Open Economy free essay sample

In an oversaw economy the legislature normally intercedes to impact the creation of products and ventures. In an open economy, advertise powers are permitted to decide creation levels. A totally open economy exists just in principle. For instance, no nation on the planet permits boundless free access to its business sectors. Most countries have financial and fiscal approaches that endeavor to improve their economies. Numerous economies that are open in certain regards may in any case have government possessed, monopolistic industries.A nation is considered to have an open economy, over, if its arrangements permit showcase powers to decide such issues as creation and evaluating. Chile and Argentina are instances of two nations that have moved or are moving from an oversaw economy to an open economy. Chile has driven the route for South America and Central American nations in receiving open economy and free market arrangements that have prompted more noteworthy flourishing. Because of its open economy, Chile turned into the quickest developing economy in Latin America from 1983 to 1993. We will compose a custom paper test on Open Economy or on the other hand any comparative point explicitly for you Don't WasteYour Time Recruit WRITER Just 13.90/page Among the means Chile took to make its economy progressively open was a decrease f its defensive levies to a uniform 11 percent, which was probably the most minimal rate on the planet. Such a decrease in taxes constrained its residential makers to turn out to be progressively serious in the global market. Therefore Chile improved its equalization of installments to the point of getting a charge out of an excess of $90 million of every 1 991 contrasted with a shortfall of $820 million in 1990.The nation turned out to be less reliant on its copper sends out as the economy broadened under new arrangements. Chile likewise improved its universal exchange by arranging a progression of reciprocal exchange understandings. In Argentina comparative measures were taken to advance an open economy, including increasingly great treatment Of remote financial specialists. An open economy gives indistinguishable treatment to remote financial specialists from it provides for its own speculators. Value controls were wiped out for most items, and a few administrative enterprises were privatized. Subsequently, Argentinas total national output expanded by 18 percent somewhere in the range of 1991 and 1995. By 1 997, be that as it may, an extending hole between the countrys most extravagant and least fortunate occupants caused across the board social distress. The progress from an oversaw economy to an open economy can be an official one. Following the breakdown of the Soviet Union, endeavors to build up unhindered commerce and an open economy in Russia brought about across the board difficulty among the countries working class and a bombed bank system.In Southeast Asia a false notions budgetary, financial, and social emergency ejected in 1998, uncovering that it was so hard to keep up a little open economy in nations, for example, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore. In South Korea, the countries president requested that its residents acknowledge across the board joblessness and insolvencies so as to push the nation toward an open economy by weak off government-possessed ventures. Germanys progress to an open economy brought about elevated levels of joblessness all through the country. Social, political, and monetary shakiness can be kept away from in nations advancing toward open economies, however local conditions must be ideal. For instance, states with ground-breaking administrations can set up ideal household financial conditions in the event that they have the correct belief system, acknowledge assorted variety, and accomplish authenticity according to their residents. For open economies to prevail in little nations that once in the past had overseen economies, ideal local conditions incorporate working training framework, lawful framework, legal framework, and low inflation.Such conditions give the strength important to an open economy to thrive. While the United States bolsters unhindered commerce and an open monetary approach, it has never been a totally open economy. The inconvenience of levies and obligations has consistently been a wellspring of income for the U. S. Government, as it has been for different administrations of the world. The contention between an open financial approach and the need to shield residential enterprises from out of line worldwide rivalry, was outlined during 1 998 as low-estimated steel brings into the United States from Japan tripled.President Clinton had to caution different countries that they must#xiii; play by the that secured dumping and other exchange rehearses the United States would press different countries to confine their fares to the United States. Business analysts perceive an open economy as being more proficient than an oversaw economy. In the 1 eighth century, financial analyst Adam Smith (1 723 1 790) composed Inquiry into the Nature and Causes Of the Wealth Of Nations to clarify the advantages of an open economy and facilitated commerce. He composed that intercessions in global exchange, for example, taxes and obligations, serve just to lessen the general abundance all things considered.

The Summary & Strong Response Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Summary and Strong Response - Essay Example It is additionally a reality that guardians power their youngsters to win so as to understand their desire to win. While it is imperative to have serious aptitudes in grown-up life, guardians decline the nature of youth encounters. Statsky states that game games are extremely particular and they don't let all kids to take part. The dread of disappointment is bolstered by this particularity as all kids become scared of being more terrible than others. At last, the writer proposes that it is smarter to concentrate on aptitudes to help out other youngsters until kids are mentally prepared to contend. The article by Statsky addresses significant issues, which embody how guardians cause their youngsters to grow up too rapidly. Bits of proof she gives draw an exhaustive picture where youth appears to not quite the same as what it ought to be. At the point when a 7-year old kid makes himself upchuck, youngsters hit one another or dread to lose the game, it implies that something is turning out badly with sport exercises they join. Fundamentally, youngsters are compelled to contend as opposed to appreciating the way toward playing and speaking with one another. Small kids figure out how to fulfill the needs settled by grown-ups to ace their exhibition in sports. Kids need to confront the revolting reality where the victor takes everything and it regularly causes them to endure. They have to show that they are the best to cause their folks to feel glad for them or request prizes for their accomplishments. Simultaneously, they need to stand the dread and the worry after the correspondence with their mentors, which isn't in every case benevolent. Despite the fact that Statsky specifies that Little League mentors need to go to brain research workshops to manage their aspirations and be increasingly delicate to kids, the unscripted TV dramas that they don't race to follow those rules. In most Hollywood motion pictures about game rivalries, mentors are delineated as disturbed, yelling and exacting individuals.

Californias Government

Californias Government California's Government California, likewise epithet the Golden State, was set up in 1850. The Compromise of 1850 made California a free state and the thirty-first state in the association. In 1848 gold was found in California making California the most significant real estate parcel of the United Stated. Starting today, California is the most extravagant and most impressive state in the country. One valid justification California picks up its riches is from the way that the individuals in a free majority rule government society rule California's arrangement of government.One of the establishments California's legislature is so significant and all around organized is through industrialist vote based system. Without common freedoms as our normal right, California's legislature wouldn't be a free majority rules system state without the voices of the individuals. Through the ability to speak freely, the individuals of California can give activity and submission to improve California's a rrangement of government.California's type of government is agent democracy.Big Sur, CaliforniaThe individuals of California choose their own congressperson, get together part, and other government officials to make and authorize laws and strategies that are passed by the individuals of California. This methodology where the individuals can propose a law or a protected correction is call activity. Our state government is run from the assent of the people.Almost like the US government, California has its own council. California governing body branch is a bicameral body that contains forty individual from the senate and eighty individuals for the get together. The senates are chosen for a long time and the get together part are chosen for just two years term. The congresspersons in a state congress have more force than the get together part. Every representative runs a locale with equivalent populace in every region as all congresspersons that administer a district.Like our country's leader, California voters additionally choose an official for run...

Writing a Confident and Thematically Driven Personal Statement for Fulbright

Like many large grant organizations, the Fulbright Foundation requires applicants to write both a statement of purpose and a personal statement. Regardless of your personal background, a strong personal statement for a large grant application like the Fulbright should always have a clear focus: the content of it should always serve the overarching project proposal that you’ve articulated in your statement of purpose. [For more about the statement of purpose, check out: Writing the Fulbright Statement of Purpose as a Practical Document.] 4 goals of your grant personal statement The personal statement is a persuasive text in which your job is to convince the reader that you are excited about and capable of achieving the impactful goals you have set for yourself. The choices that you make as you share your personal history should enable you to accomplish the following goals: Explain what drives you to carry out this particular project with an authentic sense of enthusiasm, passion, and commitment towards generating tangible impacts. Describe past experiences that have equipped you to carry out this particular project with a clear sense of cultural sensitivity, collaboration, and purpose. If your project plays a part in your overarching personal or professional trajectory, show the reader what you have already done to fulfill this mission. Show the committee what kinds of impacts you plan to have both as you carry out this project, and afterwards. How will the time that you spend on this grant contribute to a future that goes far beyond the project itself? Below I’ve included the personal statement that I wrote for a successful application to the Fulbright Brazil cohort of 2016. After the original essay, I have provided analysis that clearly shows the argumentative logic and supporting evidence in each paragraph. Fulbright personal statement example My Fulbright personal statement (Original text) I first studied Portuguese to expand my comparative engagement with Spanish Latin American literature as an undergraduate student. This literary curiosity, however, quickly unfolded into an overwhelming year of music, buses, warm tropical air, and full- time coursework as an exchange student at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro in 2007. Captivating Brazilian authors like Darcy Ribeiro and Machado de Assis pulled me deeper into the Portuguese language. The political power of Mà ºsica Popular Brasileira and the stark creativity of Cinema Novo forced me to reconsider my own historical perspectives regarding the increasingly visible and global role of regional cultures. After that year of international studies my relationship with Brazil continued to expand in dynamic ways. My first professional role at Glass Lewis required me to conduct research in Spanish and Portuguese, translating documents for the explicit purpose of assessing the monetary value of publicly traded companies in the Americas. There I realized that my affinity for language acquisition and critical thinking put me in a unique position to facilitate access to economic and cultural dialogues regarding the growing importance of Latin America and Brazil. After this experience I attended the University of Cambridge and wrote my thesis on 20th century visual and photographic representations of the U.S.-Mexico border. This project showed me that there are undeniable links between aesthetic representation, technology, politics and economic flows. By continuing my studies at the doctoral level and seeking opportunities to work with Latin America and Brazil, I make choices that allow me to facilitate public access to information, critical dialogue and multiple points of view in a variety of inte rnational contexts. In the classroom I have collaborated with Professor L. to teach students how to translate ethnographic narratives about musical experiences into research projects regarding relationships between global popular culture, technology and individual identities. I have spoken at several conferences about my collaboration with UCLA archivists to make a previously hidden collection of cordel accessible through a highly searchable and detailed Finding Aid at the Online Archives of California. Last year I consulted with a small educational start-up called Endless Mobile, a company that facilitates access to educational information for communities that only have intermittent access to the Internet. At Endless Mobile I served as a content strategist and developed tools for selecting and storing educational content that is now being used in classrooms all over Guatemala. The knowledge that I continue to develop and gain as I study Latin America and Brazil is only useful unless* I can share it with others. There are a variety of venues through which information can be made accessible to larger audiences, and they are not always in the classroom. In addition to my studies, experiences at Glass Lewis, the UCLA Library’s Special Collections and internet companies like Endless Mobile have shown me that that the stories we tell about relationships between the Americas, whether they are driven by financial or educational needs, play incredibly powerful roles in the contemporary world. As a student, translator, teacher and researcher I aim to participate in these conversations and search for better ways to make them possible. * This typo was in my original (and successful) proposal. â€Å"Unless† should be ‘if.† Analysis of the argument – paragraph by paragraph Paragraph 1 Persuasive goal: Explain my initial exposure to studying in the host country of Brazil as the root of my current desire to study the â€Å"increasingly visible and global role of regional cultures.† Evidence provided in paragraph: As I discuss my experiences studying abroad in Brazil, I clearly reference the main components of my project. The prominent content of my project: â€Å"literatura de cordel,† is an object of regional culture, and the complex mechanism I wish to consider: â€Å"global visibility,† results from processes of circulation and redistribution. Paragraph 2 Persuasive goal: Clearly show how my postgraduate experiences were a continuation of the interests I developed during my year abroad in Brazil. Evidence provided in paragraph: Whether in my professional role as a financial researcher, master’s student at Cambridge, or doctoral student at UCLA, I consistently chose to pursue complex questions related to â€Å"public access to information† in cross-cultural, multi-lingual, and global contexts. Again, in this paragraph I’ve chosen to narrate my professional history through the broadest theme of the project: redistribution. Paragraph 3 Persuasive goal: Demonstrate the active role that I currently play in the process of redistributing educational information through teaching, archival collaboration, and non-research work experiences. This paragraph ties together a diverse set of work experiences, and purposefully cuts through a number of institutional boundaries. By clearly narrating my recent non-research work experiences as a teacher, collaborative archivist, and content developer for an education start-up, I clearly state my capacity to carry out my mission both within and beyond the university setting. Paragraph 4 Hey there’s a typo in this paragraph, and I still made it through! Persuasive goal: Envision a future for myself that will allow me to have broad social impacts through a continuous practice of making information accessible in a variety of institutional settings. Evidence provided in paragraph: This paragraph clearly expresses a personal mission that is open to the future, wishes to make information available outside of the classroom, and can see beyond this singular project. I acknowledge the powerful nature of cultural relationships between the Americas and, in the final sentence; I firmly plant myself in the contemporary world, even though my object of study is from the past. Bottom line: what I learned Hindsight is 20/20. Even though I didn’t know how the events, activities, and interests of my past experiences would add up while they were happening, the personal statement was a chance for me to confidently show the committee that I was passionate about and prepared to achieve the project-based goals that I set for myself. Need help navigating the grant application writing process? Looking for personalized guidance for your personal statement? Learn how your Accepted advisor can help you achieve your educational and professional goals. By Rebecca Lippman, Accepted consultant. Prior to working at Accepted Rebecca worked as a Student Affairs Advisor at the UCLA Scholarship Resource Center. She has taught undergraduate and graduate students how to write large grant applications for grants awarded by organizations such as Fulbright Student Program, Gates Cambridge Scholarship, Knight-Hennessy Scholars, Ford Foundation, Paul Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans, and the National Science Foundation. Rebecca has a masters degree from University of Cambridge, and is currently pursuing a PhD in Comparative Literature at UCLA. Want Rebecca to help you get Accepted? Click here to get in touch! Related Resources: †¢ 5 Fatal Flaws to Avoid in Your Grad School Statement of Purpose, a free guide †¢ What I Learned about Grant Writing from Putting Together 3 Fulbright Applications Before Finally Being Selected †¢ The Personal Statement That Got Me a Large Scholarship to Cambridge

The arguable area of Financial Research in the use of Capital Structures - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 18 Words: 5437 Downloads: 6 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Economics Essay Type Research paper Did you like this example? Capital structure is one the arguable area of financial research and the mystery of debt and equity equation in firms capital structure is not completely clarified. However, the tax shield benefit of debt financing obviously accepted and understood by both financial managers and researchers. There are three approaches of capital structure. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "The arguable area of Financial Research in the use of Capital Structures" essay for you Create order At on extreme, net income (NI) approach (Durand, 1952) states that firm can lessen its cost of capital and thus increase its value by debt financing. In contrast, net operating income (NOI) approach, also proposed by Modigliani and Miller (1958) claims that firms value and capital structure are independent and debt and equity financing create the same value. Solomon (1963) introduced intermediate approached of capital structure, also known as traditional approaches, which explains that the firms value increase when financial leverage rises and it becomes constant on designated level of debt and finally the firms value decrease. In fact this approach holds the concept of optimal capital structure. In other word, the companies should have a target capital structure and follow it in order to increase firms value. Various theories of capital structure have been developed during past five decades that mainly tried to illustrate relation between capital structure and firms value, and al so find important factors of effect capital structure selection. At the same time, vast amount of empirical studies have tried to test and confirm capital structure theories, however, they have shown various results regarding effectiveness of these theories. The aim of this chapter is to introduce the primary theoretical themes that have evolved to explain capital structure vagueness. It is also intended to review the main empirical research that have been studied to test correlation between firms characteristics and capital structure to present some of the evidence that have been collected. The structure of this chapter is as follows. Main capital structure theories are explained in section 2.2, in section 2.3 firms characteristics and capital structure are discussed, and results of selected empirical studies are reviewed in section 2.4. 2.2 Capital structure theories Modigliani and Miller (1958) introduced modern theory of capital structure known as MM theory that basically considered as a foundation of modern corporate finance. Modigliani and Miller theorem consist of two distinct propositions under certain assumptions. The two propositions declared under assumption of perfect capital market and in the absence of bankruptcy cost, transaction cost, symmetry information and the world without tax. MM Proposition I: argue that the firm value and capital structure are independent, it means that whatever capital structure selected for the firm the value would be the same. In other word under this proposition, the value of levered firm (VL) is the same as unlevered one (VUL) and managers should not worry about the firm capital structure and they can freely choose whatever composition of debt and equity. VL=VUL MM Proposition II: claims that cost of equity increase with leverage because risk to equity rise as well, so weighted average cost of capital remain constant as lower cost of debt compensate with higher cost of equity. In other world, cost of equity remains constant with any degree of leverage, and it is a linear function of debt equity ratio. However, Modigliani and Miller (1963) evolved their propositions under presence of corporate tax rate (t) while keeping other assumptions. They argue that the value of firms increase with rise of financial leverage as they do not pay tax on their interest paid (D) to debt holders. Furthermore, weighted average cost of capital is not constant and result of linear function of debt to equity ratio. Because ,firm do not pay tax on interest paid to debt holders ,weighted average of cost of capital decreases as financial leverage rises. VL=VUL+ tD Friend and Lang (1988) states that there is a negative relation between profitability and Debt which is inconsistent with MM theory as the more profitable firm should use more debt in order to increase tax shield benefit of deb t. Modigliani and Miller propositions are difficult to test directly (Myers,2001).Furthermore, Fosberg and Paterson (2010) points out MM theory have been rarely tested by researchers in an exact form described by MM; however there has been some testing of application of theses propositions. Fosberg and Paterson (2010) tested MM equation in the exact form specified by MM and concluded that: ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ¦neither the MM tax nor the no-tax valuation equations are accurate predictors of firm value. Specifically, the value of the unlevered firm accounts for much less of firm value than predicted and the sign of the coefficient of the interest tax shield variable is negative, instead of positive as MM predict. However, MM theory is not applicable in real world with transaction and bankruptcy cost. 2.2.1 Pecking order theory The pecking order theory (Myers and Majluf, 1984) is a capital structure model based on asymmetry of information between insiders and outsiders that first introduced by Donaldson (1961). The main idea of this theory is that managers have private information about firms performance, projects and prospective which are not available for outsider investors, so the selection of firms capital structure shed light on outside investors about information of insiders. Consequently, investors will perceive investment decision without issuing securities as a positive signal, while they considered issuing share as negative sign that reduce share price which they willing to pay. The information asymmetry may bring about manager give up positive NPV projects in order to avoid share price falling, since they assume to act in interested of shareholders. To eliminate this underinvestment problem, managers try to finance new projects in a way that is not undervalued by market. According to this th eory (Meyer, 1984), there is no specific target capital structure for the firms. It states that in pecking order model firms adopt hierarchical order of financing, which means that managers prefer internal financing over external financing and debt over equity whenever external funding is unavoidable; also mangers prioritize short debt over long term debt. Internal funds compel no floatation cost and need no disclosure of financial information and firm prospects including firms potential gain and investment opportunities. The pecking order theory envisages that amount of debt goes up when investment exceeds internal funds and decrease when amount of investment is fewer than internal financing resources. So as long as firms cash inflow exceed firms capital expenditure, there is no need for external financing. Since introducing pecking order theory in 1984, some empirical studies have been conducted to test this theory, Shyam-Sunder and Myers (1999) studied small sample of firms fr om 1971 to 1989 and find supporting result for pecking order model. Frank and Goyal (2003) used a large sample of the firm and find less supportive result for pecking order theory .However, they point out that larger firms show better pecking order model performance than smaller firms which is in line with to pecking order theory. Since smaller firms have higher potential for information asymmetry than larger firms, which is main deriver of pecking order theory. De Jong et al (2010) studied US firm over 1971-2005 and find that small firms do not behave according to pecking order theory that support notion of asymmetry information in pecking order model. Vidal and UGED (2005) describe limitation for Myers and Majluf (1984) model of pecking order theory. Firstly, they claim that Myers and Majluf model refers to American market which firms offered their share mostly through firm commitment underwriting and not right issue .Hence, when the share price is undervalued, the wealth shift form current share holder to new share holders, while in right offering current share holder can benefit from priority of buying share which reduce probability of wealth transfer. Secondly, they argue that this theory mainly describes listed companies and relinquishes non listed companies. Basically small -medium enterprise (SME) have limited access to capital market (Holmes and Kent, 1991) and financing choice for them is restricted to retain earning and loan. Fama and French (2005) challenged pecking order theory as they find companies issue equity frequently and issue equity even when the internal funding is available or they can issue debt. 2.2.2 Trade off theory This theory holds (DeAngelo and Masulis ,1980) an optimal capital structure based on balance between advantage and disadvantage of debt financing. In other word the optimal capital structure is a debt equity ratio that benefits of debt compensate with financial distress arising from marginal debt. Advantage of debt financing: Debt financing reduce amount of tax revenue as a portion of interest paid to creditors (Modigliani and Miller, 1963), moreover it lessen agency cost between shareholders and mangers. This kind of agency problem refers to interest conflict between owners of firms and managers (Jensen and Meckling, 1976). This theory state that corporate manager, agents, will follow their own interest ,they looking for high salary, job security, prerequisites , better facility and may even assets and cash flows of the companies. Furthermore, managers tend to increase investment and develop the size of the company even if there is no benefit for the shareholders. This behavior of manager is known as empire building. However investors can control agent by methods of monitoring and controlling, but these methods are more costly and subject to decreasing return. Based on Free cash flow theory(Jensen ,1986) debt can reduce this kind of agency cost, in a way that company must pay interest to creditors which reduce available cash flow to the managers. So, instead of inefficient use of money by managers part of cash flow is given to creditors. Disadvantage of debt financing :The disadvantage of financial leverage comprise of bankruptcy cost and agency cost occurring between shareholders and debt holders (Jensen and Meckling, 1976) .This sort of agency cost arising from interest conflicts between shareholders ,or their agents, and debt holders. If investors perceive this kind of risk, they demand higher return for their investment which consequently increase cost of debt financing. There are three types of conflicts happen between bond holders and sharehol ders. The first conflict is asset substitution problem (Jensen and Meckling, 1976) .in which manger has incentive to take riskier projects when amount of debt increase. it is simply because if project succeed ,shareholders obtain benefits and ,if project fail debt holder get disadvantage since shareholders have limited liability. The second conflict is wealth transfer from debt holder to shareholders (Smith and Warner ,1979) in a way that board of directors , as representative of shareholders, increase amount of dividend as expense of debt holders. Third conflict between shareholders and debt holder is underinvestment problem (Myers,1977) that mainly occur under financial distress .Since under this situation gains from new projects is taken by bond holders ,shareholders have less incentive to undertake these projects even with positive present value. According to trade off theory profitable firms should use interest tax shield as they have more taxable income (Myers, 2001). In ot her word, trade off theory doesnt support negative relation between profitability and debt. Moreover this theory is consistent with some clear fact, for instance, the companies with moderately safe, tangible assets tend to use more debt than companies with variable and intangible assets. Figure 1 2.3 Determinant of capital structure There are different factors that can affect firms capital structure. These factors can be classified in two groups as external and internal factors (Antoniou et al, 2002). The external factors arising from firms environment and basically could not be controlled by firms mangers such as countrys economic, institutional factors. Rajan and Zingales (1995) find that institutional factors including tax code, bankruptcy law, and development of capital market affect firm capital structures. Holmstrom and Tiroles (1997) argue that small firms have tougher constrain than larger firms for external financing, and so, macroeconomic and institutional factors have higher impact on their leverage . Demirg and Maksimovic (1995) investigate relationship between domestic capital market development and firm leverage and find significant negative relation between domestic market development and leverage. Schmukler and Vesperoni (2001) studied relation between counrys financial liberalizations and l everage .They find that financial librization do not change leverage ratio ,but it change debt structure and rises portion of short term debt. Deesomsak et all (2004) studied determinant of capital structure among Asian pacific countries and find that capital structure is affected by firm environment. They show that 1997 Asian economic crisis have had a significant effect on firms capital structure . .Voulgaris et all (2004) studied determinant of capital structure of Greek companies and find that strict monetary and fiscal regulation have more impact on small firms than large firms. De Jong et al (2008) studied determinant of firm capital structure across the world and demonstrate that specific determinant of capital structure vary across the counties and also shows countrys specific factors have indirect effect on firm specific determinant of capital structure. Internal factors are those attribute that can be controlled, may not completely, by firms managers such as firms chara cteristics. This study focus on important factor of capital structure in both developed (Rajan and Zingales, 1995) and developing (Booth et al,. 2001) countries including asset structure, profitability, growth opportunity , liquidity,and business risk. 2.3.1 Growth According to pecking order theory growth and leverage have positive relationship. The main idea behind this relationship is that growth firms need more fund than lower growth firms ,and hence, they probably require external financial recourses ,and preferably debt financing, for new projects ( De Jong,1999). Jung et al. (1996) argue that firm with growth opportunity should use equity financing in order to reduce agency cost between managers and shareholders. Whereas companies with less growth opportunity should use debt financing (Stulz,1990). Organizational life stage theory is another explanation for growth opportunity and debt financing. In fact organizational life stage theory design for strategic management field ,but there is a rational link between this theory and capital structure . The simple premise of organizational life stage theory is that firms, the same as living creature, have different life phases and pass through startup , growth, maturity and decline stage (Bl ack ,1998). It states that business risk reduce over firm life stage as firm become more stable and it allow financial risk rises (Bender and ward, 1993). In other word there is a negative relation between business risk and financial risk which is mainly concluded from trade off theory of capital structure. Hence ,based on organizational life stage theory, firms should finance with equity in earlier stage and use more debt as they develop. Chang et all (2009) studied determinant of capital structure and find that growth is the most important determinant of firms capital structure. Relationship between growth opportunity and debt has been studied by many researchers. Long and Malitz(1985) ,Titman and( Wessels 1988) Chung (1993) ,Rajan and Zingales (1995),Barclay and smith (1999) find that there is a negative relation between firm growth opportunity and leverage. While Hall et al. (2000) demonstrate that growth opportunity is positively related to short debt ratio and negatively re lated to long term debt ratio. 2.3.2 Asset structure Asset structure is another determinant of capital structure. There are mainly two groups of asset, tangible and intangible, and each group of assets has own effects on firm capital structures. As tangible asset can be used as collateral , companies with more tangible assets can use debt as financial resources with lower cost . Furthermore, tangible assets reduce moral hazard risks ,because tangible assets convey a positive signal to creditors in case of firms default and selling of firms assets. According to trade off theory, when tangible assets use as collateral, reduce bankruptcy cost which turn increase credibility and accessibility to debt market . Also based on pecking order theory tangibility reduce asymmetry information between insider and outsider. Pecking order theory predicts positive relation between tangibility and debt financing. However, Berger and Udel (1994) ague that firms who have close relationship with creditors need less collateral, because they convey more in formation to creditors and reduce asymmetry information risk. While majority of studies show positive relation between tangibility and leverage ( Rajan and Zingales, 1995; Frank and Goyal, 2003;Niu.2008;Liu et al 2009), some studies demonstrate negative relation between tangibility and leverage (Booth et al, 2001; Huang and Song ,2002). It is state that relationship between tangibility and leverage affected by type of debt. Hall et all (2004) studied determinant of capital structure among European companies and find that tangibility negatively related to short term debt while positively correlated to long term debt. Also, Sogorb-Mira (2005) find supportive result for negative relation between tangibility and short term debt ,and argue that negative relation between tangibility and short term debt may explain with maturity matching principle, where firms try to finance fixed assets with long term debt and working capital needs with short term debt. 2.3.3 Profitability Profitability can effects debt financing in two directions .Based on pecking order theory there is a negative relation between profitability and debt financing. Since, profitable companies generated enough cash which turn can be used as source of internal financing. Shyam-Sunder and Myers (1999) argue that avers relation between profitability and leverage is consistent with pecking order theory. On the other hand trade off theory predicted positive relation between profitability and leverage. As profitable company generates more available cash for management opportunities for using cash inefficiency and unnecessarily manners that increase agency cost between managers and shareholders. So, Debt financing is the best remedy for overcoming this problem (Jenson, 1986). Effect of profitability on leverage has been studied by many researchers . Morri and Cristanziani (2009) studied capital structure of UK Property companies and assert that profitability is the most important determina nt of capital structure for UK property companies , and it aversely related to leverage.Many studies (Titman and Wessels 1988; Rajan and Zingals,1995;Fama and French 2002;Hovakimian et al 2004) find negative relation between profitability and debt level . Whereas some researchers argue there is positive relation between profitability and leverage. MacKay and Phillips (2001) state that leverage positively correlated with profitability. Gaud et all (2007) studied debt equity choice among European firms and find that ROA, as proxy of profitability, positively correlated with debt issue versus Equity issue. They argue that for European profitable firms, debt financing use as a disciplinary device for controlling mangers performance. 2.3.4 Liquidity Liquidity is another determinant of capital structure which has been described in many capital structure literatures. Based on pecking order theory firm s liquidity has negative impact on leverage. The rationale behind this relationship is that liquidity reduce need for debt financing as more liquid firms have more cash to use and vice versa. Also trade of theory predict negative relation between liquidity and leverage, since shareholder of firm with more liquid assets can easier use them at the expense of bondholders which create interest conflict for both parties. Myers and Rajan (1998) state when out side creditors face agency cost arising from high liquidity, they limit amount of debt available to the firm. 2.3.5Business risk Business risk can be considered as an influential factor on the firm capital structure choice. Business risk will increase financial distress cost and so rise cost of external financing. According to both trade off and pecking order theory ,there is a negative relationship between business risk and debt ratio. 2.4 Review of selected article 2.4.1 Review of main articles in developed countries The capital structure theories mentioned in the perviuos sections relate to effects of firm characteristics on capital structure. The empirical studies regarding determinant of capital structure started in 1980s and one the major studies was performed by Titman and Wessels in 1988 that studied determinant of capital structure among US companies from 1974 to 1982. They introduced an analytical model regarding important factors of capital structure selection and studied impact of firms size, uniqueness, asset structure, growth, profitability, volatility and non-debt tax shield on the firms capital structure and find that firm past profitability and uniqueness negatively related to debt equity ratio ,while firm size positively related to long term debt and aversely correlated with short term debt. They also indicate that firms asset structure, future growth, volatility and non-debt tax shield have no impact on capital structure choice. Another study which widely cited in capital struc ture literatures comes from Rajan and zingals (1995) research. They studied determinant of capital structure among G7 countries ( United states ,Japan ,Germany, United Kingdom ,Canada, Italy and France) and analyze institutional differences and impact of firms size, growth opportunity, profitability and asset structure on capital structure choice across these countries . Rajan and zingals (1995) find that firms size and tangibility positively correlated with leverage, while firms profitability and growth opportunity negatively related to leverage across G7 countries, except Germany where firms size negatively and profitability positively related to leverage. Their findings are consistent with capital structure theories, however in the case of Firms size and leverage in Germany, they do not find any rational explanation for their result. Miguel and Pindado (2001) investigates impact of firm and institutional characteristics on capital structure of Spanish companies based on trade off theory of capital structure .The target adjustment model was employed to clarify firm characteristics and institutional factors that affect capital structure. Financial information of 133 non listed Spanish companies for the period of 1990 to 1997 is used in this study. They used two proxies for leverage based on book value and market value of assets, and they employed four independent variables including no-debt tax shield, financial distress cost, investment and free cash flow. The results show that financial distress cost and non-debt tax shield negatively correlated with leverage while investment and leverage positively related. Also there is a negative relationship between cash flow and leverage which shows firm prefer to use internal source over external source of fund. Bevan and Danbolt (2002) studied determinant of capital structure among UK firms from 1987 to1990.They extended Rajan and zingals analysis of UK Firms by investigating impact of firms size, growth opport unity, profitability and tangibility on level of gearing and find the same result as previous Rajan and zingals did. Their study find that short term debt negatively correlated with tangibility, while long term debt show positive correlation. Furthermore, they find firm size aversely correlated with short term bank borrowing, and positively relate to long term debt and short term paper debt. Hovakimian and Tehranian (2004) studied determinant of capital structure by investigating dual equity and debt issuers from 1992 to 2000. They tested theoretical theories of capital structure including trade off theory, pecking order theory and market timing theory by examining impact of market and operating performance factors on firm optimal capital structure. Their result imply that firm with high growth opportunity have a low target debt ratio which is consistent with pecking order theory. On the other hand, in line with market timing theory, their result demonstrate that high stock retur n amplify possibility of equity issuing ,but possibility of debt issuing is not influenced by stock return. They also find that unprofitable firms tend to issue equity in order to counterbalance excessive leverage arising from cumulative losses. Gaud, Jani, Hoesli and Bender (2005) analyze determinant of capital structure for Swiss companies listed on Swiss stock exchange based on pecking order and trade off theory. They used financial information of 104 Swiss companies from 1991 to 2000. The study used two proxies for leverage based on book value and market value of total debt divided by total assets, and employed five explanatory variables including tangibility, growth, size , financial distress cost and profitability. The result shows size and tangibility positively correlated with leverage, while profitability and growth adversely related to leverage. The relationships between variables shows that capital structure of Swiss firm can be explained by both trade off theory and p ecking order theory ,however it is more in line with trade off theory. Also they claim that macroeconomic factors have important impact on capital structure.` Chang and Lee (2009) extended study of Titman and Wessels (1988) by applying Multiple Indicators and Multiple Causes (MIMIC) model and find more rigorous result than Titman and Wessels. They find that firm growth opportunity is the most important determinant of firms debt and equity choice which followed by profitability, tangibility, volatility, non-debt tax shield and uniqueness. However, firm size excluded from their study due to unmet statistical criteria needed by MIMIC model .Their study demonstrates growth opportunity and profitability have both negative and positive impact on leverage depending on measurement of growth opportunity and profitability. Also they find mixed result regarding relationship between uniqueness and leverage based on applying different proxy for firm uniqueness. 2.4.2 Review of selected articles in developing countries Eriotis (2007) explores relationship between firm characteristics and capital structure of Greek companies listed on Athens Stock Exchange (ASE). Numbers of 129 Greek companies that all listed in the market in 1996 and none of them was expelled during the period 1997-2001 were chosen in this study. They point out that debt ratio positively related to firm size. While, liquidity and interest coverage ratio are negatively related to leverage, also negative relation between the growth of the firm and debt ratio is observed. According to the results of the dummy variable, they find strong evidence that there is a capital structure differentiation among the firms which heavily use debt capital (more than 50 per cent of their total assets) and those that use less debt capital. Karadeni , Kandir , Balcilar and Onal (2009) studied capital structure of lodging companies listed on Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) based on pecking order theory and trade off theory. Financial information of fi ve listed lodging companies out of eight companies for the period of 1994 to 2006 and dynamic fixed effects panel data model were used in this study . Study finding shows that profitability, tangibility and effective tax rate are conversely related to leverage, while free cash flow, non-debt tax shield, growth and net commercial position have insignificant parameter estimates at the 5 per cent level and do not appear to be related to the debt ratio of lodging companies. The findings partially support the pecking order theory, however the capital structure of Turkish lodging company fully explained by neither trade off theory nor pecking order theory. Ramlall (2009) investigates capital structure of non-listed and non-financial Mauritian companies based on modified pecking order theory. He employed financial information of 450 non listed companies for the period of 2005 to 2006, however and final sample due to presence of outlier reduced to 395 firms. On interesting is that he use d nine dependent variables as proxy of leverage including total liability, long and short term liability, long and short term loan, long and short term lease, long and short term lease and overdraft. Also he employed eight exploratory variables including size, tangibility, profitability, non-debt tax shield, liquidity, age, investment and growth. The study find that non-debt tax shield, profitability and growth do not significantly correlated with leverage. In line with pecking order theory, tangibility and leverage have positive correlation; also liquidity has negative impact on leverage. Also he find that investment and lease positively related, but investment and loans negatively correlated. Moreover, age has negative impact on loan and debt. He find that firm firstly use lease and then get a loan ,also in case of leases firm use short term lease prior to ling term leases. Liu , Ren, and Zhuang ( 2009) studied determinant of capital structure of Chinese IT companies. They inve stigate relationship between six independent variables including firm size, tangibility, liquidity, profitability, growth potential and growth opportunity with firm leverage as a dependent variable. The study find firm size and leverage positively but not significantly correlated, profitability and leverage negatively correlated since firms use retained profit as a quickest financial recourse compare to security issuing. They find that there is a positive relationship between tangibility and leverage and negative relationship between liquidity and leverage. They claim that firm with higher liquidity ratio can use internal source of fund rather than external ones. The study shows that both potential growth and growth opportunity have negative but not significant relation with leverage. The study concluded that determinant of capital structure for Chinese IT firms are the same as determinant of capital structure in western companies. 2.4.3 Review of selected cross countries articles Deesomask,Paudyal and Pescetto (2004) investigate impact of country and firm specific factor on capital structure by selecting companies from four Asia Pacific countries which has different legal, financial and corporate governance systems, also investigate the potential influence of the 1997 financial crisis on the capital structure decision process. The sample consist of 294 Thai, 669 Malaysian, 345 Singaporean, and 219 Australian non-financial firms listed in the related national stock exchanges for the period of 1993 to 2001.They find that ,first firm size has positive impact on debt ratio, while growth opportunity, liquidity and business risk have negative impact on debt ratio. Second, the capital structure determinant is different among countries ,for instance firm size has no significant impact on capital structure of Singapore companies and profitability is the most important determinant of capital structure for Malaysian companies. Third, the 1997 Asian financial crisis ch ange role of country and firm specific factors, for instance the relationship between debt ratio, growth opportunity and non-debt tax shield with debt ratio is different during period before and after crisis. They concluded that capital structure not only influenced by firm characteristics but also influenced by countrys legal and institutional structure. De jong,Kabir and Nguyen (2008) analyze importance of both specific country and firm determinant of capital structure by using sample of 42 countries. Financial information of 11845 companies from 42 countries which were chosen equally from developed and developing countries for the period of 1997 to 2001. They choose seven independent variable including ,profitability ,tax ,tangibility, growth, risk ,liquidity and profitability in order to clarify impact of firm specific factors .Furthermore they employ thirteen country specific factors including creditor right protection, legality, bond market development ,stock market develop ment, GDP growth rate, Market based financial system, efficiency of judicial system, Standardized enforcement, corruption, capital formation, shareholders right protection and rule of law. They find that tangibility, risk, profitability, size and growth as firm specific factors are significant predictors of capital structure in line with capital structure theories. Also they specify that GDP growth rate, Bond market development and creditor right protection have significant impact on leverage. 2.4.4 Review of main articles in Iran Bagherzadeh (2004) studied determinant of capital structure of Iranian listed companies based on main capital structure theories . financial information of 158 out of 252 companies listed on Tehran stock exchange from 1999 to 2003 employed in this study. Four independent variables including profitability, tangibility, growth opportunity and size against one dependent variable based on book and market value were used in this study. Findings show that leverage has a positive relationship with profitability , tangibility and size, while it has a negative relationship with growth opportunity. Results didnt support capital structure theoris. Salehi and Biglar (2009) impact of firm performance on capital structure of Iranian listed companies by applying different theory of capital structure .Financial information of 117 companies listed on Tehran stock Exchange for the period of 2002 to 2007 selected in this study .Five independent variable selected in this study including return on i nvestment (ROI),return on equity (ROE),resturn on stock (RET),earning before tax to sale ratio ( EBT/sale),operational profit to sale (OPR/sale). Three measures of leverage used in this study based on book value ,market value and adjusted market value.The results show negative relation between ROI and all three measure of leverage and ROE and RET have positive relation with book value ,while they have negative relation with market value and adjusted market value .Both EBT/sale and OPR/sale have negative relation with all three measure of leverage .The Reasons behind using of debts by Iranian companies may be constant interest rate in any level of debt and risk. Totally, with respect to observed link between capital structure and performance, the conclusion is that company that has high profitability and good performance have less debt. Shahjahanpour,Ghalambor and Aflatooni (2010) examines capital structure of Iranian listed companies based pecking order and trade off theory of ca pital structure. Financial information of 248 out of 449 compnies listed on Tehran Stock Exchange for the period of 2007 to 2008 and follwing regression model were used in this study. Y=ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ²0 + ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ²1(Liq) + ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ²2 (Etr) + ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ²3 (Pr) + ÃÆ'Ã… ½Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ²4 (Ndts) + e Four independents variables used in this study including liquidity (LIq), Effective tax rate (Etr), Payout ratio (Pr) , Non debt tax shield ( NDTS) and firm Uniqueness which which has been excluded due to data limitation . Moreover two proxies as Short term debt ratio (STDR) and long term debt ratio (LTDR) employed in this paper. Findings show that 79 percent of variation in short term debt ratio and 49 percent of variation in long term debt ratio were explained by independent variables .Results demonstrate that liquidity ,payout ratio and effective tax rate have significant effect on both short term and long term debt, while non-debt tax shield has non significan ce effect. In line with pecking order theory reverse significance relation between liquidity with both short and long term ratio observed ,Also positive significance relation between payout ratio and long term debt observed . Furthermore positive relation between effective tax rates observed. All in all, 60% of the results are in line with the pecking order theory, and the 40% are consistent with the static trade off theory. So, Iranian capital structure decisions are better explained by pecking order theory over trade off theory.

Essay about A Clean Well Lighted Place by Ernest Hemingway

â€Å"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place† â€Å"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place,† was written in 1933, by Ernest Hemingway. The main characters in the story are two waiters, one old, one young and an older man who is their customer in the cafà © on the evening the story takes place. There are three main elements of style portrayed in the short story, â€Å"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place.† The elements of imagery, symbolism and irony, are illustrated throughout the short story, in turn leading to the theme of despair. Imagery is the first element shown when describing the cafà ©. (1st paragraph) The elements of light and dark come into play when talking about the â€Å"old man who sat in the shadow the leaves of the tree made against the electric light. In the day time†¦show more content†¦The reason this becomes symbolic is because the story is about religion and being Catholic, and being a Catholic, it is believed to be a sin if you commit suicide and you do not go to Heaven. The older man stated the prayer by saying â€Å"Our nada who art in nada, nada be thy name†¦Ã¢â‚¬  which he is inferring that he feels nothing, nothing is there and nothing is going to help. Irony is the other element of style found in the story. In the closing lines of â€Å"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place,† it is evident that the author and the waiter are not identical. (p. 181) In the last line of the story, the older waiter says to himself â€Å"After all it is probably only insomnia. Many must have it.† After reading the entire story and then reading the quotation prior, the reader already knows that this is not just â€Å"insomnia,† but the waiter’s grim view of â€Å"nada† or nothingness. The irony of this sentence explains that he does not realize he is dropping into despair because he is in denial. The theme of despair in â€Å"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place† is clearly depicted through all three elements of s tyle: imagery, symbolism, and irony. Each element of style helps the reader to fully understand the importance of the older waiters’ denial therefore leading him into despair. In order to overcome this fear or denial one must have an understanding of faith specifically Catholicism as seen in theShow MoreRelatedA Clean Well-Lighted Place, by Ernest Hemingway990 Words   |  4 Pages Ernest Hemingway’s short story, A Clean Well Lighted Place, created literary controversy when it was initially published in 1933. During this time, there were several literary critics concerned with the dialogue inconsistencies. In the original story, the reader would not be able to distinguish between the two waiters. Hemingway failure to identify the characters by name leaves the story flawed according to the literary critics. Hemingway does not go into the mind of any characters butRead MoreA Clean, Well Lighted Place By Ernest Hemingway1640 Words   |  7 Pages â€Å"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place† is possibly one of Hemingway’s most excellent short stories. It depicts the techniques of his signature writing style. The narrative is a perfect example of an initiation story, a short story that focuses on the key character that comes across a concept, encounter, practice or knowledge he never knew. The characters in his story are the old man, young waiter, and the old waiter. Hemingway employs a number of literary tools in the story to convey his themes of lifeRead MoreA Clean, Well Lighted Place By Ernest Hemingway1034 Words   |  5 PagesErnest Hemingway developed his own style of writing and follows it in â€Å"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place†. Hemingway’s elegance in writing is such that he indirectly gives all of the information to the reader without making any judgment; thus allowing one to create an opinion about every minute detail of the story. Hemingway illustrates his foundations of writing in â€Å"A Clean, Well-Li ghted Place† by providing small clues that provide an indirect view of the larger meaning. Hemingway illustrates one ofRead MoreA Clean, Well Lighted Place By Ernest Hemingway1950 Words   |  8 Pageseverything humanity values in life is utterly meaningless. The author Ernest Hemingway is one of the few people who understands this concept of a pointless life. In his short story, â€Å"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place,† Hemingway reveals the principle of existentialism, that life is inherently meaningless and people must attempt to give their own lives purpose, through an analysis of the inner workings of life as a human. Hemingway first reveals life’s meaningless nature through a description of the coreRead MoreA Clean, Well Lighted Place By Ernest Hemingway1628 Words   |  7 PagesIn Ernest Hemingway’s â€Å"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place† the use of plot, symbolism, characters, and theme creates an intricate and complex story line. The elements of plot keep the readers engaged by guiding the reader though the story. Hemingway emphasizes on despair, loneliness, and isolation as major themes in his short story to help the reader understand the main idea. The themes represent the challenge of finding meaning in life. He also challenges the reader’s understanding of compassion thoughRead MoreA Clean, Well Lighted Place By Ernest Hemingway1024 Words   |  5 PagesWhen profound emotions and heartfelt experiences lay beneath a narrative subtext, a simple short story can become an elaborate puzzle where one continues to discover new pieces. Ernest Hemingway’s, â€Å"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place† is a fascinating short story that has a powerful theme of ‘nothingness’ and ‘loneliness’ enveloped beneath its dialogue. This short story’s re-readability pulls us, the reader, back into its’ text just to discover that a specific character’s dialogue could elude to yet anotherRead MoreA Clean, Well Lighted Place By Ernest Hemingway1854 Words   |  8 PagesErnest Hemingway is a noble prize winner that is noticed as one of the great American twentieth century writers, and is known for works like â€Å"The Sun Also Rises† and â€Å"For Whom the Bell Tolls†. When first reading Ernest Hemingway’s short story â€Å"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place† it seemed to be a plain, emotionless, and almost not finished short story. Although, as the reader looks deeper into the short story, they realize it’s not just about a clean, quiet, well lighted cafà © that has two employees thatRe ad MoreA Clean, Well Lighted Place By Ernest Hemingway972 Words   |  4 Pagesin a Clean, Well-Lighted Place Despair is an emotion that can rob one’s joy, inner peace, and eventually, life. The desire for serenity is usually sought after by a person whose life is futile and is at his or her wit’s end. That individual is usually left with no other alternative but to come to the realization that if he or she fails at his or her attempts (such as suicide) to alleviate despair, then the opportunity of finding peace and comfort is an alternative worth pursuing. In Ernest Hemingway’sRead MoreA Clean, Well Lighted Place By Ernest Hemingway849 Words   |  4 Pagesin life, and try to make rational existing in an irrational universe. The fact that humans are conscious of their mortality, and must make decisions about their life is basically what existentialism is all about. In the story â€Å"A clean, Well-lighted place† by Ernest Hemingway was about two waiters waiting to close up the restaurant/cafà © for the night. They only had one customer left, an old man who wa s deaf and drunk. But he wasn’t causing any trouble, just keeping to himself. The two waiters apparentlyRead More Nothingness in A Clean Well-Lighted Place by Ernest Hemingway1369 Words   |  6 PagesNothingness in A Clean Well-Lighted Place by Ernest Hemingway Man is often plagued by the question of his own existence. Existentialism is a subjective philosophy that is centered upon the examination of man’s existence, emphasizing the liberation, responsibility, and usually the solitude of the individual. It focuses on individuals finding a reason for living within themselves. The philosophy forces man to make choices for himself, on the premise that nothing is preordained, there is no fate

Importance of Australian AGRI Product-Free-Samples for Students

Question: Discuss about the Importance of Australian Agri product Trade on the Global Food Security. Answer: Introduction The report will discuss in detail about the agriculture trade based performance in Australia and recent loss in the industry in global agricultural market since other markets like Asian, some part of Europe and South American are capturing bigger share of the development in international agriculture based imports (Johnson, 2016). The discussion in the report will be about the performance and the value of international agricultural trade which is developing at an average rate. The report will also highlight the trade policy associated with it and the future of the industry. Discussion How the issue has evolved over the course of time As per the recent reports, there is a warning about the agriculture based export performance in Australia which says that the performance of the export is going to get affected and face tough competition from the rise in agricultural products. The main issue is that the country always lacks new kind of farm land which has impacted the agriculture production when it is compared with other part of the world like Asian as well as South American countries since the overall production is on the rise in these countries (Banson et al, 2015). As per the review conducted by the Australian Farm Institute there is very little opportunity that helps in expanding the present production and the agriculture of the country needs to renovate the attention on all productivity benefits. This is why; the country is losing on the market share in number of different neighboring and impactful market that can be recognized as their own. It can really be called as a wake u call since the requirement should b e competitive and is based on the assumption that such market are there for the taking (Dibden et al, 2013). The overall growth on international level is slower in comparison of other countries as per the global development details. The report has also found that in addition to total volume based on fall in exports and the overall value. The solution also shows the requirement of agriculture manufacturer and exporters that can easily dispel any kind of complacency that can further be held and related to capacity of agriculture of Australia so that it can automatically gain advantage from the development in the international demand for the products of agriculture as the populations rises and there is change in diet as well. Number of reports also suggests shows the requirement to search about the constant improvement in productivity (Pham et al, 2015). In addition, there is one thing which can be learned from success of neighboring country is that it is not something which is in control of Australia or something which can be stopped by the farmers. Competition and high rate of success in the agriculture sector is a continuous process and it is crucial to understand here that no action can help in boosting the current productivity of agriculture based products. There is all kind of things that are point of discussion and are worth thinking of, specifically when there is a discussion of continuous improvement. The assumption that there is will be a miraculous solution for this is a mistake and successful capture of the diverse market will take time, patience and a lot of hard work (Forsyth et al, 2014). Trade theory, policy or concepts were invoked Agriculture plays a very important role and makes a big contribution in the economy of the country. As discussed, the country is very competitive as agricultural exporter and as a matter of fact, more than half of the total production is exported. In the year 2015, the agriculture and food industry, almost forty seven billion dollar which is fourteen percent of total goods and services of Australia exported for that year. Agriculture and World Trade Organization (WTO) As per the Uruguay Round associated trade talks known for the creation of WTO and it helps in better situation in agriculture. As per WTO, the agriculture agreement is constantly negotiated and came in discussion in 1995. The agreement also provides the basic level of legal foundation which governs the trade in agriculture (Banson et al, 2016). The main agriculture agreement mostly recalls the members of WTO and their objective of long run to settle a fair as well as market focused agriculture trade based systems. It also aims on three important pillars: - Access in market: in order to deal with rules as well as overall commitment based on the trade of the goods as well as expansion of market along with tariff reduction. It also includes safeguards special and quotas of tariff rates. Competition in Export: the current government funded exports measures and subsidies are also covered in this. Support from domestic options: the present payment system or other kind of support provided by the government to the manufacturer (Bauer et al, 2014). International food security and trade reform The country has also been very dedicated and committed to international food security and yet there are millions of farmers worldwide in Australia as well as in many developing nations that are taking unfair benefit by present distortion on world level related to agriculture and food based markets which can later impede the accomplishment of long run security of food. Production as well as trade distortion based measures usually lead to volatility in prices and can also lead to many disincentives for number of farmers to raise the output as well as productivity and these kinds of measures usually encourages production in surplus and which can be wasted that in turn it further weakens the prices of commodity as well as returns the basic work of farmers (Atkins Bowler, 2016). In addition, agriculture trade policy changes are crucial for the Australia especially in food and agriculture industry and to make sure that present global food security goal are properly pursued in diverse methods that cannot undermine the lives of the farmers worldwide. It also plays an important role in varied agriculture trade policy based agenda and the government of the country further continues to deal with so many multilateral trade reforms. The most crucial component in the agreements are based on eliminating all the export based subsidies in agriculture sector. These kinds of subsidies is harmful for the manufacturer or farmers worldwide and also make a negative influence on the prices, investment on agricultural level and rural remuneration (Martin Clapp, 2015). All such factors also contribute in poverty and further undermine the bill of food security in number of developing nation and specifically less in developed countries. The overall elimination of such subsidies is a crucial step in order to correct as well as save the trade based restrictions along with distortion in the world market of agriculture. The government is continuously working in an active manner to reduce the level of distortion in international agriculture trade and fu rther provide an improved access towards market for exporters of the country. Lessons learned for better trade policy Consumers, Farmers and ranchers make a lot of benefits from the free trade in agriculture as well as participation in the international trading system. Instead of such advantages, the government and other protectionism organizations are still important with the help of traditional restrictions like quotas and tariffs along with some non-traditional restriction like regulations and subsidies that help a little for advanced level public health and safety (Heerman et al, 2015). It is crucial to learn here that economic level advantages of Free Trade in Agriculture is an important aspect since productivity in agriculture in this is country is on rise and it is sometime even faster than demand for food. The farmers and agriculture firms depend heavily on export market in order to sustain revenues and prices. Luckily, agriculture product trade has also exploded and the value of export and important has increased a lot over a period of time. It is important to carefully plan the future and create a sustainable industry in order to last in long run. Conclusion The report suggests the reinforcement and the need for the agriculture development in the country and aim on increasing the overall value of the agriculture based export along with volume. Rise in value can also create by aiming on the overall quality, safety and security with the country since it is already having the world best system in place to deal with the needs (Heerman et al, 2015). The two crucial conclusions are related to rise in volume and lift the productivity in agriculture and the expanding the base for agriculture in different parts of the country like Northern Australia References Atkins, P., Bowler, I. (2016).Food in society: economy, culture, geography. Routledge. Banson, K. E., Nguyen, N. C., Bosch, O. J. (2016). Using system archetypes to identify drivers and barriers for sustainable agriculture in Africa: a case study in Ghana.Systems Research and Behavioral Science,33(1), 79-99. Banson, K. E., Nguyen, N. C., Bosch, O. J., Nguyen, T. V. (2015). A systems thinking approach to address the complexity of agribusiness for sustainable development in Africa: a case study in Ghana.Systems Research and Behavioral Science,32(6), 672-688. Bauer, M., Erixon, F., Ferracane, M., Lee-Makiyama, H. (2014). Trans-Pacific Partnership: A challenge to Europe.Policy Briefs,9. Dibden, J., Gibbs, D., Cocklin, C. (2013). Framing GM crops as a food security solution.Journal of Rural Studies,29, 59-70. Forsyth, P., Dwyer, L., Spurr, R. (2014). Is Australian tourism suffering Dutch disease?.Annals of Tourism Research,46, 1-15. Heerman, K. E., Arita, S., Gopinath, M. (2015). Asia-Pacific integration with China versus the United States: examining trade patterns under heterogeneous agricultural sectors.American Journal of Agricultural Economics,97(5), 1324-1344. Johnson, D. G. (2016).World agriculture in disarray. Springer. Martin, S. J., Clapp, J. (2015). Finance for agriculture or agriculture for finance?.Journal of agrarian change,15(4), 549-559. Pham, T., Jago, L., Spurr, R., Marshall, J. (2015). The Dutch Disease effects on tourismThe case of Australia.Tourism Management,46, 610-622.

Pokemon And Beyond Essays - Pokmon, Pokemon Unity,

Pokemon And Beyond Pok?mon and Beyond Imagine for a moment a little boy lifting his sleepy little head off his Pokemon pillowcase, climbing reluctantly out from underneath his warm Pokemon blanket, exchanging from his Pokemon pajamas into his favorite Pokemon T-shirt, drinking his morning juice from his beloved Pokemon cup. All the while, he is making his way into the family den to watch his favorite cartoon, Pokemon. A typical day begins like this for children in households all over the country. Evidence of the Pokemon phenomenon is everywhere: on television, in movie theaters, at fast-food restaurants and in products of every conceivable type. There are Pokemon videos, toys, books, software, videogames, trading cards, school supplies, clothing and toiletries. The Pokemon brand is a five billion dollar industry worldwide. The prosperity of Pokemon has attracted negative attention from parents, educators and childhood experts. Labeling a product either good or bad on the basis of profit is wrong. The worth of a toy should be determined by the educational value for a child rather than monetary profits. The only downside to Pokemons success is its success. The Pokemon rage has spread like wildfire through schools and communities by word of mouth the old fashioned way. Although scarce, advertisements for Pokemon appeal to the need for affiliation, the need to achieve and the need to dominate. The whole Pokemon fantasy is cognitively engaging for the targeted audience of childre n from six to fourteen years old. Parents should be quick to see the positive benefits of Pokemon for their children by looking beyond the promotional craze. While Pokemon mania is seizing the attention of kids across the nation, kids culture has been doing this for a long time. There have always been kiddy crazes. For example, in the 50s the hit television show Davy Crockett set off a coonskin cap craze. During the 60s, children everywhere watched Howdy Doody religiously while sending off for prizes and joining his club. In the 70s kids were crazy for Puff n Stuff fully equipped with the latest metal lunchbox illustrating their passion. Little blue elves called the Smurfs dominated the 80s. While in the 90s, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers lit up the media and cash registers. Todays children are no different than of days gone by. Tim Burke, a cultural history professor and author of Growing Up with Cartoon Culture, says, Pokemon is a cultural phenomenon not just a toy fad. Its an amazing piece of alchemy, the way one tie-in has seamlessly led to another...Pokemon has set a new standard (Maurstad.) Parent s should recognize that Pokemon is a fundamental part of childhood just as their favorite cartoon character was an important part of theirs. For the Pokemon illiterate parent, understanding the origin of Pokemon can be as confusing as answering the proverbial question-which came first the chicken or the egg? Despite the publicity generated by the trading cards, the heart of Pokemon is a game cartridge for the Nintendo Game Boy. Pokemon began in Japan in 1996 and the game has swept across the United States at an accelerated speed. The game takes place in an imaginary land inhabited by 150 creatures called Pokemon, which translates to pocket monsters. The object of the game is for the player, called a trainer, to catch as many of the creatures as he or she can, hence the slogan Gotta Catch Em All. Once caught, the creatures catch other Pokemon and the trainer receives badges in hopes of becoming a Pokemon master. Interestingly, Pokemon do not die in battles. They simple fall asleep or faint at which time they are taken to the Pokemon Center where they can be restored. Parents should recognize that Pokemon is a game of strat egy not blood and guts. Unfortunately, parents across the country become overly concerned when they hear the term pocket monsters. Ebeneezer Smith, a pastor from the Landover Baptist Church in Iowa, claims, Pokemon toys and games are only sugar coated instruments of the occult and evil (Landover.) To drive home his point, the pastor burned Pokemon trading cards and videos with a blowtorch while the congregation chanted, burn it, chop it and kill them all. Granted

10 Facts About Carbon

10 Facts About Carbon One of the most important elements for all living things is carbon. Carbon is the element with atomic number 6 and element symbol C. Here are 10 interesting carbon facts for you: Carbon is the basis for organic chemistry, as it occurs in all living organisms. The simplest organic molecules consist of carbon chemically bonded to hydrogen. Many other common organics also include oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur.Carbon is a nonmetal that can bond with itself and many other chemical elements, forming over ten million compounds. Because it forms more compounds than any other element, it is sometimes called the King of the Elements.Elemental carbon can take the form of one of the hardest substances (diamond) or one of the softest (graphite).Carbon is made in the interiors of stars, although it was not produced in the Big Bang. Carbon is made in giant and supergiant stars via the triple-alpha process. In this process, three helium nuclei fuse. When a massive star turns into a supernova, carbon scatters and can be incorporated into next-generation stars and planets.Carbon compounds have limitless uses. In its elemental form, diamond is a gemstone and used for drilling/cutting; graphite is used in pencils, as a lubricant, and to protect against rust; while charcoal is used to remove toxins, tastes, and odors. The isotope Carbon-14 is used in radiocarbon dating. Carbon has the highest melting/sublimation point of the elements. The melting point of diamond is ~3550 °C, with the sublimation point of carbon around 3800 °C. If you baked a diamond in an oven or cooked it in a frying pan, it would survive unscathed.Pure carbon exists free in nature and has been known since prehistoric time. While most elements known since ancient time only exist in one allotrope, pure carbon forms graphite, diamond, and amorphous carbon (soot). The forms look very different from each other and display dissimilar properties. For example, graphite is an electrical conductor while diamond is an insulator. Other forms of carbon include fullerenes, graphene, carbon nanofoam, glassy carbon, and Q-carbon (which is magnetic and fluorescent).The origin of the name carbon comes from the Latin word carbo, for charcoal. The German and French words for charcoal are similar.Pure carbon is considered non-toxic, although inhalation of fine particles, such as soot, can damage lung tissue. Graphite and charcoal are considered safe enough to eat. While non-toxic to humans, carbon nanoparticles are deadly to fruit flies. Carbon is the fourth most abundant element in the universe (hydrogen, helium, and oxygen are found in higher amounts, by mass). It is the 15th most abundant element in the Earths crust. More Carbon Facts Carbon usually has a valence of 4, which means each carbon atom can form covalent bonds with four other atoms. The 2 oxidation state is also seen in compounds such as carbon monoxide.Three isotopes of carbon occur naturally. Carbon-12 and carbon-13 are stable, while carbon-14 is radioactive, with a half-life of around 5730 years. Carbon-14 is formed in the upper atmosphere when cosmic rays interact with nitrogen. While carbon-14 occurs in the atmosphere and living organisms, it is almost completely absent from rocks. There are 15 known carbon isotopes.Inorganic carbon sources include carbon dioxide, limestone, and dolomite. Organic sources include coal, oil, peat, and methane clathrates.Carbon black was the first pigment used for tattooing. Ãâ€"tzi the Iceman has carbon tattoos that endured through his life and are still visible 5200 years later.The amount of carbon on Earth is fairly constant. It is transformed from one form to another via the carbon cycle. In the carbon cycle, pho tosynthetic plants take carbon from air or seawater and convert it into glucose and other organic compounds via the Calvin cycle of photosynthesis. Animals eat some of the biomass and exhale carbon dioxide, returning carbon to the atmosphere. Sources Deming, Anna (2010). King of the elements?. Nanotechnology. 21 (30): 300201. doi:10.1088/0957-4484/21/30/300201Lide, D. R., ed. (2005). CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics (86th ed.). Boca Raton (FL): CRC Press. ISBN 0-8493-0486-5.Smith, T. M.; Cramer, W. P.; Dixon, R. K.; Leemans, R.; Neilson, R. P.; Solomon, A. M. (1993). The global terrestrial carbon cycle. Water, Air, Soil Pollution. 70: 19–37. doi:10.1007/BF01104986Weast, Robert (1984). CRC, Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. Boca Raton, Florida: Chemical Rubber Company Publishing. pp. E110. ISBN 0-8493-0464-4.

Electronic Medical Record (EMR) Systems Research Paper

Electronic Medical Record (EMR) Systems - Research Paper Example Though there are systematic reviews concluding that EMRs have the potential to reduce medication errors, save clinicians’ time, promote adherence to evidence-based guidelines in management of various health conditions, and improve patient safety; adoption of EMR systems is still low in health care setting (Jones, & Blavin, 2013; King, Patel, Jamoom, & Furukawa, 2014). According to Jones, and Blavin (2013), only 1.5% of the non-federal acute care facilities had a comprehensive electronic health record system in 2008 while only 7.6% had installed basic EMR. To facilitate widespread adoption and utilization of HITs, the Congress passed the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, with an overarching aim of enhancing the efficiency, quality as well as safety of the American health care system (Silow-Carroll, Edwards, & Rodin, 2012). Through Medicaid and Medicare EHR programs, HITECH av ails financial incentives to eligible health care providers and hospitals that adopt and demonstrate meaningful use of the health information technology. The meaningful use legislation seems to be associated with increased adoption and implementation of EHR systems in various health care settings. For instance, in the year 2012, about 17% of non-federal acute care health care centers reported to be using a comprehensive EHR system while 27.6% reported to have adopted a basic EHR system.

Marketing and New Technology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Marketing and New Technology - Essay Example Social media allows people to connect with each other and at the same time share information. The relationship between marketer and consumer is a lot more interactive. Consumers are free to express their views and opinions about products and services, and hence marketers get customer feedback which would not have been possible in traditional media. There are various advantages or benefits that social media technologies offer that make it more attractive to marketers. Marketers are able to track and trace consumer behaviours, track the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, target specific consumers, create communication channels for consumers to interact with each other, and many more. There are numerous forms of social media forms or technologies that companies can use to market their products and services. Most popular ones are social networks, blogs, microblogs, social bookmarking and voting, media-sharing sites, review sites, forums and viral marketing. Qualitative research has be en employed and secondary data has been used in constructing this paper. There are some issues that need to be considered such as unethical practices and misuse social media technologies safeguard of customer information, etc. ... Marketing communication is not anymore targeted to individual customers but communities and groups of individuals who share a common interest or ideology. Communication channels are such that conversation can now be out in front of millions of people with a lot less time and money. Many believed or saw the above mentioned development as death of advertising but it is far from the truth. All the changes mentioned above are a result of advent of internet and World Wide Web, and in turn the emergence of social media as a platform for marketing. Social media revolution is a result of new technologies and innovations that have been developed in the last decade or so, that has completely redefined marketing and has resulted in the rebirth of advertising. Social media revolution has brought a whole new dimension to marketing. There is no need to outspend your competitors if you can outsmart them. Technologies like twitter has made it possible to get the market pulse at your finger tips inst ead of having to spend thousands on focus groups. Technologies and services like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc are at the forefront of social revolution. Facebook has around 250 million users while Twitter has 14 million users. YouTube attracts 100 million viewers per month while blogs have 346 million people (Zarrella, 2009). There is no bigger platform than social media platform for companies to market their products and services. This paper is a literature review and critical discussion on how new technologies of social media has revolutionised marketing. Going forward social media will account for majority of marketing of business worldwide. Consumers are starting to play an increased role in influencing each

Whiteness studies Essay Example for Free

Whiteness studies Essay ?In essence, it’s a simple concept: white privilege refers to the both minor and significant advantages that white people have in today’s American society. To be honest reading this article was a huge eye opener for me. I still struggle with both believing that white privilege exists and figuring out how to get rid of it. I have never felt that I was privileged to be white, however, I suppose that could be because as McIntosh states â€Å"whites are carefully taught not to recognize white privilege† After reading McIntosh’s list of the daily effects of white privilege I now understand these privileges and can put myself into the shoes of other non-white individuals to see how they would perceive me as a privileged white woman. I have never thought of myself as being privileged, or better in any way that those that I come in contact with. The concept of white privilege does not deny my individual hardships that I’ve dealt with throughout life. Hardships can be circumstantial, they can be something we are born with, or even something that we cause on our own. These circumstances are for the most part out of our control. Some hardships are related to race, and those who haven’t experienced those particular race-related hardships, I now suppose are white. In most ways conferred dominance and the fact that whites have been labeled as superior in any way is the exact opposite of the way I feel about myself, and the way I view others in my daily life. After reading McIntosh’s article, White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, I suppose that I do see some advantages that I may have just always taken for granted. The one that may seem silly, but I’ve always wondered about is: why do they only make white â€Å"flesh† colored band aids? I t seems like a no brainer to me to make them in all flesh tones. In my school community which consists of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade students I struggle to pick out white privileges. I do not feel that any of our teaching staff or administrators see themselves as dominant over any other race or culture within our school community. I suppose that the fact that our school principal, secretary, and most teachers are white would portray dominance within our race. The majority of our staff speak English, however we do have several bilingual teachers and staff members. In the classroom environment, other than our bilingual classrooms the population of white students is greater than that of any other race. As a teacher I am committed to equality and treating all of my students fairly and as equals in our classroom community. I do not think that 7 and 8 year old white students see themselves as dominant of more important than any other classmate. I can, however see how a Black, Hispanic, or students of other cultural background would feel at times to be the minority. I think that this feeling, however is taught to them at home, or somewhat of a learned feeling of identity. In my school community we do our best to incorporate other cultural history into our curriculum by designing lessons that educate our students about important people in our history from a variety of cultures. The majority of our schools population is comprised of white and Hispanic students. I think that as a whole we could do a better job at integrating more of the Hispanic culture into our school’s curriculum. After reading this article I now find myself more aware of the white privilege that I do hold, and am definitely going to work toward building my daily classroom routines and lessons to include a wider variety of cultures and discuss current events around the globe that my students can relate to.

The Internet, Moral Judgment and Respect :: Free Essays Online

The Internet, Moral Judgment and Respect The Internet has changed the way that many people go about their everyday lives. People are trading stocks, paying bills, checking weather reports, buying cars, and even lining up their Friday night dates via the Internet. It has certainly proved to be a convenient tool for many, but for some musicians it has created a void in their pocketbooks that may take some time to fill. Is the sharing of music files on the Internet our God given right, or is it a simple case of theft? As the 1990’s gave us Seinfeld, Grunge Rock, The Clinton Administration and the Macarena, they also introduced many people around the world to the Internet. The Internet allows clusters of computer networks to be linked together worldwide giving people the ability share information virtually anywhere. Among that shared information includes music files known as MP-3’s. The MP-3 ( MPEG Audio Layer 3) can squeeze a music file to a fraction of its original CD file size with only a slight loss of quality. [1] These files can be sent as attachments to e-mails and played back by the recipient just as if they were listening to the original recording. This seemed like a great way of distributing music over the Internet until a 19-year-old college freshman named Shawn Fanning released a computer program he had just written. He called it "Napster" -- his own nickname (apparently Fanning had issues with shampoo, so his hair was kind of . . . well, you know). [2] This site a llowed its users the ability to search for music and download it to their PC from any other user who happened to be logged on to that site. Imagine millions of files, readily available from your own home with the simple click of a mouse! You’ll never have to purchase another new CD again†¦or will you? Musicians and record companies around the world became growingly concerned with the drastic decline of album sales. How could copyrighted music created by an artist be taken and distributed without the permission of its owner? Isn’t this stealing? One would surely think that a department store would press charges if an individual were caught shoplifting CD’s. A musician makes his/her livelihood from the sale of their music the same way a store makes money from merchandise sales.

Mcdonald?S a Good Image with Bad Ethics

McDonald’s: A Good Image with Bad Ethics Aimee Gibison Introduction McDonald’s Corporation has been growing and spreading internationally for the past three decades. Although McDonald’s seems convenient, cheap and clean there are many negative aspects of the business. In spite of paying their employees low wages and negatively impacting other cultures, McDonald’s and chains like it, have managed to position themselves as a positive piece of Americana. McDonald’s promotes its positive image and products with greasy fries, and a clown named Ronald McDonald.The unethical practices of this large fast food corporation are known but do not seem to detract from the all-American image that the corporation seeks to project. History In the 1950s a new style of eating was introduced by brothers, Dick and Mac Donald. Their original small burger stand was soon transformed into one of the largest, well-known transnational corporations. Ray Kroc, a milk shake mach ine salesman bought McDonald’s from the Donald brothers and made the burger shack into a business characterized by conformity and uniformity. â€Å"Kroc †¦ believed fervently in the ethic of mass production† (Schlosser, 2004).Under the influence of this mass production ethic, McDonald’s developed new, uniform production methods such as using frozen beef patties, instead of fresh ground beef, and developing a genetically-modified potato rather than using locally grown produce to ensure that all McDonald’s fries have the same uniform taste. â€Å"McDonald's Corporation (McDonald's) is the world's largest foodservice retailing chain. The company is known for its burgers and fries which it sells through 31,000 fast-food restaurants in over 119 countries† (McDonald’s Corporation, 2006).With so many McDonald’s located world-wide, many find it somewhat refreshing to see a familiar place when traveling in unfamiliar places. By homogenizi ng products and appearance of the stores, McDonald’s sells this feeling of comfort and familiarity. Spreading Out to New Markets Because it is internationally known and markets a homogeneous image, McDonald’s remains a household name with offerings known for a uniform taste. But McDonald’s is trying to reach a broader market as well. The corporation is trying to reach out to a healthier crowd of customers by releasing salads with fruits and vegetables.To reach international customers, the company has also added specialty foods for different countries. â€Å"The McArabia (chicken patties on unleavened bread with garlic sauce and onion), the McPepper (a double-patty burger seasoned with black pepper sauce), the Bulgogi Korean pork barbecue sandwich, a teriyaki pork burger with lemon-flavored mayonnaise, and, soon to find its way onto the menu, the Mushroom Pinwheel, a five-pointed pastry concoction filled with chicken and mushrooms, are all specialty menu items f or different cultures in some Chinese or Middle Eastern countries† (Old McDonald’s has some smarts in China, 2006).McDonald’s also donates a portion of their earnings to Ronald McDonald houses, located across America, which helps children with life threatening illnesses. Efforts like this portray a corporation committed to the welfare of their customers. However, while the overall image of McDonald’s is that of a wholesome, family oriented business, there are contradictions to this image. The Ethical Problems Big Business Domestically Although McDonald’s makes the effort to support children with life threatening illnesses, the diet offered by this corporation and others contributes to obesity, heart disease, asthma, and possibly mad cow disease.What kind of message are we giving our children when we promote healthy eating, and â€Å"at least 59 of the nation's 250 children's hospitals have fast-food restaurants? † (Tanner, 2006) Environmental ly, McDonald’s practices are also questionable. Unlike a fresh ground beef patty at a local butcher shop, â€Å"a typical fast-food hamburger patty contains meat from more than one thousand different cattle, raised in as many as five countries† (Schlosser, 2004). This raises the possibility of a particular patty containing contaminants of unknown origin.As noted previously, instead of locally grown potatoes, the corporation uses their own genetically modified potatoes. The practices of using food from extreme distances, is problematic environmentally. From a public health perspective, the use of beef from multiple sources makes contaminated sources far more difficult to trace. Impact on Foreign Cultures Not only do McDonald’s products harm individual and environmental well-being, they are also having an influence on some East Asian cultures with the corporation’s entry into those countries. â€Å"Critics claim that the rapid spread of McDonald’s a nd its ast-food rivals undermines indigenous cuisines and helps create a homogenous, global culture† (Watson, 2006). Chinese parents want to connect their children to the world outside of China, so they reward them with a trip to McDonald’s, but in so doing they are also taking away from their culture. â€Å"In twenty years [Yunxiang Yan, a UCLA anthropologist] predicts, young people in Beijing (like their counterparts in Hong Kong today) will not even care about the foreign origin of McDonald’s which will be serving ordinary food to people more interested in getting a quick meal than in having a cultural experience† (Watson, 2006).Another major change brought to the East by the entry by McDonald’s and American corporations into Asian countries, is the new obsession with American culture. â€Å"Prior to the arrival of McDonald’s, festivities marking youngsters’ specific birth dates were unknown in most of East Asia. In Hong Kong, for instance, lunar-calendar dates of birth were recorded for use in later life- to help match prospective marriage partners’ horoscopes or choose an auspicious burial date† (Watson, 2006).With the presence of McDonald’s restaurants in Asian countries, and the accompanying American cultural norms, children in these countries are recognizing the potential for celebration of individual birthdays. McDonald’s exploits this cultural change to market party packages to Chinese children who want to celebrate this new occasion. In many respects, McDonald’s emergence in Asia is permanently altering culture, and norms of the past are being lost in their McDonald’s party packages and Big Macs.In addition to contributing to cultural changes in China, McDonald’s has offended other cultures through some of its actions. The chain has stirred up controversy with some United States Hindus, many vegetarians, and some Japanese. â€Å"McDonald's, the fast foo d giant currently embroiled in a row concerning undisclosed beef flavoring in French fries, has made a formal apology to those it has offended† (McDonald’s resolves french fry dispute, 2002). This may seem like a petty dispute, but is not a small issue to Hindus who believe that the cow is sacred.In response to this offense to Hindus, vegetarians, and others, McDonald’s offered an apology, and paid the groups ten million of dollars in settlement. In addition, â€Å"fast food giant McDonalds is facing criticism in Japan after a number of its apple pies were found to contain a banned food coloring agent (McDonald’s apple pies found to contain banned food coloring in Japan, 2006). In 15 McDonald locations across Japan there has been an apple pie recall due to the use of an illegal coloring agent known as azorubin.McDonald’s has claimed that the substance is not harmful, using consumers in the European Union and Australia as examples where people consu me apple pies containing azorubin, seemingly without ill effect. McDonald’s has, however, recalled the pies and announced that they will no longer purchase their pies from the China-based factory using azorubin. Controversy in the United States Another controversy arose in a Southlake McDonald’s because of a bacon ranch salad. Chrissy Haley, wife of an assistant coach of the Dallas Cowboy’s, found a rat in her salad after ordering that salad and a Happy Meal for her child.According to newspaper reports, Haley and her nanny found the dead rat under a large lettuce leaf in a shared salad. McDonald’s has yet to respond, apologize, or even ask if the women are okay. â€Å"Both women have had blood and stool samples tested repeatedly over the last five and a half months and are undergoing sessions with Dallas clinical psychologist Dr. Rycke Marshall† (Whitt, 2006). Chrissy Haley, who has tested negative for any illness, is suing McDonald’s for $1 . 7 million, for both the dead rodent in her salad and McDonald’s response (or lack thereof) to the incident.The corporation has chosen not to cooperate during the course of the law suit, which was set to reach court in September 2007. Labor Relations Besides health issues, the company also has issues with its workers. The corporation pays minimum wage to their workers, who essentially do assembly line, factory-type work. If the work done by burger manufacturers and drive-thru cashiers were reclassified as factory work, that would â€Å"add about 3. 5 million manufacturing jobs to the U. S. conomy, at a time when such jobs are rapidly being exported over seas. From a statistical point of view, it would make the U. S. seem like an industrial powerhouse once again, instead of an ageing superpower threatened by low-cost competitors† (Schlosser, 2004). In the 31,000 McDonalds world wide, most of the workers get paid minimum wage in spite of the fact that the company is now worth more than a billion dollars. The Backlash There are an increasing number of people who speak out against McDonald’s and similar corporations.George Ritzer is well known for his efforts to raise awareness of the impact of globalization and global corporations by speaking at different colleges around the country. In the article â€Å"Nuggets of Wisdom† author Madelyn Pennino refers to an Elizabethtown College assembly at which Ritzer spoke to students about the illusion created by McDonald’s, of bargain prices and convenience for people ordering a super-sized meal (2006). In reality, this bigger, faster, and cheaper choice is actually not very convenient. â€Å"Efficiency has become inefficient† Ritzer said referencing the huge line waiting in the drive thru (Pennino, 2006).One of the goals of Ritzer and other anti-McDonalds activists is to spread awareness of real costs of doing business with the corporation and to make sure that the name McDonaldâ €™s does not become synonymous with America around the world. Conclusion Over the past four decades McDonald’s has been transformed from a local burger shack serving fresh beef patties, into a huge corporation using mass production methods to produce and sell their products. One of the results of this international expansion has been a number of books, articles, and even documentaries outlining practices deemed unethical.There are many things that might be done to address the ethical problems raised by the behavior of multinational corporations: laws, legal action and public pressure arising from activists. In the end, public awareness might be the most important tool. If individuals are enlightened about McDonald’s practices and their impact on health, environmental pollution and culture change, we can choose to not patronize its restaurants. The action may not shut the McDonald’s down, but it might limit the impact of the corporation. References McDonaldâ €™s apple pies found to contain banned food coloring in Japan. 2006, September 23). MarketLine Business. McDonald’s corporation. (2006, November 26). MarketLine Business. McDonald’s resolves french fry dispute. (2002, June 6). MarketLine Business. Old McDonald’s has some smarts in China. (2006, December 11). Chicago Sun Times. Retrieved March 2, 2007, from LexisNexis. Pennino, M. (2006, October 19). Nuggets of wisdom; Author paints picture of out fast-food culture. Intelligencer Journal. Retrieved March 2, 2006 from Lexis Nexis. Schlosser, E. (2004) Special report on slow food. In J. Johnson (Ed. , Global Issues, Local Arguments. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. Tanner, L. (2006, December 4). Study finds allowing fast food in kid’ hospitals sends mixed message to families. Chicago. Retrieved March 2, 2007, from LexisNexis. Watson, J. L. (2006) China’s Big Mac attack. In J. Johnson (Ed. ), Global Issues, Local Arguments. Upper Saddle R iver, NJ: Pearson Education. Whitt, R. (2005, November 23). I smell a McRat; McDonalds serves up a rodent then scurries for cover. Dallas Observer. Retrieved on April 20, 2007 from Lexis Nexis.