Tony Liang 6th period Essays - Economy, Petroleum Politics

Tony Liang 6th period The World's Greatest Con As Americans, we take great pride for living in a democratic society, free of government tyranny. In fact, the United States values such ideologies to a point that we would take matters into our own hands when there are oppressive regimes commit crimes that us, westerners view as inhumane and unethical -- whether it's through military intervention or economic sanctions. America is the world's premier superpower, hence we feel there is a certain obligation that we should be the "police of the world" and enforce rules that we believe to be right. This is extremely ironic; for the United States has a long history of installing dictators in countries where there is economic or social-political interest. One of our closest allies, Saudi Arabia, is one of the few remaining monarchs with absolute power, but we turn a blind eye, even though we acknowledge that fact that many of the citizens there do not have the basic human rights such as freedom of speech and women not having the equal rights as men. The Saudi regime even committed genocide to Shia muslims, a minority groups. In current day society, we view such immense atrocities as a thing in the past, but it is still common dilemma humanity has yet to solve. Most people are unaware of this, not because we're ignorant, but because news corporations in the United States, which are owned by extremely rich and powerful individuals, and are often in shady cahoots with various governments that simply do not want us to know. The relationship between the America and Saudi Arabia is ver y straightforward. The US provides military assistance and helps Saudi Arabia become the dominate power in the Middle East through intentionally causing turmoil in the region; in return the Saudi's help the US straggle it's enemies by opposing sanctions and not selling oil to them. As a matter of fact, some serious under-the-table deals are going on right now. Oil prices have plunged nearly 50% since this June, to around 57 dollars per barrel. Many may believe this is due simple laws of economics in effect, where there is not enough demand and too much supply. But coincidentally, the United State's former Cold War enemy and current threat(at least that's what our government wants us to believe), Russia, is experiencing a free-fall of their currency to an all time low. It is a well known fact that oil and natural gas is the backbone and livelihood of the Russian economy. Another so-called threat is Iran, also having its economy directly tied with oil revenues, is also being targeted. Currently, there are some high profile talks on Russia's intervention in Ukraine and Iran's nuclear program. The big picture is extremely clear now. The US wants to attack its enemies where it hurts the most. What better way to do it than to cut off oil revenue from OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries). This is a political move is directly aimed to validating the US as the supreme power. You might be thinking, isn't the US a major exporter of oil? So why would it shoot itself in the foot? And how does being a "superpower" really benefit the US. The answer is simple. Money. To be specific, US currency. The US currency is the worlds default currency, hence lets say China wants to import some maple syrup from Canada. To complete this business deal, they would have to exchange their currency to dollars and the transaction proceeds. Thus giving the US dollar massive artificial value and demand. This is extremely beneficial for America. Not only does this allow us to buy cheap goods from developing countries, but it also establishes "trust" and "reliance" on the US dollar, hence many people think US currency is a "safe" investment. This makes our debt extremely cheap, somewhere close to 0, which in turn fuel our unsustainable standard of living. After the the US dollar rating dropped from AAA rating, our debt has actually gotten cheaper. Because Europe is on the verge o f financial breakdown, the Middle East is in great turmoil, and China's double digit growth figures is running out of steam. One Russian women

How to Generate a Unique ID in PHP

How to Generate a Unique ID in PHP A unique user ID can be created in PHP using the uniqid () function. This function has two parameters  you can set. The first is the prefix, which is what will be appended to the beginning of each ID. The second is more_entropy. If this is false or not specified, it will return 13 characters; if its  true, 23 characters will be returned. Examples For Creating a Unique ID Below are examples of creating a unique user ID, but each are a little different. The first creates a normal unique ID while the second shows how to make a longer ID. The third example creates an ID with a random number as the prefix while the last line can be used to encrypt the username before storing it. //creates a unique id with the about prefix $a uniqid(about); echo $a; echo br; //creates a longer unique id with the about prefix $b uniqid (about, true); Echo $b; echo br; //creates a unique ID with a random number as a prefix - more secure than a static prefix $c uniqid (rand (),true); echo $c; echo br; //this md5 encrypts the username from above, so its ready to be stored in your database $md5c md5($c); echo $md5c; ?

Rolls-Royce Aviation and the Development of TotalCare Case Study

Rolls-Royce Aviation and the Development of TotalCare - Case Study Example As the paper outlines over a period of just a few years, Rolls-Royce managed to be a compliant supplier to American Airlines and found significant business success and profitability in the process. However, Rolls-Royce maintained a strong thirst for extra profit and began to assume more risk than they originally thought they could handle. Such total care packages, as that of American Airlines, required significant internal investment into labour, facilities management and even technical support in order to provide this new extended service and maintenance contract philosophy. Realising that Rolls-Royce had found success, their largest competitors began to change their own business models to reflect similar total care packages to the B2B customers. This eroded the short-term competitive advantage which had been recently held by Rolls-Royce and threatened their market share. Added to this the costs of maintaining maintenance workshops, Rolls-Royce required a new competitive advantage i n order to remain an engine sales leader in this airline industry. This paper discusses that Rolls-Royce has focused the majority of its efforts into innovating actual service delivery to its customers, but has failed to create a marketing strategy which appeals to the psychographic characteristics of its clients. The company does not understand how to utilise promotion effectively to make the sales agreements more of a client relationship which provides mutual value to both businesses. Thus, the business has lost its previous competitive edge.

Task 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Task 2 - Essay Example number of customers as at January 2013 and subtracting the number of customers as at January 2012, in order to find the customer gain in the time period of 2012-2013 ( Anon, 2006) Churn Rate† This metric is given as a ratio between the number of customers a business losses over a specified period, over the number of customers that were there at the beginning of the start period. In short form, Gburn= Gt/Cat. Where; In relation to the Alnahdi group – Mize Company, the churn rate can be used appropriately in business marketing analytics in order to find a figure that can depict how the business is performing in regard its customer value over a given time. Retention Rate: This is defined as the ratio of the number of active customers at the end of the period to the number of clients at the start of the period time. In shortened form, it can be written as: Retention Rate = Ca/Cat   where, In relation to the Alnahdi group – Mize Company, the ratio would show how active the company’s customers have grown or reduced from the start of the period to its end. For instance, the ratio could be calculated by finding the number of active customers as at July 2013 and then dividing it by the number of active customers as at July 2012, in order to find the retention rate for the time period from July 2013- July 2014. As outlined above, this metric is used to find the number of customers that an organization gains within a certain period. There are various reasons that can make the number of customers for a given organization to either increase or decrease. These factors vary from customer experience, quality of products an organization offers, the additional benefits a particular group gives its customers and so forth. This metric can be analyzed in regard to the Alnahdi group – Mize Company in order to calculate the increment of the number of customers that can be associated with any of the above-mentioned factors (Carter, 2011). Taking an example, in the month

Patient Isolated And Public Health Investigations Assignment

Patient Isolated And Public Health Investigations - Assignment Example   The CDC confirms Europe based tourist who raised earlier suspicion of Ebola attack positive   The tourist, who visited West Africa earlier, was isolated soon after he indicated symptoms of the contagious disease. Apparently, the patient is under isolation and close check up. On Sunday, October 19, the tourist reported a low-grade fever throughout the night and immediately received a referral for testing at the States’ most reputable laboratory. As a precautionary measure after observing the unusual fever, CDC staff isolated the tourist and interviewed him to establish additional contacts or potential exposures. Currently, one close contact has been identified, and appropriate measures employed to prevent further spread of the disease.  Careful monitoring and scrutiny of all tourists and associated health care workers who interacted with the isolated patient, therefore, is directed to offer the public an assurance of the absence of a trace of the disease in America.   Ebola is an infectious, deadly disease noticeable by fever and severe internal bleeding, spread through physical contact with the infected person’s body fluids.   The outbreak of Ebola experienced in West Africa in 2014 is the largest, so far in history according to records by the CDC, 2014. The disease has an average of 8 to ten incubation period. The CDC, therefore, recommends immediate isolation and close monitoring of suspected individuals with symptoms for a period of 21 days.

The Children Act 2004 | Analysis

The Children Act 2004 | Analysis The Children Act was first introduced in 1989 and was amended in 2004 after an inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbie. After the death of eight-year old Victoria Climbie in 2000, Lord Laming was asked by the Government to carry out an investigation to know if new regulation and guidance were needed to develop the safeguard of child system in England. The Governments answer to the Victoria Climbie Inquiry report (Laming, 2003) was the Keeping children safe report (DfES, 2003) and the Every child matters green paper (DfES, 2003), which in turn led to the Children Act 2004. This Acts ultimate purpose is to make the UK better and safer for children of all ages. The Act also created a Childrens Commissioner; putting in place services provided to and for children and young people by local authorities and other persons; dealing with Wales about advisory and support services in regards to family proceedings; dealing with private fostering, child minding and day care, adoption assessment panels, the explanation of reasonable penalty, the making of allowances as respects children and families, child safety orders, the Childrens Commissioner for Wales, The publication of material in connection to children dealing in legal cases and the release by the Inland Revenue of data relating to children. The government aims is for every child whatever their background or their conditions, to have the backing they need to: be healthy i.e. enjoying good physical and mental health and living a healthy lifestyle; to stay safe i.e. to be free from harm and negligence; to enjoy and achieve i.e. to make the most out of life and to develop the skills to become an adult; to make a positive contribution i.e. to be in touch with the community and society and not taking part in anti-social or criminal conduct; To achieve economic well-being i.e. not being prohibited by financial difficulty from reaching their full ability in life. The green paper suggested improvements was into four main areas which are assisting parents and carers, early involvement and effective security, responsibility and combination locally, regionally and nationally and staff improvement. Being healthy It is shown by a study that those smoking regularly aged 11-15 in England has gone down since 1996 from 13 to 10 percent. But obesity level is rising. Between 1996 and 2001 the number of children who were obese having between 6-15 years old in England increase by 4 percent. Young rates of pregnancy were lower by 10 percent in 2001 than in 1998. But UK still has the most teenage pregnancies in Europe. The World Health Organisation published a report in 2002 that UK had the least suicide rate amongst 26 countries, but suicide is still responsible for 20 per cent of young deaths. Staying safe In March 2002, 59,700 children were in care in England, which is an increase of 22 percent since March 1994. But, the number on child protection registers in England have been decreasing as there were only 25,700 in March 2002 compared to 38,600 ten years earlier. Between 1981 and 2001 the percentage of young boys in England and Wales reprimanded or sentenced of a crime decreased from 7 per cent of young boys to 5 per cent, but the same rate for girls increased from 1.3 to 1.4 per cent. A research of criminal and harassment found that 46 percent being the target of some kind of crime in the last 12 months among those aged 11 to 16 in ordinary schools. In most cases of domestic violence where around one in ten women involved yearly, their children were present in the same or next room, and one in three child safeguard circumstances points to a past of domestic violence against the mother. Enjoying and achieving The number of those aged 11 reaching the normal level in English and maths went up by 12 percent, from 63 percent to 75 percent and from 61 percent to 73 percent in English and maths respectively since 1997. In 2002 more than half of 15 year olds got a minimum of five GCSEs at grades A*-C, a rise of more than 6 percent since 1997. However success is not steady through diverse ethnic groups like for example pupils from Chinese and Indian backgrounds succeed considerably over regular GCSE results; black pupils and those from Pakistani and Bangladeshi backgrounds do inferior in their GCSE results. Non-attendance has stayed the same from 1995/96 at 0.7 percent of half days absent. At the end of 2001, in every eleven youngsters having 16-18 years old, one was not in education, work or training and in every four youngsters between 16 and 18, one spend time out of education, training and employment. Making a positive contribution A new research of secondary students who are 11 to 18 years old showed that 86 percent had taken part in certain sort of community activity in the previous year and half participated in raising fund or gathering cash for charity. From the 2001 General Election, assessments found that attendance was lowest between those aged 18-24, as only two in five casted their vote. Economic well-being Between 1992 and 1995, 19 percent of children stayed in working age jobless homes, but in 2003, the percentage had fallen to 15.2. The percentage of children staying in homes with comparatively low earnings decreased between 1996-97 and 2001-02 from 34 to 30 after housing expenses. The percentage of children staying in homes with virtually low earnings fell largely from 34 percent to 20 percent after housing deductions. The Childrens Act 2004 established a Childrens Fund which is aimed to support in the abolition of poverty and economic difficulties felt by disadvantaged children or those whose familys monetary conditions leave them deprived by making sure that children aged between five and thirteen attend school regularly and also decreasing the risk of crime being carried out by these children, so that they can get the best promising start of their life. The Childrens Act 2004 specially caters for disabled children. Local authorities have a responsibility under the Act to arrange for  facilities to children in need if these amenities will aid keeping a child safe and healthy. After the death of baby P, there was a review conducted by Lord Laming which suggested that those dealing with children need to be properly trained to detect any problem so that social workers or other practitioners can better safeguard children under their responsibility. The Children Act 2004 provides a strong emphasis and a new approach to childrens services but is not sufficient in itself. Its application must be part of an extensive progression of transformation, concentrating on results and brought onward by local transformation packages in 150 Local Authority regions set within a national structure. The National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services (NSF) is fundamental to this. It put forward a ten-year plan to encourage durable and continual progress in childrens health and well-being. As it is applied by Primary Care Trusts (PCTs), Local Authorities and other groups including other health bodies, it will add to the realisation of the five outcomes.

Clockwork Orange Essay -- essays papers

Clockwork Orange In all of my reading, I have come to the conclusion that Anthony Burgess is one of the greatest literary genius’s of the twentieth century. His masterpiece, A Clockwork Orange, is unrivaled in obvious depth, insight, and innovation. The novel is a work of such quality, such perfection, that it seems to be genuinely written by a literary demigod. The novel's main theme deals with free choice and spiritual freedom. More specifically, "[The ethical promise that 'A man who cannot choose ceases to be man'] can be taken as both the explicit and implicit themes of the novel" (Morgan 104). Anthony Burgess expresses his view that no matter how "good" one's actions are, unless one has free moral choice, he is spiritually damned. The novel revolves around one criminally minded teen, Alex, whose world consists of rape, murder, and ruthless violence. Alex is eventually setup by his "droogs" (friends) and is arrested and jailed. After some time in jail, Alex is placed in a new rehabilitating program that uses electro-shock therapy, new medicines, and exposure to violent film. The program breaks all that Alex holds dear and builds him up with a new artificial conscience. This part of the novel "presents the reader with a new, reformed Alex, an Alex without free will or freedom of choice, an Alex who has become a victim" Burgess considers this lack of freedom to be spiritually murderous and terribly wrong. Burgess knows that it is better to choose to be evil, than to be forced to be good. Alex is tormented by his new state of oppression. He is incapable of making any choice; he must always do what is good. Alex is then taken under the wing of a writer who is fighting the oppressive government. The writer... ...a way that appears to distance it. Stanley: If this occurs it may be because the story both in the novel and the film is told by Alex, and everything that happens is seen through his eyes. Since he has his own rather special way of seeing what he does, this may have some effect in distancing the violence. Some people have asserted that this made the violence attractive. I think this view is totally incorrect. Bibliography: Coale, Samuel, Anthony Burgess (1981); Mathews, Richard, The Clockwork Universe of Anthony Burgess (1978). Kagan, Norman, The Cinema of Stanley Kubrick (1989); Nelson, Thomas Allan, Kubrick: Inside A Film Artist's Maze (1982); Phillips, Gene, Stanley Kubrick: A Film Odyssey (1975); Walker, Alexander, Stanley Kubrick Directs, rev. ed. (1972). English to Russian Dictionary (1996). â€Å"A Clockwork Orange† (1963); Burgess, Anthony

“Crucible” by Arthur Miller: The madness in Salem Essay

How does Miller use the ending of each act to make the audience feel the madness in Salem? Miller is able to portray the madness of Salem in a variety of ways, throughout the whole of the play however the ending of each act allows the audience to fully feel the hysteria. By incorporating changes of key themes and ideas as well as using links throughout the text and a variety of dramatic techniques towards the end of each act, Miller is able to leave the audience with a sense of this madness. The ways in which he reflects the madness change from scene to scene however each technique is just as important as others. Occurring frequently throughout the play, but particularly predominant at the end of Act I is the use of stage directions to increase tension and hysteria. After Tituba confesses to allegiance with the Devil, Abigail realises that this has saved her and so she decides to repeat Tituba’s actions in order to save herself. She understands that in order to prevent being accused she must become the accuser. Miller emphasises this as immediately after Hale states â€Å"God will bless you for your help†, Abigail rises and is quoted as â€Å"staring as though inspired.† She goes on to become â€Å"enraptured as though in a pearly light† which shows the progression from a quiet confession to a loud, more hysteric declaration. The passage which follows shows a huge rise in tension and irrational incidents as suddenly Betty rises from the bed after a long period of time in a collapsed state, also chanting confessions. Betty and Abigail exclaim the names of people who they claimed to have seen with the Devil, and Miller once again uses stage directions to show the craziness by describing them as â€Å"calling out hysterically† and â€Å"rising to a great glee.† The curtain falls on the girls crying out the names of people seen with the Devil, with a progressive increase in intensity and so the audience is left with a clear feel of the hysteria. Another way Miller is able to portray the madness towards the end of Act I is by using short sentences to increase tension and reflect the condition in Salem. During the confession of Abigail short, quick sentences are used such  as â€Å"I danced for the Devil!† or â€Å"I saw him†, both of which show a peak in hysteria. These are followed by Betty and Abigail accusing people of allegiance with the Devil and all these claims follow the same, generic format of â€Å"I saw ____ with the Devil!† This makes the girls seem as though they are possessed and are under the influence of the Devil – once again giving the audience a feel of the madness in Salem by building up a mad atmosphere. Towards the end of Act II Miller uses the actions of John Proctor to make the audience feel the madness in Salem, with his violent acts indicating how emotions have spiralled out of control in the village. After the arrest of his wife, Elizabeth, Proctor becomes aggravated and begins to take a violent approach towards the matter. As soon as he is left alone with Mary Warren, she is described as speaking in a â€Å"fearful squeak of a voice† which begins to suggest Proctor’s threatening presence. This is followed by Proctor â€Å"moving menacingly toward her† which gives the audience an instant insight on Proctor’s anger. Even though Mary Warren proclaims that Abigail will â€Å"kill [her] for sayin’ that† (referring to telling the court who stuck the needle into the poppet), Proctor still â€Å"continues toward her† which also indicates the madness of Proctor and the community around him. Mary then begins to â€Å"back from him† and speaks â€Å"in terror†, however Proctor â€Å"strides and catches her† which shows a progression from mere verbal abuse to physical violence and an upsurge of anger. This anger proliferates into Proctor â€Å"grasping her from the throat as though he would strangle her† before â€Å"throwing her to the floor where she sobs†. Miller is able to use this forcefulness to give the audience a taste of how things have progressed from illogical thoughts to outright madness in not just the Proctor household but the whole of Salem. Along with the use of Proctor’s violence to reflect the madness in Salem, Miller uses the intense dialogue between Proctor and Mary Warren to show how insanity has grown in the Salem community. Miller utilises Mary Warren’s repeated refrain of â€Å"I cannot, I cannot† to reflect how crazy she has become. Despite Abigail’s wrongdoings Mary states that she â€Å"cannot charge murder on Abigail† which shows how much Abigail has manipulated her. She   then states that â€Å"they’ll turn on [her]† which demonstrates the pressure placed upon Mary to lie to the court. Mary’s mind has been twisted into believing that staying loyal to the girls is more important than saving the lives of innocent people accused of witchcraft and this gives the audience a glimpse of the absurd ideas implanted into the brains of the Salem community. The curtain falls on Mary repeatedly sobbing â€Å"I cannot, I cannot† and this tells the audience that the madness is not at an end but will continue into the scenes to come. In Act III, Miller utilises Mary Warren’s change of heart to fully epitomise the extent of which the madness in Salem has grown. As previously stated, Miller used the end of Act II to show that the madness in Salem would continue into the coming scenes, and by making Mary Warren and John Proctor the subject of drama once again he has shown this. The end of Act III begins with Abigail conversing with an invisible bird which is acclaimed to be controlled by Mary Warren. This, not unlike most other claims of witchcraft in the play, has no substance or evidence apart from the victim’s claims and is irrational which links in with the general madness of the play. Abigail has made this accusation in order to avoid being accused; drawing parallels with the ending of Act I. Abigail once again asserts her dominance over Mary which can be seen, as when Abigail shouts that the spirit is â€Å"going to come down† and is â€Å"walking the beam†, Mary changes from saying that previous cases were â€Å"pretence† to now saying that John Proctor is â€Å"the Devil’s man.† Mary is described as â€Å"screaming in horror† – antics associated with someone gone mad. Ultimately, this extreme change of heart is used by Miller to show that the hysteria has reached its peak and now people are no longer willing to argue anymore. The idea that arguing is of no use anymore as the judges fail to understand good reasoning is shown again through John Proctor’s change of heart as well. After spending so long arguing for the freedom of his wife and so many others, when asked if he has any allegiance with Satan he replies that â€Å"God is dead!† Proctor recognises Judge Danforth’s hypocrisy in that Danforth previously stated that witchcraft was only visible to the victim and the accused, however now he says â€Å"I have seen your power† which is contradictory  to the previous statement. Miller uses this case of hypocrisy to show the audience how a lack of logic has overrun Salem causing the aforementioned madness. Proctor follows by â€Å"laughing insanely† and saying that he â€Å"hears the boot of Lucifer† and â€Å"sees his filthy face† – a sharp contrast to saying the Devil is not present in Salem just a few moments before. Imagery of burning in Hell and the damnation of himself and Danforth contribute greatly to the madness and they give the audience an idea of the graphic culmination of the madness in Salem. Also, Hale â€Å"denounces these proceedings† and â€Å"quits this court† which leaves the courtroom itself in a state of madness. Danforth attempts to control the room but is unable to and this symbolises how power is no longer with any of the officials and all chaos has broken loose in Salem, giving the audience a full on feel of how a total loss of control has culminated in Salem. All in all, Arthur Miller is able to use the ending of each act to make the audience feel the madness in Salem by incorporating multiple techniques into the play to add tension and hysteria. These techniques, ranging from stage directions to symbolism and imagery, are able to give the audience a glimpse of the insanity going through Salem and they are developed well as the audience progresses through the play; building up to dramatic climaxes and culminating in the loss of all order in the Salem community.

Free Essays on Enron

The article on Enron states that there was not one main reason why Enron fell; however it was a corporate culture of deception that lead to the demise of this company. Enron had many loans on their books that they disguised as assets to make them look stronger and more profitable. They worked backwards by figuring out what they wanted their company to look like financially, and then made changes in the books to make it appeal to them. Since the authorities were not using checks and balances to make sure fraud was not taking place, it would have been easy for Enron to make it look like particular divisions were doing worse then they actually were, so they did not have to pay their employees as much. It was also easy for Enron to lie to their accountants because they did not check what the managers told them was truth. The auditors did not check the accountant’s books for mistakes either. There were so many mistakes in so many different areas of this company that its hard t o pinpoint one thing. The article on the Sarbanes-Oxley Act summarizes the new legislation that has been put into place to help guard against another financial disaster, such as Enron and WorldCom. Under this law, attorneys are responsible to report any illegal acts to a board of directors. If the board of directors that the attorney reports to does not pass on this information to proper authority, they will be forced to resign. When the SAS 99 became effective, it profoundly changed the relationship between businesses and auditors because if the CPA does not follow the SAS 99 rules and it comes to the attention of the AICPA, they will lose their CPA and be prosecuted. The SAS 99 coupled with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act should do a great deal to safeguard against scandals in the business world.... Free Essays on Enron Free Essays on Enron The article on Enron states that there was not one main reason why Enron fell; however it was a corporate culture of deception that lead to the demise of this company. Enron had many loans on their books that they disguised as assets to make them look stronger and more profitable. They worked backwards by figuring out what they wanted their company to look like financially, and then made changes in the books to make it appeal to them. Since the authorities were not using checks and balances to make sure fraud was not taking place, it would have been easy for Enron to make it look like particular divisions were doing worse then they actually were, so they did not have to pay their employees as much. It was also easy for Enron to lie to their accountants because they did not check what the managers told them was truth. The auditors did not check the accountant’s books for mistakes either. There were so many mistakes in so many different areas of this company that its hard t o pinpoint one thing. The article on the Sarbanes-Oxley Act summarizes the new legislation that has been put into place to help guard against another financial disaster, such as Enron and WorldCom. Under this law, attorneys are responsible to report any illegal acts to a board of directors. If the board of directors that the attorney reports to does not pass on this information to proper authority, they will be forced to resign. When the SAS 99 became effective, it profoundly changed the relationship between businesses and auditors because if the CPA does not follow the SAS 99 rules and it comes to the attention of the AICPA, they will lose their CPA and be prosecuted. The SAS 99 coupled with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act should do a great deal to safeguard against scandals in the business world.... Free Essays on Enron Enron a Post Mortem - Enron was heralded as America’s most innovative company for five years by Fortune magazine. What happened? What lead to Enron’s demise? The collapse of Enron is one of the century ’ s most infamous, with reverberations being felt around the world. Craig Donaldson speaks with Enron ’ s interim CEO Stephen Cooper about his approach to people management in the midst of this most extraordinary of working circumstances Enron was one of America’s leading companies prior to its spectacular collapse in 2001. It was frequently named as one of America’s top 10 most admired corporations and best places to work, and its board was acclaimed one of the US’ best five, according to Fortune magazine. As America’s seventh largest company, Enron experienced explosive growth through the 1990s. It had revenues of US$139 ($184) billion, US$62 ($82) billion in assets and employed more than 30,000 people across 20 countries. While Enron was considered a phenomenon in its heyday, a highly decentralised decision-making and financial control structure made it virtually impossible to get a clear and coherent understanding of the corporation, according to interim CEO and chief restructuring officer, Stephen Cooper. â€Å"In the space of 30 days, Enron went from American icon to Chapter 11,† he says. The collapse brought an enormous amount of outrage from the company’s stakeholders, while the scale and complexity of Enron’s bankruptcy has resulted in 12 separate investigations by the US Congress.... Free Essays on Enron THE COLLAPSE OF ENRON In early, 2001, Enron Corporation was named most innovative company in America for the sixth year in a row by Fortune Magazine. Soon enough things had turned and by December 2001, Enron filed for bankruptcy. Enron was the premiere trading company of the world, listed as the world’s greatest energy company and now in 2001 suffered the worst business failure in U.S. history. The U. S. was devastated by this and it really hurt all of the employees within Enron. Thousands of employees lost their jobs, savings, 401 (K) retirements plans virtually overnight. One retiree was reported to have lost $1.3 billion in savings and shareholders investors lost nearly $70 billion in market value. No one had even the slightest clue that any of this was going to happen, just like that they were out of there jobs with no money. People with families and children had nothing anymore, it was a travesty. The employees who had invested so much of their stock and savings in Enron’s plans suffered the most form this sudden downfall. They had nothing left to show for all of the hard work that had put into the company for so many years. The were so strong a year earlier in 200, employees were up to 19,000 people they even made $100 billion in revenues a year. Their plan was simply â€Å"becoming the world’s greatest company† which was stated by the current CEO and CEO at Enron, Kenneth Lay. When Kenneth states this I don’t think he puts an ethical review on this, considering the fact that he let go of so many people’s jobs and all of their money. He would do anything to get this company to the top, even if it was cheating, stealing, manipulating people. He is a very greedy person and put himself before his employees and the rest of the company. From my point of view that is ridiculous but that’s the kind of people we have in our world today, as long as they are living a good life they aren’t worry about ot... Free Essays on Enron Kenneth Lay, the ex-CEO of Enron took a small natural gas company, and created a financial powerhouse. In just a little over 15 years, Enron grew into one of the US’s largest companies. It embraced new technologies, established new methods of trading in energy and seemed to be a shining example of successful corporate America. Kenneth Lay himself was awarded a place in the Texas Business Hall of Fame for his achievement of bringing the small company to where it stood. Many surveys showed Kenneth Lay as one of the top managers for the nation. His background of academic and government positions helped back his position as a dedicated leader. Disaster then struck the companies success was all smoke and mirrors created by artificially inflated profits, dubious accounting practices, and fraud. The company unraveled and came crashing down, resulting in thousands of people loosing their jobs and life savings that they invested in to the company. Enron was born in July of 1985 with a merger of Houston Natural and Omaha-based InterNorth. Kenneth Lay was elected as the chairman and chief executive of the company. Around the same time Washington began to lift the controls over who produced energy and how it was distributed. Kenneth Lay saw a chance to make the small company thrive and seized it. Enron guaranteed its customers stable prices during the energy regulation changes. The response to the stable energy prices that Enron was offering was huge. Everyone wanted future gas at the fixed prices of today. In a few years Enron was responsible for over one fourth of the gas business for the United States. Kenneth Lay then decided that it would be profitable to expand its business into other fields by trading other commodities such as coal and steel. Early in the year 2000 Enron was peaking its economic success and began to invest into broadband Internet networks seeing the dot.com economy expand with profits. The company boa... Free Essays on Enron Enron Corp. is one of the world's largest energy, commodities and services company. Before its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, it marketed electricity and natural gas, delivered energy and other physical commodities, and provided financial and risk management services to customers worldwide. Based in Houston, Texas, Enron was formed in July 1985 by the merger of Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth of Omaha, Nebraska. Initially a natural gas pipeline company, Enron rapidly evolved from delivering energy to brokering energy futures as energy markets were deregulated. The company began marketing electricity in 1994 and entered the European energy market in 1995. In 1999, Enron launched a plan to buy and sell access to high-speed Internet bandwidth, and it launched EnronOnline, a Web-based commodity trading site, making it an e-commerce company. The company reported revenues of $101 billion in 2000. It has stakes in nearly 30,000 miles of gas pipeline, owns or has access to a 15,000-mile fiber optic network, and has a stake in electricity generating operations around the world. Aftershocks in Europe Enron's collapse will hit many markets. Enron is the largest bankruptcy in United States history, and cost thousands of people their retirement and jobs. They used different accounting tricks to deceive their employees and the public on how good their financial situation really was. How could such a giant, thriving company go from worth around $60 billion dollars to bankruptcy in such a short period of time with no major warning signs? What could allow such a huge financial scandal to take place? How will the Enron scandal affect the current business world and the way that businesses are run in the future? These are all questions that are currently trying to be explained. The story of Enron is still constantly unwinding more and more everyday. The small Houston based company that was started in 1985 when Houston Natural Gas combi...

Four-Cycle Approach to Strategic Management essays

Four-Cycle Approach to Strategic Management essays Decisions are made from developing and analyzing alternatives and making a choice. Through a series of decisions or choices, executives can define, develop plans, goals and objectives, and set a desired course for the future of an organization. In the article, A four-cycle approach to strategy development and implementation, by William Finnie, strategy is defined as the management of change or adaptation of external circumstances and the creation of a desired future. Every organization has some kind of strategy in place, but through the development of an effectively implemented strategic plan a company can more readily meet the requirements of it customers. The four cycles that Finnie describes are strategy development, management review of changes and finalization of strategies and objectives, functional goals and action plans, and budgeting and resource allocation. In the first step of the cycle, strategy development, an organization would perform situation analysis, define the business, identify objectives, develop a generic strategy, establish customer-oriented strategies, and establish competitor-oriented strategies. From these steps, a basic strategy is developed. In the first step a company would review its environment or the external factors that would affect the business. By identifying threats and opportunities from the external factors, management can identify pending weaknesses. Management will then define its business which is an important step as the way the company is defined is a strategy in itself. Management will then define a strategic objective of the companys long-terms goals in areas of quality or customer satisfaction and market share. From there the companys generic strategy is developed. Finnie describes a generic strategy as a broad strategic approach to creating a defensible position in the industry identifying a competitive advantage. The final steps in t...

Job Design, Job Characteristics, and Job Crafting Essay

Job Design, Job Characteristics, and Job Crafting - Essay Example This is because, as the specializations increases in job positions, people working in that job position become invaluable natural resources for the company. It is a known fact that the productivity declines if the people who are working are dissatisfied with their life. There are many methods which can be used for designing a job so that it can be done in an efficient manner. The first step is to assess the job fully in terms of its usefulness to the organization. Then, you need to divide the job into various parts and get suggestion about the best way of doing them quickly and efficiently. The third step is to implement the streamlined method to complete the job. The best method to design a job so that it can be motivating is the job crafting which can done by the person who is working on that position. The first step is this method is the assessment of the job profile and altering one or more than one core aspect of the work. He or she can consult with their supervisor and change the job boundaries by changing the numbers of tasks, changing the method or increasing the scope as per that person’s choices. The organizations hire the experts to study physical and other aspects to optimize the system performance as well as minimize the physical demands on the workers. It assesses the human capabilities and designs the tools, systems and work environment in order to make them efficient, comfortable and safe jobs for the employees of any company. There are many ways in which an organization can plan for the mental demands of any job. They can change the thinking of the person or his perception about the job. The person concerned can divide his job in two separate parts, one which he can think as a challenge and the other which can think as the vacation from the tedious parts. He can assess the job profile and responsibilities very deeply. Then, he can reconfigure them as per his choices. Job crafting can be broadly defined as the simple visual framework

Report on corporate scandal ( XEROX ) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Report on corporate scandal ( XEROX ) - Essay Example According to Neasa (2010), the company came to be known in 1959 when it introduced Xerox 914. This increased the company’s revenue to a larger extent and also improved the company’s image to its customers. Many people moved to Xerox as a result and this led to listing of the company by Chicago Stock Exchange and New York stock exchange in 1961. It was the leading company these days. What followed were upcoming corporations with new ideas which brought a lot of competition. Knapp & Michael (2004) states that, with the naming of Archie Mccardell as the president in 1971, the company introduced its first color copier named Xerox 6500. This was meant to increase the company’s sales and especially to print shops. This was followed by constant and frequent advertising which made multitudes turn their attention to the product. The company expanded widely and ventured into production of electronic memory typewriters which made the company gain 25% market share. Around 1990, the company started developing digital photocopiers which gave it a competitive advantage over its competitors. Drucker (2011), outlines that, in 1999, Richard Thoman from IBM was brought in and made the president of the company. He brought in internal politics and this resulted into his resignation in 2000. The company introduced a red digital x to signify the transition from paperwork to digital. Chesbrough & Rosenbloom (2002), states that with the appointment of Mulcahy as the president in 2000, the company underwent a great transition which increased its profitability largely, making its initial good image resume. On April 11, 2002, the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission filed a case against Xerox for deceiving the public through use of accounting irregularities. It started investing more in research and development in order to come up with new ways and products