Drug Abuse and Religious Spirituality Concept

Drug Abuse and Religious Spirituality Concept Thesis Statement: Adding the concept of religious spirituality to drug abuse treatment programs can help to decrease the amount of relapses by patients.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Drug Abuse and Religious Spirituality Concept specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Introduction In his examination of the effectiveness of current drug abuse treatment programs, Olmstead et al. (2012) noted that the rate of relapses among patients was quite high, often reaching 50% or more in some instances. Particularly, this high rate of relapses was determined by Olmstead et al. (2012) as a direct result of a degree of failure on the part of drug abuse treatment programs to sufficiently address the primary reason why people turn to drugs and the lack of a sufficient method of relapse prevention once patients leave the program. Reason for Failure This failure to add some form of effective preventive method for relapse has been n oted by various researchers to occur due to the fact that even the classification of external preventive programs has very little influence to ensure a sufficiently effective preventive capacity when the origin of the problem is the internal decision making process of patients. Pearson et al. (2012) note that it is often the case that patients need to develop their own internal realization backed by psychological reasoning when it comes to abstaining from drug use. What is necessary is the development of sufficiently strong internal reasoning mechanism and support system to ensure that the factors causing a particular individual to use drugs in the first place do not manifest. Religious Spirituality as a Possible Solution One possible method that has gained a considerable degree of progress in a variety of drug abuse treatment programs is the use of religious spirituality.Advertising Looking for research paper on psychology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More It was determined in the article â€Å"Patients consider spirituality and self-help approaches vital in TC† that religious spirituality can not only aid in the process of drug abuse rehabilitation but even act as a preventive measure to ensure that relapses do not occur (Dermatis, Guschwan, Galanter, Blun 2004). The reason behind its effectiveness is quite simple, religious spirituality acts as a means of altering individuals perception in such a way that people view their life as not just their own but rather as the one connected to an almighty external creator (i.e. God). Moreover, spirituality, in certain cases involving religious groups and organizations, helps instill a sense of belonging on patients within a religious community they are involved in, often acting as a support to prevent drug related relapses (Dermatis, Guschwan, Galanter, Blun, 2004). What you have to understand is that a great number of current drug abuse cases are often related to such feelings experienced by individuals as depression, worthlessness, and. Such behavioral symptoms are often correlated with a lack of sufficient support and social interaction which makes the use of drugs to seem ideal to act as a form of escape from such situations. By adding religious spirituality to drug abuse treatment programs, this creates the initial foundation due to which addicts could find an alternative to drugs abusing by immersing themselves in the feeling of being a part of community and belonging to a greater unit. Such a solution would prevent the potential for patients to relapse since it addresses the internal psychological state in order to ensure that patients develop their own realization regarding the ill effects of drug use (Pearson et al. 2012).Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Drug Abuse and Religious Spirituality Concept specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More As s uch, this paper has the assumption that adding the concept of religious spirituality to drug abuse treatment programs can help decrease the amount of relapses by patients. References Dermatis, H. Guschwan, M.T. Galanter, M. Blun, G. (2004). Patients consider spirituality and self-help approaches vital in TCs. DATA: The Brown University Digest of Addiction Theory Application, 23(7), 1-7. Web. Olmstead, T. A., Abraham, A. J., Martino, S., Roman, P. M. (2012). Counselor training in several evidence-based psychosocial addiction treatments in private US substance abuse treatment centers. Drug Alcohol Dependence, 120(1-3), 149-154. Pearson, F. S., Prendergast, M. L., Podus, D., Vazan, P., Greenwell, L., Hamilton, Z. (2012). Meta-analyses of seven of the National Institute on Drug Abuses principles of drug addiction treatment. Journal Of Substance Abuse Treatment, 43(1), 1-11.

5 Cases of a Missing Hyphen

5 Cases of a Missing Hyphen 5 Cases of a Missing Hyphen 5 Cases of a Missing Hyphen By Mark Nichol In each of the following sentences, omission of a hyphen hinders comprehension; discussion and a revision follows each example. 1. Two and a half months elapse between when the president elect is declared the winner of the election and when he or she takes office. The noun phrase â€Å"president-elect,† based on French syntax (in which adjectives follow nouns), is hyphenated, which helps the reader identify elect as an adjective rather than a verb: â€Å"Two and a half months elapse between when the president-elect is declared the winner of the election and when he or she takes office.† (Phrases referring to mixed fractions, such as â€Å"two and a half,† are often erroneously hyphenated; hyphens are correct only when such a phrase, accompanied by a word referring to a unit of time or distance, collectively modify a noun, such as in â€Å"two-and-a-half-month period.†) 2. I’m just looking for some good tasting coffee. As written, this sentence refers to a type of beverage known as tasting coffee and describes it as good. However, to express a sentiment about coffee that tastes good, hyphenate the phrasal adjective: â€Å"I’m just looking for some good-tasting coffee.† 3. Such documentation requires a decision-tree type approach, in which someone must decide each path to achieve an appropriate control structure. The type of omission illustrated in the previous example can also occur in a phrasal adjective that consists of more than two words. The sentence refers not to a type approach of a decision-tree nature but to an approach of a decision-tree-type nature: â€Å"Such documentation requires a decision-tree-type approach in which someone must decide each path to achieve an appropriate control structure.† 4. It might be a destination you stumbled across on a must-see list on a travel blog or heard was a can’t miss landmark. The writer of this sentence inexplicably correctly hyphenated the phrase â€Å"must see,† which modifies list, but overlooked the necessity of hyphenating the words â€Å"can’t miss,† which serve the same function in describing a kind of landmark: â€Å"It might be a destination you stumbled across on a must-see list on a travel blog or heard was a can’t-miss landmark.† (These phrases should be hyphenated when employed as nouns as well (as in â€Å"The Parthenon is a must-see for visitors to Greece†). 5. The study distinguishes between high and low-risk activities. This sentence refers not to high activities and low-risk activities but to high-risk and low-risk activities, but it does so elliptically, observing the convention that when a two phrasal adjectives in sequence share the same second word, the first can be omitted- but the hyphen must be retained so that the reader knows to supply the implied word: â€Å"The study distinguishes between high- and low-risk activities.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Punctuation category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:16 Substitutes for â€Å"Because† or â€Å"Because Of†26 Feel-Good WordsDouble Possessive

Writing about oaranormal such as ghost Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Writing about oaranormal such as ghost - Essay Example have had a paranormal experiences, 56% believe that those ghosts are the spirits of the dead, ad over 60% believe that Ouija boards are â€Å"bad news† (Live Science Staff, 2011). As a believer in ghosts I think that there are many instances and locations that have a great deal of activity that can be and has been captured by, both, freelance and professional television ghost seekers. Again, however, for example if a particular show went to a location and could not get a single interesting, suspicious, or peculiar thing to happen, then one has to ask would they fake when necessary in order to improve the show and provide some sort of evidence by the end of the episode? Granted there are many instances, especially in older homes, where the sounds that people are hearing can be debunked as the natural sounds of aging wood, a settling foundation, and air in the pipes. However, when all practical explanations have been considered and accounted for that leaves the unexplainable. Ultimately, when watching these shows one must decide for themselves which seem the most sincere and believable and which seems staged and set up for the benefit of the cameras. I have seen many shows where the evidence was astonishingly strong and others terribly planned and scripted. In others words, television is filled with all kinds, those based on the legitimate research and seekers of scientific proof of the afterlife and those that take advantage of people who are believers. Live Science Staff. (2011, October 11). americans beliefs in paranormal phenomena (infographic). Live Science, 1. Retrieved from

General Background information about Bayer Health Care company Research Paper

General Background information about Bayer Health Care company - Research Paper Example Instead the mission and vision statement for the Bayer group have been given below. The mission statement, features the slogan â€Å"Bayer: Science for a Better Life,† and summarizes the Group’s goals, strategies and values. The mission statement underscores Bayer’s willingness as an inventor company to help shape the future and our determination to come up with innovations that benefit humankind. Of special importance in this respect are new products emerging from Bayer’s active substance research, the consumer health business, the growth markets of Asia and new areas such as biotechnology and nanotechnology. In the future, Bayer will focus on innovation and growth in the areas of health care, nutrition and high-tech materials. The company is also driven by a set of values that include: A Will to Succeed; A passion for our stakeholders; Integrity, Openness and honesty; Respect for people and nature; Sustainability of our actions. The Bayer Group was founded in 1863 in Germany and is nearly 150 years old in its operations. As mentioned in the introduction, the company is considered a â€Å"blue-chip† company and the Health Care division is considered a very profitable one. All over the world, the name Bayer is synonymous with Trust, Reliability and Responsibility. The company has other divisions as well though the Pharma division is the one that is the most known of the divisions and is the focus of this paper. To quote from the website, â€Å"Headquartered in Leverkusen,  Bayer HealthCare  researches, develops, manufactures and markets innovative products for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases. The company thus plays an important part in improving the health of people and animals. This subgroup comprises four global divisions: Animal Health, Consumer Care, Medical Care (Diabetes Care and MEDRAD) and Bayer Schering Pharma AG, Germany*. Bayer HealthCare has  53,400 employees’ worldwide and generated sales of EUR 15,988

Not-For-Profit Organizations Essay Example for Free

Not-For-Profit Organizations Essay Executive Summary Not-For-Profit organizations are fundamentally different than for-profit, private sector businesses in that they do not have shareholders, their mission statements are focused on furthering a cause rather than just increasing profitability and most Not-For-Profits earn the majority of their revenue through donor contributions. As a result, Not-For-Profit Organizations operate under different reporting requirements than for-profit businesses. In order to provide proper accounting for the numerous activities undertaken by a Not-For-Profit Organization in a given year, it is imperative that one understand the two financial accounting standards that affect Not-For-Profit organizations the most: Statements of Financial Accounting Standards (SFAS) 116 and 117 which provide guidance on donor contributions and the presentation of the financial statements. The objective of this summary is to provide a high-level overview of the standards and the effect they have on the financial statements of a Not-For-Profit organization. The Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 116 establishes the standards for accounting for contributions received and contributions made to all organizations with fiscal years beginning after December 15, 1994. Contributions are defined by SFAS No. 116 as voluntary transfers in which the donor does not receive any value in return. Donor contributions may include the following resources: Cash, Marketable securities Property and equipment Utilities and Supplies Intangible assets such as intellectual property Professional services SFAS 116 requires that all contributions and unconditional promises to donate in the future, known as pledges, are recognized as revenues at fair value in the period in which they are received. Pledges are recognized as soon as the requirements of a pledge are met and it is no longer contingent on a future event. Additionally, contributions made and received are also recognized at as expenses upon receipt at fair value. The Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 116 also requires organizations to identify those contributions that contain donor-imposed restrictions and the timeframe or requirements for meeting these donor-imposed restrictions. According to SFAS No. 116, organizations must classify contributions into one of the following categories based on the existence or absence of donor imposed stipulations: Permanently Restricted Net Assets Temporarily Restricted Net Assets Unrestricted Net Assets Those assets that are restricted by a donor imposed stipulation of time, a particular purpose or program, or the occurrence of a future event must be set aside and cannot be expended until the restriction has expired through the satisfaction of the donor stipulation. Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (SFAS) No. 117 is also important in accounting for Not-For-Profit Organizations in that it provides standards for the presentation of the financial statements for organizations with fiscal years beginning after December 15, 1994. Overall, this standard requires that the financial statements provide the necessary information for all of the users of Not-For-Profit financial statements. The standard requires that Not-For-Profit Organizations produce the following financial statements on an annual basis: A statement of financial position (balance sheet) A statement of activities (income statement) A statement of cash flows In the statement of financial position, SFAS No. 117 requires that the  Not-For-Profit organization provide amounts for the total assets, liabilities, and net assets at the end of the fiscal period. Additionally, the statement of financial position must classify the organizations net assets as temporarily restricted, permanently restricted, or unrestricted based on donor imposed stipulations. The statement of activities is required to report to the financial statement users the transactions which caused a change in net assets during the period and the statement of cash flows is must provide a reconciliation of activity between beginning and ending cash balances of the period as either operating activities, financing activities or investing activities. Additional schedules are also required by SFAS No. 117 for special organzations such a voluntary health and wellness organizations that provide unique services related to their cause. Overall, a thorough understanding and application of Statements of Financial Standards No. 116 and 117 allows Not-For-Profit organizations to properly account for their unique activities and provide their financial statement users with relevant, understandable and comparable information in order to assess the financial position of the Not-For-Profit organization over the past fiscal year and going forward into the future.

To Have Or Have Not :: essays research papers

To Have and Have Not Michael Lind Michael Lind wrote the article To Have and Have not about the ever-increasing gap between the rich and the poor. He comments with heart and knowledge on the fact that the prosperous are increasing their wealth by taking from the poor. It sounds like and basically is the story of Robin Hood. He writes about the amount of power the wealthy have, segregated work places, the crooked political system, and tax reforms. But what amazes me the most is that he too is part of the overclass. This first hand knowledge of the system gives Lind such a strong base for his argument, and allows the reader to trust his words that much more. Over the last several years in the United States it has become more and more evident that the gap between the rich and the poor is growing. Not only is the gap growing, but the government is doing very little to stop it. Slowly the poor are being shifted away from the center of wealth and being replaced by the already wealthy. It's a shame how a few people with large cheque books can run the most powerful country in the world, and yet the general public are being redirected to think this problem is a minimal and insignificant issue. The truth is that economic and social inequalities have been growing in the United States at an alarming pace. The inequalities exist because the wealthy want to have more, and the power to obtain more; To do so people must give up their wealth and thus cause the economic gap. Not only is the United States segregated based on the upper class and lower class, it seems that prejudice is also appearing in a hidden manner. Take for example an executive building. You'll notice that everyone working there looks the same. Of course their opinions, value systems, and beliefs may differ, however they are almost always white and mainline protestant. This new and still growing oligarchy is about 20 percent of the population and is evenly spread across every state. What is even more amazing about the American oligarchy is that they pride themselves solely on their individual merit. To them its not because they were born into upper class, nor that they had the opportunity to get an education, but merle on their own IQ, virtue, and genius. Lind uses a great example of this when he says,

Customer Relationship Management in Bahrain Investment Banking Arena Essay

The banking industry has undergone widespread changes within the operating environment and this involves globalization of markets and technological improvements. These two factors have influenced and encouraged innovative practices within the banking industry that has served to enhance its operational efficiency. The introduction of ATMs and e-banking facilities are some of the major milestones in the banking industry that have revolutionized business operations. The global markets have intensified the competitive environment of the banking industry that has created the need for increased efficiency in operations and increasing customer satisfaction. Customers are the lifeblood of any organization and the banking business too depends on the acquisition and retention of consumers for its profitability. Customer relationship management forms a vital aspect of business strategy driving the company’s market shares and market leadership position. Customer relationship management (CRM) has been defined as a business strategy that â€Å"is a fusion of a series of functions, skills, processes, and technologies which together allow companies to more profitably manage (acquire and retain) customers as tangible assets† (Shanmugasundaram, 2008:98). It is viewed as an interactive process that creates a balance between corporate objectives and customer satisfaction to increase the profitability of the business. Acquisition and retention of customers is one of the vital requirements of business and the effectiveness of strategies driven towards this goal determines the success of business enterprises. The past few years have witnessed growing application of CRM in retail banking and investment banking sectors. The key objective behind such initiatives is to ensure the delivery of superior customer service and to fulfil the needs of consumers. Such practices are effective in enabling organizations to meet the needs of the consumers and provide improved services in comparison to other players in the industry. Competitive advantage and business gains are driven by a proactive approach that focuses on consumer needs and expectations, provision of consistently high quality service, looking into consumer convenience and an effective follow up service to ensure consumer loyalty. A vital aspect of investment banking and any other financial services is the changing consumer mindsets. Owing to the abundance of information easily accessible over the Internet the consumers today are more knowledgeable of the wide range of choices and alternatives available to them. The consumers are equipped with more knowledge related to the banking options available and hence their banking decisions are guided by their well-researched study. This fact holds true for all economic sectors and business operations but forms a critical aspect of banking industries since it caters to a diverse segment of consumers. In nearly all business to business markets in which clients are as large as, or as in this case, often much larger than their suppliers, the latter must respond quickly to pressures from their clients to improve client management processes and systems† (Foss & Stone, 2002: 211). CRM in Investment banking sector The short term objective of the marketing department is to acquire customers while the long term objective translates to retaining the old customers through effective customer relationship management (CRM) strategies. Reaching and acquiring a new customer is one thing, keeping the relationship healthy and strong over a long period of time is the mark of the true marketing professional concerned with long term health of the organization† (Dolak, 2009). The increasing competitive market makes it difficult to retain customers over a longer period of time owing to the constant influx of new and substitute alternatives invading the shelf spaces at the local retail shop. This makes the task of CRM increasingly challenging and organizations adopt various strategies to attract old customers back. Retention strategies often employ measures such as consumer behaviour research and product surveys that enable the organizations to assess the needs and expectations of the consumer and enable them to serve better. Customers always appreciate the personal touch that results in building strong relationships. The net today provides numerous effective communication channels that are being used to keep the customer happy. Web based customer relationship management has effectively integrated all modes of communication – web, email, chat, video, voice to serve and support the customers to enhance the total customer experience. Investment banking differs from other forms of banking in the role a few major clients play on the bank’s performance and productivity (Foss & Stone, 2002). This form of banking targets a fixed client segment that drives the sales of investment products and services. The efficiency of the banking sector is determined by the types of products and services sold to customers in response to their investment needs and expectations. Customization of products and services are the key to deriving client satisfaction. Identification of the client segment is a vital factor in targeting and reaching out to the desired client population and this process is driven by market research. The changing demographics and intense competitive pressures from global industry players have however made a significant impact on the business strategies of investment banks worldwide. The challenges faced by investment bankers lie in reaching out to target consumers and providing them with increased ease of banking services that serve to retain clients over a longer period of time. Moreover, the increasing demands of consumers and growing expectations have driven the banking sector to adopt technology based innovative applications for meeting consumer needs and expectations. Online banking services and mobile banking applications are some of the innovative means that are being used by investment bankers to reach out to their target consumers. Such applications have served to improve banking services and efficiencies in resolving customer queries and needs promptly through the click of the mouse button. The anytime and anywhere access to banking services have defined new trends in serving consumers. â€Å"Online customization is one useful customer relationship management strategy adopted by e-business to add value and improve sales of their products and services using the Internet† (Khosla et al. , 2003). Investment banking in Bahrain The banking sector in Bahrain is one of the key sectors influencing economic growth and development in the region. The contribution of the financial services and banking sector is second only to the oil and natural gas industry in the country. The country has experienced an economic boom and an upward trend in economic growth and development over the past few decades on account of globalisation influences and opening of trade channels. The banking sector has also opened to multinational corporations establishing their operations in the country to tap the growing number of high net worth individuals in the country. Despite the globalisation of banking operations and increased de-regulation of the financial services sector in the area the country continues to have a significant control and supervision over the regulatory environment. The Central Bank of Bahrain continues to be monitor and control the banking environment in the country. The modernisation of banking services and strategic approaches made by investment bankers in other parts of the globe have not produced much impact in this region owing to the constraints applied by the existing cultural influence. The retail banking scenario in Bahrain is to a considerable extent driven by the culture of the country. The cultural impacts are realised in the conservative approach of consumers towards banking and investment. Various research studies have concluded that while the region is an emerging market for technology applications and innovative practices, user attitudes have limited the scope of technology based business models in the banking sector. The conservative market environment and user attitudes towards the CRM strategies adopted by investment bankers in Bahrain forms the focal point of the research study. The research study will analyse the various perspectives involved in CRM approach by investment bankers through the study of Unicorn Investment Bank in Bahrain. The bank was founded in the year 2004 and has its headquarters in Bahrain. It is an Islamic financial services group that has an international presence in various locations such as Malaysia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and United States. The bank currently has six distinctive business service categories that include asset management and real estate, capital markets, corporate finance, private equity, strategic mergers and acquisitions and treasury. Among the various services offered by the bank the key approach is to deliver the customers with a comprehensive range of investment solutions that are customised to meet client needs and expectations. Unicorn’s integrated product offering and financial engineering skills are closely intertwined with a strong capacity to distribute the Bank’s products and services to a broad client base across the GCC region, the wider Middle East region, Southeast Asia, the USA and the Europe† (Unicorn, 2010). The target customers of the bank include high net worth individuals, business enterprises, financial institutions, corporations, and government agencies and departments. The products offered by the bank are Shari’ah compliant and conforms to the international financial practices (Unicorn, 2010). Issues and challenges â€Å"All major banks have invested heavily in technology and infrastructure over the last 5 and 10 years in this area, but hardly any of them have been successful in actually getting it effective† (Infosys, 2009). The failure of CRM initiatives within the investment banking sector have provided a new ground for research into increasing the effectiveness of CRM applications. There are many strategic implications related to the application of CRM within investment banking sector. This involves the adaptation of normal banking processes and systems to integrate with innovative use of technology based applications and automated query processing systems that require efficient management and handling of issues. Such issues pertain to the efficient use of CRM systems to meet operational goals and integrating the different banking functions to provide a structured application that can be used easily by consumers. Ease of use and convenience are some of the key parameters involved in the development of CRM based banking system. A key challenge facing these areas involves the security and privacy issues that form a major source of concern for consumers using the technology based applications. Technology based business models and CRM strategies enable investment bankers to provide the customers with efficiency in delivery of services, access to relevant information, product details and ease of transactions. Mobile banking and e-banking facilitates the customers of investment banking to a host of facilities that range from product enquiry; access updated rates of interest and market values of the investment products chosen and conducts investment transactions online. Investment portfolios can also be accessed and manipulated according to user convenience from the comforts of their home or office. However, widespread usage of such systems has been restricted on account of user reservations related to security issues and privacy of vital user data and information. Mobile banking and online transactions raise security and privacy concerns among most of the consumers (Barati & Mohammadi, 2009). The transfer of sensitive financial and personal information across mobile networks is found to be the prime reason behind the psychological barriers created among potential mobile banking customers (Laukkanen, 2007).

Accounting Profit vs. Economic Profit. the Necessity of a Management Performance System to Boost Organization’s Performance

Accurate information is a critical input in a decision making process that targets real value creation for shareholders. The objective of this paper is the analysis of two articles of Stern Steward Research, namely â€Å"Accounting is Broken. Here’s How to fix it. A Radical Manifiesto† and â€Å"The capitalism Manifesto. The Transformation of the Corporation – Employee Capitalism –â€Å". Both papers propose a roadmap to fix the conventional accounting shortness through the use of Value Based Management (VBM) as a real and effective management system of value creation and measurement.Economic Value Added (EVA) plays the main role in this management approach, as a very effective performance metric in the alignment of the organization with its ultimate goal of shareholder’s value creation. VIEW OF THE READING In the first paper â€Å"Accounting is Broken. Here’s How to fix it. A Radical Manifiesto†, the accounting related aspects of EV A are discussed, providing a comparison between accounting earnings and economic earnings. Weaknesses of accounting standards are exposed here.The authors suggest a serie of radical reforms for the conventional accounting in order to align conventional with economic accounting in order to provide managers with the information that really matters and avoid mispreactices to deceive shareholders. The paper proposes EVA as a rock solid measure that provides a very clear picture of the organization’s performance. According to the paper accountants should start using economic profit (EVA) to better reflect the economic reality of the organization.Economic earnings underpin the decision making process, clarifying the economic objectives and setting up a target for value creation. The paper highlights the capability of EVA measure to fix some weaknesses of the accounting earnings perspective and proposes some reforms: †¢Cost of equity must be brought into the light of day as a k ey element for the economic profit. Shareholders need and deserve to be compensated for the risk they are taking by investing in a company. †¢Operating decision must be separated from investment and financing decision to avoid manipulation. Intangible assets should be capitalized as investments aimed at the creation of economic profit. †¢Stock options have to be expensed and depreciation and amortization must be better measured. The second paper â€Å"The capitalism Manifesto. The Transformation of the Corporation – Employee Capitalism –â€Å" analyzes the role of EVA measure as a metric of the total organizational productivity and the role it plays or can play in a pay-per-performance incentive plan to align the interest of the owners with the interest of the employees to enhance organization performance.Empowerment and accountability are seen as the basis to boost employee’s performance and the basis to set up incentive programes to stick the gains . The paper presents a deep analysis on the implementation of effective business management and incentive systems down to the shop floor in the European Union. Some examples are presented to explain the potential role of EVA in the implementation of a European policy for incentive plans. According to the paper, executives and frontline employees can or should unify their efforts within the EVA proven management system, to maximize value creation within the organization.The authors propose that decision making process at all levels should be implemented within a management framework where short- and long term incentive plans will be linked to results in form of value creation. Incentive plans should also be linked to cash and equity to guarantee the sustainability of the organization. If the employees can invest in the organization, they will start acting like owners taking right decisions and fostering sustainable growth. MY POINT OF VIEW Both papers assume a shareholder’s va lue perspective: the first and foremost purpose of a Corporation is to maximize shareholder value.This perspective should be brought in balance with the stakeholder’s perspective. Profitability has to be combined with responsibility. According to S. David Young and Stephen F. O’Byrne (2000), the economic pressures that organizations are facing nowadays induce managers, in some cases, to use bad practices in order to deceive shareholders by inflated earnings or not sustainable growth. EVA alone cannot solve this issue. A very clear management system has to be set up with guidelines and accountability for executives. Corporations cannot become economic machines.Responsibility for stakeholders (employees, society, environment, customers) has to play a central role as well. Economic earnings should be the main target, but corporations should be able to provide the needed environment to create the expected value based on ownership, clear economic and financial information, moral recognition, personal growth, empowerment and training. The first paper is a very interesting approach to EVA and to accounting practices. It sheds light on the issue that accounting is not what is used to be and cannot account anymore for what it has to account.Accounting standards lack the ability to control and guide executive behavior. On the other hand, the paper tends to fully disqualify accounting. Conventional accounting has played and will play its role in the society. It is hard to say that accounting is completely responsible for all bad practices and mismanagement cases (Enron, Worldcom, etc). Accounting has its weak points and these weaknesses have been used by irrational managers to inflate value in the shareholder’s eyes. The question is if we are talking about a symptom or about a root cause.We cannot solve the problem working on the symptoms. The root causes have to be found and addressed. In the current competitive environment, managers are struggling with the value creation process. Fierce competition and growing expectations of the shareholders is a killing combination to push managers in the bad path. It is not rare then that some of them make use of bad practices in order to boost value on the short-term, but putting in serious dangerous the future of the organization.In such situation is fair to say that accounting cannot account anymore for what really counts. Accounting standards allow these bad practices. A superior management system is in need. S. David Young and Stephen F. O’Byrne (2000) states that EVA can actually boost productivity and is able to match the interests of shareholders and stakeholders. Decision making process must be decentralized and roll down to the floor. In my experience, executives lack the ability to empower employees.Maybe it is the fear to lose power or that they don’t trust the subordinates. In any case they are missing the possibility to stimulate and motivate employees and the m ost important they are failing to use the advantage of impacting decision making by the ‘time and place’ factors. I think one of the reasons can be that they lack a measure like EVA that can set up the targets for the whole organization, allowing the cascading of the decision making process, improving the performance of the organization through more motivated employees and ownership boosting.EVA can be used at all levels within the organization, stimulating the decision making and risk taking attitude of the employees, since EVA will bring transparency and direction to the objectives to be met to create true value. In this case owners don’t have to worry about the earning sharing and they can start seeing employees as partner with the same objectives and motivations. Nowadays the intellectual capital of a corporation is one of the strongest competitive edges they can create. Employee’s satisfaction must be one of the goals within the organization to make i t sustainable.Employee’s satisfaction cannot be based only on cash or equity. People need a trusty environment where they can interact and reach high productivity levels, based not only on economic incentives, but on total ownership, supported by an increasing role in the decision making process, contributing to the value creation process and ensuring a sustainable growth of the organization. If one takes a closer look at EVA methodology to demonstrate that EVA is not as simple as supporters tell. EVA is a performance measure capable of reliably indicating the intrinsic value of all companies in all times.As a performance metric, EVA remains in control of the corporation and should impact Market Value Added (MVA) on the long term creating true value for the shareholders. With EVA managers have a more effective tool to support their decision making process. The entire metric was developed based on the following three ideas : 1. Cash flows are the best indicators of performance . The accounting distortions must therefore be â€Å"fixed†. Accrual based accounting should be transformed into cash-flow accounting. 2. Some expenses are really investments and should be capitalized on the balance sheet.True investments must therefore be recognized as means to create future cash flow. 3. Equity capital is expensive (or, at the very least, not free). This expense must therefore be accounted for. Investment is an economic decision and opportunity cost should be taken into account. To calculate EVA, two sets of information’s are needed, namely the Net Operating Profit After Taxes (NOPAT) and the Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC). NOPAT is first calculated based on the Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA).Some adjustments are needed here to account for the correct operating profit of the corporation. Important here is to understand that operating and financing decisions must be evaluated separately. NOPAT provides a very clear picture of the organization operating performance, excluding potential manipulation through financing decisions. On the other hand, WACC is the average of the costs of the financing sources, each of which is weighted by its respective use in the given situation. By taking a weighted average, we can see how much interest the company has to pay for every dollar it finances.WACC demands a very clear policy from the organization about its financial structure (debt and equity relationship) to calculate the cost of the capital. This is a fundament to avoid bad practices, manipulations, abuse of leverage technique through cheaper debts and ineffective decision making process. A very strong and reliable financing structure is needed in order to not compromise the future of the organization and to provide a very solid platform for the economic growth, by choosing projects with a really economic impact on the bottom line. Generally speaking, EVA has a big drawback.As we could se e above, EVA is very far from being a simple metric. The point here is that the implementation of value-added measures such as EVA into a company is a costly and time consuming process . Substantial costs and time are justified only if benefits of optimizing the company’s strategy for value creation can be achieved. A transition to value-added measurements requires serious commitment of the board of directors and senior management to use these measures to manage the business. Every individual in the company must buy into the plan to make it successful.Extensive training and communication effort directed to everyone in the company is also required. EVA may be a complex concept and may not be something the average person/employee/manager/investor is going to understand without big efforts. When it comes to the organizational change required to implement something like EVA, you need to get people on board and it could be a very difficult task and therefore a major obstacle for i ts adoption. EVA should not be viewed as the answer to all things either. It doesn’t solve business problems, which is the manager’s responsibility.In conjunction with MVA, it does provide a meaningful target to pursue for both internally and externally oriented decisions. Managers remain the leaders within the corporations and the one who has to drive the value creation process. Generally speaking, shareholders must be provided with clear data on the corporation performance and on the decision making process. They need and deserve a return on their investment, but it should not be forgotten that their investment decisions involve risk and they must be compensated for this.The cost of the capital should be incorporated. Value creation should be calculated as the difference between NOPAT and capital and its cost. Accounting earnings don’t mean value creation. A Corporation can report net profits that don’t actually mean value creation from the shareholderà ¢â‚¬â„¢s viewpoint. To accomplish this, managers need clear and strong performance metrics able to stretch the corporation to achieve clear performance targets properly aligned with the ultimate goal of creating value. EVA is a metric upon which the whole organization can be build.In the current high competitive market, Value Based Management is a competitive advantage. It aligns the organizations with the expectations of the shareholders, facilitating the decision making process, avoiding accounting manipulation, targeting the ultimate goal of value creation, providing a very unambiguous metric such as EVA to guide the organization through the value creation process and ensuring the long term economic growth of the organization based on clear and transparent management practices.CONCLUSIONS Both papers offer a very clear perspective of the advantages of using EVA. Value Based Management provides Senior Management Teams with a clear benefit since it is able to close the gap between accounting earnings and economic earnings, driving the value within the organization. With EVA, the corporations possesses a metric that drives value and supports the incentive plans to motivate employees and make them to act like owners.Effective implementation could be an issue due to the complexity of the concept, but EVA is nowadays the most effective management approach connecting shareholders and stakeholders to accomplish the ultimate economic goal of the corporation, the value creation. EVA creates a very transparent environment providing more qualitative data to the shareholders about the organization’s performance and the use of the resources. It also provides a more qualitative decision making process in order to satisfy shareholder’s expectations.

American Imperialism essay

American Imperialism essay American Imperialism essay American Imperialism essayAmerican foreign policy generally grew more interventionist and aggressive from the 1890s into the twentieth century because of considerable changes in political, social and economic sectors of the country. The key moments in that development include changing American diplomacy that demonstrated respect to other nations; the promotion of peace and dignity; expansion of foreign commerce, construction of a powerful Navy Fleet, the growth of oversees military bases, promotion of stability and security of the nation. As a result, the ties to Latin American countries became stronger. The greater oversees involvement of the United States improved the country’s social and political position.   Political and economic issues led to the Filipino Insurrection (1899– 1902), including the annexation of the Philippine islands, resistance to colonialism, resistance to the US ruling power, violence and discrimination toward the native population in Philippin es. This conflict was perceived in the United States negatively. The population of Philippines was unfriendly for assimilation and the US had to â€Å"suppress the rebellion against American rule† (Kennedy et al., 2008, p. 685). Americans used different arguments to justify their colonization of the Philippines, including the struggle for freedom of the nation from Spanish oppression. The argument that American presence in Philippines could be viewed as a military imposition was used against colonization. The U.S. wanted to build a canal across Central America in order to use it as a passageway between the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, expanding trade and improving economy. The Central American canal could reduce the time of travelling. The U.S. eventually accomplished this project through digging the Panama Canal. The Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine was an annual message to the US Congress articulated by President Roosevelt that had become an effective pol icy.   In his message, President Roosevelt expanded the Doctrine, stating that the countries of the Western Hemisphere were not open to accepting colonizing power of Europeans, and that the   by United States approach was to preserve existing order, protecting human lives in those countries (Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, 1904). It was used to justify imperialism through its interference the countries of Latin America, building the Panama Canal and providing control over the colonies (Bowles, 2011). In my opinion, the Navy was more influential in this period of imperialism because the United States was focused on expanding its overseas power.

12 Career Options for Political Science Majors

12 Career Options for Political Science Majors Political science majors are popular for a reason: theyre interesting, theyre current, and they open a lot of career opportunities for graduates. Fortunately, political science majors can apply their academic and, often, their political training in a wide range of jobs. 12 Careers for Political Science Majors 1. Work on a political campaign. You majored in political science for a reason. Put your academic interests to the test by working on a political campaign for a candidate youd love to see- and help- make a difference. 2. Work for the federal government. The federal government works in a variety of fields with people of all backgrounds. This offers many opportunities to develop subject matter expertise. Find one branch that interests you the most and see if theyre hiring. 3. Work for the state government. Federal government too big? Give back to your home state, or a new one, by working for the state government. Also, because of federalism, there are certain areas in which states have more control, so some areas of expertise may be a better fit at the state level. 4. Work for the local government. You may want to start off a little smaller and closer to home in your political career. Consider working for the local government, its a great place to get your foot in the door. City and county governments are a good place to start. 5. Work in advocacy for a nonprofit. Nonprofits are often busy working toward their missions- helping kids, fixing the environment, etc.- but they need a lot of help behind the scenes. That includes getting political support for their cause and thats where your degree can help. 6. Work at a politically based website. If you like to write, engage in online discussion, and help create a virtual community, consider working for a politically based website. You could also write for the political section of a website that is broader than politics. 7. Work in government relations in the for-profit sector. Working for a private (or even public) companys government relations department will allow you to blend your interests in politics with the dynamics of working for a specific company. 8. Work in government relations in the nonprofit sector. Interested in government relations but also in helping promote a cause? Many nonprofits, especially larger, national ones, need staff to help with government relations and advocacy. 9. Work for a school. You may not think of working at a school as political in nature, but many institutions- including colleges and universities, as well as K-12 schools- need help with your special skill set. This includes coordinating government relations, advocating for funding, managing regulations, and a whole host of other, interesting responsibilities. 10. Work at a magazine. Many magazines admittedly (or very clearly) have a political tilt. Find one you like and see if theyre hiring. 11. Work for a political party. Consider, for example, checking into whether the Republican or Democratic Party is hiring for its local, state, or national offices. You might surprise yourself with what you end up getting to do! 12. Teach.  Teaching is a great opportunity for the politically minded. You can help inspire a passion for political science and government in your students while also having summers off for your own political work.

Hear Me Out Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Hear Me Out - Essay Example I never had to use my health care until a recent illness, and I was shocked to discover how much an emergency room visit costs (even with benefits), and the itemization of the bill was ludircious. For instance, I was charged $38 for a magnesium pill—these can be bought at a drug store at 100 count for less than $10. The doctor, whom I barely saw, charged me close to $900 for being in the hospital for around 4 hours. My bill would have been $8000 without insurance; luckily I had to pay only $2500, still a lot, but not too bad considering the original expense. I see now why so few people can afford this, and why the situation is getting out of control. I am therefore in full agreement of promoting a government-sponsoered health care program to help cut back medical costs. What worries me most at this time is the fact that some of my very close friends do not have health insurance (and they have two 14 month old twin boys). If anything happened to them or the babies, since they a re both without full time jobs (lost due to the economy), they would lose everything. This situation is terrible for many people, and to imagine two hardworking people losing their homes and having to find a way to take care of their babies without a house is a thought I would like to be able to put out of my mind, but I cannot due to the current situation. This brings me now to my fear about the economy. Like my friends I mentioned, many people are unemployed and searching for work unsuccessfully. The true problem with this is the fact that jobs are not out there, and some states are hurting because of the economy. They are less and less able to provide unemployment. Of course, this will only make things worse for the economy. If these people are not able to get unemployment checks to survive, they will lose their homes and not have the money to spend on groceries or anything else to