Animal Extinction - 2994 Words

Animal Extinction - the greatest threat to mankind In the final stages of dehydration the body shrinks, robbing youth from the young as the skin puckers, eyes recede into orbits, and the tongue swells and cracks. Brain cells shrivel and muscles seize. The kidneys shut down. Blood volume drops, triggering hypovolemic shock, with its attendant respiratory and cardiac failures. These combined assaults disrupt the chemical and electrical pathways of the body until all systems cascade toward death. Such is also the path of a dying species. Beyond a critical point, the collective body of a unique kind of mammal or bird or amphibian or tree cannot be salvaged, no matter the first aid rendered. Too few individuals spread too far apart, or too†¦show more content†¦The actual annual sum is only an educated guess, because no scientist believes that the tally of life ends at the 1.5 million species already discovered; estimates range as high as 100 million species on earth, with 10 million as the median guess. Bracketed between best- and worst-case scenarios, then, somewhere between 2.7 and 270 species are erased from existence every day. Including today. We now understand that the majority of life on Earth has never been - and will never be - known to us. In a staggering forecast, Wilson predicts that our present course will lead to the extinction of half of all plant and animal species by 2100. You probably had no idea. Few do. A poll by the American Museum of Natural History finds that seven in 10 biologists believe that mass extinction poses a colossal threat to human existence, a more serious environmental problem than even its contributor, global warming; and that the dangers of mass extinction are woefully underestimated by almost everyone outside science. In the 200 years since French naturalist Georges Cuvier first floated the concept of extinction, after examining fossil bones and concluding the existence of a world previous to ours, destroyed by some sort of catastrophe, we have only slowly recognised and attempted to correct our own catastrophic behaviour. Some nations move more slowly than others. InShow MoreRelatedAnimal Extinction Paper1574 Words   |  7 PagesAnimal Extinction Preventing Extinction Not much is thought about extinction in today’s society. One might argue that it is a small problem, and completely irrelevant; but according to statistics of scientific research, extinction is an important issue nationwide. Extinction of a species over time is undisputable, and inevitable; however, the burden of mankind on animals and their environment has caused extinction to increase severelyRead MoreAnimal Extinction And Its Effects On The Human Race Essay1692 Words   |  7 PagesTehilla Silverberg English College Writing Research Paper Animal Extinction and its Effects on the Human Race Animal extinction is a tremendous problem in our society. Every year, more and more animals are going extinct. If we don’t do something to stop it, we could see a massive animal extinction in our lifetime. Many people believe the extinction is irrelevant to human life. They are wrong. Every species in our universe is part of a web. If one specie on the web goes the whole thing slowly startsRead MoreHabitat Destruction and Extinction of Animals Essay2055 Words   |  9 Pageseach day within the world we live in, an immeasurable amount of animals are becoming extinct or endangered of becoming extinct because of the activities of civilization. Why should we care about habitat destruction and animal extinction? Thomas Jefferson once stated, â€Å"For if one link in nature’s chain might be lost, another might be lost, until the whole of things will vanish by piecemeal† (â€Å"Problem†). Countless number species of animals hunt smaller creatures, for example, frogs eat the mosquitosRead MoreZoos Are Saving Endangered Animals From Extinction1332 Words   |  6 Pagesessay) Zoos Are Saving Endangered Animals From Extinction Many thought zoos were just for attraction, but they are meant for more than just that. Several zoos that we go to nowadays with our families are not only there for the sightseeing of the animals, but they are they’re for their safety. Endangered animals are now the priority of practically every zoo in the world. There have already been six species around the world saved from extinction by zoos. One may wonder, what doRead MoreA Brief Note On Animal Extinction And Its Effect On Society Essay1569 Words   |  7 PagesTehilla Silverberg Ethics In Business Research Paper 2   Ã‚  Ã‚   Animal extinction is a tremendous problem in our society. Every year more and more animals are going extinct. If we don’t do something to stop it we could see massive animal extinction is our lifetime. In nearly 100 years from now we could lose about 50% of the world s species. The next generation won t experience the wildlife that is still out there if we don t make a change. Every species in our universe is part of a web. If one specieRead MoreImpact Of Biodiversity On The Extinction Of Plant And Animal Species1570 Words   |  7 PagesReview of Literature Issue: The rapid increase in the extinction rate of plant and animal species has proven to be a massive issue regarding biodiversity loss. Anil Markandya, from the Basque center for Climate Change and author of The Economic Feedbacks of Loss of Biodiversity and Ecosystems Services says, Globally, terrestrial biodiversity is projected to decrease by a further 10% by 2050. As with biodiversity, the planet has also experienced major losses in the services derived from ecosystemsRead MoreZoos : The World s Fifth Mass Extinction Of Animal Species874 Words   |  4 Pages Species of wildlife are facing global extinction on a massive scale. In the past 40 years alone, 52 percent of the world’s wildlife has disappeared from the face of the earth due to habitat loss, poaching, and climate change (Henn, 2015). Many scientists believe we have single-handedly caused the world’s sixth mass extinction of animal species. They believe that this extinction crisis is caused entirely by humans. Zoo believe that they can help the animals and the excitation rate by holding themRead MoreDefense, Protection from Extinction, and Intelligence Can Be Essential for All Animals828 Words   |  3 Pages Recently, there have been many articles relating to animals and their su rvival skills. Also, many researchers have been focusing on the daily life of a species and how well they can cooperate with both their neighbors and the wildlife surrounding them. Many have found that animals are much smarter than they are thought to be. They have a lot of potential which most species use to the fullest of their ability. For example, Allegra Staples wrote an article explaining how some spiders haveRead MoreExtinction Of Animal Extinction1024 Words   |  5 PagesThere have been five well known extinctions on this earth. The one most well known is the mass extinction that ended the dinosaurs. Mass extinction is often described as the elimination of a large number of species in a short period of time. Despite what many think, the elimination of species is almost commonplace at this point. The Earth is currently in the middle of a sixth mass extinction, and it’s been caused by the human race. It’s clear that a great extinction is coming from the evidence ofRead MoreAnimal Endangerment And Extinction Of Habitat925 Words   |  4 PagesI. Animal Endangerment/Extinction II. Abused/Abandoned Animals III. Over Farming/Land Misuse IV. Environmental Pollution V. Deforestation I. Animal Endangerment/Extinction A. Destruction of Habitat B. Pollution C. Hunting and Fishing II. Abused/Abandoned Animals A. Confined, Major Culprit Climate Change B. Huge Amounts of Manure, Pollutes Soil C. Dead Animals, Pollutes the quality of life for individuals who live close. III. Over Farmed/Land Misuse A. Soil Erosion B. Land Degradation C

Affirmative Action For College Admissions - 990 Words

Affirmative action in college admissions continues to be heatedly debated. In 2003, the Supreme Court had ruled in Grutter v. Bollinger that diversity was a compelling interest for colleges to use race in admissions. In the amicus brief that the American Sociological Association et al. provided to the Supreme Court, sociological evidence was presented to elucidate the value of affirmative action. Yet in 2006, Proposal 2 was passed in Michigan to ban affirmative action in public education (Levitsky). Based on the information in the amicus brief, the correlation between race and socioeconomic status of the minorities, and the negative effects of banning affirmative action, admissions officers at the University of Michigan should consider†¦show more content†¦Thirdly, they point out that a diverse student body better prepares college students to interact and work with individuals of diverse backgrounds in the future. By creating an environment where students can be exposed to a racially diverse group of people, their interactions further reduce prejudice and misconceptions about race (Grutter v. Bollinger, 2003). The amicus brief reveals that race is an inseparable component of an applicant s’ experiences and should not be excluded from the admission officers’ consideration. For some students, race is a central part of their identity. The struggles they face with it determines the achievements that they can present to the admissions officers. Despite the current ban on the usage of race in college admissions in Michigan, admissions officers should not ignore any part of a student’s unique circumstances, which may be related to one’s socioeconomic status, race, or both. In the article, â€Å"Still Separate, Still Unequal: America’s Educational Apartheid,† Kozol argues that the ongoing racial segregation and the lack of funding in schools consisting primarily of blacks and Hispanics are putting the poor and minority children at an disadvantage by not providing them a chance to have good teachers, classrooms, and other resources. While universities use scores to assess the academic ability of a student, minorities who attend schools segregated based on race or socioeconomic status may excel at what they are given, have the

Reflective Journal on Creating Sustainability in Organization

Questions: Q1 Week 1st slide Introducing sustainability. Why is sustainability a complex and controversial concept? Q2 Week 2nd slide The business case for sustainability In your view, what is the most compelling business case for sustainability? Why is this so? Q3 Week 3rd slide Leadership for sustainability Cavagnaro and Curiel (2012) propose that sustainability leadership starts with the individual. Do you agree with this statement? Please justify your answer. Q4 Week 4 slide. Sustainability models to think with Why do existing sustainability models emphasis systems thinking? Answers: Week 1: Introducing Sustainability As referred to in the given presentation, I learn that the sustainability concept is thoroughly based upon the context that individuals along with their communities comprise of social, economical, and environmental systems which remain in constant interaction and balance in order that the community continues functioning for benefits of the inhabitants. I agree to the fact that a society is said to be sustainable if it operates in a balanced way based on its strengths and endurance into the future, thereby providing a decent lifestyle to the members (Pinnington, 2011). The presentation stresses that the concept may be interpreted differently but uniquely it is a developmental approach which aims at balancing competing needs against environmental, economic, and social limitation awareness that a society faces. I have learnt that living with the existing environmental limits has been one of the key principals of sustainable development. One outcome of not abiding by it is climate change . But the focus of sustainability concept encompasses wider zone. It includes building of strong, potential, and healthy society. This refers to the need to satisfy diverse needs of all individuals in present or future communities, social cohesion, enhancement of personal wellbeing, and developing scopes for equal opportunities. I consider that sustainable development refers to the development which satisfies the necessity of the current community without sacrificing the capability of future generations for meeting own needs. It acknowledges me that sustainability is interpreted as triple bottom line such as economic, environmental, and social (Peter and Swilling, 2014). I gather knowledge that the way we approach development impacts everyone. The effects of our decisions as a society give real outcomes for lives of societal people. For instance, ineffective planning of communities may result in reduction the quality of life of societal people. The presentation teaches me that in or der to maintain sustainability at all the three levels, it is to be bore in mind that this would have a significant impact upon the lives of the communal people. Social sustainability encompasses aspects such as social justice, social capital, social responsibility, ethics, gender equality, cooperation, participation, social cohesion, trust, etc. Week 2: The Business Case for Sustainability The slide under this topic reflects upon the corporate sustainability concept. From the given presentation about the given topic, I learn that drivers for business sustainability includes greater visibility of social injustices or environmental damage, increased public awareness of social issues, societal needs for sustainability, governmental legislative mechanisms, and emergence of global mechanism for governance (Osbaldiston, 2013). I learn that some institutions are intensively dedicated to global sustainability like that of United Nations Environment Program, Center for Sustainable Economy, Institute for Business and Professional Ethics, etc. Some resistances exist in the path of sustainability like that of skepticism and suspicion of academic researchers. I completely agree that for realizing sustainability, initiatives are to be honed to particular situations of firms in distinct industries. Sustainability benefits corporate organizations in a number of ways, such as it reduce s risks as well as costs, increases legitimacy as well as reputation, stimulates innovation, creates competitive advantage, values, and also promotes financial performances. Some examples can be given in this regard. Lack of commitment of James Hardie towards sustainability had led him to pay $1.5 billion as penalty to the asbestos victims. Organizations like Ikea, Westpac, and 3M pays greater emphasis on the corporate sustainability. I can reflect the positive impacts of sustainability upon organizations like Forbes, Fortunes, Dow Jones, etc. I have witnessed the wider outline of an innovative way of interpreting corporate sustainability matters taking shape at considerable time(Newman-Storen, 2014). I have gained knowledge and thinking about the significant relationship amidst environmental management as well as corporate performance, particularly in relating environmental management enhancements to financial value. As depicted in the presentation, the extra leverage brought about by active involvement of financial market players has been responsible in shifting the investment world towards alignment of objectives of corporate sustainability. The key elements identified in the process of attaining sustainability are active involvement of CEO, Board and Executive Team, etc. The presentation also emphasizes upon the need to inculcate positive culture and effective strategies to bring about assured sustainability in the organizations in the long run. It is also important to define improved efficiency within the value chain of an organization. Week 3: Leadership for Sustainability As depicted in the presentation, a leader is an individual who is solely responsible for crafting a definite vision as well as inspires people for achieving desired objectives of an organization against all those challenges arising along the way. A leader is one who inspires his members as well as supports them towards a better world. From the presentation, I learn that that the key attributes and styles of an effective leader for ensuring sustainability are that the leaders need to be systematic, understanding, and interdisciplinary. He needs to have emotional intelligence as well as caring attitude (Marshall, 2011). He needs to have a strong vision for making a difference. I learnt that the transition for sustainable operation is the greatest challenge a business will ever face. However, leadership is the key to bring about a positive change within the organization. Some of the leadership theories that are depicted in the presentation are Trait theory, behavioral theory, transactio nal leadership, participative leadership, situational theories, great man theory, and transformational leadership. Each of the type of leadership theories has been highlighted upon the presentation. I learn from the presentation that path to sustainable leadership involves cognitive intelligence, emotional intelligence, and systematic intelligence. Emotional intelligence refers to the type of social intelligence which involves the capability of monitoring own as well as others feelings for discriminating among them and using the information for guiding thoughts as well as actions. Systematic intelligence is the ability to perceive the whole as sum of sub parts that are interconnected. A society or an organization cannot achieve sustainability without thinking systematically. Some other leadership styles as depicted in the presentation are authentic leadership, ethical leadership, and servant leadership. Thus, it has been rightly stated by Cavagnaro and Curiel (Cullen, 2013) that sus tainability leadership initiates with an individual. An individual is responsible for the way he inculcates the leadership qualities or executes them. I totally justify with the statement as an individual must understand the need to be a leader in the organizational set up. Leadership qualities may be learnt but the best practice is to inculcate the qualities from within. In order to be an organizational leader, an individual needs to understand the urgency of the situation and act according to it. This refers to the need to satisfy diverse needs of all individuals in present or future communities, social cohesion, enhancement of personal wellbeing, and developing scopes for equal opportunities. I consider that sustainable development refers to the development which satisfies the necessity of the current community without sacrificing the capability of future generations for meeting own needs. Week 4: Sustainability models to think with Why do existing sustainability models emphasis systems thinking? Systems The main aim of sustainability models to emphasize upon systems thinking through modeling is to promote the results as well as process of visioning for moving the system successfully to a desired position. Models are said to focus techniques for creating visions which are viable as well as resilient, and are thereby crafted to continue with the sustainability principles. Sustainability models have certain attributes of models in general with constraints of resources based on which the system is built(Bottery, 2012). These models are likely to be heuristic and not predictive on account of the dependence upon normative interpretations of the specific system. System thinking or models produce static snapshots of the present system state or even dynamic representation of future cases which are anchored during the present situation. System thinking is greatly emphasized by sustainability models because of some key concepts that are core to those models. These are: All systems comprise of inter-connected parts since all the parts are connected to each other, hence any change in any part may affect the whole system. The system structure determines the respective behavior as because the attributes are specific to the system System behavior is an emergent phenomenon (Bullough and de Luque, 2014) Feedback loops control the dynamic behaviors of a system I learn from the presentation that path to sustainable leadership involves cognitive intelligence, emotional intelligence, and systematic intelligence. Emotional intelligence refers to the type of social intelligence which involves the capability of monitoring own as well as others feelings for discriminating among them and using the information for guiding thoughts as well as actions. Systematic intelligence is the ability to perceive the whole as sum of sub parts that are interconnected. References Bottery, M. (2012). Leadership, the Logic of Sufficiency and the Sustainability of Education.Educational Management Administration Leadership, 40(4), pp.449-463. Bullough, A. and de Luque, M. (2014). Women's participation in entrepreneurial and political leadership: The importance of culturally endorsed implicit leadership theories.Leadership, 11(1), pp.36-56. Cullen, J. (2013). Judi Marshall, Gill Coleman and Peter Reason, Leadership for sustainability: An action research approach,.Leadership, 9(2), pp.305-308. Marshall, J. (2011). En-gendering Notions of Leadership for Sustainability.Gender, Work Organization, 18(3), pp.263-281. Newman-Storen, R. (2014). Leadership in Sustainability: Creating an Interface between Creativity and Leadership Theory in Dealing with Wicked Problems.Sustainability, 6(9), pp.5955-5967. Osbaldiston, R. (2013). Synthesizing the Experiments and Theories of Conservation Psychology.Sustainability, 5(6), pp.2770-2795. Peter, C. and Swilling, M. (2014). Linking Complexity and Sustainability Theories: Implications for Modeling Sustainability Transitions.Sustainability, 6(3), pp.1594-1622. Pinnington, A. (2011). Leadership development: Applying the same leadership theories and development practices to different contexts?.Leadership, 7(3), pp.335-365.

Destructively Counter Striking Against Attackers - myassignmenthelp

Question: Should Private Companies And Governments Be Able To Mitigate Cyber Attack By Destructively Counter-Striking Against Attackers? Answer: Introduction It is an unanswered question whether counter attacking the hackers is just another method of ensuring that security hacks are prevented. It is observed that the IT security professionals and the lobby groups are demanding for fresh laws that would give weightage and room for the private entities to fight against the hackers. They are basically wanting to hack back at the states and corporates rather than depending upon the government to react to such attacks. It has been argued by many that the corporates should now undertake an active defence attitude which would help them fight the online security hacks. Although in the legal parlance, the same is yet to be dealt with the law part of it, yet it is construed that the same would not be considered as unethical if these private entities made efforts to halt the various hacks on their IP. It is very crucial to understand the phenomena cyber crime before heading towards safeguarding mechanisms that should be adopted by the private compan ies and the governments. A cyber crime is defined as a heinous crime wherein the information and communication technologies may be the main victim or the target of the crime and it may comprise of a single event or a number of events. Those who conduct such crimes are basically swayed by negative motivations such as thrill, profit making or vengeance. The said paper discusses about the fact whether the private companies and the government are able to fight a cyber attack by destructively counter striking against those who attack the cyber space. Unfortunately the cyber crimes are not only being conducted by the hackers but also by employees of a company past or present, as they enter the structures of the organization which otherwise they are suppose to protect. How Private Companies And Governments Be Able To Mitigate Cyber Attacks By Counter Striking The past four years has witnessed high profile cyber attacks in companies like JP Morgan Chase, Sony Pictures and Fiat Chrysler, which has toppled down the trust of the consumers as well as the staff members of the corporates so much that these companies are now drooling over spending huge amount so as to be able to improvise upon their presently active defence mechanisms against these attacks. However, the series of such attacks has been beneficial for the businesses, since they have allowed the companies to adopt a new procedure of protection against the attackers commonly known as active defence. As the name suggests it is a more aggressive methodology of fighting the crime rather than simply depending upon the age old methodology of applying pass-codes and firewalls (Sexton 2016). The owner of Black Hills Information Security, John Strand, uses such ways and means which would attract the attackers in a manner so that they would also fall into his trap or to be able to outline the steps taken by the attackers so as to be able to find out the origin of their attack. Unfortunately some of the victims use such methods which are illegitimate such as hack back against such a crime of the cyber world. As per the notion of many, even though hacking back may not be within the legal boundary, yet it becomes necessary at times to counter attack the criminals in their pattern only. After a flurry of destructive hacks, the private companies and the governments are trying to voice it back by strengthening their counter attacks thus looking more active methods so as to mitigate the threats from such cyber hacks. But ultimately, the first movers advantage with regards technological advancement rests with the attackers, wherein the lawful and political deliberations restrict t he area of counter attacks by victims. The increase in the number of cyber attacks has proved how weak the various sectors are such as the banking, retail, healthcare givers etc. Thus such attacks, eventually forced the companies to cater to such active defence methodologies. An active defence technique can be successfully used to trace hackers. One such took place in the year 2013, wherein the demonstrator has entre the cloud services which was being used by the hackers, got hold of their contact details and also was able to locate their office building with the help of GPS . However locating these criminals was easier but in spite of them stealing away millions of data and money, they have not been taken into custody and will never be. Simple reason for the same is that most law are national despite cyber crime conventions, while the internet is borderless and international by definition. (Kuchler, 2015) The fact is still debatable that whether counter-attacking the cyber criminals is acceptable and legal or not. However, the US alone, the Department of Justice names hacking back as likely illegitimate. However the same has not been defined as unlawful. It is the ethics which is guiding the hacking back. The issue here is that even if the law authorities are taking steps to punish the attackers, but the same is not deterring them from attacking further. If the judicial system is punctured due to the system in vogue, then it may not be considered vigilantism to take action against the attackers. Part of our public bond to produce and abide by government is to surrender our ordinary powers to take integrity into our control, in exchange of a more dependable and acceptable legal system. A person or entity is always entitled to defend oneself ad it does not wade off even if there is law to help him. However, the biggest risk in the hack back policy is that it may at times lead to hacking back the offender who actually was innocent simply because it is very difficult to identify the actual attacker at times. Thus even if the private companies and governments may be able to mitigate a cyber attack by counter attacking at the hackers, there still lies a possibility of counter attacking the innocent which is very devastating in nature. For instance in a DDoS attack, if one thuds out all the systems that were unsuspectingly attacked and were used to throng against ones system, the question being asked here is whether the innocent are being attacked due to the same and is it acceptable ethically. The owners of the systems may not be harmful and had no intention to act maliciously although they may be inattentive in updating their system against malicious attack. However the said type of attack against the attackers connotes that it is not important t prove a person or a group of persons guilty before one can act against a possible threat. If not done then most of the tim e the results and the outcomes may be devastating. Therefore keeping the guilt aside, one should ensure that if a person poses to be a threat then the same should be counter attackers in defence (Paganini, 2013). The critics about hack back system have questioned the mitigation policies of cyber attacks by counter attacks. As per them, the hacking back may lead to destruction of proofs which would else be available and required at the time of prosecution of the earlier stages of the attack. However the same criticism is counter attacked by the fact that it is acceptable to destroy the evidences, if that would ensure the prevention of the cyber attacks causing losses. The fact that if the private companies and government are able to mitigate the cyber risks via counter attacks, then the same if made lawful and legitimate would ensure deep rooted loss of those hackers who are involved in the IP theft. The counter attacks would lead to an increase in their cost in terms of the IP thieves thus ultimately deterring them from such a conduct. It is said by all that the government has not been able to implement laws which would help private companies safeguard themselves from such cyber attacks. However, the then US president, Barack Obama, noticed those calls in the month of March 2013, by entering into an agreement on signing the executive order that would ensure that the various government agencies would share data on the various cyber security related matters to those private entities. This order will help the entities become aware of the expected terrorization to their existing systems with the help of national intelligence. But unfortunately, the s aid arrangement will not help to vaccinate the companies who share data with the government agencies (Smith, 2013). There still lies a apprehension with regards the expected implications of allowing the private entities to counter attack. It is quite commonly used phrase the best defence is a strong offence also fits to some extent to the attacks caused by these cyber hackers. In cyber space the most apt defence is a strong defence, i.e the best solution is to defend oneself since the idea of retaliating someone else is senseless. If the hacker is being attacked back that will cause them damage too, then they would end up finding recourse into something else via the existing law prevailing and the channels of government. Hence applying a hack-back solution shows that the retaliators have not been able to understand the situation (Hutchinson, 2013). Hence it can be rightly construed that counter attack is a mere hack-back vigilantism and not any proactive policy which would help the problem to be insulated. Incidentally there lies three fold stage of defence- prevention, management of the occurrence of the attack and management of the situation. First, it states that the system should be designed in such a manner that it is safe from all ends from being attacked by any hacker. If the same is possible or done successfully, then all such attacks would be futile a preventive measures are already in place (Watkins et.al. 2016). Unfortunately, till date applications are designed but without considering security issues as a main issue to cater to. Mainly the active defence is expected to be conducted by governments. The intergovernmental co-operation will most probably act as a momentum for future developments of such active defence strategies in fields such as the exchange of intelligence. But unfortunately, in such a situation, many private entities are mistakenly construed as cyber criminals. Second, is the management of such attacks occurrence i.e. to make the staff and the others aware of the happening of such an attack which seems to be a better option than ultimate prevention. For ensuring that the attack is managed at the occurrence stage itself, various hurdles are installed. This management helps to protect the important data while such an attack is occurring. Further, it is more easy to handle the attack at this stage since prevention also may have various unmanageable loopholes unlike this stage (Rid, Buchanan, 2015). The last stage comprises of the management of the situation and the ultimate consequence of the attack. It has further two stages i.e. recovery and response. The recovery stage is an age old one wherein the organization which has been attacked tries to reinstate the entire operation to such an extent so as to construe as earlier situation. However, the second stage is a relatively newer one which calls for a more active defence strategy. If the attack is planned vigilantly with a lot of thought behind the same, then recovering from the same may become difficult. Thus the various tasks which can be categorised under the second category of response comprises of, getting hold of the correct attacker, measured counter attacks, asymmetries which discusses about what to do about the attackers which comprises of lesser number of IT assets and weaknesses and escalation which enables rating of the attack so as to decide whether the victim wishes to send a strong message o the attacker so that they are made aware for any such attacks again in future (Romanosky Goldman, 2016). Conclusion Thus on a concluding note it can be said that the cyber space is diseased by a number of attacks by these hackers. It is the fasting growing area of nuisance and the number of hackers have also been multiplying which each passing phase. The number and the type of crimes are so dangerous such as involving even luring the kids for meeting up with strangers and ultimately leading up to kidnapping and molestation that it has become a necessity to counter attack them rather than wait for the government and the law agencies to formulate laws and reinforce them. It is true that the said issue is a diplomatic one which cannot be resolved until the intervention of the government. It cannot be denied that practicality and the effectiveness are lawful alarms about hacking back. However, fi the same is legalised then the opportunities are huge. The fact that there still lies some intuitions against the hack-back method such as the risk of misidentifying the actual attacker and by mistake get hol d of an innocent person. Therefore it can be rightly said counter attacking can be used as a stop gap approach until and unless the cyber security and the law enforcement agencies are being able to find out better means to identify and punish these attackers. The said method of hack back is swinging like a pendulum between proactive policy and vigilantism. References: Geers,K., (2011), Strategic Cyber Security, CCD COE Publication : Estonia, Available at https://www.law.upenn.edu/institutes/cerl/conferences/cyberwar/papers/reading/Geers.pdf (Accessed 09th May 2017) Goodman,S.E., (2017), Cyberterrorism and Security Measures, Available at https://www.nap.edu/read/11848/chapter/6 (Accessed 09th May 2017) Glosson, A.D., (2015), Active Defence : An Overview of the Debate and a Way Forward, Mercatus Working Paper, Mercatus Center at George Mason University: Arlington, Available at https://www.mercatus.org/system/files/Glosson-Active-Defense.pdf (Accessed 09th May 2017) Hutchinson, J., (2013), Companies should hack back at cyber attacks : security experts, Available at https://www.afr.com/technology/enterprise-it/companies-should-hack-back-at-cyber-attackers-security-experts-20130527-j0rqm (Accessed 08th May 2017) Iasiello,E., (2016), Is the Best defence a strong defence in cybersecurity? Available at https://fabiusmaximus.com/2016/03/13/is-offense-best-defense-in-cybersecurity-94550/ (Accessed 09th May 2017) Kuchler,H., (2015), Cyber Insecurity : Hacking Back, Available at https://www.ft.com/content/c75a0196-2ed6-11e5-8873-775ba7c2ea3d (Accessed 08th May 2017) Lin,P., (2016), Forget About Law and Ethics Is Hacking Back Even Effective? Available at https://www.forbes.com/sites/patricklin/2016/09/26/forget-about-law-and-ethics-is-hacking-back-even-effective/#32ed84ac47d8 (Accessed 09th May 2017) Melancon,D., (2015), Should Companies Strike Back at Hackers? Available at https://www.tripwire.com/state-of-security/security-data-protection/should-companies-strike-back-at-hackers/ (Accessed 09th May 2017) Messmer,E., (2011), Is retaliation the answer to cyber attacks? Available at https://www.networkworld.com/article/2199010/malware-cybercrime/is-retaliation-the-answer-to-cyber-attacks-.html (Accessed 09th May 2017) Paganini,P., (2013), The Offensive Approach to Cyber Security in Government and Private Industry, Available at https://resources.infosecinstitute.com/the-offensive-approach-to-cyber-security-in-government-and-private-industry/#gref (Accessed 09th May 2017) Rid,T., Buchanan,B., (2015), Attributing Cyber Attacks, Journal of Strategic Studies, 38(1) and (2), pp. 4-37, Available at https://sipa.columbia.edu/system/files/Cyber_Workshop_Attributing%20cyber%20attacks.pdf (Accessed 09th May 2017) Romanosky,S., Goldman, Z., (2016), Cyber Collateral Damage, Procedia Computer Science, vol.95, pp. 10-17, Available at https://ac.els-cdn.com/S1877050916324590/1-s2.0-S1877050916324590-main.pdf?_tid=b09abc7c-3544-11e7-83f5-00000aacb35eacdnat=1494395659_f0cb6430e118607b25d1dca5d65428f2 (Accessed 09th May 2017) Rid,T., Buchanan,B., (2015), Attributing Cyber Attacks, Journal of Strategic Studies, vol. 38, nos. 1-2 Smith,G., (2013), Hacking back Could Deter Chinese Cyberattacks, Available at https://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/hacking-back-chinese-cyberattacks_n_3322247 (Accessed 09th May 2017) Sexton,M., (2016), U.K. cybersecurity strategy and active cyber defence Issues and risks, Journal of Cyber Policy, vol.1, no.2. Tsagourias,N., (2013), Cyber Attacks, Self Defence and the Problem of Attribution, Journal of Conflict and Security Law, vol.17, no.2, pp. 229-244 Waxman,M.C., (2011), Cyber Attacks and the Use of Force, The Yale Journal of International Law, vol.36, pp. 421-459. Available at https://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1403context=yjil (Accessed 09th May 2017) Watkins,LA., Hurley, J.S., Xie, S., Yang, T., (2016), Enhancing Cybersecurity by Defeating the Attack Lifecycle: Using Mobile Device Resource Usage Patterns to Detect Unauthentic Mobile Applications, Journal of Information Warfare, vol.15, no.3, pp. 35-45

Ford Strategic Management free essay sample

COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY LONDON STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT FORD MOTORS STRATEGIC ANALYSIS Lecturer: Dr. John W Lang SUBMITTED BY ALWYN VARGHESE STUDENT. ID:-095945-87 UWL ID:-29002367 UNIVERSITY OF WALES LAMPETER Table of Contents 1. Executive Summary. 3 2. Introduction†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 3 3. 1 Reasons behind the acquisitions of Jaguar and land rover by Ford 4 3. 2 Reasons behind the sale of Ford jaguar and land rover group and UK .. 3. 3 Current strategies of Ford motors 7 3. 4 Ford motors generic strategies 9 3. 5 Analysis using five forces 11 4 Market analysis of Ford motors. 13 5. Recommendation. 16 6. Appendix . 16 7. References .. 22 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Ford motors, one of the most leading automobile industries in the world. Missions and goals of the company made them excel into the automobile sector. Strategies and decisions made by ford motors brought them in front of the many leading automobile manufactures. But the recent economic crisis that hit made and also due to the some false analysis made ford motors many issues. The report deals with the strategic reasons behind the acquisition of JLR motors and also deals with the reason for the sale of JLR to Tata motors. We will write a custom essay sample on Ford Strategic Management or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The present strategies of the ford motors made them to recover from the lose that occurred in the recent decades which is also being discussed here. INTRODUCTION Ford motor company is a global auto motive industry leader based in Dearborn Michagan. They produces and distributes automobiles across six continents with 1,98,000 employees and about 90 plants worldwide . Ford provides financial services through Ford motor credit company. Ford was started their operations in 1903. They principally involved in the production and the distribution of automotive vehicles. The company was founded by Henry ford in 1903. It is one of the world’s most profitable and the largest companies in the world, it is ranked as the fourth largest automaker being controlled and managed by a family more than 100 years . The company produced their first few models in Detroit ,Michigan. The company started production with the model of A in 1903. Model T was one of the famous model in the early years of company history, it helps the company to boost their operations. (Ford motors,2009) Ford is one of the largest automakers in the Europe. The company ended their operations with a net profit of $2. 7 billion in 2009. The company had a lot of parent companies like Lincoln, Volvo, and Aston martin. Ford sold their UK subsidiaries Jaguar and Land rover to TATA motors of India in march 2008. The company reported its largest annual loss in 2006 of $ 12. billion, it estimated that company would not come to profitability until 2009 but they ended their operations in 2009 with a good net profit. (See appendix revenue and profitability comparison of Ford motors) Ford has been at the centre of many of the acquisitions and divestiture activities over the past 20 years, this was the reason for the development of Premier auto motive group. The recent economic decline saw ford disso lve their premier automotive group leading to the sale of jaguar and land rover, Aston martin and now Geely group based in china signed a contract with Ford to acquire their Volvo car business. On 28th march 2010, Geely signed a 1. 8 billion deal with Ford to get their Volvo car operations. The Volvo brand has been part of ford for many years and they have had certain policies and procedures for developing their vehicles. This report aims to focus the following strategic questions . There are certain reasons for the company to sell their parent companies. (edi. basics . com) (See Appendix 5 for Sale History) 1) What are the strategic reasons behind the acquisition of jaguar and land rover by Ford? 2) What are the reasons behind the sale of Ford JLR group to Tata and UK plant closure? ) What are the strategies does Ford follow now? MAIN BODY 3. 1 REASONS BEHIND THE ACQUISTION OF JAGUAR AND LAND ROVER BY FORD Acquisition history:- Jaguar is a British luxury car manufacturer ,head quarter in Coventry England . jaguar was founded by sir William Lyons in 1922,made motor cycle side cars before they enter in to the passenger cars . company changed their name to jaguar after 2nd wo rld war . The Ford motors made offers to US and UK Jaguar share holders in 1989 to buy their shares . Jaguar became a part of the ford motors new premier auto motive group in 1999. Ford purchased land rover in 2000, it has been closely associated with jaguar. Ford sells fancy versions of jaguar in Britain that bear the Daimler name . Ford paid 3. 3 billion for the Marques, when they bought Jaguar for 1. 6 billion in 1989, and 1. 7 billion for Land rover in 2000. Jaguar employs nearly 20000employees in UK. Ford purchased decision of Jaguar received heavy objections from industry observers . Jaguar never loses it’s as one of the most prestigious beautifully designed cars. The success formula of Ford with jaguar was to keep the image of the brand and retain the classic design of the jaguar. Ford created a team called transition team and appointed some of its executives into the board members of jaguar. The company set three main objectives based on three critical issues. 1) Constant improvement of product quality 2) Increased manufacturing efficiency 3) Existing new model programs. Jaguar vehicles are high quality vehicles that are more popular than luxury car buyers . Jaguar history from 2002 to 2004 says that it made a good sale. it takes jaguar from two model lines and 45000 vehicles to 200000 units of annual production . Jaguar plantas are not Fords plants, but with the assistance of ford jaguar has transformed their manufacturing operations . (auto industry. com,2000) Ford purchased Land Rover from BMW in 2000 for 1. 85 billion . Land Rover was mainly based in Solihull and it has a terrific global brand with wonderful heritage . Land rover employs 9500 and produces Land rover, Discovery, Range rover and free land off road vehicles . when ford takes over Land rover in 2000 the plant recorded the production of 166000vehicles in the previous year . independant business. com) Ford buys Land rover because of the following reason 1) The Land rover brand known throughout the world . it is perfectly fit into the Fords growing family of brands. 2) The acquisition helps the company to boost their luxurary car segments. 3) It helps the company to achieve its sales target easily, when land rover and range rover came under their premier auto group. Ford has not been strong in the European off road and luxury uti lity vehicles because of that they purchased Land rover in 2000. Ford paid a big amount to BMW to buy the land rover from them. Land rover has a strong brand name their products have a distinctive look. Ford created a team of its own people ,it includes some of the members from jaguar to analyze the Land rover operations and assist with change in future. Ford used Jaguar template on land rover to capture the European market. (independent business. com) Ford merged operations with Jaguar and Land rover is profitable, land rover sold 2,26,395 SUV ‘s worldwide in 2007. (See appendix 1 for External factors affecting Ford) 3. REASONS BEHIND THE SALE OF FORD JLR GROUP AND THE UK PLANT CLOSURE The rise of sales in 1998 impress the management of ford motors company in the future success of Jaguar and the whole premier auto mobiles group. Since 2004 jaguar sales downed to 22%. Various surveys founded that the brand had a bad reputation regarding their quality issues dull and out dated designs lack of an suv and it is too expensive . Jaguar was one of the poorest performing part of the Ford, they failed in their efforts to broaden their jaguar sales . Ford motors sold their Jaguar and land rover to India’s Tata motors limited for 2. billion in 2008. It was less than what ford paid to acquire these brands. Ford early steps to improve the sale of jaguar showed positive results but the company invested undisclosed amounts to increase the efficiency at the UK factories . in 2002 Paris Auto show scheele one of the spokes man of ford told to the reporters that jaguar would post a 500 million loss. The company announced in 2004 that it was cutting jobs and reducing the jaguar work force . In December 2005 ford disclosed that it paid 2. 1 billion to jaguar to help their reorganisation. (Bloomberg. om) Jaguar worldwide sales were 60,485 in 2007 compared with a peak of 130,334 in 2002. In 2007 the Ford motors announced their plan to sale their Volvo, jaguar and Land rover brands in Europe because they want to concentrate more on th eir North American plant operations. By selling their different brands ford ended their 20 year effort to widen their sales of luxury cars by acquiring European companies . Among their European luxury brands Volvo and Land rover were profitable brands but Jaguar has unspecified losses. koeing,B. ,Lippert,J. ,2007. ) (See Appendix 2 for Strategic Rationale and Implication of Ford UK Plant Closure) 3. 3 CURENT STRATEGIES OF FORD MOTORS FORD VALUE CHAIN ANALYSIS Michael porter developed the value chain approach in 1980s in his book competitive advantage . all organisations activities such as activities include purchasing activities manufacturing the products distribution and marketing of the company products and services . The vale chain frame work is a power full analytical tool for the strategic planning of an organisation . To conduct the value chain all the activities of the organisation is split into primary and support activities . Primary activities include inbound logistics, operations ,out bound logistics ,marketing and sales it also include procurement ,human resource management, technology development and the firm infrastructure . Tailoring design models Ford motors value chain is not all that different from other manufactures in the automobile industry. Increased demand of the suppliers led to poor suppliers relation ,so the company is taking a new approach to rejuvenate its value chain. In old days the company is always try to reduce their supply chain cost by demanding lower prices from their suppliers . now a days Ford is working closely with their suppliers to avoid their cost and reduce cost for both the organisations . One of the important impact of the Ford value chain is the design phase . Ford has begun to realise the value of the consumer input is successful on latest design technologies . Ford introduced tailoring design models in their vehicles because of the increased demand of the public. Thier design proved that it is highly successful in recent financial periods. Marketing is an another important aspect of the value chain analysis . The company has been working together with their dealers to build up marketing strategies to increase their sales . Caterpillar logistics and sap models Ford is using latest information technology to improve their value chain . It has teamed up with CATERPILLAR LOGISTICS and SAP to improve their warehousing Companies main aim is partnering with cat logistics was to secure a partner with expertise in the auto motive supply chain to develop the new information system. Apart of their cat logistics and sap ford is also using SAS platform that support customer relationship management . It boost fords existing customer relationship database and provide a good base for information analysis ,data mining and predictive modelling . The application of the information technology allowed the value chain to be a cost saving power for the company. Ford decreases their supply chain cycle from 57% to 40%within 37 days in inventory levels in us . Value added lean manufacturing process Ford is also implementing lean manufacturing practice to help the constant development in the value chain . Studies says that there is 30 percentage waste in the manufacturing process . in order to avoid this Ford introduced value analysis centre with these two programs critical data elements are identified in order to determine the best approach to eliminate the waste and add the great the value to all aspect of the value chain. Lean uses different technological tools data collection and manipulation data soft ware to describe base lines . Essentially the value analysis center at ford is its cost management programme 3. 4 FORD MOTORS: GENERIC STRATEGY : Ford is a high volume full range vehicle manufacturer . One of the main essence of their market expansion strategy is the producing at highest volumes and lowest prices with a range of the general purpose cars . Ford follows the cost leadership strategy in their business . A firm which follows the cost leader ship strategy attempt to get competitive advantage. A firm which follws the cost leadership strategy attempts to get competitive advantage primarily by reducing their economic cost below its competitors. Ford is trying to remain one of the biggest name brand in American cars without loosing the value of their cars . ost leadership strategy mainly concentrates on efficiency by producing high volume of products. Ford producing products at a low cost and made available to a very large customer base. In order to maintain this strategy the company requires a constant research for cost reduction in all aspects of the business. Companies in the auto motive industry are taking same steps to get advantage ,Ford has their own strategy to get m ost from their value chain. Presently Ford is taking steps to enhance supplier relations. Ford reduces the number of suppliers and giving bigger tenders and longer contracts to their existing suppliers . Company hopes that it helps them to reduce their cost while increasing quality and consistency. Success implementation of cost leadership strategy also benefits from good engineering skills ,designing products for the simplicity of the manufacturing process. Ford achieved unchallenged cost leadership through limiting their models and varieties . Ford motors has completed major cost reduction actions over the past four years to restructure their business . it includes personal level ,facilities and related costs. in 2009 they achieved 5. 1$ billion in auto motive structure cost reductions exceeding their target 4$billion . Ford introduces a new generation of global products, the company one Ford strategy is clearly evident in their assembly plants . 3. 5 THE ANALYSIS USING FIVE FORCE (PORTERS FIVE FORCE) Competitive rivalry: Competition is very much high in the auto motive industry. The biggest players in the auto motive industry by their volume are general motors, Ford, Daimler Chrysler and Toyota . Different companies are providing different incentives to attract their customers. Ford was very successful in their volume of scale and they anticipated that they would be the biggest players in the industry taking the place of GM. Due to the sleek design and price incentives provided by Japanese manufactures Ford is losing their shares while Toyota and Hyundai gained. (reulters,2005) Barriers to entry There are a lot of barriers to entry in the automotive industry. The main 10 giants in the automotive industry have great power in terms of reputation, finances, experiences, technology and existing large product portfolio. The high level of barriers is the research and development capability, investment capability in promotions and new product development. All these minimise the threat of new entrants. Chinese cars are entering the automotive industry they can overcome the barriers because of their low priced cars . Buying power US and Europe buyers experience very strong bargaining power because of the high competition in the global market. The current accessibility of different information channels and the presence of different service providers it further increased bargaining power. Car manufactures are providing a lot of incentives to attract their buyers. Ford is providing free upgrades worth up to $2000 for their customers in the UK. (ford. uk. com) Supplier’s power Supplier’s power has major affect on the firms in the automotive industry. Suppliers provide essential components for the production of vehicles and providing spare parts for future repairs. In order to benefit the economies of production Ford is reducing the number of their suppliers and increasing their orders to their existing suppliers (BBC 2005). Due to the action taken by the auto maker, the competition taken by the auto maker, the competition between the suppliers is also increasing. Suppliers provides the products with a lower price and provide other financial incentives. : MARKET ANALYSIS OF FORD MOTORS Ford motors company sales and revenue over the last 5 years has fluctuated tremendously, 2005 it was 176. 8 billion, 160. 1 billion for the year 2006 and 172. 5 billion for 2007. The ford Europe and premier auto group recorded strong revenue growth in 2005 financial year. The revenue from Europe and premier auto group hits nearly $60258 million in 2005. it shows a grow th 11. 3 % over 2004. Ford motors posted $2. 6 billion profit in the second quarter ,a jump of 13 % compared to same reporting quarter in the financial year 2009. Ford second quarter revenue amounted to $31. 3 billion. It is $4. 5 billion higher than the second quarter of financial year 2009. Ford is now able to repay $7 billion of auto motive debt in the quarter period, which help them to save $470 million in annual intersest. Ford the first time in 12 years beat General motors monthly sales when they posted 43% jump in vehicle sales of 14,285 vehicles compared with 141951 of GM vehicles in February 2010. Ford light vehicle sale increased to 1,42,006 vehicles compared to 99,050 vehicles in 2009. (See appendix 4 for Revenue Comparison ) Region| FY2009 worldwide wholesale unit volumes by automotive segment (in thousands)| North America| 1,959| South America| 443| Europe| 1,568| Ford Asia Pacific and Africa| 523| Volvo| 324| Jaguar, Land Rover, and Aston Martin| 0| Total| 4,817| Ford revenue comparison with GM and Volks wagon 5. Recommendation and conclusion In 2008 Ford announced the sale of Jaguar and land rover operations to Tata motors . Ford ended the operations of their another subsidiary company Volvo to a Chinese based car company called Geely motors . Ford re organized their plans to concentrate core Ford brand . The last few years of the company’s financial performance shows that Ford parent companies did not gave any good results for the growth of the company, so the company closed all of their operations of the parent companies. Disadvantage of the agreement At the closing Ford paid a massive ammoud more than million to the Jaguar and land rover operations. More than 600 billion to the Jaguar and Land rover pension plans. As part of the agreement Ford has to supply their power train models, plat form technologies and also engineering support including Research and development. Ford faced a lot of challenges because of the acquisition and demerging of their parent companies over the last 20 years . Joint ventures and acquisition played an important role in the performance of the company . It affects both positively in the performance of the company. To conclude this report try to focus the different faces of the strategic alliance and the current strategies’ of ford motors . 6. Appendix 1. The external factors affecting the operations of Ford motors Opportunities * The huge expansion in the devoloping Asian pacific market * Additional expansion in the US luxury car’s market Synergy saving and cost sharing of different premier auto group. Threats * Intensive competition on the major market of operations * Demand decline in various models * Liquidity problem (massive investments related with the development of new models and existing models and technology) * Changes in consumer trends * Share holders dislikes in the approval of Jaguar recovery. (The poor financial performance made more pressure on the Fords management in their further h Strengths * Good history of jaguar brand * Ford motors operating capabilities. Weakness * Absence of transparency regarding the role of PAG in the strategy of Ford. * Lack of finance for aggressive marketing campaign. * Product positioning problems . * Problems related with quality. 2. Strategic rationale and the implications of Ford UK plant closure 1) The review of macro factors Political factors: One of the distinguish factor of the auto motive industry is that it is not country bound, various and events are inter related the events take place in one country may directly affect the operations of other country. Ford manufactured their certain models in specific countries. Ford produced most of their Jaguar models in Europe even though the markets for the jaguar cars were in America. European customers put higher preference on small engine cars . British labour union pressure was one of the major cost increase factor of Ford operations . The closing decision forced to cut the job of 2000 people . Global political stability that is free trade flows, oil prices, exchange rates deterioration of economic and technological cooperation between countries forced to close the jaguar operations in uk. Mackintosh,2004) Economic factors: The market size and the maturity of the target market ,potential growth of the market are the key factors to determine the location of production. The cost factors and the direct and indirect costs are the key issues obtain the competitive advantage over the industries. One of the important issue that influence the operation location decision is the specific labour cos ts. The cost factors and the relationship between the direct and the indirect cost become one of the main issues in maintaining the competitive advantage , Specific labour cost is an important issues which affect the production locations . According to the survey (KPMG 2004) industry specialist put a major emphasis on the specific cost saving . Massive increase in the labour cost in UNITED STATES and EUROPE directly affect the ford’s operations . High wage rate of employees directly affect the JAGUAR UK operations . the data provided by the Macintosh says that Ford UK plant output is lower (130000) than output of BMW plants in Germany ( 166000). Fluctuations in the price of oils in the oil market directly affect the Jaguar operations . A hike in the oil price added the difficulty to sale the luxury cars . Majority of the jaguar cars have big sized engines ,greater than 2 litters . This table shows that United states will be the largest markets for vehicles accounting 23% of global sales upto 2010. Sales in the western Europe will be high after the futher expansion of Europe zone , but the current maturity of market ,excessive competition and demand trends suggests that the share of Europe will be drop. Special attention shall be given to the present and the potential rate of Asian pacific market. One of the major threat for the fierce competition is the US Europe and the Asian pacific market . Ford has to compete with US and Japanese firms ,they follows aggressive customer switching strategies Fluctuations in the currency rate is an another important factor which affect the Jaguar operations . weak positions of the US dollar against various currencies especially the British pound reduced the price competiveness in US market. BBC says that it was weak us dollar that affect the reduction in jaguar sales by 20%, it directly affect the overall performance of the ford group and Jaguar sales (BBC. com) SOCIAL FACTORS One of the important feature of the automotive industry is that the demand sequences is not homogenous . Customers change and preference towards more fashionable ,sport type ,suv equipped cars slashed the jaguar sales because the jaguar brand had old fashioned cars and they are always struggled because of their quality features . TECHNOLOGICAL FACTORS Technological factors are the important factors which affect the performance of the jaguar cars . The ford company invested more in their e business technologies which affect the Jaguar operations. Consumers choice for various technological improvements made a gap in the architecture of supply chain. 4. evenue comparison 2009 2010 5. Ford sale history of its parent companies REFERENCE: * Culpan , R . 2002. Global Business Alliance: Theory and Practice, Quorum Books, USA. * Hitt, M. Ireland, D Hoskisson , R . 2009, Strategic Management Competitiveness and Globalization: Cases, south western Cengage learning, USA. * Dobson, P. Starkey, K Richards, John. 2004, Strategic Management: issues and cases, Black well publishing Ltd * McAfee , P. R. , 2002 . Managerial Economics: How Toyota invaded the American Car Market, P. 4-8. * Koeing,B. Lippert,J,2007: [online ] available from URL (retrieved on 5-8-2010) * Ford motors ,n. d. financial results [online ] available from URL (retrieved on 3-8- 2010) http://www. ford. com/doc/ir_20100723_2q10_financial_results_presentation. pdf * BBC news ,n. d. ,Ford’s jaguar sale plan [online ] available from URL (retrieved on 25-7-2010) http://news. bbc. co. uk/1/hi/business/6741809. stm * Uk ,Returs ,n. d . ,Ford’s sale of Volvo cars [online] available from URL (retrieved on 28-7-2010) http://uk. reuters. com/article/idUKTRE62Q1EH20100328 * Times onlie,2007. fords sale of jaguar and land rover [online] available from URL(retrieved on 2-8-2010) http://business. timesonline. co. uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/engineering/article1917825. ece * Course work, Porters generic strategic mode [online ]available from URL (retrieved on 5-8-2010) http://www. coursework4you. co. uk/e ssays-and-dissertations/porter-generic-strategies. php * Ford motors 2008-09,value chain and impacts [online ]available from URL( retrieved on 7-8-2010) http://www. ford. com/microsites/sustainability-report-2008-09/operations-value

Book review on The things they carried

Book review on The things they carried The Things They Carried- Book ReviewIn The Things They Carried, author Tim O'Brien conveys his experience and feelings about the Vietnam War through a collection of stories. Each narrative is comprised with vivid description telling us about one of the soldiers of the Alpha Company in Vietnam. One of the significant concepts in this novel is the importance of certain objects or feelings carried and used by the soldiers to survive the war. Several of these things are intangible, including guilt and fear, while others are specific physical objects, including matches, morphine, M-16 rifles, and MM's candy. Tim O'Brian releases his fear, sadness, and anger felt due to the war, and illustrates to us the power ordinary objects may have on one, solely through sentimental valueTim O'Brien was born on October 1, 1946 in Worthington, Minnesota. After graduating in 1968 from McAlester College in St. Paul with a degree in Political Science, O'Brien was drafted into the army.If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me H...His college years, however, were spent trying to ignore the Vietnam War or railing against it he attended peace vigils and war protests, and aspired to join the State Department. This was a horrid, confused, and traumatic period for Tim O'Brian. While serving at the South Vietnamese village of My Lai, he was wounded and returned home with Purple Heart, a Bronze Star for Valor, and a Combat Infantry Badge. After his return, O'Brien entered a Ph. D. program in Government at Harvard University. During the time he spent at Harvard, O' Brien spent two summers working as a reporter for the Washington Post. In 1975, O'Brien published his first novel, Northern Lights. Since then, he has published quite a few fictional novels based on the Vietnam war including, If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and...

Operations management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 4

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What Should Eastern European Migrants to UK Do In Order To Be More Gainfully Employed - Dissertation Example What Should Eastern European Migrants to UK Do In Order To Be More Gainfully Employed? According to European Commission website (European Commission, 2011 http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/5th_enlargement/index_en.htm), in May 2004 Poland, the Slovak Republic, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Hungary and Estonia joined European Union. The United Kingdom was only one of three European countries to allow the free migration of workers. The ability to work and to live in abroad made thousands of people leave their home and go to look for a better living in UK. Hull like other UK cities experienced rising number of immigrants coming from East and Central Europe. According to Department for Work & Pensions, the total number of immigrants coming to Hull between 2004-2008 from east and central European countries was 6.780. Most of the people coming to Hull are from Poland, Lithuania, Latvia. Migrant workers come with a broad range of qualifications and skills. They intend to choose low skilled jobs through recruitment agencies and take a low- income employment. This research will look into the reasons why migrant workers have a tendency to take vacancies in low skilled jobs market despite the level of skills they have. The immediate aims of this research are: †¢ To explore skills and qualifications of East European workers; †¢ To clarify primary obstacles faced by immigrants wanting to access better employment; †¢ To look into reasons why East European workers don’t adapt in English labor market. ... In order to achieve these aims, in the course of researching, a survey would have to be done to know the hopes and needs of Eastern European (EE) migrant workers in the UK. The laws and regulations affecting those Eastern European Migrant workers have to be scrutinized and summarized to see how they can affect their hopes and needs. The survey questionnaire should gather some information about their strengths and weaknesses as Eastern European Migrant workers. A review of their opportunities, rights, and privileges will then shed light on the usefulness of those strengths in the UK. Finally, in order that this formal research can contribute some insights to the existing body of knowledge about Eastern European Migrants in the UK, and to the improvements in productivity with the UK, an attempt to recommend plans will be done for the conversion of Eastern European Migrant workers at Hull into becoming more productive for the UK. Overview The UK government is committed to its Equality A ct 2010 which serves as an anti-discrimination law. It gives equal treatment in trying to access employment regardless of race, religion or belief, gender, civil status. By December 2010, the government (GEO 2010) â€Å"announced that it will bring into force section 159 of the Equality Act 2010 in April 2011. This will help employers achieve a more diverse workforce by giving them the option, when faced with candidates of equal merit, to choose a candidate from an under-represented group.† In 2005, Hull had a sluggish economy in 2005. Growth was low. Productivity was low. Earnings were low. So the Local Authorities of Hull developed a strategy and called it NDC or New Deal for Communities Sanderson, I., Green, A., and

How do the benedictine oblates enable the witness of Monastic Essay

How do the benedictine oblates enable the witness of Monastic Spirituality to be expressed in secular society - Essay Example The Benedictine vocation is not carried out primarily by cloistered, celibate monastics. The vast majority of Benedictines in our age are oblates, married men and women from many different Catholic Churches. The spiritual values embodied by the age-old Benedictine monastic tradition is today dispersed among people of the modern society by those chosen few — whose numbers nonetheless are on sharp rise — who have found their calling in the way shown by St. Benedict barely a few centuries after Jesus Christ. Benedictine oblates today represent a promising movement of bringing forth lofty spiritual principles out into the open and amalgamating them into our everyday humdrum existence. This they do by virtue of their thought, word and deed being permeated by the spirit of Christ. : Faith is like love, a very personal and intimate matter. It has a profound beauty and sublimity that cannot be so easily understood by cool rationality. The values and principles that Benedictine monks and oblates cherish and uphold can be best understood from the point of view of deep empathy. This point can be illustrated by a simple example. Some anthropologists study primitive tribes as if they were strange creatures steeped in a culture of ignorance. More mature anthropologists, on the other hand, often try to identify with the subjects of their study, by mingling and living with them, by becoming almost like one of them, by trying to look at the world from their eyes. Benedictine culture and tradition too ought to be ideally studied in the latter manner. 1. Oblates in the Context of Modern Society The Benedictine vocation is not carried out primarily by cloistered, celibate monastics. The vast majority of Benedictines in our age are oblates, married men and women from many different Catholic Churches. Benedictine oblates are lay persons affiliated with a Benedictine abbey or monastery who strive to direct their lives, as circumstances permit, according to the spirit and Rule of St. Benedict. (Our Sunday Visitor's Catholic Almanac 2005, p.490). While yet living "in the world," as ordinary members of society, they join themselves spiritually to a particular Benedictine community and seek to observe in the particular circumstances of their lives the important aspects of the Rule of St. Benedict. In the recent years, there has been a renewed interest among laymen and laywomen in associating themselves with religious communities as oblates or members of secular 'third orders'. Oblates do not take monastic vows but choose to live in close connection to a monastery, while integrating the spirit of the monastic rule into their daily lives. Groups of such "secular oblates" have in fact multiplied today in various forms. The term 'third order' generally has been a category for laity who seek to follow a way of life in the world but under the inspiration and spiritual guidance of a canonically approved religious institute.(Seasoltz, 2003, p.248). These groups often are the lay counterpart of particular religious orders. The First Order of the community was its professed male members, the Second Order, the professed female members, and the Third Order, the nonprofessed male and female affiliates (Wynne, 1988, p.164). People of these third orders seek to deepen their Christian life an d apostolic commitment in association with and according to the spirit of various religious institutes. Considerable numbers of people, most of them lay people with family and work commitments and with many involvements which keep them busy, are today turning to the monastic tradition. The main reason for this is perhaps that in monastic approach to life, in its essence though not in the outer form, they are finding practical help in making the ordinary and the everyday life a way to a higher reality. Monastic tradition began as a lay movement, and remained so until its intertwining with priesthood much later on

Elderly Care: Proposal on Hospital Admittance and Discharge

Elderly Care: Proposal on Hospital Admittance and Discharge A proposal of change to improve the quality of care for vulnerable older people who after being admitted into hospital and on discharge do not have a lot of choice in services that they receive. They are either sent home with a care package which does not meet all needs of the older person or moved to a residential home. It has been said that independence and mobility are the two most precious commodities that the elderly, as a group, need to nurture as a significant decline in either will significantly increase their dependence and reliance on others, either in the family or in the community. (Whitely, S. et al 1996) In general terms, the plight of the elderly in hospital is probably the most precarious of all of the age ranges, irrespective of the illness for which they were admitted. Any form of debilitating pathology, even if it only puts them in bed for a few days, may very well weaken their already tenuous grip on independence. The result may be either a prolonged stay in a hospital bed, home discharge with a care package which may not be totally satisfactory and all too often dependent on the ministrations of a group of overstretched healthcare professionals, or discharge to some form of residential care – which, although possibly seen by some as being the best option for the debilitated or infirm elderly, has an enormous impact on both the independence and the lifestyle of the elderly person. Let us briefly consider this last option which is not as straight forward an option as may appear at first sight. Let us personalise the discussion by referring to a hypothetically representative Mrs J., a 78 yr. old lady who has lived alone since her husband died some ten years previously. She is fiercely independent but has been getting progressively more frail as the years have gone by to the extent that it is a struggle to get her shopping. As a result her diet is becoming progressively more inadequate. Her personal hygiene, which was meticulous a few years ago, is now also failing, and she spends a great deal of her time alone and in bed. She has developed a low grade chest infection which required her to spend three days in hospital. When it came time to discharge her, her daughter could not look after her and took the decision that she would be better in a residential home. Mrs.J. had virtually no choice in the matter and on the fourth day she found herself in a residential home, surrounded by people with an average age rather greater than hers, many of whom were suffering from varying degrees of dementia. The home had a completely imposed and inflexible regime which was a major imposition on her as she had previously been able to do what she wanted when she wanted. There was virtually no privacy and never a time, day or night, when there was silence or quiet. Her house had to be sold to pay the fees, so she knew that there was no possibility that she would ever go home again and any money that she had, she was not able to spend as her savings were also taken to pay the fees. In the space of four days her life had been overturned and although she was warm, fed and cared for, by any rationalisation her quality of life had changed for ever. Mrs.J. is quoted as being fairly typical of many and her case used to illustrate the enormity of the life changing impact of admission to a residential home. Critically examination the need for the proposed change The particular change that we shall highlight in this particular essay is the need for multidisciplinary discharge planning, a move which is highlighted in the National Service Framework for the elderly (Standard Two). As we shall discuss later in this essay, the National Service Frameworks have been conceived and drafted in response to the perceived need for change. It therefore follows that it is a self-serving argument that it is a recognition of a need for change in this area that has prompted its inclusion in the National Service Framework .This rather tautological argument is given credence by a number of studies that have both looked at, and demonstrated the need for change in this area. The paper by Richards (et al 1998) was a first rate examination of the problem. It covered a number of areas, but, with specific relevance to our considerations here it highlighted how the patient outcome could be improved by a timely multidisciplinary pre-discharge assessment by a team which included social workers. This paper, if nothing else, underlines the need for change and provides a model for how improvements in the multidisciplinary discharge function can produce potential benefits for patients Evidence to support this view can be found in anyone of a number of recently published papers (such as Ham C 2004) which has specifically surveyed patient and carer satisfaction levels in the area of welfare and associated services after hospital discharge for the elderly. An outline and critical discussion of how change can be implemented Change can be a trophic factor in any organisation but no matter how good the intentions and aspirations, if it is badly managed, then the end result can be a catastrophic mess. One only has to consider the debacle of the implementation of the Griffiths Report (Griffiths Report 1983) in the NHS in the 80s to appreciate how a major management change could be badly implemented. The Government even set up its own commission to see what lessons could be learned from the episode. (Davidmann 1988) If we consider the overall implications of the report in terms of change management, the innovations failed because they were imposed rather than managed. (Davidmann 1988) Another fundamental concept in the field of change management is expressed by Marinker (1997) who points to the rather subtle difference between compliance and concordance. He suggests that human beings generally respond better to suggestion, reason and coercion rather than direct imposition of arbitrary change. The management of change is perhaps the most critical of the elements in this discussion. There is little point in having vision or ideas if you cannot successfully implement them into reality (Bennis et al 1999). The whole study of the Management of Change is built upon a set of constructs known as the General Systems Theory (GST). (Newell et al 1992). The process is both general and adaptable and can be summarised in the phrase â€Å"Unfreezing, Changing and Refreezing† or in simple terms, assessing a situation changing it, and then making the changes stick. (Thompson 1992). All changes, but particularly health and welfare related ones, should only really be made after careful consideration of the evidence base underpinning that change (Berwick D 2005). In specific terms one should evaluate the need for implementation of a multidisciplinary discharge procedure by considering the evidence that the current situation could be improved, make managers aware of the findings of need and than be proactive in encouragement in terms of support of any decisions that are made to implement such moves. The Political context If one considers the pre-2000 structure and organisation of the NHS, one could come to the conclusion that there were three major problems which, some observers stated were not consistent with what was required of a 21st century care provider, namely: a lack of national standards old-fashioned demarcations between staff and barriers between services a lack of clear incentives and levers to improve performance over-centralisation and disempowered patients. (Nickols 2004) There have been a number of reforms in the NHS which potentially impinge on the cases of the dependent elderly. Arguably the most important was the NHS Plan (DOH 2000). This is a lengthy document which calls for some fundamental changes in the working practices, and in some cases the actual roles of a number of healthcare professionals. An analytical assessment would have to conclude that, although there is a lot of detail in some areas of the plan, there is actually comparatively little detail in just how these changes should be actioned and arguably even less detail in what it expected the changes to be (Krogstad et al 2002). In the context of our discussion here, we should also note the natural ideological successor to the NHS Plan, was the Agenda for Change (2004). The National Service Frameworks were then introduced after seminal guidance from the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE 2004) The other reforms that have a bearing on our considerations are Choosing Health: making healthier choices easier (2004) and Building on the Best (2003). Both of these have considerable implications for the care of the elderly. The Choosing Health paper outlines the Government proposals for giving patients greater choice in the implementation of their health care and Building on the Best examines ways of improving and modifying current practices. There are specific references to the discharge procedures which are relevant to our discussions here. The Health context In the context of this essay the NHS Plan called for a number of reforms including: Increase funding and reform Aim to redress geographical inequalities, Improve service standards, Extend patient choice. Each of these areas has a bearing our Mrs.J. The geographical inequalities were primarily due to the historical context in which each area had implemented their own services together with the balance between funding and demand in each area. The improvement in service standards is mainly driven by the National Service Frameworks and he extension of patient choice clearly has a bearing on Mrs.J. although the choices available may well be less in practical terms than the complete spectrum of what is actually available and may well be constrained by factors such as available funding and the patient’s own physical state. (Wierzbicki et al 2001) The National Service Frameworks (amongst other things) sets out to reduce inequalities in service provision between providers and also to set standards of excellence, together with goals and targets that are nationally based rather than locality based. (Rouse et al 2001). National Service Framework Standard Two has as its stated aim to: Ensure that older people are treated as individuals and that they receive appropriate and timely packages of care which meet their needs as individuals, regardless of health and social services boundaries. It is formulated within the concept of â€Å"Person Centred Care†. This is intended to allow the elderly (and their carers) to feel entitled to be treated as individuals, and to allow them to be responsible for their own choices about their own care. The Social Care context If we accept that a patient’s discharge from hospital is dependent on many disparate and variable factors including (apart from their obvious health considerations), for example, their financial, dependence and support network status. It therefore follows that before a considered decision can be made to discharge the patient, a full and careful assessment of these various aspects should ideally be made. (Gould et al. 1995). The input of the social worker to the multidisciplinary pre-discharge team is therefore vital in this respect as it is unlikely that other healthcare professionals will be in a position to make an assessment of all of these factors. If one reads contemporary peer reviewed literature on the subject, the term â€Å"seamless interface† is a concept that frequently appears. (Dixon et al 2003). This reflects the moves towards the dismantling of the â€Å"Empire† concept of each health and welfare related subspecialty. (Lee et al 2004). And the positive integration of each, for the overall benefit of the patient. Central to this process is the advent of the Single Assessment Process (SAP) which is arguably the most important new work practice to facilitate good multidisciplinary working practices. This reduces the duplication of work, derivation of facts and paperwork that hitherto was commonplace (Fatchett A. 1998). In specific consideration of our Mrs.J. we could find that she was visited by one member of the discharge team (typically the social worker), and an assessment of all of the factors that we have discussed could be made and recorded in a single central document or reference point (computer). It is the stated aim of the SAP that the needs and wishes of the elderly patient will remain at the heart of the whole process. (Mannion R et al 2005) To consider the requirements of the National Service Frameworks and in the context of social work we should also mention the concept of the carer’s or patient’s â€Å"Champion† that has been specifically encouraged. (Bartley M. 2004). These are designated workers (often specially trained or experienced social workers), who would stand up for the need of the patient or their carers. In Mrs.J.’s case we could postulate that such a champion could assess her needs as being more appropriately dealt with by an intensive course of both physiotherapy and an occupational therapy input rather than necessarily being arbitrarily placed in a residential home. The social worker is ideally placed to assess and indeed to action interventions such as that of the occupational therapist, who can be shown to produce considerable impact on the ability of the infirm elderly to remain at home. (Gilbertson et al 2000). We should not leave this area without a demonstration that the evidence base in this area of social worker input as being both positive and beneficial by quoting the Logan paper (et al 1997) References Agenda for Change, 23 November 2004,  Government White Paper:  HMSO 2004 Bartley M. (2004),  Health Inequality. An Introduction to Theories, Concepts and Methods.  Cambridge: University Press 2004 Bennis, Benne Chin (Eds.) 1999,  The Planning of Change (2nd Edition).. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York: 1999. Berwick D 2005 Broadening the view of evidence-based medicine Qual. Saf. Health Care, Oct 2005; 14: 315 316. Building on the best 2003,  Department of Health:  HMSO: London 09/12/2003 Choosing Health: making healthier choices easier 2004 Government White Paper,  HMSO: London 16.11.2004 Davidmann 1988,  Reorganising the National Health Service: An Evaluation of the Griffiths Report,  HMSO : London 1988 Dixon, Holland, and Mays 2003 Primary care: core values Developing primary care: gatekeeping, commissioning, and managed care BMJ, Jul 2003; 317: 125 128. DOH 2000,  NHS Plan,  HMSO; London 2000 Fatchett A. (1998),  Nursing in the new NHS: Modern, Dependable.  London: Bailliere Tindall Gilbertson, Peter Langhorne, Andrew Walker, Ann Allen, and Gordon D Murray 2000 Domiciliary occupational therapy for patients with stroke discharged from hospital: randomised controlled trial BMJ, Mar 2000; 320: 603 606 ; doi:10.1136/bmj.320.7235.603 Gould MM, Iliffe S. 1995,  Hospital at home: a case study in service development.  Br J Health Care Manage 1995; 1: 809-812. Griffiths Report 1983 NHS Management Inquiry Report DHSS, 1983 Oct 25 Ham C. (2004),  Health Policy in Britain [5th ed.]  Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan Krogstad, Dag Hofoss, and Per Hjortdahl 2002 Continuity of hospital care: beyond the question of personal contact BMJ, Jan 2002; 324: 36 38. Lee, Wong, Yeung Wong, and Tsang 2004 Interfacing between primary and secondary care is needed BMJ, Aug 2004; 329: 403. Logan PA, Gladman JRF, Lincoln NB. 1997,  A randomised controlled trial of enhanced social service occupational therapy for stroke patients.  Clin Rehab 1997; 11: 107-113 Mannion R, Davies H, Marshall M (2005) Cultures for Performance in Health Care. Maidenhead: Open University Press Marinker M.1997,  From compliance to concordance: achieving shared goals,  BMJ 1997;314:747–8. Newell Simon. 1992,  Human Problem Solving.  Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs: 1992. NICE 2004,  Management guidelines : NHS Directive;  HMSO, Tuesday 7 December 2004 Nickols F 2004,  Change Management 101: A Primer,  London : Macmillian 2004 Richards, Joanna Coast, David J Gunnell, Tim J Peters, John Pounsford, and Mary-Anne Darlow 1998 Randomised controlled trial comparing effectiveness and acceptability of an early discharge, hospital at home scheme with acute hospital care BMJ, Jun 1998; 316: 1796 – 1801 Rouse, Jolley, and Read 2001 National service frameworks BMJ, Dec 2001; 323: 1429. Thompson 1992,  Organisations in Action.  McGraw-Hill, New York: 1992. Whitely,S. et al (1996)  Health and Social Care Management,  Basingstoke: Macmillan. Wierzbicki and Reynolds 2001 National service frameworks financial implications are huge BMJ, Sep 2001; 321: 705. ############################################################# PDG

The Inside Perspective Of An Outsider Essay -- China Anthropology Stud

The Inside Perspective Of An Outsider I read everything I could find. I spoke with natives who were visiting the United States. I studied the language diligently. I scrutinized pictures, noting each detail. Nothing prepared me for that first long walk along a Beijing street. I smelled for the first time, the smells that were to become a familiar component of my three-month stay in The People's Republic of China. I made eye contact with people who had formerly just been captured still-lifes on a reference book's glossy page. I attempted to speak my broken Chinese with people who did not care that my book at home had taught me the words for "ambassador" and "diplomat." I took my first tentative step towards cultural understanding. The China surrounding me collided with the China I ignorantly thought I had prepared myself for. I. Anthropology Allyn Maclean Stearman graduated from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1964 with a degree in Spanish. In conjunction with her foreign language major, she spent her junior year studying abroad. Her travels in Columbia certainly influenced her decision to join the Peace Corps immediately following commencement. Peace Corps placed her in Bolivia where she ended up staying for four years. Her community development work in Bolivia not only made her fall in love with the Bolivian Amazon, but also inspired in her that first recognized interest in the study of anthropology. According to James P. Spradley, the goal of anthropology is "to describe and explain the regularities and variations in social behavior" (p.10). John H. Bodley (1997) takes the purpose of anthropology one step further. He makes the claim that the acquisition of some basic anthropological tools will prep... ...etite. The long periods of loneliness and alienation alerted me to the daily struggles of an outsider attempting to be an insider. Works Cited: Bodley, J. H. (1997). Cultural Anthropology: Tribes, States, and the Global System. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Publishing Company. Grindal, B. & Salamona, F. (1995). Bridges to Humanity: Narratives on Anthropology and Friendship. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press. Spradley, J. P. (1979). The Ethnographic Interview. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Spradley, J. P. & McCurdy, D. W. (1972). The Cultural Experience: Ethnography in Complex Society. Kingsport, TN: Kingsport Press. Stearman, A. M. (1989). Yuqui: Forest Nomads in a Changing World. Chicago, IL: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc. Stearman, A. M. (n.d.) "Fighting the Odds for Cultural Survival: The Story of a Yuqui Development Project".

The term ‘Phlebotomy’ Essay

‘Phlebotomy’ comes from the Greek word phlebos, meaning veins, and tome, meaning incision. Bloodletting is one of the humanity’s oldest medical practices, dating back thousands of years and is linked to many ancient cultures, including the Mayans, Aztecs, Egyptians and Mesopotamians. Evidence suggests bloodletting for therapeutic reasons may have begun in Egypt around 1400B.C. Tomb paintings from this time show the application of a leech to a patient. The purpose was to cure a person suffering from some kind of infirmity (leprosy, plague, pneumonia, stroke, and inflammation, pretty much anything). The patient was pierced or cut and then drained of several ounces of blood until they fainted. In ancient Greek culture, a physician named Galen of Pergamon took the practice in a more scientific direction when he discovered that arteries were filled with blood, not air. Galen’s approach to bloodletting was based on two key concepts. First, Galen believed that blood didn’t circulate, but stayed motionless in the body until it either went stagnant or was let out. Secondly, he thought the balance of the four humors (blood, phlegm, black bile and yellow bile) was the source of health or illness. Mapping out the blood vessels of the body, Galen would cut his patients in different areas, depending on what area he wanted to treat. For example, the right hand would be cut and drained in order to treat liver problems. He was also known to give his patients drugs in order to induce vomiting or urination. Bloodletting was also prominent in the early days of some of the world’s most practiced religions. The Talmud (a central text of Judaism) included rules for days where bloodletting could be practiced. Early Christian writings outlined which saint’s days were the best for the ritual. Bloodletting is also referenced as a treatment for fevers in some early Islamic texts. Continuing into the middle ages both surgeons and barbers were specializing in this bloody practice. Barber poles which still decorate the outsides of barber shops are a leftover tradition dating back to the days of barber bloodletting. The swirling red line on the pole represents the blood itself, the white represents the tourniquet, and the pole itself represents the stick the patient would squeeze in his/her hand in order to dilate the veins. Bloodletting as a medical procedure migrated to the Americas along with the European colonists, stretching in time from the residents of Plymouth to the Founding Fathers. Physician Benjamin Rush  (one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence) recommended bloodletting to his patients on a consistent basis. As a matter of fact, George Washington, the first U.S. president, died in 1799 from a throat infection after having 3.75 liters (9 pints) of blood removed from his body within a 10 hour period as treatment for a throat infection. The draining of 16-30 ounces (1-4 pints) of blood was typical. Blood was often caught in a shallow bowl. When the patient became faint, the â€Å"treatment† was stopped. Bleeding was often encouraged over large areas of the body by multiple incisions. By the end of the 19th century (1875-1900), Phlebotomy was declared quackery. The main process of bloodletting in 19th century medicine included the use of leeches to drain blood from a patient. During the 1830s, France imported approximately 40 million leeches for the purpose of bloodletting. Francois-Joseph-Victor Broussais, a French physician, would reportedly recommend his patients be treated with as many as 50 leeches at a time. Bloodletting, also known as venesection, managed to survive into the first part of the 20th century; it was even recommended in a 1923 edition of a textbook called The Principles and Practice of Medicine. During those days, there were four main bloodletting methods practiced by physicians. The first was the continued use of leeches as a bloodletting source. The second was called arteriotomy, a process in which the arteries in the temples would be punctured and bled. The third was phlebotomy (also known as â€Å"breathing a vein†) where a large external vein would be cut in order to draw blood. The last was scarification – a particularly stomach-turning method which involved one of a varied set of tools made for the purpose of attacking â€Å"superficial† blood vessels. Such devices included spring-loaded lancets and a circular, mutli-bladed, device known as a scarificator. The scarificator had a series of twelve blades. The device was cocked and the trigger released spring-driven rotary blades that caused many shallow cuts. The scarificator seemed more merciful than other bloodletting instruments. The reason bloodletting died comes as no surprise to modern readers that bloodletting killed far more people than it cured. Still, it wasn’t until the 19th century that members of the medical community seriously questioned  the merits of this practice. In the 1830s, Pierre Charles Alexandre Louis convincingly argued against the perceived effectiveness of phlebotomy for the treatment of pneumonia and fever. Ironically, with the gradual decline of bloodletting there was an increase of other dangerous and ineffective treatments, such as the use of electricity, elixirs and potions. These medications gained popularity for the same reason that bloodletting had in earlier times: it sometimes worked as a placebo. Because the patients believed that receiving electric shock therapy would heal their illness, the psychological factor may have been enough to actually make them feel better. As the 20th century brought a myriad of new medical knowledge, technology and medicine, however, these archaic practices (including bloodletting) died out almost entirely within a few decades. With the advent of modern medicine, bloodletting was remembered as a historical fad, similar to the guillotine as a form of death penalty. After nearly a century of new medical knowledge and leaps of progress that include the development of electron microscopes, mapping the human genome and cloning living tissue, how is it possible that the medical field is reconsidering the use of this ancient practice? The answer is fairly straightforward: Where ancient bloodletting was used to treat and prevent almost every infirmity imaginable, modern bloodletting (or phlebotomy) is used only to treat specific medical conditions of which medical research has proven the benefits. Research has shown that bloodletting could improve cholesterol, blood pressure and blood glucose levels for people suffering from metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome is a term used to describe the list of medical problems facing people who are obese, such as hypertension, insulin resistance and glucose intolerance. People with this condition are at risk for clots and strokes. Bloodletting thins down the patient’s blood, helping to prevent these problems. Perhaps the most common use for modern bloodletting is a hereditary iron-overload condition known as hemochromatosis. As iron builds in the patient’s blood, it can have a negative impact on various areas of the body, including the heart and the joints. This can eventually lead to disease and organ failure. Bloodletting, now commonly referred to as a â€Å"blood donation†, is applied as the main treatment for hemochromatosis, with patients having their blood taken on at  least an annual basis for life. There is another modern form of bloodletting worth noting, if nothing else, because it never actually went away in the first place. Leeches have continued to be used for certain medical treatments throughout the 20th century right up to the present day. Whereas leeches were formerly used to treat all sorts of injuries and sicknesses, today they are mostly used by doctors in the reattaching of severed body parts such as fingers and toes. Attaching leeches is effective because they can help to get rid of any extra blood that might start problematically flooding in the tissue. Phlebotomy plays a major role in preventive healthcare, diagnosis and treatment of diseases. Although the instruments and methods used for obtaining blood in the beginning may appear crude in comparison to the instruments and methods we use today, the concept remains the same. The exception being, instead of using bloodletting as a â€Å"cure† to remove the illness we use it as a way to analyze, diagnose and treat the illness. Without phlebotomy the process of accurately diagnosing diseases and infections would be impossible.