Media and the Military :: Media Argumentative Persuasive Argument

Media and the Military      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   During the Vietnam War the media was left unchecked and brought the wartime images of death and carnage into America's living room.   These images served as morale killers and eventually turned much of the public against its own government.   During the Gulf War on the other hand, the military filtered what reached the public's eye and morale was kept to all time highs.   In wartime the government should be able to manipulate public opinion by controlling the media.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   War is not pretty, and it is not for the weak at heart.   Images of war should not be broadcast into living rooms live.   During the Vietnam conflict this is what happened.   Pictures and real time video of our troops being slaughtered during battles of the Tet offensive and the siege of Khe Sahn were sent home for all of America to see (Klein 50-51).   Again, war is not pretty and the way you keep morale up is you don't let the public know how bad war really is.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Television is one of the most powerful tools of media and â€Å"by the mid 1960's television had become the most important source for news for most of the American public, and beyond that, perhaps, the most powerful single influence on the public.† (Hallin 106)   So people trusted what reporters like Walter Cronkite were telling them.   They believed it when NBC journalists told them things like, â€Å" the Marines are so bogged down in Hue that nobody will predict when the battle would end†¦more than 500 marines have been wounded and over 100 dead since the in Hue began.† (Klein 51)   Don't get the wrong idea though, these things really happened but the public didn't need to know it.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The constitution and 1st amendment still mean something but national security should come first.   People rioting all over the country in anti war protests should be an issue of national security.   Without the support of your homefront no country can win a war, especially a foreign war (Franklin 250).   It is impossible to get support at home when NBC is showing them pictures of their boys getting massacred every night on the nightly news.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   On the other hand, during the Gulf War in Iraq the horrors of war still existed, maybe not to the same extent, but they were there nonetheless.   These horrors however where kept out of our living rooms by systematic filtering by the US army.   Now the army didn't just seize tapes and erase bad parts.   Very few reporters and cameras were allowed to the front lines.

The Mists of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley Essay -- essays research

The Mists of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley The Mists of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley, is not only an example of a Medieval Romance, but also tells the story of the women who stood behind King Arthur during his infamous reign in the Middle Ages. The term â€Å"Medieval Romance† does not necessarily mean that the piece using it contains any sort of romance. There are three criteria that must be meet to form a Medieval Romance. (1) The plot must divide into sharply separate episodes that often do not seem joined in any obvious casual fashion. (2) The plots generally take the form of tests that they must pass to attain form goal. (3) The protagonist fails tests, which often involve acts of moral and spiritual perception, until such a point that they finally follow advice. This book is not a typical Medieval Romance, but it contains all the important aspects of one. This novel explains the reasoning and decisions that Arthur made from the perspective of the women involved. The Mists of Avalon is a twist on the Arthurian tales as told by the four women instrumental to the story: Gwynhefar, Arthur’s wife; Igraine, his mother; Viviane, the Lady of the Lake, High Priestess of Avalon; and Morgaine, his sister, lover, and heiress to Avalon. The story is told by each as they saw it happen. In this novel, the legend of King Arthur is for the first time told through the lives, the visions, and the perceptions of the women central to it. By telling the story through a woman’s perspective The Mists of Avalon provides a feminine insight into the depths of Arthurian legend previously dominated by men.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The struggle between Christianity and the religion of Avalon is one of the central parts of the story. Arthur, whose mother was Igraine, sister to Viviane, grows up to be High King of Britain after his father, Uther Pendragon, dies. In this era there were two religions that the people studied. One was under the Christians vows. They believed that their was only one god, theirs. They believed that all other gods were false and sinful. In the Christian beliefs, the women were believed to be the ultimate sinners. Under this belief they were always made to feel subservient to their men. The other religion was under the Goddess, who the people in the mystical world of Avalon believed were responsible for man and all of its creations. It is stated of... ...y wished for a baby and had no ill will towards Avalon. The same goes for Morgaine, there was no malice in her actions, and we see this since her actions are told from her own perspective, not of a man’s. Arthur betrayed Avalon and this was the result. In the male perspective of Arthurian legend we see only actions of the women. In this tale told by women we see their thoughts behind their actions. These thoughts were not know from the male’s perspective, but with the woman’s insight into these matters we see that more clearly.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In a world where men largely dominate Arthurian legend, The Mists of Avalon gives us a profound feminine insight. The Arthurian world of Avalon and Camelot with all its passions and adventures is revealed as its heroines might have experienced it: Queen Gwynhefar, Igraine, Viviane, and Arthur’s sister, Morgaine. This is a story of profound conflict between Christianity and the old religion of Avalon. It was a story of Arthur’s betrayal of Avalon. It was the first time that an Arthurian legend was told by the viewpoint of the females involved in the story. The insights that these women provided to the story are truly profound.

Regionalism in India

On 15th of December 1953, when Potti Sriramulu succumbed to death not able to sustain 52 days of marathon fast that was undertaken to demand a separate state for Telugu speaking people, little did he realize that his death would become a launch pad for the dawn of Political Regionalism in India – that would in course of time alter the whole landscape of India. But the brand of regionalism that evolved after Potti Sriramulu’s death was legitimate, genuine and logical. It reflected the aspirations of people at that time. It stood for fulfilling the longstanding desire of people to have their own linguistic state. Thus, Andhra Pradesh became the first linguistic state of India. Today, Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh is renamed as Potti Sriramulu. After the death of Sriramulu, reluctant Nehru was forced to accede to the various cries from other parts of the country with similar demands. In 1954, a States Reorganization Committee was formed with Fazal Ali as its head, which recommended the formation of 16 new states and 3 Union Territories based on the language people spoke in those respective regions. This heralded a new phase in the Indian politics. The subsequent movements for separate states and territories gave birth to slew of regional parties which eventually became prominent in national level and thus started coalition culture in Indian politics. Regionalism: Meaning Regionalism is a feeling or an ideology among a section of people residing in a particular geographical space characterized by unique language, culture etc. that they are the sons of the soil and every opportunity that exists in their land must be accorded to them first but not to the outsiders. It is a sort of Parochialism. In most of the cases it is raised for expedient political gains but not necessarily. Growth and Development Regionalism in India can be traced back to Dravida Movement started in Tamil Nadu. The movement initially focused on empowering Dalits, non-Brahmins, and poor people. Later it turned against imposition of Hindi as sole official language on non-Hindi speaking areas. Finally, the movement for some time focused on seceding from India to carve out their own Dravidastan or Dravida Nadu. The movement slowly declined and today they have become prominent regional parties after many splits and factionalism. Throughout India regionalism persisted. In Maharashtra Shiv Sena against Kannadigas in the name of Marathi pride and recently MNS activists against Biharis; in Punjab against non-Punjabis that gave rise to Khalistan Movement and earlier Akali Movement; in Andhra, Telangana Movement with an aim of separate state; in Assam ULFA militants against migrant Biharis and Bengalis; in North-East against other Indians. It can be traced that regionalism slowly turned from non violent means to violent means to achieve their goals. From Potti Sriramulu’s non violent means of fatsing to Maharashtra Nav Nirman Sena (MNS) and ULFA’s violent means, regionalism has come a long way. Regionalism in present day India is readily used for political gains by petty politicians and secessionist organizations. Economic reasons are exploited for political dividends. When violence is used against people in the name of regionalism it is a criminal act and is punishable. Article 19 of the Constitution of India provides a citizen of India to move freely throughout the territory of India, to reside and settle in any part, and to practice any profession, or to carry on any occupation, trade or business. When ULFA (United Liberation Front of Assam) militants or MNS(Maharashtra Navnirman Sena) activists used violence against poor migrant workers, they clearly violated law of the land and also the Constitution which is above all, even above the Parliament. Do we need to fear Regionalism? No. Regionalism in India is only a short cut to attain the political ambitions by emotionally exploiting the sentiments of the people. The fear of Balkanization is void of any logic. India is bound by a common culture that has flourished on this land many thousand years ago. I may be Kannadiga or Tamil but I am an Indian first. My identity outside India is that of an Indian. The states which fought for complete independence are now part of Indian Union and they have renounced for some extent violence; they include Mizoram, Nagaland, Kashmir, Bodoland, Tamli Nadu. India is too big for these states to fight against and win. Today regional parties define how the governments are formed and conducted both at the centre and the state level. Indeed it is a good development as some political entities such as RJD, BSP, LJP, DMK, AIADMK, BJD have to some extent represented those people who were neglected in the political process for long time. As long as they thrive for regional development without discriminating against outsiders, regionalism is good for India. Every Indian is a son of this soil. A Bihari becomes Mumbaikar when a bomb explodes in Mumbai and a Mumbaikar becomes Bihari when Kosi wrecks havoc in the plains of Bihar. We are united by an idea called India and that unity is imperative if we want to do a ’Chinese’ thing in future – that of actually walking on the path to becoming a global superpower instead of daydreaming

Discuss the issue Ethical Business and How it relates to csr Essay

Discuss the issue Ethical Business and how it relates to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). With reference to sources, provide examples of companies or organisations which demonstrate ethical behaviour and evaluate their motivation. The ideas of Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility are oftentimes discussed in a similar manner even though they both have distinctly different definitions. As the name suggests, the term ethical business or business ethics is associated with a mixture of both ‘ethics’ and ‘business’. According to Oxford English Dictionary (2010) a business is the buying and selling of products or services with an aim of profit making. Ethics, on the other hand is more complex in that it involves human judgment, between what is right and wrong, in regards to activities and their consequences towards the society (Velasquez, et al. , 2010). Chryssides and Kaler (1993) have drawn attention to the fact that in the same way that political ethics is related to honouring the right and wrong in governmental concerns, or medical ethics being identified with the morality in medical practice, business ethics can simply be defined as the issue of morality within the business industry whereby â€Å"morality is taken to mean moral judgments, standards and rules of conduct† (Ferrell and Fraedrich, 1997, p. 5). Therefore, ethical business can now be defined as the ethics or principles that act as one’s behavioral rules and regulations when dealing in the world of business (Ferrell, et al. , 2010). On the other hand, reference to The World Business Council for Sustainable Development explains CSR by putting across that a business has responsibilities and obligations that go beyond the workplace (WBCSD, 2001). This essentially signifies the voluntary duty that organisations participate in to fulfill the demands of a broader range of stakeholders (Jamali and Mirshak, 2006). Based on the definitions stated above, it would seem that CSR and business ethics share similar theories, considering the fact that both of their notions go further than profit-based decisions and into values along with concerns for the society as a whole (Mullerat, 2010). Having said that, it is certainly interesting to see that most people are inclined to link CSR with the positive operations of a firm yet when a business engages in a non-moral act, they set the stunt side by side with business ethics or rather, the lack of (Crane and Matten, 2010). The question of how business ethics relates to CSR can now be evaluated more closely. Some examples of issues in ethical business as well as CSR include harming the environment and sweatshop labour on top of fraud, health and safety and campaigning (IBE/Ipsos MORI 2009, cited in Irwin, 2010). This essay will comprehensively explore the motivations of firms that have demonstrated brilliant presentations of business ethics, such as Microsoft Inc. as well as examining the motives behind their ethical decisions. Additionally, it will also look at other corporations that have been linked with having high regards to ethics in business yet have been accused in making poor business choices in the recent years, for instance H&M’s disposal of unsold clothing items in New York in 2010 (Daily Mail Reporter, 2010). Until recent years, Hennes&Mauritz, more commonly known as H&M has been highly admired for launching the use of organic cotton into the high street clothing (Vijayaraghavan, 2010). Green Retail Decisions (2011) reports that it even succeeded in surpassing their organic cotton goal usage in 2010 by tripling their original aim, manufacturing 15,000 tonnes of organic cotton. Furthermore, the company was also proud in producing high street attires out of 16,000 tonnes of fabric that have been recycled (Green Retail Decisions, 2011). Be that as it may, when the firm threw away unsold clothes outside of one of its retail outlets, many were not only left appalled but also questioning their business ethics (Daily Mail Reporter, 2010). In the same year, H&M were involved in two more shocking headlines in the news, one of which includes the contamination of the organic cotton textile with GM, and the other being a suspicion of unsustainably made clothes (Vijayaraghavan, 2010). As previously stated, H&M is widely respected for working with organic materials on their products. However, when genetically modified cotton was found in random product test conducted in a research lab, they were left with nothing to be applauded for. Hence, it is clear that this particular case study provides contradicting information on H&M’s aims and motivations towards ethical decision-makings within their business. Even though they have been acceptable in their business ethics, for many of their stakeholders, the four issues specified above may heavily indicate otherwise. Another good example of a company with a similar situation is Coca Cola alongside its recent endeavours with ethical crises. Ferrel et al. (2011), in their book write that the company has been facing various allegations regarding their ethical misdemeanours since the 1990s, some of which include racial prejudice, pollution and consumption of natural resources. The claim against one of the world’s most acknowledged beverage companies, Coca Cola, otherwise known as Coke, for the practice of racial discrimination within their working environment was taken to court in April 1999 (Winter, 2000). In his article, Winter (2000) reports that Coke practiced a method of pay scale that is based upon a hierarchy whereby employees of African American background were situated at the bottom, earning $26,000 on average less than white workers in a year. Although the company denied all charges at the time, the public was clearly upset, resulting in a decline of their shares at the end of the 90’s (Fairfield, 2007). As a consequence of this, Coca Cola lost one of their main investors and biggest shareholder of 17 years, Warren Buffet in 2006 (Teather, 2006). Having their reputation jeopardised, Coca Cola announced the establishment of a new department to their company, the diversity group (The New York Times, 1999). Since the formation of this group, Coca Cola has been voted 46th on the DiversityInc’s top 50 list of businesses with the best practices along with coming 6th in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Blacks and Latinos (DiversityInc, 2012). In addition to this, Black Enterprise magazine has also awarded the organisation with numerous awards honouring their commitment to establish a working environment that is accepting of different cultures along with featuring the company in the Black Enterprise magazine’s yearly 40 Best Companies for Diversity list (Staff, 2012). DiversityInc (2012) also reports that Coca Cola donates forty percent of their humanitarian effort to culturally diverse non-profit organisations, such as their recent contribution to the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation. With that in mind, their ethics in business can be considered as acceptable to the public eye and it is almost unthinkable to think that they were accused of race-related discrimination just over a decade ago. The cases of H&M and Coca Cola are referred to in this essay to express the similarity in their questionable motives. H&M’s claim of being environmentally conscious with their utilisation of organic cotton within their business proves irrelevant after being caught with immoral acts that were stated earlier. The genuineness of their principles in business ethics is flawed by this flagrant contradiction since one would argue that if their sense of responsibility for the environment were great, they would not be accountable for such unethical activities. On the other hand, Coca Cola only responded to possessing ethics in their business environment after being sued and attracting negative media attention, not including the obvious decline in their sales even though they still remained as the world’s leading carbonated cola in 2006 (Fairfield, 2007). Thus, similarly the sincerity behind Coca Cola’s motive to develop a diversity group and their emphasis in cultural acceptance is also suspicious because these were only developed and implemented after the public uproar. Although it may be surprising, Microsoft Inc. can also be compared to Coca Cola and H&M to an extent in terms of the motivations behind their CSR works as well as business ethics practices. The co-founder and chairman of Microsoft Inc. , Bill Gates is widely known and celebrated for his great donations to the public. In 2011, Microsoft Inc. won the award for being ‘Most Ethical, beating Google and Facebook after making donations of millions of dollars to non profit organisations and charities, establishing plans of actions for economic development as well as heightening their means of central reporting procedures (Smith, 2011). Having said all this, it is shocking to note that only just 15 years ago, a board experts at a panel in a well-known seminar held in California could not answer and decide whether Microsoft Inc. were an ethical corporation. (Spinello, 2003). Spinello (2003) continues to write that not only were the panel of experts unsure of the answer, the audience, who were consisted of scholarly representatives did not know how to respond either. This is because Microsoft Inc. has been involved in an antitrust inspection worldwide and some Americans have referred to this event as the â€Å"antitrust trial of the century† (Mota, 2005). The antitrust laws, otherwise known as competition laws were introduced by the American government to protect customers from being exploited by companies who practice unfair competition in the market (Investopedia, 2011). Gates is also the primary shareholder in America’s second biggest waste administration called the Republic Services (O’Hagan, 2013). In her article O’Hagan (2013) questions how the co-founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation can spread the word to publicise vaccinations for poliomyelitis, a disease that can cause a temporary or permanent paralysis while â€Å"Republic Services is locking out its workers as part of an industrial dispute†, a policy that may put a risk to the Americans’ sanitary. There is no doubt that Microsoft Inc. ’s involvement in charity work over the years have been generous and can be regarded as a model example of a company who takes their corporate social responsibilities seriously. However, it is also evident that while their voluntary organisations are remarkable, their business practice leaves with less to be awed for. Hence, similar to the H&M case brought up previously, there is a contradiction between Microsoft’s work with charity and some of their immoral activities in the workplace. It is also comparable to Coca Cola in that it only came to be involved in large ‘corporate citizenship’ after the aftermath from their antitrust cases (Smith, 2011). It is safe to say that most companies are fighting to prove their good works through all types of methods, charity works in the case of Microsoft Inc. as well as forming a new diversity department in the case of Coca Cola. With thousands of other corporations yearning to prove their sincerity in making ethical decisions and practicing moral behaviour in the workplace, it is becoming tougher to examine just how responsible and principled an organisation is (Kwan, 2012). Kwan (2012) writes that this issue can be solved with the help of a B Corp certification. B Corp stands for Benefit Corporations, which is one of the latest kinds of corporate structure, acting as a third party classification to calculate the effects of an organisation to the environment (Fritz, 2013). Balch (2012) argues that the term benefit not only considers social and environmental aspects of a business but also its financial side as well, where he insists that 21st century capitalism would be a hybrid of generating social value together with maximising financial returns. B Corps essentially â€Å"provides what is lacking elsewhere: proof† to support that the specific company is in actual fact practicing what is proclaimed by them, hence, useful for firms whose focus is to not only make profit but also putting social and environmental interest a primary concern while doing so (Rosenberg, 2011). Although certifying B Corps to sincere businesses with aims of increasing positive social and environmental impacts sound fair, smaller and newer companies may say otherwise (Akalp, 2011). In their academic journal, Helsey et al. (2013) report that a company must be prepared to invest on their time and money to obtain the status. Depending on the area that they are operating in, the business must able to relate themselves with certain criteria listed, such as â€Å"providing low-income or undeserved individuals or communities with beneficial products or services† (Helsey et al, 2013). Fritz (2013) also confirms that a company must be assessed in accordance to the B Ratings System in which they must score at least 80 points out of 200 on top of consenting to changes in their legal articles of incorporation. Furthermore, there is a fee involved, which varies depending on the revenue of the firm (Akalp, 2013). This implies that organisations with strong awareness and appreciation of responsibilities may choose not to be certified with B Corps and thus put across a sense of false portrayal to companies without the B Corp certificate (Akalp, 2013). Therefore, it can be argued that larger companies with a higher source of income can afford to pay more to be certified. In addition to this, there have also been criticisms on the marking boundaries of the certification process. As stated earlier, companies need to score a point of 80 out of the maximum 200. Horatio (2012) disputes that this only indicates a 40% passing score for a company to be certified, which he claims as â€Å"not much of a standard† and â€Å"essentially worthless†. With that in mind, a case could be made that there is now a limitation to the authenticity of the certificate since large companies can afford to pay their way through the process and most probably pass the low 40% passing requirement. The purpose of this essay has been to convey that most companies, regardless of their past, recent or current reputation are never completely ethical in their business activities and that in one way or another, they have been associated with its share of moral negligence. With the examples used in the essay, it is safe to say that most companies that operate in what is considered to be as ethical to the public are only doing so to receive public attractions, and consequently earn more profits and success to the company. It is important to draw attention to the fact that there is a fundamental difference between what a company does and what their beliefs are. Just because a company is praised for their CSR related activities and was voted amongst the best of companies with high business ethics performance, this does not indicate that they are doing so for the sake of the planet or the people. If anything, this essay has been stating otherwise, demonstrating that most ethically responsible organisations are only involved in ethical activities to draw consumers in, thus, increase their profit.

Animated cartoons for early childhood science education

Animated cartoons for early childhood science education Teachers teaching methods change because of the new generation of children. For this reason, teachers should use contemporary teaching methods for improving the quality of learning. In this framework teaching innovations which can meet such expectations are needed. This paper is a report of work describing curriculum which involves cartoons as a basis for teaching science. Here we can picture young pupils gaining knowledge through texts, teacher lectures and cartoons. It is important to realize that one of the reasons why science is thought to be difficult by many students in elementary education is that it is viewed as dealing with concepts which are often difficult to be explained and understood. Some students feel that they have to learn a lot of theory without considering how this theory might apply to the real world they are living in. This study represents findings on the use of animated cartoons and how they are able to evaluate the effectiveness in supporting teaching and le arning in science. The research results provide evidence that the use of animated cartoons significantly increases the young students` knowledge and understanding of specific science concepts. The importance of cartoons in science education has been recognized in recent years as they received an increasing amount of research attention. The presentation of ideas in visual form has been proven to be particularly important as it helps the educational process in a very up-to-date way. Why are cartoons so popular among young children and how can they be used for the purposes of teaching as well as learning? Research evidence indicates that cartoons are widely used as innovative and supporting tools in science teaching. Actually, they represent a form of art that has been promoted into an important visual language, which influences the human feelings and transmit messages using symbols and pictures. They are a combination of humour , exaggeration and symbols but in a very simple way. Euli e/1969/ pointed out very successfully that cartons, contain messages and when they are selected carefully, they can easily provide information via the symbols and the exaggeration. Most important is that they use familiar pictures and objects from daily life. In addition, cartoons can be used effectively in the teaching process when they provide information with regard to concrete objects. They were used by many researches in the classroom in order to promote learning, esp. in teaching children./Madden,Chung$Dawson,2008;Peacock,1995;Tsou,Wang&Tzeng,2006/. More over, the most innovative use in the instructive practice is that they easily capture students’ attention and then they allow them to’ travel with their mind ‘in the world of imagination and amusement while they are learning. Not surprisingly, cartoons have rapidly become a popular teaching and learning approach. Keogh and Naylor /1999/ ,he creators of the ‘concept cartoon strategy, have used it incre asingly in both primary and secondary education. . Concept cartoons offer an innovative approach to gaining access to children’s ideas in science. They have been used in different ways and in different situations to teach science, to assess pupils’ levels of understanding of science matters and to involve them in scientific discussion as well as to promote children’ s argumentation in primary science /Naylor,Keogh and Downing,2007/.

Finance (Corporate) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Finance (Corporate) - Essay Example This meant to give each proposal a chance to convince the capital budgeting committee for approval. The initial project concerned expanding an existing Match My Doll Clothing line, which had a demonstrated record of accomplishment in the earlier period. The subsequent project initiated a fresh initiative referred to as New Doll Film/DVD, which applied an online software permitting users to tailor a doll’s characteristic to the customers’ specifications. This required calculation of the Net Present Value (NPV) of both ventures to discover which project is more lucrative. Simulation Process Finance Simulation process involve accessing simulation platform. Click prepare tab to access simulation summary, which gives New Heritage Doll Company assignment summary and how to play tab for procedure. Simulation process involves comparison of the following parameters between chosen projects. Theses include NPV, payback period, IRR, profitability index and project milestones and ri sks.    Compare revenue by division, operation profit by division and total assets by division. Compare I/S and B/S in regards to Company consolidated, production consolidated, retail consolidated and licensing consolidated. Further, compare cashflow statement, financial analysis, project details and financial history. Balance sheet Finally decided on the projects to propose as Match My Doll Clothing and New Doll Film/DVD According to projects details they compare as follows. Project comparison The following discussion leads to project chosen for each year and reasons. The market is always divided into two major segments: video games and traditional toys and games. The second segment was additionally divided into child/preschool toys, sports toys and dolls outdoor, and other toys and games involve arts and crafts, action figures, plush toys, vehicles, and youth electronics gargets. The America market for games and toys was dominated by large international enterprises that benefit from economies of balance in production, design, and distribution. Revenues were exceedingly seasonal; the largest selling period in the United States during winter holiday period (Project Analysis Services, 2011, Pg 1-2). The observable fact of age compression; the propensity of younger kids to obtain dolls that had conventionally been intended for older ones, reduced growth in the baby doll segment hence hindering profitability. Competition is always a risk factor and a constraint in any business. New Heritage Doll Company is not exempted; other doll producers are vigorous and they targeted similar demographics and marketing media is similar. Lasting branded name for a doll is rare to come up with. Financial committee also reluctant to finance projects due to licensing proposals and conflict of interest, which posses a risk in regard to profiting (Studymode, 2009, Pg 1-2). Net Present Value is considered through measuring of the following parameters. Operating projections applied to build up cash flow forecasts and then to work out    Net Present Value, payback period, Internal Rates of Return and other investment metrics. The cash flows debarred all financing charges and non-cash objects such as depreciation, and were computed on an after-corporate-tax base. The New Heritage’s company tax rate stated as 40%. Discount rate stated to have been set at 8.4% - for mild-risk scheme. NPV calculations incorporated a terminal

Have sanctions achieved their political and economic goals in Zimbabwe Dissertation

Have sanctions achieved their political and economic goals in Zimbabwe - Dissertation Example It cannot be denied that the given policies have to some extent helped in stabilizing the strongly sanctioned economy by preventing a total collapse of the economic systems of a country that was once considered very successful. It is known that sanctions do not generally serve a positive role because they mostly lead to outcomes that are negative. Governments are known to develop contingency plans that aim at countering the adverse impact of sanctions. It is also evident that the sanctions imposed by the West are more reflective of thei...r own interests instead of what they purport to affect. Because of the different varieties of sanctions that have been imposed on Zimbabwe in its different sectors, this paper has mainly examined the economic and political impacts of the sanctions on the country and its people. This paper has found that after the imposition of sanctions in Zimbabwe, a number of sectors have deteriorated and put the lives of citizens to immense risk in view of the co llapse of health, education and water supply systems. Thus, the sanctions have worked in aggravating the conditions of people because the country’s relations with western countries have been soured and it has been virtually isolated in having only negligible influence amongst powerful nations. 1. Introduction It has been observed that states that have been known to violate human rights were invariably imposed with sanctions in different ways. Simply understood, sanctions are forms of punishments imposed on such states in order to make them comply with the given provisions of law. It is known historically that economic sanctions have been often used as an alternative to armed conflicts in making states to comply with given requirements. Zimbabwe has been under the grip of economic sanctions for over a decade, which has been imposed by the USA, the European Union, New Zealand, Switzerland and Australia on account of alleged human rights violations by the government. The US and the EU believe that the sanctions are measures to restrict the activities of President Mugabe and some officials of his government that are supportive of his policies. In contrast, the ZANU PF, Mugabe’ political party, has viewed the sanctions as being targeted against the entire nation. This paper will analyze the issue of whether the sanctions have achieved their political goals in Zimbabwe. The paper will make a critical appraisal of the effectiveness of the sanctions regime imposed on Zimbabwe The major crisis situations that led to the imposition of sanctions will be outlined after which the positive and negative impact of the sanctions will be examined by determining the effectiveness of the sanctions regime. In order to understand the issue thoroughly, it is important to briefly examine the historical patterns of sanctions. Essentially, sanctions are a means available to the UN Security Council under provisions of chapter 7