Carbon Market Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Carbon Market - Essay Example The "EU Emissions Trading Scheme" turned into a failure, because the energy consumption went down and with it the demand to obtain permits. On the other hand industries attempted to increase their turnover selling the unused permits to other companies. What is more, the green energy projects have spotted producing the desires effect. The author is asking what would be an adequate price for the carbon emissions. NASA climate scientist observes that for him proposing the right cost will determinate if we as humans can cope with the irreversible climate changes that we have caused. The author comments that there are numerous ways to put a value on carbon. One of them is to calculate what will be the cost per tonne to diminish the emissions. Another approach is "the social cost of carbon". This method estimates the damage price to the atmosphere for a lifetime. The World Bank conducted experiments with this method as well as Dutch government and UK treasury. However, they all variable are taken into consideration the estimation tremendously vary from 35 GBP to 140 GBP per tonne. Another technique is the "shadow price of carbon". This one estimates factors like willingness to pay for the reduction of carbon emissions. All those approaches have their advantages and disadvantages. Unfortunately, all of them share a common shortcoming which the author calls "the paradox of environmental economics". In fact what is done is that people put price on the catastrophic and harmful carbon dioxide. They put price on killing the environment. This is the market solution failure to the environmental issue. Governments have to spend and invest more money on renewable energy and this should be done as an economic stimulus. For example the UK has spent more than 20% of its gross domestic product to enhance the financial sector and only 0,0083% on green projects. Price mechanism to control the carbon emissions is imperfect and unworkable solution. The author is asking the rhetorical questions, if we could find a doable one. He hasn't find it as yet, but he is open to suggestions and commentaries. In this article the author tries to show that "carbon trading" is the biggest trading commodity. Unfortunately, carbon trading does not offer a feasible solution with the problem of global warming. I agree with the author in that the governments should invest more in renewable resources, than collecting money from heavy industries which produce the damaging emissions. However, there is no proper solution for this environmental issue. Non-governmental and non-profit organizations have appealed for a long time that immediate actions must be taken for reducing the carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Government should receive financial incentives to apply the green agenda. Trading emissions in fact made some companies acquire monetary benefits out of polluting the air less. What happens is that companies which have successfully met the emission target and have surplus of carbon units might want to sell those to companies that fall short. So instead of following the proper way of obtaining the permit and pay extra, companies swap carbon certificates with no additional price involved. An action welcomed by most of the countries was the commencement of Kyoto protocol. With this the world was divided into two - who countries that make the effort and change the existing infrastructure to pollute less

ECON 3498 HW7 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

ECON 3498 HW7 - Assignment Example ovariance matrix without a degrees of freedom correction from a VAR(p)model, cT is a sequence indexed by the sample size T ,and φ(n, p) is a penalty function which penalizes large VAR(p) models. For the last few years, the claim that an increase in economic growth leads to an increase in inflation and that decreased growth reduces inflation. All other things being equal, an increase in economic growth must cause inflation to drop. Under the assumption of sticky nominal wages (traditional Keynesian asymmetry), negative monetary shocks have greater real impact than positive monetary shocks. According to Ravn et al (1999), sticky nominal wages will render the aggregate supply curve convex. In the extreme case, the aggregate supply curve is vertical at the point where the nominal wage is in equilibrium. A positive monetary shock will increase aggregate demand along the vertical segment of the aggregate supply curve leaving real economy unchanged, at least in the short run. Residuals from this regression show changes in the intended funds rate not taken in response to information about future economic developments. The resulting series for monetary shocks should be relatively free of both endogenous and anticipatory actions.† To measure the effects of monetary policy on output it is enough that the shock is orthogonal to output forecasts. The shock does not have to be orthogonal to price, exchange rate, or other forecasts. It may be predictable from time t information; it does not have to be a shock to agents or the Fed’s entire information

British Political Structure Essay Example for Free

British Political Structure Essay The british political system is made up of houses of parliament and regional assemblies in Scotland, wales and northern Ireland. where members of parliament (MP’s) discuss four main issues legislation, representation, investigation and financing. The houses of commons The houses of commons is part of the process of british politics. The house of commons currently holds 647 mp’s in parliament which act as a political forum for Britain. Where MP’s can scrutinise, examine and react to the government polices and actions. After having a debate on a certain issue the commons will vote on how to deal with the issue. MP’s are voted in from 647 consituencys in the general election which takes place every five years. the biggest party majority of mps currently labour will form a government. MP’s are seen as having constituency intrests and responsibilities. Which means they ask questions and raise matter in debate concerning the problems of their consistency. The issues from MP’s constituencys are often raised in local meetings and letters from their consituants. Although the political impact of this nationally will be limited locally it be significant in addressing problems. The commons also deals with public petitions, which are debated over if urgent. Petitions are increasingly popular way of getting an issue public attention and is the only way voter can address issues to parliament. The house of lords T The house of lords currently consists of two parts, the Lords Temporal and Lords Spiritual. Lords Temporal include life peers and hereditary peers. However due to on going reforms of the role of herditary peers in the house of lords. The Lords Spiritual represent the established Church of England and consists of 26 members, the Archbishops of York and Canterbury and the 24 most senior Bishops of the church. It currently acts to review legislation formed by the House of Commons, with the power to propose amendments, and exercises a suspensive veto. This allows it to delay legislation if it does not approve for twelve months. The House of Lords is currently also the final court of appeal on civil cases within the United Kingdom although cases can then go on to the European high court for appeal. National assemblies Though the UK parliament remains the main parliament, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have assemblies. All three assembies are elected by proportional representation instead of the traditional system first past the post. The devolved governments have some legislative powers to deal with issues in their country however issues involving the whole united kingdom are still controled by the houses of parliament. they can also have their powers changed by an Act of the UK Parliament. How laws are passed The government is responsible for the majority of new laws. Individual MPs and opposition parties can suggest laws but do not have the time or the support to put laws through parliament. parties usually announce new laws and amedments in there manifestoes for the general elections. The government firstly publishes a Green Paper, A Green Paper is a period of consultation where the government seeks feedback and ideas from specialists, senior members of government and the general public. After the consultation is over, the government will then publish a White Paper. The white paper is how the government states its intention to introduce the new legislation. When the government has decided on the white paper and if it should become legislation they will introduce a parliamently bill . As the bill progresses through parliament, amendments are made which affect what the final law will be. After being debated in the commons the bill is then passed on to the house of lords. the house of lords considers the law in detail and will either pass the bill on for royal assent or denial the bill and send it back to the house of commons to be debated further. The current voting system in local and general elections is called the first past the post system. There are 659 separate areas across the UK each electing one MP. In order to vote you must be eighteen although there is on going debate to bring it down to sixteen so that their be a bigger percentage of voters. Uk citizens who are currently in prison have there right to vote suspended. The general election takes place every five years and can be called at anytime by the current government within the five years. www. Voting takes place in voting stations in each constituency, to vote you must place an ‘x’ next to candidate you like to elect and place it in the ballot box. this process is also a secret ballot to make the voting system more democratic because it doesn’t give any party candidate an advantage and stops any votes being influenced. The candidate with the most votes regardless if the candidate has more than 50% of the vote will become the MP of that constituency. the party with the most MP’s is then elected into government. For example here are three main national parties. Candidate A (labour): 22,000 votes Candidate B (Conservative): 17,00 votes Candidate C (Lib Dems): 13,000 votes In this example, the clear winner is Candidate A with a majority over candidate B of 5000. In the example above, 22 000 voted for the candidate that won that election howver 30 000 voted against the winner therefore the party doesnot have to support of the majority. (www.gaurdian.co.uk) Positives of the first past the post The first past the post is a cheap and simple way to hold an election, as each voter has to place one cross on the ballot paper. Counting of the ballot papers is usually fast and result of a british election is usually known the very next day after polling. The first past the post system creates clear majorities for one party this prevents coalitions for forming which could give extremist minority partys influence on how the countrys run. (www.bbc.co.uk) Negatives of the first past the post there is only one MP elected per area so the people who did not vote for that candidate there views do not get represented. The voting system can put the public off voting because if they vote for smaller parties its seen as a wasted vote and will not make a difference, however if we adopted propostional representation smaller parties will have more of a chance of gaining more seats. The first past the post system works very well if there are only two parties running for an election. but if there is more than two parties running for an election the system becomes unfair on the smaller parties, due to the fact the system works on most votes gained. If we adopted a proportional representation system this would create a fairer voting system for all political parties. (www.bbc.co.uk) Political theorists Charles kenedy commented on the current voting system in may 2005 stating, â€Å"The door is open as far as we are concerned on voting reform.† The Prime Minister could pick up the phone tomorrow if he wishes. Clearly we would be interested in creating a fair voting system. â€Å"The strains on the first-past-the-post system are getting too much, Labour got 130 more seats than their votes entitled them to. The Liberal and other parties received half as many seats as they should have got. One and a half million votes were cast for parties who didnt win a seat, including the Greens and UKIP. (www.independant.co.uk) Nick Herbert, the Conservative constitutional affairs spokesman recently commented on the voting system in august 2007, â€Å"This leaked copy of the review blows out of the water the case for changing Britain’s tried and tested electoral system. The Government’s own report admits that proportional representation has caused voter confusion and not increased turnout. And it says that Alternative Vote would produce even more disproportionate results than any other system. I fear the real reason for the delay in publishing this review is Labour trying to fiddle the dossier. This Government has repeatedly meddled with the electoral system for partisan advantage, undermining public confidence in the integrity of the ballot.†

Should Models Have a Minimum Weight Limit Essay Example for Free

Should Models Have a Minimum Weight Limit Essay When we have a job that we love, we want to keep it no matter what. That’s understandable, but we have to be careful how far we actually go in order to keep it. There are things much more important than any job in the world like our health. Even for those who’s jobs, looks are everything. We all want to look our best at all time, especially if we are in the modeling business. There have been many issues with models and their ways of losing weight. These models have eating disorders that can truly harm them. The way that they do their weight lost can have terrifying consequences. These consequences many times cause them their lives or threats just as delicate. Due to all these horrible deaths and serious threats to models health some argue that a minimum weight should be mandatory. They want the models to not be one pound under the healthy weight limit that they require. The problem is that not everyone agrees. Anonymous people argue that models look great while advertising just the way they are as an now. Some argue that if models have a minimum weight limit and it’s passed as a requirement many ordinary people are going to want to go into the modeling business. The other argument is that the models will have to wear always closed clothing, since they will look horrible in a bathing suit. Another point made by the once against minimum weight is that not all models have the same height. They argue that how will they have the same minimum weight if they have different hight. There arguments are said that models are made to be thin and thats the way they should stay. I have to say to the once that are against it that no one argues that they don’t look great while advertising something on television or magazines now, but as good as they look a couple pounds more won’t make a difference. These models are great models that don’t do great at their jobs because of their weight; they do great at their job for the way they model. These models are great at their job for the way they walk, the way their makeup looks, and wearing all the beautiful clothing that they advertise. When they say that ordinary people are going to want to become models they make it sound like it’s a bad thing. In reality that is a good thing, the more models the more business. The more models that we have the more clothing and products that companies get to advertise. Also due to that models are meant to be skinny we don’t have many models left, and the models that are modeling as an now many are in serious danger for having eating disorders. If models are a couple pound heavier that doesn’t mean that they can’t wear bathing suits. I don’t believe that they would look horrible I actually think that it would help the company sell more bathing suits if they are seen on models who don’t look like walking sticks. The truth is that not everyone wears a bathing suit because we don’t feel confident since we don’t look like the models who advertise them. Although if we see the product on people who aren’t as thin we will gain that confidence and the company will sell many more products. It’s very true that not all models have the same height, but that shouldn’t be a problem. The minimum weight limit can be based on height and any other circumstances. It is very important that all models have the same requirements and very understandable that this statement has been given by these anonymous people. I understand the point that they are trying to make, but of course if a model is going to be told how much they have to weight there will be taking the hight, body fat, and muscle weight all into consideration before deciding their minimum weight. To all models the requirement will be the same and their minimum weight will be determine as an individual. Models are made for modeling thats why they are called models. They are not exactly made to be thin. There is a huge difference between thin and unhealthy. People who think that models are made to be thin are’t thinking that because of people who think that way is usually why models fall into eating disorders. Models should be able to model staying in figure, but with a healthy weight that won’t harm them. All these points made by anonymous people are regardless pointless thats probably why they stay anonymous. If they truly believed in the points they are making they wouldn’t stay anonymous Many models take it too far, risking their lives. Many models do many unhealthy things to fit into a size zero and that just bring bad health problems. Nineteen year old Cover Girl model Bethaney Wallace dies of anorexia and bulimia (Andrew Levy). She started with these eating disorders since she was sixteen. These eating disorders weakened her heart until one night she died in her sleep at age nineteen. Three years she suffered trying to be thiner that she already was. This was a young girl who couldn’t see how beautiful she was and became anorexic and bulimic making every meal a crises for her. Bethaney was 5feet 3inches and weighted only 94 pounds (Andrew Levy). In 2006 another famous models dies as consequences of her eating disorder (Tom Phillips). Ana Carolina Reston was a Brazilian model who was warned she was fat at 112 ponds, ever since then this beautiful model stopped eating until she starved to death. Ana was 5ft 6inch and died weighting 84 pounds (Tom Phillips). Isabelle Caro was another beautiful model who dies due to anorexia, she was told by Parisian modeling scout that in order for her to â€Å"find a job she needed to lose 10 pound† (Barbie Latza Nadeau) and she did, she quickly lost 20 pounds she ended up weighting 55 pounds. Isabelle was 5ft 4inch tall with a weight of 55 pounds, she ended having to go to the hospital due to her rapid weight lost, Isabelle was in the hospital in comma for months (Barbie Latza Nadeau). It’s a shame to lose such beautiful models just because they consider themselves fat when in reality they are to skinny I truly believe that all these deaths have a solution, because besides from the models I have mention previously there are many more models who die due to their eating disorders. The solution is for the minimum weight limit to become a requirement. The minimum weight limit will make all modules feel comfortable by the way they look because they would look exactly how they were told but in a much healthier way. Having to weight at least the minimum weight should be come a requirement because, by reinforcing a minimum weight limit and making it one of the prerequisites for being or become a module all the modules who love their job will do their best to meet all the requirements. If models are conscious that if they weight less than they are supposed to they will keep themselves at that weight in order to keep their job. This will help models all around the world to become healthier and it will also help prevent all these deaths because of their eating disorders.

Resource Based View in Business Management

Resource Based View in Business Management Introduction The resource-based view is defined as a business management tool utilized to know the strategic resources available to firm. The basic principle of the resource based value is that the basis for a competitive advantage of a company lies primarily in the application of the group of valuable resources at the firms disposal. In order to change a short-run competitive advantage into a maintained competitive advantage requires that these resources are heterogeneous in nature and not perfectly mobile. In other words, this will change into valuable resources that either perfectly imitable or substitutable without great effort. If these conditions are remained, the companys group of resources can help the firm sustaining above average returns. The recent dominant view of corporate strategy resource-based theory or resource-based view (RBV) of company is based on the theory of economic rent and the view of the company as a collection of capabilities. This view of strategy has a coherence and integrative role that puts it well ahead of other mechanisms of strategic decision making. The olden strategy models such as Michael Porters five forces model concentrates on the firms external competitive environment. Most of them do not try to look inside the firm. Instead, the resource-based perspective shows the need for a fit among the external market context in which a firm works and its internal capabilities. In contrast to the Input / Output Model (I/O model), the resource-based view is grounded in the perspective that a companys internal environment, in terms of its resources and capabilities, is more crucial to the determination of strategic action compared to the external environment. The resource based view suggest that a companys rare resources and capabilities give the basis for a strategy instead of concentrating on the accumulation of resources necessary to implement the strategy dictated by conditions and constraints in the external environment (I/O model). The business strategy chosen should enable the company to best use its core competencies relative to chances in the external environment. The resource-based view of the firm might be useful to the field of strategic management. The big benefit of this theory was it motivated a dialogue between scholars from a lot of perspectives, which they described as good conversation. From then onwards, the strengths and weaknesses of the resource based view have been vigorously argued in strategic management and other management disciplines. There are lesser discussions regarding the resource based view done in the field of information systems. The resource based view is used in the information system field on a few occasions, yet there is no effort up to date to comprehensive evaluates their weaknesses and strengths. The resource-based view also stands that companies possess resources, a subset which allows them to reach competitive advantage and later on giving them long term superior performance. Many studies of performance from company using the resource based view have found differences within the industries. This recommends that the effects of individual, firm-specific resources on performance can be crucial. Valuable and rare resources and whose benefits can be sorted by the owning (or controlling) company giving it with a temporary competitive advantage. That strength can be maintained over longer time periods to the extent that the company can protect against resource imitation, transfer, or substitution. In other words, empirical studies using the theory have strongly supported the resource-based view. One of the key challenges of resource based view related is to understand the meaning of resource. Many people are interested in the resource based view and utilized a few different concepts to speak about a companys resources. This includes assets, stocks, competencies and skills. Such proliferation of terms is a problem for research utilizing resource based view because it is usually not clear what the researchers mean by key terminology. To make things simple, it is better to clarify the terms in a relevant way. Together, assets and capabilities define the set of resources available to the firm. Assets mean anything intangible or tangible that the firm can utilize for producing and creating in its process to a market. Assets can be taken as a input or output of a process. It can also be tangible and intangible. In other words, capabilities change inputs into outputs of greater worth. Capabilities includes processes and skills. Since years ago, there are big collections of contributions in the areas of strategic management and economics which find to change the term of resource based view or utilize it as a framework to solve empirical questions. Meanwhile, the basic propositions of resource based view have increased explained. In summary, the initial contribution of the RBV of the company to date has been as a concept of competitive advantage. The start is with an assumption which the wanted outcome of managerial effort within the company is sustainable competitive advantage. Achieving such a level enables the company to earn economic rents instead. This also concentrates on how the company achieve and maintain advantages. The resource based view argues that the answer to such question stays in the possession of important resources which have certain characteristics like barriers to duplication and value. A SCA can be achieved if the company effectively uses the resources in its product markets. Resource b ased view focuses the strategic choice, charging the companys management with the crucial tasks of developing, identifying and utilizing important resources to maximize returns. The resource based view will be discussed later in the following paragraphs and also followed by a conclusion. Article 1 Corporate Social Responsibility: A Resource-Based View of the Firm Mehdi Taghian, Deakin University This section reviews the application of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) as an intangible dynamic resource, its application in the formulation of marketing strategies and its association with business performance, using the theoretical framework of resource-based view of the firm (RBV). CSR focuses on what is termed the triple bottom line people, planet, profit (Capaldi, 2005). Supporters of CSR believe that it is compatible with the traditional goals of a business and in fact can enhance a business. These supporters assert that CSR must become an integral part of the wealth creation process. Therefore, if CSR is managed properly, it should enhance business competitiveness and maximize wealth creation value to society. Also, when the economy is facing challenging times like now, there is greater not lesser need to practice CSR. The benefits of CSR will be discussed in detail in subsequent paragraphs. CSR initiatives can be in many forms, depending on the company. Some focus solely on environmental issues but there is a move towards community-based development projects (Tench et al, 2007). These projects perform a variety of functions for people in rural areas such as providing education for children and equipping adults with job skills. Other CSR initiatives occur in the form of providing healthcare and awareness of diseases such as AIDS and malaria. Based on these companies annual reports and other publications, such initiatives seem to be successful (Vernon and Mackenzie, 2008). Therefore, companies are encouraged to embrace CSR to fulfil their roles as good corporate citizens. Even though governments have not enacted legislature compelling businesses to embrace CSR, the accounting fraternity has taken the lead by instituting accounting standards and guidelines that compel MNCs to adopt some aspects of CSR. The guidelines are on environmental and sustainable reporting and demonstrate how acting green can be incorporated into a companys accounting system (ODwyer, 2003). Some of the more notable guidelines and standards promoting CSR are AccountAbilitys AA1000 standard, Social Accountability Internationals SA8000 standard, ISO14000 Environmental Management Standard and Global Reporting Initiatives Sustainable Reporting Guidelines. These standards and others have increased the awareness among accountants for the need for good CSR and sustainable reporting. Stakeholder Theory The stakeholder theory considers the impact of expectations of the different stakeholder groups to determine CSR. This is expressed by Drucker in his views on business ethics in that management is ultimately responsible to itself and society at large. These sentiments were re-echoed later by Freeman (1984, cited in Enquist et al, 2006) who said it was not just a matter of social responsibility or business ethics, but ultimately the very survival of the company hinges on it. Stakeholders are groups from whom the organization has voluntarily accepted benefits, and to whom the organization has therefore incurred obligations of fairness (Galbreath, 2009). A firms traditional stakeholders are its shareholders, employees, creditors, customers and the government. However, the scope has been expanded in recent years to include non-governmental organizations and the community as a whole. CSR is utilized as a management tool for managing the information needs of the various powerful stakeholder groups and managers use CSR to manage or influence the most powerful stakeholders in order to gain their support which is vital for survival (Freeman et al, 200, cited in Gyves and OHiggins, 2008). The key issue here is identifying the concerns of the various stakeholder groups which are often different, and how to satisfy them. Hence, the corporation is driven to act in a more ethical manner to avoid antagonizing powerful stakeholders. Scholars have cited five major strategic responses to institutional pressure for CSR, which range from the timid to the hostile. The first strategy is to acquiesce, which is to accept CSR values, norms and rules for the organization. The second approach is to compromise by partially conforming to CSR requirements while modifying it to suit organizational needs. The third strategy is to avoid or resist all CSR initiatives while the fourth method is a more active form of resistance to CSR initiatives through outright defiance. The final approach is by manipulation, which is by attempting to change global CSR standards. As can be expected, the last approach can only be employed by the largest and most powerful corporations. Furthermore, a CSR strategy can be considered as a core intangible dynamic resource within the resource-based view of the firm (RVB). It can provide a general framework for decisions regarding the design and adoption of other organisational resources that collectively characterise their marketing approach and direction. Article 2 The resource-based view of the firm: Ten years after 1991.(Technical) Ten years ago, Jay Barney edited a special forum in this journal on the Resource-Based View of the Firm (Barney, 1991). In his article in the special issue, Barney argued that sustained competitive advantage derives from the resources and capabilities a firm controls that are valuable, rare, imperfectly imitable, and not substitutable. These resources and capabilities can be viewed as bundles of tangible and intangible assets, including a firms management skills, its organizational processes and routines, and the information and knowledge it controls. In the intervening decade, the diffusion of the resource-based view (RBV) in strategic management and related disciplines has been both dramatic and controversial and has involved considerable theoretical development and empirical testing. As such, it seemed timely to organize a new special issue that attempts to assess the past contributions of the RBV as well as presenting forward-looking extensions. Barneys 1991 article was positioned relative to the structure-conduct-performance (SCP) paradigm in economics. Revisiting this article, Barney (2001a) discusses the implications of linking the RBV to the neoclassical microeconomics and evolutionary economics literatures. Situating the RBV in relation to neoclassical microeconomics would have helped address issues concerning whether or not equilibrium analysis can be applied in resource-based analyses, whether the RBV is tautological, and identification of attributes of resources and capabilities that lead them to be inelastic in supply. Positioning the RBV against evolutionary economics would have helped develop arguments concerning how routines and capabilities change over time. Barney points out that all three perspectives have been developed over the last decade and provide a body of related yet distinct resource-based theoretical tools that can be applied in different ways in different contexts. Mahoney (2001) revisits Conners (1991) paper to provide an alternative perspective on the similarities and distinctions between RBV and transaction cost economics (TCE), questioning Conners argument that the fundamental difference is that the former focuses on the deployment and combination of specific inputs while the latter focuses on the avoidance of opportunism. Mahoney argues that to continue to develop the RBV with the assumption of no opportunism ignores key issues. With opportunism, the presence of the firm facilitates superior knowledge transplantation relative to the market because of superior coding, better control of opportunistic behavior due to the authority relationship and superior information. RBV and TCE are viewed as complementary because the former is a theory of firm rents whereas the latter is a theory of the existence of the firm. The set of market frictions that explain sustainable firm-level rents would be sufficient market frictions to explain the existence of the firm. The problem of opportunism, however, has also been closely associated with recent literature on corporate restructuring, to which we return below. Revisiting their managerial rents model, Castanias and Helfat (2001) present an expanded classification of managerial resources and explain how it relates to (1) other classifications of managerial abilities such as those dealing with leadership qualities or functional area experience and (2) the fundamental resource-based characteristics of scarcity, immobility, and inimitability. The implications of this model for firm performance, appropriability of rents from managerial resources, and incentives for managers to generate rents are then analyzed. The authors argue that managerial resources, which cannot be imitated quickly or which may have imperfect substitutes, do not by definition generate rents, especially if effort and motivation are lacking or misdirected. They also suggest that the nature of managerial resources may need to change with the life-cycle of the firm and the industry for rents to be generated. Article 3 Out of the many theories of organizational behavior, one aligns itself well with the human capital view of people within an organization. This theory, called the Resource Based View (RBV), suggests that the method in which resources are applied within a firm can create a competitive advantage (Barney, 1991; Mata, Fuerst, Barney, 1995; Peteraf, 1993; Wernerfert, 1984). The resource based view of firms is based on two main assumptions: resource diversity and resource immobility (Barney, 1991; Mata et al., 1995). According to Mata et al. (1995), these assumptions are defined as: Resource diversity (also called resource heterogeneity) pertains to whether a firm owns a resource or capability that is also owned by numerous other competing firms, then that resource cannot provide a competitive advantage. As an example of resource diversity, consider the following: a firm is trying to decide whether to implement a new IT product. This new product might provide a competitive advantage to the firm if no other competitors have the same functionality. If competing firms have similar functionality, then this new IT product doesnt pass the resource diversity test and therefore doesnt provide a competitive advantage. Resource immobility refers to a resource that is difficult to obtain by competitors because the cost of developing, acquiring or using that resource is too high. As an example of resource immobility, consider the following: a firm is trying to decide whether they should buy an off-the-shelf inventory control system or have one built specifically for their needs. If they buy an off-the-shelf system, they will have no competitive advantage over others in the market because their competition can implement the same system. If they pay for a customized solution that provides specific functionality that only they implement, then they will have a competitive advantage, assuming the same functionality isnt available in other products. These two assumptions can be used to determine whether an organization is able to create a sustainable competitive advantage by providing a framework for determining whether a process or technology provides a real advantage over the marketplace. The resource based view of the firm suggests that an organizations human capital management practices can contribute significantly to sustaining competitive advantage by creating specific knowledge, skills and culture within the firm that are difficult to imitate (Afiouni, 2007; Mata et al., 1995). In other words, by creating resource diversity (increasing knowledge and skills) and/or resource immobility (a culture that people want to work in), sustainable competitive advantage can be created and maintained. In order to create human capital resource diversity and immobility, an organization must have adequate human capital management practices, organizational processes, knowledge management practices and systems, educational opportunity (both formal and informal) and social interaction (i.e., community building) practices in place Conclusion Based on the empirical writings stated above RBV provides us the understanding that certain unique existing resources will result in superior performance and ultimately build a competitive advantage. Sustainability of such advantage will be determined by the ability of competitors to imitate such resources. However, the existing resources of a firm may not be adequate to facilitate the future market requirement due to volatility of the contemporary markets. There is a vital need to modify and develop resources in order to encounter the future market competition. An organisation should exploit existing business opportunities using the present resources while generating and developing a new set of resources to sustain its competitiveness in the future market environments, hence an organisation should be engaged in resource management and resource development. Their writings explain that in order to sustain the competitive advantage, its crucial to develop resources that will strengthen their ability to continue the superior performance. Any industry or market reflects high uncertainty and in order to survive and stay ahead of competition new resources becomes highly necessary. Morgan agrees stating that, need to update resources is a major management task since all business environments reflect highly unpredictable market and environmental conditions. The existing winning edge needed to be developed since various market dynamics may make existing value creating resources obsolete.

Political Anarchy :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are several arguments against philosophical anarchism. Most of the arguments are in line with either the theory that consent is not required or of the theory we have already consented. For the sake of being brief, this essay will attempt to refute only the latter of the two. Along with the idea of individual consent is the longstanding, traditional theory of the authority of God. Other arguments follow a less anarchist view and are that of tacit consent and more specifically that of majority consent. The idea that consent is essential for the legitimacy of political authority can be argued against in many ways. Traditionally, the argument that God gave government authority was valid and in accepting religion we accept this as well. If you rebel against this order, you rebel against God. It was reason enough for most people to stop questioning such authority. In the last few centuries, however, the idea of personal freedom and independence has shifted mainstream thinking to being skeptical of the religious premise of government. Just because you believe in God doesn’t mean that you believe he gives government authority over you. The rising political awareness in our societies is causing many people to wonder how much power our government should really have over us. Even if the argument of political authority by God still cannot be argued against, then what about those who do not believe in God? Are they expected to follow governmental authority just as everyone else when th ey do not believe a god gave authority to government? How does on reconcile that they do and still try to argue that everyone has consented in this way? Next, is the argument of tacit consent. Those upholding this argument say that we consent to government through some action such as voting, paying taxes, or even just by living in its territory. It even goes as far to saying that we consent simply by remaining silent. Does this mean that we consent to something when we choose an option that is forced upon us? We have more options than the ones given to us by the government. It’s just that they have the power to punish us if we don’t choose from their palette of choices. The fact that we make a choice does not necessarily make it voluntary. Can one say then that if someone believes they make a choice voluntarily it constitutes consent?

Life in the 1960s was Better than Life Today Essay examples -- essays

Life in the 1960s was both better for the people and significantly different to life today. When comparing the 1960s and today, there are many significant differences. The 1960s held events that were unique to that era, such as the Vietnam War and the landing on the moon, and today we are trying to find ways to advance technology further. The two eras also had different lifestyles, clothing, technology and pass-times. Life in the 1960s was better than the life today because the world hadn?t yet advanced too far, and life was revolved more around friends and family then other things. Events in the 1960s changed the people of that era. People who did adventurous things such as Neil Armstrong walking on the moon and those men who returned home from the Vietnam War inspired them, feminism bettered the life for women, teens began to enjoy life more as the counter culture began, the cold war made people aware of the danger of nuclear technology and the JFK assassination gave people a topic of conversation. Important events today include the discovery of cloning, which is a way of c...