...British Petroleum is without a doubt one of the world’s most profitable companies of all time. British Petroleum or (BP) is the leading oil extraction company worldwide, therefore substantially affecting millions of people and companies. Bp gains its profits by transforming the oil it retains from around the world into the biggest commodity around; petrol, known as gasoline. In addition, Bp is also a major supplier of low carbon energy generated naturally by windmills and other means across America. Thus, satisfying the request that many American consumers have brought up in a publicized meeting regarding alternate means of energy. Bp, being one of the leading companies in the world affects an extremely wide base of, investors, retailers, dealers, and stock holders, not to mention the ninety six thousand employees currently working around the clock at their various locations. Many consumers assume that Bp with all its power and wealth couldn’t possible care what it is doing to the environment or economy; however, this couldn’t be any further from the truth. According to www.bp.com, Bp is currently partnered with over 13 major companies researching and utilizing Biofuel technologies; Advanced Biofuels Association, American Petroleum Institute, and Biotechnology Industry Organization, are just a few. With a net value of about seventy billion, Bp has many shares/stockholders and cares nothing more than making these valued customers happy with their decision to invest in Bp....
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...Social Media: Information Technology Abstract Social Media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, are universally known and present in parts of the world in today’s society. Social media have become such a part of many people daily activities that most couldn’t image living without it. It has brought many benefits to us, but also some pitfalls. Facebook monitors how third parties use your personal data, however, they also state they cannot guarantee “that third parties will follow Facebook’s privacy policy, if you don’t want your privacy violated, then you probably want to reconsider joining Facebook or other social networks. The definition of “privacy” is subjective, however, things like personal information such as name, living and working locations, job, career, education, income, relationship status, contact information, and bank information should be safeguarded at all costs to prevent things like stalking, identity theft, fraud, and other attempts to undermine a person’s life. It’s not all bad, Facebook has reunited family’s, long lost friends, and is helping police officers catch the bad guys, however, like anything, too much can be bad for you. More recently social media has been known as the tool that facilitated many uprising in Middle Eastern countries. It helped kick start a revolution known as the Arab Spring. Facebook was used to schedule activities such as gatherings to protest, Twitter was used to coordinate an array of events at a moment’s notice...
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...forever be known as Occupy Wall Street. Taking over Liberty Square in the Manhattan Financial District in New York, a group of Americans began a nonviolent protest over the economic state in America. One of the stances that Occupy Wall Street held was that 99% of American’s economic well-being was controlled by the top 1% of Americans. This economic truth would no longer be accepted by this group of Americans. This group also called for solidarity inside of the 99% of Americans defining this in a set of principles. These principles involved a direct and transparent engagement of participatory democracy, exercising responsibility on collective and individual levels, empowerment of each other against all oppression, redefining how labor is valued, the sanctity of individual privacy, that education is human right, and that all knowledge, technologies, and culture be open to free access, creation, modification, and distribution (Stone, 2011)). Together in this movements solidarity they came together in New York to speak out about the injustices that they have suffered at the hands of corporations. These facts were that homes had been placed in foreclosure without the original mortgages, bonuses have been given to executives after corporations have received bail outs from taxpayers, the constant outsourcing of labor and using that ideal as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay, and purposely keeping people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media to name a few...
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...(Weiss, 2005). It has become a growing concern in the society, especially among the parents, about the cyberspace’s detrimental impacts upon the teenagers since it is concealed beneath the whitewashed faces of social media and other sites and generates addiction resulting in reduced efficiency of the students. Furthermore, it exposes them to the dangers of cyber bullying, and ruins the teenagers’ creativity and originality; not to mention, it also creates destructive impact upon family bonds. The creators of social media and other beguiling websites assert that the growth in the use of Internet is leading towards modernization among youths. It enables accelerated exchange of information and opens up diverse opportunities for valued learning, responsibility, and independence. Students can learn to manage time and resources effectively, master meaningful context, and communicate this information clearly to the intended audience (Wakefield & Rice, 2008). An admirable example of such...
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...(F&N), the largest region takeover, has illustrated the strategic corporate governance of both the acquirer and target firms, the reaction of their leaders and the evaluations of F&N’s worth. Furthermore, this transaction also had significant impacts on various key stakeholders – F&N’s Board of Directors, TCC Assets Ltd and Thai Beverage PCL, Overseas Union Enterprise (OUE), and other F&N’s shareholders such as Kirin Holdings Co. Nowadays, most corporate leadership consists of two main management bodies, which are the Board of Directors and the Board Executive Committee. In F&N, Board of Directors acts as a crucial internal governance to set strategic directions, to oversee management and most importantly, to protect the interests of its shareholders. During merger transactions, they are supposed to monitor the transactions so as to maximize its shareholders’ wealth. In October 2012, F&N directors rejected Mr Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi's takeover offer because the offer price of $8.88 per share (which valued F&N at S$7.2bn) is at the low end of the range of the estimated market value of between $8.30 and $11.22 (Yap, 2012). F&N’s advisor, JP Morgan Chase also described the offer from Mr. Charoen as ‘not compelling’ (Yap, 2012). This incidence illustrates how F&N Board took the responsibility to review the offer carefully and provided its shareholders necessary evaluations of the offer so as to maximize their profits. Furthermore,...
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...154 Part 2 Google in China Google, the fast-growing Internet search engine company, was established with a clear mission in mind: to organize the world's information and make it universally acceptable and useful. Google has built a highly profitable advertising business on the back of its search engine, which is by far the most widely used in the world. Under the pay-per-click business model, advertisers pay Google every time a user of its search engine clicks on one of the paid links typically listed on the right-hand side of Google's results page. Google has long operated with the mantra "don't be evil"! When this phrase was originally f ormulated, the central message was that Google should never compromise the integrity of its search results. For e xample, Google decided not to let commercial considerations bias its ranking. This is why paid links are not included in its main search results, but listed on the right hand side of the results page. The mantra "don't be evil," however, has become more than that at Google; it has become a central organizing principle of the company and an ethical touchstone by which managers judge all of its strategic decisions. Google's mission and m antra raised hopes among human rights activists that the search engine would be an unstoppable tool for c ircumventing government censorship, d emocratizing i nformation and a llowing people in heavily censored societies to gain access to information t hat t heir governments...
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...Compare and Contrast an Agency Protest to a General Accounting Office (GAO) protest" Abstract Bid protests enhance the integrity and transparency of the federal procurement process by providing offers with an effective tool to challenge federal contract awards and thereby determine whether they conform to federal procurement law and regulation (1). Therefore, when a protest is brought, successful offers must be prepared to intervene in the protest to defend their contract award. A protester is typically a third party aggrieved by the actions of a government agency which result in a contract going to an awardee viewed by the protester as non-deserving. The law permits protests to be resolved through formal as well as informal procedures. The three protests are the procuring agency, the GAO, and the COFC, which all differ considerably as to their rules, procedures, scope of review, and available relief, and being well versed on each forum’s unique aspects can be essential to a successful outcome. Created by the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921, the GAO became the first external forum for federal bid protests. The GAO was established as an independent governmental agency under the control and direction of the Comptroller General for the United States. Even though the statutes giving GAO jurisdiction to hear bid protests were not enacted until the mid-1980s, the GAO has been hearing bid protests since the 1920s. So what exactly is a bid protest...
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...competitors with bigger budgets, such as Apple Inc., entered the market, the board of directors for Odeo asked the company to strategize their business in a new light. The result was an internal project, Twttr Beta, which allowed staff to update each other through the service. In October 2006, newly re-named “Twitter” was acquired by Obvious Corp., a company set up by Williams, Jack Dorsey and Christopher Stone to allow the group to focus on the project. Today, with 140 characters or less, subscribers of Twitter can update their followers with a “tweet” in real time. Twitter, a micro blogging service, is built on open service and allows its’ over 200 million active users to broadcast over 500 million tweets per day. Currently, it is one of the most popular social media tools after Facebook and Google. Product: Twitter is essentially text based, which means that unlike other social media platforms such as Facebook or Instagram, exchanging videos and photos is not one of Twitter’s services. As such, the main product that Twitter offers to users throughout the world is “tweeting”; Twitter’s brand essence is based on allowing users to express their current situation in 140 characters or less. Unless specifically protected by users, anyone...
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...coincided with a plummeting consumer purchase power rate cased massive inflation that plunged the country into a huge recession. The following details the Chilean economic structure and the role the government played during its pedestrian growth in the 1950’s, its fall in the 1970’s and its current day resurrection. During the 1950’s to 1970, Chile had the poorest economic performance among Latin America’s large and medium-sized countries. This pedestrian growth was attributed to the government and its overvaluation of the domestic currency. The government continually resorted to controlling agricultural prices in order to subsidize the urban and middle classes. This subsidy caused a lag in the growth of the agricultural sector, was one of the most glaring symptoms of Chile’s economic woes during the 1950’s. At the beginning of the 1950’s, inflation, which had already and economic problem and been since the 1880’s, became much more serious, widespread and prevalent and it continued to plague the country well into the 1960’s. During President Eduardo Frei’s reign (1964-1970), inflation rose to thirty five percent. In an attempt to stem this tide and reform the economy, he decided to impose agrarian reform. The 1962 Agrarian Reform Law was a government initiated redistribution of agricultural land but this...
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...processes: Revolution, (and nationalism) Industrialization Imperialism Lastly the Rise of the “nation-state” Age of Enlightenment (1650-1780’s) There were plenty of forward thinkers. Each was moving toward science as the new way of thinking. They used the application of universal laws of the natural world to social world. They valued ration over revelation. The government was as a contract. The ideas of Freedom, equality and sovereignty were held as the highest. The belief was to move forward in progress. French Revolution (1789-1799) The aim was to abolish the monarchy that was in france, it ultimately failed. It was far more radical than the American, but still failed. Mostly because they had no idea how to run a government. Whereas the Americans had some knowledge about their own rule. Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) Declared himself emperor and attempted to bring political stability to post-revolutionary france. He was however forced to abdicate the throne and exiled to Elba. He then escaped and ruled again for another 100 days, he was defeated by the british at waterloo, and exiled to St. Helena. Haitian Revolution (1791-1804) Most successful slave revolt in history. There were 3 sides to the revolut. White colonialists, Creoles and the slave...
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...Case Study 1 - Documentary Credit M/S Auto India Introduction M/S Auto India is a public limited company; they manufacture SUVs (sports utility Vehicle), in technical collaboration with General Motors of USA. The company has established their manufacturing base at Ranjangaon in Pune. They have acquired an area of 250 acres and the total project cost is estimated at Rs 1500 crores. As per the projections, the company is slated to achieve a 25% market share in the Indian market, within a period of two years. Out of the total project cost, 49% is brought in by General Motors and the rest is tied up with financial institutions, international banks and Indian banks. The working capital is financed by a consortium of banks in which Global bank, Pune branch, is the leader. The company imports many parts of the car engine in a CKD (completely knocked down) condition from General Motors, Detroit, after establishing import letters of credit through its main bankers, Global Bank, Pune Branch. M/S Auto India approached Global Bank, Pune for opening of import letter of credit as per UCP ICC 600 for USD 100,000, on sight basis, in favour of General Motors, Detroit. Type of credit - Irrevocable negotiable Application - UCP ICC 600 Applicant - M/S Auto India, Pune, India Beneficiary - M/S General Motors, Detroit, USA. Issuing Bank - Global Bank, Pune, India Advising Bank - The American Bank, New York Negotiating Bank - The American Bank, New York Reimbursing Bank - International Bank, New York...
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...love for the military became the “Father of our Country” ? An honorable, virtuous, adventuresome, solider who fought for independence from the British. Why him? Why is it that Mahatma Gandhi was the architect of civil disobedience that influenced the world? A struggling, shy, student who had tremendous difficulty speaking in public. Gandhi was unsuccessful as a lawyer in Bombay. He found his calling working for the downtrodden Indian minority in South Africa. Why him? Why is it Mother Teresa, a convent school teacher dedicated to her student’s education became a Noble Prize humanitarian? Her clinics now care for tens of thousands. Why her? Why is it that Jesus, (whether one believes he is just a man or truly the Son of God), became the most influential person who ever lived? Born in a barn to poor parents; Jesus relied on friends and strangers for food and shelter. He changed the culture of the world. Why him? There is something else at play here, Servant leadership. Servant leaders show proof of their character through behavior. They display the common practices of model leadership by modeling the way, inspiring a shared vision, challenging the process, enabling others to act and encouraging the heart (Kouzes & Posner, 2007). Leadership is about service, stewardship, and shepherding those; at home, work, and in the community. Washington, Gandhi, Mother Teresa, and Jesus’ effectiveness as leaders reflects courage, vision, values, and commitment to change. They have the heart...
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...1. ISSUES FOR DISCUSSION In recession economies, companies react to these changes in the marketplace by reducing costs, cutting production, reducing investment, entering foreign markets, working more with equity capital, improving efficiency, re-structuring debt (Beaver and Ross, 1999; Laitinen, 2000; Pearce and Michael; 1997; Zehir, 2005). An economic crisis requires some changes to be made in companies´ strategies. The fast food retailers even avoided increasing prices during this economic crisis. While consumers feel insecure in their job and negotiate more about financial matters (Shama, 1978). Despite many companies cutting theirs operational costs or reducing employees, McDonald’s in India planned to increase its headcount and strategically do not cut its cost. Taking advantage from the reducing prices of real estates, McDonalds start to gain more market share. McDonald’s management team believed that the economic crisis gives more opportunities to conduct business aggressively. Exploring the case study for McDonalds – Business Strategy in India, a study approach is to explore the whole picture of a successful this fast good chain’s action and strategy to cope with down turn economy. In other words, this case was about to discusses how McDonald’s managed to buck the trend, its early years and business strategy to get more out of its stores in India. On the same time, how McDonald’s can maintain and improve their performance by adjusting their competitive strategy...
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...Within the context of the period 1801-1917, to what extent was the fall of Tsarism a consequence of significant social development in Russian society? Tsar Nicholas II’s abdication on 2nd March 1917 marked the end of Tsarism’s iron grip on Russia and the subsequent revolution was the clearest possible sign of political and social upheaval. Finally, its people had tired of their nation’s own backwardness and were looking for improvements to an archaic system which they had endured for hundreds of years. Seldom does a revolution succeed without violence being an integral part of its development, and the Russian revolution was no exception. However, there are economic and political factors that helped contribute to the outbreak of this civil disobedience, which must be considered. Underpinning these issues is the stark difference in the social dynamics of Russia between the early 19th century and the early 20th century. The social dichotomy that had presented itself was one that no other European power had experienced. Russia was the only European super-power to still employ serfdom by the time of its termination, for its roots had been deeply embedded in Russian culture. Historian Jonathon Bromley believes the longevity of serfdom was because it “served the economic interests of the nobility and the political interests of the Tsarist state.” This implies that the economic policy and political foundations of the country were predicated on its social structure; therefore social stability...
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...The Forensics Files - 2 – The LD File Civil Disobedience Index Topic Overview 3-7 Definitions 8-10 Affirmative Cases 11-19 Negative Cases 20-25 Affirmative Extensions 26-34 Civil disobedience worked to free India. 26 Civil disobedience overthrew the communists in Poland. 26 The tradition of civil disobedience in America goes all the way back to the founders. 26 Civil disobedience can serve to prevent situations from escalating into violence. 27 Civil Disobedience has been used to promote peace. 27 Civil disobedience was used to promote racial equality. 27 Civil disobedience is used to try to prevent the destruction of the environment. 27 Civil disobedience is effective at changing the law. 28 Legal channels can take too long. 28 Consent to obey just laws does not imply consent to obey unjust ones. 28 Distinguishing between just and unjust laws to disobey can be universalized. 28 Civil disobedience can be stabilizing to a community by spreading a shared sense of justice. 29 Sometimes it is only the unjustified response to civil disobedience that has harmful consequence. 29 Civil disobedience is traditionally non-violent. 29 Civil disobedience is a form of exercising free speech- which is essential in a democracy. 30 Civil disobedience has been used to fight slave laws 30 Civil disobedience played a role in ending the Vietnam war. 30 Civil disobedience...
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