Living after Death free essay sample

At 8 years old weeks, a creating babys facial highlights are obvious and his heart is pulsating consistently. Indeed, even at this early age they as of now gangs the two characteristics that are generally fundamental to human presence: personality and wellbeing. It is said that having a child is the best delight a human can understanding. As people we look to bring a kid up in request to satisfy our lives by realizing we impacted a people life and molded them into the sort of individuals they would grow up to be. All things considered, we don't regularly look at how as a youngster may shape us. I was unable to be frantic at her. Did she truly figure I would be furious? I had needed an infant kin my entire life and I was at long last getting one; I found no issue with that. I was thrilled; for a considerable length of time it was everything I could ponder. We will compose a custom paper test on Living in the afterlife or on the other hand any comparative subject explicitly for you Don't WasteYour Time Recruit WRITER Just 13.90/page A huge number of cliché kin holding situations were at that point framing in my mind. I would be the older sibling, 16 years greater and I had just declared this would have been my child, my unparalleled delight. So fittingly my mother respected me with naming him. After broad examination I, picked Aiden meaning little fire. What's to come was promising and the world appeared to have taken kindness on me until I got back home from school that day. I could tell something wasn't right when I ventured into my carport. My father was home early, something he never did. My house was undetectably mutilated. There were no lights, no sounds, and no life. Our typically clamoring kitchen was quiet and I found a heap of bloodstained garments in the bath. Something had transpired, I knew it. The tears were at that point stinging before I even recognized what. Ectopic, removing actually implies from place. At the point when placed with regards to pregnancy it portrays a circumstance where the hatchling starts to develop in the fallopian tube instead of the uterus. There is neither enough space nor supplements for an infant to develop there. Besides in the event that it keeps on creating in the fallopian tube it could burst the organ wherein it dwells. In all cases ectopic pregnancy prompts unnatural birth cycle. It took crisis medical procedure to spare my moms life and pulverize my siblings. It was a torment like I had never experienced. Having never lost somebody near me, this was my first experience with death. The most noticeably terrible part was he kicked the bucket before he lived. I reviled God for taking him from us and for quite a while lost all confidence. I fell profound into a downturn and denied everything from food to sympathy. To me nobody comprehended. Individuals would disclose to me that I never at any point met him, and that I couldnt let this cut me down. I reacted that they had never met God but religion runs the world. I was centered around my agony and I took shots back at any individual who might attempt to help. It was that sort of reasoning that didn’t permit me to haul myself out of the opening I had burrowed. Focusing on the negative, I couldnt even think about the positive. Was this the sort of good example I had needed to be for Aiden? No. It took me some time to recapture my confidence, my good faith, and my standard dietary patterns, however I understood it was generally advantageous. Had he been conceived, I would have strived to be the most magnificent good example in his life. Anyway I understood he was all the while watching me, and I had no explanation not to keep being that good example. Despite the fact that he wasn’t conceived, I despite everything adored him, and I understood possibly that is the thing that he was intended to do: shape me into a superior individual. With his passing I came to realize that life is valuable , that I am fortunate to be alive and for each second he didn’t get the chance to live, I would live twofold. I accept every open entryway I am introduced, I discover excellence in basic things, and I give life all Ive got in light of the fact that after all we just get one, and it is intended to be lived without limit. Unexpectedly enough, I owe this vitality to somebody who never lived. My Aiden: the little fire that touched off my life.

The Haiti Earthquake

Presentation A seismic tremor is occasioned by the tremor of structural plates on the outside of the earth. Materials on earth’s hull are disengaged by pushing powers from either side (Oliver, 2010). At the point when the grating holding the surface rocks are overpowered by the powers, the plate of rocks are bound to slip over one another prompting the beginning of an earthquake.Advertising We will compose a custom research paper test on The Haiti Earthquake explicitly for you for just $16.05 $11/page Learn More Depending on the power of the pushing and restricting powers, a few shudders might not have net effect since they are not really felt. Be that as it may, different tremors may be serious prompting monstrous misfortune throughout everyday life and property. This paper investigates the quake destruction to Haiti which happened on twelfth January 2010 and how the worldwide network reacted in an offer to save and resettle casualties of the debacle. Foundation The Haiti cap ital, Port-au-Prince among different pieces of the nation was truly crushed by the January seismic tremor. The shake recorded a greatness of 7.0 notwithstanding consequential convulsions that brought on additional harms from there on (Taft-Morales Margesson, 2010). Following the primary seismic tremor struck, it was difficult to transfer any data since correspondence administrations were brought to a halt attributable to the pulverization of correspondence framework (Aronin, 2011). The starter reports got by rescuers uncovered that few individuals were either caught in fell structures or were left destitute and abandoned in outdoors, also the unaccounted passings and untold enduring of the people in question. In spite of the fact that the underlying appraisals of the individuals who disastrously passed on in the tremor have been ceaselessly refreshed, the real number may not be set up because of vulnerability on the whereabouts of the individuals who were profoundly covered in the f lotsam and jetsam. An announcement gave by the United Nations Secretary General showed that around 33% of the Haiti populace may have been crushed by the seismic tremor (Ellingwood, 2010, August 1). Post-quake tremors are much more appalling than the essential shakes since such tremors can fundamentally cause extra misfortune throughout everyday life and property remembering that the structures have just been debilitated by the essential shudder and are profoundly vulnerable to advance damages.Advertising Looking for explore paper on natural examinations? We should check whether we can support you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More For the situation of Haiti, fourteen delayed repercussions were knowledgeable about a greatness more noteworthy than five while thirty others with extent more than four (Taft-Morales Margesson, 2010). These delayed repercussions occurred inside a range of one day after the beginning of the primary seismic tremor. The consequential convulsions p ersevered for certain weeks muddling the salvage exertion. If there are steep inclines and lopsided land surfaces, for example, slopes and valleys arranged inside the region of the focal point, the probability of a significant tremor occurring is high while the consequential convulsions are effectively activated by the lofty slants because of avalanches. Thus, both human life and structures situated on the lower sides of the slants are in more serious peril. This was wonder of Haiti tremor and accordingly, it even got bulky for salvage endeavors to be coordinated in tough geology (Oliver, 2010). Also, the vast majority of the work force who were a vital part of the recuperation groups were lost in the catastrophe making it hard to connect for the people in question. For example, there were a few detailed instances of missing authorities from the Haiti government, the guide faculty from the worldwide network including salvage laborers from United Nations. To compound the circumstance , the essential framework, for example, the principle transportation courses and correspondence channels were brought somewhere around the seismic tremor. The air terminal situated at Port-au-Prince was harmed prompting an entanglement in airport regulation. Be that as it may, this test was promptly tended to by moving the aviation authority position to the United States. Up until this point, a discretionary port office has been built up by the US troops since the significant port was horribly harmed by the seismic tremor. Furthermore, the administration authorities needed to serve in impermanent conditions inferable from the breakdown in structures and offices (Taft-Morales Margesson, 2010). Haiti had been getting compassionate guide from the universal network even before the January 2010 tremor. As an outcome of this outside help, the nation had just made critical walks in building up its economy going from security, the board of the macroeconomics, changes in significant organs o f the administration, for example, legal executive to straightforwardness in the financial procedures (Ellingwood, 2010, August 1).Advertising We will compose a custom research paper test on The Haiti Earthquake explicitly for you for just $16.05 $11/page Learn More Moreover, the Haiti government had additionally improved the pace of business and democratization process through expanded casted a ballot enrollment. In any case, the additions that had been made throughout the years were deteriorated when the nation needed to concentrate on the fiasco to the detriment of advancement. Crisis Response designs Soon after the seismic tremor struck, President Peval acted quick and mentioned for outer assistance from the universal network. The top plan for the nation was to desperately leave on the quest and salvage crucial the individuals who had endure the cataclysm. In addition, a seaward clinical unit was set up to cook for the helpful emergency that had influenced the nation. Another un it for creating power was likewise settled as a major aspect of material necessities for the salvage endeavors (Deckelbaum, 2010). Remembering that correspondence framework was brought somewhere around the underlying quake, the Haitian government requested for hardware that could be utilized by salvage authorities to impart and organize their capacities well. Indeed, even as the Haitian services were planning and releasing their obligations in improvised workplaces, long haul issues, for example, cover requirements for the destitute casualties were being tended to. Survivors in the improvised camps were presented with both food and water by the organizations. Other than the Haitian government give free development of salvage authorities, casualties just as materials in order to encourage sped up salvage tasks. More than 400, 000 shake casualties must be moved from the capital (Ellingwood, 2010, August 1). For the little urban areas that were similarly influenced by the seismic tremo r, the Haitian government dispatched a few authorities to help with the coordination of salvage endeavors other than conveying help materials, for example, food, water and clinical treatment. On a similar note, the Haitian National Police worked connected at the hip with the U.S security officials not exclusively to look after security, they likewise assumed the essential job of coordinating air traffic at the harmed Port-au-Prince airport.Advertising Searching for investigate paper on ecological examinations? We should check whether we can support you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Find out More So as to survey the harms brought about by the quake just as the quick and long haul needs, both the USAID and the Peval Administration filled in as a group. Further, the World Bank and the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery aided the way toward evaluating the harm brought about by the seismic tremor (Aronin, 2011). Salvage tasks The salvage activities were partitioned into different stages. There were those gatherings that were worried about looking and safeguarding shudder casualties from different destinations of harm, for example, in fallen structures. The subsequent stage involved the procedure of treatment and endurance of casualties who were fortunate to come out alive from the fiasco. The third stage managed migration and restoration of casualties who has been left destitute while the keep going stage concentrated on long haul recreation of the nation after the calamity. Despite the organized crisis rest plan, genuine deferrals were accounted for in the trans portation framework. Further, the postponement was fundamentally occasioned by deficient transportation framework which had been harmed by the quake. Also, there were bureaucratic difficulties as far as possible creation it hard for smooth salvage activities to be embraced (Ellingwood, 2010, August 1). More awful still, poor access to fiasco stricken zones was an equivalent obstacle in the salvage procedure. The Haiti seismic tremor could have best been overseen by basic planning as a component of sparing lives. Be that as it may, correspondence breakdown prompted moderate reaction in coordination and appraisal. In spite of the fact that the legislature of Haiti infused the correct exertion in its salvage plan, there was absence of fitting reaction from different degrees of the administration. Furthermore, the endeavors of the universal network were inadequately adjusted driving a generally longer time of reaction time than would normally be appropriate. The United Nations figured o ut how to set up two essential groups to earnestly react to the seismic tremor. Right off the bat, the Disaster Management and Coordination (UNDAC) group was exclusively liable for surveying the earnest zones of need that requested prompt consideration just as planning the different salvage groups in connecting for the survivors. The subsequent group known as the U.N Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) assumed a covering job of coordination with the primary group. In addition, OCHA likewise connected with itself in other compassionate undertakings past simply organizing the salvage groups. So as to convey its order well, OCHA worked intimately with the Haitian government, for example, during the time spent looking for giver bolster where the legislature couldn't bear the weight notwithstanding organizing military exercises on the ground. Well beyond, a Joint Operations Tasking Center (JOTC) was made by OCHA in order to look for ways and

Summer, Summer, Summertime

Summer, Summer, Summertime So another school year came to a close, and so begins the season of sun and fun. The class of 2005 graduated, and it was really awesome to see some of my friends celebrate the completion of four successful years at the Institute. The pomp and circumstance of an MIT graduation was a sight to enjoy. Its kinda crazy how Ive already finished two years already. Wow. Time sure does fly. Members of the Class of 2005 filing into Killian Court. (For more on graduation, check out Matts entry as well the official commencement page.) Im really excited for this summer though. I decided to stay here in Boston this summer which according to rumors is supposed to be a lot of fun. Ill be testing that hypothesis. Aside from having a lot of fun, Ill also be interning at a consulting firm in Harvard Square and UROP-ing in the Biotechnology Process Engineering Center. The weekends will be filled with exploring Boston, photo safaris, and learning to cook among other things. I started working at the consulting firm at the beginning of June, and I got stuck in the cubicle in the far corner of the floor. Its really quiet so the second day of work I brought some speakers to liven it up. Im slowly adding some other random things to the cube so I feel more at home as well. Last summer, I interned at Shell, and this summer, I decided to expand my horizons a little more. Heres a before picture of my cubicle. Well see how it looks at the end of the summer. Just a little plain-looking. Ive been working on my UROP since November 2004, so Ive got a handle on what Im supposed to be doing in lab, so its been an easy transition into that this summer. A few friends and I got summer started off on the right foot with a good ol barbecue. The menu included: burgers, corn on the cob, and WATERMELON! We grilled indoors and then brought the dinner up to the roofdeck of my house. The weather was really nice so it worked out to be a really good evening with friends. Here are a few pictures from the cooking extravaganza. The gang cooking in the kitchen. Tim and Maroof grilling the burgers up. (Tim, dont come another step closer with that knife.) Up on the roofdeck enjoying a well-cooked meal. So summer has gotten off to a good start for me. Im looking forward to having a lot of fun with my friends (weve started making a summer to-do list), and also looking forward to doing some travelling as well this summer. What about you guys? Any exciting adventures planned?

How to Improve Vocabulary Acquisition

The process of learning the words of a language  is referred to as vocabulary acquisition.  As discussed below, the ways in which young children acquire the vocabulary of a native language differ from the ways in which older children and adults acquire the vocabulary of a second language.   Means of Language Acquisition Language AcquisitionActive Vocabulary and Passive VocabularyAnnotationContext CluesEnglish as a Second Language (ESL)Lexical CompetenceLexiconListening and SpeechOvergeneralizationPoverty of the StimulusReading and WritingWorld Knowledge The Rate of New-Word Learning in Children ​[T]he rate of new-word learning is not constant but ever increasing. Thus between the ages of 1 and 2 years, most children will learn less than one word a day (Fenson et al., 1994), whilst a 17-year-old will learn about 10,000 new words per year, mostly from reading (Nagy and Herman, 1987). The theoretical implication is that there is no need to posit a qualitative change in learning or a specialized word-learning system to account for the remarkable rate at which young children learn words; one could even argue that, given the number of new words to which they are exposed daily, infants word learning is remarkably slow. (Ben Ambridge and Elena V. M. Lieven, Child Language Acquisition: Contrasting Theoretical Approaches. Cambridge University Press, 2011) The Vocabulary Spurt ​At some point, most children manifest a vocabulary spurt, where the rate of acquisition of new words increases suddenly and markedly. From then until about six years old, the average rate of acquisition is estimated to be five or more words a day. Many of the new words are verbs and adjectives, which gradually come to assume a larger proportion of the childs vocabulary. The vocabulary acquired during this period partly reflects frequency and relevance to the childs environment. Basic level terms are acquired first (DOG before ANIMAL or SPANIEL), possibly reflecting a bias towards such terms in child-directed speech. . .Children appear to need minimal exposure to a new word form (sometimes just a single occurrence) before they assign some kind of meaning to it; this process of rapid mapping appears to help them to consolidate the form in their memory. In the early states, mapping is exclusively from form to meaning; but it later also takes place from meaning to form, as childr en coin words to fill gaps in their vocabulary (spooning my coffee; cookerman for a chef). (John Field, Psycholinguistics: The Key Concepts. Routledge, 2004) Teaching and Learning Vocabulary ​If vocabulary acquisition is largely sequential in nature, it would appear possible to identify that sequence and to ensure that children at a given vocabulary level have an opportunity to encounter words they are likely to be learning next, within a context that uses the majority of the words that they have already learned. (Andrew Biemiller, Teaching Vocabulary: Early, Direct, and Sequential. Essential Readings on Vocabulary Instruction, ed. by Michael F. Graves. International Reading Association, 2009)Although additional research is sorely needed, research points us in the direction of natural interactions as the source of vocabulary learning. Whether through free play between peers . . . or an adult introducing literacy terms (e.g., sentence, word), as children engage in play with literacy tools, the likelihood that vocabulary will stick is heightened when childrens engagement and motivation for learning new words is high. Embedding new words in activities that children w ant to do recreates the conditions by which vocabulary learning takes place in the crib. (Justin Harris, Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, and Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Lessons From the Crib to the Classroom: How Children Really Learn Vocabulary. Handbook of Early Literacy Research, Volume 3, ed. by Susan B. Neuman and David K. Dickinson. Guilford Press, 2011) Second-Language Learners and Vocabulary Acquisition The mechanics of vocabulary learning are still something of a mystery, but one thing we can be sure of is that words are not instantaneously acquired, at least not for adult second language learners. Rather, they are gradually learned over a period of time from numerous exposures. This incremental nature of  vocabulary acquisition  manifests itself in a number of ways. . . . Being able to understand a word is known as  receptive knowledge  and is normally connected with listening and reading. If we are able to produce a word of our own accord when speaking or writing, then that is considered  productive knowledge  (passive/active  are alternative terms). . . .[F]raming mastery of a word only in terms of receptive versus productive knowledge is far too crude. . . . Nation (1990, p.31) proposes the following list of the different kinds of knowledge that a person must master in order to know a word. - the meaning(s) of the word- the written form of the word- the spoken form of the word- the grammatical behavior of the word- the collocations of the word- the register of the word- the associations of the word- the frequency of the word These are known as types of word knowledge, and most or all of them are necessary to be able to use a word in the wide variety of language situations one comes across. (Norbert Schmitt,  Vocabulary in Language Teaching. Cambridge University Press, 2000)Several of our own studies . . . have explored the use of annotations in second-language multimedia environments for reading and listening comprehension. These studies investigated how the availability of visual and verbal annotations for vocabulary items in the text facilitates vocabulary acquisition as well as the comprehension of a foreign language literary text. We found that especially the availability of picture annotations facilitated vocabulary acquisition, and that vocabulary words learned with picture annotations were better retained than those learned with textual annotations (Chun Plass, 1996a). Our research showed in addition that incidental vocabulary acquisition and text comprehension was best for words where learners looked up both picture and text annotations (Plass et al., 1998). (Jan L. Plass and Linda C. Jones, Multimedia Learning in Second Language Acquisition. The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning, ed. by Richard E. Mayer. Cambridge University Press, 2005)There is a quantitative and qualitative dimension to vocabulary acquisition. On the one hand we can ask How many words do learners know? while on the other we can enquire What do the learners know about the words they know? Curtis (1987) refers to this important distinction as the breadth and depth of a persons lexicon. The focus of much vocabulary research has been on breadth, possibly because this is easier to measure. Arguably, however, it is more important to investigate how learners knowledge of words they already partly know gradually deepens. (Rod Ellis, Factors in the Incidental Acquisition of Second Language Vocabulary From Oral Input. Learning a Second Language Through Interaction, ed. by Rod Ellis. John Benjamins, 1999 )

Bhutan s Gross National Happiness - 1332 Words

Bhutan s gross national happiness If you don t know about Bhutan s government and their focus over the past forty years than you should, you and people in your community might want to take a closer look at this small country and how it is impacting the world. Bhutan is a small country located in the himalayas between China and India and is one of the happiest countries in the world because the government has focused on following the four pillars of happiness. Each pillar supports and helps to provide the right environment for happiness, these pillars are compatible living conditions, religion, maintaining the environment, and reliable government support. Bhutan s government has decided to take this radical approach, helping its citizens by trying to improve the nation s gross national happiness. Bhutan has stayed relatively poor in wealth but rich in culture and happiness. Only recently has Bhutan started building cities and roads but the country is careful not to jump into an industrial revolution like many countries already have. Bhutan has been careful to slowly bring western culture and technology into their country hoping to preserve their culture and lifestyle. Although Bhutan can only give an estimate on their population most people still live in small villages and rely use sustenance farming, and only recently have they made small cities for people to come to. According to the Asian Development Bank Bhutan small economy results in â€Å"On average, food accountsShow MoreRelatedSummary Of Barbara Kingsolver s Stone Soup Essay1251 Words   |  6 Pagestime, it really isn’t negative. Kingsolver and White argue that the normal mindset is married parents equals happy children. This whole idea is spread out throughout so many media outlets, most of which don’t know the particular situation. Blink 182’s song, ‘Stay together for the kids’ argues that rather than fixing their problems, parents never solve them. Lyrically written: â€Å"If it is what they he wants and what she wants then why is their so much pain?†. To people like Kingsolver and White, thisRead MoreEducation System in Bhutan3178 Words   |  13 Pagesâ€Æ'  ¬Ã‚ ¬ Acknowledgement Getting this research done was a team effort. Our sincere appreciation goes to Mr. Sangay Tenzin, examination controller of Bhutan council for School Examination and Assessment, for his kind support to get standardized test scores of tenth and twelfth standard; Mr. Sonam Gyeltshen working under Bhutan council for School Examination and Assessment staffed under IT Department for his tireless work in getting the scores and providing us with the same; Dr. Shivaraj Bhattarai deanRead MoreDemocracy in Bhutan9371 Words   |  38 Pages of democracy in Bhutan and Tonga Naizang (November 7th, 2012) Acknowledgement I wish to thank and acknowledge my module tutor Mr. Sabarjeet Mukherjee and Mr. Mahindra Balasuriya for guiding me throughout my research. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to my colleagues for their advice and help. Abstract A comparative analysis of democracy in Bhutan and in Tonga has notRead MoreLimitation of National Income4235 Words   |  17 Pagesis real national output per head of population or real GDP per capita. This is the value of national output divided by the resident population. Other things being equal, a sustained increase in real GDP increases a nation’s standard of living providing that output rises faster than the total population.   However it must be remembered that real income per capita on its own is both an inaccurate and insufficient indicator of true living standards both within and between countries. National income dataRead MoreSustainability, Well Being, Welfare Essay1996 Words   |  8 Pagesharvest more than what the timberland yields in new development The word Nachhaltigkeit (the German expression for sustainability) was initially utilized with this significance as a part of 1713. The worry with safeguarding normal assets for what s to come is perpetual, obviously: without a doubt our Palaeolithic progenitors stressed over their prey getting to be wiped out, and early agriculturists more likely than not been uneasy about keeping up soil richness. Customary convictions charged thinkingRead MoreEco-Buddhism7194 Words   |  29 Pagestrained into violent forms of aggression. Now that we have ‘accidentally’ acquired the capacity to destroy the climate of this planet, what will we call upon to restrain ourselves in time? Technological prowess alone cannot confer contentment or happiness on us: in ‘advanced’ societies, the rates of anxiety, stress and mental illness are greater than ever previously recorded.  [  On a physical level too, cancer, cardiovascular disease, inflammatory and auto-immune disease as well as diverse ‘functional

Health Care Usa vs. France Free Essays

Comparison of the Health Care Systems: France and the United States| Yet in 1948 the United Nations proclaimed that, â€Å"everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of oneself and one’s family, including food, clothing, housing, and medical care. † We should understand that health care should be considered a human right, rather than an economical benefit. However, there are two hundred countries in the World and many of them still lack an adequate health care system. We will write a custom essay sample on Health Care Usa vs. France or any similar topic only for you Order Now Throughout the World health, except the U. S. , care systems tend to follow general patterns. There are four basic models: Beveridge, Bismarck, the National health insurance, and the out-of-pocket. The Beveridge model named after the founder of British health care system William Beveridge. According to McCanne (2010), the majority of hospitals and clinics are owned by government. In this model the government is a sole payer, which controls the costs of medical expenses. Therefore, there is the tendency for low cost per capita. The second model of health care named after a founder of European welfare Otto von Bismarck. The major principle of this system based on the insurance plans, which financed jointly by employers and employees. Moreover, the insurance plans are non-profit and cover everyone. The government tightly regulates and controls the health system, that allows to keep low medical costs. The third model is a the National health insurance model. It uses private sector of health providers, but payments come from a government based insurance, to which every citizen must pay. The National health insurance controls and keeps low prices for medical services, and tend to be cheaper and simpler administratively. The last and most disorganized health system follows the out-of-pocket model. The major principle of that system based on the money and basically people with money can get the medical assistance, whereas poor get sicker or die. According to the World health report (2000) released by World Health Organization, France is the country that provides the best health care. The same report states, â€Å"The U. S. health system spends a higher portion of its gross domestic product than any other country but ranks 37 out of 191 countries according to its performance. † The question is, why equally strong, politically and economically, countries have such significant difference of health care performance? Certainly, one of the major dissimilarity of the systems is the difference of health care models. The French health system rigorously follows only one, as most of European countries, the Bismarck’s model. At first glance it seems to be very similar to the American; both countries widely use an insurance system, where employers and employee are both responsible for an insurance payment. However, in contrast to USA, the biggest fundamental difference between the two systems is that the Bismarck-type health insurance plans have to cover everybody, and they do not make a profit. Opposite to France, the United States of America does not follow any of the models of health care. American health care system have elements of all of the models. When it comes to treating veterans, it becomes a government owned and controlled system, as Beveridge model. For Medicare dependant Americans and population over the age of 65, our health care system uses the model of National Health Insurance, otherwise known as universal health system, which tends to be cheaper and simpler. The health care system of a working population, who gets insurance through the employer, is more aligned with the Bismarck model. Finally, for those fifteen percent of Americans, who do not have any health care insurance the current system becomes an Out-of-Pocket Model, which is primarily used in Third World countries. Most of health care industries in the World, in order to be efficient, try to meet only three of the models, but very important basics: costs, quality and access. All those major elements of a health care system have a complex and often challenging nature; they often interlace with each other, what leads to a conglomerate of hard solvable health care issues. For example, the quality of care is tightly bounded to the cost of therapeutic and diagnostic procedures. Consequently, the high cost of health care puts access restrictions for certain populations. Therefore, one of the major health industry concerns is access to quality and affordable health care. The French health care system combines universal coverage with a public–private mix of hospital and ambulatory care, higher levels of resources, and a higher volume of service provision than in the United States (Rodwin, 1993) As shown in Table 1, France has a higher physicians’ density per population than USA. Moreover, there is a significant difference, of more than 50%, between physicians of general practice and more disparity in more specialized practices. It demonstrates that French health care is based on more generalized medicine, than the US, where high costly specialty medicine is common practice. Table 1, Health Care Resources: France and United States, 1997–2000. American Journal of Public Health 2003 Resources| France| US| Active physicians per 1000 population| 3. 3 | 2. 8| Active physicians in private, office-based practice per 1000 population| 1. 9| 1. | General/family practice, %| 53. 3| 22. 5| Obstetricians, pediatricians, and internists, %| 7. 5| 35. 6| Other specialists, %| 39. 2| 41. 0| Non-physician personnel per acute hospital bed| 1. 9 | 5. 7 | Total inpatient hospital beds per 1000 population| 8. 5| 3. 7| Short-stay hospital beds per 1000 population| 4. 0| 3. 0| Share of public beds, %| 64. 2| 19. 2| Share of private beds, %| 35. 8| 80. 8| Proprietary beds as p ercentage of private beds, %| 56| 12| Nonprofit beds as percentage of private beds, %| 44| 88| Share of proprietary beds, %| 27| 10. 7| France and the U. S. ace a crises of unprecedented scope. Both countries possess large and growing elderly populations that threaten to push the pace of health care price increases even higher than their already faster-than-inflation rates. (Dutton, 2011) However, France has wide access to comprehensive health services for a population that is, on average, older than that of the United States (Rodwin, 1993). France and the United States, relies on both private insurance and government insurance. In both countries, working populations generally receive their insurance through their employer. However, French health care s based on the National Health Insurance and there is no uninsured population. French national insurance covers about 70 percent of the medical bills, the rest of the 30 percents is paid by private insurance companies, which are typica lly provided and paid by employer. Furthermore, contradictory to the common American opinion, that universal health care system does not allow one to choose doctors, hospitals and clinics, French people are not restricted in their choice of medical professionals and institutions, and they freely navigate themselves from doctor to doctor (Imai, Jacobzone, Lenain, 2000). In contrast to that, certain American HMOs allow their members to visit doctors strictly in their systems. The other tremendous distinction of the French health care system is that there is no discrimination of people with preexisting conditions. Moreover, individuals with preexisting conditions have a priority and receive more coverage; patients with long-standing diseases, such as mental illness, cancer, diabetes, obtain 100 percent governmental support for all medical expenses, including surgeries, therapy and pharmaceutical agents (Imai et. al. , 2000). At a final point, most of American’s health budget oriented on the end of life diseases, which as a rule, heavily involve costly sophisticated technology and procedures, that enormously brings operating cost up. At the same time USA still neglects major successful health care steps such as disease prevention and public health education. This perhaps explains, in spite of impressive achievements in the biomedical science and technology the US do not have a better health care performance. References Dutton,V. P. (2011). Health care in France and the United States: Learning from each other. Imai, Y. Jacobzone, S. , Lenain, P. (2000). The changing health system in France. France: Economics department, organization for economic cooperation and development. p. 268. McCanne, D. (2010). Health Care Systems – Four Basic Models. Physicians for a National Health Program, p. 1 Rodwin V, Sandier S. 2003; Health care under French national health insurance. 12(3):113–131. Ameri can Journal of Public Health 2003 The universal declaration of human rights. Article 25. (1948) World Health Organization, (2000). The world health report 2000 – World Health Organization Assesses the World’s Health Systems. How to cite Health Care Usa vs. France, Essay examples

Health Care Usa vs. France Free Essays

Comparison of the Health Care Systems: France and the United States| Yet in 1948 the United Nations proclaimed that, â€Å"everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of oneself and one’s family, including food, clothing, housing, and medical care. † We should understand that health care should be considered a human right, rather than an economical benefit. However, there are two hundred countries in the World and many of them still lack an adequate health care system. We will write a custom essay sample on Health Care Usa vs. France or any similar topic only for you Order Now Throughout the World health, except the U. S. , care systems tend to follow general patterns. There are four basic models: Beveridge, Bismarck, the National health insurance, and the out-of-pocket. The Beveridge model named after the founder of British health care system William Beveridge. According to McCanne (2010), the majority of hospitals and clinics are owned by government. In this model the government is a sole payer, which controls the costs of medical expenses. Therefore, there is the tendency for low cost per capita. The second model of health care named after a founder of European welfare Otto von Bismarck. The major principle of this system based on the insurance plans, which financed jointly by employers and employees. Moreover, the insurance plans are non-profit and cover everyone. The government tightly regulates and controls the health system, that allows to keep low medical costs. The third model is a the National health insurance model. It uses private sector of health providers, but payments come from a government based insurance, to which every citizen must pay. The National health insurance controls and keeps low prices for medical services, and tend to be cheaper and simpler administratively. The last and most disorganized health system follows the out-of-pocket model. The major principle of that system based on the money and basically people with money can get the medical assistance, whereas poor get sicker or die. According to the World health report (2000) released by World Health Organization, France is the country that provides the best health care. The same report states, â€Å"The U. S. health system spends a higher portion of its gross domestic product than any other country but ranks 37 out of 191 countries according to its performance. † The question is, why equally strong, politically and economically, countries have such significant difference of health care performance? Certainly, one of the major dissimilarity of the systems is the difference of health care models. The French health system rigorously follows only one, as most of European countries, the Bismarck’s model. At first glance it seems to be very similar to the American; both countries widely use an insurance system, where employers and employee are both responsible for an insurance payment. However, in contrast to USA, the biggest fundamental difference between the two systems is that the Bismarck-type health insurance plans have to cover everybody, and they do not make a profit. Opposite to France, the United States of America does not follow any of the models of health care. American health care system have elements of all of the models. When it comes to treating veterans, it becomes a government owned and controlled system, as Beveridge model. For Medicare dependant Americans and population over the age of 65, our health care system uses the model of National Health Insurance, otherwise known as universal health system, which tends to be cheaper and simpler. The health care system of a working population, who gets insurance through the employer, is more aligned with the Bismarck model. Finally, for those fifteen percent of Americans, who do not have any health care insurance the current system becomes an Out-of-Pocket Model, which is primarily used in Third World countries. Most of health care industries in the World, in order to be efficient, try to meet only three of the models, but very important basics: costs, quality and access. All those major elements of a health care system have a complex and often challenging nature; they often interlace with each other, what leads to a conglomerate of hard solvable health care issues. For example, the quality of care is tightly bounded to the cost of therapeutic and diagnostic procedures. Consequently, the high cost of health care puts access restrictions for certain populations. Therefore, one of the major health industry concerns is access to quality and affordable health care. The French health care system combines universal coverage with a public–private mix of hospital and ambulatory care, higher levels of resources, and a higher volume of service provision than in the United States (Rodwin, 1993) As shown in Table 1, France has a higher physicians’ density per population than USA. Moreover, there is a significant difference, of more than 50%, between physicians of general practice and more disparity in more specialized practices. It demonstrates that French health care is based on more generalized medicine, than the US, where high costly specialty medicine is common practice. Table 1, Health Care Resources: France and United States, 1997–2000. American Journal of Public Health 2003 Resources| France| US| Active physicians per 1000 population| 3. 3 | 2. 8| Active physicians in private, office-based practice per 1000 population| 1. 9| 1. | General/family practice, %| 53. 3| 22. 5| Obstetricians, pediatricians, and internists, %| 7. 5| 35. 6| Other specialists, %| 39. 2| 41. 0| Non-physician personnel per acute hospital bed| 1. 9 | 5. 7 | Total inpatient hospital beds per 1000 population| 8. 5| 3. 7| Short-stay hospital beds per 1000 population| 4. 0| 3. 0| Share of public beds, %| 64. 2| 19. 2| Share of private beds, %| 35. 8| 80. 8| Proprietary beds as p ercentage of private beds, %| 56| 12| Nonprofit beds as percentage of private beds, %| 44| 88| Share of proprietary beds, %| 27| 10. 7| France and the U. S. ace a crises of unprecedented scope. Both countries possess large and growing elderly populations that threaten to push the pace of health care price increases even higher than their already faster-than-inflation rates. (Dutton, 2011) However, France has wide access to comprehensive health services for a population that is, on average, older than that of the United States (Rodwin, 1993). France and the United States, relies on both private insurance and government insurance. In both countries, working populations generally receive their insurance through their employer. However, French health care s based on the National Health Insurance and there is no uninsured population. French national insurance covers about 70 percent of the medical bills, the rest of the 30 percents is paid by private insurance companies, which are typica lly provided and paid by employer. Furthermore, contradictory to the common American opinion, that universal health care system does not allow one to choose doctors, hospitals and clinics, French people are not restricted in their choice of medical professionals and institutions, and they freely navigate themselves from doctor to doctor (Imai, Jacobzone, Lenain, 2000). In contrast to that, certain American HMOs allow their members to visit doctors strictly in their systems. The other tremendous distinction of the French health care system is that there is no discrimination of people with preexisting conditions. Moreover, individuals with preexisting conditions have a priority and receive more coverage; patients with long-standing diseases, such as mental illness, cancer, diabetes, obtain 100 percent governmental support for all medical expenses, including surgeries, therapy and pharmaceutical agents (Imai et. al. , 2000). At a final point, most of American’s health budget oriented on the end of life diseases, which as a rule, heavily involve costly sophisticated technology and procedures, that enormously brings operating cost up. At the same time USA still neglects major successful health care steps such as disease prevention and public health education. This perhaps explains, in spite of impressive achievements in the biomedical science and technology the US do not have a better health care performance. References Dutton,V. P. (2011). Health care in France and the United States: Learning from each other. Imai, Y. Jacobzone, S. , Lenain, P. (2000). The changing health system in France. France: Economics department, organization for economic cooperation and development. p. 268. McCanne, D. (2010). Health Care Systems – Four Basic Models. Physicians for a National Health Program, p. 1 Rodwin V, Sandier S. 2003; Health care under French national health insurance. 12(3):113–131. Ameri can Journal of Public Health 2003 The universal declaration of human rights. Article 25. (1948) World Health Organization, (2000). The world health report 2000 – World Health Organization Assesses the World’s Health Systems. How to cite Health Care Usa vs. France, Essay examples

JARED GIBBSPAN 3220 Essays - Spanish Prepositions, Popular Music

JARED GIBBSPAN 3220 Mini-ensay numero 4: Goya y los Caprichos 10/29/17 Las obras de Goya son muy diverso y tan extensivo que tocaria un rato a revisar y analizar a todas. Por eso, hoy, analizo solamente el dibujo "Nadie se conoce". En este arte se ve algunos rostros, uno del espantapajaros, uno lista para ir al baile de mascaras, uno de mujer comun, y tambien vez en la esquina uno que no parece tener nada que ver con los otros. A mi, este dibujo dice "Todo el mundo esta escondido detras del rostro, y nadie sabra realmente quien esta detras la mascara." Yo estoy muy de acuerdo con la idea de Goya que alguien nunca puede saber por certeza quien es alguien realmente. Esto es algo que todo experimentamos en la vida diaria. Por ejemplo, hay personas como yo. Yo soy un poco agresivo y yo me he encontrado en unas luchas, pero casi nadie que yo conozco sabes eso. Todos mis companeros de trabajo y todos mis clientes piensan que soy una persona de paz y contra violencia, porque es lo que muestran en trabajo. Por esta razon basica, estoy muy de acuerdo con el senor Goya y su mensaje de este dibujo.

Charismatic leadership Essays

Charismatic leadership Essays Charismatic leadership Paper Charismatic leadership Paper A team is a group comprised of individuals who come together for one common goal. Teams face many obstacles such as conflicts, commitments, communication barriers, and leadership roles. Although a team will be confronted with obstacles, team mates must develop resolutions in order to achieve the common goal. Conflict is the result of dissatisfaction, frustration or incompatibility in relations between individuals or groups of individuals such as organizations, cultural groups, nations, management groups, age groups and in a wide range of other situations. Conflict is possible in a wide variety of situations and perspectives. This paper describes a number of different methods for effectively resolving conflict among members of a work team. The paper first characterizes the different stages of work team formation and explains when and why conflicts are most likely to arise. The paper then lays out some ground rules for dealing with conflicts within the work teams while emphasizing the importance of establishing project goals as well as good communication between members. Finally, the paper describes the three different types of conflicts that may arise. In the first stage forming, new team members seek guidance from team leaders. This is an excellent time for a leader to clearly establish goals and objectives. These goals and objectives should translate into expectations. The second stage, storming, is where competition and conflict occur. Conflict and Resolution 3 A new team must be permitted to allow for new personalities to demonstrate levels of flexibility for attitude adjustments. Patience is difficult at this stage but as conflict occurs; the group must work with the understanding that clear expectations are in place to establish rules for whom is responsible for specific tasks, for who is in charge, and what rules lead to reward and discipline. Having established clear expectations prior to or in stage one of the group process can therefore simplify aspects of this stage. In the third stage, norming, group dynamic forms. If expectations have been clearly established, the group begins to think as a unit. Thus, the group can exchange levels of creativity to meet expectations. In the fourth stage, performing, expectations are met at a new level. Here, a group evolves into individual members excelling while still adding to the dynamic of the group. Clear expectations are established when a group successfully gets to this stage. In the fifth stage, adjourning, the group should again be meeting clearly established goals. In other words, clearly established expectations help avoid apprehension during dismissal. Time management and how to achieve a successful balance in our lives among our many activities is something every person needs to know and practice. Often, prioritizing our day or week is not easy, yet by implementing some strategic personal initiatives, we can take giant strides toward meeting our goal of more effective time management. However negative conflict results in upsetting the team composition, which in turn leads to failure of the team to achieve its objectives. The notion that conflict should be avoided is one of the major contributors to the growth of destructive conflict in the workplace. The bad view of conflict is associated with a vision of organizational effectiveness that is no longer valid (and perhaps never was). Conflict can be directed and managed so that it causes both people and organizations to grow, innovate and improve. However, this requires that conflict not be repressed, since attempts to repress are more likely to generate very ugly situations. Common repression strategies to be avoided are: non-action, administrative orbiting, secrecy and law and order. There are three approaches to handling conflict: Traditional (avoid all conflict), human relation (conflict is natural and is dealt with in an appropriate manner) and interactions (some degree of conflict is required to achieve progress particularly in the workplace). A key element in understanding and adapting to these different concepts is often rooted in ones sense of self and self-disclosure. Having an array of individual differences can make the environment endlessly challenging. Growing diversity creates a view of individual differences in increasingly different ways. Conflict and Resolution 5 One important variable in organizational behavior is based on oneself concept. Ideas of self vary from one historical era to another, from one socioeconomic group to another, and from culture to culture, but all these thought patterns are part of the interplay between human beings. Conflict is an expressed struggle; it is a given consideration whenever there are differences among members in a group. An expressed struggle may be verbal or non-verbal, so long as one group communicates effectively the different sentiments that he has about the issue to the other group. A difference in the perceived incompatible goals is another antecedent that cannot be avoided during team conflicts. The individual and his or her work situation are affected by how he handles such issues as conflict resolution, stress management, interpersonal communication, and non-verbal communication. These dimensions of everyday life have to be addressed by everyone, and how well he manages to do this determines his own sense of well-being and self-esteem, on the one hand and how he is viewed. An individuals lack of an understanding of how communication skills work and how important they are to other individuals will seriously impede that persons ability to resolve conflicts, while individuals who have good strong communication skills are able to deal with emotional conflicts quickly and easily. Conflict and Resolution 6 It appears that there are many processes and structures used to teach these things to individuals but they do not always work in the way that they should and many people are left with difficulties in communication when he faces some type of emotional conflict with another individual. It is important for these individuals to develop skills in communication and collaboration that are very effective and when they learn how to deal with emotional conflict management they become assets not only for the clients that they deal with but for their employers as well. Commitment means to agree and/or pledge. In other words, you he must follow through with the commitment as promised. It requires one to evaluate a situation and figure out what can be added or needs to be accomplished. When one commits it is held as a promise to self and/or others. In a learning team environment members of the team are assigned various tasks. Each team member is responsible to complete his tasks. When other people are affected by the commitment it is important to complete the tasks. Learning Teammates are committed to complete his assignment s in an orderly manner. It is also important to give your team mates the best. Maintaining a commitment to yourself gives one a sense of pride and accomplishment. It also allows people to accomplishment their goals. Renewing commitments is important because each person is able to evaluate and assess the various goals that have been set. Conflict and Resolution 7 This is also used as a tracking system so that you are aware of what goals have been achieved and what areas still need work. It is difficult to commit to something by verbally communicating the commitment to others. Therefore, it is advantageous to write the commitment on paper. This can also be used as a tracking system. When you are able to document your progression, it is easier to visually see your progression and failures. This tracking system allows you to evaluate and strategize their goals. Barriers to effective communication spring up just about everywhere in day-to-day life but they can often be most apparent in the work environment. In the past, a major barrier to communication may have been the distance separating one business location from another, but in the modern world of the Internet and satellite communications, there are still many other barriers, which get in the way of effective communication in the workplace. A barrier is anything that gets in the way of the purpose of the organization, or causes people to misunderstand each other. Since communication is a key to just about every aspect of every organization, it is an important and valuable tool for every person in the organization, and if used effectively, it can add to the success and value of the organization for everyone involved. As one communications expert noted, Without communication, not even the first steps can be taken toward human cooperation, and it is impossible to speak about organizational problems without speaking about communication, or at least taking it for granted. Conflict and Resolution 8 Communication refers to the process of creating shared understanding between two individuals or between an individual and a group. This includes that communication is a process of interacting with others. For example, talking is not communication. Having someone hear that talking and create meaning from it is communication. This illustrates one of the main features of communication that it is a transactional process. A transactional process is defined as, a process in which two or more people exchange speaker and listener roles, and in which the behavior of each person is dependent on and influenced by the other There are many different methods of Leadership. Most groups and teams generally use five levels of decision-making: command, consult, majority, consensus and unanimity. It is easy to understand that these decision types are very closely related to the time constraints before a decision is determined. When the command type of decision-making process is used, the leader identifies the tasks at hand and designates responsibilities to all the members. This type of decision-making can be accomplished in the shortest possible time-it however, has a major drawback. It will be difficult for the leader to get buy-ins for the task from team members if the members do not agree with the decision made. Another method is leading highly motivated and skilled people, who have produced excellent work in the past, and have a history of efficiency. Conflict and Resolution 9 Once a leader has established that his or her team is confident, capable and motivated, he or she can step back and let them get on with the task. In this type or organization, if the leader interferes, he or she can generate resentment and detract from his effectiveness. By handing over ownership, a leader empowers his or her group to achieve their goals. What is important to note about this leader, in handing over the ownership, he or she has also relinquished their own active involvement in the process, and thereby diminished his or her influence, and thereby his or her level of effectiveness. There is also the leadership with power. It has different levels of power. The first being reward power or the ability to provide rewards for a job well done. The next is coercive power or the ability to punish for an unacceptable performance. The last type of power that a leader has within an organization is legitimate power or his actual position that gives them the right to have authority. A leaders degree of power in the organization is given with the status of his position. A manager will use these powers at different times depending on the details of the situation. The first one is the talker and the one who receives the communication is the listener. Conflict and Resolution 10 Often, one hears the term lack of communication when some misunderstanding occurs between these two parties, which most of the time implies that whoever delivering the message did not do an effective job. This may not always be true. Unfortunately, few know how to be good listeners. Statistics indicate that the normal, untrained listener is likely to understand and retain only about 50 % of a conversation. One has to develop appropriate skills and techniques to be a good attentive listener during individual conversations and during meetings and lectures. Strange as it may sound, there are courses and training sessions conducted to develop listening skills Other forms of leadership involve direct and indirect leadership. Direct leadership involves those activities which the principle does himself/herself, with very little assistance from anyone else. Alternatively, those activities that are carried out through teachers are regarded as indirect leadership activities. The ability of a leader to lead and appeal to others around him is important. Charisma is defined as charm, personality, appeal, magnetism that an individual possesses. It is a trait most think they are born with-charisma can however also be taught with varying success to people who do not possess it. Emotional resilience and rational thinking in addition to the qualitative leadership skills are important requirements for a charismatic leader. Conflict and Resolution 11 Organizational motivation is an area where charismatic leadership can be used very successfully. The art of knowing how to lead and the ways of leading may differ between various leaders.

The Debate Over the Clearcutting Method

The Debate Over the Clearcutting Method Clearcutting is a method of harvesting and regenerating trees in which all trees are cleared from a site and a new, even-aged stand of timber is grown. Clearcutting is only one of several methods of timber management and harvest on both private and public forests. However, this single method of harvesting trees has always been controversial but even more so since mid-1960s environmental awareness. Many conservation and citizen groups object to clearcutting on any forest, citing soil and water degradation, unsightly landscapes, and other damages. The wood products industry and mainstream forestry professionals defend clearcutting as an efficient and successful silvicultural system but only used under certain conditions where non-timber issues are not degraded. The choice of clearcutting by forest owners is much dependent upon their objectives. If that objective is for maximum timber production, clearcutting can be financially efficient with lower costs for timber harvesting than other tree harvesting systems. Clearcutting has also proven successful for regenerating stands of certain tree species without damaging the ecosystem. Current Status The Society of American Foresters, an organization that represents mainstream forestry, promotes clearcutting as a method of regenerating an even-aged stand in which a new age class develops in a fully-exposed microclimate after removal, in a single cutting, of all trees in the previous stand. There is some debate about the minimum area that constitutes a clearcut, but typically, areas smaller than 5 acres would be considered patch cuts. Larger cleared forests more easily fall into the classic, forestry defined as clear-cut. Removing trees and forests to convert land to non-forest urban development and rural agriculture would not be considered clearcutting. This is called land conversion - converting the use of land from forest to another type of use. What's All the Fuss About? Clearcutting is not a universally accepted practice. Opponents of the practice of cutting every tree within a specific area contend it degrades the environment. Forestry professionals and resource managers argue that the practice is sound if used properly. In a report written for a major private forest owner publication, three extension specialists, one forestry professor, one assistant dean of a major college of forestry and a state forest health specialist agree that clearcutting is a necessary silvicultural practice. According to the article, a complete clearcut usually creates the best conditions for regenerating stands under certain conditions and should be used when those conditions occur. Check out these clearcut myths and facts developed by the Virginia Department of Forestry (pdf). This is opposed to a commercial clearcut where all trees of marketable species, size, and quality are cut. This process does not take into account any of the concerns addressed by forest ecosystem management. Aesthetics, water quality, and forest diversity  are the main sources of public objection to clearcutting. Unfortunately,  an often disinterested public and casual viewers of forestry activities have overwhelmingly decided that clearcutting is not an acceptable social practice simply by looking at the practice from their car windows. Negative terms like deforestation, plantation forestry, environmental degradation and excess and exploitation are closely associated with clearcutting. I have written a history of how forest ecosystems are now treated by natural resource professionals to include most foresters. Clearcutting in national forests can now only be done if it is used to further the improvement of ecological objectives to include wildlife habitat improvement or to preserve forest health but not for specific economic gain. Pros Proponents of clearcutting suggest that it is a sound practice if the right conditions are met and correct harvest methods used. Here are conditions that can include clearcutting as a harvest tool: When regenerating tree species that need full sunlight to stimulate seed sprouting and seedling growth.When dealing with sparse or exposed or shallow-rooted trees that are in danger of being damaged by  wind.When trying to produce an even-aged stand.When regenerating stands of tree species that are dependent on wind blown seed, root suckers or cones that need fire to drop seed.When faced with salvaging over-mature stands and/or stands killed by insects, disease or fire.When converting to another tree species by planting or seeding.To provide habitat for wildlife species that require edge, new ground and high-density, even-aged stands. Cons Opponents of clearcutting suggest that it is a destructive practice and should never be done. Here are their reasons, although not  every one of these can be supported by current scientific data: A clearcut increases soil erosion, water degradation and increased  silting  in creeks, rivers, and reservoirs.Old growth forests, which have been systematically clearcut, are healthy ecosystems which have evolved over centuries to be more resistant to insects and disease.Clearcutting inhibits sustainability of healthy and holistic forest ecosystems.Aesthetics and quality forest views are compromised by clearcutting.Deforestation and the resulting removal of  tree  from clearcutting  leads  to a plantation forestry mentality and results in environmental degradation.

Performance Management and Organizations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Performance Management and Organizations - Essay Example Mullins (2005) contends that organizations comprise 'people, objectives, structures' and 'management'. Managing human resources, keeping the shareholders in good humor, organizing funds for new business ventures, planning out marketing strategies are all parts of the management which require more than the copy book style of management. External: These are the factors on which an organization may not be able to exert much of its control. These include, the legal and political scene prevailing within the state/ country of its operations, number and types of competitors, suppliers in the market, terms and conditions from financial institutions, alternative products available in the market, newer technological innovations etc. Strategists are supposed to take care of these factors by planning appropriate responses. Worthington (2006) places greater importance on political developments occurring at different levels - local, national and international. Organizations resort to strategic planning to take care of these factors and Organizations learn a lot from there environment and prevailing circumstances. But the strategic intent alone cannot be planned all in advance. It has to be a continuous evolutionary process depending upon the experiences. Henry Ford said, "Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently"1 Organizations too adapt their strategies according to the prevailing circumstances and the overall business scenario. Organizations and their management are not supposed to indulge in politics and the power-game. But the management is at the same time required to carry the organization through the ups and downs of the times. Butcher & Clarke (2003) state that 'managers often seem to struggle with their role'. There are times when managers are confronted with paradoxical situations. Under such circumstances, the theories and relevant prescription might appear to be insufficient for their needs. Such circumstan ces require some amount of political acumen on the part of the management. Globalisation has in fact provided wings to MNCs for exploring newer vistas of business opportunities, dealing with newer sets of customers and governments. In order to leverage the economies of scale some MNCs prefer to outsource their services from Europe and US to countries like India, China (Bracken, 2004). This type of business is full of risk as it involves handing over a crucial task to people who are nowhere near the customs/ cultures of the organization, involves taking political risks both at home as well as in foreign lands. Quite a few political objections have been raised against the outsourcing decisions by some companies; as such steps are resulting in an increase in unemployment in those countries from where these services are being outsourced. On the other hand this step is resulting in more employment generation in the countries which are the outsourcing destinations. Such voices have also b een 'managed' well by the management of the companies in outsourcing business, which could not have been done without some first hand experience of political maneuverability. The political establishment is

Personal Resourcing and Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Personal Resourcing and Development - Essay Example After the implementation of active workplace programme at Ginsters, a survey highlighted that the workers in the organisation engage with the company and assume pride in doing their work. This is an indication of increased motivation in comparison to the prior years. Despite the fact that the employees of Ginsters stood and worked for long hours, a fitness test conducted by the Caradon Council found them to be unfit (Hudson, 2010). This made the company employ a fitness coordinator on fulltime basis and purchased a gym in an existing building. This was an incentive or reward to the workers. The manager of Ginsters acknowledged that the workers had been convinced to participate in the different activities within the organization. At Ginsters, the motivational theory that can be applied to the situation of employees is the expectancy theory. According to this theory, the employees perform their work in a hard and smart way whenever they believe that their additional efforts would resul t into rewards that are valuable (Pinder, 2008). This is evidenced at Ginsters when a gym is introduced in the existing building of the organisation to offer exercises to the workers. The expectancy theory of motivation highlights that increased output would be given by the equation; Motivational or effort force = Expectancy (Instrumentality x Valence) (Pinder, 2008). In this case effort force implies the force expended by the employees in achieving the performance that is desired. Expectancy is the belief that any force or effort would lead to a required performance level (Mitchell, 2003). On the other hand, instrumentality implies the thought that the needed performance will lead to an outcome that is desired and... From this paper it is clear that  Ginsters company is a winner of the World Leisure 2008 innovation award and the company’s   active workplace employee programme wellness has experienced significant results.  This essay stresses that  the company failed to have a firm a stand on its employer. Despite the fact that this company provides a significant amount of career opportunity for individuals, the company experiences various challenges. About 18 % of the 450-workforce strongholds were obtained from   individuals with minority backgrounds. These people were constantly resisting the chances to be integrated   into the company team. The day and night shifts did not mix and the different production areas mistrusted each other. An annual survey study established that the morale of the workers was low. After the implementation of active workplace programme at Ginsters, a survey highlighted that the workers in the organisation engage with the company and assume pride in doing their work. This is an indication of increased motivation in comparison to the prior years. Despite the fact that the employees of Ginsters stood and worked for long hours, a fitness test conducted by the Caradon Council found them to be unfit.  Instrumentality implies the thought that the needed performance will lead to an outcome that is desired and valence is the employees outcome value. The active workplace programme implementation at Ginsters, was an aspect of expectancy theory.

PESTEL analysis of Toshiba, Japan

PESTEL analysis of Toshiba, Japan Toshiba Corporation is a company based in Japan that specializes in the production of industrial and consumer electronic and electric products including notebook computers (laptops), electro medical devices. LCDs, home appliances and semiconductors. It is among the oldest and largest companies in Japan. Toshiba laptops are selected as the product to be marketed in Cuba. Cuba is a potential market because of the dynamics involved. It has the ideal setting ground for any company that aims at getting future high volumes of their products. B) Cubas History Christopher Columbus is credited with the discovery of the island of Cuba, an event that led to the colonization of Cuba by Spain. Despite this Cuba had been inhabited by indigenous people for centuries before the discovery. After the Spanish-American war is that Cuba gained its independence and sovereignty in 1902 (Ritter, 2004, pp.47). In the early years of the Spanish occupation, many native Cubans were butchered or forced into slavery while others died from the smallpox and measles brought from Spain. The rest fled to the mountains to escape slavery. This led to the introduction of African slaves to work in the sugar cane plantations. Slavery and slave trade are highly credited with taking the Cuban sugar industry to where it is today. The economic prosperity of Cuba began after Britain took over the island from Spain after the seven year war which ended in Britains favor. Trade regulations were eliminated and the path to prosperity was created. C) Geographical Setting Location Cuba an island that is located in the Caribbean Sea. The entire country or island measures an estimated 48,800 square miles. The country has several highland regions the most notable of which are the Guaniguanco, the Escambery and the Sierra Maestra. The island is located south from the famous Florida Keys (Cuba, 2010). The country has a coastline that extends for an estimated 3,700 kilometers. In relation to other countries, the country lies to the eastern side of the Gulf of Mexico and to the western side of the North Atlantic Ocean. The Yucatan Channel lies to the south east of Cuba. Climate The Cuban highlands, which are about a third of the country, have an overbearing effect on the climate. The fact that the country is an island also has ramifications on the weather and climate patterns experienced. The climate can be defined as tropical climate with a dry period from the month of November lasting until April while the rainy season lasts from May to around October. The country also happens to lie within the path of major hurricanes and other destructive storms which are common in the months of September and October. The average temperatures in Cuba vary between 23?C and 27C throughout the entire year Topography Cuba has several archipelagos but Cuba is the main island. The island has a hilly or mountainous topography marked by several highlands such as the Sierra Maestra, the Escambery, and the Guaniguanco. The rest of the country is marked by plains the largest of which are in the provinces of Matanzas and Camaguey. The rest of the country is marked by coast lines. D) Social Institutions The Cuban culture is a blend between African, American and European cultures. The European cultures were imported to Cuba courtesy of Christopher Columbus (Spain) and Britain. The American culture influence Cuba beginning from the period after the Spanish American war that rid Cuba of the Spanish colonists while the African cultural influences as a result of the many slaves brought in to work in the plantations. 1) Family The family is an important social institution in any nation, society, or community. The stability of the family as an institution is reflected upon the wider society as the society tends to have better social institutions that borrow their moral fabric from the family. Cuba is no exception to these basic rules of nature. Most families in Cuba live as extended families. a) The nuclear family The nuclear family had not had a very distinct role in Cuba until the post Fidel Castro era. The nuclear family is composed of a man, his wife, and their children. This means that in a household where there are three generations of a family, it is possible to have several nuclear families. b) The extended family The extended family is very important part of Cuban society. The family structure in Cuba is that up to three generations of a family live together in the same structure or household, a factor that makes it difficult to create a clear dividing line between the nuclear family and the extended familys role in the family setup. The leader or head of the family or the household therefore is the eldest parent figure in the family. This may be the grandfather or the Godmother within the family. He or she wields power over all the other family members and determines the role of each family member within the family. c) Dynamics of the family and parenting roles 1) Parental Roles: The role of parents is diverse depending on whether the family lives as an extended family or as a nuclear family. In the nuclear family setup, the father is the bread winner in the family while the mother is resigned to the role of care giver and is responsible for maintaining discipline within the family. In addition, family customs and traditions are passed down under the watch of the mother. In the extended family, the elder is in charge of the family. If the elder is a man, he is also the main breadwinner in the family though he is assisted by other family members. If the elder is a woman, she mainly serves as an overseer in the family and offers her guidance while the men in the family serve as the breadwinners. 2) Marriage and Courtship: The Cuban society still takes courtship as primarily the role of the man. Dowry is paid based on the individual customs of the bride. The weddings are one day glamorous events that showcase a lot of Spanish influence. 2) Education a) Education serves as a way of socializing the individuals into the ways of the society in a way that the family as an institution cannot. The educated people are the ones in positions of power and they are held in high regard within society. 1) Primary, secondary and university education and literacy rate The Castro government made primary education compulsory. In addition, school uniforms are also a requirement for all students and are used to denote the grade level of a student. In the Cuban education system primary education takes six years. Secondary education is divided into two categories. The first category is the basic secondary education where students learn basic skills such as language, art, arithmetic, and the sciences. This follows primary education and is almost compulsory for all. The second category is the pre-university education which prepares one for entry into university. After the completion of pre-university education, the students are awarded what is referred to as the Bachillerato in Cuba (C.I.A 2010). It can be compared to a diploma in other education systems in other countries in the world. After the pre-university education, an individual has two options, to pursue either technical education where one will gain skills to enable them gain employment or to pur sue professional education at the university level. b) Literacy rate. The literacy levels in Cuba are reported at 100% although the figure is disputed. The country also reports an enrolment/attendance rate of 98% in primary schools. 3) Political system a) The political system in Cuba can be defined as socialist. The government has executive power which is vested in the Council of State and the Council of Ministers. The legislative role is assigned to the National assembly of peoples Power which is recognized by the constitution as having the highest authority in the country. No voting is done in respect of the positions of prime minister and president. b) The Communist Party of Cuba is the leading social force of the nation (C.I.A 2010). There is widespread censorship in Cuba with a system that is highly authoritarian. The communist party screens all candidates vying for seats in the legislative assembly. c) The current government has been in power since 1959 when Fidel Castro ovethrew the dictator government. It can be described as stable because his successor, Raul Castro, has managed to keep the country at peace and with improved management. d) Special taxes not common e) Local government heavily influenced by the ruling party 4) Legal System a) The main judicial organ is the Peoples Supreme Court. All judges according to the law are not subject to any other authority but the law. They can be elected or replaced and are accountable for their actions. Cuba has been sub divided into fourteen provinces which are further subdivided into 170 municipalities. Representatives to the municipalities and provinces are elected to serve terms that extend for two and a half years. b) The country is socialist. c) The authoritarian approach has affected patent and conventions. They are tightly regulated 5) Social organization a) The presence of groups which can lead to the creation of group behavior or culture is not a common occurrence in Cuba. b) The main aim of the government in relation to the existing social order is to create a classless society where income, race, sex or occupation are used as a definitive means of determining rewards or other favorable allocations. c) In addition, the government prohibits the formation of classes or clubs that may create lines along which the society may be stratified. 6) Business in Cuba Tour guides, barmen, and waitresses require to be tipped although there are no prescribed tipping rates. Tipping allows for one to receive exceptional service from the individuals receiving the tips. Business hours in Cuba are officially between half past eight and half past noon and half past one to half past four during weekdays. Some businesses however opt to open during weekends where the hours of business are between 8 am and 5 pm for alternate Saturdays. E) Religion and aesthetics 1) a) The low number of Protestants can be attributed to the late arrival of protestant doctrines and beliefs to Cuba. b) Cuba is also known to be home to other minor religions which have their roots in western Africa and the slaves who were taken from the region to work in the sugarcane plantations in Cuba. c) Cuba is largely considered as a catholic nation though the Catholic faith practiced within Cuba is modified to suit Cuba. There are also Jews and evangelical Christians amongst the population in the state. d) Nearly 60% of the population is made up of catholic adherents while an estimated 6% are Protestants. e) Santeria which may be referred to as a cult has its origin in Nigeria in western Africa and is widely practiced in and around Cuba. 2) Aesthetics a) Cuba has a strong heritage and history which reflects its visual arts potential. b) The country has numerous galleries, cultural centers, and art museums which have been used for the storage of artistic material from the citizens of Cuba. The government is supportive of art and is known to provide all kinds of assistance to artists in the country. c) Music dance and folklore in Cuba is very rich and displays the three main backgrounds that determine and continue to influence the Cuban society. d) There are influences of African, American, and Spanish elements that are derived from the interaction of Spaniards, Americans, and Africans in the history of Cuba. F) Living conditions 1) a) Many surveys conducted show that Cubans on average consume too much sugar and eat inadequate fruits and vegetables. There are rising cases of diet related anemia and obesity which can be regulated or checked by simply a change of diet. b) A typical meal includes bread, ham, cheese, and rice and plenty of soft drinks with and between meals. c) The government cannot guarantee adequate nutrition for its population and this is considered as one of the failures of the Castro administration. d) The foods made available to the public by the government are as follows; rice, beans, cooking oil, plantains, brown sugar, milk and soy yoghurt which are provided on a monthly basis to holders of ration cards. Other products such are chicken, beef, soy/meat blend and frankfurters are provided based on their availability. 2) a) In Cuba, housing is relatively cheap but in the same breath the housing structures are sparse. Most dwelling places are either in poor condition or are defective in one way or another that makes them unsuitable for dwelling in. b) Most dwellings occupied on a rental basis. The houses have some form of supply of electricity and water and are therefore a bit habitable. c) In most cases houses are occupied are more than one family. 3) The tropical wealthier requires light dressing to cope with the heat and humidity levels. a) A form of dress that can be identified with Cuba is the Havana shirt otherwise known as a Guayabera. The shirt has an array of designs but in general has two or four pockets and largely a casual dress that does not require the wearer to tuck into his trousers. There is a traditional dress made for women in place of the Guayabera and it is very popular all over Cuba although it has been rejected on grounds of being indecent in some cultures. b) The dress code at work is no different from that in many western countries. Employees/workers are expected to maintain a formal dress code. 4) a) In leisure and recreation activities and sports, Cuba is well endowed. To begin with, Cuba is an ideal destination for hiking, snorkeling, climbing, fishing, and caving. The sport is used to symbolize equality in society as well as freedom. The country also has rich soccer traditions among the Caribbean countries. Cubas national team has been to the FIFA world cup where they managed to finish in the seventh position. The beach provided by the long coastline of Cuba provides ample grounds for leisure activities such as skiing, diving, swimming, and sun bathing which are common in almost all of Cuba. c) Most sports and recreational activities in Cuba are carried out in open spaces and often require little or no equipment. Baseball for example is played even on streets by children and thus very low amounts of income are channeled towards sports unless when organized sporting teams are involved and where there are competitions to be won at stake. 5) Social security The social security system in Cuba represents the general values of the wider society whereby there is equality among all beneficiaries. There are no discriminations or preferential treatment for certain individuals based on sex, race, or gender. The Cuban social security system is very efficient. There are an estimated 360, 000 retirees within the population which represents nearly 10% of the population. Each of the retirees in Cuba is paid on a monthly basis. Under the social security system, the government through its social security system pays benefits to an estimated 1.5 million people on a monthly basis. The social security covers areas such as temporary illness, accidents, maternity, and social care for the elderly people within the population. G) LANGUAGE 1) The main language used for communication is Spanish. The language was brought to the island by the Spaniards during the early occupation after Christopher Columbus discovered the island. Spanish is however recognized as the official state language of the people of Cuba. 2) Other languages that are prevalent in Cuba are English and Creole which represent the different heritages and traditions of Cuba. 3) It is important to note the Spanish that is spoken in Cuba varies in some cases from that spoken in Spain and other countries. This is largely because of the French and west African influences that have affected the language. English is mainly spoken as a result of tourist influences. II) ECONOMIC ANALYSIS A) POPULATION 1) The population of Cuba stands at an estimated 11.5 million people as of this year and will reportedly continue to grow at an estimated rate of 0.2%. a) The birth rate in the population is 11.1/1000 which is relatively low even amongst countries of the western world. b) The fertility rate for every woman is estimated as 1.43 children. This represents a drop in fertility rates which may explain why the growth in population has been very low for the last few years. c) Abortions in Cuba are also responsible for the population decline with an estimated 50 abortions for every 1000 pregnancies in the population. 2) a) The population is evenly distributed as only 103 people live in every square kilometer in Cuba. b) The life expectancy is relatively high at an average age of 77 years. The ethnic composition of the population is very varied though there are not many ethnicities. c) The population composition is such that the majority is men and boys for all ages but after the age of 65 years, the number of women outstrips that of men. This fact can only be explained by the lower life expectancy rate for men as compared to women. d) Many Cubans have in one way attempted or plan to attempt illicit migration with the most favored destination being the United States. The rest of the population has a majority that is intent on moving to urban areas. The situation is such that the larger portion of the population is housed in urban centers all over Cuba. e) Mulattos account for nearly half the population while whites account for 35% of the population. The rest of the inhabitants is generally collected of blacks and Chinese with the Chinese forming the smallest ethnic group in Cuba. B) Economic Statistics and activity 1) Gross National Product/ Gross Domestic Product a) Cuba reported a gross domestic product per capita that stood at an estimated $111.1 billion. b) This translates to a per capita income of roughly $9,700 for the year 2009. The estimated real growth rate (nominal growth rate less inflation) was an estimated 1.4%. This is very ideal but there is plenty of room for improvement especially since the growth rate or the GDP or even the per capita figures do not show the situation on the ground 2) People live on less than the expected $9,700 per annum. Businesses publicly owned enterprises lies at 78% to a dismal 22% representing private investment or privately owned enterprises. 3) Average family income is dependent on the ratio of breadwinners to the relative size of the family.2008 estimates were $218. 4) Distribution of wealth a) Income classes. Three major classes exist, the highest is elite and military personnel. The second tier is business magnates and the last is the general workforce. b) Proportion of population to each class. The top tier is about 1/8ths of the total population, the second is and the rest is the general workforce. c) Priority is given to the elite classes and the military. The rest of the workforce is structured in respect to the demographics of income and position 5) The country has deposits of cobalt, iron ore, nickel, copper, salt, manganese, silica, timber, petroleum and farming land. 6) a) The transport system in Cuba comprises of nearly 4200 km of public railway network and a further 7700 km that is set aside for use by sugar cane producers. The highway network consists of nearly 61,000 km of tarmac spread all over the country. b) The country also boasts of waterways that extend for 240 kilometers. The country also has several ports that are used for commercial purposes.There are three main ports. There are also 170 airports as reported back in 2006 c) Because Cuba is an island, the usage of waterways is a major transport form. Nearly half the population uses the train network to go to work. Only about a third drive to work. 7) Communication Systems a) Main types include Print newspapers, radio stations and television stations b) Internet usage widespread c) Media heavily restricted by the government 8) Working conditions a) 78% of employees work for the government b) Good employee-employer relationship c) Employees entitled to benefits and good remuneration 9) Principal industries a) Petroleum, Construction, sugar, tobacco, nickel, pharmaceuticals, agricultural machinery and steel cement accounted for about 37% of the total GDP. b) Principle industries include petroleum, Construction, sugar, tobacco, nickel, pharmaceuticals, agricultural machinery and steel cement Most industries are government owned. Estimated ratio of 2:1 10) Foreign investment a) Direct foreign investment is restricted b) Potential for investment in Housing and food industries 11) International trade statistics a) 1) Major exports include sugar, tobacco, nickel, fish, coffee and citrus. At $ 2.4 billion. 2) The trend for exports is posititve as the government opens up the Cuban economy to private companies b) 1) Imports include food products, petroleum, equipment and machinery at $ 6.9 billion 2) Imports are increasing due to the growth in population and the demand for products and services. c) 1) Imports are more than exports leaving a high balance of payments deficit. About $4.5 billion. 2) Imports are more than exports leaving a high balance of payment deficit. Recent pronouncements by the Cuban government suggest a push towards closing this gap by increasing resource utilization. d) Exchange rates 1) US dollar used mainly in foreign exchange 2) Exchange rate at $ 1 US dollar equivalent to $ 0.9 Cuban convertible Pesos 3) Due to the global recession, the countrys exchange rates are fluctuating and dipping with the global trend. 12) Trade restrictions a) Embargoes placed by United States b) Free trade only with Venezuela c) Import duties high depending on type of product d) the government is subject to tariffs affecting countries of the South American organization. These tariffs are on sugar and petroleum. e) Licensing of business restricted f) Customs duties also high 13) Extent of the economic activities not included in the cash income activities a) Counter trade present in the country 1) Medical personnel used as main products of trade 2) Barter trade common b) Very little aid since US withdrawal 14) Labor force a) Available skilled labor force limited since majority of the population is elderly b) Unemployment rates low at 1.7% 15) Inflation rates low C) Developments in science and technology 1) Highly developed 2) Computers are wide spread. Low investment in research and development 4) Labor force technologically skilled D) Channels of distribution (macro analysis) 1) Trade in Cuba heavily controlled by the government a) Retail 1) Poorly developed retail sector 2) No large shopping centers 3) Good stored are of poor quality and expensive 4) Most tansations are done using cash. 5) Goods sold in dollars in small scale with a small percentage sold on large scale. 6) Chain stores, Department stores and speciality shops fill the supply gap the government cannot currently satisfy. b) Wholesale middlemen 1) Supply chain of estimated 500,000. 2) Mark-up of about 5% on products 3) Goods sold on cash basis c) Import/export agent: the government is the main exporter/importer. d) Most warehouses are fully owned by the government. e) The government has nearly 100% penetration of the markets through its expansive administrative networks. E) Media Media heavily controlled by the government 1) Number of Television Stations: 58 2) a) Television Sets per 1,000: 236.1 b) Number of Radio Stations: 225 c) Number of Radio Receivers: 3,900,000 d) Radio Receivers per 1,000: 348.7.Number of Individuals with Internet Access: 60,000 3) The main use of media houses is for the spread of national ideas that the Communist party in charge in Cuba believes are ideal for the entire population. 4) Any television or radio stations that go against the ideals supported by the party are closed down. 5) There are an estimated 26 national newspapers serving the population of Cuba. Cuba: Country Note Book Introduction Toshiba Corporation is a group of companies including Fujitsu, Mitsubishi electronic, Hitachi, and NEC Corporation. Toshiba relies more on domestic market constituting 60% of its net sales. The balance is taken care of by exports to North America, 16%, Asia 11%, and Europe, 10%. Since its formation in 1939, Toshiba has played a significant role in putting Japan in its current position in international trade. Business in Cuba Official business hours range from 8:30 am to 12: 30 pm for morning session and 1:30 pm to 4: 30 pm for evening session. Weekends are however optional but those who operate open between 8:00 am to 5:00 pm on Saturdays (B8a, B8c). Marketing Strategy for Toshiba laptops (Notebook computers) TARGET MARKET Toshiba Computers mostly manufactures high-end high-performance laptops. The main target of the products would have to be the government and institutions. This is because of the entanglement of all business in the country with government policy and regulation. If the company can manage to get a foothold in the government by offering technological set pieces that accord due privacy and safety of information, then the company shall have overcome a huge barrier. The low per capita income suggests that the market would have to upper-middle class and this is mostly government officials and politicians (IIB). Teenagers and youth below 30 would also be ideal as a segment for the laptops. This is because they are Tech-savvy and want more and better machines for work and play. The fast growth in computer and internet access can be further fuelled by Toshiba offering attractive high-performance laptops and computers. Institutions such as primary and secondary schools, as well as administrative institutions would make and ideal market for moving volumes in bulk (D2b). These places require many computers and laptops to fit in the current global trend. The current government led by Raul Castro is attempting to break the trade barriers ignited during Fidel Castros regime. The trade embargos by the United States do not affect Toshiba because it is a Japanese company(12A). This is good news for the company because the possibility of cut-throat competition is eliminated because American technology companies such as Apple cannot do business in Cuba (12A, 12D). Government policy would favor the company because it is inclusive and the business atmosphere does not vary so much from the Japanese model. The governments interests in arts and sports also require technology. In addition, the media is still backward in matters of technology (E1, E4). The secondary target markets would include such aspects of society as media and transport as the country moves towards a technological revolution of sorts. Marketing is aimed at awareness creation and forming good relationship with customers to the companys advantage. Marketing strategy is therefore very important as whatever the strategy used can either be profitable or destructive to the company. A marketing strategy that utilizes 4Ps that is Product, Promotion, Price and place respectively is ideal for products such as computers. Although, no trade partnership currently exists between Japan and Cuba, the country is a potential export destination for notebook computers. Cuba is highly literate thus can easily embrace the use of notebook computers. Students especially those at pre-university, University and other higher education institutions form the best target market for this product. Besides, the working population including teachers and doctors will find laptops essential hence another potential target market. Product Product refers to either good or service produced or manufactured by accompany especially under large scale with accurate amounts. This involves a description of all the special features of the product in question. Toshiba mini laptop has a full size keyboard and touchpad for easy typing. Its 10.1 diagonal screen is large enough for the eye; leave alone its durable textured four color finish. Its battery has a long life of up to eight hours. It also has attractive features like USB Sleep-and Charge, MP3 player and smart phone hence very convenient for youths. It is also video compatible and its CPU ensures more data storage and faster Internet connection (C1). Promotion In this case Toshiba can place advertisements in Cuban media. This of course will require first good relationship with Cuban government as it controls all media houses. The company can also take advantage of the widespread internet usage and advertise its product online. Toshiba can also promote its laptops through public relation measures like sponsoring sports where it is guaranteed to catch the attention of most youths (C3). Alternatively, Toshiba can take advantage of the widespread internet access in Cuba to engage in e-commerce by placing its product in virtual internet stores. Pricing Considerations should be given to prices of similar products in the market. Price administration on the other hand refers to involves all activities used to fit basic prices for every target market depending on sales situations. The exchange rates are also attractive for such a company (11b1, 11d2) Place The company can develop partnership with Cuban government to ensure that its product is placed in Cuban government stores like shopping malls. It is also possible for Toshiba through good relationship with Cuban government to find its own store for its product (D1). Rhiw location demographics will also affect the places where it can be marketed.