Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 97

Summary - Essay Example The Home, which was located in the heart of Victoria, was regarded as the safe haven for Chinese prostitutes and other Chinese females who were thought to be at risk of falling into prostitution but later open door for Japanese women and children. This was intended to protect Asian women from being transformed by the by the missionaries. The white women largely influenced the behaviors and attitude of the Asian women especially in areas of marriage and domesticity. There were several issues that triggered the transformation and the white domesticity especially through the enactment of racial and gendered performances. The article also explains a high profile kidnapping that involved a cross racial encounters as well as policing and gendered boundaries in an unsanctioned cross-racial contact. It is apparent that discourses of domesticity and Christian related marriage largely contributed to the kidnapping. The police and other responsible institution did not do proper investigation concerning the issue of kidnapping and this became a major scandal that affected the Home. The Home enabled careful management and intimate cross-cultural contact that triggered racial constructions of the period in British Columbia. Menzie who was a suspect in the kidnapping saga contaminated the white community. The state of marriage and the intermixing Chinese and European populations were greatly affected by the incidences between the two groups. It is therefore worth noting that the Victoria’s Chinese Rescue Home acted as a domestic space and the women’s moral authority was used to allow the various practices that took place. Marriage, for instance, was considered significant and acted as part of women’s domain as far as Christianity is concerned. People who ran the Home greatly contributed to various racial discourses and the article shows how moral entrepreneurs operated in difficult ways. The entrepreneurs

MBA project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

MBA project - Essay Example The study is made on secondary data. Qualitative analysis of the information collected leads to the inference that the bank has excellent human resource practices which is guided by a deliberate overlapping of the business initiatives with the employee training needs for the organizations. Recommendations have been made on the basis of this study. These are aimed at improving the bank’s performance in the future. ... This sector is regulated by â€Å"the Sharia law of Fiqh al-Muamalat (rules of transactions)† (â€Å"Islamic Banking Trends - the Future of Arab Banking†). Employee training and development plays an important role in the banking sector in all the gulf countries. Level of involvement of the employees depend on two most important factors; personal characteristics of the employee as well as the culture in the organization. Training and development of the employees of the banks in the Saudi Arabia takes into account factors such as education and age of the employees and the rank held by them in the organization, tenure in the organizational and the pay received by them (AlKahtani 67-78). 1.1 Background Global The Al Rajhi bank is not only a big financial institution in the Saudi Arabia; it is the biggest Islamic bank in the whole world. It has significant influence in the country’s trade and commerce with the rest of the world. Hence, human resource of the bank casts notable impact on the business sphere at the global level. Continental The gulf region is closely knitted with the banks whose business practices are guided by the Islamic culture and religious beliefs. These banks are a part of the financial system of Saudi Arabia and have majorly contributed to the entire continent of Asia. Indeed, performance of these banks is currently considered as the measure of the economic health of the gulf region and also of Asia (Al-Dukheil 56). According to Al-Dukheil, the private sector is becoming increasingly important in the financial sector and contribution of these banks is set to increase further. National There is high Islamic awareness in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (At-Twaijri 11-16). This creates barriers for the organizations in adopting a generalist employee

Quality and Performance Management of MS

Quality and Performance Management of MS Quality is the second of three value components (Finch,Byron J., 2008).The commitment to producing quality in services and products changes process from just producing to producing things customers want. The development of the methods and techniques to manage quality and a culture of employees who want to produce quality is at the heart of any successful business. INTRODUCTION This Chapter contains an insight into what quality and performance management, meeting customers expectations at Marks and Spencer. I will touch on its history and the effect of quality management at the company will be examined. The basis of choosing M S is due to the fact that it is a well established company. More like an institution. Also I work for the company. About MS For 125 years MS has been trusted by customers to offer high quality products at great value. It has grown from a Penny Bazaar stall to become the UKs leading retailer of quality clothing, food and home products. With more than 21 million UK customers, the company is an expanding international force, now in 40 territories. A team of 78,000 people and over 2,000 suppliers form the bedrock of its business, ensuring their brand will continue to offer Quality, Value, Service, Innovation and Trust. These core values are as important today as they ever have been. They are all about doing the right thing which is, quite simply, how they do business (MS, 2009). Michael Mark started the business in 1884 selling items at no more than a penny. The business was subsequently joined by Tom Spencer when the partnership started. The business grew gradually and by 1926 there were about 125 stores. Marks Spencer has been built on the following values: offering customers a selective range of high quality merchandise; encouraging suppliers to maintain high quality standards in production and working environment; store expansion planned for the convenience of customers, with a greater width of product choice; simplified operating procedures; supporting British industry and buying abroad only when new ideas, technology, quality and value are not available in the UK; fostering good human relations with customers, staff, suppliers and the community. (Whitehead, 1994). An insight into quality management Quality is conformance to requirements (Crosby, 1979), with emphasis on zero defects. (Swanson, 1995) however, implied quality management to be the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy given needs. Implicit in this assumption is a customer with needs and expectations to be satisfied. Quality is a measurable result; quality management improvement is more about the journey than the result. What we do and how we do it determines quality and the actionable elements of quality involve the process rather than the outcome. Good quality reduces the cost of rework, waste, complaints and returns and most importantly, generates satisfied customers (Slack, 2007). Marks and Spencer has what is called a golden rule to always take ownership of helping their customers and also getting feedback about their services. Staffs at Marks and Spencer are expected to adhere to the following three principles when serving customers: acknowledge every customer with a hello or a smile build a relationship by talking and interacting with the customer saying good bye and have good day to customers. Some feedback is done through online surveys and some directly with their customers using survey forms. The result from the survey enables MS to review areas of improvement. I strongly believe that quality of services is MSs competitive edge. The golden rules means treating the customers with courtesy, interacting and engaging with the customers doing the sales with a smile, always helping to pack on the till, asking customers if there is still anything else we can do for them. All these are attributes of good customer services. Good customer service provides the likelihood that the customers would still want to come back. Mr David Williams, an MS customer recently stated It makes a pleasant day for me when a staff of Marks and Spencer says thank you for waiting, attending to their customers when there was a long queue. Consistency with these values make the customers always want to come back which goes a long way in a business. Furthermore, from the companys perspective it also means treating their employees with humanely, with dignity and respect. These in turn encourage the employees to be equally sensitive to the needs and expectations of the customers. If staff feels that their efforts are being rewarded and that future effort will also be rewarded, their quality of work is likely to improve. In this way, total quality can be improved. Moreover, where incremental strategic change is dependent on individual members of staff, acting upon, opportunities and threats, the reward system must be appropriate and motivating (Thompson Martin, 2010). From my experience, I have observed that when staff is not happy, they will not be able to deliver a good service to the customers, which may then affect the business. As an employee of Marks and Spencer, I can objectively say we are highly treated well. Staffs are rewarded in so many ways. Some of the incentives are 20% off any items in the store, promotion opportunities, recognition within the organization and pension scheme. Also the company provide bonuses, flexible working arrangement for all mothers and graduate scheme for new graduates. All these rewards and incentives are motivating factors that enable staff to perform to their utmost level in serving customers in a satisfactory way. Rewards depend upon the success of the Organization as a whole as well as individual, contribution to the success (Thompson Martin, 2010). As an employee of Marks and Spencer, one thing that I have noticed was that when customers visits the store, they have the assurance that they are going to get exceptional services. Marks and Spencer are not trading in service quality gimmicks but also focus on giving what we call exceptional basics i.e. listening very carefully to their customers and giving thoughts to their needs and providing what they really need. For example they offer: three items for the price of two collect by cab for customers if the customer require a cab after shopping sending customers special order to them within three working days v effective and efficient refund policy. Marks and Spencer offers full refund to their customers with their receipt or if has been lost, a credit voucher is issued Marks and Spencer credit card points and vouchers are given to all the card holders on a regular basis which I believe would encourage customers to use their Marks and Spencer credit card to pay at the till Marks and Spencer train their staff to take ownership in everything they do. (Thompson Martin, 2010) emphasised on commitment to customers services, quality and continuous Improvement. Its this attention to detail that counts in providing good customer service to the customers. There is nothing more Important to Marks Spencer than their customers and achieving a high quality of service. The company encourages three things i.e., creativity, initiative and attitude. Attitude is one of the key attributes that management at Marks and Spencer imbues on their employees despite the training and skills developed. It is the quality reflection that sets us apart from the competition. Marks and Spencer have improved in their product offerings and looks like they hire people with positive attitude that takes great pride in delivering exceptional service. commented by one of the customers. It is this type of attitude displayed by their employees that leads to innovation and creativity. For example, there was a time a deaf man came into the store for shopping, he wrote all he needed in a sheet of paper. Marks and Spencer already have some employees that help the blind and the deaf for their shopping. After helping him, he was so delighted that he now believes that everybody is treated in the same way without discriminating. Also if a customer likes a particular product which was recommended and is not in store and in order to satisfy the customer, they take total ownership to make sure they make arrangement for more stock to be available for the next visit of the customer in store. Marks and Spencer also track their product through surveys to know how well a particular product is performing. As explained by (Kanji,Gopal K: Asher,Mike, 1996) To understand the process of total quality management (TQM),where all work is seen as process and total quality management is a continuous process of improvement for individuals, groups of people and whole organizations. What makes total quality management different from other management processes is the concentrated focus on continuous improvement. Most of Marks and Spencer customers knows about their quality and are ready to pay more for the value. MS offers all most ever week, just to motivate customers to buy at the stated price of other competitors products like Tesco and Sainsbury just to let customers knows that there price is still the same as others but the quality is different. Marks and Spencer makes these offers to draw customers attention. They have succeeded as shown my consistently increasing their market share. Also there objectives is to exceed their expectation to deliver good quality to their customers and to achieve zero defects. They design their product to try to prevent errors occurring. Though, it is always impossible to prevent mistakes. Knowing the current quality standards of the product or service in your customers hands is the first stage of being able to improve. You can make mistake and you can measure your improvement if you know the base you are starting from. Having the facts necessary to manage the business at all levels and giving that information to everyone so that decisions are based upon fact are the essential aspect of Quality Management (Kanji,Gopal K: Asher,Mike, 1996) Marks and Spencer rarely get formal complaints but when there is any they resolve it with the customer and they always listen to customers complain which at the end customers feels delighted and satisfy. (Kanji,Gopal K: Asher,Mike, 1996) Satisfying agreed customers requirements- relates to internal customers as well external ones it is necessary to achieve successful internal working relations in order to satisfy the needs of the external customers. The key is service recovery; this is why empowerment is so important. (Slack, 2007) Marks and Spencer train their to turn around any negative experiences they may have into positive ones before the customers leaves the store and not to allow the customer to go home not satisfied. Its really worth the effort. Giving exceptional service has always been the motto of Marks and Spencer for years up till now. It is well known to everybody about their good customer services. They also get tremendous feedback from their customers and that is the more reason that most customers always want to come back despite the prices of their products. Older people are also helped with their shopping list by assigning a member of staff to the customer to do the shopping. It gives the customer confidence to know that their shopping is done to their satisfaction. One of MSs customers, Mrs Johnson commented that price is not the determinant factor for shopping at M&S; it is the good customer services and the way staffs attends to me considering I have been shopping here for over 25 years. They are all well mannered, always with a smile on their face, they take ownership and always wanting to help to pack our shopping One of the key tasks of operation management is to ensure that quality goods and services are pr ovided to both internal and external customers (Finch,Byron J., 2008). Marks and Spencer value their customers; queues are monitored and customers are often thanked for waiting and are given the offer to pack their shopping for them. It is more than compensation to acknowledge someone and as a member of staff, I often hear from customers that how grateful and delighted they for the attention that is given to them. The professionalism shown by the MS employees emanated from the training provided and also interacting with customers makes our job more interesting. (Finch,Byron J., 2008) Contends that The best answer to a customers questions can often come only from the employee directly responsible for a good customers services to the customers MS gives customer choice. They have different range for customers, for the older women it is called classic range. This range was developed as result of the survey that was carried out. One of the survey participants, a customer known as Ms. Williams in the survey wrote It fits perfectly ok without any adjustment or complain, I just cannot go anywhere else to buy my clothes than Marks. Another range for the middle age is called Peruna, they are long lasting but very costly. Customers are happy to pay for what they get because of the quality of the finished products and is visible to see said one of their customers. A quality is the degree of fit between customers expectations and customer perception of the product or service. (Slack, 2007) Marks and Spencer respond quickly to customer demand. One key element of quality management is the dependence on empowered teams to document and then streamline processes based on team knowledge and understanding of customer needs and expectation. States customer requirements often fall short of defining customer needs and expectations (Swanson, 1995) If a product was not in store. Marks and Spencer take responsibility to make sure they find an alternative way to get the product and send it to the customer address just for meeting the customers expectation and to make sure they satisfy customer demand. Dimensions of Quality (Finch,Byron J., 2008) identified eight product quality dimensions and five service quality dimensions which consist of the followings: Performance relates to the perceived characteristics of the product. Features the additional or secondary capabilities of a product or service. Reliability ÂÂ ­- measures the dependency and how consistently it achieves the promises given about the product/service. Durability deals how long the product/service last for. Serviceability usually deals with after sales in terms of repairs guarantees and complaints resolution. Aesthetics deals with the appearance and style of the product/service. Response the relationship between the product/service provider and the customer. Reputation deals with the perception of customers on the company. In addition to the above (Finch,Byron J., 2008)also identified five dimensions of service quality which includes: Reliability in terms of the company keeping to its promises. Responsiveness deals with how promptly the company responds to their customer needs. Assurance dealing with trust and confidence between the customers and employees. Empathy deals with how employees are sensitive to the needs of the customers. Tangibles showing care and attentions with respect to the physical facilities and written materials available at the company. Marks and Spencer provides both products and service to their customers and fully conforms to all the service/product quality dimensions mentioned above. This I believe has led to the consistent domination of market share in the retail industry by MS. Cost of Quality Cost of quality relates to the cost associated with assuring quality of the product/services in addition to costs incurred in correcting defective items. (Finch,Byron J., 2008) explained cost of quality as the cost associated with maintaining and sustaining goods/services which can be categorised into primarily internal and external failure costs, prevention cost and appraisal costs. All of these costs are identifiable with MS. An example of external failure i.e. cost incurred after transfer of ownership to customers at MS are the returns made by customers when something goes wrong with the items purchased at the store when replacement would need to be made in additional to employee time involved in dealing with the defective product. Internal failure cost i.e. costs that may arise due to inadequacy of quality before transfer of ownership to customers occurs at MS when inspection staff have noticed a defection in a product line and had to be withdrawn before reaching the floor level. All the costs associated with this defective product including production and distribution costs aggregates to the internal failure costs. The appraisal costs are those cost associated with meeting quality specification which may include inspection, testing and sampling. At MS this category of quality cost are incurred before the products are distributed to various stores. Usually the quality audits are carried taking samples from millions of product items to ensure they meet quality specification. (Finch,Byron J., 2008) stated that a frequent cause of poor quality is the failure of system that are intended to maintain quality. Hence organisations need to ensure their quality system is audited to ensure that they meet their quality requirements and thereby reduce their appraisal cost. The cost associated to reducing appraisal costs can be categorised as prevention costs. Some these costs includes cost of training, improving the process, quality planning activities. Where more effor ts are put in prevention, it should have an impact in reducing the other category of quality costs. However, as can be seen from figure1 below, quality cost increases as quality problems gets to customers. Figure 1 (Finch,Byron J., 2008) Cost of quality Prevention Internal failure External failure Cost of quality from Prevention to external failure Total Quality Management As defined by (Chartered Institute of Management Accountant, 2002), TQM is a programme that ensures that goods or services supplied are of the highest quality. However, (Feigenbaum, 1986) defined TQM as an effective system for integrating the quality development, quality maintenance and quality improvement efforts of the various groups in an organisation so as to enable production and service at the most economical levels which allows a full customer satisfaction. TQM as a process must encompass everyone in the organisation and with full commitment of senior management. (Finch,Byron J., 2008) put forward that TQM is based on three principles: customer focus continuous process improvement and total involvement. With customer focus, the customer defines what quality is. A distinction is required between what is known as internal customers that are employees within the organisation and external customers who buys the products or services. Each employee in the organisation should have a well defined customer so that there is what is known as supplier-customer relationship extending from the internal customers to the final consumer who consumes the product. For instance in MS an output from a staff (internal supplier) then becomes and input for another staff (internal customer). This chain feeds itself into the final consumer. If the process is broken i.e. the supplier-customer relationship and the quality needs of the internal customer is not met, it is bound to affect the ultimate consumer. Continuous process improvement is about reducing or eliminating variability from quality processes. Outcomes from processes should be predictable and when this is not the case it may become difficult to consistently meet customer expectations. Continuous process improvement at MS has a very low variability if all any. Continuous process improvement is part of MS Plan A which is quality management plan that contains a comprehensive set of objectives that governs how MS does business. The plan came into existence in January 2007 and commits to changing one hundred things over five years. Plan A is makes a real change to the environment, customers, employees and people working in the MSs supply chains. Through Plan A, MS have introduced products and services to help customers live in a sustainably way, continued contribution to local communities and with additional profit generated ploughed back into the business. MS engages every one of its 21 million customers by building Plan A quali ties into all of its products and helping customers to develop their own Plan A eco-plans. MS has integrated its Plan A from being a Plan to How We Do Business by integrating it into processes and giving its workforce the skills, tools and motivation required to make a difference. (MS, 2009) I believe that it is the commitment from management and the active involvement of employees in developing and implementing their quality objectives Plan A that have contributed to the success of the company. To continue to sustain the level of confidence of quality assurance, managers need to ensure that everyone consistently adhere to their standards and ensured it is continuously measured and monitored. Where necessary corrective action should be taken as advocated by (Deming, 1982) to use of the Shewharts PDCA cycle (Plan-Do-Check-Act), as an approach to process analysis. This cycle inevitably leads to redesign and improvement in quality. Tools for solving quality problems There are several processes available for quality improvement including DMAIC(Design, Measure, Analyse, Improve and Control) and DMADV (Define, Measure, Analyse, Design and Verify) of Six Sigma improvement projects. DMAIC is used for existing processes where performance is below what is expected while DMADV is for developing new products/service in order to meet the desired quality level. Also there is the PDCA cycle as illustrated by (Finch,Byron J., 2008) where he identified seven steps to quality improvement summarised as follows: Figure 2 PDCA Quality Improvement tool (Finch,Byron J., 2008) Most organisations including MS can improve their quality by implementing any of the available quality improvement processes. Any process used need to be supported by applying appropriate tools for each step. There are various tools and techniques that can be applied as illustrated in figure 3 below Analytical tools Mostly used Frequently used Idea Generation Tools Consensus tools Process Definition Data Collection Analysing Cause effect Analysing displaying data Planning tools Meeting management tools Benchmarking Questionnaires PLAN Problem identification Analysis of current situation Analysis root causes CHECK Selection planning of solution Check result ACT Standardise Conclusion / next cycle Figure 3 Quality Improvement Tools Technique Matrix (Swanson, 1995) In using the above tools and techniques, analysts should list activities to be carried out and the expected output/results of each step. Though not prescriptive in nature employees or analysts can be flexible with the tools they apply depending on the situation theyre faced. The quality improvement models identified above provides an iterative steps but do not provide how the steps are to be prosecuted but there are tools that will aid the accomplishments of the steps identified within the quality improvement model. These tools as identified by (Swanson, 1995) are not exhaustive but majority of them have been converted into a matrix as illustrated in figure 4 below. Idea Generation Tools Consensus tools Process Definition Data Collection Analysing Cause effect Analysing displaying data Planning tools Meeting management tools Benchmarking Questionnaires Figure 4 Tools and techniques matrix Quality Awards and Quality Standards Many customers are quality assured knowing a business has quality award accreditation. It provides the customer with the confidence that they are buying quality product or quality service. In many cases businesses use quality award as marketing tool which are visible in their marketing and promotion. In some cases some businesses can afford to charge at a premium as a result of quality accreditation. A quality award enables a business or organisation to conform to certain specified standard. A standard that must be consistently adhered to and where a business conducts its business internationally, it may well be a requirement to have and internationally recognised quality standard accreditation. Two internationally recognised standards are the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and the International Standards Organisation. The ISO is one of the most world-acclaimed quality standard award/accreditation is the ISO quality standards amongst others. According to (International Stand ards Organisation Discover ISO, 2010) the objectives of the standards where implemented, are to enable products/services to be more efficient, safer and cleaner; trade facilitation; assist governments with technical foundation for legislation in health safety; sharing of good management practice; safeguarding of consumers and making life simpler. With the insistence of having ISO quality standard in place, it ensures that certified company have the capacity, capability and infrastructure available to produce quality products/services. (Finch,Byron J., 2008). There are various other specific awards depending on the industry. Marks and Spencer especially in the last couple of years have had several awards in recognition of its performance when compared to its competitors in the industry. Some of these awards include are listed below. Awards Position Environmental Investigation Agencys Supermarket refrigeration table Winner Cosmopolitan Magazine Awards Winner of Most Ethical retailer Carbon Trust standard Certification Pesticide Action Network UK supermarket pesticide league table Winner Ethisphere Worlds Most Ethical Companies Top 100 Consumer Focus Green to the Core supermarket league table Joint Winner Greener Package Awards Retail Leadership Award RSPCA Good Business Awards Fashion Commitment Award Letsrecycle.com Awards High Street Recycling Champion 2009 International Wine Challenge Awards Environmental Initiative of the year Forest Footprint Disclosure Project Best General Retail Sector Performer Business in the Community 2009 Corporate Responsibility Index Platinum performer The Independent Green Awards 2010 Best Supermarket ENDS Carbon 2009 Brand Emissions Leader Figure 5 MS Awards (Marks and Spencer, 2010) Conclusion Most organisations including MS strive to continue to satisfy or meet their customer requirements. MS over years have consistently developed and sell quality products to their consumers. This is reflected as they continue to dominate their industry and the fact that consumers believes that whatever they purchase from MS, it is essentially a quality item. Total Quality Management is a continuous process and must have the contribution of everyone in the organisation from the corporate leadership right down to the shop floor staff in order for the organisation to continue to meet their responsibility in delivering quality. Organisations with quality standards and awards must continually review their processes and find a way to continue to improve in order to maintain their market share and most importantly their profitability and competitiveness.

The Confucian Filial Obligation and Care for Aged Parents :: Asian Philosphy Chinese Research

The Confucian Filial Obligation and Care for Aged Parents ABSTRACT: Some moral philosophers in the West (e.g., Norman Daniels and Jane English) hold that adult children have no more moral obligation to support their elderly parents than does any other person in the society, no matter how much sacrifice their parents made for them or what misery their parents are presently suffering. This is because children do not ask to be brought into the world or to be adopted. Therefore, there is a "basic asymmetry between parental and the filial obligations." I argue against the Daniels/English thesis by employing the traditional Confucian view of the nature of filial obligation. On the basis of a distinction between 'moral duty' and 'moral responsibility' and the Confucian concept of justice, I argue that the filial obligation of adult children to care respectfully for their aged parents is not necessarily self-imposed. I conclude that due to the naturalistic character of the family, the nature of our familial obligations (such as parental caring for young children and adult children's respectful caring for aged parents) cannot be consensual, contractarian and voluntarist, but instead existential, communal and historical. Some moral philosophers in the West hold that adult children do not have any more moral obligation to support their elderly parents than does any other person in the society, no matter how much sacrifice their parents made for them in the past or what kinds of misery their parents are presently suffering. This is so, they claim, because children do not ask to be brought into this world or to be adopted. Thus, the traditional filial obligation of supporting and taking care of the aged is left as either the private responsibility of the elderly themselves or as a societal burden on the public. (1) For example, Norman Daniels argues that there is a "basic asymmetry between parental and the filial obligations" (Daniels, 1988, p.29). The parental obligation of caring for their young children, says Daniels, is a "self-imposed" duty, while the so-called children's obligation of caring for their aged parents is "non-self-imposed" and thus cannot be morally required. (2) In her famous essay, "What Do Grown Children Owe Their Parents," Jane English also claims that a favor done without it being requested or a voluntary sacrifice of one for another can only create "a friendly gesture" (Sommers & Sommers, 1993, pp. 758-765). It incurs neither an "owing" nor a moral obligation to reciprocate.

Fitness Goals Essay

Three fitness goals that I have for this school year are: 1) to stop consuming all the junk food I possibly can but not all at once, day by day; slowly decreasing the amounts of candy or chips that I eat because I know that it will be a hard task so I would prefer to adapt to it slowly, 2) Instead of watching TV, I want to get up off the couch more and improve on my workouts, which I rarely ever even do. 3) Lastly would be to pick water as a beverage more often with my meals instead of having unhealthy sugary drinks. My first fitness goal is to stop eating so much junk food. I would say that it is very necessary for me to stop eating junk food because that is what would be keeping me down. By â€Å"keeping me down† I mean that junk food is what is slowing me down from being the size I should be and also in by succeeding in working out. For example, when my gym class did the mile my goal to finish it was 15 minutes, I ended up taking longer than 15 minutes and I came in last. If my stomach was treated better I would have probably finished before those 15 minutes and not have came in last. My second fitness goal is to I do not deny it, I am a couch potato. All which I shouldn’t but I blame my parents for being extra overly protective and not letting me have freedom at all until I was 15. There little rule has brought me to where I am now, a couch potato. I don’t know how but I want to try to change that. If I do not change that then whenever I actually have the full opportunity to be active it will be harder since I have wasted so much time. As I am now, I want to improve my working out skills to where I should be. My last fitness goal is to eliminate sugary drinks; I would want to drink water with more of my meals. I pick water over soda, milk, or tea what calls me are the juices. I love lemonade, fruit punch and other sugary drinks of that kind. I know that these drinks are very high in sugar that is why I wish to change this habit.

Rohingya Problem

ROHINGYA PROBLEM INTRODUCTION 1. The word Rohinga is derived from Rohang, the ancient name of Arakan. Situated on Burma's south-eastern border with Bangladesh. Arakan is one of the provinces of Burma and has a population of five million 40 percent of whom are Muslims. Burma was officially renamed as Myanmar on 18 June with its capital at Yangoon. Military rule covers the most of the history of Burmese politics. The Arakan Muslims are unhappy with the prevailing political system in Burma and some of them are harbouring an idea to establishment an independent homeland[1].The military regime in Burma have tried to contain the secessionist movement in that region and in the process they have unleashed reign of terror. Every instrument of torture and supression have been used by the regime in Burma to terrorise the Rohingyas to submission[2]. This attempt of Burmese ruler has caused ttrauma and ordeal for the Rohingyas. Their plight have been high lighted by international media quite aptl y and the problem has been quite known as well. 2. There are reports that the Burmese government is promoting resettlement in the area and replacing the Rohingyas with the Magh tribe.Rohingyas have been evicted from their homeland forcibly and driven out to seek refuge elsewhere. These refugees are taking place in Bangladesh cause tremendous problems for Bangladesh. On the other hand the settlement of Magh tribe, who believes in Buddhist faith, are aimed at pleasing the ego of ethnic Burmans. 3. There are many reasons for the genesis of the crisis in the state of Arakan, but references to demography, social, cultural, religious and historical dimensions are required to be studied to understand the problem. In Arakan these people do not inter marry .Rohingyas speak Bengali and they are under the influence of Bengali culture and civilization. At the religious level, there are irreconciliable differences. Burma has been a great centre of Buddhist learning and civilization for centuries , but the Rohingyas are proud of Islamic heritage. Constitutionally, and politically Buddhism and Muslims are antagonistic to each other and have the feeling of ethno-cenrrism. None of the communities are willing to accommodate the grievances of others. Finally there historical reasons for the two communities to feel different. 4. Our presentation on the subject will cover the following: . Over View on Geography and Demography. b. Background to Rohingya Problem. c. Effects on Bangladesh. because of historical references, in many places of our presentation we will be using the words Burma and Rangoon which are to be kindly read as Myanmar and Yangoon. AIM 5. The aim of the presentation is to highlight the problems of Rohingyas in Myanmar and its effects on Bangladesh. OVER VIEW ON GEOGRAPHY AND DEMOGRAPHY 6. Geographically it is lying along the eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea, in the south-east Asia, covering an area of 261,226 square kilometers.The country is bord ered by Thailand and Laos on the south-east , China on the north-east and Bangladesh and Indian state of Assam on the norht-west. It is considered to be the gateway to Indo-China peninsula as well as to China. Myanmar and Bangladesh share 171 miles of common border and have traditional commerce and cultural ties. There are 14 province and Arakan is one of them. 7. The people of Myanmar are of Mongoloid stock and derive from three main branches[3]: a. Tibeto-Burman. b. Mon-Khmer. c. Tai-Chinese. 8. Tibeto-Burman. The Tibeto-Burman group includes the Proto-Burmese, Kachins, Karens, Chins, Nagas etc.They entered Burma in three main waves from three directions. The Protoburmese probably came down the head-waters of Irrawaddy river and then from the north-east down the Salween valley. The Kachins entered from the north-west while the Chins and Nagas found their way in, a little further to the south. The Karens moved down the line of ridges to the east of the Sittang river and some the ea rlier groups settled west of the Irrawaddy from where they moved into the delta. 9. Mon-Khmer. The Mon-Khmer group which includes Austro-Asiatic races including Mon, Palaung, riang etc.They moved down the Mekong river into the Greater Indo-China peninsula and some groups fanned out westward into the Shan plateau and south-easternBurma. 10. Tai-Chinese. Tai-Chinese includes the Shans, Lao, Shan-Bama etc. They also came down the Salween river and settled in the Shan plateau. HISTORY OF ROHINGYA Muslim Population in Myanmar 11. The most striking feature of the spread of Islam in Myanmar is that it started gaining strength not through conversion but through immigration of Muslims and progeny of mixed marriages. Muslim seamaen first reached Myanmar in ninth century.During the fifteen and sixteen centuries, Tenasserim and Mergui were known as Muslim cities, traded with Malacca, Bengal and Mecca. During the seventeenth century Muslims proved to be capable traders. They owned flourishing bu siness houses and with their wealth had become so important that they also held some important key administrative appointments. But these Muslims, mostly from southern India were not acceptable to the native population. With the arrival of the British and French in the area at the end of seventeenth century, most of the Muslims were removed from the office and some were even killed. 2. The Muslims continued to settled near coastal towns of Myanmar and marrying the Burmese women despite maltreatment given by the local administrators. Many Muslims sea traders took this opportunity to get settled in these region of Burma and the descendants of these Arab, Persian and Indian Muslim traders formed the nucleus ‘Burman Muslim† community, which known as †Kala†. With the arrival of the Portuguese, Dutch, British and French Muslim domination of the seas began to decline. From the middle of the sixteenth century to the middle of eighteenth, Muslims served the Burmese Ar my. 3. During the nineteenth century Muslims again dominated not only in military services but also in administrative posts. Some of them were later on executed because the kings were not pleased their insistence on following their religious tenets. In the sixteenth century the Burmese Kings started settling Muslims in upper Burma, near Mydeyu in the district of Shwebo. These villages still exist today. The settlers were mostly Muslim prisoners who had been brought there at variuos periods. These Muslims received lands as their payment for their services to the king. 50 musketeers used to be supplied to the palace guard and this service was passed to the generations. Another group of Muslims from north India came to offer military service. The Burmese took care to distribute the Muslim settlers in small groups and in many villages to prevent the Muslims from forming a majority in any particular place. Gradually the Muslims were being looked down by the Burmese and their privileges b egan to fall. Further transfer of Muslim took place to the places where the Burmese refused to go. Muslim Population in Arakan 14.Arakan province renamed Rakhine by the Myanmar government came under the influence of Indian subcontinent in the 9th century A. D. In 11th century A. D. Arakan was made part of unified Burma. In the fifteenth century A. D. Arakan became an independent Muslim state under the rule of Sulayman Naramithla. The rule of Muslim King continued till it was conquered by Burmese Buddhist King Budapaya in 1784. Though Persian was the state language of this Muslim Arakan state, Bengali literature and poetry also flourished under direct patronage from Arakan Royal Court.Once a powerful state, Arakan Kingdom included Chittagong up to Feni river. During Aurangzeb's period the Mughuls captured Chittagong and the area east and south of river Karnaphully i. e. the present district of Banderaban and Cox's bazar which remained within Arakan Kingdom. In 1784 the Burmese King c onquered Arakan including Cox's bazar. However, the British drove the Burmese from Cox's bazar in late 1790's and then conquered Arakan in 1823. Arakan was under British occupation since 1826, and an enterprising Rohingya commercial class emerged in Akyab- a fishing village turned capital of Arakan division. 5. The post independent upheaval of a group of Arakan Muslim under the banner of â€Å"Mujahideens† brought about the religious ambitions of the Muslims in Myanmar. Upto 1955 the Mujahideens posed a serious law and order problem though they did not have much significance as a military threat to Rangoon as posed by other anti government forces. In general, local Arakan Buddhists community suffered a great deal of atrocities inflicted by them. This left a scar in the the relation between the Buddhist and Muslim communities, especially in Arakan.The Mujahideens failed to achieve the support of other Arakanese and Burmese muslims, and their insurrection came to an end in 1955 . The 1963-64 nation wide census revealed a large number of Arakanese Muslims sacttered about in Rangoon and Delta area. This caused considerable alarm to the Burman Buddhist authorities. Origin of Rohingya 16. Arakan is inhibited mainly by the Rohingyas and the Maghs. The Maghs are of Mongolian origin and Buddhist by faith. The Rohingyas are Muslim. The present estimated population of Arakan is 2. 2 million.Of these 1. 4 millions are Muslim. The word â€Å"Rohingya' came from the word â€Å"Rohang' which is the ancient name of Arakan. The Rohingya Muslim constitute the dominant portion of Arakan , known earlier as Rohang. The Muslim of Arakans who werev ancestors of present Rohingyas came the main land in three waves: a. First Wave. In the 8th centuries A. D. immediately after the advent of Islam Arab traders started visiting Bengal and Arakan. Many of these Arabs settled down in Arakan and inter mingled with locals in various forms. b. Second Wave.In 1660 the Mughul prince Shah Shuja having been defeated by emperor, left Bengal and on the invitation of the Arakanses Magh King landed in Arakan. Shah Shuja had train of five thousand followers who accompaned him to Arakan. Subsequently Shah Shuja and his family perished due to the treachery of Magh king Chandathu Sharma. However, Shah Shuja's followers settled in Arakan. Being the Indian muslim they also merged with the local Rohingya comminity. c. Third Wave. The third wave entered Burma during the British rule when the Muslim rose population significantly.These Muslim went for work including from Bangladesh and got settled down over Arakan and other parts of Myanmar. 17. The arrival of Muslim in Arakan started few centuries earlier and predated the arrival of many other people and races now inhibiting in Myanmar including Arakan. There are 153 registered ethnic races living in Myanmar where Rohingyas are not included. Though Rohingyas became gradually majority in Arakan but the political power remained wit the Maghs. PROBLEMS OF ROHINGYAS IN MYANMAR 18. General.Since the independence of Myanmar in 1948, the myanmar government had always been disarray due to multidimensional socio-political disorders. Ultimately, number of armed separatist movements had been organized and the number of insurgency groups continued to rise. Insurgency activities in Rakhine state along Bangladesh Border has also increased over the years. The suppressive attitude of the Military Junta gave rise to the political movement of the ethnic minorities all over Myanmar, where the movement of Rohingyas is no exception. The major problems of Rohingyas are disscussed in the subsequent paragraphs. 9. Depopulate Arakan of the Muslims. The withdrawal of British troops after the Second Wworld Wwar created a serious administrative vacuum in Arakan. The Magh communities in connivance with the Burma Independent Army killed approximately 100,000 rohingyas and drove out 50,000 across the border to the then East Pakistan. The idea was to depopulate Arakan of the Muslims. The relation between Arakan Muslims and Buddhist communities deteriorated[4]. 20. Right of Secession. During the independence of Myanmar from British, Rohingyas were kept away from all negotiations.Aung San and leaders of other nationalities signed the historic Union Treaty, where the Union of Burma was formed consisting of individual nation states with the right secede after ten years if the nationalities so wished. The agreement was adopted and included in the Union’s constitution under the heading â€Å"Right of Secession†. Unfortunately, no Rohingya representative from Arakan was invited to attend the convention. Thereby, Arakan lost her identity and constitutional guarantee of their rights and freedom[5]. 21. False Hope to the Rohingya.Some of Rohingya took up arms to redress their grievances after the independence. They were persuaded to lay down their arms on the false promise of granting political rights and similar treatment as other nationalities by Burmese authority. The Burmese authorities repeatedly broke their promises forcing the Rohingyas wander into the neighboring countries. Since 1942, approximately 1. 2 million Rohingyas were either forcibly expelled or had to flee the country to escape persecution[6]. 22. Ethnic Diversity. Most of the problems of Myanmar are genetic in nature.As many as fifty groups speaking over 100 languages and dialects have been identified for which the nation had to be administratively organised along ethnic lines, with seven so called states with non Burmese majority. All non Burmese majority states are located near the border. Somehow, the other people of the non Burmese majority states have traditional ties and bondage with their respective bordering neighbours in the form of religion, language, culture etc. During the independence from Britain, some of the states even opted to be the part of some other country and not Burma.The fact that concerns us is mo st Arakanese opted to be the part of the then East Pakistan, which remained a dream to them. Right from the inception of Burma, the government had been always reluctant about socio-political development of those non Burmese majority states. Most of the time the people of non Burmese majority states were oppressed. In consequence, insurgent activities continued to increase in those states[7]. 23. Muslim Imprisonment. Everything in Myanmar started degenerating as the Burmese way to socialism came in.As Arakan is the least developed province in Myanmar, the economical hardship was worst and a large number of Arakanese migrated into Myanmar proper. The 1963-64 nation wide census revealed a large number of Arakanese Muslims scattered about in Rangoon and Delta area. This caused considerable alarm to the Bhama Buddhist authorities. Then the Ne Win regime imposed a law, which restricted the movement of Muslims in Arakan, especially prohibiting the movement of Akyab district. Thus the Musli ms were put into a sort of imprisonment since 1964.However, poverty in Arakan could not stop all migration effectively. In the 1974 census, the authorities again found out the Arakan Muslim spreading over the commercially mobile areas of Myanmar. Ne Win, the socialist did not want that. The Muslims should be in Arakan only so that the Arakan Buddhist and Muslim could be used against each other. This was the best way to keep the national liberation movement of the Arakanese checked. Subsequently, the military regime imposed tighter restrictions on the movement of the Muslims. They could not even move inside their township or from village to village.Thus they were virtually imprisoned[8]. 24. Demand of an Independent State. The Muslim movement in the British India for separate Muslim nation brought about great impact upon the Muslim of Burma. Especially Arakanese Muslims, being in touch with the Muslim League in East Bengal, were very much motivated with the idea of an independent sta te. The motivation turned into Jihad or Holy War in 1948-54 after the independence. The Mujahids demanded a separate Muslim state inside Burma in name of Arakanistan with the active patronization of Pakistan. However, the movement failed.But later they realized their struggle under the flag of Nationalism with the name of Rohingya[9]. 25. Migration from East Pakistan. While the Mujahideen subsided, East Pakistan faced poverty and famine. Arakan in Burma being close to border , some of the then East Pakistanis entered Arakan for their survival and possible future. This was helped by the corrupt immigration, army, police and other officials. This illegal entry was also to be believed to be the master mind of the then Burmese Minister of Home Affairs to gain vote for his party in the election of 1956 and 1960[10]. 6. Political and Armed Movement. Since the day of independence, the Rangoon government has been keeping the Muslim population in Arakan as a balancing force against the Araka nese Buddhists to put down struggle for the national liberation. But the Muslims gradually realized that since 1964, the Buddhist and Muslim of Arakan forged unity to oppose military regime together . Many of the muslims joined Arakan National united Organization . Similarly the Arakan National Liberation Party patronized Muslim guerrillas, who emerged under the name of Rohingya.Such an alliance alarmed the Rangoon government. Meanwhile the emergence of the Arakan Liberation Party added much worry to the Junta. In 1977, the Ne Win forces wiped out the main army of these two groups along with their leaders. The event spread a cloud of misery over the Arakanese population. At the same time, a coup attempted by Arakanese was also foiled[11]. 27. Operation â€Å"King Dragon Offensive†. Burmese Army General Ne Win ruled the country from 1962 to 1988. As many as nine operations were carried out by Burmese Army /Territorial forces.Of which the major offensive was launched under the code name of â€Å"King Dragon Offensive† in 1978 to oppress the Rohingyas and the remnants of Arakanese Liberation forces. A large scale of atrocities were recorded by the ruling Junta. Ne Win ordered that small villages be abolished and concentrated in one large village which was fenced and stockaded with only one gate. Subsequently, hundreds of villagers were uprooted by force and driven into stockaded villages. Opposition and disobedience were met with stern and severe punishment. The table below will show the degree of atrocities carried out by the ruling Junta[12]: Ser |Township | Men Killed |Women Raped |Vills Destroyed | |1 |Kyauktaw |1855 |891 |74 | | | | | | | |2 |Ponnakyann |353 |930 |105 | | | | | | | |3 |Rethedaung |91 |340 |19 | | | | | | | |4 |Minbya |135 |315 |25 | | | | | | | |5 |Mrohaung |55 |239 |19 | | | | | | | |6 |Buthidaung |142 |560 |6 | | | | | | | |7 |Maungdaw |295 |1121 |5 | | | | | | | |8 |Mry Pon |- |- |6 | | |Total |2926 |4396 |259 | 28. Rohingya Refugee Crises in First Phase. The operation King Dragon Offensive of Ne Win forced about 30,000 Rohingyas to enter Bangladesh. The efugees started arriving daily in an ever increasing number. By June 1978, the total had swelled to over 200,000 and housed in 13 camps in bordering districts of Bangladesh and Myanmar. The overwhelming majority of the refugees, thus, appeared to be children and old people. The refugees arrived principally from the townships of Akyab, Kyauktaw, Minbya, Myank-U, Kathe-taung, Pauktan, Maungdaw, Buthidaung and Rathidaung. While the villagers were suffering, Ne Win tried to get the support of city folks by showing that they were driving out â€Å"Kalas† a word used derogatively for foreigners. This was entertained by some ignorant Arakanese in the cities.Most believed that the Ne Win regime started thinking about pushing the Muslims out into Bangladesh after the 1974 census, which revealed the migration of the Muslims into Burma proper and Eastern b order. Whatever their origin, they are Burmese officially, and they have every right to move inside their own country. The restriction of their movement since 1964 and final forceful expulsion of the Arakanese Muslims is the infalliable proof of the racist nature of Bhama Military rregime led by General Ne Win[13]. 29. Reasons for Rohingya Exodus. a. Refugees' Viewpoint. The refugees stated the following as the principal reasons for their exodus into Bangladesh[14]: 1)Harassment by the Burmese Government agencies which reached a climax during the ‘Operation Dragon' mounted to get rid of the Muslim from Arakan. (2)Lack of adequate security in the areas of their residence. (3)Restriction on their free movement. (4)Rice levy with intolerable severety amounting to oppression. (5)Omission of names of Muslims from the population returns of the census of 1973. b. Viewpoint of the Burmese Government. The viewpoint of the Burmese Government were different and these are as following[15] : (1)The ‘Operation Dragon', a semi-military search operation was not directed against the Muslims but against the illegal immigrants.They maintained that traditionally the movement of population was from the west to the east and it was well known that many people from Bangladesh had come to Burma without valid authority. In 1971, people from Bangladesh in thousands took shelter in Burma. (2)It was claimed that the Burmese Government that a survey was carried out to detect the illegal immigrants. It revealed that some Arakanese Muslims left Arakan as they did not like to submit themselves to this checking operation. Hence, those who had fled were considered by the Burmese Government as illegal immigrants. 30. Repatriation of Refugees. The effective diplomatic effort of Bangladesh and with the assistance of UNHCR, both , Bangladesh and Myanmar settled down the issue.Some of the salient of the agreement are as under[16]: a. ‘A' category refugees holding National Registrati on Certificate (NRC) would be repatriated immediately in the first phase with their family members. b. ‘B' category refugees, who could show any document issued by Burmese authority or any other proof as to their residence in Burma would be repatriated in the second phase. c. ‘C' category refugees are the left over ones and would be considered at the last. d. It was mutually agreed that the repatriation would start not later than 31 August 1978 and be completed within a period of six months from the date the first batch would return to Burma. e.It was also mutually agreed that the two governments would, after completion of repatriation of all Burmese refugees, initiate measures to cooperate for the prevention of illegal crossings of the border by persons from either side and be prepared to receive repatriated residence found to have crossed the border subsequent to the enforcement of the two governments. As agreed upon, the repatriation started on 31 August 1978. The ope ration, however, ran into difficulties with ‘C' categories refugees numbering 11,149. Following a series of discussions between the two governments, the government of Burma finally agreed that these refugees should be allowed to move into the reception camp located within Burma, where Burmese officials would take their oral evidence and after verification repatriate them to their respective villages.By 29 December 1979, the repatriation operation was virtually completed. All the repatriates, on arrival in Burma were given a repatriation card and eventually resettled in their respective villages. But the problem of who should be granted rights and privileges of citizenship remained an active issue. 31. Burma Citizenship Law. The Rohingyas came to Arakan about thousand years ago and made a significant contribution to her culture and heritage. They became an integral part of Arakan's political, social, economic and cultural life. But the citizenship laws passed in 1982, made the Rohingyas alien in the land of their fathers and ancestors.The new citizenship law defines citizen as those nationals who are the members of the ethnic groups that had settled in Burma before 1824, the date that marked the beginning of the British colonial period, during which foreigners, especially Indians and Chinese freely entered the country. The non nationals were eligible to be classified as â€Å"associates† or â€Å"naturalised citizens†, according to the detailed procedures specified in the law. The new law bars non nationals from holding important state and party positions, serving in the armed forces and police and pursuing higher education in the national institutions. These provisions have seriously affected the individual rights and privileges of non nationals, which they had previously enjoyed. This has further aggravated the socio-political disorders in the country[17]. 32.Change in Traditional Identity. As already mentioned, Bangladesh shares about 171 mile long border with Myanmar and that entire border belt forms part of the Rakhine state. Historically what was known as Arakan state has been officially changed to Rakkhine state by the military rulers some time in early 1980, siding with the existing Buddhist population. This step of the government created a serious commotion among the Arakan Muslims. Perhaps this was one of the major reasons for which number of insurgency groups has drastically increased from 1983 to 1993. Along the Bangladesh border, there were only four insurgent groups in 1983 which has increased to seven in 1993.Besides, latest reports reveal the existence of a new insurgent group known as â€Å"All Burma Democratic Student Front† claiming themselves to be the armed student wing of Sun Kyi, the democratic leader of Myanmar. The details of various insurgent groups operating in Rakkhine state is mentioned below[18]: a. Burmese Communist Party(BCP). b. National United Party of Arakan(NUPA). c. National United Front of Arakan(NUFA). d. Arakan Army(AA). e. National League for Democracy (NLD). f. Chin National Front (CNF). g. All Burma Democratic Student Front(ABSDF). h. Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO). j. Arakan Rohingya Islamic Front (ARIF). k. Harkatul Ziehadul Islam of Arakan (HZIA). As of now the socio political disorder in Rakhine state is considered to be quite alarming.The gradual rise of insurgency activities has also seriously affected the historical peaceful relations between Bangladesh and Myanmar resulting into cross border violations and other issues of discord between the two countries. Role of SLORC 33. Deprivation from Voter List of 1989 Election. Through promulgation of Burmese Citizenship Act 1982, the Rohingya Muslims were deprived of their citizenship rights. They were made stateless. To prepare the voter list for 1989 General Electronics, the authorities initiated scrutiny through issue of National Registration Certificate (NRC) and Foreigner’s Reg istration Certificate (FRC) in Rakhine state.The Rohingya Muslims were then put through harassment as the Myanmar immigration authorities insisted on categorizing the Muslim inhabitants as â€Å"Bengalee Burmese†. The Rohingyas on the other hand insisted or being categorised as Arakan Muslims or Rohingya Muslim or Rakhine Muslims. The immigration authorities refused to accept the citizenship application from the Muslim population which resulted in the exclusion of a large number of Rohingya Muslims from the voter list[19]. 34. Establishment of Cantonments in Muslims Owned Lands. The State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) after the 1988 military take over decided to set up a number of new military cantonments in Rakhine state particularly in the north, where the Muslims are a majority.The authorities acquired homestead or arable lands belonging to the Muslims without any compensation. The Muslims found themselves homeless, when they refused to be rehabilitated in suit able mountainous region. The SLORC has taken up extensive programme of building cantonments and roads linking the cantonments and other military formations in the Muslims populated areas. The army forced local inhabitants to work in those projects with little or no wages at all. The Myanmar authorities do not provide fresh adequate ration to the troops deployed in the Arakan. As a result, they forcibly collect cattle and poultry from the locality at a much below market price.In Rakhine state, more Muslims’ lands were acquired by the SLORC for construction of cantonments and roads. The surplus land is given to Magh convicts and retired Army personnel on attractive terms, an attempt to change ethno-demographic pattern of the area[20]. 35. Military Atrocities. The Mynmar military authorities have destroyed or desecrated many Muslims places of worship. They have looted their properties, killed the inhabitants and raped their women. The SLORC took away rice from the fields belongi ng to the Muslims in the border areas to prevent from selling rice in Bangladesh. The Rohingyas had participated in the democratic movement of 1988.The present military regime has reportedly forced Muslims to pay compensation for government property damaged during the mass upsurge[21]. 36. Refugee Crisis in Second Phase. In 1989, the popular unrest started for the restoration of democracy in Myanmar. The student led the movement for democracy and the government of Saw Mung suppressed it with an iron hand. There were a lot of casualties and the majority of the people who died or faced the tyranny of the army were Burmans. Thus the Burmans were unhappy with the political system. In order to divert the attention of the people, it was necessary for the military regime to do something. As a sequel they focussed their attention once again on the Rohingyas.Again there was a search for the citizenship documents and in the absence of these documents, the Rohingyas had to face the atrocities. Therefore, once again the Rohingya issue surfaced in 1991 and this time approximately 270,000 Arakanese, mainlly the Rohingyas, crossed into Bangladesh. This time surfaced with greater gravity bringing both the countries almost close to a war. However, due to indirect mediation by China and under the pressure of various International Human Rights Organization, approximately 250,000 refugees have been accepted back by Myanamr and rest approximately 40,000 is in the process of repatriation. Though apparently Rohingya issue has died down, but with no assurance to us that it will not recur in future.As such, it is apprehended that Rohingya issue will continue to be a major stumbling block in the improvement of relations between Bangladesh and Myanmar. IMPACT ON BANGLADESH 37. The Rohingya problem has significant impact on Bangladesh. This can be stated as mentioned below: a. Effect on Population. Bangladesh is already an overpopulated country. The influx of the Rohingya refugees going to make Bangladesh more crowded with dense population. Besides this, the Rohingyas are having the same ethnic origin that of the people of the Chittagong area. They have got affinity with the Bangladeshis in terms of language and culture. The problem of differentiating them from local population make this problem more pronounced.This provides the Rohingyas an easy opportunity to become floating population in Bangladesh. It is feared that, presently more than 15000 Rohingyas are at large without any accountability. The intermarriage between the locals and Rohingyas are also making things more complicated in this aspects. b. Effects on Economy. Bangladesh is one of the poorest nation in the world and one of the major causes of her poverty is over population. Internationally the Rohingya problem has not been recognised so much, as such the out side support is not also very encouraging. Mostly it is the Bangladesh government who is dealing with this problem with her meager resources.Pro viding ration ( 4. 5 kg rice and adequate quantity of at and oil per refugee per week ) and other utilities to 19 Rohingya camps is costing Bangladesh heavily. Onrush of Rohingya refugees have already taken its toll on the resource constraint Bangladesh. The matter has put immense pressure on a densely populated country like Bangladesh. The poverty within region has increased many folds. It has already created a socio-economic imbalance in the area causing untold sufferings to the locals. Agricultural lands are being turned into sprawling refugee camps. Refugees allegedly sell rice and pulses rationed to them for buying vegetables and other essentials.Such illegal trade caused tremendous impact on the market price in the local area. At times the refuges are making false ration card to draw more ration. c. Effect on Ecology. The Rohingya refugees have taken shelter in camps which are located on 608 hectares of forestry land in Cox’s bazar and Bandarban district. What is causin g serious concern is that the surrounding rich forest are being destroyed by the refugees who are felling trees to use them as fuel or selling them for their livelihood. Already, the forest here has been denuded of the bamboo as they have been cut for making houses for the refugees. We are afraid that, if the refugees are to stay here for another year, nothing would be left for the forest.The forest department claims that till September 92 the refugees have destroyed forest resources worth Taka 740 million. They estimate that the refugees have damaged natural forest of 2021acres and new plantation of 91. 05 acres. d. Effect on Law and Order. The situation in and around the camps is a hostile one. The locals who lived scattered in the villages are scared of the refugees who live together and who in a minute can organise a united attack on the locals. The local fears that they are being outnumbered by the refugees. It is alleged that thousands of refugees have already slipped out of t he camps and settled in the nearby villages and towns.With Bangladesh and the UNHCR consolidating the relief operation for the refugees, an opposition backed group, Rohingya Repatriation Action Committee (RRAC ) has stepped up its campaign against the refugees. Launching a movement of 12 point demands, the RRAC’s main focus is against the move to build new camps at Jammupara off Ukhia. They complain that the camp would destroy their firms and encroach upon government owned forests. Besides these, at least five refugees were killed, one hundred injured and nearly five hundred others were arrested following commotion that swept different refugee camps. It is alleged that at times the refuges have used fire arms.There are instances where the agitating Rohingyas assaulted camp officials and on duty policemen. The militant refugees of the Dhuapalong camp also attacked a nearby village and looted the homes of the villagers. It is reported that some foreign NGO’s and the UNCH R officials were involved in agitating the refugees. The UNCHR promptly denied such an allegation. e. Effects on Politics. Presently Bangladesh is not in a comfortable situation to deal with this matter politically. The attitude of the Myanmar government in regards to Rohingya problem is not conducive to diplomatic solution. At the same time Bangladesh is not in a situation to enforce her desire in this aspect on Myanmar.There are possibilities of detoriating relationship between Bangladesh and China as China maintains extremely good relation with Myanmar. A perpetual enmity with Myanmar leaves Bangladesh to be sandwiched between two antagonistic neighbours India and Myanmar. Enmity with Myanmar also is likely to deprive Bangladesh of the opportunity of exploiting Myanmar’s future economic and commercial potential. There are also strong public and political opinion in favour of internationalising the Rohingya issue especially involving the United Nations. Bangladesh is carefu lly avoiding to do so and trying for bilateral negotiations. It may be possible that China has played a covert role in convincing Bangladesh to settle for a bilateral solution to save Myanmar from embarrassment.The relationship between the Bangladesh Government and some of the NGOs have also detoriated as the NGOs were playing negative role in the repatriation process. f. Effect on Administration. The Rohingya problem has become a huge administrative burden on the Bangladesh Government. It has become a real problem to maintain accountability of the refugees and maintain the administration of their camps. Bangladesh had to establish separate administrative organisation where huge number of government officials are placed to look after the administration of the Rohingya refugees. CONCLUSION 30. The arrival of Muslim in Arakan started few centuries earlier and predated the arrival of many other people and races now inhibiting in Myanmar including Arakan.There are 153 registered ethnic races living in Myanmar where Rohingyas are not included. Though Rohingyas became gradually majority in Arakan but the political power remained wit the Maghs. 31. Rohingyas are an unfortunately peiple. Although, they are a part of the Burmese race and have been living in Arakan for about thousand years, they have been persistently subjected to persecution by the successive Myanmar regimes. In the past they were driven out of their homes more than once. Contrary to the Burmese Laws, the Burmese Constitution and international Laws, these ill fated peiple have been discriminated because of their race, religion and culture.The last nail in the coffin in these series of repression and discrimination was the passing of the black law called, Burmese Citizenship Law 1982 by which the Rohingyas have been made aliens in the land of their ancestors. All these happened mainly because Myanmar has been ruled by the dictators where human right violations are common practices. 32. The Rohingya issu e is not of recent origin. It has been there for more than hundred years. The exodus of Rohingya refugees is a recurrent matter and took place several times under the persecution of different Burmese ruler. The systematic manner in which the Burmese government is proceeding with its current actions apparently reveals that they intend to uproot the Rohingyas from Arakan alleging them to be illegal immigrants.Rohingyas on the other hand, demand for the citizenship rights and full protection of their culture, religion, ethnic identity and property. The impacts of Rohingya refugees on Bangladesh are significantly. It is posing threat to our socioeconomic condition, environment, security and bilateral relationship of Bangladesh. BIBLIOGRAPHY Books 1. S R Chakravarty (Ed), â€Å"Foreign Policy Of Bangladesh†, Haranand Publications, 1994. 2. Abdul Razzak and Mahfuzul Haque, â€Å" A Tale of Refugees in Bangladesh†, Centre for human rights, 1995. 3. Shwe Lu Maung, â€Å"Natio nalism – an Analysis of Society, Culture and Politics of Burma†, University Press Limited, Dhaka, 1986. 4.Muhammad Shamsul Haq, â€Å"Bangladesh in International Politics-Relations with Neighbours: Burma†,University Press Limited, Dhaka, 1993. Presentation Papers 5. Rohingya Problems by 9 Infantry Division. 6. Modernization of Myanmar Army by 24 Infantry Division. Interview 7. Mr. Faruk Alamgir, DDG News, Bangladesh Television. 8. Mr. Manzoorul Haque, Senior Logistics & Coordination Officer, UNHCR. 9. Mr. Nurul Islam, Director, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. ———————– [1] SR Chakravarty (Ed), Foreign Polcy of Bangladesh, 1994, P. 293. [2] Ibid P. 293. [3] Presentation paper on â€Å"Rohingya problem† by 9 Infantry Division. [4] A tale of Rohingyas in Bangladesh by Abdur Razzaq and Mahfuzul Haque,1995, P. 15-16. [5] Ibid, P. 16. [6] Ibid, P. 7] Shwe Lu Maung, Nationalism and Ideology – an Analysis odf Society, Culture and Polotics of Burma, University Press Limited, Dhaka, 1989, P. 61-62. [8] Modernazition of Myanmar Army, Presentation by 24 Infantry Division, P. 12. [9] Ibid, P. 60 – 61. [10] Ibid, P. 61. [11] Ibid, P. 62 – 65. [12] Ibid, P. 62 – 64. [13] Muhammad Shamsul Haq, Bangladesh in International politics- Relations with Neighbours: Burma, University Press Limited, Dhaka, 1993, P. 135. [14] Ibid, P. 136. [15] Ibid. [16] Ibid. P. 141. [17] Modernasization of Myanmar Army, Opcit. P. 13.. [18] Ibid. P. 14 – 15. [19] A Tale of Rihingyas in Bangladesh by Abdur Razzaq and Mahfuzul Haque, 1995, P. 20. [20] Ibid, P. 21. [21] Ibid.

This Be the Verse Commentary Essays

This Be the Verse Commentary Essays This Be the Verse Commentary Paper This Be the Verse Commentary Paper In Philip Larkins poem, This Be the Verse, he uses strong language to get across his message of that no one should have children. The title already gives hints to the attitude of this poem. The title This Be the Verse sounds like the Larkin is stating that this is the guide that we should all live by. Specifically, verse gives off a very biblical feeling making it sound official and used by people centuries ago. Also the defined article the before verse adds seriousness to the title. As for the form, from the first stanza it is already evident that there is an alternating rhyme scheme and that each stanza has four lines. In addition, the stanzas are short and simple which makes it very child like. Larkin perhaps made them short in order to get his message across to the reader. If there is more text, the message would not be as clear and easy to find like in this poem. The first line of this poem, starts out with an altered syntax. It sounds as if Larkin is starting in the middle of his thoughts and just wrote it on the piece of paper without much thought. In addition he uses a swear word. This immediately grabs the attention of the reader. Depending on the type of reader, some may think that this is offence that he is using such language, however, others may think that he is revolutionary for using the work in something sophisticated like a poem. The word they is repeated five times in this poem for describing the parent. By using the word they, instead of your parents, it makes the parents sound disconnected and that there are two sides you and them. However, in the next line he states And add some extra, just for you which sounds like an adult talking to a small child. In this first stanza there are phrases that juxtaposition themselves. The first stanza has a clear message that parent have a negative effect on their children, however, the next stanza this perspective changes. In the second stanza imagery is used to show the generation divide your parents and you. It makes it sound like this process is an ongoing cycle. To add to this effect the stanza is also one sentence, which is similar to how the cycle never ends. Since the attitude of this stanza is different than the last, Larkin used the word but to change his perspective to that its not all your parents fault because they were influenced negatively by their own parents. This relieves the mitigating circumstances for the parents. Same as the last stanza, the word fuck is used allowing the reader to think that it is exactly same situation for the parents. The third stanza of this poem puts the cycle into a larger perspective. It is as if the poet is now zooming out of the image he has set up in the last two stanzas. He uses metaphors that are much more general for example man hands on misery to man and it depends like a coastal shelf. The first metaphor sounds as if with in the misery is being passed on in phase, because the m sound is repeated. The other metaphor shows how his idea is even seen in the natural world. The last line of this poem is clear and concise. Since it is in present tense, makes it sound that Larkin is telling you orders. Although there is clear evidence that Larkin has a negative attitude to parenthood his message develops and changes perspectives throughout the poem. The reason why he might have written this poem is because he was angry at his parents but as his anger cools down and he looks at the big picture. Then by the last stanza he takes the entire cycle into perspective and notices that even in society and nature this pattern is found. His message, for the reader, depends on who is reading it. For parents, they might feel offended because it is a shock for someone to tell them that they are not good parents. Younger people, who are not parents yet, would find this poem humorous but they also might feel sympathy for the parents because of what they have been through. I do not believe that this is truly how Larkin feels about his parents and the cycle but this was just a time in his life where he felt this way and wanted to express it. I do not believe he is serious because of his several uses of black humor. For example, who fools in old-style hats and coats, everyone has respect for their grandparents and he just means it in a humorous way. Larkins form and organization was great importance to achieving his message that the only way to stop this cycle is to not have children.

Free Essays on Sausage Essay

The modern word "sausage" is derived from the Latin salsus, meaning salted. The term was originally only applied to cured or salted meats generally, but has since taken on a whole slew of different sausages. Hundreds of years ago, people did not have refrigeration to preserve their meat, so making sausage was a way of overcoming this problem. The manufacturing of sausages began over two thousand years ago, and it is still a growing industry. While some of its basic practices are almost as old as civilization, the industry is constantly changing because of new and helpful technological and scientific advances in our society. For example, dry sausage was born as a result of the discovery of new spices, which helped to enhance flavors and preserve the meat, plus dry sausage does not need refrigeration. Different countries and different cities within those countries started producing their own distinctive types of sausage, both fresh and dry. These different types of sausage were mostly influenced by the availability of ingredients as well as the climate. Basically people living in particular areas developed their own types of sausage and that sausage became associated with the area, and also often times named after the area. For example Bologna originated in the town of Bologna in Northern Italy, Lyons sausage from Lyons in France, and Berliner sausage from Berlin in Germany. Due to the overwhelming amount of sausage types around today, the culinary industry has divided them into certain sections, or types. These types are fresh sausage, uncooked smoked sausage, cooked sausage, dry sausage, cooked smoked sausage, cooked meat specialties. These â€Å"categories† are the basic categories for all sausages. In many other countries, the culinarians have even classified these groups down further, adding such types as: British sausages, Italian sausages, Bratwurst, summer sausage/Salami/Beer Sticks, and Liver Sausage/Braunschweig... Free Essays on Sausage Essay Free Essays on Sausage Essay The modern word "sausage" is derived from the Latin salsus, meaning salted. The term was originally only applied to cured or salted meats generally, but has since taken on a whole slew of different sausages. Hundreds of years ago, people did not have refrigeration to preserve their meat, so making sausage was a way of overcoming this problem. The manufacturing of sausages began over two thousand years ago, and it is still a growing industry. While some of its basic practices are almost as old as civilization, the industry is constantly changing because of new and helpful technological and scientific advances in our society. For example, dry sausage was born as a result of the discovery of new spices, which helped to enhance flavors and preserve the meat, plus dry sausage does not need refrigeration. Different countries and different cities within those countries started producing their own distinctive types of sausage, both fresh and dry. These different types of sausage were mostly influenced by the availability of ingredients as well as the climate. Basically people living in particular areas developed their own types of sausage and that sausage became associated with the area, and also often times named after the area. For example Bologna originated in the town of Bologna in Northern Italy, Lyons sausage from Lyons in France, and Berliner sausage from Berlin in Germany. Due to the overwhelming amount of sausage types around today, the culinary industry has divided them into certain sections, or types. These types are fresh sausage, uncooked smoked sausage, cooked sausage, dry sausage, cooked smoked sausage, cooked meat specialties. These â€Å"categories† are the basic categories for all sausages. In many other countries, the culinarians have even classified these groups down further, adding such types as: British sausages, Italian sausages, Bratwurst, summer sausage/Salami/Beer Sticks, and Liver Sausage/Braunschweig...

Business munication And Peroformance Free Sample

Reflecting on the individual’s growth is very important for learning, understanding, visualizing person identity and also individual research.   In the present group study, prising of five members I have learnt and experienced a number of munication traits and also an in-depth understanding on resolving the conflicts while being in a group of individuals sharing their ideas and beliefs on different articles and the references. While contributing to the group project I had experience of developing my own skills to learning through online tools, materials from textbooks and utilizing the library resources productively. Participating in the team work, contributing and analyzing to innovative ideas and the quantum of knowledge involved in the group enlightened me on how to resolve any issue or disagreement and appear with an appropriate resolution (Danks, 2012). Likewise, such writing assignment also enhanced my writing skills along with others group members ideas as an added ad vantage. Group project has obliged me with a fresh insight to work in a group. The group work has provided me an opportunity to learn various activities as a part of project. It b es easier to work in teams which exhibits involving and derive satisfying participation for the students. I input my maximum involvement while engaging in this project which made me more task oriented and I achieved better satisfaction. Although the group project demand a set of skills and prove to be challenging too (DuPont, 2013). This project helped me to understand how to tackle plex situation and what kind of plexities are involved in such kind of task oriented groups. Earlier, it turned out to be quite a difficult task for me to get acquainted with the teamwork process and utilization of munication skills but eventually this project helped me to develop good judgment with stronger intellect pushing me towards the achievement of the task. Undoubtedly group working enhances one’s skills and brings attention to one’s personality. It gives an idea of opening up to the variety of people, experiencing good as well bad traits, learning new definitions towards achieving goals and ensures an overall growth of the personality (Johnson and Wiggs, 2011).   The best trait I learned with this project is to interact with new kind of people and improve over my munication skills. It helped me develop a skill which I wasn’t sure of. Most importantly it helped me to get organized, meet the deadlines or sometimes even before that, work in union and raise concerned matters if any. Collective working makes the project bigger as pared as working individually (Ellis, 2012). Group activity has developed a sense of helping in me, and I achieved more in less time simultaneously keeping a check on group members and helping them out if anyone is in need. Precisely, the work distribution done fairly and evenly has been of great praise and work done in efficient and on time has proved to be a boon for the group project. The trait which took my attention was passing of ill ments over other members back or over the members being non-participant during the project work. I am a strong believer of putting hundred percent in any project and be sincere towards the group activity. Another thing which hindered was the availability of all the members at one time (Peterson, 2012). It happens that one will be busy when other is free and vice versa. It’s not the same as when an individual can work at its own convenience. Dependency on other group members for their work has also been one of the issues pondered over during the project study. That’s unfair on the part of a person doing its work on time and meets the deadlines and is focused on pleting the task (Atkins and Lowe, 2011). Group projects involve a variety of people which makes it difficult as pared to working individually. It’s like a river-rafting where all members flow in one direction and make efforts in one direction then journey proves to be smooth and easy-going. Similarly in the reverse condition, it b es inconclusive to mence the journey. To ove e such barriers and to have less obstruction in the working of the project, we decided to elect a team leader that would supervise the progress of the project, conclude team meets and resolve the arguments to maintain the consistency among the members. Initially, it seemed to be like a funny decision, but soon its worth was recognized (Iksan, 2012). Being in a group it became evident that all individuals will try to impose their thinking and this would lead to chaos in pleting the activities. I observed that distributing the tasks among the members became a headache and it ultimately lead to over-lapping of the tasks. The difference of opinion resulted in understanding different perspectives. I also acknowledged that at times some members felt left-out and disconnected. Nevertheless, encouragements from the fellow members kept all of us in unison which enabled the coherence in the group. But overall, whenever the conflicts or any such concerned issues arose we collectively made attempts to resolve and also deliver best ou es which we can. During the course of the project we encountered various difficulties, right from finding the appropriate articles to support our task to quote the references for the same. Numerous researches and methods were made applicable to spot the correct articles and the related online sites were also thorough been looked over to get the suitable material. With the help of such available material I concluded my work assigned task and understood the important notes of prising anecdotes. Another major barrier I faced was the time limit. In exploring the various resources of knowledge, and while going through my research, I always felt short of time and this happen to sharpen my speed in meeting the deadlines (Nixon, 2014). Prominently I excelled in pleting the task that summarized and analyzed the context and topic effectively. I managed to deliver better results for the topic and it didn’t majorly exhibit any plexities in pleting the task. Working in a closely related group of individuals benefitted me the most in a fruitful manner. It gave me satisfaction of discovering the new aspects of the relevant articles with the quantum of knowledge shared by every individual. The best thing I learnt from this group activity was to manage the individuals, work with different mindsets, share the ideas and discover innovations through group members and also sincerely dealing with the conflicts that arose during the term (Largo and Johns, 2008). This project enabled the writing, deriving, piling, organizing and publicizing skills in me to critically review on the subject matter. It made me realize that the project explained negative as well positive attributes. Other than organizing and piling of the related information, I also went through scanning, revising and arranging the important points with supportive examples and keynotes. All this pains in understanding the importance of this project developed the writing skills which has left me also in amaze. Concluding part lead to sense of improvisation in the basic skills I required and enhanced my overall personality. Moreover, not only I shoved off my fear of interacting strangers but also made new subordinates to whom I municated broadly, discussed all the matters which tend to be difficult to ove e and conducted all the tasks as a team. I regard this project as a stepping stone towards the understanding of a better knowledge attributes and incorporating some set of skills which I wasn’t aware of. It had been a useful and a learning experience. This assignment delivered various benefits to me which will be helpful to me for the future assignments. This project again refreshed my research skills from which I had been detached recently. Examining the team attributes, experiencing new challenges every day, developing a sense of critical analysis will definitely help me in future projects. Being a part of a group it ignited the skills of leadership, managing people and groomed myself as a part of team. I am sure all the group members also must have experienced the same as I have experienced. With the available resources it has proved to an easy path to contribute maximum in the pletion of the task and also enhance our knowledge with such improvisation. However, there have been areas where certain changes are needed which would help the group to perform better. Availing the related material onsite on time and make sure that the information is passed on to all the group members together. In the future, the group will perform better with such enhanced skills and deliver with more mitment and sincerity. The project has created a new set of understanding and knowledge which has engraved learning in me and confront me with in-depth obligation to deliver more the next time. I would conclude saying that such reflective learning experience not only groomed my writing skills and enhanced my team work experience but it also immersed me in developing a self-discipline behavior as well a spirit of working in a group. Such group projects enabled to accentuate my hidden personality traits and develop those which I could barely think of.    Atkins, S. and Lowe, S. (2011), Agents of change – a call for effective leadership, University of Boston Press, Boston, Mass Danks, W. (2012), ‘The dynamic boardroom municator’, munication Performance Management, vol. 3, no. 3/4, pp. 82-90. DuPont, A. (2013). munication in action – a review, McGraw-Hill, New York. Ellis, S. (2012). ‘Intellectual teamwork: social and technological foundations of cooperation’, Journal of Sociology, vol. 32, no. 6. Iksan, ZH, Zakaria, E, Meerah, TSM, Osman, K, Lian, DKC, Mahmud, SND and Krish, P (2012), munication skills among university students’, Procedia: Social and Behavioral Sciences, vol. 59, pp. 71–6, Johnson, R. and Wiggs, P. (2011), ‘Change management--or change leadership?’, Journal of Change Management, vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 311-17. Largo, E. and Johns, M. (2008). Sensing of change management – rulemaking for the 21st Century, Swan Page, London. Nixon, D. (2014). munication traits, Manchester, UK, viewed 16 November 2014, . Peterson, H. (2012), Teamwork dynamics, Smithfield Press, New York. Wu, Z. and Xiao, L. 2011, ‘Team builder: a CSR tool for identifying expertise and team strengths’, Allied munications, vol. 12, no. 10, pp. 32-47..

Market Structure Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Market Structure - Assignment Example It is a more realistic market structure in which a few firms dominate the market, and are able to influence the conditions to a greater extent. Although, there may be many small firms operation in the same market, but they will just follow the lead of the few firms. (Krugman, 2012) KFC is an example of monopolistic competition. The firm is competing against the same-sized restaurants like Wendy’s, McDonalds, Pizza Hut and others. These firms try to differentiate their products and then price them accordingly. Wireless service providers are a good example of a n oligopoly structure in the area. Four of the firms namely AT&T Mobility, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile and Sprint Nexte dominate the market and control around 89 percent of the total telephone service market in the United States. US Postal Service is still one of the monopolies operating in every city of the United States. The firm has a potential high barrier to entry- a license from the US government, has the potential to influence the market conditions as well as it does still have unique product attached to itself. There are empirical studies present that specifically tell us the relationship between the barriers to entry and long term profitability of the firms. Research evidence suggests that the firms will set the price close to the cost if the barriers to entry are non-existent or low in a particular market. In this case, the firms do make a bigger profit in the short run; however, they believe that the entrance of the new firms and competition, the profits will erode. (Krugman, 2012) In a monopoly, the barriers to entry are really high which protects the market from strong competitive pressures. These barriers could be licensing, patents and economies of scale. Therefore, the firm earns a high profit in the long run. However, there will be time when the long run profits will not be positive. When the average total cost curve is above the demand curve, the

Strategic Alliances the Right Way to Compete in the 21st Century Assignment

Strategic Alliances the Right Way to Compete in the 21st Century - Assignment Example The author of the paper states that strategic alliances are detrimental to an organization for various reasons. First, they spur out organic growth. Such growth is not enough for an organization to achieve its stipulated mandate. It further speeds up the marketing process for the produced goods. In addition, many businesses are on the verge of embracing diversification of services and goods. No one business can fully be at the dispensation of having all-around skilled human resources. Hence, such alliances bring up elements of skills exchange. Moreover, there is an established trend in research and innovation, making the firm competitive globally.  It becomes easier for the business to venture in the market, as its operational base is stronger. Advancement in technology, ICT, and transport makes the entry point easier. Venturing out in the international market may be quite a complicated and expensive process, but there is a cost reduction in the case of two firms. It is easier to o vercome many obstacles such as hostile policies and competition. Shared knowledge and risks add up to become a strength to the firms.  Decentralized Federation applies when companies that are trying to expand in foreign countries are faced with domestic competition. Therefore, they require coming up with multinational strategies with a decentralized federation. Therefore, the requirement to form local production facilities, and to ensure that this local unit becomes increasingly independent. The internal culture of this organization should be able to embrace personal relations rather than formal structures, and economic controls more than technical/operational details. These local units have more functioning independence and strategic freedoms from their headquarters, and they are managed as a collection of an offshore investment instead of a single worldwide business.