Cultural Issues Of International Business - 1821 Words

Culture can be defined as â€Å"the sum total of the beliefs, rules, techniques, institutions, and artefacts that characterize human populations† (Ball et al, 1999 p.258). Sociologist generally talk about a socialization process – referring to the influence of social groups upon an individual, and the interaction of that individual with other members of society. Key elements of culture include language, religion, values, attitudes, customs and norms of a group or society. Cultural issues present a significant challenge to businesses; particularly international businesses. This is because businesses involve people. Every business employs people, sells to people, buys from people, and is owned and regulated by people. International people involve people from different national cultures - these cultures affect every aspect of business functions, including but not limited to: recruiting and managing a workforce, marketing and distribution, purchasing of raw materials, deali ng with regulators, and securing funds. The challenges that cultural issues present to international business is that of creating and nurturing cultural awareness; identifying and understanding the dynamics of culture; recognizing behavioural patterns and practices that affect the business; and coming up with strategies for dealing with cultural differences. Cultural awareness can be described as awareness of the various norms, practices, and other cultural variables of a country. This is an important aspect toShow MoreRelatedCross Cultural Issues in International Business2688 Words   |  11 PagesFestivals of Fiji 4 Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna Day 4 The Lovo Feast 4 Culture 5 The Three Cultures Model 5 Cultural Frameworks and Dimensions 6 Hofstede 6 Trompenaars Hampden-Turner 7 Hall 8 The Johari Window 9 GLOBE Research 10 Comparison of Cultural Frameworks and Dimensions 11 Management Approach 12 Conclusion Recommendation 13 APPENDIX A 14 References BibliographyRead MoreThe Impact Of Culture On International Marketing Communication1486 Words   |  6 PagesSUMMARY Cultural factors have long been known to impact the communication and success capability of competition in conducting worldwide business. The objective of this report is to recognize the importance of cultural factors occurring in marketing communications. 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From your research you are required to put together a research report document which can be used to assist businesses who are considering trading internationally. Your work should be a result of your own independent research and contain references throughout

Non governmental organizations Free Essays

Non-government organizations are organizations that are not controlled by government and are non profit making. Their purpose is to provide a service or object in which they are formed for they offer social welfare services to workers and communities in which they operate they play a major role in the society because they determine family structures, family relation and also the education system that would produce effective man power for them and others. NGO, s has control over political power nationality and even power over borders. We will write a custom essay sample on Non governmental organizations or any similar topic only for you Order Now (Steve. Witt. (2005) They also contribute to the needs of the poor, deals with issues of the religion in a given area and hence impact heavily on the attitude and values that a given community adapts to. NGO, s helps in the contribution of the humanitarian affairs that serve the communities interests. NGO, s also deals with national and multilateral policy making and even local actions, .NGO, s provides employment to the citizens and assist in matters of dividing international authority, help to research, assess, report and publicize details on behalf of those accountable to them. (K.Rodman, (1998). They also deal with stability and security issues. Most non-government doesn’t depend heavily on the government for funding but the government may assist them partially with funds. They thus do not involve government representative within their organization and they also don’t involve them in their decision making process. AREAS OF INEFFECTIVENESS, UNACCOUTABILITY AND   Ã‚  Ã‚   ELITIST NATURE OF NGO, S Non-governmental organizations are supposed to be effective on their objectives and also accountable to those they serve. However, this non government organization have increasingly failed by being unaccountable to those they are supposed to work for, they have continually been ineffective in their performance and they have adapted to elitist nature whereby they segregate themselves from others and only work for their own selfish interest and for the interest of those whose status they consider important to their affairs and has influential power that makes them be treated preferentially this attitude can be termed as a mechanism of elite capture. (Steve. Witt. (2005) â™ « The ineffectiveness, the unaccountability and the elitist nature of NGO, s is evident among much renowned organization and this can be seen to be true when one assesses their performance with regard to the current debate on good governance and civil society. (K.Rodman, (1998). Roles of good governance The current debate on good governance and civil society emphasizes on peace building, democratization, quality leadership, responsibility and proper civil institutions. NGO, s should assist in helping in peace building in countries in which they are situated, they should be involved in the resolving existing issues in the country for example by  Ã‚   helping to find solutions to a countries conflicting issues when they arise, mediating disputing groups when there are ethnic tensions caused by political instability, coming up with measures that will reduce tribalism, nepotism and corruption, help in recovering the economy when the country is experiencing economic depression, assisting the needy   in their surrounding environment for example when natural disaster arise such as flood, earthquake ,terrorist attacks among others, Stabilizing political turmoil being experienced in that particular country and many other issues. (K.Rodman, (1998). However, the current non-government organization do not engage themselves with this issues on the contrary instead of doing this, the NGO, s have left this in the ruin of government and civil societies. Non-governmental organizations have also in some instances contributed to peace downfall by supporting one side of the worrying groups rather than being neutral. They tend to favor that group that have influential power and assumes those who are less powerful. This has made them to be unaccountable and untrustworthy and cannot be depended upon by both the government and the members of the societies who would have otherwise depended on them. The management allows political influences when making decisions which imposes a negative impact to all the organization stakeholders and employees who oppose the decision on the basis that they are not consulted and. this causes conflicts, lots of job turn over, redundancy and withdrawal and this leads to job inefficiency. (K.Rodman, (1998). They have been ineffective with regards to matters of enhancing democratization. This is because they have indulged in politics funding complains and supporting certain politicians who have influence upon them and this has contributed heavily in the reduction of democracy as they do not play their role as pressure group to pressurize the government to observe democracy. Non governmental organization have also been ineffective to help in matters of maturation of nation’s policy and economy other than participating in development and transformations, this organizations involve in the achievement of their own interest that is; what will benefit them other than what will be beneficial to all who are accountable to them, they pursue their own goals without incorporating the objectives of government and civil societies and this leads to lack of goals commonality hence retarding the government policies such as poverty and illiteracy eradication. Leadership Leadership and quality management are important for any country or institution to have good governance. Non governmental organization are poorly managed because of lack of qualified staff because the recruitment of workforce is based not on technical competence and merit, but on favoritism and thus the management have no proper management skills, the employees under such management thus work with a lot of skepticism and heavy opposition and most of them resist changes and all the rules that the management enforces and this leads to difficulties in implementation of proper practices, policies and procedures that are fundamental in developing strategies that ensures that organizations objectives are met. (K.Rodman, (1998). This also has led to poor selection of policies and allocation of resources. The leadership style in current non-governmental organization is that of authoritative and bureaucratic which ignores human elements due to impersonality of interpersonal relations. This style of leadership imposes rules, norms and procedures to be followed. The leaders make decisions and demands everyone to follow, they do not allow the other members of staff to be involved when making decisions and they harshly react when the rules they enforces are not properly followed this causes slow development, work delays, inefficiency and frustrations to citizens, employees and any other stakeholders and this reduces the effectiveness of NGO, s as a whole. (Carrie Meyer, (1999), Corruption eradication is a key issue in good governance especially in Africa. . NGO, s are faced with issues of corruption where they demands bribery to assist in matters they were supposed to deliver to the citizens without demanding any form of payment and this makes them unaccountable to those who rightfully depended on their services. (sH.Englund, (2004) There’s also a lot of misappropriation of funds and lack of proper fund management. This causes inadequate funding leading to shortage of resources to implement their policies and this can also eventually lead to the liquidation of the organization. When organization funds are mismanaged it causes serious implications, which makes the organization unaccountable and inefficient, which leads them to a step back to transparency and accountability. This vice has passed on to civil societies and government at large. Environmental issues NGO, s engages in activities that are harmful to the surrounding environment. This is by social unethical and unaccountable activities. For example, they may engage in activities that involves emissions of exhaustive gases that pollute the environment or even have technological machinery that produce disturbing noises around the environment they are situated in. They often do not take   proper measures and responsibility   to eradicate this implication arguing that since they are a non profit making organizations, members of the communities should take care of their environment and the fact that they are in needs of the organizations   services   they should allow them to deliver them respectfully without dealing with environmental issues. This causes negative impacts to the community and it has hampered the life of the society and animals especially where there is water and air pollution. They can be termed as negligence of the virtue of accountability to the society.( K.Rodman, (1998). NGO, s has turned into a mechanism of elite capture. They tend to involve only the elite in formulation of their policies. (H.Englund, (2004) There is lack of representation of civil society as a whole and the marginalized social movements are sidelined. Regional consultative of African non-governmental organizations, s and civil society organization lay foundation for the governance forum stressed on role of women in leadership. It has been observed that there is evident gender inequality within these organizations. Few non government organizations in Africa have observed this as few women are employed or hold decision making positions in management of NGO, s. the elites in NGO, s have various skills that they can utilize in government running but they are trapped in the NGO, s. in addition, instead of involving the locals to do various jobs they subcontract them. (Carrie Meyer, (1999), NGO, s has been ineffective because of selective area of operations. They concentrate in certain areas than the others. This makes those sidelined areas not to enjoy their operations. The NGO, s may not operate in certain areas that have poor infrastructure, lack of effective communications and lack of technology. This has led to unequal distribution of resources. The NGO, s have not helped in establishment of proper running civil institutions and instead they leave this role to the government   Conclusion In order to ensures that non-governmental organizations work effectively and successfully there is need to ensure that there is interactions of workers, formal and informal groups, government itself and any other influential factors to the organization. Democratic involvement by this organization should be considered as it is equally and critically important in enhancing the effectiveness of this organization. (Carrie Meyer, (1999),   They should be committed to implement their services to all interested stakeholders successfully. They should also avoid favoritism and avoid authoritative leadership and adapt to other ways of leading that will bring about motivation and morale of workers in the organization. Non governmental organizations should also ensure that they take responsibility and take the necessary actions required of them when their activities imposes harm to the surrounding environment. (Steve. Witt. (2005) They should also ensure that all non-governmental organizations are effective, efficient and accountable and are not expressed as mechanism of elitist capture. References: l   Steve. Witt. (2005). Changing roles of NGO, s in the creation. l   Sangeeta Kamat. (2002), development hegemony, American university press l   Carrie Meyer, (1999), The economics and politics of NGO, s in Latin American; praeger publisher. l   Maha abreirahman, (2004), the politics of NGO, s in Egypt; the American university press 5H.Teegen(2003) international NGO, s as global institution; Journals of international management l   K.Rodman, (1998). Think globally; vol 12 l   Daniel .a. Bell and Jean Marc (2004) university press l   H.Englund, (2004), prisoners of freedom; human rights and Africa poor. l   S, Goonahlak, (2006). Journal, foreign funded l   Lyal.s.Sunga, (2003), NGO, s involvement in international human rights monitoring How to cite Non governmental organizations, Essay examples

Lifestyle Influence of Consumer Behavior †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Lifestyle Influence of Consumer Behavior. Answer: Introduction Consumer behaviour is influenced by many factors, which plays an important role in the governance of final purchasing. The different kinds of consumers have different kinds of buying habits and behaviours. The behaviour in generally is influenced by many factors such as needs, feelings and the barriers to buy products. These factors are highly important for multinational companies as they use this strategy as their weapon to penetrate deep into the customers minds (Ammi, 2013). The chosen organization for this assignment is Woolworths Supermarkets. The chosen organization is necessary to understand the importance of a customer journey map, which these organizations use as their marketing strategies. They use these strategies to mould the perception of the customers into their favour. The main purpose of this assignment is to understand the behaviour of customers with the help of some important theories and concepts behind the consumer perception of buying. Reflection of buying behaviour Before I did not know anything about the customer journey map to a shop, I did not care that much on my entire journey to the shopping. However, I had also gone through the stages, which plays an important role in constructing the customer journey to a shop. The customer journey map has immensely helped in understanding the real psychology behind the buying behaviour of consumers. I initially did not have any idea of a structure that works behind the decision-making before the purchasing of a product. However, the customer journey map have made me realized that even I used to undergo some kinds of processing before the final execution of the busying takes place. The customer journey to buying has helped in analyzing my own perceptions while going for the shopping. Based on all the perceptions, which I am able to derive with the help of a customer journey, following are some of my perceptions that I make before making the final purchasing (Belk, Askegaard Scott, 2012): I generally select my preferable locations or malls before going out for a shopping The preferred location might be because of the branding values or the availability of the malls to my living destination When I opt out for a particular mall, I generally think that there would be high range of products, which are not feasible to my pocketing values I usually have my own perceptions that I would stick to my pocketing values; however, sometimes I find this difficult to be persistent with my thoughts Once I step into the market, my perceptions is changed accordingly by looking onto the available range of products and their marketing styles I am usually being attracted towards the highly designated products However, the shopping does happen in a series of confusion and making of decisions I sometimes throng towards a particular product because that particular product raise my desire; however, all of a sudden I am landed to the ground when I look into the price tagging This is something very strange part of my behaviour that even make myself confuse on how I am behaving like this However, I entirely enjoy the sort of behaviours, which I have regarding the buying of products One more interesting part of my buying behaviours is the presence of less affirmation on my decision, which a good salesperson can anytime use to their benefits This has happened to me in past that I was not interested towards a product however, the intense convincing power of the salesperson did actually made me shop of the particular product I am very fascinated towards good products but I am very choosy also when it comes to the product pricing Some of the consumer behaviour related concepts are very relevant to my characteristic, which is reflected on my way of shopping and the desire to initiate a shopping. Some of the behavioural traits for the shopping may include such as following (Goldsmith, 2016): Disposition of goods to the garbage Usage of experiences to enhance the buying practices Decision making in the influence of several factors that also include salespersons selling skills Changing attitudes with respect to the shopping environment majorly influenced by high-end class standard of the shopping malls These are some of the buying behavioural traits, which have helped me immensely in constructing my own buying behaviour (Griskevicius Kenrick, 2013). The lens of consumer behaviour theory Different brands use different theories and models to change or actually inspire the perspectives of buyers for earning a high rate of revenues from the shoppers. Following are some of the theories, which marketers of todays world use it to perfection to mould the buying behaviour of customers (Haghshenas et al., 2013): Martin Fishbein and Icek Ajzen postulated the theory in the year 1960s. The concept behind the postulation of the theory was the decision-making skills of the consumers, which they develop quite before they move to the shopping. According to this theory, consumers are acting as rational actors who actually make their decisions based on their own interest (Juster, 2015). Abraham Maslow postulated the theory in the year 1943, which emphasize the importance of needs fulfilment for people. It includes five stages, which states the different level of needs that common people requires in specific. The five stages of needs are such as physiological needs, safety, love, esteem and self-actualization. These are some of the needs of a common people, which they look for being motivated. Different marketers use these five stages very effectively in attracting the perceptions of consumers (Kahle Chiagouris, 2014). Hawkins Stern did believe and argue the traditional form of making of buying behaviours. Hawkins Stern argued that the traditional form of making decisions could be made adjoined to the creation of impulse in average number of customers with the help of external attracting agents. External influencing agents can be anything such as salesperson skills. Marketers use this form of skills to mould the perception and buying decisions of average number of customers (Kardes, Cronley Cline, 2014). Overview of Consumer research on different theories The above-mentioned theories for buying behaviour of consumers do very well hold their own ground in the perception of consumers for buying. The observation made on the personal traits for the shopping and on those who are related to one by means of friendships or some blood relations, the variations of decision making for shopping can well be seen. In most of the cases, shoppers have their mindset for a particular product or a brand, which they never change under any circumstances (Katiyar Katiyar, 2014). However, some are there who are motivated to do shopping by means of several things such as buying traits of some other peoples in contact. They used to have initially no such intentions for buying the particular product; however, they do so after observing the buying reasons of their close ones. The reasons actually excite their feeling towards the shopping. The feeling and the desire actually do shape such peoples mind, which result in shopping the product despite having no such prior intentions for that (Lantos, 2015). Other kinds of shoppers are also observed at the market place, which neither had any prior intentions for the shopping nor are they influenced by any others shopping traits. However, they are influenced by some external factors such as effective moulding skills of salespersons. Nevertheless, the conversion rate is comparatively lower than that of traditional customers. From the perspectives of organizations, it is important that they receive all kinds of customers to their market place, as every single customer is an asset (Mullen Johnson, 2013). Today in the modern era of business, shopping malls or supermarkets often include variety of brands for a particular product to provide customers a wide range of options. This is the one implication of consumer behaviour, which different companies use to mould the perceptions and buying behaviours of customers to earn the maximum benefits. Offering a single brand for a particular group of product is not a healthy selection for holding their nerves (Oliver, 2014). The modern era of shopping has made this a compulsory strategy for numerous of multinational companies to offer wide range of brands. Moreover, modern day customers prefer to compare the offerings of different products for its pricing, affordability and quality. These are some of the factors, which dictate the customers for making decisions on product selection. In other words, this is nothing but the manipulation of customers mind by offering comparable products. This is nothing but the creation of impulse in customers for buying the products, which is indeed the adherence to one of the mentioned theories of buying behaviour. This is because that they have all the brands available at one place, hence, they need not to go anywhere else for the purchasing of products of their choices (Rani, 2014). The above diagram clearly illustrates the phenomena of consumer behaviour. It shows the modelling of consumer behaviour, which happens in a collection of three stages such as strategy making by the firm, understanding the market place reactions and then analyzing the consumer behaviour. This is extremely helpful in redesigning the strategies for affecting the buying behaviours of the customers based on the collected data on the buying nature of consumers. Relevance of the mentioned theories The above-mentioned theories are very much relevant to my personal trait for buying, which I had mentioned in the reflection section. The mentioned theories are not entirely related to my personal buying behaviour. However, some of the theories are strongly relevant to my personal trait. Theories on personal needs and impulse creation are very much related to my characteristic of buying. I normally plan for shopping when there is a need for some product. I even make my own decisions about the products and the brands; however, I find it difficult to stick to the set plan. This is because of the fact that the external environment of the shopping malls of my choices often attracts me towards those products, which I had not planned before. I am never fixed at one product (Safi Ramay, 2013). For example, once I went to the mall for buying a Samsung Smartphone. I even planned for my shopping quite prior to my visit to the mall, which I did at home by searching the best phone of my needs a t the Google platform. However, once I stepped into the mall, I just found myself undecided on the products, as there were wide ranges of products of other brands. Most interestingly, the other brands were best in features than the one I anticipated. However, even after that, I was undecided and did not have any intention to change my selection, as those products were slightly higher than my budget. Nevertheless, one of the salesperson approached to me and started convincing me towards some other product such as Sony. The salesperson made me realized that the offer is not a waste if I spent a few higher. The salesperson did actually change my perception and created an impulse towards the Sony Smartphone. I finally landed up shopping the Sony Smartphone, which I had never thought before. The example very well explains the fact that my perception of shopping and the relevant buying behaviour is very much influenced by some of the established theories on the buying behaviour of consume rs (Solomon, 2014). Implications of consumer behaviour on Woolworths Different supermarkets have different strategies to cope with the varied range of buying behaviours of different consumers. This is because of the fact that different supermarket brands use different strategies to attract the perception of customers. In addition to this, different supermarket uses a very similar strategy, which is as the following: This is how every supermarket chains strategise the selling of their products. Woolworths along with Coles form the duopoly in the Australian Retail market. Woolworths is specialized in different kinds of groceries items. Apart from that, it is also engaged in selling several kinds of magazines, stationary items and DVDs. It is the largest supermarket chains in Australia. It has well studied the buying nature of consumers and the effective forces behind the making of decisions. This is because of the fact that Woolworths are now considering on its new strategy, which states that low prices, always. This just shows the strategy making of the Australias largest supermarket chain. They understand the importance of consumer behaviour, which is because of the fact that they quickly scuffle from their existing strategy to the most effective strategy. The declining sales of Woolworths in the year 2015 have forced them to change their existing strategies to retain their existing customer bas e and to add more customers that are new. This in other words explains the implications of consumer buying behaviour, which force the leading brands to reshape their existing strategies (Van Raaij, van Veldhoven Wrneryd, 2013). The changes of existing strategy can be anything ranging from the reduction of product pricing to its quality enhancement. Another strategy, which Woolworths does make, is the offering of discounted pricings on the multiple unites of the same product. These all strategies used by Woolworths simple goes on telling a fact that different leading brands are worried of changing consumer behaviour. The varied range of different perceptions and buying behaviour of customers do influence the strategy making of such companies. Indeed, it is influenced differently at the different stages of their business just to match up with their changing behaviours (Cameron, 2017). Woolworths is one of the most renowned names in the Australian retailing market; however, consumer behaviour has even not left them apart from being influenced. This is one such fact, which strongly governs the fact that consumer buying behaviour does affect the business of leading brands and its different stakeholders (Vidyavathi, 2012). On a same note, Woolworths did force its suppliers to reduce the costs of raw materials to be cost-effective in terms of manufacturing of the products. Woolworths being one of the leading supermarket chains in Australia doe very well explain the dominion power of consumer behaviour. Moreover, consumer behaviour is a challenge for the companies and for its marketing teams, which construct the customer journey map to support their companies having effective control on customers perceptions (Zinkan, 2012). Conclusion Consumer behaviour is one factor, which has challenged the strategy making of many leading companies in past and continued to do so in the present as it is evident from the example of Woolworths. The company has considered different kinds of strategies in past, which it again reconsidered in the year 2015 for meeting with the changed behaviour of customers. The highly incremented ranges of differing consumer behaviours and the elevating market competition in between different companies have posed ample pressures on the strategic management team. This is for such treasons that company such as Woolworths are considering relevant changes in their strategies tom match up with the changing customers perceptions. References Ammi, C. (Ed.). (2013).Global consumer behavior. John Wiley Sons. Belk, R. W., Askegaard, S., Scott, L. (Eds.). (2012).Research in consumer behavior. Emerald Group Publishing. Cameron, N. (2017). Woolworths details 3-year strategy to become customer centric. [online] Cmo.com.au. Available at: https://www.cmo.com.au/article/574302/woolworths-details-3-year-strategy-become-customer-centric/ [Accessed 29 Apr. 2017]. Goldsmith, E. B. (2016).Consumer economics: Issues and behaviors. Routledge. Griskevicius, V., Kenrick, D. T. (2013). Fundamental motives: How evolutionary needs influence consumer behavior.Journal of Consumer Psychology,23(3), 372-386. Haghshenas, L., Abedi, A., Ghorbani, E., Kamali, A., Harooni, M. (2013). Review consumer behavior and factors affecting on purchasing decisions.Singaporean journal of business economics, and management studies,1(10), 17-24. Juster, F. T. (2015).Anticipations and purchases: An analysis of consumer behavior. Princeton University Press. Kahle, L. R., Chiagouris, L. (2014).Values, lifestyles, and psychographics. Psychology Press. Kardes, F., Cronley, M., Cline, T. (2014).Consumer behavior. Cengage Learning. Katiyar, A., Katiyar, N. (2014). An empirical study of Indian consumer buying behavior of FMCG products (with special reference of bathing soap).International Journal of Management and Commerce Innovations,2(1), 211-217. Lantos, G. P. (2015).Consumer behavior in action: Real-life applications for marketing managers. Routledge. Mullen, B., Johnson, C. (2013).The psychology of consumer behavior. Psychology Press. Oliver, R. L. (2014).Satisfaction: A behavioral perspective on the consumer. Routledge. Rani, P. (2014). Factors influencing consumer behaviour.International Journal of Current Research and Academic Review,2(9), 52-61. Rios, M. C., McConnell, C. R., Brue, S. L. (2013).Economics: Principles, problems, and policies. McGraw-Hill. Safi, A., Ramay, M. I. (2013). Corporate social responsibility and consumer behavior: a study from Pakistan.Information Management and Business Review,5(4), 194-202. Solomon, M. R. (2014).Consumer behavior: Buying, having, and being(Vol. 10). Engelwood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Van Raaij, W. F., van Veldhoven, G. M., Wrneryd, K. E. (Eds.). (2013).Handbook of economic psychology. Springer Science Business Media. Vidyavathi, K. (2012). Consumer Lifestyle Influence of Consumer Behavior with reference to automobile industry in Chennai.Zenith International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research, II (4), 37-50. Zinkan, G. (Ed.). (2012).Advertising research: The internet, consumer behavior, and strategy. Marketing Classics Press.

What Happened free essay sample

I lay down looking at my ceiling,talking to myself, and notice how The value for something we once cherished can be lost and forgotten over time. Everyone has something to value. I value technology, history, and patience. Most people are not like me and I am aware of that, but in todays society we need to value our history a bit more for our futures sake. If value is something we base a majority of our standards on, then what is happening to the present and what will happen to the future generations. We do not even take the time to address that fact that times are changing, so where does that leave us? Media has influenced us in many ways, but the way we use this technology can bring our values to a lower standard.The thought that run through my head can be described in three simple words, lack of participation. We will write a custom essay sample on What Happened? or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Nowadays instead of hip new games that disappear within the year, we need to focus and involve ourselves around politics and news in order to stay aware, stay alert, and develop our nation in a more unifying way. We hold the power, yet we choose unwisely to act upon it by simple gestures such as not voting, not taking the time to understand the laws thats are being enforced, or even worse not being aware that this is our nation and we choose who runs it for us. Our values are being diminished because of the lack of participation. If you think about it, just about everything we have been exposed to has foreshadowed our future. For example, ever witness one of those coaches that lets his or her favorite players of the hook and not pushes them beyond their limits. How about those teachers that let you take the whole year on one assignment you end up losing after day one. It is people like these that have lost their value, so now they do not wish to pass it on. Now do you see the problem that as time passes on, things change, moral values lost, and history becomes your caregiver. In some cases, it is situations like these that develops the responsibility in yourself and others; however, being a student is recalicent I have to admit but what we lack is votive. A desire in going after the task we have yet to accomplish. Natural rights, Consent of governed, Limited government; does any of this ring a bell? All these concepts excited back in the 1800’s to 1900’s that basically state, â€Å"we are the best and we do the best for our country†.These concepts added value to our choices, but are now being forgotten due to the new ideas of technology, that on some occasions can be rendered useful to societies â€Å"younger crowd†with its use of social media allowing us, total access to the news on the streets from around the globe at anytime and anyplace. Media has its ups and downs, but its effecting the way we see our society and thats the problem.

International Marketing Strategy of Fortescue Metal Group

International Marketing Strategy of Fortescue Metal Group Executive Summary The external and internal environment of Fortescue Metal Group has been analyzed in this report. The external environment presents several threats, which include high competition, tariff barriers to foreign market entry, high bargaining power of buyers of iron, and high suppliers’ bargaining power.Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on International Marketing Strategy of Fortescue Metal Group specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The main opportunity that is available to FMG is the expected increase in demand for iron in China and other emerging markets. Moreover, the company has the opportunity to increase its market share because of the low threat of new entrants and substitutes. FMG’s strengths include access to huge iron ore deposits, extensive railroad networks, and a talented workforce. However, its overdependence on the Chinese market is a threat to its long-term profitability. Overal l, the company’s resources and capabilities will improve its long-term success. Case Study Report: Strategic Management Introduction Fortescue Metal Group (FMG) is a leading producer of iron in Australia. Since its inception in 2003, the company has achieved rapid growth through cost reduction and expansion of production capacity. The aim of the company is to become the lowest cost producer of iron in Australia (FMG 2014). This paper will provide a detailed analysis of the internal and the external environment of the company to determine its competitiveness. The aim of the analysis is to identify the internal and external factors that are likely to influence the company’s ability to succeed in the long-term. External Environment PESTEL Analysis International trade policies are the main political factors that influence the performance of firms in the iron industry. Protectionist trade policies such as subsidizing domestic iron producers prevent competition in major mark ets such as China (Hau, Chatterjee Jingliang 2011, pp. 68-81). In emerging markets in Africa and the Middle East, high import duties reduce the competitiveness of imported iron.Advertising Looking for case study on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Economic growth and exchange rate are the main economic factors that affect iron producers and exporters. Strong economic growth in China and emerging markets in Asia and the Middles East will continue to increase the demand for iron in the next five years (KPMG 2014). Exchange rate fluctuations have both positive and negative effects on export revenues. An appreciation of the Australian dollar against major currencies such as the yuan and euro makes iron exports from Australia to be more expensive in international markets. The reverse effect occurs when the Australian dollar depreciates. The major social factors that influence the competitiveness of ir on producers include increased population growth and urbanization in emerging market economies, as well as, lack of experienced personnel in Australia’s iron industry. High population growth and increased urbanization will increase the demand for housing, which in turn will increase the demand for iron in the international market (KPMG 2014). However, lack of experienced personnel means that Australian iron producers must incur high staff development costs. Production and transportation technologies have a significant effect on the competitiveness of iron producers. Companies that lack access to efficient third party transportation systems are unable to improve their competitiveness. Access to cheap energy and efficient mining technologies improve the competitiveness of companies in Brazil and China (Beresford, Pettit Liu 2011, pp. 32-42). Environmental regulations and access to iron reserves are key determinants of success in the iron industry. Nearly all companies in the g lobal iron industry are incurring high costs due to prohibitive carbon emission fees (Inglezakis Zorpas 2011, pp. 566-580).Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on International Marketing Strategy of Fortescue Metal Group specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Although Australian and South African companies have access to high quality iron ore, their counterparts in China and Brazil are losing their competitiveness due to limited access to high quality iron ore. Anti-trust law is the main legal factor that influences competition in the iron industry. The Australian Competition Tribunal has the power to declare private railroads to be open access tracks. This limits the incumbents’ ability to prevent entry into the industry (Tian, He Yi 2005, pp. 67-88). Moreover, the competition laws determine the extent to which companies can combine their resources to create synergies. For example, if the joint venture between BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto is blocked, the two companies will lose the opportunity to save $10 billion annually. According to the PESTEL analysis, the main threats to the competitiveness of FMG are limited access to third party transportation systems, tariff barriers to market entry, high carbon emission fees, and exchange rate fluctuations. This means that the company must be able to reduce its operating costs in order to overcome threats such as high import tariffs and carbon emission fees. The opportunities that are available to FMG include the expected increase in demand for iron and availability of high quality iron ore in Australia. Thus, the company can increase its sales and profits by increasing its production to cater for the expected increase in demand. Porter’s Five Forces Analysis Suppliers’ Bargaining Power The main suppliers in the iron industry include owners of land with iron ore deposits, suppliers of fuel, and manufacturers of mining equipment. Owners o f land such as the Aborigines have high bargaining power due to the limited supply of land with iron ore deposits.Advertising Looking for case study on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Suppliers of fuel have high bargaining power due to their low switching costs (KPMG 2014). They can easily shift their supply to other industries such as manufacturing and transportation, which are able to offer high prices. Suppliers of mining equipment have high bargaining power since their products are highly differentiated. The high bargaining power of suppliers means that iron producers can be exploited through high prices of key supplies. Threat of Substitutes Iron is mainly used in the production of steel. In the steel industry, â€Å"scrap metal is the only substitute for iron† (Beresford, Pettit Liu 2011, pp. 32-42). The threat of substitutes is low since iron performs better than scrap metal in terms of quality and availability. The low threat of substitutes means that iron producers face little competition from sellers of scrap metal. Buyers’ Bargaining Power Buyers (steel mills) have a high bargaining power due to their ability to implement backward integr ation strategies. For example, China’s Hunan Valin Iron and Steel Group has invested in FMG to improve its access to iron. The high bargaining power of buyers is also explained by their ability to make bulk purchases. Buyers are also price-sensitive since they focus on reducing production costs in order to improve their profit margins (FMG 2014). The high bargaining power of buyers will continue to put a downward pressure on iron prices, thereby reducing the profits of iron producers (Doole Lowe 2008, p. 121). Threat of Entry The threat of new entrants is low because the incumbents have economies of scale in production and transportation, which acts as a barrier to entry. For example, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto restrict access to their railroads, thereby preventing new companies that cannot construct their own railroads from joining the industry. Other barriers to entry include huge financial capital requirements and the incumbents’ control of major mining sites. The low threat of new entrants is an opportunity to the incumbents to defend their market shares (Czinkota Ronkainen 2012, p. 57). Competitive Rivalry Competition is very high because of the high concentration of the industry. The top three largest firms control over 70% of the market, thereby increasing competition for the remaining 30% of the market. Fixed costs are also high since the industry is labor intensive. Although competition is high, the global market for iron is expected to grow by 11% in the next three years (KPMG 2014). The high competition will reduce the profits of iron producers. According the Porter’s five forces analysis, the factors that are likely to have adverse effects on the competitiveness of FMG are the high bargaining power of buyers, high bargaining power of suppliers, and high competition. This means that the company must respond to suppliers’ high bargaining power by reducing its operating costs (Terpstra, Foley Sarathy 2012, p. 73). Simila rly, it must be able to respond to buyers’ high bargaining power by reducing its prices. These strategies will enable the company to overcome competition. The expected growth of the market is an opportunity to FMG to expand its production capacity to earn high profits. Most Significant Resources and Capabilities The most important resources and capabilities that are shaping FMG’s competitive position include the following. First, the company has access to huge iron ore reserves in Pilbara. In 2013, the company’s iron ore reserves in Chichester and Solomon increased by 12% (FMG 2014). Access to high quality iron core enables the company to compete effectively by meeting its effective demand. In addition, the reserves will enable the company to continue with its mining activities in the next decade. Second, the company is capable of expanding its railroad and production capacity to meet the demand for its products. This enables the company to avoid delays in fulfi lling orders. Third, the company has a highly experienced and talented workforce. In addition, it has an effective organizational culture that promotes commitment and staff retention. As a result, it will be able to achieve product and process innovation (Freeman 2010, p. 89). Finally, the company’s corporate social responsibility initiatives focus on strengthening its relationships with the local communities. These include providing training and employment opportunities to Aboriginal groups. This strategy enables the company to avert resistance from the local communities who provide land for mining. These resources will enable the company to expand its operations in future. Strengths and Weaknesses Strengths The company has the following strengths. First, the company is financially stable. It has been able to realize a strong growth in profits in the last four years. In 2013, FMG reported a pre-tax profit of USD $1,746 million, which represents a 12% growth (FMG 2014). Secon d, FMG has a cost advantage in the iron industry. The company is able to maintain low operating costs, which in turn enables it to increase its profit margins. Third, the company has focused on forward integration through joint venture agreements with major buyers of iron such as Hunan Valin Iron and Steel. This enables it to defend its market share. Finally, FGM has an extensive railroad and port infrastructure in Australia. Currently, the company is expanding its railroad to cater for the increase in its transportation activities. The railroad enables the company to reduce the time and the financial resources that it requires to transport raw materials to the production centers. It also enables the company to transport its products in a cost-effective manner and to earn additional revenue from companies that use it for transportation. Weaknesses One of the main weaknesses of the company is its overdependence on the Chinese iron market. The company is likely to make huge loses if t he demand for iron reduces significantly in China. Another weakness of the company is its inability to raise external capital to finance its expansion. Lack of access to external funding will slow the pace at which the company will expand, thereby denying it access to available growth opportunities (Sadler 2003, p. 91). In sum, FMG’s excellent financial performance will enable it to attract investors. Thus, it will overcome its inability to access external capital. The company’s cost advantage will enable it to charge low prices to gain market share in other countries. As a result, it will be able to reduce its dependence on the Chinese market (Witcher Chau 2010, p. 117). Capacity to Succeed in the Long-term The company has adequate capacity to succeed in the long-term due to the following reasons. To begin with, its iron ore reserves at the Christmas Creek and Cloudbreak have a lifespan of 20 years. This means that FMG is assured of access to iron ore in the next ten years. Apart from the existing reserves, the company has focused on extensive exploration to increase its iron ore reserves. In 2013, the company formed a joint venture with China’s Baosteel Group and Taiwan’s Formosa Plastics Group to exploit huge iron ore deposits at its Iron Bridge reserve (FMG 2014). The Iron Bridge project will significantly increase FMG’s access to high quality iron ore. Moreover, the Iron Bridge reserve is a credible threat to entry that will enable FMG to prevent its competitors from expanding their capacities (Doole Lowe 2008, p. 56). Apart from having huge iron ore reserves, FMG continues to pursue its forward integration strategy to increase its market share. In 2013, Formosa Plastics Group completed its steel plant, which is the largest in the world (FMG 2014). Similarly, Baosteel Group is the second largest producer of steel in the world. By partnering with these companies, FMG will have the largest market share in the long-term. Conclusion The main threats in the iron market include high competition, environmental regulations, high buyers’ bargaining power, and high suppliers’ bargaining power. The opportunities that are available to FMG include the expected increase in demand for iron and low threat of substitutes. The company is capable of overcoming these threats due to its strengths and resources, which include access to large iron ore deposits, extensive railroad networks, strong financial performance, and forming joint ventures with the largest buyers of iron. However, the company needs to reduce its dependence on China’s market by increasing its exports to other emerging markets. References Beresford, A, Pettit, S Liu, Y 2011, ‘Multimodal supply chains: iron ore from Australia to China’, Journal of International Supply Chain Management, vol. 16. no. 1, pp. 32-42. Czinkota, M Ronkainen, I 2012, International marketing, Oxford University Press, London. Doole, I Lowe , R 2008, International marketing strategy, Sage, London. FMG 2014, 2013 annual report. Web. Freeman, E 2010, Strategic management, Sage, London. Hua, S, Chatterjee F Jingliang, C 2011, ‘Achieving competitive advantage in service supply chain: evidence from the Chinese steel industry’, Chinese Management Studies, vol. 5. no. 1, pp. 68-81. Inglezakis, V Zorpas, A 2011, ‘Industrial hazardous waste in the framework of EU and international legislation’, International Journal of Environmental Quality Management, vol. 22. no. 5, 566-580. KPMG 2014, Quarterly commodity insights. Web. Sadler, P 2003, Strategic management, John Wiley and Sons, New York. Terpstra, V, Foley, J Sarathy, R 2012, International marketing, John Wiley and Sons, New York. Tian, Z, He, Y Yi, G 2005, ‘The pricing behavior of firms in the Chinese iron and steel industry’, Asian Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, vol. 17. no. 3, pp. 67-88. Witcher, B Chau, V 2010, Stra tegic management, McGraw-Hill, New York.

A View from the Bridge Essay Example for Free (#27)

A View from the Bridge Essay ? Eddie Carbone, the protagonist of the play, is in many ways a tragic hero and like all tragic heroes has a fatal flaw. Eddie’s harmatia is his incestuous feelings for Catherine. Arthur Miller has used the character of Eddie as an everyman perhaps to show that any person can make mistakes with ones feelings. Through the character of Eddie we witness the downfall of a decent man who loses control of his actions.  In the early stages of the play, we see Eddie over protective of Catherine but possibly in a paternal way when he says ‘I don’t like the looks they’re giving you†¦heads are turning like windmills’ although it is quite normal for a father to protect his daughter Eddie’s problem is really with how the men are looking at Catherine rather than her well beings. The reader is also made aware that Eddie has made a lot of sacrifices for Catherine ‘I took out my own mouth to give it to her’ clearly when it comes to his family Eddie puts other people before himself this is also evident as he allows Marco and Rodolfo, people he has never met before, to stay illegally at his home. Later in the play there are clues about his true feelings for example when Catherine lights Eddie’s cigar she does it eagerly saying ‘here! I’ll light it for you’ the cigar is a phallic image and hints Eddie’s subconscious desire for Catherine as it gives him unusual pleasure. Eddie is unaware of his attraction to Catherine so his feelings are manifested in hatred towards Marco and Rodolfo. Eddie’s dislike for Rodolfo is displayed almost immediately after they arrive as ‘he is coming more and more addressed to Marco only’ this suggests that Eddie has no intentions of getting to know Rodolfo as he feels threatened by him. Miller builds up the aggressive nature of Eddie’s behaviour and also how quickly he establishes how volatile he can be. In the middle of Rodolfo’s song the playwright shows us how unsettled Eddie is when the stage directions indicate that ‘Eddie rises and moves upstage’. When he interrupts Rodolfo he is very sharp. At no point does he use his name but instead calls him ‘kid’. Superficially it seems he is preventing him from singing for his own safety but already the reader is aware that there is something more bubbling under the surface, especially when Miller tells us that Eddie’s face is ‘puffed with trouble’. The shocking actions of Eddie when he kisses both Catherine and Rodolfo shows further evidence of their love for one another as Catherine screams ‘Eddie! Let go, ya hear me! I’ll kill you! Leggo of him’ here we can see that the love between Catherine and Rodolfo is much stronger than that of Eddie and Beatrice, and how it is taking over from Catherine’s affection for Eddie. At the beginning of ‘A View from the Bridge’ Eddie and Beatrice are presented as having a loving and close relationship. It is when in Act 4 Eddie is waiting for outside his apartment for Catherine and Rodolfo to arrive home that Beatrice is blunt with him and says ‘when am I gonna be a wife again, Eddie’ it shows us she doesn’t feel like his wife because he is distracted by Catherine, it also suggests they don’t sleep together as husband and wife. Beatrice is a good woman and a good wife. She tries to warn Eddie against his feelings for Catherine but it shows us that he can’t do anything about them so therefore is basically doomed. At the end, there is reconciliation between Eddie and B when they come together and share their love with Eddie’s dying words ‘Then why – Oh, B!’ this is Eddies eventual realisation of his love for B. Eddie’s betrayal not only comes a shock to the audience but is incredibly ironic as in his previous dialogue Eddie retold the story of Vinny Bolzano and said to Catherine ‘ you think I’m blowing steam here’ this shows that Eddie thinks its unimaginable for someone to betray their own family. He gives his opinion and says ‘Him? You’ll never see him no more a guy do a thing like that? How’s he gonna show his face? Here Eddie is disgusted even by the consideration of telling on a fellow Italian. It also shows that he feels strongly about the ‘Italian law’ which makes it more surprising when he goes against it as it suggests that his incestuous feelings for Catherine turned him into a complete different person. Miller presents Eddie as a respectable image in the community, a husband and a guardian. Eddie feeling as a jealous lover leads him into conflict with his community. He placed his desires above family responsibilities. His respect and honour meant everything for him , but he was blinded by his love for Catherine, so everything else was forgotten. Eddie dies for, not that of the community values but for his own pride. A View from the Bridge. (2017, Oct 23).

Age discrimination in employment in the U.S Research Paper

Age discrimination in employment in the U.S - Research Paper Example Solis Hilda (2008) observes that ADEA prohibits discrimination on the basis of age in terms, conditions and privileges of employment such as hiring, promotion, termination, training, compensation and benefits. Despite this, employers find themselves stereotyping old age which according to the Act is any applicant or employee aged 40 years and above and hence discriminating against such employees. In â€Å"Age Discrimination by Employers,† Segrave Kerry (2001) argues that age discrimination is rampant in the most centralized and fastest growing industries. Age discrimination at work environment in the U.S is a result of the financial risks that older people present for companies due to lack of productivity, increased health insurance costs and high salaries. Productivity in employment is associated with high performance organizations and employees. It is achieved through use of high skilled, committed and motivated employees. Most employers view old people as having deteriorating physical and mental abilities hence unable to perform their jobs effectively despite the fact that some old people have the ability to perform better than young people. The nature of work keeps on changing as the economy moves from manufacturing to service sector. Most jobs thus require use of technology as opposed to manual skills held by older people. Young people are able to keep up with advancing technology as opposed to the old people who are nearing retirement age and hence see no need in investing in skill advancement. If they happen to lose their jobs, it is difficult for them to be absorbed in the job market due to lack of the required skills. For example, since the introduction of computers most jobs that require tedious paper work have been simplifie d. Information is recorded in the computer where it can be retrieved easily and large amount of work can be done with less time hence improved productivity. However, not many old people have learnt computer technology thus making

Discuss, quoting examples from NRM2 and CESMM4, the differences in Assignment

Discuss, quoting examples from NRM2 and CESMM4, the differences in measuring building and civil engineering work and why these differences - Assignment Example The much-anticipated CESMM4 brings inline the method with changes in the trade practices and expands its applications in other new fields. However, the CESMM4 method does not need any changes or learning to the business practices. Similarly, the version has been modified to include modern technologies and initial neutral contract, can be applicable among different contract suites such as FIDIC, ICC, and NEC. In the absence of restrictions on the National Standards and form of contract, CESMM4 is the critical and accessible edition to date, crucial for the construction and civil engineering projects across the globe (Barnes 2002). The CESMM4 standard of measurement reflect various methods in the industry, not only in the nature of work, but the estimating conventions and the degree of detail in use by both the civil engineering and construction sectors. Therefore, it reflects different ways that civil engineering and building projects are carried out and organized. In general, New Rules of Measurement (NRM2) emphasizes a lot on details, whereas CESMM4 has an inclusive stance about the process of analysis. Construction work has different areas whereas civil engineering works have massive quantities of a relatively small range of issues. For example, while using NRM2 to measure hole, it is essential to separate working space and earthwork support. Nevertheless, while using CESMM4, all items should be in a single excavation item (Lee et al. 2011). It significant to acknowledge at this level that NRM2 is not a system of classification in itself; it refers to a collection of measurement rules. Similarly, among the NRM2 objectives is to map onto several classification systems, including Uniclass and CAWS. However, the rules of measurement will be the same in all cases. For example, the measurement of concrete work will remain in cubic meters, and the brick works measurement will still be in

Can Death of a Salesman be Described as a Tragedy Essay Example for Free

Can Death of a Salesman be Described as a Tragedy Essay Aristotle first defined a tragedy in literature as a story where the main character is a hero a very brilliant person except that he has one major flaw which leads to his downfall, namely, death. Shakespeare then expanded on this and produced his world famous tragedies such as Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth and Hamlet. In all of these plays, the main character is a person of high social standing and exceptionally talented, however each has a very serious flaw as well. For example, Romeo is of Italian nobility and is very efficient with a sword and dagger but he is a fool for love and falls in love with Juliet as soon as he sees her, despite already being in love with Rosaline beforehand. That is the flaw which eventually leads to his demise. This definition has over time become the benchmark for a tragedy. Arthur Miller was an immigrant to the USA and can be seen as the opposite of Willy. Willy, however, is a proud born and bred American and holds to heart the very fundamentals of the American Dream a very capitalistic ethos. Miller, on the other hand, had communist beliefs which eventually landed him in trouble with the government. Both Death of a Salesman and another of Millers plays, All My Sons both have the foundations of the American Dream and also both secretly criticize the capitalistic belief. In Death of a Salesman, Willy dies just trying to live the American Dream and he never gives up on it an indication of his extreme optimism in all things despite how blatantly unrealistic achieving the American Dream was for him. The characterisation of Willy Loman is also quite interesting. He strives to be like a very old, successful salesman he met that worked from home, who when he died, numerous people he knew went to his funeral. He is someone everyone can relate to and make us love him, but he also has qualities that we all loathe and make us hate him at times. This is purposefully done by Miller to only make it more shocking when Willy dies in the end despite it is made quite obvious to readers it is inevitable. His name is also carefully planned out by Miller Willy is an average name and nothing special, but his surname is a clear reference to what he is. Loman low man is clearly meant to show how ordinary he is, despite just how much Willy strives to be the opposite. Willys main character flaw is that he is just too proud. For example, when he is offered a job by Charley his neighbour after being fired, Willy straight out refuses and is quite offended as he sees it as giving up and asking for help. This is shown by when Willy says, I dont want your goddam job! After Charley politely offers him a good one. Willys strong beliefs in the American Dream are also shown when he says, A man cant go out the way he came in, Ben, a man has to add up to something, by coming in, Willy means when a man is born and by going out, Willy means when a man dies. Also, adding up to something must mean being rich in Willys context. This follows the American Dream in that a man makes something of himself from nothing. Willys greatest fear has always been dying with nothing exactly what happens in the end. A use of dramatic irony by Miller, Willy willingly fulfils his own utmost fear. That quotation is also foreshadowing Willys death another intentional device by Miller. Besides his pride, another flaw of Willy is very poor and deteriorating mental health and he is subject to random flashbacks and hallucinations often of his dead and once very successful older brother, Ben, someone Willy idolizes. An example of one of his hallucinations is when Willy says, Ben, Ive been waiting for so long, despite Ben being dead at this point. The play is also cleverly structured by Miller. Music for example a flute plays in the background during some scenes for an added dramatic effect. This flute is heard in both the opening and ending scene. The play also makes heavy use of flashbacks, but sometimes a flashback scene plays on stage at the same time as the scene set in the present. This technique is seen in Act Two, while Willy is in the restaurant with Biff and Happy. On the whole, the structure is skilfully used to make the storyline more immersive to the audience. Although, it does not have the same level of effect when being read from a book. The historical context of the play greatly influences both the themes and language of the play greatly. Death of a Salesman is set during the late 1940s. This time setting influences both the characters and the audience, as the play first premiered on the tenth of February, 1949 the life of Willy Loman was something Americans going to watch the play at that time could relate to. Sixty years on, more modern audiences will react differently as times have changed and the idea of the American Dream isnt as dominant anymore. Besides the American Dream, other common themes can be found in the play. Betrayal is quite clear as Willy betrays Linda by cheating on her with the Woman, and Willy also sees the way Biff rebels against him as betrayal and as Willy himself says, Spite! . Another major theme would be one man Willy in this case being kept back from his dreams by society. In addition, the language used by characters matches the historical setting and context. In performances of the play, characters do not usually have the New Yorker accent you would expect, but they talk like a New Yorker. For example, words like gee, and rhetorically asking the person they are talking to if they hear this? On the subject of whether we can define Death of a Salesman as a tragedy or not is not a simple question as there is substantial evidence for both sides of the argument. To begin with, those who say that it is a tragedy may argue that it ends with the death of Willy, the main character, just like other tragedies. Moreover, Willy has explicit flaws which slowly lead to his downfall throughout the play. Finally, Willy may not ever do anything that can be deemed heroic, but within his own household he is very much a figure that is looked up to so it may still be a tragedy, albeit on a less grand scale. In contrast, you could argue that it is not a tragedy as all other characters from Shakespeares tragedies were people of high standing whereas Willy is not. Additionally, Willy is not at all a hero by any definition in fact he is in some ways a bad person as will be shown. Finally, Shakespeares heroes have quite dramatic flaws, whereas Willy has the same flaws as every ordinary human being. These are quite convincing arguments to why it isnt a tragedy. We will be looking at each argument more in-depth. The play follows the tragedies of Shakespeare in that the main character dies in the end. Willy commits suicide by crashing his car so that his family would get the life insurance money of $20,000 and make life easier for them. This is of course a noble reason to kill oneself as it is very selfless. However, it would make Willy a hypocrite as killing himself is also him giving up something he condemned. Nevertheless, his intentions were admirable and this could make him seen as a hero since he willingly died for a selfless cause.

Getting More: How You Can Negotiate to Succeed in Work and Life Essay

As I first entered the class of Negotiation: Theory and Practice, I realized that this class would be something that I would remember. The course has initiated my mind to multilevel thinking while negotiating. When reading the book â€Å"Getting More† by Diamond (2010), I really could relate with many of his examples of negotiating. Engaging with the literature and having classroom experiences sparked my interest in the subject of negotiation. The one example with the apartment building and the mouse problem is relatable since I am dealing with the situation with my apartment complex. I look back at the methods I have tried to get the mouse problem solved but none have been successful for over two months. Using the method of painting a clear picture to the other party created a picture in the other person’s mind. The method actually worked by gathering information and educating my apartment complex on diseases carried by mice. People negotiate everyday regarding thing s in different situations. Contrary to the classroom literature, Diamond (2010) suggest not to relationships, interest, win-win outcomes just because a person thinks it’s an effective tool. His teaching and literature focuses on reaching and meeting your goals in negotiations. Reviewing the twelve major strategies it did give a different perspective on how I viewed negotiations. The model explained how to get the best out of your goals and objectives. Kolb and Williams (2001) suggest that negotiation is a science created to allow all winners an approach of deal making. Relationships Diamond (2010) also critiques relationship between two parties and putting yourself in the other person’s shoes. By doing this it lets you feel what the other person may feel before... ...s important of help get a feel of the appropriate gestures to use in negotiations. Diamond not only provides insight into some of his student’s greatest triumphs, but does in a humble, human, and relatable way that shows remarkable self reflections and understanding of negotiations. Works Cited Fisher, R., Ury, W., & Patton, P. (2011). Getting to yes Negotiation agreement without giving in 3rd. New York: Penguin Books. Dawson, R. (2007). Secrets of Power Negotiating. Negotiation: Readings, Exercises, and Cases. 5. In Lewicki, R. et. al. New York: McGraw-Hill, Irwin. 98-108. Diamond, R. (2010). Getting More: How You Can Negotiate to Succeed in Work and Life. New York: Crown Business. Kolb, D. & Williams, J. (2007). Breakthrough Bargaining. Negotiation: Readings, Exercises, and Cases. 5, In Lewicki, R. et. al. New York: McGraw-Hill, Irwin. 206-214.

Educational Disparity in India

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION â€Å"I have a heart full of dreams To emulate Lakshmi, my neighbour, Who merrily goes to school; To wear skirts in gorgeous colours; To become a Collector and travel in a car; But, alas, trapped in a heap of matchsticks I am still far from free! † Etymologically, the word education is derived from the Latin term educatio (â€Å"a breeding, a bringing up, a rearing), from educo (â€Å"I educate, I train†) which is related to the homonym educo (â€Å"I lead forth, I take out; I raise up, I erect†), from e-  (â€Å"from, out of†) and  duco  (â€Å"I lead, I conduct†).Education  in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any  experience  that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts. In its narrow, technical sense, education is the formal process by which society deliberat ely transmits accumulated knowledge, skills, customs and values from one generation to another, e. g. , instruction in schools. It means the development of character or mental powers by means of giving intellectual, moral and social instruction especially as a prolonged process.Indian society is characterized by its diversity be it in terms of religion, caste, region or language. This kind of diversity gives rise to people with very different kind of family backgrounds and demographic characteristics. Though diversity in any state is considered a healthy phenomenon but only when people of different caste, religion or region are provided with same kind of opportunities and growth prospects in terms of access to education, employment and other fundamental services. There should not be any kind of discrimination between individuals based on their caste, religion, region or sex.In this light, if we observe Indian society we find that, based on caste and ethnicity, it suffers from substa ntial inequalities in education, employment and income. If the inequalities are arising due to differences in level of efforts made by individuals of different backgrounds then it is morally acceptable but if inequalities are due to circumstances beyond the control of an individual such as caste, religion, region of birth, sex, ethnicity and so on, then it is deemed unethical and unacceptable and also calls for compensation in some form or other, from the society, to those who have suffered due to inferior circumstances.In the case of India this problem becomes much more relevant since historically the Indian society is severely divided into different caste, religion and other social group structures with several groups enjoying privileges more than other groups just because of their superior social status.So, as far as India is concerned, it is very important from the point of view of both academic interest as well as policy implication, to estimate the extent of inequality due to different circumstances of people as it will help in going to the root cause of prevailing income or wealth inequality, evaluating the age old government programs aimed at bringing equality in society, developing policies for bridging gaps between different sections of society and thus leading towards a state which is more just and equal. 1. 1 A BRIEF HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN INDIAMonastic orders of education under the supervision of a guru were a favoured form of education for the nobility in ancient India. The knowledge in these orders was often related to the tasks a section of the society had to perform. The priest class, the Brahmins, was imparted knowledge of religion, philosophy, and other ancillary branches while the warrior class, the Kshatriya, was trained in the various aspects of warfare. The business class, the Vaishya, was taught their trade and the working class of the Shudras was generally deprived of educational advantages.Secular Buddhist institutions cropped up alo ng with monasteries. These institutions imparted practical education, e. g. , medicine. A number of urban learning centers became increasingly visible from the period between 200 BCE to 400 CE. The important urban centers of learning were Taxila (in modern day Pakistan) and Nalanda, among others. These institutions systematically imparted knowledge and attracted a number of foreign students to study topics such as Buddhist literature, logic, grammar, etc.By the time of the visit of the Islamic scholar Alberuni (973–1048 CE), India already had a sophisticated system of mathematics. With the arrival of the British Raj in India the modern European education came to India. British Raj was reluctant to introduce mass education system as it was not their interest. The colonial educational policy was deliberately one of reducing indigenous culture and religion, an approach which became known as Macaulayism.With this, the whole education as well as government system went through chan ges. Educated people failed to get job because the language in which they got education had become redundant. The system soon became solidified in India as a number of primary, secondary, and tertiary centres for education cropped up during the colonial era. Between 1867 and 1941 the British increased the percentage of the population in Primary and Secondary Education from around 0. 6% of the population in 1867 to over 3. % of the population in 1941. However this was much lower than the equivalent figures for Europe where in 1911 between 8 and 18% of the population were in Primary and Secondary education. Additionally literacy was also improved. In 1901 the literacy rate in India was only about 5% though by Independence it was nearly 20%. Following independence in 1947, Maulana Azad, India's first education minister envisaged strong central government control over education throughout the country, with a uniform educational system.However, given the cultural and linguistic diversity of India, it was only the higher education dealing with science and technology that came under the jurisdiction of the central government. Hence the disparity existed and deepened. The government also held powers to make national policies for educational development and could regulate selected aspects of education throughout India. The central government of India formulated the National Policy on Education (NPE) in 1986 and also reinforced the Programme of Action (POA) in 1986.The government initiated several measures like the launching of DPEP (District Primary Education Programme) and SSA (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, India's Initiative for Education for All) and setting up of Navodaya Vidyalaya and other selective schools in every district, advances in female education, inter-disciplinary research and establishment of open universities. India's NPE also contains the National System of Education, which ensures some uniformity while taking into account regional education needs. The NPE also stresses on higher spending on education, envisaging a budget of more than 6% of the Gross Domestic Product.While the need for wider reform in the primary and secondary sectors is recognized as an issue, the emphasis is also on the development of science and technology education infrastructure. CHAPTER 2 EDUCATION AND THE CONSTITUTION: SHAPING EACH OTHER Thinking about the interaction between the Constitution and education reveals that they are deeply interconnected, at profound levels of interdependence and complexity. Those connections are often strikingly visible, but are sometimes quite subtle. A fundamental interdependence was formed with the decision to formulate our governmental structure as a democratic republic.The Constitution created the necessity for adequate public education to prepare the citizenry to exercise the role of self-government. An educated voting public underpins a successful democratic structure, the importance of education to our democratic society. I t is required in the performance of our most basic public responsibilities. It is the very foundation of a responsible citizenship. Today it is the principal instrument for awakening the child to cultural values, in preparing him for later professional training, and in helping him to adjust normally to his environment.But it is not only our political system that is dependent upon a viable and successful educational system. Our economic system also proclaims its reliance upon well-trained and educated workers. And our social system rests on two largely accepted goals that each requires access to education – the â€Å"melting pot† which requires the successful absorption of diverse immigrant populations into a pluralistic social and cultural structure, and â€Å"upward mobility† which requires the permeability of class/caste barriers.Both goals are achieved substantially through the education system. 2. 1 LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK Article 45, of the Constitution of In dia originally stated: â€Å"The State shall endeavour to provide, within a period of ten years from the commencement of this Constitution, for free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of fourteen years. † This article was a directive principle of state policy within India, effectively meaning that t was within a set of rules that were meant to be followed in spirit and the government could not be held to court if the actual letter was not followed. However, the enforcement of this directive principle became a matter of debate since this principle held obvious emotive and practical value, and was legally the only directive principle within the Indian constitution to have a time limit.Following initiatives by the Supreme Court of India during the 1990s the Ninety-third Amendment Bill suggested three separate amendments to the Indian Constitution: * The constitution of India was amended to include a new article, 21A, which read: â€Å"The Stat e shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years in such a manner as the State may, by law, determine. * Article 45 was proposed to be substituted by the article which read: â€Å"Provision for early childhood care and education to children below the age of six years: The State shall endeavour to provide early childhood care and education for all children until they complete the age of sixteen years. † * Another article, 51A, was to additionally have the clause: â€Å"†¦ a parent or guardian [shall] provide opportunities for education to his child or, as the case may be, [a] ward between the age of six to fourteen years. The bill was passed unanimously in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian Parliament, on November 28, 2001. It was later passed by the upper house, the Rajya Sabha, on May 14, 2002. After being signed by the President of India the Indian Constitution was amended formally for the eighty sixth time an d the bill came into effect. Since then those between the age of 6–14 have a fundamental right to education. * Article 46 of the Constitution of India holds that: The State shall promote, with special care, the education and economic interests of the weaker sections of the people, and in particular of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and shall protect them from social injustice and all forms of social exploitation. † Other provisions for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes can be found in Articles 330, 332, 335 and 338–342. Both the 5th and the 6th Schedules of the Constitution also make special provisions for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. CHAPTER 3 VIDYA, VEDA, AND VARNA The 1990s were good years for education in India.According to the 2001 Census, the literacy rate for men, over the entire decade, increased by 11. 8 (percentage) points and that for women by 15 points with the consequence that in 2000, 57% of India's (over 15) popula tion was literate, with a literacy rate of 68% among men and 45% among women. Many of the issues relating to literacy are reflected in school participation, defined as the initial enrolment of a child at school. The net enrolment rate of children, aged 6-14, at school varies across the states of India ranging from 99% for boys and 98% for girls in Kerala, to 91% and 84% in Tamil Nadu, to 69% and 56% in Madhya Pradesh.All-India school enrolment rates, for boys and for girls, vary considerably between the Hindu, Muslim and the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (hereafter collectively referred to as Dalits) communities: the enrolment rates for Hindu boys and girls are, respectively, 84% and 68% while for Muslim boys and girls they are 68% and 57% and for Dalit boys and girls they are 70% and 55%. In keeping more generally with recent research interest into issues of ethnicity and educational attainment in other societies the key question of inter-group differences in school enrolment rat e in India also needs further investigation.The raison d'etre is to examine whether, and to what extent, the enrolment of children at school in India are influenced by the norms, or other socio-economic characteristics, of the communities (Hindus, Muslims and Dalits) to which they belonged. There are two issues embedded in this study. The first is that inter-community differences between communities, in the school enrolment rates of their children, could be due to the fact that the communities differed in terms of their endowment of ‘enrolment-friendly' attributes. Call this the ‘attribute effect'.On the other hand, inter-community differences in enrolment rates could exist, even in the absence of inter-community differences in attribute endowments, simply because different communities, by virtue of differences in their norms, translated a given attribute endowment into different enrolment rates. Call this the ‘community effect'. The overall enrolment rate is, of c ourse, the outcome of both effects. The average probability of school enrolment is the sum of two (mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive) parts: one that is engendered by the ‘community’ effect and another whose antecedents are in the ‘attribute’ effect.The equation for the likelihood of being enrolled at school is separate for boys and for girls and, in each of the case, the variables differ as to whether the children are Hindu, Muslim or Dalit. Thus, the econometric estimates take cognisance of differences between the children both with respect to their gender and their religion or caste. The econometric estimates are based on unit record data from a survey of 33,000 rural households – encompassing 195,000 individuals – which were spread over 1,765 villages, in 195 districts, in 16 states of India.In many communities there is no tradition of sending children to school; more importantly, these traditions co-exist with well recognised and established social norms that condone child labour and accept out of-school children. Given that ‘the child is the father of the man’, children who do (or do not) go to school will, with a high degree of probability, grow up to be literate (or illiterate) adults. In turn, the life chances of an adult, and his or her children, will be greatly affected by whether or not he or she is literate.Consequently, if one is concerned with inter-community differences in economic and social outcomes, one should, as a corollary, be concerned with inter-community differences in rates of school enrolment. The determining variables used to specify the equations for the likelihood of boys and of girls being enrolled at school, were grouped as follows: 1. The communities to which the children belonged: Hindu, Muslim or Dalit. The respondents to the Survey were distinguished along caste lines as: Dalits (Scheduled Caste/Tribe) and non-Dalits. They were separately distinguished by reli gion as: Hindu, Muslim, Christian, etc.Consequently, membership of the two categories, caste and religion, could overlap: Dalits could be Hindu, Muslim or Christian and, say, Hindus could either be Dalits or non-Dalits. In this study, the two categories of caste and religion were rendered mutually exclusive by defining Hindus, Muslims, Christians (and persons of ‘other’ religions) as persons professing the relevant faith but who were not Dalits. No distinction was made by religion within Dalits though, parenthetically, it might be noted that over 90% of them gave their religion as Hindu.Because of the small number of Christians and persons of ‘other’ religions in the Survey, the analysis reported in this paper was confined to Hindus, Muslims and Dalits. 2. The regions in which the children lived: North; South; Centre; East; West. The Central region comprised Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh; the South comprised Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, K erala and Tamil Nadu; the West comprised Maharashtra and Gujarat; the East comprised Assam, Bengal and Orissa; and the North comprised Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab. 3. The educational levels of the mothers and fathers of the children.These were classified as: illiterate; low, if the person was literate but had not completed primary school; medium, if the person was educated to primary level or above but had not passed the school-leaving examination (the matriculation examination, abbreviated, in India, to matric) administered at the end of ten years of schooling; high, if the person was educated to matric level or above. 4. The occupations of the fathers and the mothers. The mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive occupational categories were: cultivator, labourer, non-manual workers, and ‘unoccupied'. . Personal and household variables such as an index of the value of productive assets. 6. Village level variables relating to the general level of development of the village and, in particular, the provision of schools within the village. In terms of educational infrastructure, only 11% of the children in the sample lived in villages which did not have a primary school, though 50% lived in villages without anganwadi schools, and 30% lived in villages without a middle school within a distance of 2 kilometres.Of the children in the sample, 77% of boys and 64% of girls were enrolled at school. However, underlying the aggregate figures, there was considerable variation in enrolment rates by: region; community; parental occupation; and parental literacy status. In terms of region, enrolment rates were lowest in the Central region and highest in the South, the West and the North. However, in every region, except the South, enrolment rates for Hindu boys and girls were considerably higher than those for their Muslim and Dalit counterparts.In terms, of parental literacy, enrolment rates for children (both boys and girls) were substantially higher fo r children with literate parents relative to children whose parents were illiterate. When both parents were illiterate the gap between the enrolment rate of Hindu children, on the one hand, and Muslim and Dalit children, on the other, was considerable; however, when both parents were literate, the intercommunity gap in enrolment rates was almost non-existent. Lastly, in terms of ccupation, children whose fathers were labourers had the lowest rate of enrolment and children with fathers in non-manual occupations had the highest enrolment rate. These show that, with a handful of exceptions, the means of the factors were significantly different between the groups. In particular, a significantly larger proportion of Hindu children had parents who were both literate – and a significantly smaller proportion of Hindu children had parents who were both illiterate – compared to Muslim and Dalit children.In addition, a significantly higher proportion of Hindu children had fathers who were cultivators and a significantly higher proportion of Dalit children had fathers who were labourers: over half the Hindu children, in the relevant age-group, had fathers who were cultivators while, in contrast, well over one-third of Dalit children had fathers who were labourers. One reason that enrolment rates differed by community is that the distribution of the ‘enrolment-determining factors’ – region, parental occupation and literacy, availability of educational facilities – were unequally distributed between the communities.The other is that there were significant inter-community differences in ‘attitudes’ to education, both with respect to children in their entirety and with respect to boys and girls separately. 3. 1 The ‘Community Effect’: Religion and Caste as Influences on School Participation The NCAER Survey provides qualitative information on the reasons that parents gave for not enrolling their children at sc hool. Factors like ‘school too far’ or ‘school dysfunctional’ (‘demand-side’) did not play an significant role in non-enrolment; nor did their incidence vary across the communities.The incidence of demand-side factors – whereby family financial constraints or the fact that a child was engaged in non-school activity involving work either within or outside the home – was particularly marked for Dalit children: 34% of Dalit parents, compared with 29% of Hindu and 22% of Muslim parents, gave this as their reason for non-enrolment. These inter-group differences in the mean values of the ‘demand-side' reasons were significantly different between the communities.Another significant difference between Hindus and Dalits on the one hand and Muslims on the other, was in terms of the percentage of children who were not enrolled at school because their parents did not think education was important. This was 16% for Hindus and 17% for Dal its, but, at 23%, significantly higher for Muslims. The fact that some proportion of religious and caste groups consider education ‘unimportant’ suggests that Muslim religious and Dalit caste norms might matter for school participation.But, there are also several other explanations that might account for the lower enrolment figures for Muslims and Dalits which need to be located within the historical context of educational policy in India towards minorities. 3. 1. 1. Muslim Education in India In recent times the question of Muslims educational backwardness has been an important element of political and social rhetoric in India. Although Muslims are not alone in reflecting educational backwardness yet recent statistic shows they are one of the most backward communities in the field of education and literacy in the country.This fact is, no doubt, astonishing for those who know that the very first declaration of the Qur’an- ‘IQRA’ (to read) is about â⠂¬Ëœeducation’. And the Prophet of Islam, Mohammad (pbuh) termed education as basic obligation for every individual – male and female, the very first time in the history of mankind, in 610 (AD). However, this write-up endeavours to locate the educational problems of the post colonial Muslims in India and invites sincere review by the present academia to help practical enforcement of all educational plans to get Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) mission a success story by 2010.An important cause that may well affect Muslim education is the role of religious institutions and, in particular, the local clergy. It is conventionally argued that the status of women in Islam implies that Muslim parents may invest less in the human capital of their daughters than of their sons. Muslim parents may also be reluctant to send their children to government funded schools owing to the existence of alternatives in community based schooling (in the form of madrasas) and most particularly on a ccount of the lack of Urdu and Arabic language teaching in the formal system.Islam first came to India as early as 650 AD with the Arab traders, but it was only under Mughal rule, between the 12th and 17th centuries, that education was encouraged. The very first madrasa in India was established in 1781 by Warren Hastings and was called the ‘Calcutta Madrasah College for Muhammedans’. Madrasas were greatly encouraged under colonial rule in the 18th century and, in the second half of the 19th century, they were set up all over India by the Deobandis – a group of Muslims who were trained in the most orthodox madrasa in India, Darul-uloom in Deoband, founded in 1866.It was in this phase of their expansion that madrasas were funded primarily by individual contributions rather than by princely patronage and when they developed a formal institutional structure similar to western educational institutions, including their own presses for publishing in Urdu. In post-indepe ndence India, madrasas were allowed to be set up in India under Articles 30(1) and 30(2), which allows all minorities to establish educational institutions, and which also protects the property of minority educational institutions.In the 1990s, many madrasas have been set up, largely through funds from the Middle East, on the western coast of India and in the border regions of north-eastern India. Today, madrasas mainly teach the principles of the Islamic religion, including an elementary level of the reading of the Qur’an. The Indian government has tried at various times to encourage some madrasas to combine religious education with ‘modern’ subjects such as mathematics.For example, a programme was launched to modernise education in the madrasas in 1993, and some prominent madrasas such as the Darul-uloom in Deoband introduced reforms into their curriculum as a consequence. The Jamia Mohammadia Mansura in Malegaon, Maharashtra is reputed for its teaching of medi cal science, and the Darul-uloom Nadwar-ul-ulema in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh even teaches the English language and English literature as core subjects. However, although in some states such as Karnataka and Kerala, madrasas are a useful complement to the formal schooling sector, such efforts have not, in general, been successful.Urdu (which is spoken in only 3 countries of the world – India, Pakistan and Mauritius) is widely regarded by Muslims in India as ‘their' language. However, in post-independence India, Urdu was not given the status of a ‘modern Indian language’, despite the fact that a substantial proportion of Muslims and non-Muslims particularly in northern India use it as their primary language of communication; in schools Sanskrit was taught as the preferred alternative in the three-language (Hindi-English-Sanskrit) formula.This has had important implications for Muslim education in India particularly as it has tied the issue of education-provisio n with considerations of religious and political identity, and cultural autonomy. 3. 1. 2. Dalit Education in India In their analysis of school enrolment, Dreze and Kingdon found that Dalit children had what they term an ‘intrinsic disadvantage’ – they had a lower probability of going to school, even after controlling for other non-caste factors such as household wealth, parents’ education etc. Dalits – who, generally speaking, constitute the ‘untouchables’ of India comprise, approximately, 17. % of India’s population. Although, the practice of ‘untouchability’ is illegal in India, the reality of life is very different. Often, Dalits live in segregated colonies on the outskirts of villages, usually in the southern fringes because that is where the Hindu god of death, Yama, is supposed to dwell. Dalits are not allowed to use common crematoria. Sharecropping, a dominant form of agriculture in most parts of India is not common among Dalit households due to the concepts of ‘ritual purity’ observed by those within the caste system.More significantly, the practice of untouchability cuts right across religious boundaries, and is observed in day to day interactions not only by Hindus, but by Muslims, Christians, and other religious groups in India as well. Studies of education and caste in India show that the Dalits are less likely to send children to school. Acharya and Acharya [1995] report that the differences between Dalits and non-Dalits in dropout rates are very large: the dropout rates for Dalits are 17% higher than for others in Classes I-V, and 13% greater for those in Class I-VIII.The historical origins of inequality in the access to education by caste lie in colonial policy towards education. After 1835, education policy in the sub-continent was altered considerably by Macaulay’s Minute on Education which changed the dominant language of the curriculum to English, giving rise to what Nehru cynically termed an ‘education for clerks’. Western education both resulted in greater social prestige for the upper castes and greater inequality between castes.The success of the non-Brahmin movement in southern India meant that this inequality was addressed there by positive discrimination in favour of the non- Brahmins, in education and in jobs; however, this was not the case in other parts of India. The influence of religion and caste on school enrolment encompasses both sociological factors such as the role of cultural norms, and historical influences such as colonial and post-colonial policy towards education in India. Collectively, these non-economic factors might exert an important role on current schooling decisions, even after controlling for the economic factors that affect them.CHAPTER 4 THE RURAL AND URBAN DIVIDE India is a vast country with a large population of about 121 crores. About 70 per cent of the people live in villages. They ar e engaged in agriculture or small cottage industries. Though there has been rapid expansion of facilities for education in the urban areas, the rural areas have remained neglected to a great extent. The main reason for such lopsided expansion has been the attitude of our rulers. As in other matters, the urban vocal population has in this matter as well been able to get the lion’s share.Many Universities, Colleges and institutions of higher learning have been established in big urban centres and cosmopolitan cities. The villages and small towns have had to be contented with primary, middle and high schools, with certain exceptions of Intermediate Colleges and a few degree Colleges. The villages have not got their due share in the facilities for education. Education has been a state subject, i. e. , a responsibility of the state governments in their respective jurisdictions. Expansion of education required huge sums of money.The State governments with their limited resources ha ve not been  able to allocate as much funds to education as they should have done. Rich agriculturists could afford to send their wards to cities for education. The rest of the poor and non-vocal motions of the population suffered. The nature of agriculture is ill loch that all the members of a farmer’s family have to work in the fields. Thus the children of farmers start helping their parents in agricultural operations. This is a great hindrance to the expansion of education in the rural areas.If an analysis is attempted, it will show that the illiterates in the rural areas far outnumber their counterparts in the cities. Further break-up would show that not only adults but even children in the age-group 5—15 in the villages do not avail themselves of the facilities for education, available in their neighbourhood. It is not that there are no schools in the villages. Schools are there, but they are not in adequate numbers. Children have to go a long distance to attend schools. These schools are not as well equipped as the schools in urban localities. There are very few school buildings.Classes are generally held either under a shed a tree or in the open. The low-paid teachers of these schools do not pay enough attention to their students. The illiterate parents are not very enthusiastic about the education of their children. Many children in the villages do not go to school at all. The parents of even such children, as are enrolled in the school, pay little attention to their education. They appear to be convinced of the futility of the schooling of their children. They rather engage their children as helpers in the agricultural operations, which they consider better utilisation of their time and energy.Not only children, but a majority of adult men and women in the rural areas are illiterate. This is one reason of their being negligent towards their children’s education. To them there appears no better future for their children even if t hey take education. The large scale unemployment is another factor responsible for their indifference to their children’s education. Lack of enthusiasm in the village people for the education of their children is due to several other reasons. First of all most of them are themselves uneducated.Secondly, the gains of education have not reached the villages. Villagers are conservative in outlook. They do not like sending daughters to schools abridging their practices. So far as their sons are concerned,  they do not find any direct correlation between their education and future progress. Very little attention is being paid to the education of adults in villages. There is no doubt that a little education or even literacy will generate much confidence among the rural adults, who would find it useful in their occupation as well as in general life.It would be interesting to note that the objective of providing free and compulsory education to all children up to the age of 14 coul d not be achieved because of inadequate resources for school buildings and teachers, non-realisation by parents of the beneficial value of education, and poverty. The pool of illiterates and drop-outs grows wider each year, even as governmental efforts are being reinforced. Two-thirds of the non-enrolled children consist of girls. A vast majority of non-enrolled children are again from weaker sections of the community, like Scheduled Castes, Schedules Tribes, Muslims and landless agricultural labourers.Such children constitute the hard core of the problem. They do not attend school, and even if they do, they drop out soon after joining school. | RURAL-URBAN disparities, particularly in post-colonial India, have for long been one of the causes of concern for the policymakers. The disparities are seen in all spheres of human life – economic and non-economic. The extent of disparities, however, differ from region to region. The long colonial rule in India had created an urban-ru ral divide.What causes great concern now-a-days is the sharp increase in the level of disparities after a few decades of planning, especially because planning was conceived as an instrument to narrow down rural-urban disparities. Rural India encompasses a little less than three-fourths of the country's population and is characterised by low income levels, poor quality of life and a weak base of human development. Nearly one-third of the national income comes from villages, but there is a significant rural-urban divide especially when it comes to education.Agriculture is the mainstay of most post-colonial countries. It supports roughly two-thirds of the workforce. But the lion's share of India's national resources is directed to the non-agricultural sector. This is the primary reason why a vast Indian rural population has been left uneducated or with lowest levels of education. The inability of the government to address issues such as gender bias is also an important factor which has brought about educational disparity The agricultural sector has been growing at less than half the pace of the other sectors.During the Seventh Plan, agriculture and allied sectors grew at a rate of 3. 4 per cent, while the national economy grew at 6 per cent. In 1997-98, there was a negative growth of 2 per cent in the agricultural sector, although the national economy grew by 5 per cent. The slower rate of growth of agriculture has serious implications for the rural-urban relationship. In an article in  Alternative Economic Survey, Kripa Shankar has shown that it results in the further widening of the divide, as the following data relating to agricultural and non-agricultural gross domestic product (GDP) at 1980-81 prices indicate.The GDP per agricultural worker was Rs. 2,442. 49 in 1950-51, followed by Rs. 3,196 in 1970-71 and Rs. 3,627 in 1995-96. The GDP per non-agricultural worker rose sharply from Rs. 4, 469. 63 in 1950-51 to Rs. 9,179 in 1970-71 and to Rs. 16,715. 08 in 1 995-96. There has been a further steep rise after the Central government accepted the Structural Adjustment Programme. While the GDP per agricultural worker rose from Rs. 3,544. 98 in 1990-91 to Rs. 3,627 in 1995-96, the per non-agricultural worker rise was from Rs. 14,660 to Rs. 16,715. 08 during the same period.The data tend to show that the ratio between the agricultural output per farm worker and the average output per non-farm worker, which was 1:1. 83 in 1950-51, rose to 1:4. 6 in 1995-96. The introduction of the policy of liberalisation has affected non-farm employment in rural areas. In 1997-98, the annual increase in non-farm employment in rural areas was 4. 06 per cent. In 1983-84 it was 3. 28 per cent. During 1999-2000 it came down to 2. 14 per cent. The consequence has been a very slow reduction in rural poverty. In 1993-94 it was 39. 6 per cent, in 1999-2000 the figure came down marginally to 36. 35 per cent. According to one estimate, the average income of an urban dwe ller is four times higher than that of a rural dweller. Rural deprivation becomes crystal clear if we look at the data on rural India's contribution to the GDP and what the rural areas get back. Rural contribution is 27 per cent but the return is 5 per cent. As a result of the decrease in the actual value of the income from agriculture, inflation being one governing factor, the rural population is unable to afford and finance the education of their family members.Besides, the large family demands have to be met by curtailing expenses on some front. In this kind of a case most of the expenses are curtailed in the educational front. The Human Development Report of India (1999) attempted to divide the rural and urban house-hold on the basis of their incomes as shown in the table. The income status is reflected in the per capita consumption expenditure. In 1999-2000 the per capita per month consumption expenditure on the rural areas was Rs. 486. 08 and in the case of urban areas it was Rs. 854. 96, according to HDR 2002.If we look at the poverty data, a similar situation is noticed. India, a developing economy of over a billion people, recorded a relatively high economic growth during 1980-2000, especially during the 1990s, a decade known for noteworthy structural economic reforms. This period also recorded a decline in the incidence of poverty and improvement in parameters of human development such as levels of literacy, health and nutrition conditions. Development policies focussed on enhanced and targeted public investments in programmes that facilitated improvements in the quality of life of the masses, but the isparity remains. The disparities in the social development sector are mind-boggling. Rural adult illiteracy is a matter of alarming concern. In 2001, the urban literacy rate was 80. 06 per cent but the rural literacy rate was 59. 21 per cent. Thus, the difference in rural – urban areas in terms of percentage points is 20. 85. Data released by th e Planning Commission show that among illiterate people aged 60 years and above, 78. 2 per cent live in rural areas. In urban areas the figure is 48. 2 per cent. Of the illiterate people who are 15 years and above but not beyond 60 years, rural areas have 55. per cent and the urban areas 25. 1 per cent. Of the school-going children in the age group of 5-14 years, 82. 4 per cent live in urban areas. The rural figure is 63. 3 per cent. Kerala has been able to bring this disparity down quite considerably – 93. 2 per cent in villages and 94. 3 per cent in urban areas. Policymakers are of late talking about the introduction of technology to improve the quality of life of the people by enhancing education. The bias of the state in favour of urban areas is evident from the per capita expenditure on basic services.According to the estimate of the Eleventh Finance Commission, per capita expenditure on basic services in rural areas during 1997-98 was Rs. 24, but in urban areas it was R s. 49. Rural India contributes 27 per cent to the GDP, but gets back only 5 per cent, which is less than one-fifth of its contribution. While the share of expenditure on urban poverty alleviation programmes in the total budgetary allocation by the Central government declined from 1 per cent to 0. 8 per cent during the period between 1990-91 and 2000-01, the per capita expenditure for urban poor increased from Rs. 11 to Rs. 8 during the same period. But for the rural poor, the per capita expenditure it is just one-eighth of this. In a post-colonial capitalist country like India, uneven rural-urban development or rural-urban disparity is not unusual. While it is almost impossible to bring it to an end, it is possible to reduce the disparity to a tolerable level. It may be recalled that Gandhi emphasised on rural growth and pleaded for village swaraj. He wanted the engine of India's development to start rolling down from the villages. But it became clear from the discussions in the Con stituent Assembly that it would not happen. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar characterised villages as â€Å"a sink of localism, ignorance and communalism†. Nehru felt that villages were culturally backward and no progress could be made from such places. Urban bias was clearly reflected in the attitude of the policymakers. This seems to be continuing unabated. Apart from taking steps to increase human development facilities in the villages, such as health and appropriate infrastructure such as roads and marketing facilities, there is the need for generating employment, which can better the living conditions of villagers and thereby enable them to finance education seeking process.We need to adopt a long-term policy, keeping in mind the requirements of the rural and urban areas. A close look at the development plan exercises tends to demonstrate that ad hocism permeates the policy processes. CHAPTER 5 GENDER DISPARITY IN EDUCATION There is little denying the fact that investing in human capi tal is one of the most effective means of reducing poverty and encouraging sustainable development. Yet, women in developing countries usually receive less education than men. More so, women in general enjoy far less employment opportunities than men.Any claims and efforts then, to remove poverty and make women independent, can show results only if they address the issue of gender inequality in education. In recent decades, there have been large gains, no doubt on comparable levels, in basic rights and opportunities, in life expectancy and enrolment ratios for women. But despite these gains, the stark reality has not changed. There still are large gender disparities in basic human rights, resources, and economic opportunity, and in political rights. So until India is able to address this issue of gender inequality and resolve it, the vicious cycle of poverty will continue to pervade.This is because poverty leads to and aggravates gender discrimination – it is in the poorer se ctions and nations that instances of gender biases and inequality are more evident. Women and girls are at the bottom of the social, economic and political ladder. Access to the means to influence the development process is a rare and a difficult possibility. And yet, by the same logic, gender discrimination hinders development. So while denial of basic rights (be it education, employment or health care for women) is detrimental to women, this denial, ultimately also harms the society, the nation at large too, by hampering development.Clearly, the gender gap in education that are widespread, is an impediment to development. The only solution to this is gender equality, which strengthens a country’s ability to grow, to reduce poverty and provide its people – men, women and children – a better life. Just because gender inequality is inextricably linked to societal norms, religion or cultural traditions, it should not be either a deterrent or an excuse to gender se nsitive development planning. India represents a picture of contrasts when it comes to education and employment opportunities for girls.Cultural, social and economic factors still prevent girls from getting education opportunities so the question of equality is still a mirage. However, the rural and the urban areas present a contrast. In the rural areas the girl child is made to perform household and agricultural chores. This is one of the many factors limiting girls’ education. Cleaning the house, preparing the food, looking after their siblings, the elderly and the sick, grazing the cattle and collecting firewood are some of the key tasks they have to perform.Households are therefore reluctant to spare them for schooling. Physical safety of the girls, especially when they have to travel a long distance to school and fear of sexual harassment are other reasons that impede girls' education. In the urban areas, however, there is a discernible difference in the opportunities th at girls get for education and employment. Though the figures for girls would still be low as compared to boys, what is heartening to see is that whenever given the opportunity, girls have excelled more than boys.For instance, in the Central Board of Secondary Examinations for grades 10 and 12, which are at an All India level, girls have for over a decade now, bagged all the top positions and secured a higher over all percentage compared to boys. In employment opportunities too, women in India today have stormed all male bastions. Be it piloting aircraft, heading multi-national corporations, holding top bureaucratic positions, leading industrial houses, making a mark as photographers, filmmakers, chefs, engineers and even as train and lorry drivers, women have made it to all hitherto considered male bastions in India.However, this is not reason enough for cheer. For the number of girls and women who have been left out of education and employment opportunities, still far outweighs th ose who have got them. And what needs to change this scenario, is not just governmental efforts but a change in societal norms, in cultural and traditional biases and in general mindsets of people. And in this the media, the civil society, and the youth, the women and girls have a lot to contribute. CHAPTER 6 GOVERNMENT SCHEMES FOR PROMOTING EDUCATION . 1 The Growth of Centrally Directed Projects The national policies of 1968 and 1986 were developed through processes led by the Government’s Ministry of Education and subsequently its Ministry of Human Resource Development and involving widespread consultation at the state level. While the centre always contributed funding to the states through the planning commission process and annual incremental plan allocations, implementation responsibility lay squarely with the state authorities until 1976.From 1977, implementation responsibility lay jointly de jure with the state and the centre and through the 1980s and the 1990s central government became gradually to play a much more directive role in programmes for primary, through the modality of projects. Up to the 1980s there had been little or no foreign involvement in the planning and funding of programmes in basic education. But from the 1980s, and some years before the production of the 1986 national policy on education, a small number of foreign funded projects, designed to improve access to and the quality of primary education, were initiated in various states.These would become the forerunners of the more expansive District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) of the 1990s and the country-wide Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) programme of the 2000s. 6. 1. 1 The Andhra Pradesh Primary Education Project One of the first projects was the Andhra Pradesh Primary Education Project (APPEP) started in 1984 through a programme funded jointly by the Government of India, the UK government and the State Government of Andhra Pradesh. Starting in eleven districts and 328 pr imary schools the project was planned to reach all 48,000 schools in the state.A large scale construction programme designed to increase access to schooling was accompanied by a comprehensive human resource development programme for teachers, teacher educators and education administrators, the provision of materials to support activity-based learning and professional support for teachers on a continuous basis through teacher centres. 6. 1. 2 The Shiksha Karmi Project In the state of Rajasthan, the Shiksha Karmi Project (SKP) commenced in 1987 through a collaboration between the Governments of India and Sweden and the Government of Rajasthan.Literacy rates were lower than in Andhra Pradesh, especially among girls and women, and the SKP sought to counter teacher absenteeism in remote schools, increase enrolment, especially among girls, and reduce dropout. An innovative strategy was the substitution of frequently absent primary school teachers by a two resident Shiksha Karmis (educatio nal workers). This approach was inspired by a small scale project run and funded locally during the 1970s by an NGO, the Social Work and Research Centre (SWRC), in which three experimental primary schools were run by village youth trained as they worked as teachers.Between 1978 and 1986 the experimental programme was expanded gradually to new sites with support from SWRC and other NGOs and the government of Rajasthan. The success of the small scale projects prompted the desire to expand the Shiksha Karmi idea on a larger scale. In 1987 foreign involvement and funding was formalised through an agreement for a ‘six-year’ joint venture between the governments of India and Sweden. 6. 1. 3 The Lok Jumbish Project Shortly afterwards, in 1988, the first draft of an even more ambitious project in the same state – the Lok Jumbish (People’s Movement) Project – was drafted.With three core components – the quality of learning, community involvement and t he management of education – it sought to transform the mainstream system in Rajasthan by building from it and interacting with it. Involving a politically radical strategy and complex design, the leaders of LJ saw it as ‘developer, demonstrator, catalyst and transformer of the mainstream education system from the outside’ (Lok Jumbish Joint Assessment, 1993). Many of its ideas were drawn from SKP and its predecessors, and, like SKP, it attracted financial support from the Government of Sweden, but on a much larger scale.Like the large scale Andhra Pradesh Primary Education Project before it LJ was another example of a three way relationship between the central government, the state government and a foreign agency. LJ gave substance to the 1992 National Policy of Education’s declaration that the Government of India: will, in addition to undertaking programmes in the Central sector, assist the State Governments for the development of programmes of national importance where coordinated action on the part of the States and the Centre is called for.LJ also gave substance to the framework evolved in 1991 by the Central Advisory Board of Education for the availing of external assistance for basic education projects (Lok Jumbish Joint Assessment, 1993:74-76). In the case of LJ however, the partnership involved a fourth agency – the Lok Jumbish Parishad (LJP) – a non-governmental agency based in Jaipur, Rajasthan that worked alongside the state government. Indeed, were it not for the work and drive of those who established LJP, the Lok Jumbish project would probably never have materialised, nor would some radical elements of the programme have emerged.LJ had three major components – community involvement, the quality of learning and the management of education. The component envisaged for improvements in the quality of learning was not especially radical, even if it posed implementation challenges. It involved the traini ng of teachers and teacher educators, a curriculum and pedagogy reform led by the framework of minimum learning levels (MLL), and a system for professional support.The Programme for Community Mobilisation was more radical and involved the mobilisation of the community through public debate, the sharing of information and knowledge to create informed decisions and village household surveys to establish the numbers of children not attending schools and the reasons for non-attendance. Mobilisation involved the establishment in the village of a core group who became an activating agency for the village, the involvement of women’s groups in education decision-making and the involvement of male and female adults in the design of school buildings, construction and maintenance. . 1. 4 The District Primary Education Programme Already by the early 1990s the government had decided to launch the District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) across seven states with support from a range of foreign donors. From an educational planning perspective DPEP represented a shift from removing supply side constraints to a greater focus on quality improvement. In 1994 DPEP was launched in the 42 mostly educationally disadvantaged districts in seven states.The DPEP strategy was drawn in tune with the national objectives of universal access, retention and achievement of minimum levels of educational attainment with a focus on girls and children belonging to socially deprived and economically backward sections of the society. Besides the achievement of the quantitative and qualitative targets within the stipulated period, the major thrust of the DPEP is to promote the decentralised management with active involvement of stakeholders that will have a considerable impact on the sustainability of the project beyond its life cycle.A senior administrator recalled the growing political will for basic education around this time. In contrast to some other sectors, education, and in particul ar universal elementary education (UEE) enjoyed consensus with respect to its value and to its need for financial investment. Since the early 1990s there has been a sustained approach from parties of all political hues in their support for UEE and the states themselves ‘have been trying to outdo each other’ (interview with the author). Barring some issues of governance in one or two states there has been a clear shift in the level of support for UEE.Political relations between the centre and the state are generally good, reinforcing an underlying push for reforms in UEE. Rarely are there any discordant views about how to move forward on the ‘easy’ elements of provisioning e. g. infrastructure. Discord revolves around how fast or slow state governments proceed (interview with the author). Evaluations of the impact of DPEP on a range of education performance indicators suggest that disparities in enrolment and retention were reduced the most in those district s with the lowest female literacy levels. In all 42 districts the percentage increase in female enrolment was 12. %. In the districts with very low female literacy rates the gain was 13. 2% and in districts with low female literacy rates it was 16. 2%. Positive change in the share of scheduled caste and scheduled tribe enrolment to total enrolment was also highest in those districts with the lowest female literacy rates. These enrolment gains were accompanied by reductions in the pupil:teacher ratio, in the pupil:classroom ratio and in repetition rates. While the centre promoted the DPEP programme, states also continued to innovate and to launch major programmes designed to support improvements in access to education.One example was the Midday Meal Programme for children in the lower primary grades introduced in Karnataka in 1995. The programme involved a dry ration of three kilograms of rice per month for each child enrolled in the school. The idea grew out of a huge grain surplus that was going to waste. Although the surplus did not continue, the scheme, once introduced, would continue. Inspired in part by a popular midday meal programme in the state of Tamil Nadu some 25 years earlier, the Karnataka scheme would become a central government initiative in 2004. Dry rations were replaced by a cooked meal and central government funding of 1. rupees per child per day were matched by 0. 5 rupees by the states. In principle the fund covered cooking costs, fuel, pulses and vegetables, salt and masala. In 2008 the programme was extended to the upper primary grades country-wide. Some 120 million children were fed on a daily basis in one million schools. Analysis of evidence generated from the PROBE survey conducted in the Northern states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh in the late 1990s indicated the positive impact of midday meal programmes on school participation in rural areas, especially among girls (Dreze and Kingdon, 2001). 6. 1. 5 Sarva S hiksha AbhiyanThe generally positive perception among many stakeholders of the results of DPEP across seven states led on to an even larger nationwide programme, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). Translated from Hindi as ‘education for all movement’, SSA describes itself on its official website as: An effort to universalise elementary education by community-ownership of the school system. It is a response to the demand for quality basic education all over the country. The SSA programme is also an attempt to provide an opportunity for improving human capabilities to all children, through provision of community-owned quality education in a mission mode.In terms of the international discourse, SSA is the Government of India’s main programme for the delivery of Millennium Development Goal 2, the achievement of universal primary education by 2015. In terms of the national discourse it gives substance to the 2002 constitutional amendment on elementary education as a fundame ntal right. Its aim is to universalise by 2010 an improved quality of education for all children in India aged between the ages of 6 and 14 (Ward, forthcoming). Interestingly SSA’s self-description on the web employs the concept of ‘political will’.It describes itself as ‘an expression of political will for universal elementary education across the country’. SSA has certainly enjoyed ‘will’ and push from the centre. A senior bureaucrat commented that since SSA was a centrally sponsored scheme, the centre was pushing it very strongly. But political will and ownership at the level of the state is also important. The source of funding is key to will and ownership at state level. During the time of earlier DPEP the centre funded 85% of expenditure and the states 15%. SSA has introduced a tapering formula such that by the end of 2011/12 the ratio should be 50-50.SSA is further described as: * A programme with a clear time frame for universal elementary education. * A response to the demand for quality basic education all over the country. * An opportunity for promoting social justice through basic education. * An effort at effectively involving the Panchayati Raj Institutions, School Management Committees, Village and Urban Slum level Education Committees, Parents' Teachers' Associations, Mother Teacher Associations, Tribal Autonomous Councils and other grass root level structures in the management of elementary schools. A partnership between the Central, state and the local government. * An opportunity for states to develop their own vision of elementary education. In 2001 its performance targets (on the website described as objectives) were defined ambitiously as: * All children in school, Education Guarantee Centre, Alternate School, ‘Back-to- * School' camp by 2003; All children complete five years of primary schooling by 2007 * All children complete eight years of elementary schooling by 2010 Focus on element ary education of satisfactory quality with emphasis on education for life * Bridge all gender and social category gaps at primary stage by 2007 and at elementary education level by 2010 * Universal retention by 2010 The Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS) referred to in the first target was introduced originally in 1977 under the title of the Non Formal Education Scheme. That scheme enjoyed only limited success and was re-launched in 2000 (GoI, 2002:29).Its aim was to provide further coverage in small habitations with no schools within a one kilometre radius. The current scheme targets out-of-school children in the 6-14 age group and uses strategies such as bridge courses, back-to-school camps, seasonal hostels, summer camps, mobile teachers and remedial coaching. For the last several years, many of these EGS centres have been upgraded to the full status of primary schools, but concerns remain about the quality of education which they offer as well as their long-term sustainability. 6. 1. 6 The Right to Education BillThe most significant change in national policy on access to elementary education in recent years was the Right to Education Bill. Although a number of states have had compulsory education acts on their statues for many years, some from before independence, these acts had not been formulated in a way that rendered them ‘justiciable’ i. e. no-one could be prosecuted if those rights were not met. In 1992, the Indian government signed the International Convention of the Rights of the Child. An important legislative spur came in 1993 when the Supreme Court ruled in the Unnikrishnan vs.State of Andhra Pradesh [1993 (1) SCC 645]. The Supreme Court ruled that Article 45 of the Constitution which asserted the obligation of the state to provide free and compulsory education up to age of 14 sh