variable based on which the research process is conducted, those are: Dependent Variable Independent Variable Dependent variable is the one that is of the interest to the researcher, whereas, independent variable is the one that affects the dependent variable. The researcher has the authority of manipulating the independent variable and observes the changes created in the dependent variable. A research should be conducted on both the dependent variable as well the independent variable. For this research, the availability of the organic food product shall be considered as independent variable whereas the dependent variable shall be the behaviour of the consumers (Liu et al. 2013). Data Collection and Analysis: For this research, the researcher shall rely on both primary as well as secondary data. The secondary data includes articles, journals and books whereas the primary data includes answers, responses of surveys conducted on a selected organisation or a group of people. For this research, a primary research shall be conducted on the people who stay at Rosebery residents in Sydney NSW for the factors that affect their purchase of organic food. The researcher shall collect responses from 50 respondents who are staying at the Rosebery Residents. As already mentioned, that for this research the researcher will conduct a qualitative research. Based on the responses that the researcher will obtain from the primary research a qualitative analysis will be conducted. Expected Outcome: The research will be able to draw the conclusion regarding the factors that influence the purchase of organic foods ways Rosebery residents in Sydney NSW. The research will produce an effective analysis on the factors that affect the purchase power of consumers in Rosebery residents. The research shall produce an effective discussion on the consumer behaviour theory, internal factor influencing the consumer, the motivation of the consumers that are conscious by nature and the cultural factors influencing the consumer. Moreover, the research shall also produce effective outcome of the social factor that influence the consumer, personal factors of the people and psychological factors affecting consumer behaviour (Denver and Jensen 2014). References: Denver, S. and Jensen, J.D., 2014. Consumer preferences for organically and locally produced apples.Food Quality and Preference,31, pp.129-134. Gracia, A. and de Magistris, T., 2013. Organic food product purchase behaviour: a pilot study for urban consumers in the South of Italy.Spanish Journal of Agricultural Research,5(4), pp.439-451. Henryks, J., Pearson, D., Anisimova, T. and Sultan, P., 2015. Are organic food labels inadequate? Evidence from consumers in Australia.Business and Management Studies,1(2), pp.45-54. Liu, R., Pieniak, Z. and Verbeke, W., 2013. Consumers' attitudes and behaviour towards safe food in China: A review.Food Control,33(1), pp.93-104. Paul, J. and Rana, J., 2012. Consumer behavior and purchase intention for organic food.Journal of consumer Marketing,29(6), pp.412-422. Paul, J. and Rana, J., 2012. Consumer behavior and purchase intention for organic food.Journal of consumer Marketing,29(6), pp.412-422. Solomon, M.R., 2014.Consumer behavior: Buying, having, and being. Engelwood Cliffs, NJ: prentice Hall. Wikstrm, F., Williams, H., Verghese, K. and Clune, S., 2013. The influence of packaging attributes on consumer behaviour in food-packaging LCA studies ea neglected topic.Journal of Cleaner Production,30, p.1e9. Wikstrm, F., Williams, H., Verghese, K. and Clune, S., 2014. The influence of packaging attributes on consumer behaviour in food-packaging life cycle assessment studies-a neglected topic.Journal of Cleaner Production,73, pp.100-108. Williams, L.T., Germov, J., Fuller, S. and Freij, M., 2015. A taste of ethical consumption at a slow food festival.Appetite,91, pp.321-328.

The Way of Geisha Dance

The way of Geisha dance demonstrates to us the importance of maiko in the traditional Japanese culture. The difficult times that the character goes through serve to prepare her for the tedious maiko training. Maiko entertains people from all cadres.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Way of Geisha Dance specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This, at the same time brings to us the rich Japanese culture. The whole process through the dance displays the thorough training the Maiko usually go through. Geisha lessons prepare women to become independent with little dependence on men. Their sanctity when training shows how the trainers value developing maiko women who respect themselves. The main character loses parents and a sister. The death of parents and the punishment do not serve any good to the character. The dance reveals the element of jealousy among women as they compete for the attention of men. The concept behin d may not be men as depicted because maiko grow up women who never get married but it seems the push is economic gain. An appreciation by men comes in terms of monetary rewards. The dance is crucial to the lives of many Japanese women. It has created a constant source of income to these women. Maiko is an avenue for trainers to make income. The training is formal and schools exist. The tutors who are specially trained must be paid. The geisha houses, recruitment, and training are income-generating stages. The structure of the training itself creates a continuum that is a source of income to people at every level. From art training, learning in teahouses through to the teachings on the navigation of social networking people earn income. The trainers, entrepreneurs who run geisha houses, hairdressers and stylists all get income. The maiko girls are very successful businesspeople.Advertising Looking for essay on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper wi th 15% OFF Learn More The dance attracts tourists in Japan (Masuda 77). The visitors who are always very enthusiastic about the dance, come to purchase the traditional costumes called kimono along with the geisha makeup. Geisha has been expanded to cover modeling and taking international tours. Through this, the Japanese culture that is considered the impeccable form of art is spread across the world. Geisha has succeeded in giving women economic and financial independence. The comparison between Geisha and Japanese dance draws many differences. Whereas the Japanese dance has two types i.e. Odori and Mai, geisha is one dance that has two divisions that are Tchikata and Jikata. Geisha is a dance dominated by women, and the Japanese dance is male oriented. Geisha is performed in public places that include social functions while the Japanese dance is performed in rooms. Ballet is a western traditional dance. It has its own vocabulary that compares to the special regalia won by geisha dancers. There are several types of the ballet depending on the geographical origin including the French ballet, Russian ballet, and Italian ballet. This is different from geisha that only has one origin. Other similarities include the training that is intensive and takes time to sharpen skills that cover a range of issues such as dancing, acting, and other artistic displays. The two dances also prominently feature women who sing and play musical instruments. Both dances stem from the cultures of respective communities. We can confidently conclude that as much as the dances originated from countries that are far apart, they have more similarities than differences and most of them promote their respective cultures.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Way of Geisha Dance specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Works Cited Masuda, Sayo. Autobiography of a Geisha. New York: Columbia University Press, 2003. Print. This essay on The Way of Geisha Dance was written and submitted by user Landon Bowers to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

buy custom Businesses in Vermont State essay

buy custom Businesses in Vermont State essay VermontState provides a favorable environment for operating businesses because of a typical tax and legal structure. Since there is no county government in this state, cities and towns assume the administrative responsibilities, such as property tax collection and assessment. An example of a business activity in Vermont includes the selling of Teddy Bear and Ice Creams. Individuals sign valid contracts in order to supply Teddy Bear and Ice Creams to various institutions. However, some instances of evils, such as money laundering and felony, though not common, affect various businesses in Vermont. Some managers often engage in evil activities such as money laundering, which hinder the development of an organization or company due to insufficient money. Money laundering involves concealing the source of the money that an individual has obtained through illegal means. Such individuals lack business ethics, which are the moral values and principles that people apply to social behavior in business contexts. Some managers lack even the moral minimum, which is the minimum extent of ethical behavior that a manager should possess in an organization. Organizations may report such managers to the criminal justice in order to get the money back. However, because of privilege, judges do not question the defense that the accused managers provide (Miller Jentz, 2011). Such managers consider the accusations as a slander. Many businesspersons in Vermont experience felony either at their businesses stalls or far from their business centers. When the businesspersons undergo assault, they become fearful and surrender their valuable properties to the attackers. Felony may include battery, which involves a serious physical harm to a businessperson (Miller Jentz, 2011). It is necessary for Criminal Justice System to catch the felony suspects red handed and punish them thoroughly in order to avoid subsequent crimes. Some felony suspects claim that the accusations are mere defamation, which is an actionable offence, when there is no evidence against their actions. Other felony suspects may confess under duress when the victims threaten them. In most cases, the promisor attacks the promisee. In this case, the promisor is the client who has taken goods on credit and promises to pay back later, and the promisee is the businessperson. Buy custom Businesses in Vermont State essay

Explain Marx's 'general law of capitalist accumulation' and discuss Essay

Explain Marx's 'general law of capitalist accumulation' and discuss its contemporary relevance - Essay Example Marx’s earliest writing reflected a critique of the relationship between civil society and the state and progressively builds up to his dire prediction that capitalism would result in the rise of proletariat/working class and the ultimate reversal of fortunes as expressed in The General Law (Gurley, 1980). Ultimately, Marx’s The General Law predicts that capitalism would grow and expand to a point of self-destruction (Marx & Engels, 2007). The 2008 global financial crisis can therefore be seen as an example of the contemporary relevance of The General Law’s contention that capitalism would eventually dig its own grave by overproduction, greed, exploitation and alienation. This paper examines The General Law and its contemporary relevance. In order to put The General Law in its proper perspective, this paper will first identify and examine Marx’s political ideas culminating in The General Law and identify its contemporary relevance throughout. ... 187). For Marx, as reflected in The General Law and earlier writings, the forces of production, historical materialism and social relations would create conflicts which would lead to destruction rather than reconciliation (Elliot, 1978-78, p. 148). The 25 year old Karl Marx’s response to Hegel’s Der Philosphie des Rechts (Philosophy of Right) provides some insight into how Marx would eventually come to view the destructive forces of capitalism in The General Law. Marx honed in on Hegel’s â€Å"political science† (Jackson, 1990, p. 799). In this regard, Hegel defended the state and its constitutional structures claiming that this amalgamation of power was necessary for order in civil society (Depew, 1992, Chapter 2). Marx was quick to point out that the constitution should be nothing more than a reflection of man’s consciousness and this could only be accomplished if man was â€Å"the principle of the constitution† (Marx, 1977, p. 20). Marx (1 977) also sets the stage for the articulation of his critique of capitalism in The General Law and in general. Marx (1977) criticized Hegel’s reference to the state is far too abstract and that Hegel seems to forget that the state’s activities are carried out by man and reflects man’s own social qualities. According to Easton (1981), Marx was setting up his later argument that the state was nothing more than an instrument of control by the ruling classes. This argument would balloon into the neo-Marxist contention that the state was commandeered by those with â€Å"economic leverage† (Nordinger, Lowi, & Fabbrini, 1988, p. 875). The significance of economic gain in the ordering of society is a major theme in The General Law and the idea of economic

Diamond Wipes International Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Diamond Wipes International - Essay Example The company has an annual revenue of around fifteen million dollars and employs over 100 people now. Yen had no former experience as a business owner or as a manager but she managed to pursue her enterprise to come to the top. Diamond Wipes International was featured in Fortune Small Business as well as other prestigious business avenues. The journey has not always been smooth for Eve Yen given she had little management and business experience when she started out (Longnecker, Petty and Palich). This case study will look into various choices made by Eve Yen in context of her company’s management and business choices to decipher their success. Recommendations will be provided for areas where improvements could be done. What leadership style did Eve Yen use with her employees? Describe her actions that support your choice. Eve Yen can be seen largely as a democratic and an affiliative leader in most of her actions. Eve’s respect for other people’s opinions especial ly her employees opinions before making large decisions reflects that she acts as a democratic leader. In addition, Eve’s close relationship to her employees and her sensitivity towards her employees shows that she is an affiliative leader (Longnecker, Petty and Palich). What aspects of Eve’s leadership approach directly or indirectly affected the problems that developed? Clearly explain the connections between Eve’s behaviors and the resulting problems. A business leader must wear many hats at the same time in terms of being a leader. Among other leadership styles, the leader must be authoritative where required. This does not mean that the leader must be authoritative at all times but it does indicate that the leader must act authoritatively where he feels it is required. The lack of management experience meant that Eve Yen acted too personally with her employees in terms of leadership style. This meant that employees saw her as a weak character whose instruct ions and set objectives could be ignored (Lerner). In addition, Eve’s lack of character judgment meant that she hired the wrong people for the right positions. As a consequence of this bad decision making, the company lost money as the newly hired people failed to perform their duties as per the settled objectives and provided instructions. Another major shortcoming on the part of Eve Yen as a leader was her lack of consideration for short term and long term objectives. A good leader must have the ability to stand above everyone else and see beyond the horizon. Only this can allow a business leader to guide his team in the right direction. However, Even Yen failed to look beyond everyone else and faced numerous challenges as her organization was expanding. Being a leader, Eve Yen should have speculated what was required to expand especially for a rapidly expanding company like Diamond Wipes International. Explain why entrepreneurs in general have difficulty being effective or ganizational managers. How does Eve Yen reflect these characteristics? As mentioned before, an entrepreneur must wear many different hats at the same time in order to be an effective leader. Most entrepreneurs wear one leadership style that suits them and then try to make employees attune themselves to that leadership style. However, individuals working for an organization differ in their thinking and approach to work. The business leader must be ready to deal with differentiated individuals by being a wholesome leader for all employees. In order to deal with this dilemma, the business leader has to be prepared to work as a dynamic leader who keeps shifting his leadership style as the situation requires of him. Ineffective organiza

Ethics, Political Philosophy and IR Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Ethics, Political Philosophy and IR - Essay Example International law tries wherever possible to take a non-biased stance, not favouring one region or another during conflict. However, this is difficult where two regions are in conflict with one another and have different views and desires. This type of problem was the case for both Kosovo and Palestine. Kosovo was a territory of Serbia although it declared its independence in 2008 and was subsequently accepted by the international community, while Palestine remains a territory of Israel. This has become a difficult international relations issue, and Palestine continues to be a territory of Israel, which has been the source of much violence instigated by both sides. The difference in approaches by the international players has occurred because of the warfare that is occurring between Israel and Palestine, and the terrorism component of the Palestinian government. This makes it difficult for international organisations and external states to support Palestine. An additional important a spect is the fact that Kosovo deliberately manipulated their position in order to gain international sympathy and assistance. Background Kosovo is located in southeast Europe with a land area of 10,887 square kilometres and a population of approximately 1.8 million people. It gained its independence from Serbia in February of 2008 and is now recognised as an independent state. Although the US and the EU have recognised the independence of Kosovo, some states, including Serbia, contest this and do not feel that the state should be considered as independent . The decision to grant Kosovo independence in the international arena was unusual, as conflict has been occurring between Kosovo and Serbia. Nevertheless, the move of Kosovo was considered to be legal under international law and the state consequently became independent . However, the same is not true of the Palestinian territories. The Palestine territories are not recognised as an independent state, instead they are considered t o be part of Israel. The conflict between Israel and Palestine has been ongoing, with external states and international agencies attempting to facilitate resolution. External states hoped that eventually Palestine could be recognised as an independent, democratic state, however, this has not come to pass. In 1993, Israel agreed to allow a period of self-rule for Palestinian territories. However, they maintain military, maritime and airspace control of the region, as well as restricting access. The Palestinian territories are areas of continued violence and debate. The territories consist of two main regions, the larger West Bank and the smaller Gaza Strip. The regions are controlled separately. Mahmud Abbas, the elected Palestinian president in 2005 governs the West Bank, while members of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) control the Gaza strip. As Palestine seeks to gain its independence to be recognised internationally, violence continues to rage between the two sides . Isra el’s approach to Palestine has resulted in occupation for close to 30 years, and economic initiatives that have damaged Palestine while strengthening Israel . Conflict continues to grow between Palestine and Israel and the situation is now that of a civil

OSIM International Ltd Analysis

OSIM International Ltd Analysis INTRODUCTION OSIM is a global leader in branded healthy lifestyle products such as massage chair, shoulder and neck massagers, foot massager and slim belt. The company is well-known in Malaysia. OSIM is a brand management and niche marketing company with a focus on the consumer. Today, OSIM Company operates a wide point-of-sales network with outlets is over 371 cities over 33 countries in Asia, Australia, Africa, the Middle East, United Kingdom and North America.â€Å"Inspiring Life† is the motto of the OSIM Company. OSIM (M) Sdn Bhd is engaged in marketing, distributing and franchising of healthy lifestyle products. The Company operates in two segments that are retail and distribution. The retail segment is engaged in outlets and counters operated by it in selected shopping centers and departmental stores where the products are sold directly to end user customers. The distribution segment is engaged in products distributed by the Company and franchisees in overseas markets. Its subsidiaries include OSIM International Trading (Shanghai) Co., Ltd, OSIM (M) Sdn Bhd, OSIM (HK) Company Limited, OSIM (Taiwan) Co., Ltd, Nutrition Focus (USA) Inc, Global Active Limited (GAL), OSIM (China) Co., Ltd, Nutri Active Pte Ltd, Victoria House Pte Ltd and VHE China Limited. OSIM (M) Sdn Bhd also the most trusted brand. They receive a title as International Safety Standards because harmony to worldwide health and safety regulations. The entire product designed with safety and appropriate to health and safety regulations. Furthermore, the company also good in quality performance because all their product has been approved from clinic research, medical certifications and scientific studies. Their health-care product also checked and studies scientifically by expertise and they awarded certification and recognition from independents bodies. In terms of innovation and technology, OSIM company are worldwide technology patents and have a design right and trademark rights. OSIM is always in the frontline of innovation and the development of the most exhaustive range of products to bring the good health benefit to customer. OSIM also receive Award-Winning Design. OSIM brand and product design awards garnered from Japan, Europe and Asia. OSIM product was awarded the Largest Health Check and Care Equipment Retail Chain by the Malaysian Book of Records and Asia Pacific Honesty Enterprise Keris Award 2002. OSIM has been recently awarded ASIA No 1 Brand in healthy lifestyle equipment by a prestigious International Survey, it is for international market research company to determine Asian most preferred brand of health-care products. Besides, OSIM has also been rated by AC Nielsen survey in 2005 as the Number One brand in seven attributes (High Quality Products, Advance Technology, Premium Brand, Innovative Design Features, Trustworthy Brand, Good Customer Service and Good Store Ambience). BACKGROUND AND HISTORY The origins of OSIM International Ltd business began in November 1980 when Dr Ron Sim Chye Hock commenced his sole proprietor business of retailing an array of household goods such as knives, knife-sharpeners and mobile drying rods under R. Sim Trading Co and it was originally established in Singapore. OSIM were subsequently incorporated in 1983 under the name ‘‘R.Sim Trading Co. Pte Ltd to take over the sole proprietorship. Operating from OSIM International Ltd company first premises is at a shop Peoples Park, OSIM were only selling 2 health-care related products, namely, hand-held massagers and foot reflexology rollers. By 1987, OSIM had created a distribution network of 10 outlets in Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan marketing household goods and health-care related products. Dr Ron Sim Chye Hock is a founder of OSIM then felt that there was market potential for specialty home health care products in an increasingly affluent Asia. Early 1987, OSIM saw that the home health care products sector was dominated by a disparate group of equipment manufacturers with little or no emphasis on marketing and as a result there was a lack of brand consciousness among consumers. Hence, in 1989 their decided to bring together different home health-care products from different equipment manufacturers and market their product using specialty branding. For this purpose, OSIM created the brand ‘‘Health Check Care to build and exploit a niche market in home health-care products. OSIM business start grew rapidly and by 1994 we had approximately 60 point-of-sales outlets in Asia. In business strategy, they believe that marketing and strengthening of their brand equity is of vital importance. As ‘‘Health Check Care was a generic name and was difficult to be registered as a trademark in many countries, in 1996 the company officially launched ‘‘OSIM brand name which had been using since the early 1990s. ‘‘OSIM is a combination of the founders surname and the letter ‘‘O which symbolizes for vision to become a globally recognized brand. As at 31 May 2000, the company have registered the name ‘‘OSIM as a trademark in 26 countries spanning Asia (including Australia), Europe, North and South America, South Africa and Israel. There are also made trademark applications for ‘‘OSIM in 10 other countries. A major tenet of OSIM marketing strategy is to have an extensive point-of-sales network and geographical coverage in their markets. Presently, they have point-of-sales outlets in Singapore located in all major departmental stores and suburban shopping malls. The company began developing their overseas distribution network in 1986 when they ventured into Hong Kong and in the following year, into Taiwan. To ride on the rapid development of the Asian economies in the early 1990s, OSIM expanded their operations to Thailand in 1990, Malaysia in 1992, Indonesia and Beijing in 1993, and Shanghai in 1994 by opening point-of-sales outlets in these countries either directly or through their franchisees and distributors. Furthermore, OSIM expanded their markets to the United States in 1997 and Dubai in 1999 through the appointment of franchisees/licensees to market and sell their products in these countries. At present, OSIM have 10 franchisees/licensees, 3 subsidiaries, 6 are affiliated compan ies controlled by their Controlling Shareholders and the remaining 1 is an unrelated company. The company point-of-sales outlets in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia are operated by Company and subsidiaries. The rest of their point-of-sales outlets are franchised outlets with the exception of outlets in the PRC for which we have trademark and licensing agreements with the owners. This is OSIM business strategy that future expansion of their point-of-sales network will be substantially undertaken by franchising. OSIM company begun to gradually move away from being a retailer to being a franchisor and, in furtherance of this strategy, they have also entered into franchise agreements with their subsidiaries, OSIM (HK), OSIM (Taiwan) and OSIM (Msia). Further, franchising help them to expand and multiply their point-of-sales outlets to more geographical markets at a faster pace with significantly less capital exposure. Franchising is also less taxing on their managements time than operating self-owned outlets in penetrating new markets. To diversify their sources of revenue, in 1998 OSIM ventured into wholesale distribution of health-check and health-care products such as blood pressure monitors, thermometers and pulse massagers, in Singapore to hospitals like Tan Tock Seng Hospital and Kandang Kerbau Womens and Childrens Hospital, pharmacies like the Apex Pharmacy and the Guardian Pharmacy chains, and Chinese medical halls. While wholesale distribution is currently only carried out in Singapore which contributes between 1 and 2 per cent. to their turnover in Singapore, and then the company intend to develop this business and carry out wholesale distribution in all their principal markets eventually. As part of its business strategy to extend the control over of their business process and to exercise greater involvement and participation in the source of supply for their products, in 1995 the company entered into a joint venture with Daito Electric Machine Industry Company Limited (‘‘Daito), a Japanese supplier  to OSIM Group, to take up a 30 per cent interest in Daito-OSIM (Suzhou) with Daito taking up the remaining 70 per cent.. Presently, Daito-OSIM (Suzhou) has a plant in the Singapore-Suzhou Industrial Park in Jiangsu, PRC that manufactures products like hand-held massagers and foot reflexology rollers mainly for re-export and distribution to the markets in Japan and USA. Under the joint venture agreement, Daito has the right to appoint 3 directors of Daito-OSIM (Suzhou) while OSIM only have the right to appoint 2 directors as they are the minority shareholder. However, Daito-OSIM (Suzhou) shall not change the scope of its business activities from that as descr ibed in the foregoing, without the consent of Daito and OSIM. Any material financial commitment which is above US$100,000 or material contract to be entered by Daito-OSIM (Suzhou) also requires the consent of Daito and OSIM. The joint venture agreement is of unlimited duration but may be terminated with the consent of Daito and OSIM. Neither Daito nor OSIM can transfer an interest in the shares in Daito-OSIM (Suzhou) without first making an offer to sell the interest to the other shareholder. On 28 March 2000, the founder Dr Ron Sim Chye Hock was conferred an honorary doctorate in business administration by the Wisconsin International University in recognition of his prominent achievements in business. In July 2000, pursuant to the Subscription Agreement, Investor, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Temasek Holdings (Private) Limited, subscribed for 11,600,000 new Shares, representing approximately 5 per cent. of the post-Investor Subscription and post-Invitation enlarged share capital of the Company, at the price of $0.47 per Share, representing a discount of approximately 10 per cent. to the Offer Price. The company believes that the investment by Investor is a milestone in their corporate development and an endorsement of their Group. Investor has given an undertaking not to dispose of or transfer any part of its  respective shareholding for a period of 6 months commencing from the date of their admission to the Official List of the SGX-ST. Mr Khor Peng Soon, a nominee of Investor, was appointed as OSIM non-executive Director in June 2000. Ethics Ethics are common believes on whats right or wrong and good or bad based on individuals values and morals, plus a behaviours social context. Business ethics definition is ‘a normative undertaking, seeks to provide ethical insight and guidance to individuals in business, businesses as organizations, and to society. Although there is an overlap between corporate social responsibility and business ethics, they still can be distinguishing. Corporate social responsibility is about responsibility to all stakeholders and not just shareholders where as ethics is about morally correct behaviour. Not many business organisations directors will deny the essentialness of good, trusting relationships with customers, employees, suppliers and the community. All these are actually the elements of success that a company should rely on. Ethics in business is a very prominent issue nowadays especially in this high competitive business world. Organizations usually have a set of ethical as well as o perational or business values which they wished to see in operating their business. These values guide ideas of acceptable, desirable and responsible behavior, above and beyond compliance with laws and regulations. Ethics is formulated to enhance the standard of corporate governance and corporate behaviour. One should be ethical for motivation, good behaviour usually bring a reward. Think about it, if it were always in ones interest to be good, there would be no need for ethics. One can simply act selfishly and forget about obligation. People invented ethics precisely because it does not always coincide with self interest. Owners, employees, suppliers and customers were expected to have a good behaviour in their work place giving that issues of ethics will affect the business. Starting from the individual ethics, it is important since everyone has their own responsibilities in their work place. The very least a person can do is to be honest about what they do each day. Bribery should not be tolerated. There is so much poverty, so much hunger across the world. Greed for revenue and profits can only transform our world into an animal kingdom. Top management level of the company should have first practice good ethics themselves in order to show a good example to the employees and lead them to become more productive and efficient. Behaviour toward the employees, top management level of the company should practice fair policies such as adequate amount of time given to the employee to be notified if the company intend to conduct layoff exercise within the company and affected parties should be compensated accordingly. Other than that, the company is responsible for providing conducive environment which is clean and save for its employee to work in too. Employee salaries should be paid according to agreed amount based on their working hours and job classification. Privacy of employees must be respected too. Based on the information we gathered through our interview with OSIM, their company do have ethics practices. One of the examples is, employees who were stationed out of town for training were provided with decent accommodation. Every single employee has equal chances of being promoted. Outlet supervisors must also possess high accountability and responsibility in performing duties, without abusing power and position for self-gain or other interested parties. Employees are expected to always endeavour to improve knowledge, creativity and innovation as well as team spirit. Those who are in the sales position are required to be self-motivated to achieve great sales like theres no limit to it. Proper basic personal grooming and dress in clean, smart and decent clothing at work is a must and its considered basic manners for especially for those in sales  position working at the outlets. Strict basic grooming is required to reflect the professionalism of the employee. Furthermore, OSIM emphasised a lot on professionalism among its employees. Employees must always carry out duties efficiently, effectively and productively in order to produce excellent service. The managers are very strict on the employee, they must always on good behaviour and punctuality. The company will always provide in-house training for their employees. In addition, the company sales force undergoes trainings like product training, salesmanship training and on-the-job training. Other than that, OSIM organise talks by health-care professionals in their corporate headquarters for their sales staff. Periodically, they will also send senior management staff overseas to attend seminars and exhibitions. Therefore, employees are expected to improve knowledge and skills to produce efficient, prompt and accurate service as well as to possess characteristics of creativity, innovation, motivation and competitiveness This show that the company practices good ethics as their provide and g ive chances for them equip themselves. The product of OSIM International Ltd complies with Safety and Quality Standards of International Certification Boards. The company does not compromise its products quality lightly, and this is a good business ethics practice. OSIM have the quality controls namely product quality assurance for its products and service quality assurance to ensure the staff deliver their best. Last but not least, the company take honesty into account very seriously. No one in the company should leak out the companys private and confidential information such as internal finance reports, marketing strategies and etcetera. Disciplinary action will be taken against those who leak out the information might face dismissal from the company. In conclusion, every business organisation has strict ethics to follow. The field and practice of business ethics is now well established. Often times senior individuals were hired in large companies and other organisations with dedicated teams to monitor that ethical standard and corporate responsibility (CR) commitments are understood and advocated. These commitments will be driven both by a set of ethical and business values set by the organisation itself, and by relevant legal and regulatory requirements that determine what acceptable conduct is. It is important to establish a standard or ethics of competence for corporate accountability which includes standards of professionalism and trustworthiness in order to uphold good corporate integrity. The experience within the country like Malaysia has exposed a critical need for the formulation of corporate accountability standards in order to establish an ethical corporate environment. It also ensures Malaysia is on the right track in turning into a first world country. Companies who are truly committed to uphold ethical conduct were found to be consistently outperforming companies who do not display ethical conduct according to research done by Does Business Ethics Pay? by The Institute of Business Ethics (IBE). If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you dont have integrity, nothing else matters. Alan K. Simpson INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY USED â€Å"Information technology (IT) by definition is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications†. More recently it is the use of the computers and IT to improve the efficiency and competitiveness of businesses that has led to technological change. Due to technological changes is so rapid, there are important implications for businesses. A business can be affected by the following technological change in production, the provision of services and in the office IT act as an effective tool to aid businesses gain and make the best use of knowledge. Some of the systems can be very tedious to set up and time-consuming to maintain. About two decades ago, most businesses agreed that effective IT strategies needed to be embedded within the business strategy. Business executives needed to possess those IT strategies as well as the business strategie s in order to implement those business strategies successfully. Undeniably, IT has become an increasingly important business tool from small to big organisations, it is important for businesses to ensure that their business gets the most out of any system it introduces. In order to achieve this, you need to make sure that the IT system chosen supports the business and adds value to it. Databases organise information for easy access, managed and updated. For example, a business might have a database of customers storing their contact information, their orders and preferences. The database is one of the cornerstones of information technology, and its ability to organise, process and manage information in a structured and controlled manner is the key to many areas of modern business efficiency. As a business, the more we understand about our customers, suppliers and competitors, the better. Hence, the gathering, storing and processing of informationusing databases cangive businessesa distinct advantage. The advantages are such as cutting down the amount of time spent managing data. Allowing businesses personnel the ability to analyse data in a many of ways. It is also a way of promoting a disciplined approach to data management. In addition, databases technology turns different information into a valuable resource and improving the quality and consistency of informati on. Value of information in line with maintenance and production cost. Most companies produce information on demand to place a value to it. E-commerce is the ability of businesses to trade with the world via websites. With E-commerce, businesses are able to market and create awareness on their products a larger group of audience and business is now open 24 hours every day. This has created new opportunities for businesses that trade locally and may not trade internationally before to now expand the size of their market to worldwide. Amazon.com is one example of e-commerce as a worldwide book and CD sellers. Consumers can also make comparison on the products and search for best deals online. It allows entrepreneurs and or even individuals to sell directly to consumers. This is the opposite of conventional ways of selling at retail outlets. In other words, business transactions are now taking place online too. OSIM Directors believe that e-commerce is emerging as a very important marketing and distribution channel for businesses although the extent of the impact of e-commerce cannot be conclusively known today. OSIM have t he intention of tapping into the huge potential of e-commerce and other health-care retailers may also follow suit. Smartphone with internet access enabled and personal computers featured with office applications with office applications, save businesses time and travelling cost by enabling employees, customers, and suppliers to communicate from any location. This gives much convenience for the on-site and off-site employee to communication with each other. However, effective communication is very essential to most IT and e-commerce systems. Most of these technologies are invented to make communication between buyers and sellers faster and more reliable. On top of that, Computers can be used to process, analyse and store vast amounts of data to give the business more quality information. The Internet can also be useful for various purposes. One of it is to make business sales message to be send out to customers especially potential ones. To get sales message out to customers and potential customers, marketing by email and on the internet offers speed and cost benefits over traditional mail marketing. Company resources are put into better use as chances of reaching out potential customers are much greater. Other types of online marketing such as social media like Facebook also provide a cost-effective avenue for businesses in reaching customers. OSIM has registered their own website ‘‘www.osim.com to market themselves on the Internet to let more people know about the company and its products. It is important for a company to have a website especially for developing new products, offering new services and reaching new clients. Todays information age has leaded many people to use internet to search information and others. People can access to any website with just a few clicks. Although setting up a website might be costly, it is offset by reaching a large pool of potential customers and providing necessary information for existing customers too. OSIM is making use of the popular Facebook as a tool for them to promote their products and provide brief information and latest happenings in regard to their road shows. Job recruitment advertisement is also in their website, this will save the companys cost in advertising in other means such as the newspaper. Consumers can also sign up for the mailing list to receive spe cial offers, promotions and well-being tips from OSIM. Last but not least, OSIM made us of IT to provide its customers order tracking if they are not sure if their package has been delivered .The order tracking service will help you track it down. In conclusion, technological change can bring many benefits to a business. It reduces running costs, improve productivity, improved competitiveness, improved quality of service (e.g. speed of service) and reduce resources wastage. For companies who have yet to use IT to run their businesses should really consider it. Technology and business go hand in hand. Hence, technology is compulsory for business. 4P ANALYSIS DIAGRAM 1: The Marketing Mix Marketing mix is one of the most important aspects in marketing. The important of marketing mix are usually categories into four parts which are product, price, place, and promotion. The main purpose of this four Ps marketing is to help the company to achieving their target market. Customers are not the components of the marketing mix. However, the customer is the target of all the companys marketing. Product can be usually classified under two parts that is consumer product and producer products. Consumer product normally purchased for individuals used and these products are divided into three more categories that is convenience product, shopping product and specialty product. Secondly, the producer product, this product is purchased to use in running businesses. Beside that, physical of the product also become the main point to attract the customers for example the packaging and size of the product. Price is the price level that business wants to sell their product to consumer. There are many parts need to be consider first before the product were decides to be sell. The considerations such as objective of the business, the degree of competitor in the industry, channel of distribution and the business image. Furthermore, there are some strategies that can help a business in order to arrive at a selling of their product such as cost-plus pricing, mark-up pricing, predatory pricing, skimming pricing, penetration pricing, prestige pricing and demand-orientated pricing. Place is where the product put on the target market. This place refers to those points that are stores and the retail outlets where the product should be easily accessible by the customer. Next, is to the channel of distribution means the business uses to get their product from factory and make it available to consumers. Wholesaler, retailer and Distribution Company are example for channel of distribution. Promotion is the method of the company introducing and selling products and its one of the ways to attract consumers aware of their product. There are various ways of promotion such as advertising, personal selling, sales promotions, branding and packaging, direct email and loss leaders. Promotion is important of communication between the product and the customer in order to increase the sales. In conclusion, a marketing mix involves four Ps. In another word, the four Ps entire are related to each other in reaching target market. PRODUCT OSIM is a company that sells healthy lifestyle product. There are various type of health product that they sells such as massage chair, foot massagers, head massagers, back massagers, eye massagers, soothing gel pads, slim belts, pedometer, blood pressure monitor, personal hygiene and water purifiers. These products are help to maintain health and can give relaxing to the people. The latest product that OSIM launched is uDivine massage chair. The uDivine was designed by Japanese Master, Sato Tsuyoshi and he is expert of Japanese Chiropractic Massage. The uDivine is the world first Human-3D massage chair and this massage chair are combined with strategically position system airbags, realistic and human contour based, delivering the most humanized, pleasurable and effective full body massage. uDivine have multi-sensory pleasures from head to toe. The design of this massage chair are intelligent design with plenty to admire and it give more living space, seamless navigation, stereo sound build-in speakers, supreme comfort and family-friendly safety function. OSIM Company makes a consideration to the number of stage in development of new product. The first stage is the generation of ideas. The company thinks future whether the product that they create meet the objective of the business or not. Furthermore, they also make a question will the product contribute to the continued growth of their business and does the business have the spare capacity to produce the product. Secondly, is testing the new concept. OSIM want to know is there a sufficient market for the new product. This stage of the product development  process will involve carrying out extensive primary market research to test consumers reaction to the suggested product. Next, analyzing the cost or revenues. Based on cost of production, they will set the reasonable price of product to be selling. OSIM also caring of what will be the profitability of the new product and how many units of the product they want to produce. Furthermore, they make a considered of developing a prototype. The design, materials, quality and safety of the product will become paramount. A prototype of the product will be developed using the detail that the market research indicated that consumer wanted. It is essential to ensure that this stage of the development process is detailed ad extensive, since to make alterations and modification at a later date will be extremely expensive and time-consuming. Lastly, the goal of the company for their product is to make the customer easy to recognize its brand and provide customer satisfaction. If the product does not fit the customer needs or meet the standard, the company accepts the criticism and modifies their products until it is fulfilling the needs of their customer. PRICE OSIM (is one of the high-end brands that sells health-care product in the market. It stands by its own name, image, quality and safety. The good in pricing strategy of the company will affect the quantity of sell and the profit-margin received per unit. In order to achieve at selling price for its product, there are some method that can be use which is cost-plus pricing, mark-up pricing, predatory pricing, skimming pricing, penetration pricing, prestige pricing, demand-oriented pricing and competition-oriented pricing. The first procedure for setting price is to determine the objectives of pricing. Earning a profit is the main objective. OSIM Company has three strategies in setting the price of their product. OSIM used cost-plus pricing, where the total cost of producing each unit of product is calculated. After that, the percentage profit is added to this unit cost to arrive at the selling price. Next is skimming pricing, all of their products are innovative and high technology product. So the strategies for these products usually set at the high price because it required high cost to produce the product and it design to create an up-market. Nonetheless, another pricing strategy of OSIM Company is competition-oriented pricing. Competition-oriented pricing is the strategies to set a price for a product with comparison with the competitor. Some product of OSIM were pricing based on the price charge by the competitors. In conclusion, setting a price is not an easy job, it need certain method to set the product price. For the beginning, a listing price, varieties of discount and allowance should include when setting a price. PLACE MAP 1: MAP 2: OSIM has chosen the right place for selling their products. In Map 1 shown one of the places which OSIM outlet located, that is in Bintang Mega Mall, Miri, Sarawak. Our group got to visit this outlet to conduct interview about OSIM for this team project. Normally in business, without a good place to promote the company product will make harder to get successful in target market even the product have a reasonable price. In other words, to reach the target market, positioning is one of the important steps for placing. The location of the product should be easier for customer to purchases the product. If the customer hard to get the product, they might give advantage to other companies which they can get it easily. However, every customer has different needs with aspect of time and place. In order to attract more customers, the location of the product should fulfill the customers requirement. The company also can offer a delivery service in order to make