Organic food †Agriculture Essay

Ever wondered why organic foods are more expensive? Why organic foods are kept separately from the other food in a grocery store? Why some produce has special labels? The food all looks the same on the outside. An apple marked organic looks the same as any other apple in the produce section of the store. The difference is not the outward appearance but how the apple was grown and processed. The word organic gives the impression that the food will be safer and more nutritious to eat than food without the organic label. Many scientific studies have been done to find if there is a significant difference in safety and nutrition. The studies all conclude the same information. Organically grown foods are not any more nutritious or safer for consumption than conventionally grown, non-organic foods. Many people are not clear regarding how organic and non-organic also known as conventionally grown food is grown in the United States. Organically grown food is grown and processed using no synthetic chemicals, such as fertilizers or pesticides (Environmental Protection Agency, 2009). Pesticides derived from natural sources, such as biological pesticides, can be used in growing and producing organically grown food (Environmental Protection Agency, 2009). Biological pesticides are bacteria or fungi that are applied to the plant to control bugs (Environmental Protection Agency, 2009). If raising livestock, the animals eat organic animal food (American Progress, 2008). Organic farming does not have adverse effects on animals and people. Using biological pesticides and fertilizers does not leave toxins or harmful residues in the environment (American Progress, 2008). These types of pesticides and fertilizers are considered to be environmentally friendly, unlike non-organic farming. Non-organic or conventionally grown food is food grown with chemical fertilizers to promote plant growth. Insecticides are used to reduce pests and disease. Chemical herbicides are applied to soil to prevent and kill weeds. The animals are given antibiotics when sick. Growth hormones and medications are given to livestock to prevent disease and spur growth (Mayo Clinic, 2009). The two methods of farming are very different regarding farming techniques. Farming techniques are the main factor that contributes to a food classification as organic or non-organic. Organic farming techniques are one reason the cost is higher than conventionally grown food. Organic farming uses crop rotation (American Progress, 2008). This is growing one type of food, then harvesting that food and planting a different crop in the same place. Crop rotation helps keep the soil fertile. Organic farmers rely on the spreading of mulch or manure to keep weeds down (Mayo Clinic, 2009). Organic farmers may use methods such a hand weeding as opposed to using herbicides sprayed on the entire crop. Organic farmers may use beneficial insects and birds to keep pests from destroying crops (American Progress, 2008). Organic farming is much like farming before all the technological advancements in farming that is used today in conventional farming. Organic farming is designed to reduce pollution and conserve soil and water (American Progress, 2008). Either way a farmer chooses to grow food, the food still has to pass all standards set up by the United States government. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has set standards all food producers must adhere to and pass whether organically or conventionally grown. Food must be safe before it is sold to consumers. The National Organic Program (NOP) develops, implements, and administers national production, handling, and labeling standards for organic agricultural products. The NOP also accredits the certifying agents, both foreign and domestic, who inspect organic production and handling operations to certify that they meet USDA standards (United States Department of Agriculture, 2010). The Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) and the NOP assure consumers that the organic agricultural products they purchase are produced, processed, and certified to consistent national organic standards. The labeling requirements of the NOP apply to raw, fresh products and processed products that contain organic agricultural ingredients. Agricultural products that are sold, labeled, or represented as organic must be produced and processed in accordance with the NOP standards (Agriculture Marketing Service, 2010). If the food passes all the criteria, the food can legally carry an organic label. Labels are an important part of correctly marketing organic food. All food has to be classified and labeled before it can be sold for consumption whether organic or non-organic. Before a product can carry the organic label, it must pass all the USDA guidelines. Products that are completely organic or made of all organic ingredients are considered 100% organic. Examples of completely organic products are single-ingredient foods, such as fruits, vegetables, eggs. These type foods are labeled 100% organic. These foods can carry a USDA organic seal (Mayo Clinic, 2009). Food that contains organic ingredients but also have other ingredients that may not be organic are considered 95% organic (Agricultural Marketing Service, 2008). An example of this type of food is cereal. Manufacturers and farmers may use the word organic on the product label if the food contains more than 70% organic ingredients (Agricultural Marketing Service, 2008). The label is not the USDA label but the manufacturer’s label. An example of this type of food is a soup that has a manufacturer label boasting it has organic ingredients. Foods containing less than 70% organic ingredients cannot use the word organic on their product label (Agricultural Marketing Service, 2008). The USDA issues heavy penalties for misrepresenting a product as organic. Natural food is not organic even though the two are usually within the same section in a market. Natural food is a term that may confuse people. Natural food does not have strict labeling standards set up by the USDA. Thus, many products can carry a natural food label. It would be easy to misconstrue natural food as organic. By definition, natural food is food that has undergone no or minimal processing and contains no additives such as preservatives or artificial coloring (Encarta, 2009). Natural food is the way the food is processed after it has been grown. Organic and non-organic food is defined according to how it was grown and then processed. The quality of food is still the issue for natural, organic, and non-organic when deciding what to buy. The quality of the food is one of the main issues between organic and conventionally grown food. The concern about conventionally grown food is if the food contains chemicals or chemical residue. Many studies have been done on organic and conventional food. Conventionally grown food does contain trace amounts of residue from the chemicals used in producing the food. Thoroughly washing produce with water and scrubbing before consuming reduces the residue on the fruit or vegetable (Mayo Clinic, 2009). According to the studies, there is no difference as far as taste. Taste is subjective to the growing conditions, season, and if a food is at its freshest point (Mayo Clinic, 2009). Taste is, of course, a matter of opinion. Something that studies can measure is the nutritional value of food. Many studies have been done comparing the nutritional value of organic and conventionally grown food. The studies have shown that there is no conclusive evidence to prove that organic food is more nutritious than is conventionally grown food (Mayo Clinic, 2009). The USDA, even though it certifies the food, does not claim organic foods are safer or more nutritious than conventional food (Mayo Clinic, 2009). An organic facts site states the following about organic and conventionally grown foods, â€Å"There is no evidence to prove that organic food is healthier than non organic food. People prefer organic food because they feel it is safer than conventional food as chemicals are not used in its production (Organic Facts, 2010). † Study after study does not prove organic food safer or more nutritious than conventionally grown food. Nutrition is not the only issue at hand. The controversy lies in the growing methods between organic and conventional farming. The issue should deal more with depleting the soil of its minerals and the chemicals washing off into the water supplies. The labels are added to organic food so that consumers have a choice. A consumer can easily identify organic products by the labels. When at the supermarket, look over the organic section. Do not worry that one fruit or vegetable tastes better than the other. Do not ask if one is more nutritious than the other. What should be asked, do I want to help conserve the environment? References Agricultural Marketing Service. (2010). Agricultural Marketing Service – National Organic Program. Retrieved January 14, 2010, from http://www. ams. usda. gov/AMSv1. 0/NOP American Progress. (2008). Organic vs. Conventional Foods-The Gloves Come Off. Retrieved January 13, 2010, from http://www. americanprogress. org/issues/2008/09/organic_green. html Encarta. (2009). natural food definition – Dictionary – MSN Encarta. Retrieved January 14, 2010, from http://www. encarta. msn. com/dictionary_1861696699/natural_food.html Environmental Protection Agency. (2009). Organic Farming/Agriculture/US EPA. Retrieved January 14, 2010, from http://www. epa. gov/oecaagct/torg. html Mayo Clinic. (2009). Organic Foods: Are they safer? More Nutritious? Retrieved January 13, 2010, from http://www. mayoclinic. com/health/organic-food/NU00255 Organic Facts. (2010). Difference Between Organic and Natural Food | Organic Food Basics | Organic Food. Retrieved January 14, 2010, from http://www. organicfacts. net/organic-food/organic-food-basics/difference-between-organic-and-natural-food. html.

Students’ Paid Employment and Academic Performance at Carrick Institute of Education, Sydney Campus

STUDENTS' PAID EMPLOYMENT AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AT CARRICK INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION, SYDNEY CAMPUS Blaga, Sorin. Review of Economic Studies and Research Virgil Madgearu5. 1 (2012): 5-22. Turn on hit highlighting for speaking browsers Show highlighting Abstract (summary) Translate Abstract Thispaper identifies aspects of ‘students' academic performance, in the Hospitality Department at Carrick Institute of Education, Sydney campus, Australia. The academic performance of these students is thought to be negatively affected by participation in paid employment and the language mostly spoken in their work place.The research finding s show that students are deliberately engaged in paid employment for exactly the same reasons identified by the previous researchers, even though the students know that their academic performance may suffer. The paper also looks at how the languages spoken at their work place influence their academic performance. Most of the students at Carrick Institute of Education are international students and the language spoken at their workplaces often coincides with the students' country of origin.In spite of these negative effects, students continue to work even if they are financially independent, in order to build their work experience. The jobs are mainly in the Hospitality Industries. The research finding s open the way for future pedagogical and managerial research in the education sector. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT] Full Text * Translate Full text Turn on search term navigation Headnote Abstract: Thispaper identifies aspects of ‘students' academic performance, in the Hospitality Department at Carrick Institute of Education, Sydney campus, Australia. The academic performance of these students is thought to be egatively affected by participation in paid employment and the language mostly spoken in their work place. The research finding s show that students are deliberately engaged in paid employment for exactly the same reasons identif ied by the previous researchers, even though the students know that their academic performance may suffer. The paper also looks at how the languages spoken at their work place influence their academic performance. Most of the students at Carrick Institute of Education are international students and the language spoken at their workplaces often coincides with the students' country of origin.In spite of these negative effects, students continue to work even if they are financially independent, in order to build their work experience. The jobs are mainly in the Hospitality Industries. The research finding s open the way for future pedagogical and managerial research in the education sector. Key words: academicperformance, course difficulties, paid employment, tuition fee, language JEL Classification: I20, I23 1. Introduction There is evidence of a growing trend in many countries for college and university students to combine their academic studies with paid work.In the United Kingdom, for example, the number of students who are engaged in paid work has been reported by a number of researchers and shows a continuous growth beginning from the early nineties. For example, Sorensen and Winn (1993) reported that 27% of university students are engaged in paid work. In research carried out in the UK and the US Ford et al. (i995) reported that 29% of university students took a part-time job; three years later in the UK, Lucas and Lammont (1998) reported that 31% of students also took a paid job. Hunt et al. 2004) found that in 1999, 38% of students were engaged in paid employment and he also he reported 49% of students undertook paid work in 2001. Curtis and Shani (2002) reported that 55% of students had a paid job in 2002 and 59% in 2003. In summary, one can say that in the UK during the years 1993-2003, the number of students taking a part time job increased from 27% up to 59% which is an increase of over 100%. From the 1990s a similar trend has been reported in the Un ited States by Stern and Nakata (1991) who found that the proportion of full-time students employed increased from 29% in 1959 to 43% in 1986.Other evidence emerged at the end of the millennium (Luzzo et al. 1997; Hammer et al. 1998) which indicated that the work participation rate amongst United States students exceeded 50%. In continental Europe, ‘The Euro Student' (2000) report found that student employment rates in Europe ranged from 48% in France to 77% in the Netherlands. In Australia, Anyanwu (1998) reported that 75% of full time students took up to 30 hours of paid work to support their studies.In early 2000, a national survey conducted by Long and Hayden (2001) revealed that 72. 5% of full-time students were in paid employment. Applegate and Daly (2006), in a study conducted at the University of Canberra, Australia, showed that the impact of paid work on the academic performance of students did not have a large impact on students' grades, and a slight improvement of s tudents' academic performance was even noticed in students employed in some jobs; however, working more than twenty hours per week had a negative effect.Applegate and Daly's survey found out that of the 78% of students who had a job, 40% of them worked over the legal limit of 20 hours per week. There is clear evidence showing that the phenomenon of students combining their study with paid work is wide-spread. The succinct literature review cited above, suggests possible reasons for this trend: the availability of jobs in service industries (the hospitality industry, in particular), rising student tuition fees over the years, changes in students' personal lives, and family and community expectations (Stern and Nakata 1991; Ford et al. 995). The aim of this present research is to reveal the nature and extent of full-time college students undertaking paid work and the relationship of this work experience with their academic performance at the Carrick Institute of Education, Hospitality Department. Carrick Institute of Education is a private Australian education institution, which has been established since 1987, and provides vocational and academic education to over 5000 students1 from all over the world in campuses situated in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.One of the most popular vocational choices, among international students, is the Hospitality Department. The Hospitality Department enrolls over 2980 students in their Sydney campuses alone, in all forms of education. The popularity of hospitality courses can be explained by the relatively low level of course difficulty, and relatively high levels of part-time and full- time job availability in hospitality businesses, as confirmed by the following researchers Ford et al. (1995), Mclnnis and Hartley (2002) and Bradley (2006).Most of the time these businesses are owned by students' fellow countrymen who are more willing to offer them employment and make them feel more comfortable in the work place. Th e hospitality courses are also one of the most popular choices among international students as, later on, they offer the opportunity to apply for Permanent Residency in Australia. Many students, for various reasons, are not able to balance the work load they take on and the academic performance required by the Australian Qualification Framework and Vocational Education and Training regulatory body. This brings significant consequences.As a result of the high number of hours in employment, students' academic results are being affected and they perform poorly in the classroom. The high number of students deemed Not Yet Competent (NYC), which means failed in different stages and in different subjects, was 40132 and reflects students' low ability in balancing paid-work and their studies. Another aspect of interest, addressed in this paper, is the possible relationship between the language spoken in the work place, international students' slow improvement in their English Language skills , any adverse consequences in academic performance and later employability.This research is significant as there have not been studies to address these issues in the area of Vocational Education in Australia for a significant period of time; certainly no studies have been undertaken in Carrick Institute of Education. There is an empirical understanding of the problems among management and therefore the research findings will offer a solid scientific base upon which to improve College policies and practice in respect of students' undesirable academic results. 2. Aims and ExpectationsThe academic literature review shows clearly that paid employment is a normal component of contemporary student life (Curtis and Shani 2002). Student participation in the workforce has a number of positive consequences: students receive pay, become independent, learn to manage money, make social contacts, build self-confidence in acquiring a job, and learn generic skills which increase their employability . Some research, however, has documented a range of negative outcomes such as fatigue, lack of autonomy, social isolation, low pay, and high stress (Lucas and Lammont 1998; Mclnnis and Hartley 2002).The aim of this study is to identify the extent and relationship between students' paid employment and their academic performance at Carrick Institute of Education in the Hospitality department, taking into consideration the students needs to balance their personal life with work participation and academic performance. The researcher tested the following two hypotheses: Hypothesis i. The researcher expects that the excessive work load is a key cause of students' performing poorly academically and explains the high number of NYCs. This situation could be created by many variables which will be clearly identified and analysed in the research.To some extent these NYCs cannot be reasonably managed, resulting in an even more difficult situation for the students, such as cancellation of their student visas in extreme cases. Hypothesis 2? is expected that there is a relationship between the languages most spoken at the work-place and students' slowness in improving their English language skills. It is assumed that poor English language skills are associated with poor academic performance and low employability. 3. Methodology used 3. 1 Sample selection The sample for this study comprised 70 students enrolled at Carrick Institute of Education, Sydney campus, Australia.For practical reasons the participants were selected using a quota system, randomly selecting the students from each class according to their respective stages, 5, 6, 7, and 8. The researcher ensured the proportions of males and females sampled were representative the population of students enrolled at Carrick Institute of Education. Data was obtained from 34 females (49 per cent), and 34 males (49 per cent). Ages varied from 20 to over 30 years (Mean = 22. 4; SD = 5. 8). 3. 2 Questionnaire development A ques tionnaire containing 14 questions was developed for use in this research.The questionnaire was developed through a series of tests and peer group discussions at the University of Technology, Sydney. The final version comprised three sections. The first section contained five closed-ended questions relating to the respondent's paid work. Questions pertained to the extent of work performed, reasons for working, and perceived benefits of working. There was an illustrative question linking the study profile with the work performed, as a factor contributing to the education taken, and a question showing the students' ability in finding paid employment in the field of their studies.Two questions directly related to students' academic performance (measured by their NYCs): students' perception of the consequences of poor performance; and student perception of the College's involvement in helping them to overcome these undesirable outcomes. In this case, negatively worded items were reverse- scored and responses to all items measuring common constructs were averaged to form a composite scale. The second section contained questions related to the second assumption and attempted to identify the students' country of origin, language spoken at work and academic performance.This section also contained a Likert-rype item aimed at identifying students' perception of College involvement in helping them to overcome negative academic performance. The questionnaire contained an open ended question which was intended to identify students' enthusiasm for the study they took and their future plans. The last section contained items seeking demographic information, including gender and age. 3. 3 Data Collection Research data was collected by distributing the questionnaires to four classes.One class from each stage in the final year of study was selected to cover the whole range of students in the campus in the Hospitality Department. The respondents were chosen randomly based on their arrival time in class. Time allocated for responding to the questions was at the teachers' discretion and the questionnaires were collected by the end of the day. Secondary data related to students' academic performance was obtained from the College administration. 4. Results and analysisThe rate of subjects' participation in this project was 87. 5 per cent; 80 surveys were distributed and 70 were filled in. From those 70 surveys, two were incomplete, representing 2. 85 per cent of the total participants and generating the No Answer percentage. For analysis purposes the following matrix was created: As revealed in Table 1, the researcher found that 84% of the students had a paid job which is well above the national average of 72. 5% of full-time students engaged in paid employment (Long and Hayden 2001). The increase of 11. % can be explained by the specificity of studies taken (hospitality) by students, and curriculum requirements that students should take paid works to gain work e xperience in the field of their studies. There was also strong pressure on students to take jobs in the hospitality industry from the Immigration Department, as a student qualifies for Permanent Resident (PR) visa requirements at the conclusion of their studies. Availability of part-time jobs in the hospitality industry may be another explanation for this phenomenon.The survey revealed a low number of students with no job (13%) which gives invites speculation on their reasons for not taking employment: the students may be not the principal applicant for PR, or they may have gained the minimum number of hours required. This issue needs more investigation but is outside the scope of this research. The research gained more strength from further examination the work load taken by students. 15% of students took over 20 hours of work per week and, from private discussions, the researcher found that some students took paid jobs well beyond this limit.To further explore the possibility that students' grades dramatically deteriorated if they took over 20 hours of work per week is difficult as further development of the issue could lead students to self-incrimination. Immigration Department regulations stipulate that students on a study visa may only take 20 hours of paid work per week. In support of our findings, research by Greenberger and Steinberg (1986), Professor Warren Payne (2003) from Victoria University, Melbourne, and others, demonstrates that work interferes with academic performance only when students undertake in excess of 20 hours of work per week.These findings were taken on board by Carrick's policies and reflected in Australian Immigration Department requirements. Beyond thispointphysicalandintellectual resources are rapidly depleted and academic performance declines dramatically. The research shows that, apart from the need to earn money because insufficient funds were provided by their family, as declared by 53% of the participants, reasons for engag ing in paid employment were to gain work experience (31. 45%), for social interaction and pocket money (13. 5%) and other reasons such as enjoyment, boredom, and the like (3%). Working and non-working respondents were not distinguished in terms of age, gender or marital status as these factors were not relevant to the topic of research. As expected, the number of students working in the Hospitality Industry was 79% which is in line with the College policies and government regulations. A surprising result emerges when the students revealed that they obtained employment without assistance (67%) and just 31% declared that they got help from family and friends in getting paid employment.College student services which offers employment opportunities was not mentioned at all in this respect which raises serious questions about the purpose and efficiency of this department. In terms of academic results, 60% of the participants declared that they had no grade of NYC, which overall, is not a very good academic performance. Also 13% of participants declared they had one NYC, 10% stated they had two NYCs, 3% of students declared that they had three NYC, and 3% acknowledged they had four NYCs and a further 3% declared they five NYCs.The most questionable category is that of 5% of participants declaring that they had over 10 NYCs which brings the total proportion of students with NYCs to 39%. The research findings strongly supported hypothesis 1 confirming the existence of a strong relationship between students' work load and academic performance. As the Table 1 shows, 30% of students work in businesses where the spoken language is Mandarin and Cantonese; 35% of them work in businesses where Hindi or other languages from the Indian subcontinent is spoken; and only 26% of students declared that the language spoken in the workplace is English.The last statement needs more clarification as ‘English language spoken in the workplace' could imply that English was the only means of communication between employees and customers, or that English was the only means of communication between employees as a result of diversity in the work place. These findings do not clearly support hypothesis 2 as a research question and do not confirm there is a strong relationship between language spoken in the workplace and slow improvement of students' English skills, with consequent detrimental results in academic performance and employability.Because of the time constraint, the researcher has no ability to further investigate this issue. In terms of support received from the College to overcome the undesirable academic results, 73% of the participants declared that they had been helped to get over the situation, and 23% stated there had been no support for them. If we correlate the total number of students with NYCs (38. 5%) and those who declared that they did not receive adequate support (23%) we can assume that they are the same individuals or that there is some o verlap.As an organization Carrick Institute of Education is viewed as a very good educational institution by 10% of participants, good by 34%, neutral by 43%, bad by 4% and very bad also by 4%. The findings reveal a high number of students with an indifferent attitude to services and the quality of education offered. This will be a good question for management to investigate further. The researcher declines any further analysis of the issue which does not fit into the purpose of the topic.The open ended question related to students' future plans revealed an entire range of plans which can be categorized as: getting a good job (20%); embarking upon further studies (9%); starting a small business (7%); becoming a manager and chef (about 7%); getting PR (7%); and what is most intriguing, 29% of respondents declared that, ? Do Not Know'(IDNK). The analysis of this issue is beyond the scope of this paper. Data was obtained from 34 females (49%), and 34 males (49%). Ages varied from 20 to over 30 years (Mean = 22. 4, SD = 5. 8). 5. Discussion and ConclusionsThis paper identifies aspects of academic performance thought to be negatively affected by participation in paid employment and the language mostly spoken in the work place. This research as well as that of Greenberger and Steinberg (1986) and Payne (2003) demonstrates that work interferes with academic performance only when students undertake in excess of 20 hours of work per week which was taken on board by Carrick Institute of Education and the Immigration Department as a threshold. The mean number of hours worked by students at Carrick Institute of Education is 15 hours per week and is similar to the averages reported in previous studies.The jobs were mainly in the Hospitality Industries, similar to those reported by (Ford et al. 1995; Mclnnis and Hartley 2002). Indeed, in situations where jobs and study programs are closely aligned, positive effects may even be evidenced, because job experiences provide stud ents with opportunities to develop values and skills that are transferable to their current studies, and the context of their future careers (Luzzo et al. 1997). Similar findings are reported by Hammes and Haller (1983) and Hay et al. (1970).Findings in relation to the language spoken at the workplace shows that: 30% of students work in businesses where the spoken language is Mandarin and Cantonese; 35% of them work in businesses where Hindi or other languages from the Indian subcontinent are spoken; and only 26% of students declared that the language spoken in the workplace is English. These findings do not support Hypothesis 2 and do not confirm there is a strong relationship between the language spoken in the workplace and slow improvement of students' English skills with detrimental results in academic performance and employability.In clarifying this research question further work have to be done. This research was limited by the relatively small sample of participants and very limited time allocation. Future research should be carried out to obtain in-depth longitudinal data to enable temporal and causal relations between numerous other variables which need to be more clearly understood. This research is significant as there have not been studies to address these issues in the area of Vocational Education in Australia for a significant period of time and certainly no studies have been undertaken in the Carrick Institute of Education.Footnote 1 The numbers of students enrolled at Carrick Institute of Education, in different forms of education, were correct at the time of the survey. 2 The number is valid for August 2008. References References 1. Anlezark, A. (2005), ‘An aid to systematic reviews of research in vocational education and training in Australia', Journal ofVocational Education Research, Vol. 11, Issue 3. 2. Applegate, C. and Daly, A. 2006, ‘The impact of paid work on the academic performance of students: a case study from the Univer sity of Canberra', Australian Journal of Education, Vol. 0, Issue 2, pp. 155-166. 3. Anyanwu, C. (1998), ‘Is internationalisation in the classroom a reverse discrimination on Australian students? ‘ In Black, B. and Stanley, N. (Eds. ), Teaching and Learning in Changing Times, pp. 17-21. Proceedings of the 7th Annual Teaching Learning Forum, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia. 4. Barling, J. , Rogers, K. and Kelloway, E. K. 1995, ‘Some effects of teenagers' part-time employment: the quantity and quality of work make the difference', Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol. 16, Issue 2, pp. 143-154. 5. Baron,R. M. and Kenny, D. A. 1986, ‘The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations', Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 51, Issue 6, pp. 1173-1182. 6. Barone, F. J. 1993, The effects of part-time employment on academic performance. NASSP Bulleti n, Vol. 76, Issue 549, pp. 67-73. 7. Bella, S. K. and Huba, M. E. 1982, Student part-time jobs: the relationship between type of job and academic performance. Journal of Student Financial Aid, Vol. 12, Issue 3, pp. 22-27. 8. Biggs, J. B. 987, Student approaches to learning and studying, Australian Council for Educational Research, Melbourne. 9. Bradley, G. , 2006, Work participation and academic performance: a test of alternative propositions. Journal of Education and Work, Vol. 19, Issue 5, pp. 481-501. 10. Curtis, S. and Shani, N. 2002, The effect of taking paid employment during term-time on students' academic studies. Journal of Further and Higher Education, Vol. 26, Issue 2, pp. 129-138. 11. Euro Student, 2000, Socioeconomic living conditions of students, viewed 17 February 2010, http://www. his. de/Abt2/ Auslandsstudium/Eurostudent/index. tm. 12. Ford, J. , Bosworth, D. and Wilson, R. 1995, Part-time work and fulltime higher education. Studies in Higher Education, Vol. 20, Iss ue 2, pp. 87-202. 13. Graham B. 2006, Work participation and academic performance: a test of alternative propositions, Journal of Education and Work, Vol. 19, Issue 5, pp. 481-501 14. Greenberger, E. and Steinberg L. 1986, When teenagers work: the psychological and social costs of adolescent employment. Basic Books Inc. , NY. 15. Hammer, L. B. , Grigsby, T. D. and Woods, S. 1998, The conflicting demands of work, family, and school among students at an urban university.Journal of Psychology, Vol. 132, Issue 2, pp. 220-226. 16. Hunt, A. , Lincoln, I. and Walker, A. 2004, Term-time Employment and Academic Attainment: Evidence from a Large-scale Survey of Undergraduates at Northumbria University, Journal of Further Education, Vol. 28, Issue 1, pp. 3-18. 17. Johnson, K. and Lucas, R. 2002, Student Employment Within Services: A UK, Central and Eastern European Perspective, Research and Practice in Human Resource Management, Vol. 10, Issue 1, pp. 53-67. 18. Lucas, R and Lammont, N. 1998, C ombining work and study: An empirical study of students in work in school, college and university.Journal of Education and Work, Vol. 11, Issue 1, pp. 41-56. 19. Long, M. and Hayden, M. 2001, Paying their way: a survey of Australian undergraduate university student finances, 2000. Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee, viewed 17 February 2010, . 20. Lounsbury, J. W. ; Gibson, L. W. ; Sundstrom, E. ; Wilburn, D. ; Loveland, J. M. (2004), An Empirical Investigation of the Proposition that ‘School Is Work': a comparison of personality-performance correlations in school and work settings. Journal of Education and Work, Vol. 7, Issue 1, pp. 119-131. 21. Lucas, R. and Lammont, N. 1998, Combining work and study: an empiricalstudy of full-time students in school, college and university, Journal of Education and Work, Vol. 11, Issue 1, pp. 41-56. 22. Luzzo, D. A. , Hitchings, W. E. , Retish, P. and Shoemaker, A. 1999, Evaluating differences in college students' career decision making on the basis of disability status. Career Development Quarterly , Vol. 48, Issue 1, pp. 142-156. 23. Mclnnes, C. and Hartley, R. 2002, Managing Study and Work, DEST website, viewed, August 2009, ;http://www. dest. gov. au;. 24.Paton-Saltzburg, R. and Lindsay, R. 1994, The effect of paid employment on the academic performance of full-time students in higher education. Oxford, UK. 25. Stern, D. and Nakata, Y. 1991, Paid employment among U. S. college students: Trends, effects, and possible causes. The Journal of Higher Education, Vol. 62, Issue 1, pp. 25-43. 26. Sorensen, L. , and Winn, S. 1993, Student loans: a case study. Higher Education Review. Vol. 25, Issue 3, pp. 48-65. 27. Trochim, W. M. K. 2006, Ethics in Research, viewed 14 February 2010, ;www. socialresearchmethods. net/kb/ethics;. AuthorAffiliationSorin BLAGA* AuthorAffiliation * Carrick Institute of Education, Australia. E-mail address: [email  protected] net. au. Word count: 4095 Copyright Babes Bolyai University 2012 Indexing (details) Cite Subject Academic achievement; College students; Core curriculum; Language; Tuition Company / organization Name:Carrick Institute of Education-Sydney AustraliaNAICS:611310| Title STUDENTS' PAID EMPLOYMENT AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AT CARRICK INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION, SYDNEY CAMPUS Author Blaga, Sorin Publication title Review of Economic Studies and Research Virgil Madgearu Volume 5 Issue 1 Pages 5-22Number of pages 18 Publication year 2012 Publication date 2012 Year 2012 Publisher Babes Bolyai University Place of publication Cluj-Napoca Country of publication Romania Publication subject Business And Economics ISSN 20690606 Source type Scholarly Journals Language of publication English Document type Feature Document feature Tables;References;Graphs;Charts ProQuest document ID 1024823717 Document URL http://search. proquest. com. libraryproxy. griffith. edu. au/docview/1024823717? accountid=14543 Copyright Copyright Babes Bolyai University 2012 Last updated 2012-07 -14 Database ProQuest Central

Insanity and Diminished Responsibility Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Insanity and Diminished Responsibility - Essay Example abnormality of the mind ( R v Byrne ); drug personality disorder (Celebici Trial); involuntary intoxication ( R v Galbraith) ; mental weakness and low intelligence ( Lord Dea's decision ) ; minority ( R v Raven ); physical deformities such as blindness and being a deaf-mute ( R v Pritchard). In the treatise "Partial Defences To Murder" more mitigating factors are added i.e. sufficient provocation by the offended party ( R v Smith ); immediate vindication of a grave offence to himself or his relatives (Table 7); Incomplete self-defence where there is no reasonable necessity of the means employed by the culprit (R v Martin); passion or obfuscation (Case 113); disease or injury (Note 17); jealousy, mercy killing, depression, relationship of victim to the accused (Table 7). The list goes on and on. Insanity is a plea or defence by which the accused at the time of the commission of the act, "was laboring under such a defect of reason, arising from a disease of the mind, as not to know the nature and quality of the act he was doing or, if he did know it, that he did not know that what he was doing was wrong (The M'Naghten Rules). Insanity totally exempts the culprit from criminal liability unless he does it during a lucid interval. If so, he is wholly liable for the crime unless there are mitigating factors attending the crime. Diminished Respons... 2 Diminished Responsibility is defined as a plea or defence in which the accused at the moment of the commission of the crime suffers from some "form of mental unsoundness or mental aberration or weakness of mind", so much so that his "mind is so affected that responsibility is diminished from full responsibility to partial responsibility" ( HM Advocate v Savage). Comparison and Contrast 1. Both insanity and diminished responsibility are mental states. In insanity, there is a mental disorder or a mental disease which causes the deranged person to be deprived completely of reason, discernment or freedom of the will at the time of the commission of the crime. In insanity, there is an absence in the agent of crime of any of all the conditions that would make an act voluntary. On the other hand, in diminished responsibility, there is a mental debility or aberration of the mind or a temporary mental capacity or a temporary mental impairment (Scottish Law Commission 2). Here, there is some degree of reason, discernment or freedom of the will albeit such is beclouded and weakened by the presence of any of the mitigating factors hereinabove mentioned. 2. Insanity totally exempts the offender from criminal liability because the insane person is totally deprived , at the time of the performance of the crime, of discernment or reason or intelligence and is unable to distinguish between right or wrong. In diminished responsibility, as a rule, there is no exemption from criminal liability but there is instead a mitigation or extenuation of criminal responsibility

Critique of the play See how they run by Philip King Movie Review

Critique of the play See how they run by Philip King - Movie Review Example The play is not all about slapstick but also has great dialogues incorporated into it. Without the backing of the dialogues, slapstick alone could not have made an impact. And more importantly, the characters in the play are all well created. Each character is given importance and each character has it share in being stupid at one time and witty in another. This combination is what differentiates the play from being mediocre to a classic comedy. The actors have done a good job but it could have been even better. The actors could have been more innovative and induced specific character traits. The need here was to have crisp and quick dialogues. Even though the dialogues are good, setting up of the dialogues was little off. At some places in the play it the punch line becomes elongated. The punch line has to be quick in order to make a better impact. Actors should have made intelligent and intentional choices to differentiate their characters. Another important aspect that can be improved is the stage setup and the use of it by the artists. As the play includes outrageous situations, intelligent use of the stage is vital. At some places, it feels like the actors are moving around just to fill out space on the stage. This takes out the authenticity out of the play. â€Å"See how they run† is a fantastic and very funny play. But the overall success of a play not just depends on the script but also on the various other elements. Even though there were some places that can be improved, I completely enjoyed the play.

What single reform would you implement to enhance democracy in Canada Research Paper

What single reform would you implement to enhance democracy in Canada I picked Proportional Representation - Research Paper Example Discrimination, racism and prejudice are vices that are as old as humanity and have existed alongside it all along, consistently developing in an environment of close association of diverse groups. Historically in Canada, racism has not been confined to any specific group as racist policies are known to have promoted slavery, brought segregation to schools and even prohibited other groups from certain activities and jobs. However, studies show that Aboriginal peoples have and continue to getting the worst experiences of racial discrimination than any other group in the country and, more specifically, within the criminal justice system. According to a report by the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, the criminal justice system criminalizes Aboriginal people three times more than non-aboriginal people in violent crime (Brzozowski, Taylor-Butts & Johnson 69). Consequently, Aboriginal people are represented disproportionately in the criminal justice system, especially the courts and correctional facilities. This research project acknowledges that one of the key policy issues of the Canadian government has been the discrimination the aboriginal people are subjected to. From that perspective, it aims to answer the question â€Å"what single reform would you implement to enhance democracy in Canada?† Hence, arguing on the concepts of PR, it will be shown that the discrimination against the aboriginal people can be ended. The discussion will basically be based on the relationship the aboriginal people have with the criminal justice system. The key focus will be on the fact that unless changes are implemented in this relationship, aboriginal people will continue being disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system. More importantly, the changes must be implemented in the criminal and correctional systems. In Manitoba, only 12% of the population is made up of aboriginal people. However, out of the 1,600 people in incarceration in correctional

Information System Risk Management Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Information System Risk Management Paper - Essay Example Threats to an organization can be both from internal sources and external. While the motives may vary, the system is vulnerable to several risks. This paper will examine the vulnerabilities, the potential threats and the levels of security that could help mitigate the risks and allow uninterrupted workflow. Risk has been defined as the chance of exposure to the adverse consequences of future events (Egbuji, 1999). The likelihood and consequences have to be understood to provide for the right security measures. For a risk to be understandable, according to the Software Engineering Institute (SEI, 2006) of Carnegie Mellon University, it must be expressed clearly. This also implies that possible losses must be identified. Risks have to be assessed continuously and used for decision-making. In the field of computer technology and the information systems, technology enhancement is an ongoing process, which further necessitates continuous risk assessment. Besides, the losses due to lack of security controls could be in the areas of production, revenue, damaged reputation, and financial performance. Benefits of proper security measures could result in enhanced operational efficiency and competitive advantages (Kim, 2006). An organization must invest in IS security and know where to cut corner s. They should be able to spell the difference between security success and disaster (Gupta and Hammond, 2006). According to SEI, seven principles provide the framework to establish effective risk management. These include having a global perspective, the system should be at par with the larger systems, forward-looking view that is identifying and anticipating uncertainties, open communication – information and communication at all levels should be free flowing, integrated – risk management should be a vital and an integrated part of management, continuous – regular upgradation and constant vigil, shared product vision – having common purpose, shared

How do sociologists define, explain, understand race Essay

How do sociologists define, explain, understand race - Essay Example This paper declares that the two terms race and ethnicity have been invariably used interchangably by laymen. Sociologists, though identify distinct variations in he usage of the two terms. Ethnic groups possess a common history, distinctive culture and perspective, which contribute to their individuality. These virtues like langugae, daily traditions, ancestry are not inherited biologically, but are rather learned culturally. Essentially, ethnicity is what the world teaches and inculcates in a human being, while race is the set of vritues he is born with. An ethnic group is marked by self-consciousness, in that its members see themselves as a people, and are seen as such by others. This essay stresses that the practice of racism manifests itself in various forms even in the present society, be it the discrimination against African American or even against foreign immigrants. The Ku Klux Klan, an organization propagating white supremacy in the United States of America, was probably the most extreme rendition of this racism. This group was involved in public lynching of many blacks. A research conducted by the University of Chicago demonstrated that there was widespread discrimination in the workplace against job applicants whose names were merely perceived as "sounding black". The Asian Americans are put under greater scrutiny and checks in their daily ife and have become the focus of ridicule and accusation. Their ethinicity often becomes the cause of their public humiliation and discrimination. The Americans, have generalised the blame to the whole of the Asian community.(more particularly the Muslim) community. This attitude often creates problems for these i mmigrants in their personal and professional life. In late October 2001, the State Department issued a classified cable imposing a twenty-day mandatory hold on all non-immigrant visa applications submitted by men aged eighteen to forty-five from twenty-six countries, most of them Arab or Muslim. All such applicants were to be subjected to special security clearances. There are many other, similar

Grandparents raising their own Grandchildren Essay

Grandparents raising their own Grandchildren - Essay Example (Bold, M, Gladys J. Hildreth & Ronald A Fanning 1999) The socialization theory, like some other theories of social control, also holds that pro-social family processes like the house rules and the inherent attachment resulting from a family setting, do affect growing children's behaviour and character. The Group Socialization Theory states that children's peer groups affect the behavior and learning patterns of the children more than the influence exerted by their families or genetics. Social control in growing children can be said to operate through direct control, indirect control, satisfaction of needs, and internalized control. Direct control has to do with parental supervision and monitoring, while indirect control is the interaction of growing children's beliefs and attachment. For example, children will try not to jeopardize their family relationship by not disappointing their parents or grandparents. Growing children also seek for satisfaction of their needs, and if a child is not emotionally satisfied within the family, the child seeks intimacy and support from his peers. One important implication of this and other models is the timing of family management practices and how these affect later peer choices. Poor attachment, monitoring, and supervision in the preadolescent phase will surface later in an adolescent's choice of peers (Oxford, Harachi et al. 2001). According to Judith Harris, "the psychological characteristics a child is born with become permanently modified by the environment" (Harris 1995, p. 482) Some people are of the opinion that there are two main developments in the field of psychology as a whole that need to be better assimilated in socialization work. The first is the attack on the trait (or nature) theory, and it is argued that socialization research can survive this attack only if it becomes more concerned with structural developmental change in its dependent variables. Second, the impact of the "cognitive revolution" is assessed, and the paper argues that more attention must be given to the ways in which children process inputs from socialization agents, and developmental changes in processing capacities. Finally, it is urged that research attention must be focused on the conditions which sustain the effective performance of socialization agents. (http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED112283&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED112283) For many decades now, there has been an ongoing conjunctive effort to clearly distinguish between the roles of nature and nurture in human development, and this has eventually led to some of the most provocative discoveries and psychological advances in the twentieth century. In his book, Stephen Pinker noted that "for many decades psychologists have looked for the causes of individual differences in cognitive ability and in personality. The conventional wisdom has been that such traits are strongly influenced by parenting practices and role models." (Pinker, S.

Climate Change in Saudi Arabia Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Climate Change in Saudi Arabia - Research Paper Example The world is witness to considerable variation, in respect of sources of energy. In addition, there is an increase in the number of energy choices being provided to the various countries of the world. These efforts are the outcome of energy, security, economic and environmental concerns. All over the world, there has been a gradual changeover, from an economy based on fossil fuels, to on that depends on sustainable forms of energy. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia presents an extremely informative case, in this regard. It is one of the largest oil exporters in the world and is home to 25% of the world’s oil reserves. Of late, this country has been making serious efforts at urbanization and industrialization. This nation receives a large amount of sunlight and enjoys considerable wind resources. However, these renewable energy resources have not been adequately exploited. The concerns over the climate and conventions of the United Nations stand to hinder the economic progress of Saudi Arabia. This kingdom will be required to adopt alternative energy sources and eschew the use of traditional fossil fuels. The UN insists that the kingdom will have to adopt innovative technologies such as solar power for its energy needs. The economic growth of Saudi Arabia has slowed down to an appreciable extent, on account of the global economic slowdown. Saudi Arabia has the largest oil reserves in the world, and it had made enormous profits by drastically increasing the price of oil, in the recent past. Consequently, it is not seriously affected by the current economic crisis. The insistence of the developed world to reduce the consumption of carbon-based fuels has drawn a sharp reaction from the Saudis.

SOCIETY & EDUCATION IN JAPAN Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 5

SOCIETY & EDUCATION IN JAPAN - Essay Example Additionally, the Japanese education institutions were widely diffused. For instance, the samurai class of warriors was strictly an institution meant for public education whereby classic Chinese literatures were taught. On the other hand, the private academies, referred to as Shijuku, were equivalent to high schools which were open to serve all the social classes. Practical skills, writing and reading were taught in Terakoya; the most popular learning institutions (Dore, 160). Due to the feudal system, formation of national consciousness was held back. Thus, amidst the crisis due to external pressure towards the end of Edo period, awareness of national unity and consciousness was likely to be formed through the modern system education (Rubinger, 11). During the process of adopting modernization in the country, which was in the mid nineteenth century, there was formation of a consensus whose aim was to get rid of the traditional systems of education that supported the split of social classes and create equal education opportunities to every individual across the nation. Furthermore, towards the end of Edo period, this new education system gave room for recruitment of individuals on the basis of their level of knowledge and their abilities. Moreover, the elite individual of the society were singled out in terms of their academic performances. By so doing, the initial condition for employment was decided as per a person’s academic credentials and soci al status. In the year 1868, there was a political revolution that marked the collapse of Tokugawa shogunate and the rise of a new government system where the Emperor was the head. This revolution (Meiji Restoration) can be deemed as the beginning of modernization in Japan. Initially, under Tokugawa, the country faced a lot of pressure from the western countries which demanded it to open up to external linkages.

The Ideal Ruler for Goldings Island Essay Example for Free

The Ideal Ruler for Goldings Island Essay * In chapter one, Ralph was given sole responsibility of chief on the island, with Jack becoming his hunters. Throughout the novel, we see things gradually begin to break up on the island, and much of this is down to Ralphs poor leadership and assertive skills. Alone, Ralph was a very poor leader, leading to the break-up and ultimately the destruction of the island. However, if the leader had all of Ralph, Jack, Piggy and Simons qualities, things could have been very different. * The first quality that an ideal chief should have is intelligence and knowledge. Ralph has never been shown as having much intelligence, or knowledge of the wider world. An example of this is where he is trying to reassure the boys of being rescued and says that the Queen has a huge map and his father in the Navy will be able to rescue them in no time. Piggy has intelligence of adult things, for example he knows what a conch is, and also about rock pools. Jack however has knowledge of practical things, such as how to gut and kill a pig. Both the scientific knowledge that Piggy has, and the practical knowledge that Jack has would help to create a perfect leader * To be a good leader, you must have a lot of assertiveness and be able to enforce the rules to people even when they do not want to follow them. Ralph was not capable of this, and an example is when Jack tried to undermine his authority by saying the conch doesnt count on this part of the island. Instead of standing up to Jack, and continuing to enforce the rules, he just accepts this. Jack however does have this quality, and this great ability to keep people in their places is shown by the twins Samneric staying rigidly in their places as Ralph tries to talk to them and bring them back to his camp. * Simon and Piggy are both very caring towards the littleuns. These qualities would be very useful in building the perfect leader, as they can do vital work towards the island as well. It is also better to keep all the people n the island happy, no matter how big or small. * To be a good leader, you must recognise other peoples strengths and find a way to use them. Ralph here makes a good leader as he can see other peoples strengths. An example of this is where he says that Jack and his choir can be hunters. Although this undermines his authority, he can see that Jack does have potential that will help the island. He could also see that Piggy had great knowledge, and although he wasnt very good at physical work, Ralph used Piggys vast knowledge to his advantage. * Simon is a very kind, gentle boy who is in touch with nature. He is willing to get on with hard work, and does not expect thanks. This would be very useful, as the world does not want leaders that need to be praised and thanked for everything they do. The world needs leaders which can get on and show that they love the world and people without constantly needing attention and thanks, as we see in Jack with his hunters saluting him after anything he says, * Simon and Ralph both hold good life-giving values. An example of this is how Ralph wants the boys to stay clean, and not wear war paint and to tidy their hair. As a leader, values are implied and so it is vital that these values are ones that will help the island to thrive. * To be an effective leader, the leader must be able to communicate. Jack is very charismatic, and is able to put a good spin on things to be able to convince his peers that his ideas and values are the correct ones. Ralph also has this ability, but begins to lose it, as we see from where he cannot make speeches without stopping and pausing, and therefore he does not communicate well towards the end as he is stumbling. On the world stage, Golding was trying to show that a world leader must be able to communicate and have charisma to get themselves out of bad situations, such as * Planning and organising is a vital part of becoming a good leader. Ralph has very good planning skills, as we know from where he plans out each part of his speech to make sure that it is effective. When they first came onto the island, Ralph also organised the signal fire and the construction of the shelters. This quality would help to form a perfect leader as the organisational skills to be rescued. On the world stage, Golding was trying to show that someone with the planning and organisation skills to be a good leader would be necessary, as often sticky situations, such as an unnecessary war arise from poor organising, such as failing to obtain the necessary evidence which would have prevented it. * In the novel, we know that Ralph and Jack are two halves of a perfect person. They both have incredible charisma, however Ralph is very concerned with organisation and planning and Jack is very concerned with hunting to provide for himself and other hunters. Piggy has so much knowledge, and is the voice of reason between the group. This quality would help to create the perfect leader, as disputes between other people on the island/in the world need to be sorted out by someone who can see reason. However he is not good at communicating, and this would need the skills of either Ralph or Jack to sort out the dispute. Simon is very spiritually aware, and is capable of getting on with a task with receiving no thanks. This quality would be very useful on the island/to the world as you often need a right hand man to help instruct the main leader who receives little or no thanks. * Looking at these points, we can see that combined, Ralph ,Jack, Piggy and Simon would all form the perfect leader if we drew only on their strengths and put aside their weaknesses. On the world stage Golding was trying to show that if we all pull together, and each draw on everyones good points but forget the bad points, we will have perfect leaders and the world will be able to get on in harmony.

Nursing Paper For The Critique Is On Diagnosing Diabetes Nursing Essay

Nursing Paper For The Critique Is On Diagnosing Diabetes Nursing Essay Introduction This purpose of the document is to critique evidence based nursing paper. The nursing paper chosen for the critique is on diagnosing diabetes (OShea, 2010). Problem as presented by the author (s) The nursing paper provides detailed information about the diabetics, its types, how it is diagnosed, what precautions have to be taken by a diabetic, medicines used and also the different levels of dosages. The paper details the required steps on diagnosis of the disease and the various actions and what steps to be followed to treat the patient. Reason the article was chosen for critique The paper provides practical guide to diagnosing Type 2 diabetes. There are few strong reasons for choosing this paper for critique. The stealth nature of the Type 2 diabetes results in serious complications. Author of this critique wanted to review the latest methods available to effectively diagnose the Type 2 diabetes. This paper provides such methods. The critique author is personally inclined to know more about the cause effects of this disease. The review of this paper provides the window of opportunity to him to understand the deeper issues in Type 2 diabetes. Body / Summary Procedures Methods as used in the article. The paper is an effective treatise on the causes, symptoms and the prevalence of the diabetes in UK. Author followed the secondary research methodology by referring the medical journals and statistical data. Author relies on the statistics to convey the widespread effect of both types of diabetes. The statistics provided by the author are from the secondary sources. In addition to the statistics, author has provided the details on the medical terminologies related to diabetes. Various tables are provided to emphasize the root causes, metabolic syndromes, risk factors associated with the onset of diabetes. A patient case study with appropriate diagnostic questions is provided in the end of the paper to help the reader to understand the steps required in correctly diagnose a patient for diabetes. Summary of important findings as presented in the article This paper is a comprehensive guide on the diagnosis of the diabetes. It provides the practical steps, which a nurse can take to diagnose a patient with both types of diabetes. Apart from providing these steps, the author provides the metabolic syndromes, risk factors, high risk groups, various tests to confirm the patient with diabetes as well as a case study, which provides the practical crystallisation of the details in the paper. Dietary advice and the precautions to prevent diabetes are clearly explained as well. In terms of the statistics, the author has provided relevant statistics to prove the dangers associated with the diabetes. For example, diabetes is the most widespread disease of metabolism, affecting 2.6 million people in the UK. In this study, it was found that 15% of all adults and children diagnosed with diabetes have type 1 diabetes and 85% have type 2 diabetes. In the UK, it is estimated that 10% of adults diagnosed with diabetes have type 1 diabetes and 90% have type 2 diabetes. In 2007-2008, the overall prevalence of diagnosed diabetes in Great Britain was found to be 3.9%. Not all diabetes is diagnosed 15% of people with diabetes may be undiagnosed or not identified on a practice register. Thus, it is important for a practitioner nurse to be aware of the steps in diagnosing the diabetes. The diagnosis can be for a person suffering from acute symptoms as well as from not so clear symptoms. Conclusions related to the problem as presented in the article The paper concludes with a case study, presented with an objective to summarise the discussions in the earlier part. Every step of the diagnosis is discussed in the case study with a context of the theory discussed in the paper to provide help to the practical nurses for accurate diagnosis of both kinds of diabetes. On the prevention of diabetes aspect, in general, all adults with identified risk factors should be screened at regular intervals. It is indispensable that practice nurses have the knowledge and skills to screen patients opportunistically and that they do not undervalue the importance of carrying out the new patient health checks in their consultations. Recommendations to the reader as presented in the article This paper will be beneficial not only to patients who are suffering from diabetes but also for everybody else who are developing symptoms that has been discussed in the paper which are indicators of diabetes. This paper helps to make the readers aware about the complications that they can face due to delayed detection of this disease and also discusses different ways to avoid it. It is suggested to exercise to avoid as well as face the disease. Even for the practical nurses the ways to diagnose, how to diagnose each symptom has been given in detail. If the medical staffs as well as the general public have appropriate knowledge about this disease and its symptoms, then only will they be able to avoid this disease. Like in any other disease, prevention is better than cure in diabetes. Discussion of the reference list review the references used in the article in terms of appropriateness as resources and currency to within five years of the publication date. As mentioned earlier, author of the paper has conducted secondary research to come with this practical guide for the nursing staffs. Various expert resources operating into the domain of prevention cure of diabetes have been leveraged to consolidate the findings. Author has delved upon the official websites of diabetes for building the context of the disease. Appropriate references have been made to the academic sites for an easy to understand explanation of the metabolic syndromes, associated risk factor and groups. Papers from various health organizations e.g. World Health Organization (WHO), National Health Services (NHS) have been referred to quote various relevant statistics. Conclusions / overall critique of the study Is the author clear in his/her presentation of the specific topic and overall purpose? The main purpose of this paper is to make general public as well as nursing staff people aware about diabetes. Author had been clear on discussing the causes, symptoms, diagnosis and the high risk groups. The risk factors, metabolic syndromes have been discussed in detail. Author has provided detailed description of the type of diabetes and the symptoms of both kinds of the disease. Considering that the paper is designed to be a guide for practical nurses for helping them in diagnosing diabetes, especially type 2, it is a successful attempt. All the signs and symptoms of diabetes type 2 are discussed in detail. A table is provided, which describes the advice and targets to prevent complications of type 2 diabetes. One of the tables details the blood glucose levels used in the diagnosis of diabetes blood glucose diagnosis is given. Moreover, author provides the statistics to prove the growing menace of this disease and the high risk groups. Did the reading affirm or contradict your ideas about nursing? Is what you read consistent with what your textbooks present? (support with evidence) The paper successfully affirms the ides of nursing because it provides description about the disease and detailed procedure for diagnosis, which will help the practical nurses to handle the patients well and will help in proper diagnosis of the problem. The scientific principles have been followed in writing this paper. Enough contexts are built for the disease, supported by statistics and evidences. This is followed by the description of diagnostic steps and the appropriate medicine schedule for the affected patients. The paper also provides the prevention mechanism for the high risk groups. The details in the paper are consistent with the nursing textbooks as any disease is described in a similar way. Will the article help you in your future practice as a nurse (nursing implications)? Did the information cause you to rethink how you might perform a certain nursing skill set? This article would help someone who wants to pursue their career as a nurse. The clear description of diabetes and its implications would definitely enhance the knowledge of someone aspiring to be a practicing nurse. The information provided in the paper definitely makes one think of doing a detailed study of disease patient, before attempting to prevent or cure the disease. What important information did you learn? All the major information about diabetes is given in the paper as well as the ways to recognise the symptoms is given in detail which not only help in avoiding the problem but also help in proper diagnosis of the symptoms that are developing. What exactly is the contribution of this work to the nursing profession as a whole? This paper will help a lot to the practical nurses as this will enhance their knowledge about the disease and will help them to diagnose and to give proper advice to their patients for prevention and cure of diabetes. What are your reactions and opinions regarding the article? This paper is very useful to gain knowledge about diabetes, which is a very wide spread disease and it is handy for the patient and the nurses to understand this common disease very meticulously. Does the article raise other issues for further discussion? As this paper deals with the diagnosis of type 2 diabetes, a need is felt that details about type 1 diabetes should have been included as well. More details about diabetes type 1 should have been discussed. The risk prevention of diabetes, exposure to high risk groups, ethnicity being a crucial factor are other issues, which could be discussed for effective prevention of diabetes. Will you recommend the article to your peers? Why? This paper is recommended for any aspiring nurse. It provided appropriate knowledge about diabetes, which can help every aspiring student to be a better nurse and serve the patient with better service. What do you think of this journal as a resource for nurses? Do you think you might subscribe to it? Why or why not? This paper was downloaded from an online journal on nursing. As the journal contains good references on nursing, I would like to subscribe to it.

The Hierarchy Of Strategic Intent Marketing Essay

The Hierarchy Of Strategic Intent Marketing Essay Strategic analysis, strategic choice and strategy application are the three parts of the Strategic Management. Strategic choice is anxious with decisions about the companys future and the way it needs to reply to the impacts and influences identified in strategic analysis. The choice becomes an indolent exercise if the strategy is not correctly implemented. These three divisions, so, form a closed loop in which the tail and the head are often vague. TASK1 Understanding the process of strategic planning: Explain strategic contexts and terminology missions, visions, objectives, goals, and core competencies: STRATEGIC INTENT: Strategic analysis, strategic choice and strategy application are the three parts of the Strategic Management. Strategic optimal is concerned with decisions about the organizations prospect and the way it needs to respond to the effects and impacts identified in strategic analysis. Choice becomes an indolent exercise if the strategy is not properly applied. These three divisions, consequently, form a closed loop in which the tail and the head are often indistinguishable. THE HIERARCHY OF STRATEGIC INTENT: I will discuss these parameters as a ladder of strategic intent. The ladder of strategic intent includes the following elements. A broad vision of what the organization should be. The organizations mission The strategic objectives   and specific goals to be pursued relentlessly The plans that are developed to accomplish the intentions of management in a concrete way. The fundamentals of the hierarchy specify the devout intentions, lofty ideals and clear-cut ideas that serve to unify the energy and forces scattered throughout an business. They are beginning points for any formal planning process, but they also provide the sense of direction necessary to assure that incremental behavior culminates in overall progress. Strategic intent is said to have expressed effectively when individuals believe fervently in their products and industry and when they are absorbed totally on their firms ability to outdo its competitors. VISION: Vision is what keeps the business moving forward. Vision is the motivator in an business. It needs to be meaningful with a long term viewpoint so that it can motivate individuals even when the business is facing discouraging odds. Vision has been defined in numerous dissimilar ways. Kotter defines it as a description of somethings (an organization, corporate culture, a business, a technology, an activity) in the future. El-Namaki reflects it as a mental perception of the kind of environment an separate, or an organization, aims to create within a broad time prospect and the underlying conditions for the actualization of this insight. Miller and Dess view it simply as the category of intentions that are broad, all inclusive, and forward thinking. The communal strand of thought evident in these definitions and several others available in strategic management literature narrates to vision being future ambitions that lead to an inspiration to be the best in ones field of action. CHARACTERISTICS OF VISION: Vision is industrialized through sharing across an organization: Famous stories of successful vision include visions that have been extensively shared across entire organizations. Of course, an individual leader, often a founder has a powerful influence on the others. Techniques of convincing the others about vision: The leaders by working hard along with others persuade the others in the organizations rather than merely delivering speeches. Change Agents: Leaders must recognize the complexity of changing an outmoded vision to reflect new realities. Organizations must redefine themselves through efficient visions of the future through new purposes and strategies. THE ADVANTAGES OF HAVING A VISION: Parikh and Neubauer point out that numerous advantages accumulating to a business having a vision. Here is what they say: Good visions are inspiring and exhilarating. Visions represent a discontinuity, a step function and a jump ahead so that the company knows what it is to be. Good visions help in the creation of a common identity and a shared sense of purpose. Good visions are competitive, original and unique. They make sagacity in the marketplace as they are practical. Good visions foster risk-taking and experimentation. Good visions foster long-term thinking. Good visions represent integrity; they are truly genuine and can be used for the benefit of people. VISION STATEMENT: When you initiate the process of strategic planning, visioning comes first. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, I have a dream, and what followed was a vision that altered a nation. That famous speech is a dramatic example of the power that can be produced by a convincing vision of the future. A vision is a guide to applying strategy. Visions remain about feelings, beliefs, feelings and pictures. A vision statement responses the query, What will success look like? pursuiting of this advent of success is what inspires individuals to work collectively. It is an significant obligation for building a strong foundation. When all the staffs are committed to the companys visions and goals, best choices on business decisions are more likely. CREATING A SHARED VISION: Most managers, now-a-days, talk about a communal vision, meaning that individuals from across the business have a common mental image and a equally supported set of ambitions that serve to unite their efforts. MISSION: A mission was earlier careful as the scope of the industry activities a secure pursues. The definition of mission has slowly expanded to represent a concept that exemplifies the purpose behind the existence of an organization. Business mission can be defined as the important, unique purpose that sets a business apart from other companies of its type and identifies the scope of its operations in product and market term. CHARACTERISTICS OF A MISSION: A mission statement includes the basic business purpose and the reason for its being by rendering some valuable functions for the society. An effective mission statement should possess the following physiognomies. Feasible: The mission should be accurate and achievable. For example, Tesco professed its mission as to encourage saving among customers by selling their product cheep. Precise: A mission statement should not be fine or too comprehensive. Clear: A mission statement should lead to action. O2 mission of connecting people leads it to a variety of service with varied tariff structure so as to cater to the preferences of mobile phone users. Motivating: The mission should be motivating for the employees to be inspired for action. For example Royal mail mission is to expectations of the customer with dedication, devotion and enthusiasm. So customer service has develop a value and it is inspirational and motivating the postal employees. Distinctive: A mission statement will indicate the major components of the strategy to be adopted. The mission should be unique. When Microsoft defines its mission as to be a world class competitor it creates a unique place in the minds of individuals personal computer users. Indicates major components of strategy: The mission statement of Shell Bp emphasizes petroleum refining, marketing and transportation with international standards and modern technology. It indicates that Shell Bp is going to adopt diversification strategy in future. The mission delivers way to insiders and strangers on what the company stands for. It is the supervisory star for any copany. MISSION STATEMENTS: Vision is the critical focal point and beginning to high presentation. But clearly a vision alone wont make it happen. Even the most exciting vision will remain only a dream unless it is followed up with the striving, building, and improving. RESEARCH OF VISION AND MISSION STATEMENTS: In a competitive economy ambitious by the cruel logic of markets, a business with a determined management can transform a business much more quickly and much more efficiently than in the past. Clearly enunciating your strategic intent is the key. Vision and Mission hold an business together. OBJECTIVES: An objective designates the result that the business expects to achieve in the long run. It is an end result, the end point, somewhat that you aim for and try to reach. It is a desired result towards which behavior is directed in a business. CHARACTERISTICS OF OBJECTIVES: Objectives have the following structures: Objects Form a Hierarchy: In many organizations objects are structured in a hierarchy of importance. There are objectives within the objectives. Objectives Form a Network: Objectives interlock in a network fashion. They interrelated and interdependent. The concept of network of objectives implies that once objectives are established for every department and every individual in a business, these subsidiary objectives should contribute to meet the objectives of the total business. Multiplicity of Objectives: Organizations pursue multifarious objectives. At every level in the hierarchy, goals are likely to be manifold. Long and Short-range Purposes: organizational objects are usually related to time. Long-range objects extending over five or more years are the ultimate or dream objectives for the business GOALS: They are stated in precise terms as quantitatively as possible. The emphasis on goals is on measurement of progress toward the attainment of objectives. Goals have the following structures they: 1. Are resulting from objects, 2. Offer a normal for measuring presentation, 3. Are articulated in concrete terms, 4. Are time-bound and work-oriented. Advantages and Disadvantages: It helps organizations do to satisfy a particular need of the society or to fulfill a particular deficiency in the society. There is always a deadline which sometimes is never meant by organizations. Review the issues involved in strategic planning: Businesses that succeed do so by creating and keeping customers. They do this by providing better value for the customer than the competition. Marketing management constantly has to assess which customers they are trying to reach and how they can design products and services that provide better value (competitive advantage). The main problem with this process is that the environment in which businesses operate is constantly changing. So a business must adapt to reflect changes in the environment and make decisions about how to change the marketing mix in order to succeed. This process of adapting and decision-making is known as marketing planning. Where does marketing planning fit in with the overall strategic planning of a business? Strategic planning is concerned about the overall direction of the business. It is concerned with marketing, of course. But it also involves decision-making about production and operations, finance, human resource management and other business issues. The objective of a strategic plan is to set the direction of a business and create its shape so that the products and services it provides meet the overall business objectives. Marketing has a key role to play in strategic planning, because it is the job of marketing management to understand and manage the links between the business and the environment. Sometimes this is quite a straightforward task. For example, in many small businesses there is only one geographical market and a limited number of products (perhaps only one product!). However, consider the challenge faced by marketing management in a multinational business, with hundreds of business units located around the globe, producing a wide range of products. How can such management keep control of marketing decision-making in such a complex situation? This calls for well-organized marketing planning. What are the key issues that should be addressed in strategic and marketing planning? The following questions lie at the heart of any marketing and strategic planning process: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Where are we now? à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ How did we get there? à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Where are we heading? à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Where would we like to be? à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ How do we get there? à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Are we on course? Why is marketing planning essential? Businesses operate in hostile and increasingly complex environment. The ability of a business to achieve profitable sales is impacted by dozens of environmental factors, many of which are interconnected. It makes sense to try to bring some order to this chaos by understanding the commercial environment and bringing some strategic sense to the process of marketing products and services. A marketing plan is useful to many people in a business. It can help to: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Identify sources of competitive advantage à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Gain commitment to a strategy à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Get resources needed to invest in and build the business à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Inform stakeholders in the business à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Set objectives and strategies à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Measure performance Advantages and Disadvantages: Market planning delivers a means for actively involving personnel from all areas of the business in the management of the company and this participation improves the quality of the plans, with the participation of the staffs it enhances their overall understanding of the companys objectives and goal. One of the disadvantages is costly to implement. Explain different planning techniques: Planning is a critical business responsibility that is often overlooked, particularly by smaller companies with limited time and personnel resources. However, the reason for this oversight is often the result of managements lack of planning techniques. Learning useful planning methods and factors eliminates this knowledge gap. Business planning is just as critical as having a map when traveling to an unfamiliar location. Without it you may never reach your destination. Primary Planning Types Business planning types come in various flavors depending on the company size and industry. However, there are three basic plans that apply to all businesses, large or small. Business, strategic and marketing plans are important to every for-profit and nonprofit organization. Understanding the goals and components of each offers businesses the tools to create effective plans using the most basic or sophisticated techniques. Business Plans Typically used for starting up or financing a company, business plans are the cornerstone of the planning function. Components of a business plan include an executive summary, market analysis, product/service descriptions and financial/operations projections for a minimum of three to five years. In start-up situations that need initial financing, creators should paint a vivid, yet conservative, picture of the founders and the rationale for believing the business will succeed. When seeking growth-financing, management should highlight past company performance and carefully project the impact of the new funding on improving net income. Always include debt service, which is the amount needed to repay the new loan, in income and expense projections. Strategic Plan Strategic plans should be created by business owners and/or senior management only. Unlike business plans, which are based on historical data and future projections, strategic plans are more conceptual. These plans should include defining your organizational goals, identifying your available options to achieve your objectives and considering new short-term opportunities you believe will exist to improve your businesss results. You may want to incorporate specific industry trends into your planned strategy. Strategic plans are not long-term creations, but should address taking advantage of available opportunities in the next 12 to 24 months. Marketing Plans All the fabulous business and strategic plans ever devised will fail if you dont market and sell your product or service. A solid marketing plan will help you achieve gross income and sales goals. A SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis is an effective technique for creating a winning marketing plan. SWOT is also useful in strategic plan creation as a foundation technique. You can also combine a SWOT analysis with the four Ps product, price, publicity, and place of effective marketing. Even if you have invented the better mousetrap, you need a superior marketing plan to get results. These techniques will give you the ammunition you need. SWOT analysis and marketing A vital part of the planning process is looking at the existing position of an industry and trying to decide how factors external to the business may affect the business. An organization can perform a SWOT analysis as a way of deciding which marketing plan to use.   The organization performs an audit on the internal and external nature of the company looking at the current and future situation.   An audit is a review of all the company s activities. Internal Explanation Strategy Implications Strengths Reviews the business current strengths such as a good brand or strong sales performance Can develop the strengths, perhaps in the way they promote the product, or wish to develop new products (Tesco have used their strong brand name to launch several products) Weaknesses Reviews the business current weaknesses such poor response times to requests for information or late deliveries Can implement strategies to eradicate these weaknesses e.g. more resources put into a better warehousing system for the dispatch of goods. External Opportunities Reviews the business future opportunities e.g. new technology making it easier to manufacturer certain goods or new markets abroad Can use strategies to take advantage of the potential opportunities e.g. developing new products to meet the potential increased demand Threats Reviews the business future threats, mostly from increased competition from other firms or from changes in the economic situation. Can employ strategies to ward off these problems, e.g. setting lower prices or increasing promotion Rational about the use of a SWOT analysis in measuring the influence of marketing to a business strategy; Possible strengths in marketing might be: Specialist marketing expertise An innovative product or service The location of the business convenient for customers The reputation of the brand perhaps it is trusted or recognized as the highest quality Likely weaknesses in marketing could include: Lack of a clear product differentiation compared with competing products Weak distribution compared with competitors Inadequate online presence Potential marketing opportunities could include: The use of technology to develop new products Growing demand from overseas markets (e.g. China India) The use of social media like Facebook and Twitter to reach new customers A list of likely marketing threats might include: Competitors introducing better products at lower prices Changes in the economic environment which encourage customers to be less loyal to established brands Changes in customer tastes and fashions Universal Techniques To make business planning come alive and succeed there are three simple practices that must be always be employed. First, set realistic, measurable goals. Second, understand and communicate with your customer base. Third, attract and retain the best employees your company can afford. Without these three components, your business planning, however sophisticated, risks failure on a massive scale. Using these three simple techniques, your business plans should deliver the results you want. SPACE, PIMS. PIMS data can be described as a guide to help management describe the business a business situation and opportunity relative to the offerings of its competitors in two-dimensional space. TASK 2 BE ABLE TO FORMULATE A NEW STRATEGY Produce an organizational audit for a given organization Tesco Marketing Audit: The marketing audit is a fundamental part of the marketing planning process. It is conducted not only at the beginning of the process but also during and after the process completion. Marketing audit not only consider its own plan but also considers internal and external factor that affects marketing planning. Some important tools used by marketing audit are SWOT for internal and external environment where as PESTLE and Five Forces Analysis which focus only on the external environment. It can be viewed as an umbrella that covers efforts to assess customer needs and wants and to understand community patterns. The external environment is reviewed at micro and macro level. Definition: The marketing Audit has been defined by Phillip Kotler strategic market auditing (1977) as a comprehensive, systematic, independent and periodic examination activities and resources in order to determine problem areas and opportunities and to recommend a plan of action. As per the definition: Marketing Audit is Comprehensive, systematic, independent and periodic features. In simple word marketing audit is the complete review of the environment that includes both internal and external environments of any organization. The marketing audit follows the following areas as components of marketing audit:  · Environmental Audit which includes Macro Environmental Audit and Micro Environmental Audit.  · Marketing Strategy Audit  · Marketing Organization Audit  · Marketing System Audit  · Marketing Productivity Audit  · Marketing Function Audit Processes and techniques used for auditing the marketing auditing environment follows simple three steps are: a) Agreement on objectives, scope and approach: Marketing auditor must prepare for the marketing audit by holding discussion with the CEO and the executive staff and briefly reviewing some financial and marketing data. Often objectives are discussed in the meeting such as determine how the market views the company and its competitors, recommending a pricing policy, determining sale activity. The audit would cover the marketing operations of the company as a whole. b) Data collection: More time is spent on the gathering data. More auditors are involved when the project is large. Auditor has to spent time in deciding what question to be asked, who will be interviewed and so on so forth. Daily reports of the interviews are to be written up and reviewed. c) Report preparation and presentation: When the data gathering is over, auditor prepares notes for a visual and verbal presentation to the company officer. Techniques used for auditing the marketing environments are as follows. 1) SWOT Analysis: It is one of the most important tools of marketing audit. It helps a lot of help to the marketers and is used at the beginning of the marketing audit process. It has advantages as well as drawbacks. Some of the drawbacks are subjective and cannot be relied too much. Therefore it should be used as a guide in the marketing planning and not as a prescription to the process. 2) PESTLE Analysis: Various factors of the marketing is analyzed by PEST analysis that effects upon the marketing process. An organization that is carrying the analysis needs to study the environmental factors that are internal and external. 3) Five Force Analyses: This is an analysis that helps the marketers to have a clear picture of competitors for the market. This analysis has some similarities with PEST analysis. In this analysis the marketer goes through five areas of concerns. Analyze and evaluate the external environment of the organization by using PEST framework, Porters Five Forces model and Product life cycle. Companys profile: Tesco runs more than 2300 supermarkets and convenience stores in the UK, Ireland, Central Europe and Asia. It is operating in almost areas such as gasoline retail (Tesco Express) small urban stores (Tesco Metro) hypermarkets (Tesco Extra) and Financial service (Tesco Personal Finance). It covers up to 35% stake in US grocery. It is the leading online grocery store and is now expanding its business with a TV channel and a retail based education institution. A) A PEST Analysis of the industry was then undertaken to examine the local, national and global influence of political, economic, social and technological factors to understand opportunities and threats well. An assumption was made that most of these ( political, economic, social, legal and environmental ) factors would, to some extent apply to the retail industry in Sweden: Political: Following the European Integration and Free Trade Agreements, the market has opened British Companies to invest in Eastern European. It has 60 stores in Hungary. Lidl is fighting hard to maintain its market share with an aggressive pricing strategy against Tesco. Economic: Retail industry is fairly recession proof and also very sensitive to interest rate. Because of September 11 events, the world economy have suffered heavily, stocks were plummeting and prices are low all time. However the world economy is up after the September 11th attack. Consumers are optimistic and retail industry is once again boosting. Social: There are changes in consumer taste and lifestyle present both opportunities and threats for the retail industry. There are alternative Sweden national retailers which poses additional threats to the Tesco while entering in the Sweden market industry. Technical: Introduction of online shopping via internet is now a common place in retailing. IT system undertakes a paperless operation, the management and administration of the company which are monitored by the secured severs, it provides a flexible base for running the business. Sweden is at the forefront of technologically developed with national companies like Ericsson, hence Tesco gets an advantage of developed logistics and distribution channels already in place. One other tool that will be used in these areas is Porter Five Forces. This model can be used to good analytic effect alongside other models such as the SWOT and PEST analysis tools. Five Forces analyses five important in the determination of competitive power and these are:  · Buyers power:  · Suppliers power:  · Rivalry among competitors:  · Threat of new entrants:  · Threat of substitute product Problems faced by Tesco can be explained by Porters five forces including of the threat of substitutes from other supermarkets, buyer power, supplier power and the power of customer. Buyer power also decides the prices in the market. If products are expensive in Tesco then they will purchase from Sainsbury. This mean market is disciplined which make the pricing is disciplined as well. This in turn stops them to destroy the market in a profit war. Supplier power is an important part of this model. Supplier power is wielded by suppliers demanding that retailers should pay them certain price for their goods supplied. There is always a threat of substitution, although Tesco tries to ensure brand image and quality by having the best value for the products. Tesco acknowledges the fact that there have always been threats from the competitors and new entrants into the markets and therefore always plan to improve upon developments in its stores. Carry out an environmental audit for a given organization: PESTLE (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Ecological, Legal and Environment) Among the above PESTLE analysis Political, Economic, social and Technological factors are implemented as a technique for the auditing of the marketing environment. Political/ legal:- An environment of marketing at any nation is affected due to the political reasons. There should be the management of change once there is a change in the political condition and situation. The system of nation keeps on changing if there is a lack of stability in politics and the organization should change the marketing strategies as per the changing environment so that the organization can exist in the changing environment. Economic:- Economics plays a vital role in the marketing environment audit. A country with weak economy cannot compete in the international market. To be successful in the marketing there should be a sound financial transaction of an organization. Some of the components of economic factors for environmental audit are: Interest rates, Business cycles, Investment policies. There should be good investment policies for the investment by the nation so that the interest of the investor in investment increases which helps to raise financial stability in the nation. Social and cultural:- Social and cultural refer to the tradition and costumes or belief of people living in a particular geographical region. Social value and norms sometimes becomes the barrier to the marketing environment. There is vast different in the culture and tradition of eastern and western societies as a result of it the culture of eastern may not be suitable for western and vice versa. The marketing depends upon the culture and tradition of any geographical area. S Technological:- In this competitive age technological changes plays a vital role in the marketing. All the developed countries have been successful due to the drastic changes in the technology and their capacity to cope with changing technology. Different technologies can be used for the auditing of the marketing environment. SWOT analysis:- SWOT analysis includes strength, weaknesses, opportunity and threats for an organization. Strength and opportunities are the positive aspect of an organization whereas weaknesses and threats are negative. Similarly strengths and weaknesses are internal environment whereas opportunity and threats are external. Low cost of production and sales, good information about the market and sound finance of the organization are the strengths and lack of communication and low quality of goods are the weaknesses. Similarly lack of competition and expansion of the market is the opportunities whereas control from pressure groups, lack of political and system stability are the threats for any organization. PORTERS five forces model:- It consists of five main points that are listed below: Bargaining power of the customers: It is found in the open or the competitive market where the customer has the advantage over the suppliers or the sellers. A consumer has the choice of quality and the rate and if the supplier fa