Peace and Conflict Studies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Peace and Conflict Studies - Essay Example ric. To misquote from one of George Orwell’s lesser-known sayings, where the British press is concerned, the facts and the rhetoric do not logically connect. Particularly where Britain is concerned, it will be necessary to disregard the rhetoric (as both sides of what is politely called the debate are equally guilty of distortion) and take the facts and form a picture from them, accepting that what passes for the accepted wisdom is not so much a tissue of lies as a tissue of invention. On the other hand, it has proved most interesting to try and find out the real reasons for the (2003) Iraq disaster and make the most of this opportunity to set the record straight. Hypothesis The fundamental hypothesis that the author wishes to put forward for the 2003 Anglo-American intervention in Iraq is that the ‘intervention’ (disaster would be a better word) took place for internal political reasons. In other words, nothing the Iraqis themselves, UN, EU, Russians, Chinese etc ., etc. would or could have done would have prevented the war, as both the British and U.S, metropolitan elites were completely impervious to any outside persuasion. We will start with Todd’s (who, despite his Anglophone name and ancestry, is French) analysis. He cites the main American internal political factors [2004, Pp 207-211 inclusive) as â€Å"economic mystification, ideological crisis and denial of reality†. He also introduces â€Å"evil, as a central concept†. If the author understands Todd correctly, the Americans (or at least their metropolitan elite) intervened in Iraq in order to perpetuate the actual (as opposed to stated) ideological and psychological aims of using American military power (which, it must be said, looks impressive, even if it isn’t in reality) to ensure that international investment (chiefly the purchase of U.S. Treasury bonds) is then channelled into U.S. domestic consumption. The mechanism appears to be that the funds gene rated by the bond purchases are used to fund the American imperial military, the money then being channelled through equipment purchases, salaries and base maintenance into the American economy at large - much of the money then being channelled back to the U.S. government through federal taxes. The ultimate expression of this is that wars (what Todd calls â€Å"theoretical micro-militarism†) against small countries such as Iraq are much more effective than peaceable military commitments in achieving this, as otherwise the purchasers of U.S. Treasury bonds might start asking awkward questions about where all the money is going. So much for economic mystification. We will now examine Todd’s concept of ideological crisis. Since the end of the â€Å"Cold War† (the author prefers the term ‘Grand Area Planning‘

Is Disability a Medical or Social Concern Essay

Is Disability a Medical or Social Concern - Essay Example Mental health problems have been around us as long as there has been a acceptance of mental health discrepancies. In the modern world, many of the stigmas and social problems connected with mental health concerns have been overcome by the people but still a lot remains to be done before we can arrive at a position where there is no social stigma associated with mental disabilities (Fernando, 1995). In fact, whilst it would be logical to assume that stigmatisation and the social issues are limited to the general population, in reality the stigmatisation can also be observed amongst doctors, nurses and social workers who are not supposed to be have such issues.Such as case was noted by Happell where one of the mentally disabled individuals she was working with received a negative remark from an official. She says that, â€Å"The remark, which was made in an official capacity, questioned, perhaps even refuted, one of the most basic human rights for people diagnosed with a mental illnes s (Happell, 2005, Pg. 1)†. The remark came from someone in an official capacity which goes to show that negative stereotypes and stigmatization of those with mental disabilities continues despite laws made to protect them.The reasons why disabilities issues are a social concern are quit complex since there a number of influences which make them so. It is certainly a matter of concern that despite of the progress we have made, there are still problems that remain when it comes to dealing with cases where individuals have disability problems.

Fly Emirates And Cathay Pacific Airways Comparison Essay

Fly Emirates And Cathay Pacific Airways Comparison - Essay Example The airline operates both passenger and cargo services to more than 160 destinations in about 42 countries in the world. The airlines’ rates as the third biggest airline in terms market capitalization. It is also one of the world’s biggest cargo airlines. The airline was also awarded as the Skytrax airline of the year in 2014.  The Fly Emirates is one of the few airlines who was least affected by airline and economic downturn. Much of this is attributed to their targeted segment of the market. The airline has three main categories of customers. These categories are transit passengers, tourists, and business expatriates. As a result of the emergence of Dubai as a business hub and a tourist destination has really worked in the favor of Fly Emirates. As a result of Dubai’s economic advancements, there has been an increase in the demand for workforce. At the moment the workforce in Dubai consists of individuals from various parts of the world. Due to the diversity of the population, Fly Emirates have had mutual agreements with almost all the national authorities allowing them to operate in an â€Å"open sky† kind of operation which implies that they welcome competition. One of the ways through which the Fly Emirates have improved their marketing penetration is by improving their in-flight service. The most outstanding thing about Fly Emirates marketing strategy is their pricing. As compared to most airlines in Europe, the cost of services offered by the Fly Emirates can be said to be relatively low they have also made sure that their ticketing procedures are convenient. Most of the airlines in Europe have costs that range between 25%-30% higher than what the Fly Emirates charge for their services (Gross &SchröDer 2007, p. 218).

Observations about the communication skills Movie Review

Observations about the communication skills - Movie Review Example This simply backs up what came out of her mouth—she doesn’t really want to be having this conversation. This can be seen further on in the conversation when the teacher correctly states that a joint effort is needed between the two of them in order to fix Timmy’s behavioral problems. Mrs. Smith gets all defensive by saying that there are no problems at home and it must only be a problem at school. This is reinforced by the way that she crosses her arms over her front. There is no need for her to act in this way because the teacher is not looking to attack Timmy at all. She only wants to help, but Mrs. Smith is misinterpreting it as an attack on Timmy. Mrs. Smith would do what any parent would do when they felt that their son was under attack. Mrs. Smith then attempts to deflect the focus of the conversation back to teacher by saying that she hates Timmy and is out to get her son. This technique shows that Mrs. Smith is feeling vulnerable and perhaps a little guilty for the behavior of Timmy. By shifting the focus away from Timmy and onto the teacher, Mrs. Smith is able to portray a situation where the teacher is in fact the problem. The teacher deflects this attack, although she is a little hurt by it. This is shown when she folds her hands, again suggesting a defensive position. Both of them do not feel comfortable in the room, although they both argue their points strongly. Mrs. Smith seems to know a lot about Timmy’s performance at school even though she does not get to see it firsthand. The conversation conveniently switches to an argument about Timmy’s learning disabilities and whether or not he should be receiving special attention at school. The teacher then concedes the point by saying that she will see what she can do for him by referring him to the gifted and talented kids program. Mrs. Smith would do well to listen to what the teacher has to say and then coming up with a

Communities of practice, their benefits and management challenges Essay

Communities of practice, their benefits and management challenges - Essay Example This paper will look into Communities of Practice, their benefits and a number of management challenges that they pose in a knowledge-based organisation. A community of practice has numerous benefits to an organisation. Organisations the world over have been utilising Communities of Practice for the last 2 decades in order to have sound knowledge-management systems. It is however important to note that CoPs have existed for centuries within management circles but their full formal attention in a modern organisational setup only emerged in the early 1990s. A CoP is comprised of a group of people willing to share their knowledge and expertise for a considerable amount of time. Organisations have used them to develop their human resources and encourage innovation and new approaches to problem solving. The intensifying of globalisation trends in the 1990s triggered heightened global competition. In order to survive firms are supposed to be creative and innovating which has driven them to appreciate the role that knowledge plays in organisational development. CoPs assist in diffusing knowledge and leverage a firm’s intellectual advantages. Knowledge-based organisations therefore require CoPs in developing their knowledge strategies. As such CoPs also have their limitations in respect to management of a firm. This paper will look into Communities of Practice, their benefits and a number of management challenges that they pose in a knowledge-based organisation. A community of practice has numerous benefits to an organisation. Formerly, many firms used information systems in knowledge management but the results were disappointing. CoP offers relatively new approaches where people interact and learn together. Due to the benefits that this approaches have most firms have adopted CoPs (Wenger and Snyder 2000). Some of the key benefits are as follows; Help with challenges It is clear that all firms experience challenges in their day-to-day running. However, these ch allenges need to be dealt with and a community of practice should be established to do just that. CoP solves problems by pooling of expertise, knowledge and skills from a number of employees. It is important to note that their winding down and eventual shutting down happens when problems they were dealing with are solved and consequently their purpose is fulfilled. Access expertise Organisations that treasure CoP are predominantly knowledge-based meaning that they require a great deal of expertise to carry out their tasks. In order to have a successful CoP its membership should be comprised of knowledgeable and experienced people. In case a firm is short of such workforce it is forced to source for them. In doing this a firm attains a pool of experts within its workforce which works to improve on its performance and profitability. Enhancement of team spirit Members in a community of practice need to work together to achieve set goals. They are not necessarily people who share the sa me ideals or beliefs but they are required to have similar interests in order to ensure a solid group (Llewellyn and Hindmarsh 2010). This facilitates teamwork in decision making and strategy formulation. Saving on cost an time of searching for information A CoP is established in order to deal with problems or to develop solutions. A small team is assembled which analyses the way forward. The smaller the team, the less the time they take in coming up with a solution. A small team is also easily managed and it is relatively cheap to maintain. This saves a great deal of time that inter-departmental meetings would have taken for consultations. It also offers time for the rest of the employee to continue with their normal duties while just a handful of them are picked to deal with pending issues (Wenger and Snyder 2000). The opportunity cost would be too high in taking many workers’ time in decision making. Improvement in quality of decisions A CoP is comprised of carefully selec ted people who bring to the table high-level skills and expertise. This assures the firm that the discussions made are meaningful and that decisions arrived at have high likeliness of being the best for the particular situation. Firms that have many CoPs tend to have better operational strategies which

Business Ethics Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Business Ethics - Article Example In court, Sergeant Brash provided evidence on how he tried to contact the mortgage company, PHH Mortgage. One arm of the company kept sending him late payment notices while the other arm kept refusing his automatic payments. His attorney sued the mortgage company under Georgia and federal laws. Sergeant Brash had taken out the mortgage in November, 2007. The court has finally made a judgment on the case and awarded Brash $21 million dollars. 2. Did PHH Mortgage as a business have any good defense that could oppose the sergeant's suit?. It is the eighth largest mortgage company in the United States and in this case it was pursuing a military man. It could be suggested that PHH Mortgage was doing all it can to maximize profit in favor of the open and free market that is unregulated. Another view would be that it was following a trend of the market, which at this time is to simply move people out of their homes. 3. What is the moral issue involved? Could the Sergeant pay for the home? Y es. It appears there was some duplicity involved on behalf of PHH Mortgage. Rawl's theory of distributive or contractual justice would have people hide behind a "veil of ignorance" to make decisions giving to all the most extensive basic rights of liberty.

Targeting Teenagers Essay Example for Free

Targeting Teenagers Essay When taking a look around at the night life of any city of the western culture we may come to a conclusion that pubs and party places are stuffed with under aged children below 20 or even 18. These kids need more energy to survive the rush of the nightlife therefore it is not unusual to see them drinking energy drinks – or even mixing it with alcoholic beverages. Do the producers and marketers of such energy drinks like Red Bull or Monster think of the unhealthy effects of these drinks on adolescents? A perception can be made that such beverages are highly effecting and endangering the health of their consumers – teenagers and adults – however, their producers are targeting at the most vulnerable and willing to spend audience – the teenagers of the western cosmopolitan cities. The long term goal of producers and marketers of energy drinks is not less but to own as high percentage of the market share as possible, using any kinds of marketing tools, without taking into consideration ethics and the health risks caused by energy drinks. Health Effects. It is a well-known fact that energy drinks such as Red Bull or Monster contain ingredients that could be harmful not only for teens but for adults as well in the long run. According to pharmaceutical studies of Clauson et al. (2008) ginseng, taurine, guarana, bitter orange, and caffeine – key ingredients of energy drinks – may interact with each other in a way that can cause symptoms varying from headache, insomnia, high blood-pressure, stroke, or even heart attack. Various sources from the Internet show evidence that teenagers‘ health was harmed after consuming energy drinks. In Colorado Springs, several high school students last year became ill after drinking Spike Shooter, a high caffeine drink, prompting the principal to ban the beverages. In March, four middle school students in Broward County, Florida, went to the emergency room with heart palpitations and sweating after drinking the energy beverage Redline. (Parker-Pope, 2008) ‘Three years ago, Ross Cooney, 18, from Ireland, died after he shared four cans of Red Bull and played in a basketball match. ‘ (Nordqvist, 2004). In the mean time it must be mentioned that not only the ingredients can be harmful and risky for the teenage consumers but the lack of responsibility during drinking energy drinks plays an important role as well. While adults are – or should be – able to keep their limits, teenagers act in the most unexpected ways. ‘But the biggest worry is how some teens use the drinks. Some report downing several cans in a row to get a buzz, and a new study found a surprising number of poison ­center calls from young people getting sick from too much caffeine. ‘ (Johnson, 2006). Other sources underline that another factor effecting adolescents is strongly in connection with their behaviour. Energy drinks may negatively affect those teenagers, who are more aggressive by nature, ‘High consumption of energy drinks is associated with toxic jock behavior, a constellation of risky and aggressive behaviors including unprotected sex, substance abuse and violence. ‘ (Parker-Pope, 2008) Based on the above risk factors and several other additional ones numerous countries and states have already banned – or attempted to ban energy drinks, however, they were not able to sustain the state of rejection for a longer time span. For instance France, Denmark and Norway have banned Red Bull for a certain amount of time – the ban was upheld by the European Court mainly because the caffeine levels were considered to be safe and negative effects of other ingredients were not supported. The European Union enforced Red Bull and other energy drink providers to warn their consumers of the high caffeine content (Nordqvist, 2004). In the United States there have been several attempts as well to ban energy drinks – to protect adolescents, but the law does not make any restrictions possible. Energy drinks, which are classified as dietary supplements, are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). That means they dont have to follow the same strict limits that the FDA places on potentially harmful ingredients such as caffeine (a primary component of energy drinks) that soda makers must follow. (Park, 2011) Based on the above studies a conclusion can be made that even though energy drinks contain ingredients that can be harmful if consumed un-responsibly, the level of ingredients are still considered to be safe. Teenagers must be taught that consumption of such beverages should be kept below a certain limit or should be avoided. Attracting Teenagers Why is it so attractive for teenagers to consume Red Bull, Hell, Burn, Monster, or any other energy drinks? Most probably because these drinks are considered to be the drink of popular, young, successful people – mostly sportsmen. Goodman’s video about The Merchants of cool (2001) describes this situation clearly – being cool is essential to teenagers to be in the spotlight. Marketing cool became very popular these days, due to the well known fact that teenagers of metropolitan cities tend to use – eat, drink, wear – whatever they believe is cool and in the mean time their parents are willing to pay for these items. In the sudden a product becomes mass or becomes un-cool according to these teenagers, they are not willing to purchase them anymore. The teenagers who are willing to pay for the products represent a strong and rich audience. Therefore marketers should keep this in front of their eyes when designing new marketing strategies, mostly when talking about brands that tend to target the teenagers. If we take a look at what the energy drink brands represent, it is visible that they are either committed sponsors of extreme sports, other popular sports, (Ho, 2006) or position themselves in the centre of leisure and parties (Arlidge, 2004). This certainly is cool amongst adolescents. It can be stated that Red Bull, Monster, or other beverages are the representatives of cool. Which cool teenager would not like snow boarding, skate boarding, monster trucks, air shows, Formula-1, cross motors, car racing or any other dangerous extreme sport like skydiving? (Helm, 2005) Therefore these producers target teenage buyers exactly they way they should be targeted. Does this seem unfair, or is this an example of perfect targeting? It must me mentioned that these energy drinks give the message to teens never to rest and always do something – to be always on the move. Today a usual American watches television approximately 4 hours 45 minutes per day (Shea et al. 2010, p. 165) hours per day. By the age an average teenager reaches the age of 21 he or she has watched more than 20 000 hours of television already. Most teenagers use the Internet throughout the day, however, only 28% of them looks for fitness and health tips (Oblinger, 2005). It is also stated that over 155 million children are overweight world wide, similarly in the United States and in the European Union, approximately 35% of adolescents are considered to be overweight or obese. (Shea et al. 2010, p. 166) Red Bull spends annually billions of dollars on not only sponsoring sports, but also building its own sports teams (Ho, 2006). Varying from numerous different sport categories, Red Bull attracts millions of teenagers towards these sports. For instance skate boarders Ryan Sheckler, Zered Bassett, Joey Brezinski, or Nick Dompierre are well known endorsers of Red Bull. They have millions of fans worldwide and hundreds of teenagers started skate boarding because of them. We can mention thousands of examples where an energy drink brand sponsored sport idol became the hero of teenagers. Because of these idols teenagers later on started doing sports instead of just sitting at home. Should parents thank Red Bull or Monster for doing this? Red Bull can easily reach its target audience through showing them how popular and trendy it is to drink their beverages. In the mean time they give the message to teenagers never to rest, and to do some sports, therefore they can become the cool and popular actors of their environment. Etical Behaviour After seeing what product Red Bull offers to teenagers, and knowing how these adolescents are reached, it is essential to take into consideration whether marketing tools of energy drink providers are ethical or not. The American Marketing Association clearly defines what is considered to be ethical from marketing point of view, however, it must be mentioned that acting ethically is always relative, it depends on the values and norms what a certain individual, or what the society tends to understand as ethical. American Marketing Association states that norms are the following: do not harm; foster trust in the marketing system; embrace ethical values; while ethical values are: honesty, responsibility, fairness, respect, transparency, citizenship (American Marketing Association, n. d.). Let us take a look at these one by one through the actions of Red Bull. Do not harm: ‘This means consciously avoiding harmful actions or omissions by embodying high ethical standards and adhering to all applicable laws and regulations in the choices we make. ‘ (American Marketing Association, n. d. ) We have seen that even though we cannot state clearly that energy drinks are harmful for teenagers, they could have negative effects if they are consumed un-responsibly. Red Bull strongly covers its decisions of the ingredients of beverages through a legal perspective. Currently the amount of caffeine and taurine are below the unhealthy limits, therefore Red Bull cannot be questioned from legal point of view. On the other hand if we take a look at a can of Red Bull it is not described clearly how many milligrams of caffeine or taurine could or should be consumed per day, or how many cans of energy drink can an adult drink without risking his or her health. Just like on the package of cigarettes or alcoholic beverages it should be mentioned in a visible, obvious way that drinking more than one can of energy drink per day could have harmful effects on health. Red Bull does not harm its buyers, however, the consumers should be educated more about the beverage. In return for this action Red Bull could be representing the care towards consumers. Foster trust in the marketing system: This means striving for good faith and fair dealing so as to contribute toward the efficacy of the exchange process as well as avoiding deception in product design, pricing, communication, and delivery of distribution (American Marketing Association, n. d. ). Red Bull communicates towards customers that their drinks will ‘Give you wings‘. They position themselves in the centre of extreme sports and parties where extra energy is essential. The picture they have built throughout the years is representing values of the company in an obvious, clear, and fair way. When we take a look at the price of a can of Red Bull it also represents that this beverage somehow stands out from other non-alcoholic drinks such as Coke or Sprite (Helm, 2005). Therefore they clearly give the message that this drink is something special and should be consumed only when the human body needs extra energy and wants to be on the top. Embrace ethical values: ‘This means building relationships and enhancing consumer confidence in the integrity of marketing by affirming these core values: honesty, responsibility, fairness, respect, transparency and citizenship. ‘ (American Marketing Association, n. d. ) Red Bull’s target audience is the male population, from teenagers to 25-30 year old adults (Helm, 2005), however, when looking at teenagers, those who really purchase – or pay for – the drinks are mostly their parents, of which Red Bull is confident, therefore they should give a message to the parents as well about honesty, responsibility, fairness, etc. Right now – according to previous studies of this paper – parents are the ones who trust the least these energy drinks and are scared of its negative effects on their teen children. Red Bull is honest, since what they state is true. Their beverage contains a high amount of taurine and caffeine that gives more energy and ‘wings‘. On the other hand it is hard to say they are responsible. They do not focus on telling their teen consumers that the drink can be harmful, and in the mean time they drag the adolescents to dangerous extreme sports. These surely will not win the trust of parents. Red Bull and other energy drink providers should win the trust of parents by either not letting teenagers drink their beverages, or create a certain type of drink that is – even if consumed un-responsibly – cannot have any negative effect on adolescents. All in all Red Bull’s actions of marketing are legally covered and they cannot be mentioned as an unethical company, however, certain restrictions and actions would make them appear in a much more positive scene. Conclusion and Recommendations We have come to the final conclusion that energy drinks contain ingredients that can be harmful for consumers – teens, adolescents, or adults – however; they are endangering health only if they are consumed irresponsibly. It is truly visible that the target audience of the highly caffeinated drinks are male adolescents (age 18-25), who tend to use more energy, or show the society how popular and cool they are. Sources have underlined that energy drinks are consumed by even younger teenagers, whose drinking habits may become dangerous, since they do not tend to focus on the healthy consumption of energy drinks. Red Bull and other similar beverage providers should put more focus on teenagers and provide them more details on how the energy drinks should be consumed. Marketers of Red Bull and other energy drinks focus obviously on gaining the highest market share possible, however, they are keeping all the necessary limits to be legally covered. Besides the possible unhealthy effects of the beverages these firm focus on sponsoring sports, which can help the health of teenagers in the long run, and attract them towards sports. The more they can effect teenagers to start doing some sports, the more helpful they can get for parents – therefore the presence of energy drinks on the market causes controversies. To avoid confrontation with parents in the future energy drink producers should focus more on educating consumers how to drink their beverages, and state clearly on the cans the ingredients of their products. The best possible solution would be to mention on the packaging visibly that teenagers below 18 should not consume energy drinks, or to create a product for younger teens that can be consumed without limits, at any time of the day. List of References American Marketing Association (n. d. ). Statement of Ethics. Available at: http://www. marketingpower. com/AboutAMA/Pages/Statement%20of%20Ethics. aspx (Accessed: 1 November 2011) Arlidge, J. (2004). How Red Bull woke up the teen market. The Guardian, 5 December [Online]. Available at: http://www. guardian. co. uk/media/2004/dec/05/advertising. formulaone (Accessed: 31 October 2011) Clauson et al. (2008). Safety issues associated with commercially available energy drinks. Pharmacy Today 14 (5), pp. 52–59. Conway, C. (2011). A Sports Marketing Success Story. Available at: http://www. sportsnetworker. com/2011/03/08/a-sports-marketing-success-story/ (Accessed: 29 October 2011) Helm, B. (2005). Energy Drinks Build Their Buzz. Bloomberg Businessweek, 5 January [Online]. Available at: http://www. businessweek. com/smallbiz/content/jan2005/sb2005015_8196_sb017. htm (Accessed: 29 October 2011) Ho, M. (2006). For Red Bull, Its Here, There and Everywhere. The Washington Post, 23 August [Online]. Available at: http://www. washingtonpost. com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/22/AR2006082201516. html (Accessed: 28 October 2011) Merchants of Cool, The (2001). Directed by Barak Goodman [DVD]. A Report on the Creators Marketers of Popular Culture for Teenagers. s. l. , PBS Nordqvist, C. (2004). French ban on Red Bull (drink) upheld by European Court. Available at: http://www. medicalnewstoday. com/releases/5753. php (Accessed: 29 October 2011) Oblinger, D. G. (2005). Educating the Net Generation. s. l. , s. n. Olson, J. (2011) For some kids, drinks can pack a risky punch. Star Tribune, 13 February [Online]. Available at: http://www. startribune. com/lifestyle/wellness/116136804. html (Accessed: 1 November 2011) Park, A. (2011). Energy Drinks May Harm Health, Especially for Children. The Time, 14 February [Online]. Available at: http://healthland. time. com/2011/02/14/energy-drinks-may-harm-health/#ixzz1cRphxGJE (Accessed: 28 October 2011) Parker-Pope, T. (2008). Energy drinks linked to risky behavior among teenagers. The New York Times, 27 May [Online]. Available at: http://www. nytimes. com/2008/05/27/health/27iht-27well. 13247828. html (Accessed: 28 October 2011) Sarasalin, K. , Watthanachai T. (2009). The internationalization process of Red Bull from the perspectives of global expansion. Master Thesis. Malardalen University. Shea B. , Harvey-Berino J. , Johnson R. (2010). Watching television: how does it influence the dietary quality of children?. Nutrition Bulletin 35(2) pp. 165-171. Academic Search Complete [Online]. Available at: http://web. ebscohost. com (Accessed: 1 November 2011) Sonneville K. , Gortmaker S. (2008). Total energy intake, adolescent discretionary behaviors and the energy gap. International Journal Of Obesity 32 (19-27). Academic Search Complete [Online]. Available at: http://web. ebscohost. com (Accessed: 1 November 2011).