Dark Dreams Essay

In the novel Dark Dreams page 47 â€Å"The Waves to Freedom: The Story of Nga-Huynh Diep† (by Gracia Diep, aged 15), it tell us how the Vietnamese were treated. It says that the communist parties were to come and strip away everything that was precious in Vietnam from its people. The Vietnamese were forced to live without any freedom either under the tough supervision of the communist party or in a re-education camp. It also says that the only happiness these people have was hope of escaping the country to have another chance at freedom in another land. In this story Nga-Huynh’s family risked their lives to escape Vietnam and she was only twenty-one years of age. They went through an emotional and a painful journey. The only way to travel to Australia was by boat and they had to follow the smugglers. The smugglers not only let her family travel by boat but also other families as well. So it was risky. The boat may sink and they will run out of food. Nga-Huynh sacrificed a lot for a chance at freedom and has come out maintaining her strong character. It says that the experiences of her escape from Vietnam haven’t weakened her they have made her into an even stronger person. Anyways she is now happily married, working woman with two daughters. She also lives in Melbourne and has found life in Australia very pleasant and would even call it her â€Å"home. † However she would like to go back to Vietnam and see what has happened to the country since she left it in 1979.

Marketing (South East Asian Region) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Marketing (South East Asian Region) - Essay Example The business venture can prove to be successful if the company takes couple of distinct steps in the planning process for the foreign market. Such key steps for success in any foreign market are (John R. Darling et.al, 2004): In order to assess and analyze the market potential market research proves to be handy tool. The phenomenal growth in the number of marketing research departments suggests that this technique is being rapidly accepted by the business community. Marketing research itself comprises of studying the; Most of the theories of internationalization have their roots in industrial organisation and economics (from Coase in 1930s through Bain in 1950s to Williamson in the 1970s) and most of these theories were developed as a direct consequence of US MNCs desire to explore the markets of Europe and elsewhere. Since then the world has changed a lot with Asian nations like India taking a big lead in IT sector and China in manufacturing sector. The dominant change in the world economy is of course is the globalisation of markets. This phenomenon is a result of the convergence of the advances in technology, transport processes and production techniques. Globalization of markets and international competition are requiring firms to operate in a multicultural environment. People from different cultures may vary in convenience orientation not only because of time pressures but also because of the value placed on physical or mental comfort. For example, the oil rich consumers or Arabian Gulf coun tries place less value on time and more on high levels of comfort, as their oil wealth fuels convenience-driven demand. But in Southeast Asian nations money and time are more valued than the comfort. Southeast Asia comprises of huge developed markets like Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, besides other significant markets like Vietnam and Myanmar. Southeast Asian markets have made tremendous efforts in restructuring recovering, and strengthening their economies since the 1997 crisis. This recovery is very much visible in the stock market indices of these nations. For example, Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI), Singapore's Straits Times Index (STI) Thailand Index (SET) and Indonesia's Jakarta Stock Exchange Composite Index (JCI) have been on an upswing throughout the year 2006. These nations led by China and India are being termed as Asian tigers as a tribute to the consistent performances in their economies. Though there are country specific issues affecting the entry modes and the extent of entry by any MNC, still the overall environment appears to be investment

Frida Kahlo - Surrealist Artist Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Frida Kahlo - Surrealist Artist - Essay Example The essay "Frida Kahlo - Surrealist Artist" states the Frida Kahlo and her art. Rather than restricting her art, though, this confinement helped encouraged her art as it was one of the few things she could do from her bed. This perhaps also led to her willingness to experiment with artistic forms, breaking out of the traditional forms as can be seen in several of her self-portraits, such as â€Å"The Two Fridas† and â€Å"The Broken Column.† Kahlo’s work displays a desperate struggle to find balance between the past and the present, the self and the social expectations, particularly in her 1939 self-portrait â€Å"The Two Fridas.† For Kahlo, this division is represented through a dual image that relates back to Kahlo’s childhood while she was recovering from polio. â€Å"During that time, she created an imaginary friend who would later be reflected in a painting called ‘The Two Fridas.’ Explaining the painting in her diary she wrote, à ¢â‚¬ËœI experienced intensely an imaginary friendship with a little girl more or less the same age as me I followed her in all her movements and while she danced, I told her my secret problems†. This relationship becomes a means of expressing the two sides of Kahlo at the time of her divorce from Diego. One Frida is dressed in European clothing, indicating that this is the actual European half of Frida gained from her father. Her symbolic torn bodice indicate the rejected side of her just as her hand holds a surgical instrument intended to help stop the flow of blood.

New Employment Relationship vs. the Manual Investment Approach Essay

New Employment Relationship vs. the Manual Investment Approach - Essay Example The new relationship that was now formed is one that employers give their employees challenging tasks, fixed salaries and opportunities to increase their expertise so that they can be benefit their businesses (Losey, Meisinger, & Ulrich 45). Therefore, this obligates employees to pay the employer with job performance, and this somehow undermines the employee commitment to the organization. This new relationship between employers and employees has changed from the loyal one that existed before globalization and increased competition, to one that based on economic exchanges. The authors urge organizations to uphold the mutual investment relationship so as to gain competitive advantage because workers will be committed to attaining the organizational goals. They argue that many organizations today are focused on achieving high profits and are not considering the welfare of their employees. I believe that organizations should take care of the needs of their employers and offer them job s ecurity. This will be a motivation for the workers to work hard and achieve the goals set by the organization because they are comfortable. Organizations need to invest in their employees because they are the ones who make the organization make profits and if everyone in the organization is catered for it will thrive. Research shows that the human resource department should take the responsibility of catering for the needs of their employees. Motivation of employees is key to success of any organization. Rewarding and giving employees benefits goes a long way in creating commitment to the job and this increases efficiency operations (Losey, Meisinger, & Ulrich 50). Job security and satisfaction are vital for any employee because it makes them comfortable in the job environment and they are able to undertake their duties efficiently (KnowWPC). Employers need to invest in their workers by offering benefits and training to improve their skills, so that efficacy in business operations c an be attained. This mutual investment employment relationship has been supported by other professionals in human resource as they see employee job security and skill advancement as vital in ensuring business success (S.R. de Silva 6). Chapter8: Life after Outsourcing: Lessons Learned and the Role of Human Resources as a Strategic Business Partner (Mirian M. Graddick-Weir) In the recent past, human resource management activities outsourcing has grown tremendously and more in the manufacturing and service industries. Outsourcing is in the payroll, benefits, recruiting and training sections of most organizations. The major reason for companies to outsource is because they have limited internal investment in the area of concern. Outsourcing is done in the light of ensuring business operations go on smoothly without interruptions because of lack of efficient resources to carry out assigned tasks (Losey, Meisinger, & Ulrich 71). However, it is evident that most organizations use outsourc ing to make use of external experts who will see that efficacy in operations is achieved. Emerging and already established organizations are continuously outsourcing various human resource activities from providers outside the business. Outsourcing is beneficial to the organization for various reasons, the

Information Technology Analysis Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Information Technology Analysis - Term Paper Example According to Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) the five major components of IM / IT governance are:strategic alignment, value delivery, resource management, risk management and performance measurement (ISACA, 2009). Strategic alignment: In a health care organization,suppose a hospital, strategic alignment is when the corporate business goals of the hospital and its departmental or functional goals are aligned with each other. More specifically to achieve strategic alignment, what the top management has to work upon is making a set of attainable goals and objectives and communicate them to all the subordinate department heads so that the narrowed down departmental operational goals are aligned with the more broader corporate ones. As a result when IT operations help to achieve the hospital’s overall desired strategic goals, whether they are providing best quality healthcare services to patients, maintaining healthy hospital environment, providing fast an d efficient healthcare services, etc., the health care quality to the end customer (patients) will be improved. Value delivery: Values are the organization’s fundamental underlying aims and goals based on which the IT strategies, policies and plans are structured so that best possible decisions can be made to guide operations. IT governance delivers maximum value and improves healthcare quality when while making an IT based decision, the alternative with higher value is chosen. For example, one decision might increase customer satisfaction; the second alternative decision might increase hospital’s revenue while the third might increase both. Logically, the third alternative should be opted for, so quality is improved with best value delivery. Value delivery is contingent to management’s decision making. Resource management: It is quite obvious that IT departments or projects require a reasonable amount of resource investment including human resources, capital, t ime, space, etc. IT governance involves managing resources and making intelligent decisions so that the quality of health care is improved with optimum resource allocation i.e. getting maximum value from resources allocated at lowest cost so that healthcare is improved (Weill & Olson, 1989). Risk management: Risk in IT governance has three levels: innovation, agile execution and cost efficiency (Mueller et al, 2008). For an IT decision to be at its least risk so that healthcare is improved the most effective level is cost efficiency because on the scale of risk versus time elapsed, cost efficiency is when the IT decision bears least risk as compared to the other two levels. Although, it is to be noted that for every new IT project in any healthcare organization the risk level is highest if the idea is supposed to bring a strikingly abrupt change initiative. For example: shiftinga hospital’s completely manual patient-file-system to an enterprise databasewill drastically improv e healthcare quality but will have high risk involved. Again, it is the management’s decision that evaluates value versus feasibility. The best decision is then, the one that maximizes value and improves healthcare quality minimizing risk to the least. Performance measurement: IT governance improves quality of healthcare when appropriate performance measures are used to evaluate whether the

Professional Interview Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Professional Interview - Research Paper Example Authors such as Reilly (2012) have established a relationship between effective leadership and the success in business systems in a country. The author argues that knowledge and skills in a country, which can empower leadership, are significant to the country’s economic development. Leadership roles exist at different levels at which decision-makers offer their professionalism (Nabli, 2011). To facilitate the study of leadership capacity in Nigeria, this essay will focus on an interview response from a Nigerian professional, ‘Usman Olaide’ who is a Senior Client Service Consultant and a Business Development Executive at Field Communication Ltd. The interview focuses on the role of leadership in promoting crises and leadership strategies for preventing or managing crises when they occur in the Nigerian business environment. Consequently, it will be possible to evaluate any impacts of the leadership that exists to the business crisis in this country. Usman identifie s the role of leadership in integrating different industries in the corporate sector for accountability in management because observed crises in the Nigeria’s business environment results from negligent actions from single industries or organizations and spread to affect the entire economy. Referring to Martin Oluba’s analysis of the equity market crisis (N.d.) and her experience in sources of crises in the Nigerian business environment, Usman explains that industries are interrelated and poor leadership in one industry, leading to a crisis in the industry, affects other industry’s performance. The finance industry is the most significance because it is the center of power for circulation of money across other industries as was observed in the equity market crisis. While poor leadership in the equity market led to its crisis, Usman explains that the move by the industry’s players to seek funds from private holdings influenced businesses in other sectors t o seek similar targets for rescue and culminated into the crisis. In her analysis of the scenario that is a perfect example of the role of weak leadership in business crisis, the interviewee argues that regulatory framework, both legal and moral, should be put in place to ensure credible and competent centralized leaderships that can preempt crisis in their respective industries and develop preventive measures. She also argues that a collaborative initiative among leaders from respective industries in regulating activities and risks in each industry can also play an effective role in containing crises from spreading to other industries, should such crises occur in a given industry (Usman, O, personal communication, August 16, 2013). Usman also argues that leadership offered by relevant government agencies play a significant role in management of financial crises in the Nigerian corporate environment. Agencies whose roles relate to macroeconomic aspects such as the Central Bank of Ni geria must be explicit in their roles to guide corporate operations and regulate the economic environment for stability. She explains that poor decisions on factors such as interest rates and consequences in high inflation rates are detrimental to businesses and the central bank should develop effective strategies for economic stability. The interviewee also relates such government regulations to the sensitive finance sector that has potential effects on other sectors and industry. In agreement with John, Adaeze, Soni, and Onoriode

Approaches to Climate Change and Energy Crisis Essay Example for Free

Approaches to Climate Change and Energy Crisis Essay The acclaim and mass appeal that was garnered by the An Inconvenient Truth, no to mention Al Gore’s Noble Prize win, is a testament to the interest on the issue of climate change (Lawrence Bender Productions Guggenheim, 2006). One of the main areas of concern is the development of industries that do not damage or endanger the environment is an urgent concern as industries now face dwindling resources, greater demand and more regulation both locally and internationally (Schnietz Epstein, 2005). Whereas before when interest in environmental concerns were seen more as deterrents to a company’s operations. The increase of judicial decisions levying companies to pay for environmental damages due to their products or manufacturing processes has changed the view to one that treats environment concerns and conserving energy resources as part of ensuring profitability. An assessment done by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) (2002) indicates that the deterioration of the environment has global implications. They point that the depletion of the ozone layer has been linked to stress marine and terrestrial resources though the depletion is mainly concentrated on the poles. Furthermore, scientists estimate that at the current rate of consumption and pollution, the earth’s ecosystems will simply collapse from human demands. De Man (2005) also points out that there are higher social expectations concerning environmental awareness and responsibility among business organizations. National and international efforts have sought to develop universal relevance of the issue not only to promote it as a concern but also to established responsibility for the issue. Robbins (2003) considers these an indication of the urgency and importance of the issue which in turn is to establish it as global critical priority. At the same time, climbing of energy prices due to demand has highlighted the need to raise efficiency and promote conservation. However, there are varying opinions on the approaches to be taken. One of the issues that have been subject to extensive debate is in the development of air pollution control programs. Wigley (2006) points out that because air has no geographic border nor physically contained and all countries have to compete for energy sources such as oil, the issue is an inherent global concern. This global perspective is the basis for the Kyoto Protocol which aims to establish an international monitoring and management system for carbon emissions. The Kyoto Protocol sets a quota for industrial emissions per country where residual allowances can be traded off to other countries and economic sanctions can be applied to violators. Thus, countries are not only politically motivated to control their emissions but also can gain monetary compensation for their efforts. Accession and implementation of the protocol has proven challenging. Opposition to the policies point out that aside from the operational difficulties of the policy and can deter economic growth and development since most industries are energy-intense and impact the environment (Bohan, 2007). Critics of the Kyoto approach to the issue suggest a national interest approach. In contrast to the former, the latter suggests that, â€Å"whats good for the nation as a whole in international affairs†. Using this perspective, instead of developing an international policy, each country must formulate its own towards a common goal (Roskin, 1994, p. 1). As each country is able to achieve individual environmental goals, public interest, which includes the global community, will be met effectively. Thus, what seems to be an inward-looking or even selfish approach to environment and energy issues can be in fact a means to accomplish international goals. Critics of the approach contend in turn that there are no assurances that independent states will develop and implement environmental and energy efficiency protocols. Also, they believe that by leaving consequence at the discretion of national governments, implementation will not be effectively policed. To date, there has still has not been full accession to the Kyoto Protocol: the Untied States and Australia have both rejected it. At the same time, national interest approaches have been significant deterred through the need for compliance to international political, security or economic organizations. According to Setting a Value on the Future, Stephen Gardiner believes that the lack of a consensus on how to deal with the world’s environmental and energy crises is because it is â€Å"politically convenient not to deal with†. Both approaches have proven to be extremely problematic. One difficulty that Thomas Palley of the Economics for Democratic and Open Societies sees in national interest perspectives is a failure to recognize the distinction between corporate and national interests, (as cited in Jacobson, 2006). The suggestion is that confusing corporate interests, which primarily is centered on profit, the national interests that will be defined will be the interest of a few instead of the public’s and that it most likely will neither support environmental or conservation objectives (Wigley, 2006). On the other hand, without industrial development, there will be little headway in the development of efficiency and productivity technologies or the means to put them in practice (Jacobson, 2006). The most critical realization is that the issue is not just a political issue. Just as critical should be the realization that whatever, polices are to be implemented, they should be able to stand the test of time and changes in international relations. This because, achievement of environmental and energy goals will likely take a number of years before they are attained. President George W. Bush has raised a valid point regarding this issue: The fundamental question is whether or not we will be able to grow our economy and be good stewards of the environment at the same time, (as cited in Jacobson, 2006). Neither the Kyoto approach nor the national interest approaches, as they are utilized today, seem to fully address these concerns. However, this should deter the commitment to environmental protection and rehabilitation as well as energy conservation. In conclusion to recognize non-political elements influencing the issue, to institute long-term policies and resources and to develop and implement policies that recognizes both perspectives. Reference http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN1537871920071015