...Harmonic Hearing Co. was founded in 1974 by former professor of Audiology, Otis Wren. Based in Plano, Texas, the company manufactured hearing aids, and, while smaller than many of the major players in the hearing aid industry, was successful and profitable throughout its history. This was indicative of the industry- the large, publicly traded companies, such as Great Nordic, Starkey, and Siemens, often reported gross margins around 60%, and net profit margins between 10-15% (Stevenson 2). Technology in hearing aids was ever evolving, however, forcing companies to invest heavily in R&D to take advantage of the most current technology. Never was this more important than within the last decade- with baby boomers reaching retirement, the “graying of America” was sure to lead to a sales boom across the hearing aid industry. With this strong history and expected growth in mind, Harriet Burns (CEO, 2011) and Richard Irvine (Chief Designer, 2011), were excited by Wren’s offer to sell the company to them. Wren proposed a selling price of 14 times the 2010 net income, or $25.2 million. Both Burns and Irvine agreed the price was fair, but they were faced with a situation- how to raise the capital needed to purchase Harmonic Hearing. Wren gave Burns three months to complete the transaction, creating a deadline of January 2011. To further complicate the situation, Harmonic was in the midst of developing a cutting-edge hearing aid that promised strong sales. To get the product to market...
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...Question 1: The Management Accounting Environment Word Count allowed 500 – Actual word count 536 a) How Management Accounting can contribute to competitive advantage and competitive strategy b) How Management Accounting Information can be used for the proposed strategy GTH Ltd manufactures hearing aids and other innovative products for the deaf community; the business is looking at the differentiation strategy and the possibility of expanding into foreign markets, specifically developing countries. Management accounting focuses on subunits of the business, which allows the analysis of a variety of aspects of the business, such as processes, departments and specific products to ensure that the actual results are tracking close to the plans. Whereas financial accounting is an overall view of the business which produces reports for the external stakeholders and must adhere to the NZ accounting standards. Management accounting is not governed by such standards, if something can be measured it can be analysed, controlled and influenced. The differentiation strategy of innovation means that GTH Ltd needs to continually design and develop innovative products. Management accounting information is important and it must be received by managers in a timely manner so that production processes can be changed rapidly in response to innovations within the R&D team and in response to changes in the competitive environment. Management accounting can track the innovations...
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...The military requires all recruits to pass a basic hearing test before being accepted into the military. This means that all deaf and hard of hearing individuals would not be able to join in military. Deaf individual don't even get a chance to try and become a part of the Armed Forces. They see that you are deaf and tell you no. A new bill would allow deaf people to be in the Air Force as part of a Pilot or demonstration program. A captain in the Air force convinced a U.S. Rep. Mark Takano, to pass a bill allowing deaf and hearing impaired people in the Air Force as part of a Pilot or demonstration program. The Current Defense Department hearing requirements do not allow deaf people to server in the military. They don't even allow deaf people...
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...We watched two videos for this ASL class. One is a documentary called Audism Unveiled. And other documentary is Through Deaf Eyes. It was new to hear how Audism is discovered and how people reacted with the deafness. It was so surprising to hear that people actually did something to cure the disease with various ways. I did not expect that sign language is one thing that people did not allow deaf people to use. I felt really bad to know that deaf were trained to speak out loud and not allowed to use sign language. Even though I am not a deaf person, I already know how lip reading is hard to do in a conversation because I can’t communicate with my friends by lip reading which a lot of girls use to talk things secretly. It was totally heartbreaking to see many stories about parents trying to ‘cure’ their deaf children with science, and religion. Also devastating were the descriptions of a couple of 18th century ‘cures’ for deafness, including one which involved pumping the Eustachian tube full of chemicals. At least the chemicals make sense about curing the deafness, but flying on the jet to cure deafness is much more terrifying way to do to their children. I was interested to learn that up until recently, almost all education for deaf students was entirely focused on speech. So many stories of people being punished for using sign or not pronouncing words to the teacher’s satisfaction. Many people also told their stories of being forced to learn Signed English or Manually...
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...Search of Deafhood, by Paddy Ladd. With regards to deafness, the people of the past felt lost or upset with being deaf. The families of the deaf would force their children to go to a hearing school and assimilate with their culture. Schools would have to put labels on the children’s clothing to differentiate them. I think that these measures would make a child uncomfortable with his deafness. There were not many schools that a child can have access to so it would be understandable that the child will feel frustrated with himself about his situation. Ladd’s book asserts that deafness is a positive thing and that one should embrace their deafness. On a similar note, the deaf should not consider their inability to hear as a disease or handicap that needs to be cured. Deafhood is the understanding of how remarkable it is to be Deaf and be okay with that. These days with the internet and technology, it is easy for a child and his family to find a community near them. It is a lot easier to have a deaf person reach Deafhood, much like a normal child would reach adulthood. I believe that children and many deaf people today embrace their deafness. Their attitudes are now more optimistic and they are proactive in the community. Laws and measures also help the deaf gain equal footing in education with hearing. As we progress toward providing more rights to the Deaf, I think the deaf community will find more ways to share their experiences and have a...
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...Law firms Project What is the legal aid? Payment from public funds allowed, in cases of need, to help pay for legal advice or proceedings. Legal aid can help meet the costs of legal advice, family mediation and representation in a court or tribunal. Legal aid are limited, which mean that people who earns a certain amount of money, would not be eligible to have a legal aid. Legal has been reduced by 15 pound comparing to the previous hourly pay of 44 pound. The government is cutting off pay rates of 8.75%. Law firm or law centre Law centres defend the legal rights of people who cannot afford a lawyer. They are specialists working in their local communities to uphold justice and advance equality. Procedure within a law company? The procedure are first of all they would speak to you to see if/how they can help. Then they would tell you about the costs. They would also be able to tell you if legal aid is available. Can I get help with my employment tribunal case? Thinking about making a claim to an employment tribunal can be scary. Many people find it helpful to get some advice before they take action. There are lots of organisations that might be able to offer you advice, or help with your case. You can find more information and contact details on this page. You might also want...
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...OTICON ‐ THE DISORGANISED ORGANISATION1 Background Oticon, a Danish company founded in 1904, was the first hearing instrument company in the world. In the 1970s, it was the world’s number one manufacturer of ‘behind the ear’ hearing aids. However, as the market for ‘in the ear’ products grew in the 1970s and 1980s, its fortunes plummeted and it lost money and market share. In 1987, so poor was the company’s performance that it lost half of its equity. The basic problem was that Oticon was a very traditional, departmentalised and slow‐moving company. It had a distinguished past but it was it a small company operating in a global market. Though it had 15 sites around the world and 95 distributorships, the Head Office, its largest site by far, only employed 145 people. Yet it was operating in a market which had come to be dominated by Siemens, Phillips, Sony, 3M and Panasonic. More importantly, it had the wrong products. Oticon manufactured the standard ‘behind the ear’ hearing aids but customers increasingly preferred the ‘in the ear’ variety. Also, Oticon was strong in analogue technology, whilst the market and its customers were moving towards digital technology. In addition, though the company was strong in the state‐ subsidised markets of Scandinavia and Northern Europe, it was weak in the more buoyant markets of America and the Far East. This began ...
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...1. CONDITIONS OF SERVICE 1. Contract of Employment………………………………………….. 2. Working hours……………………………………………………. 3. Duty Station………………………………………………………. 4. Confidentiality……………………………………………………. 2. RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION POLICY 1. Introduction………………………………………………………. 2. Objectives………………………………………………………… 3. Recruitment Authorisation Procedure……………………………. 4. Newly Created or Restructured Positions 5. Employment Procedure…………………………………………… 6. Employment Interview Panel……………………………………... 7. Age………………………………………………………………... 8. Appointment………………………………………………………. 9. Personal Data……………………………………………………… 10. Staff Transfer……………………………………………………… 11. Induction………………………………………………………….. 3. PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT POLICY 1. Introduction……………………………………………………….. 2. Objectives…………………………………………………………. 3. Responsibilities of Manager/Supervisors…………………………. 4. The Performance Management Process 3.4.1 Performance Planning ……………………………………… 3.4.2 Monitoring..………………………………………………….. 3.4.3 Performance Summary……………………………………… 3.4.4 Recognition………………………………………………….. 4. TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT POLICY 4.1 Introduction………………………………………………………….. 4.2 Objectives…………………………………………………………… 4.3 Process and Criteria…………………………………………………. 5. LEAVE POLICY 6. DICIPLINARY CODE 1. Introduction………………………………………………………….. 2. Procedure and Documentation………………………………………. ...
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...his or her |opportunity regardless of the color of| | |promoting, and firing |employer practices that have |race, or sex |skin or male/female in a working | | | |discriminatory effects | |environment as long as they are | | | | | |capable of performing the job | | |Gave the Equal Employment Opportunity |Washington vs. Davis allowed for |The importance is that the...
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...Question 1 WHAT IS INCLUSIVE EDUCATION? - We accept ordinary learners as well as disabled learners, learners with behavioural problems and learners with learning difficulties. - All children, regardless of their differences should have the opportunity to learn with and from each other and that all need some form of support in learning - We attempt to change attitudes, behaviour, teaching methods curricula and environments to meet the needs of all children - Inclusive education is broader as it includes the home, the community and other opportunities for education outside of schools - It is a dynamic process which is constantly evolving according to local cultures and contexts and is part of the wider strategy to promote an inclusive society WHAT TYPES OF ADAPTIONS ARE NECESSARY TO REMOVE BARRIERS TO LEARNING AND TO MAKE IT POSSIBLE FOR ALL LEARNERS TO PARTICIPATE? - The classroom and school environment – making changes in the classroom and in the school building and environment that could make it easier for the learners to come to school and to learn and also by using assistive aids that may be needed - The learner – find out how the barriers to learning of the learners in your class affect their learning – find out from specialists and experts what you can do - School subjects – make changes to subjects you teach in terms of level and expected outcomes including the level at which you teach the subject to the learners as well as the range of subjects - Teaching...
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...women along with a judge who serves as an unbiased decider of all things legal. In reality, lawyers often practice law in many different forums, including administrative hearings, where the lines of neutrality and fairness may appear (at least to one side) to be a little more blurry. The topic of administrative hearings was recently discussed by judges and lawyers during a Karl D. Kessler Inn of Court meeting. Some of the “best practice” recommendations made during that meeting, especially as they relate to defending a client in an administrative hearing, are certainly worth putting on paper. Before the Hearing “The Early Bird Gets the Worm” – Typically, you will NOT have one or two years to collect evidence and learn all the relevant facts prior to an administrative hearing. Right away, you must learn as many facts as you can and assess what, if any, discovery can be undertaken before the hearing. You may need to schedule depositions with little or no advance preparation. When permitted, you should ask for discovery from the agency or issue subpoenas as soon as possible. For example, some agencies will produce documents related to the case but require at least three weeks to do so. If you wait until the hearing is scheduled, you may not have enough time to receive and review the file. You should also be willing to ask the other side for basic stipulations early in the process. Identify the Legal Issues – Identify the legal issues and find authority for your position...
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...this week’s readings. Respond to each question in 100 to 200 words. 1. Briefly explain the five choices speakers can make. How do these elements determine a speech’s success or failure? The five choices a speaker can make are invention, arrangement, style, delivery and memory. Invention provides the guiding principle for developing the context of a speech. While researching the topic of the presentation, decisions will be made on what should and should not be included in the speech to support the thesis based on the audience. Arrangement is the shaping of the gathered information within a presentation to ensure a continuous flow between the introduction, body and conclusion of the speech. Style defines the way the presentation is conveyed to the audience, like changing the tone, speed and emphasize of certain words within a speech to create an emotional connection with the audience. Delivery is the way the speech is being presented, which can entail the effective use of tone, expression, movement, as well as audible and visual aids. Memory is ensuring that all key points have been addresses in the speech. Nowadays most speakers either use a presentation outline to ensure flow of the presentation, as it is very unprofessional to jump from main point to main point without any transitional statements between the main supporting data; or they read a written script which can sometimes sound a little monotone and lack in style. 2. What role does the delivery method (e.g. online...
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...plan that will pertain to employment law compliance. These laws that affect the workplace so it is important to have familiarity with each. As an employer you should see assistance by a lawyer who deals with these laws. This will help you in making the correct decisions on employment matters. These lawyers can also review the employment laws and tailor them to your specific needs and your employee interactions. I have identified the top four laws that will aid in the successful compliance with employment law. I have also added a brief description, how to use each, and non-compliance penalties of each to better serve you in understanding the laws. 1. The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) of 1935 2. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 3. Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993 4. Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) of 1967 The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) of 1935 As an employer with no unionized employees you will be highly surprised to learn that the company will be subjected to the requirements of the NLRA. This law whether employees are unionized or not, protects his or her employment rights to work and makes no difference if you have one employee or 100. There are a some exemptions to the law. With regards to interstate commerce of a private employer, workers are allowed to organize as a union...
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...overwhelming flow also destroyed 4,806 houses, another clear example that proves the fact that children can end up on streets in such a sad manner. Thirdly, The Economic Crisis. This Crisis that took place in 1997 had a massive impact on Thailand as result of The Prime Minister back in 1997 Mr. Chavalit Yongchaiyudh who refused to devalue the thai baht. This not only halted Thailand’s booming economy but lead to the disaster of the decade. Thailand Laid off approximately 600,000 foreign workers from all the industries combined. During this period of time even the mid-class families were technically tossed into the streets. After a long span of four years Thailand recovered from the financial crisis as result of increasing tax revenues. This allowed the country to balance its budget and repay its 20.9 billion dollar debt to the IMF in 2003, four years ahead of schedule. The Thai...
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...being kept secret or private.’ https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=confidentiality&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwii8fj25czVAhUFKVAKHaFhBqsQ_AUICSgA&biw=1093&bih=521&dpr=1.25 confidentiality means keeping personal data private and to only share with people or organisations who have a need to know. When talking to a resident about personal issues do this in a private place, for example in their room or in the office. Keep their personal records in a safe and secure location. Do not discuss resident’s issues with other residents. There will be times where confidential information will need to be shared when the resident hasn’t agreed to it being shared. This could be if there was a safeguarding issue arising. This could cause tension but it should explained to the resident that this person is an agreed other and has the duty to keep this information confidential...
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