Management Accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Management Accounting - Essay Example Management accounting also comprises the preparation of financial reports for non-management groups such as shareholders, creditors, regulatory agencies, and tax authorities." (Riahi-Belkaoui, 1992) It was against a backdrop of an increase in industrial production in the 19th century and throughout the middle of the 20th century that managers saw the importance of cost accounting following a tremendous increase in investment in factories, natural resources and equipment. (Freitas, 2002). During this era managerial accounting and cost accounting had no clear distinction as managerial accounting was often taken to mean the same thing as cost accounting. (Freitas, 2002). Managerial accounting began shifting focus from cost accounting sometime around the 1960s as a result of the growth of the service industry and the rapid growth of financial institutions, which brought about a change in the accounting environment. (Freitas, 2002). In addition, this era also saw the emergence of the idea of human resource accounting as well as a significant change in the area of managerial accounting research. ... (Freitas, 2002). There were however difficulties with this accounting as it were difficult to decide how to provide a value to the human resources. (Freitas, 2002). Firstly, they needed a method to account for human resources; secondly there was the need for a model and concepts for measuring the costs and value of people as organisational resources. Thirdly, there was the need for experiments to apply the approach in an actual organisation; this was difficult as organisations were not willing to serve as sites for the experiments. (Freitas, 2002). And the fourth and last stage was to test empirically, human resource accounting information in a behavioural context. And the 5th stage like the 3rd one needed additional experiments to apply human resource accounting technologies to a variety of managerial problems. (Freitas, 2002). Most of what is known today as Management accounting such as standard costs, overhead rates, opportunity cost and profit centres were referred to as costs accounting and not management accounting. Also Management Accounting was not included in the School Curriculum of many schools. (Cunha, 2002). Introduction of management accounting as a course highlighted two important differences from cost accounting. Firstly, management accounting took into consideration the fact that the end numbers were used by people for decision-making and therefore took into consideration how such information could influence their behaviour and thus the idea of behavioural accounting. (Cunha, 2002). Secondly cost accounting was too much concerned with full costing (finding the true cost) while management accounting considered a wide range of topics. (Cunha, 2002). Management accounting has gained a lot of recognition as

Narcissistic Leaders Essay Example for Free

Narcissistic Leaders Essay Big business today can be largely attributed to CEOs and leaders that are narcissistic. These leaders tend to be the center of attention more so now days then they used to be which is something a narcissistic person enjoys. Narcissists have been in business for a long time and have made great strides. People such as Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Thomas Edison, and Henry Ford were narcissists that were very successful business men. Narcissism may have been a good trait to achieve a high status in business but it can also make the person dangerous or not very likable. Heinz Kohut and Freud looked deeper into the theory and found that it could be treated by properly trained clinicians. Jack Welch and George Soros are prime examples of people who are what is called a productive narcissist; they strive to make a difference in the world and make a name for themselves. But narcissism can be bad enough that you believe that things are out to stand in your way of achievement and therefore you trust no one. Narcissists can sometimes become overly ambitious and shoot to high which can cause them to end up losing everything. Gyllenhammar is a prime example, he chose to not listen to anyone and found himself in court being forced to resign. Freud narrowed the main personality types down to erotic, obsessive, and narcissistic. Those with an erotic personality need to be loved by others that is the most important element of life to them. These types of people tend to be teachers, nurses or social workers. At their best, they help better the young and are a big help when working. They have a positive effect on those around them in the workplace. Freud referred to them as outer directed people. Freud referred to obsessives as inner directed. They are very in tune with what is going on and look to themselves to resolve conflicts. They are obsessed with improvement when working because by nature they value moral improvement over everything else. They tend to go into a field of work that spurs their interest but they don’t have what it takes to go from slightly above average to amazing. At their best they shoot high, and do what is necessary for the business to succeed. When productive they work well with others but when unproductive they usually don’t succeed. Narcissists are very self-indulged and don’t care much for others. When it comes to business they know their field inside and out and go above and beyond. Narcissists are extremely hungry for knowledge about their business. They desire to be admired by others but not necessarily loved. Maccoby (2000) states that unlike obsessives, they are not troubled by a punishing superego, so they are able to be very aggressive in pursuit of their goals. Maccoby (2000) goes on to say of all the personality types, narcissists run the greatest risk of isolating themselves at the moment of success. And because of their independence and aggressiveness, they are constantly looking out for enemies, sometimes degenerating into paranoia when they are under extreme stress. Obsessives as leaders tend to try and expand on a safe level that is practical and likely to benefit the company. Narcissists want more, they go all out and take big risks that if they work as planned will greatly benefit the business; but it is not as likely to work. Narcissists may hide it well but they feed of f of praise and recognition of followers. Without that admiration narcissists become overwhelmed, but too much admiration can cause them to feel too superior this can lead to dangerous acts that may be detrimental to the business. Narcissists can’t handle criticism; they remain out of tune with their emotions as much as possible. Due to the fact that narcissists can’t deal with being criticized they tend to completely ignore negative comments toward them. Narcissists also have no compassion what so ever. They can perform acts that may anger or sadden someone without any remorse. They are so independent that they don’t like to mentor anyone or be mentored. Competition is a narcissist’s forte; they get so into it that they would do almost anything to be the best. A trust-worthy sidekick has to be someone they can relate to and keeps him down to earth. They believe that everyone around them should think the same thing that they do even if it involves brainwashing. They are control-freaks, and want to know everything that’s going on at all times. These productive narcissists make good leaders by nature but the rest of them sometimes can’t see their limitations and will end up in trouble. Maccoby (2000) sums this altogether with for companies whose narcissistic leaders recognize their limitations, these will be the best of times. For others, these could turn out to be the worst.

Charlotte Perkins Gilmans The Yellow Wallpaper -- short story analysis

　　"If a physician of high standing, and one's own husband, assures friends and relatives that there is really nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression -- a slight hysterical tendency -- what is one to do?" (Gilman). Many women in the 1800's and 1900's faced hardship when it came to standing up for themselves to their fathers, brothers and then husbands. Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the narrator of the story, is married to physician, who rented a house for the summer to nurse her back to health after her husband think she has neurasthenia but actually suffers from postpartum depression. He suggested the 'rest cure'. She should not be doing any sort of mental of major physical activity, her only job was to relax and not worry about anything. Charlotte was a writer and missed writing. "The Yellow Wallpaper" is significant to literature in the sense that, the author Charlotte Perkins Gilman addresses the issue of the rest cure that Dr. George Miller prescri bed for patients especially to women with neurasthenia, is ineffective and leads to severe depression. This paper in...

History of Musical Films Essay

By 1928, Hollywood was invaded by sound theater. Silent films made an honorable exit. Vaudeville was also being wiped out. It signaled a phenomenon Tinseltown was not quite prepared for. It was the time of sound facilities and infrastructures. Later on Broadway composers were hired to write screen musicals (â€Å"History of Musical Film†, 2004). The first picture to make a transition from silent film to sound was Warner Bros. ’ 1927 The Jazz Singer starring Al Jolson who mostly did the singing in the movie (â€Å"Musical Film†, 2006). One MGM musical hit opened the doors to the musical film genre. This was the 1929 Broadway Melody with a score by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed. The story was about two sisters fighting over their love of a song and dance man. It cost $379,000. 00 and grossed for $1. 6 million in its first release. Its title tune is â€Å"You Were Meant for Me. † It was the first sound film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture. MGM’s production chief Irving Thalberg was credited for bringing in a string of musical hits since Broadway Melody. (â€Å"History of Musical Film 1927-1930 Part II†, 2004). Love Parade from Paramount followed on the same year by silent screen director Ernst Lubitch. It is a lighthearted operetta inspired by Broadway to fit the screen starring soprano Jean Macdonald as a young royalty and Maurice Chevalier as the French playboy diplomat. (â€Å"History of Musical Film 1927-1930 Part II†, 2004). The 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s were considered the golden age of musical films. Following are some of the popular musical films: Hollywood Revue of 1929 with Joan Crawford from MGM, Cecil B. Demille’s Madam Satan (1930). 932 mid-Depression saw the making of Love Me Tonight, a collaboration of Richard Rogers, Lorenz Hart, and director Rouben Mamoulian. Rogers and Hart continued with Hallelujah, I’m a Bum (1933) with Al Jolson. (â€Å"History of Musical Film 1930s: Part I†, 2003). Forty Second Street by dance Broadway director Busby Berkeley choreographed the dance sequences while composer Harry Warren and lyricist Al Dublin created the score. It was a million dollar hit for a $400,000 production. It was followed by Footlight Parade (1933), The Gold Diggers (1933) and Hollywood Hotel (1937). â€Å"History of Musical Film 1930s Part II† 2004). Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers entered the musical scene in 1933 through Flying Down to Rio, The Gay Divorcee (1934), Top Hat (1935) with a score by Irving Berlin. It was also the time of Shirley Temple in movies such as Stand Up and Cheer (1934), The Little Colonel (1935), among others. Disney produced Fantasia (1940). MGM revived its musical genre with the release of The Merry Widow (1934) (â€Å"History of Musical Film 1930s Part IV† 2004). The 1940s saw Warner Brothers’ Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) with James Cagney in his Oscar-winning performance. Then independent producer Samuel Goldwyn found Danny Kaye and made Up in Arms (1944, Wonder Man (1945), among others. It was also the time of Bing Crosby (Road Series, Going My Way, Holiday Inn) and Bob Hope (â€Å"History of Musical Film Screen 1940s: Part I† 2003). Judy Garland starred in Little Nellie Kelly (1940), Ziegfeld Girl (1941), Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) directed by Vincente Minneli, her future husband. She appeared in sixteen MGM musicals. Gene Kelley also was a big MGM star in musical movies like For Me and My Gal (1942), On the Town (1949), among others (â€Å"History of Musical Film 1940s Part III† 2004). The 1950s was the decline of the musical film genre and the emergence of television. Some of the musicals produced from 20th Century Fox were Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II’s. Oklahoma (1955), Carousel (1956), King and I (1956). South Pacific (1958). Warner Brothers released some Doris Day films, Love Me or Leave Me (1955), The Pajama Game (1957). Paramount produced What Christmas (1954) while Walt Disney released musical animations such as Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty. MGM released Kiss Me Kate (1953) and High Society (1956) (â€Å"History of Musical Film Screen 1950s†, 2003).

Concept of eco-city

The following new moving ridge in metropolis planning is â€Å" Eco-City † in response to planetary clime alterations crisis. It is a comparatively new construct, uniting together thoughts from several subjects such as urban design, urban planning, transit, wellness, lodging, energy, economic development, natural home grounds, public engagement, and societal justness ( Register 1994 ) . In simple word, Eco-city is colony where it allows the citizen to populate and work utilizing minimal resources. As metropoliss continue to turn and population addition quickly, the demands for sustainable signifier of development become increasing pressing. The hunt for appropriate solution and to make more sustainable metropoliss has become the chief concerns of interior decorator, policy shapers and environmental groups. The locations, types of edifices and substructure have direct impacts on its environment, economic system and society. As metropolis continue to turn and alters over a periods of clip, it is hard to alter after inhabitancy and building. So, interior decorators are seeking to avoid that jobs and prefer a new, maestro planned eco-cities. They argue that new eco-cities can to the full incorporate sustainable constructs of urban be aftering rule to make sustainable life environment as we go along with retrofitting bing metropoliss. The maestro program eco-city will be built utilizing all the latest green engineerings. But there people who oppose eco-city construct and called it a Utopian metropolis. But is eco-city truly executable or is it Utopian construct? To to the full understand, beginning of eco-city construct will be analysed. Eco-city originated in 1975 when Richard registry and few friends founded Urban Ecology in Berkeley, California, as Non-profit administration to do reinforced our metropoliss in balance with nature. Harmonizing to Register ( 1994 ) , the intent of urban ecology was to construct in Berkeley a â€Å" slow street † which is to hold many trees along route, solar green houses, energy regulation, set up good and efficient public conveyance, advancing pedestrainization as alternate to automobile, keeping regular conference meeting with different interest holder. But it was until the publications of Register ‘s airy new book called Eco-city Berkeley in 1987, that the urban ecology gained impulse ( Roseland, 2001 ) . And the administration ‘s new diary called The Urban Ecologist. The administration held First International Eco-City Conference, in Berkeley in 1990 and of all time since it held conference every twelvemonth ask foring people from around the universe to discourse urban jobs and to subject proposal for planing our metropoliss based on ecological rules. In 1992, David Engwicht, an Australian community militant, published Towards an Eco-City, in which he talks about how metropolis contrivers and applied scientists have virtually eliminated effectual human interaction by edifices more roads, shopping promenades, gutting communities and increasing dense traffic. For Engwicht, a metropolis is a topographic point for innovations of maximising interchanging and holding minimized travel distance. The book was subsequently reissued in North America as Reclaiming Our Cities and Towns ( 1993 ) . Engwicht negotiations about how metropolis contrivers and applied scientists have eliminated effectual human exchange by constructing more roads, taking commercialism out of the metropoliss into strip promenades, gutting communities, and increasing traffic human deaths. A metropolis is an innovation for maximising exchange and minimising travel ( Engwicht, 1993 ) . He advocates eco-city where there is dealing of all kinds of goods, money, thoughts, em otions, familial stuff, etc and where people move freely via pes, bikes, and mass theodolite and interact freely without fright of traffic and pollutions. But it was until the 1960 ‘s, the usage of fossil fuels, chemically controlled agribusiness, deforestation and depletion of marine resources was thought to be non in dangers. In 1987, the World Commission on Environment and Development ( the Brundtland Commission ) , released a drumhead study called â€Å" our Common Future † which cause widespread concerns on universe intensifying environmental debasement ( WCED 1987 ) . And this pushed sustainable development on the head. Assorted industries and sector are besides traveling for sustainable development. The issue of sustainable planning is besides a concern for contriver, urban interior decorator, building industries, development authorization and the population at big. Register, Engwicht and Urban Ecology surely deserve recognition for popularising the term â€Å" eco-city † in the last decennary, but the eco-city construct is strongly influenced by other motions as good ( Roseland, 2001 ) . The mission of Urban Ecology is to make ecological metropoliss based on the following 10 rules ( Urban Ecology 1996 ) :Revise land-use precedences to make compact, diverse, green, safe, pleasant, and critical mixed-use communities near theodolite nodes and other transit installations.Revise transit precedences to favor pes, bike, cart, and theodolite over cars, and to stress â€Å" entree by propinquity. †Restore damaged urban environments, particularly creeks, shore lines, ridgelines, and wetlands.Create decent, low-cost, safe, convenient, and racially and economically assorted lodging.Nurture societal justness and create improved chances for adult females, people of colour, and the handicapped.Support local agribusiness, urban greening undertaki ngs, and community horticulture.Promote recycling, advanced appropriate engineering, and resource preservation while cut downing pollution and risky wastes.Work with concerns to back up ecologically sound economic activity while detering pollution, waste, and the usage and production of risky stuffs.Promote voluntary simpleness and deter inordinate ingestion of material goods.Increase consciousness of the local environment and bioregion through militant and educational undertakings that increase public consciousness of ecological sustainability issues.The practical application of these rules has non been truly promoting for many old ages until literature that promotes the thoughts began to look. It appears in different nomenclature as per the orientations of the writers. The Authors include Designers, Practitioners, Visionaries and Activists, and the nomenclature includes everything from neotraditional town planning, prosaic pockets, reurbanization, post-industrial suburbs, sustaina ble metropoliss, green metropoliss and eco-communities. Although, the writers ‘ orientation has discernable differences in analysis, accent, and scheme between the fluctuations as shown in table-1, the â€Å" eco-city † subject can embrace any and all of them. The term eco-city can be applied to bing eco-city or maestro program eco-city as affirm by Register ‘s when he explains that â€Å" there are two ways to travel about constructing eco-cities: altering bing towns or constructing new 1s † ( Register 1987 ) . Citizen organisations and municipal functionaries in metropoliss and towns around the universe have late started experimenting on this eco-city construct to run into the societal and environmental challenges ( Roseland 1997, 1998 ) . There is a pressing realisation that Urban planning is a important direction tool for covering with the sustainable urbanisation challenges confronting twenty-first century metropoliss. Many metropoliss has applied eco-city planning construct although most of them in little graduated table. Chattanooga and the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. , Ottawa, Hamilton-Wentworth, and Greater Toronto in Canada, and Curitiba in Brazil are some of the earliest metropoliss where this construct has been successfully applied. Curitiba, a little Brazilian metropolis, is one of the most sustainable metropoliss in the universe. It has received international acknowledgment for its incorporate transit and land-use planning, and for its waste direction plans. The metropolis ‘s success is due to strong leadership-city functionaries who focused on simple, flexible, and low-cost solutions. Throughout the undertaking, the authorities conducted regular meeting with citizen so that citizen are involved in the procedure ( Rabinovitch 1996 ) . Emboldened by the success of the above undertakings, Designer and local authorities are be aftering for monolithic inspection and repair of traditional manner of metropolis planning. They are looking at a manner to be after new metropoliss integrating the full above construct. China, one of the universe most thickly settled states in the universe, faced monolithic environmental job. It has emerged as major industrial power but at a great cost. The environment debasement is so terrible that it is a cause for concern in China and could hold international reverberations. Since pollution know no boundaries. Sulphur dioxide and N oxides produce by China ‘s coal-burning power workss fall as acerb rain on Seoul, South Korea, and Tokyo. Suspended particulate over Los Angeles metropolis originates in China, harmonizing to the Journal of Geophysical Research ( Kahn and Yardley 2007 ) . The Shanghai Industrial Investment Corporation ( SIIC ) hired Arup in 2005, to plan a metropolis which would entirely utilize sustainable energy ( solar panels, air current turbines and bio-fuels ) , self-sufficing and cut down energy ingestion by 66 % in comparision to Shanghai. The eco-city of Dongtan, which is be located on the island of Chongming, non far from Shanghai will be one of the universe largest eco-city to supply lodging for 500,000 people from rural countries. The Dongtan metropolis will cover about 8,800 hectares which is approximately equal to the size of Manhattan Island. Dongtan will hold ecological footmark of 2.2 hour angles per individual by agencies of a combination of behaviour alteration and energy efficiency which is really close to bound of sustainability of 1.9 hour angle set Forth by World Wide Fund for Nature. China is besides partnering with Singapore to construct eco-city in Tianjin based on three harmoniousnesss rules which are people-people, people-environment and people-economy ( Quek 2008 ) . The 30-square-kilometer site is a otiose land and H2O scarceness country which will be built over a period of 15 old ages at a cost of around 50 billion kwais ( S $ 10 billion ) . The standard for choice of site are that it should be wasted land and H2O scarce country. First, reconstructing the jiyun river will be top precedence for propose new metropolis of 350,000. Renewable energy like solar and wind power, rainwater harvest home, effluent intervention and desalinization of sea H2O are some of the proposal. United Arab Emirates has planned to construct the universe ‘s most sustainable metropolis, called Masdar City, enterprises of Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company. It is an ambitious undertaking which will be $ 22 billion to construct a new, zero-emissions metropolis for 50,000 occupants in Abu Dhabi. The undertaking is launched in 2007 and is designed by British house Foster + Partners. The propose new metropolis will hold new university, the Headquarters for Abu Dhabi ‘s Future Energy Company, particular economic zones and an Innovation Center. Harmonizing to the interior decorator, Masdar eco-city is to be constructed in an energy efficient manner that depends on big photovoltaic power works to run into energy demands, which shall be for 2nd stage of the metropolis enlargement. The metropolis is a auto free, with a maximal walk-to distance of 200m to the nearest conveyance nexus and comfortss. The streets are compact to promote walking and are complemented by a individualiz ed rapid conveyance system. Due to it concentration, the paseo and streets are shaded making a pedestrian-friendly environment. The metropolis will hold air current, photovoltaic farms, research Fieldss and plantations, so that it is wholly self-sufficient. Masdar City will be built in seven stages, the first of which is the Masdar Institute, which is set to be completed in 2010. The metropolis ‘s stages will be increasingly built over the following decennary with the first stage making completion in 2013 ( Foster and Partner ) . The thought of a metropolis without any waste, landfill, auto, ego contained or without any C emanation seem really desirable for a metropolis but for some sceptic it a Utopian dream which will ne'er happen. Skeptics are oppugning whether wholly planing a new metropolis is possible integrating all the eco-city constructs due to clip and cost involved. The chief failing for maestro program eco-city is the big inputs of energy required to build an full, functional metropolis as a long uninterrupted undertaking. They are concern that it might merely be a scheme used to screen from environmental unfavorable judgment while states like China and UAE continue to turn along the same unsustainable way. However, states like China and UAE are in a place to fund such sort of undertakings and if it is successful it will make a case in point for other parts of the universe every bit good. Unfortunately, Dongtan eco-city ne'er materialise. Although, the highest echelon in Chinese functionary expresses has shown acute involvement in the undertaking, the first stage of building which is to be ready for Shanghai exhibition 2010 has non even started. The Dongtan eco-city in malice of being a authorities enterprise has failed to happen. The Mayor of Shanghai has been sentence to 18 old ages jail term on corruptness charges and maltreatment of power in 2008 ( Larson 2009 ) . Skeptics of eco-city are stating that policy shapers in China misuse the term of eco-city, to cut down unfavorable judgment of China ‘s hapless environment records without holding any existent committedness to the thought. As for Masdar eco-city, work has already started for stage 1. However, skeptics are concern that it might be merely an stray viridity in the desert where the remainder of UAE proceed in the same line of large ecological footmark which is even bigger than United State. They are besides discerning about the corporal energy used in edifices and substructure which are really high. The heavy dependant on engineering for personal rapid conveyance and substructure is another issue. Since the engineering for personal rapid conveyance is non to the full developed and co-ordinating substructure with different bureaus is hard. The construct of constructing a metropolis from a abrasion or retrofitting bing edifice or redeveloping bing metropolis are some of the combustion issues. Planing a new metropolis from abrasion permits a greater comprehensive, whole systems attack, and more grades of freedom than version of an bing metropolis ( Fox 2008 ) . On the other manus, the resources and energy needed for new building of a metropolis will be far greater than redeveloping an bing metropolis. However, the beliefs and motion toward eco-cities has spread worldwide and has taken strong clasp among contriver. In malice of reverse for some undertaking, eco-city has will be chief driving force for today metropoliss and tomorrow metropoliss. Eco-cities can be built on bing eco-cities or new maestro program eco-city. Most propose maestro program eco-city is to be developed in several phases in the following 15 to forty old ages. Some of the relevant issue for Eco-city planning construct for developing new metropolis or accommodating for bing metropoliss are as follow:Eco-city is based on holistic attack. This incorporate attack is hindered by disconnected administrative constructions, political competitions and a neglect for citizen expertness. As in Dongtan instance, the surrounding dwellers are non even consulted and non cognizant of the undertakings.Eco-city construct is non truly encouraged by policy shapers and contriver as there are leery of the purpose as it involve alternate ways of decision-making ( e.g. community engagement ) , the execution of new engineerings ( e.g. like Personal rapid theodolite for Masdar or energy coevals ) and new organizational solutions ( e.g. multiple usage ) . The extra costs involved and loss of influence are some of their chief concerns.Eco-city construct may neglect due to miss of political will and committednesss on the portion of everyone involved.The Initial investi ngs are really high compared to traditional attack to be aftering which can scarce possible investor.However, for successful execution of eco-city, committedness from single or Party involved is paramount. Vision, aspiration and believing large in long term are some of the necessary demand. Besides, there has to be free flow of information and trust between the policy shaper and non-policy shaper. There has to be creative activity of win-win state of affairs for everyone to do it successful. There has to be via media in difference of sentiment and integrity of confederation. A series of challenges exist for developing metropoliss in many portion of the universe, peculiarly in developing states where rapid economic development will set force per unit area on metropoliss to suit lifting population and more substructures. It is the topographic point where following megacities are coming up. The interior decorator, public policy shaper are committed to developing eco-cities and other types of sustainable communities in the face of clime alteration, environmental pollution, H2O deficit, and energy demand. Today utopia ‘s vision can go tomorrow world. Many of the sustainable metropolis stress on compact land usage, clean conveyance, waste direction, renewable energy ( wind turbines and solar energy ) . Most of eco-city program are immense and need long term investings. But should we turn away from Utopian visions they provoke? Planing wholly new metropoliss is expensive, and it is non possible to construct all new metropoliss. However, we can endeavor to better bing metropoliss when there is an copiousness of already established metropoliss and urban countries. In my sentiment, I think we should encompass them and work towards seeking for bettering them. Possibly, the graduated tables of new maestro eco-city undertaking demand to be smaller so as to hold short building clip and less dearly-won. Someday the impressive catch phrases, such as â€Å" carbon-neutral † , â€Å" zero-waste † , and â€Å" car-free † for a metropolis might be world.MentionDaly, H. 1973. Toward a Steady-State Economy, Freeman, San Francisco ( 1973 ) .McDonnell, M.J. , Hahs, A.K. , Breuste, J.H. 2009, Ecology of a metropoliss and towns: A comparative attack. Cambridge University Press 200 9.Rabinovitch, J. 1996. Integrated transit and land usage planning channel Curitiba ‘s growing. In World Resources Institute, United Nations Environment Program, United Nations Development Program, The World Bank, World Resources 1996-97: The Urban Environment. New York: Oxford University Press.Roseland, M. , 2001, The eco-city attack to sustainable development in urban countries. In: Devuyst D, Hens L, De Lannoy W ( explosive detection systems ) . How green is the metropolis? Sustainability appraisal and the direction of urban environments. Columbia University Press, New York, pp 85-104.Register, R. 1987. Eco-City Berkeley: Building Cities for a Healthy Future. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.Register, R. 1994. Eco-cities: Rebuilding civilisation, reconstructing nature. In D. Aberley, ed. , Futures By Design: The Practice of Ecological Planning. Gabriola Island, B.C. : New Society Publishers.Roseland, M. 1995. Sustainable communities: An scrutiny of the literature. † In Sustainable Communities Resource Package. Toronto: Ontario Round Table on the Environment and the Economy.Roseland, M. 1997. Dimensions of the eco-city. City: The International Journal of Urban Policy and Planing 14,4: 197-202.Roseland, M. , erectile dysfunction. 1997. Eco-City Dimensions: Healthy Communities, Healthy Planet. Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers.Roseland, M. 1998. Toward Sustainable Communities, ResourcesRoseland, M. , â€Å" Sustainable Community Development: Integrating Environmental, Economic, and Social Objectives, † Progress in Planning, Volume 54 ( 2 ) , October 2000, pp. 73-132.Roseland, M. , Dimension of the eco-city, Cities, Volume 14, Issue 4, August 1997, Pages 197-202Resilience Alliance ( 2007 ) A research prospectus for urban resiliency. A resiliency confederation enterprise for transitioning urban systems towards sustainable hereafters. Available at hypertext transfer protocol: //www. resalliance.org/files/1172764197_urbanresiliencere searchprospe ctusv7feb07.pdf accessed on 29 March 2010Kenworthy, J.R. , The eco-city: 10 cardinal conveyance and planning dimensions for sustainable metropolis development, Environment and Urbanization, Vol. 18, No. 1, 67-85 ( 2006 )World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987. World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common Future. , Oxford University Press, New York ( 1987 ) .Dongtan, An Eco-City, edited by Zhao Yan, Herbert Girardet, et was published by Arup and SIIC in February 2006.UN HABITAT, Planning Sustainable Cities: Policy waies. Global Report on Human Settlements 2009. Abridged edition. Gutenberg Press, Malta. Available from hypertext transfer protocol: //www.unhabitat.org/grhs/2009. Accessed on 2 March 2010Kahn, J and Yardley, J. As China Roars, Pollution Reaches Deadly Extremes. The New York Times. August 26, 2007. Available on hypertext transfer protocol: //www.nytimes.com/2007/08/26/world/asia/26china.html Accessed on 27 March 2010Dongtan: The un iverse ‘s first large-scale eco-city? Available on hypertext transfer protocol: //sustainablecities.dk/en/city-projects/cases/dongtan-the-world-s-first-large-scale-eco-cityQuek, Tracy, S'pore, China interruption land, straits times, China Correspondent. Sep 29, 2008. hypertext transfer protocol: //www.straitstimes.com/Breaking % 2BNews/World/Story/STIStory_283867.html. Accessed on 27 March 2010Larson, Christina. China ‘s Grand Plans for Eco-Cities Now Lie Abandoned. Yale e360. 06 Apr 2009. Available on hypertext transfer protocol: //e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp? id=2138. Accessed on 28 March 2010Fox, Jesse. â€Å" Ecocities of Tomorrow: Can Foster + Partners ‘ Masdar City in the U.A.E. be Truly sustainable? † . Treehugger. March 4, 2008. Available on hypertext transfer protocol: //www.treehugger.com/files/2008/03/masdar-roundtable.php. Accessed on 29 March 2010Richard Register – Writer, theoretician, philosopher and 35 twelvemonth veteran of the ecocity motion. Founder of Ecocity Builders and Urban Ecology, and writer of Ecocities: Rebuilding Cities in Balance with Nature.

Interview Nailing Your Digital Book Launch

Interview Nailing Your Digital Book Launch How To Nail Your Digital Book Launch: An interview with Mike Belsito When we chat with authors about their book launch, the same things often come up: a signing in a book store, a few giveaways to reviewers/journalists and an email to the mailing list. Authors rarely think about leveraging â€Å"existing platforms† to put their book in front of thousands of online readers; they’re often too shy to reach out to influencers, or are unsure about how to do it.So we decided to interview an author who decided to go for another approach. Mike Belsito carefully planned his book launch and had his book, â€Å"Startup Seed Funding for the Rest of Us†, rise to the top of Product Hunt and Amazon.He got some of the most influential people in his genre to spread the word about his launch - he didn’t know them personally before - and built a solid street team while writing the book that helped him take advantage of Amazon’s algorithms!Watch the video for a good dose of positive energy and startup creativity, or read some of the b est parts below. But more importantly, tell us about your own experience in the comments!What is the â€Å"product launch† mentality? How can it apply to books?â€Å"Well this is the first time that I’ve written a book. It has been a really interesting process, because I’ve launched several products before, but I’ve never written and launched a book. So I went about the process thinking really as if it was a product.Even in the beginning as I was writing it, I was constantly thinking: â€Å"how am I going to get the word out; how am I going to actually launch this?†. Fast-forwarding all the way to the end, the book launch was pretty successful, even though I was completely on my own (I’m an â€Å"indie author†). The book made it all the way to the top of Product Hunt, was featured on Inc Magazine and on Huffington Post. At one point, it was the #1 best selling startup book on Amazon.com, which was pretty amazing!†How did you go about creating an â€Å"insider group†?â€Å"There are a few things I did that I think ultimately really helped me. One of them was opening up the process to anybody who wanted to be part of it. I did this early on because writing this was awesome but it was also a lonely experience in that I was writing the book by myself.So I decided to create an â€Å"insider group†, for anybody who’d want to have an inside view of the process. They could literally have access to the Word file, and I’d bounce questions off the members of this group. That was incredibly helpful because it allowed me to get feedback throughout the whole writing process. It’s just like having a beta group for a product that you’re building.The good thing about this group is that when the time came to actually get the book out there, I already had a group of committed people who were all happy to spread the word!How did you communicate with this â€Å"insider group† vs other fans?I was keeping two separate lists: my insider group list, and a list of people who were interested in the book when it came out and who I signed on through my blog. Because I realized that not everybody wants to be involved in the creation process, some people just wanted to see the finished product. And I knew that there would be because in the product world, it’s the exact same thing: there’s a difference between early evangelists, early adopters and late adopters.Now the book is out there, these two lists are kind of one and the same, but should I write another book now, I’ll definitely be going back to that insider group to see if they want to sign up for the same experience.But how can this work in fiction?There’s this fiction author who I’ve met, Rebecca Howard, and she writes paranormal novels - basically ghost stories. She has the same sort of process, and it works for her because people who are generally interested in the para normal genre are often attracted to that part of the process too.She also uses a very similar process as I do to launch her books: she networks a lot with what I would call â€Å"influencers† in her genre. So maybe it works particularly well in non-fiction, but I think it can work in fiction as well.How do you actually get these â€Å"influencers† to promote your work?Well I once had a startup called eFuneral and we raised some startup capital. So I had some loose connections with some startup investors (VCs, angels, etc.), but very few would be considered â€Å"household names†. However, as I was starting to write this book - just like I had this group of beta readers - I sort of force-created another beta group of influencers.These people, whether they wanted to be or not, were in my influencer list. But I didn’t treat it like a list, I didn’t send mass emails or stuff like that. I only sent personal emails every now and then to these folks askin g for feedback: ‘Hey, I’m writing this book, it’s on a topic I’m really passionate about because of my background and I’d really love your feedback’.Throughout, some of these people did respond, and were supportive - even if just through some general encouragement. Of course, a lot of others wouldn’t even respond, but my hope was that by the time the book actually came out, some of them might be able to spread the word. This is no different to when I was raising capital and talking to angel investors and venture capitalists. Investors don’t like to invest in companies that they’ve just heard of for the first time ever. Usually, they like to meet you early on and then follow your progress. So that’s how I was trying to treat the book.About 3-4 weeks before the book launch, I sent all of them a draft of the book so they could have early access to it. And once the book was live on Amazon, I sent another email to each of them saying â€Å"hey, I don’t know if you’ve had the chance to read the book, but if so,   I would love an honest review from you and it’d be amazing if you could help me spread the word about the launch.† I made it easy for them to do that, using to just create a link that they could click to get a pre-made tweet.Sure enough, on the morning of the book launch, there were 3 or 4 major influencers who either tweeted about the book or retweeted one of my posts! These were people like Brad Feld, Mark Suster and Steve Case. They absolutely helped me move the needle.How did you keep this great momentum after your book launch?That’s really what I’m focusing on right now, and trying to see if there are things I could be doing differently. I’ve been grateful to be asked to go on all sorts of podcasts. I don’t know if that will move the needle or not, but I’ll continue to do it because I love doing it.I think a book tour could be interesting. In my case, I think I wouldn’t do a traditional book tour, but rather a series of Meetups. I could definitely see myself doing a series of Meetups in different cities on ‘raising startup seed capital’. I’d want to keep it very organic. Startup events and speaking opportunities are another thing I’ll look for.In terms of other ways, I have been asked to write for other publications (like startups.co), so that’s exciting. But I also try to think about this in different ways too: ‘what can I do that’s completely different and hasn’t been done before’?It’s really the point that I’m at, so what I’m going to do is I’m going to try out a bunch of things and I’ll let you know in a couple of months what has worked and what has not!Follow Mike and Reedsy on Twitter:  @belsito  and  @ReedsyHQHave you developed a core reading group like Mike’s â€Å"insider group†? Does it help you launch your books? Have you tried reaching out to influencers in your genre? Share your thoughts, or any question for Mike, in the comments below!

Compare and Contrast, Copley essays

Compare and Contrast, Copley essays John Singleton Copley was born on July 3rd 1738. The son of a widowed tobacco shop owner, he was influenced artistically for the most part by his stepfather, Peter Pelham. Mr. Pelham was an Engraver by trade who married Copleys mother when John was ten years old. Through Mr. Pelham, John had access to some of the leading colonial artists of the day. One artist in particular, John Smibert, often brought his portraits to Mr. Pelham to be reproduced. Looking at Copleys early work, we can see that this had some influence on the artist in his youth. With very little exception, most of J.S. Copleys works were portraits. In colonial New England, art was mainly valued as a way of recording likeness. A young Copley had hoped to stake his reputation with portraits and then move on to classical and mythological themes as seen in the Renaissance period. One of Copleys most notable portraits was a family picture from 1776-1777 entitled The Copley Family. It was painted by him after his family fled America and was reunited in London with him. We see Copley located in the background holding some papers. In my interpretation, there looks to be a tone of arrogance in his narrowed eyes. Sitting in front of him is his father in law, Richard Clarke, who holds his daughter Susanna. Just to the right of him is his other daughter Elizabeth. The child being held by the mother is John Jr. and the little girl latched onto the mothers arm is Mary, the youngest daughter. Overall, the scene appears to be a very solemn event. I honestly would not expect for a father to be so detached from the family after a 2 year separation. However there is warmness in the use of color that is absent from his previous works. Following in Copleys footsteps was an American painter named Charles Willson Peale. He was a saddle maker by trade who took up painting after seeing some artwork in Virginia. He is believed to have...

Much Ado About Nothing

Much Ado About Nothing Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare is a delightful comedy which plays out a number of Shakespeares best loved themes: confusion between lovers, the battle of the sexes, and the restoration of love and marriage. It also features two of Shakespeares most formidable lovers: Benedick and Beatrice. These two characters spend the majority of the play bickering and thenas in all great romantic comediesfall in love in the final acts.Much Ado About Nothing begins in Messina, soon after the end of a war. A group of soldiers are returning, victorious. Amongst them are Don Pedro, Claudio (a handsome youth) and Benedick, who is known to be proficient both in the art of war and the art of speech. He is also a self-proclaimed woman-hater, who vows he will never settle down. Soon, Claudio falls in love with a noblemans daughter, Hero (a beautiful and quiescent young maiden), and they decide to marry. Heros elder sister, Beatrice, is unlike her sister in that she has a fast tongue. She and Benedick enjoy baiting each other as both are clever and witty.The lovers, along with the rest of Hero and Claudios wedding party, decide to bring Benedick and Beatrice together. They perceive, perhaps, that there is already a spark of love between them. By the time the wedding comes around, the two are very much in love. But love is never easy in Shakespeares plays, and on the eve of the wedding Don Pedros bastard brother, Don John, decides to break up the marriage before it begins by trying to convince Claudio that his betrothed has been unfaithful. Claudio goes on to the wedding and calls Hero a whore, disgracing her before the whole community. Beatrice and Heros father hide the poor girl, and let it be known that she has died from the shame that Claudio unfairly placed upon her. In the meantime, Don Johns henchmen are arrested by the local constable (whose malapropisms create a little comic relief) and the plot to besmirch Heros name is exposed.Claudio is wracked with grief. To make amends, he promises to marry Heros sister, Beatrice. However, when he reaches the altar and lifts his wifes veil, he finds that he is marrying the woman he thought to be dead. The wedding is made into a double celebration when Benedick and Beatrice also decide to tie the knot.The majority of the plot in Much Ado About Nothing revolves around Hero and Claudio, but Shakespeares dramatic sympathies remain very clear. Benedick and Beatrice are ever at the center of our attention. They get the most stage time, as well as the majority of the best lines. With their gentle bickering, they hope to expose the frailties not only of their opponent, but also of his or her entire gender. These interchanges are early examples of what would become the fast-paced exchanges in modern screwball comedy. With Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare also creates the first example of the romantic generic convention of the two romantic leads that love to hate each other. That they are tricked into loving each other is only possible because that love already resides in their hearts. They use their mutual animosity to cover their true feelings. Of course, Much Ado About Nothing is never simply just a romantic comedy. Rather, the play creates a lighter, more frivolous counterpart to some of his darker tragedies. For example, like Romeo and Juilet, we see a lover pretend to be dead, hoping for a Romantic reconciliation with the man to whom she is betrothed. Unlike that tragedy, however, the lover does not realize his mistake too late. The work is one of Shakespeares most serious comedies, and also one of his most human. The back-and-forth between Benedick and Beatrice, and the triumphant finale in which the divine grace of love is celebrated has had a feel-good effect on its audience down the centuries. Beautifully written, and beautiful in its conception, Much Ado About Nothing, is one of Shakespeares most delightful plays.

Managing Financial Resources and Decisions 2 Essay

Managing Financial Resources and Decisions 2 - Essay Example Not only this, cash budget also assists the financial manager about the cash balances at the beginning and closing of any period. In case if the business wish to make any non-routine expenditure, cash budget can help in meeting this cause. In case of any cash shortages, overdraft facility from the bank can be arranged in or order to meet the necessary expenditures of the business. b) In order to calculate the price per batch of the ice creams the individual cost per batch in terms of material, labour and overheads are estimated. Direct material and labour calculations are relatively simpler than factory overhead. For factory overheads, the cost of service department is absorbed into the cost of factory departments and apportioned on the basis of floor area in sq. m. Factory overhead rate is then computed in order to calculate the factory overhead per batch. The total cost of producing a batch of ice creams is found to be $371. Therefore, the selling price of the batch should be in between $500 and $600 range giving a profit of at least 25%. d) The following is the investment appraisal calculation in which the appraisal of the new project is made. NPV, IRR, Payback, and ARR are calculated in order to check out the viability of the project. From the above calculations, it can be observed that all the investment appraisal techniques reflect that the project is not viable at all. The initial investment of the project, which is $4,000, cannot be recovered in the project’s life. Negative Net Present Value also shows that the project will not enhance the overall cash flows of the company. Internal rate of Return is also quite negative, which suggests that the project is unable to provide healthy returns to the shareholders. Accounting rate of return is also negative which means that project will not increase the overall income of the

Summarize two articles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Summarize two articles - Essay Example Bankrupt companies in Japan seem to find a way out of their debts by inviting foreign enterprises to bail them out. One example is Elpida Memory which agreed to be taken over by the American Company, Micron Technology for $760 million with the expectation that $1.8 billion be made to pay for Elpida’s debts in banks and other secured creditors at 70% of what they are owed. Unsecured creditors of Elpida, on the other hand only get 20-30% of what they are owed. This has caused much uproar amongst bondholders who complain that the Micron offer was way below the value of the Elpida company, which they claim is valued at $3.8 billion. Hence, they have resorted to seeking other sponsors to take over. In the past, Japan would not have allowed such battle to happen since investors rolled over funds while a restructuring was forced upon them. The government would force the takeover of a bankrupt company, causing negative outcomes for the company itself and its employees, and being a bur den to the economy. Nowadays, bankruptcy is a real option due to more openness to foreign take-overs rescuing failed Japanese

Project Proposal Requirements Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Project Proposal Requirements - Essay Example The mission of the organization involves, distributing water and electrical services in a reliable, environmentally safe, and financially effective manner (Fried & Ferris, 2007). AADC has hundreds of employees; and hence it strives to adopt appropriate staff satisfaction measures. The staff motivation approaches used in the project are training, career development and challenging work environment. Job satisfaction entails the experiences of employees at the workplace, and also superior working life quality (Burgoon, 2006). Job satisfaction at AADC is effectively analyzed through significant factors like; working environment, general wellbeing, home-work relationship, work control, and stress at the work place. Employees generally enjoy their work environment, if they achieve significant attributes related to their job. The project aims at illustrating three significant issues at AADC. Firstly, the project will research on the levels of employee satisfaction at the AADC. Secondly, the project illustrates the types of employee satisfaction approaches, which are applied effectively and efficiently at AADC. Thirdly, the project aims at illustrating the management and staff relationship in formulating and implementing the employee satisfaction approaches at the workplace (Rode, 2014). High employee satisfaction levels are very important for the achievement of the short and long term objectives of AADC. This is because high job satisfaction levels increase the motivation of employees. There are several factors that influence motivation levels at the workplace. The factors are broadly categorized into four; environmental factors, effective employee recognition, individual factors, and psychological wellbeing. Communication processes within the organization should be effective, so as to ensure high satisfaction levels. The communication process should adequately involve the input of employees. Work environments which effectively recognize the

Lesson in living Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Lesson in living - Essay Example In most instances, these derisions occurred in private as many of these individuals in my peer network did not have the legitimate self-confidence to be more expressive and bold with their negative commentaries. It was common, when an unpopular student wearing last year’s fashion trends walked by, to snicker and scorn in an environment where this type of behavior was applauded. I have to admit, more than once, I found personal satisfaction in these mockeries. One particular student, I will call him â€Å"David†, was obviously from a home environment that did not have much financial wealth. David would often wear the same clothing more than once during the school week, which was a significant fashion faux pas in my social network. Moreover, David did not appear to be very intelligent, as during many in-class discussions and examinations, David was not very articulate and often seemed to struggle with the simplest curriculum concepts. It was common practice for my popular friends to sneer and disparage David whenever his perceived intelligence problems were illustrated to the rest of the class. Admittedly, I found these situations quite amusing, a product of my immaturity and high need for social inclusion. One day, during lunch period, our popular table saw David walking by, carrying a sack lunch, which was a significant error for those who could afford higher quality lunches from the diverse cafeteria bakery and vending machines. Deciding to take the lead on the next contempt and disrespect for David, I offered, much more loudly than I had anticipated, â€Å"Here comes our favorite crash test dummy.† David stopped dead in his tracks, having overheard what I just said, a look of confusion and annoyance on his face. Immediately, the group of popular students started laughing, clearly amused that David had overhead my malicious comments. In addition, one popular student spit out a mouthful of milk, illustrating the depth to which he found this situation filled with hilarity at David’s expense. David, seeming neither amused nor infuriated, replied with a single word: â€Å"Thanks†, and simply walked to his table to enjoy his bag lunch. Granted, I was only bothered that I had been overhead with my derogatory comment and felt no empathy for David’s position. Approximately one month after this incident, our social studies teacher assigned an in-class activity where our task was to evaluate three specific students in the class using a stereotype, a cultural artifact, and a cultural term from a list to describe why the chosen student fit these terms. Much to my dismay, I had been chosen by several students for spotlight which highlighted my fashion prowess related to the concept of the cultural artifact. Essentially, the implication was that my fashion sense was a throwback from previous decades which, for the first time, put me in a position of public dishonor. Following this further, according to another student, my choice of clothing â€Å"came directly from a vintage resale clothing rack.† Of course, my popular friends found this considerably amusing and I understood, at that moment, the complex feelings of embarrassment and awkwardness when being a target of degradation. When it was David’s turn to present, he firmly (and articulately) offered to the

Brand management and research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Brand management and research - Essay Example This increased wave of competition in the business markets has forced firms to devise strategies that tend to enhance their competitive advantage in the market. The increased wave of competition in the market has enhanced the importance of branding and brand image towards generating competitive advantage. The aspect of branding assumes even more importance as customers largely use the brand to distinguish between products and services of different market players. Firms are therefore trying out different strategies that tend to increase their brand value so as to gain competitive advantage. The aspect of branding has assumed so much importance that well known brand like Apple are being valued in billions for their brand image and their image on the minds of the customers. Aspects like brand equity which involves the extra value addition in the product or service offering have also assumed large scale importance for business organizations (Stadtler, 2010, p.1). The present study would try to analyse the different dimensions of branding including elements like brand value, brand image and brand positioning. The organization selected for the study is Nintendo which is an organization that deals with the manufacture and sales of gaming consoles in many nations across the world. The study would highlight the relative strengths and weakness of the organizations with regards to the aspect of branding. Company Background Nintendo is a Japanese organization that deals in the manufacture of gaming consoles. The company started its business in the year 1985 as a manufacturer of games and gaming consoles. The initial operations of the firm were restricted to Japan. After initial success the company expanded into different nations like USA, UK and is presently operating in about 20 nations across the globe. The company’s initial products of Mario and Zelda became instant hit with the target audience and still continue to be largely popular among the members of the tar get audience. The company by virtue of its highly innovative products has established a strong brand image in the minds of the customers. The other products of the company include Nintendo Ds, Nintendo Game cube which have been huge hits with the customers across the world. In the year 2006 the company launched the Nintendo Wii that was a revolution in the world of gaming industry which had exiting and unmatched product features. The core competence of the firm includes its innovative product line and a continuous and uniform diffusion of innovation that helps it to establish itself as a unique brand in the minds of the customers (Nintendo, 2011). The subsequent sections would try to analyze the different aspects of branding including the elements of value, image and positioning towards generation of competitive advantage. Brand Position Brand position implies the image of the brand in the minds of the target market audience. Knox (2004) undertook a study on the aspect of brand posi tioning and stated that in order to stay competitive firms need to look beyond the realm of the product and service mix so as to generate greater value and image of the brand in the minds of the consumers. The author cites the example of Coca Cola by stating that most of its value comes from its brand image rather than its other existing assets (Knox, 2004, p. 105-106). Grad et.al

Lesson in living Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Lesson in living - Essay Example In most instances, these derisions occurred in private as many of these individuals in my peer network did not have the legitimate self-confidence to be more expressive and bold with their negative commentaries. It was common, when an unpopular student wearing last year’s fashion trends walked by, to snicker and scorn in an environment where this type of behavior was applauded. I have to admit, more than once, I found personal satisfaction in these mockeries. One particular student, I will call him â€Å"David†, was obviously from a home environment that did not have much financial wealth. David would often wear the same clothing more than once during the school week, which was a significant fashion faux pas in my social network. Moreover, David did not appear to be very intelligent, as during many in-class discussions and examinations, David was not very articulate and often seemed to struggle with the simplest curriculum concepts. It was common practice for my popular friends to sneer and disparage David whenever his perceived intelligence problems were illustrated to the rest of the class. Admittedly, I found these situations quite amusing, a product of my immaturity and high need for social inclusion. One day, during lunch period, our popular table saw David walking by, carrying a sack lunch, which was a significant error for those who could afford higher quality lunches from the diverse cafeteria bakery and vending machines. Deciding to take the lead on the next contempt and disrespect for David, I offered, much more loudly than I had anticipated, â€Å"Here comes our favorite crash test dummy.† David stopped dead in his tracks, having overheard what I just said, a look of confusion and annoyance on his face. Immediately, the group of popular students started laughing, clearly amused that David had overhead my malicious comments. In addition, one popular student spit out a mouthful of milk, illustrating the depth to which he found this situation filled with hilarity at David’s expense. David, seeming neither amused nor infuriated, replied with a single word: â€Å"Thanks†, and simply walked to his table to enjoy his bag lunch. Granted, I was only bothered that I had been overhead with my derogatory comment and felt no empathy for David’s position. Approximately one month after this incident, our social studies teacher assigned an in-class activity where our task was to evaluate three specific students in the class using a stereotype, a cultural artifact, and a cultural term from a list to describe why the chosen student fit these terms. Much to my dismay, I had been chosen by several students for spotlight which highlighted my fashion prowess related to the concept of the cultural artifact. Essentially, the implication was that my fashion sense was a throwback from previous decades which, for the first time, put me in a position of public dishonor. Following this further, according to another student, my choice of clothing â€Å"came directly from a vintage resale clothing rack.† Of course, my popular friends found this considerably amusing and I understood, at that moment, the complex feelings of embarrassment and awkwardness when being a target of degradation. When it was David’s turn to present, he firmly (and articulately) offered to the

Integrated Marketing Communications and Advertising Essay

Integrated Marketing Communications and Advertising - Essay Example Integrated marketing communication is an approach to reach the customers through two communication channels, online and offline. Online channels include e-marketing, email, banners to latest websites, and internet TV. Offline channels include newspapers, magazines, billboards, radio and television. The main purpose of integrated marketing communication is to form and carry on the look or message in all elements of the marketing campaign in the same way. Integrated marketing communication does not just include bringing the product to the customers but it also keeps in mind the company's mission, the compensation plan, the management style and the employee training. A successful integrated marketing communication is made in such a way that the clients' needs are kept in mind and is provided on time, with the possible budget and resources to reach the target. In order to be very successful the four Ps' of marketing the packaging, promotion, positioning, pricing and distribution have to be consistent with each other. This will help in attracting the customers and help them in realizing their need and the desired product or service for it to be satisfied. Integrated marketing communication is gaining popularity because it can reach people through advanced media advertising of many forms, more specialized media can center the targeted audience easily. The challenges faced by managers are that it becomes tough to promote the product through all possibl

Overseas M&A of Chinese Enterprises Essay Example for Free

Overseas MA of Chinese Enterprises Essay The purpose of this article is to summarize the problems related to the overseas MA of Chinese firms and to propose suggestions on its corresponding improvements. It firstly describes the brief history of China’s overseas MA in three phases and its current status including the growth trend, the location preference and the sector distribution ; iand illustrates one succesussfulrvived case of Lenovo and two failed cases of Chinalco and SAIC. Then Seondly it analyzes the factors contributing to the success: economy growth, exchange rate, foreign currency reserve and proper management; points out the reasons of failure: political resistance, strategy error, integration difficulty and cultural difference. After that it refers to the practice of Japanese enterprises on image making, strategy selection, management localization and relation maintaining. Finally it provideoffers recommendations to improvebetter the execution of China’s overseas MA including regarding public relationship, strategic thinking, management enhancement and cultural communication and ; draws a conclusion that whether the overseas MA is ‘cake’ or ‘trap’ depends on what we choose to do. Overseas MA of Chinese Companies: Cake or Trap? Introduction On 26th February 2013, China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) announced in Beijing that it successfully completed the 15. 1 billion US$ acquisition of a Canadian oil and gas company Nexen Inc NXY. TO, which was Chinas largest-ever foreign takeover. This was exactly the epitome of the ‘Great Leap Forward’ of overseas MA of Chinese companies. Along with the economic boom in more thanof 30 years, encouraged by the ‘go-out’ strategy of the government, Chinese companies have madeseen robust strides in international investment markets. However, wereas most MA cases closed as successfully as the case of CNOOC’s acquisition of Nexon? The answer must be negative should you pay attention to many failures such as Chinalco1’s acquisition of Rio Tinto2. Did every successful starting reach a happy ending? Neveror the answer would be affirmative since the bloody costs Chinese companies have paid in overseasabroad m markets. The aim of this article is to raise a critical question to the overheated enthusiasm on international acquisitions of Chinese enterprises: would it bring a worthy return or rather a bottomless pit? Serving this purpose, the article will firstly draw a brief portrait of the history and the present situation of China’s overseas MA and summarize its characters, experiences and lessons. Then it will analyze the reasons for the successes and failures and compare China’s performance with the practice of its international peers. FinallyIn the end, t, he authorit would like to propose some recommendation on the improvement of the MA operation of Chinese enterprises. Status quo The overseas MA of Chinese enterprises started in the 1990s and could be roughly divided into three phases. The first phase was from the 1990s to the year 2001, when Chinese enterprises just entered the international market and tried to ‘cross the river by feeling the stones’ and to discover acquisition opportunities. The annual amount figure of transactions at that time was below 0. 1 billion US$. The second stage was after China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001 when the volume of overseas purchase takeovers reached 1 billion for the first time and till 2005 when the amount climbed to about 5 billions. The third period was fromafter 2006 till now especially after 2009 afterwards when global financial crisis seriously grilled struck the world’s major economies. During this period, the scale of China’s abroad overseas acquisitions exploded and each year it saw a total deal of tens of billions of dollars. In 2010, it was up to the height of 38 billion dollars, occupying 11% of the world’s transactions amount of that year3. There were some trends underlying the wavesis of overseas acquisitions waves. In terms of the quantity of deals, it was climbing climbed constantly with a number of 27 in 2003, 45 in 2005, 61 in 2007, 97 in 2009 and arrived at the record-breaking 147 in 20104. Meanwhile, the size of one transaction increased remarkably and the significant example was the abovementioned takeover of NEXON by CNOOC in 2013, a single deal of 15. 1 billion US$, overpassing exceeding the annual total of many previous years. With regard to the areas where China’s enterprises invested, American,USA Europe and Asia were their top 3 priorities, making up 27%, 21% and 15%5 respectively of the abroad acquisition volumes in 2010. About the sectors where they were interested in, the energy and mining fields were undoubtedly their first choice since 65%6 of the transactions occurred in this industry in 2010. Nonetheless, compared with the general traits, the individual cases are worth researching more carefully. A perfect example is the caseTake the story of China’s giant PC producer Lenovo7 as example, i. In December 2004 Lenovo acquired the PC department sector of IBM at the price of 1. 75 billion US dollars. After almost 10 years’ development, it was impressive that IBM became a super brand of business laptops and PCs and Lenovo had successfully enhanced its brand value and market share during the integration of two firms. It was this deal that made Lenovo a world PC giant. Conversely, the majority of Chinese buyers tasted the bitter flavor of defeats. According to the statistics of Mckinsey8 published in 2010, in the past 20 years, the success rate of international MA was less than 50% while the failure rate of China’s overseas acquisitions was more that 67%9. In 2008, the total loss of China’s multi-national deals was nearly 35 billion US$10. For instance, in June 2009, Rio Tinto Group unexpectedly announced to breach the acquisition agreement with Chinalco and although Rio Tinto paid 0. 195 billion US$ break-up fee to Chinalco, the latter had to must pay multifold btimes of breaching compensation to China’s state-owned commercial banks and assume tremendous losses resulted from the dropping share price of Rio Tinto. Another perfect example is the case SAIC Motor11 took over SsangYong Motor12 which illustrated a failing integration after a triumphant acquisition. SAIC invested 0. 5 billion US$ to buy 48. 92% shares of SsangYong Motor in 2004 and increased its to 51. 33% in 2005. However, a smooth deal did not forecast a disaster of cultural integration. Neither SAIC achieved the aim of technology importation nor the new management team solved the annoying strikes and salary disputes so that the new enterprise staggered till 2009 when the local court approved the bankruptcy protection of SSangYong Motor, indicating the death of this acquisition. Analysis Based on the facts and cases revealed in previous chapter, we could can not help wondering that what was inside the box? In other words, what experiencepoints we can summarizecould summarize from the successful cases and what lessons we should learn from the failed ones? On one hand, the significant development of China’s overseas MA might be generated by the following contributing factors. Firstly, the rapid economy growth drove solid requests forof the raw materials such as oil, gas or mining but subject to the limited domestic resources, Chinese enterprises turned their attention to global markets by active merging and acquiring. Secondly, since the exchange rate reform starting from 2005, the Chinese Currency RMB was appreciating gradually, for example the rate of US$ to RMB was 1: 8. 2 in 2005 but is 1: 6. 1 in 2014. In addition, the global financial crisis resulted from the subordinated debts storm in the USA remarkably dropped the share prices of listed companies in global capital markets. Both factorsThis change considerably lowered the costs of international acquisitions in recent years and created realistic opportunities for Chinese companies. Thirdly, holding the massive foreign currency reserve, for instance, 3820 billion US$ in the end of 201313, the central government of China broadened the control of foreign exchange and launched a ‘go-out’ policy to stimulate the internationalization of domestic enterprises, creating a relatively loose macro surroundings for Chinese companies. Fourthly, some Chinese companies were playing games in global markets more and more expertly. They adopted correct strategy to obtain global assets and products, executed it in accordance with international conventions, gained the advanced technology and sales networks, expanded the market share, established competitive edge and moved forward to the aim of multi-nationalization. On the other hand, it is indeed necessary to figure find out what caused the noticeable failure of Chinese acquirers. From my point of view, the reasons could be explained in four aspects. Political resistance:Political factors bear the brunt of the failure of China’s overseas acquisitions. Most Chinese enterprises engaging in international MA were state-owned enterprises, which in the westerners eyes were regarded as the representatives of Chinese government. Although they emphasized the independence status and commercial orientation when doing business in other countries, the host governments were as prone to link them to the Communist Party of ChinaChinese government. Even if they were not state-owned, the public media often mislabeled them as Chinese SOEs because it was hard for the foreigners to distinguish the nature of one Chinese firm from the other. This was truly an extra risk of Chinese firms and constituted one fundamental obstacle toof China’s overseas acquisitions. Unfortunately, in most cases, Chinese firms had no say and did not know how to communicate with the local government or the public, only to accept the destiny of defeat. For example, the government of USA denied the 18. 5-billion-dollars acquisition of UNOCAL14 by CNOOC for the reason of state security. The failure of Chinalco’ acquisition of Rio Tinto was also attributed to the concern of economic safety of Australia. Strategic error:The core value of enterprise MA probably is increasing the critical competitive advantage and sustainable development capacity thorough obtaining the essential resources of acquired firms, which requires thorough and appropriate strategies. Nevertheless, most Chinese enterprises, when operating international MA, did not have a complete and clear strategiesy or did have a strategiesy but lost control of the operation and could not survive the ever-changing global markets. Some of them failed to properly evaluate their overall strengths and to completely understand the rules of international acquisitions therefore executed rush transactions blindly just catering for the individual preference of the boss or following the ‘going-out’ fashion of ‘going-out’. TheA lack of strategiesy must not realize an anticipated results. After a series of losses in international acquisitions, TCL15 admitted that the insufficient strategic preparation was the major reason contributed to its failure16. Another relevant case is the bidding for Hummer17 by Tengzhong18. Although had published an official industrial planning aiming at developing new energy vehicles in 2009, Tengzhong announced a bid for Hummer, the producer of large displacement vehicles, which completely contradicted its strategy of energy saving and emission reduction. Integration difficulty:After applause, flowers, champagnes and wines in the signature ceremony, the real challenge just starts because of the integration or management difficulties of Chinese firms. Though more and more Chinese enterprises enlarged tremendously in recent years, for example, 100 Chinese firms were listed on the Fortune Global 500 Rankings 201419, taking up one fifth of the world’s biggest companies. But compared with international giants such as Exxon Mobile, BP or Shell, Chinese firms are weak on management issues such as corporate governance, business operations, management communication skills, international reputation and marketing channels and internal integration etc. Multi-national acquisition and integration is so complicated that Chinese companies are short of not only managers who could communicate professionally with their counter-parts and standardize the operation with global horizon but also experts who are familiar with international market operations from legal, financial or managerial background20. Take TCL’s acquisition of Thomson21 for instance, after the deal was done, in less than three years, all the former executives of Thomson left the ‘new’ company22 and it fell into a crisis of management resulting in huge profit losses in the following fiscal years. It was truly a failure of team integration due to managerial incompetence. Even worse, Chinese firms were used to manage the integration after acquisitions with domestic management styles and most of them were caught in serious internal frictions, causing which caused productivity declining and profit dropping. Moreover, Chinese firms were merely accustomed to employ Chinese workers no matter where they were doing business, which exerted extensive concerns in the host country. For example, when Chinese firms acquired a local mining, a railway or harbor construction project in Africa, thousands of Chinese workers were hired to work there. It maybe impressive for many when we watched TV that more than 30,000 Chinese workers retreated from Libya after the civil war following the collapse of the Gaddafi regime in 2010. In the countries with tight policies on foreign labors, the employment patterns of Chinese acquisitions were controversial. Culture difference:Cultural is an indispensible influential factor in international MA yet ignoring its significance is a common failing of Chinese acquirers. Many host countries complained that Chinese firms were mining robots or money machines, developing business simply on their own without incorporating themselves into the local communities and respecting the unique cultural backgrounds. The failure of SAIC’s acquisition of SsangYong, discussed mentioned in previous episode, could cast light on how the culture conflict ruined a takeover. It seems that the primary reason was SAIC’s insufficient acknowledgement of culture difference. Korea is an island country and its people have tremendous national pride therefore when SsangYong was acquired by SCIA which is from an undeveloped country of China, its employees were reluctant to accept the reality of control change and to co-operate well with the new boss. That was why they behaved negatively in the integration and apparently SAIC failed to figure out a proper strategy to deal with this issue. Moreover, SAIC underestimated the power of Labor Union and the complexity of labor disputes while paid more attention to enhance the relationship with the governmental authorities, which is anan exact reflection of Chinese culture, not suitable in Korea. The result of ignoring it was remarkable. Comparison After the analysis of what caused Chinese firms’ poor performance, before giving advice on how to improve it, it seems necessary to catch a glance at how the international peers did their MA deals. Japan, one neighbor of China, is a perfect model we could refer to. Similar as today’s China, Japan is a country short of natural resources, from the 1960s when Japanese economy began to soar, Japanese enterprises invested massively in overseas markets to pursue a steady resource supplies. In the 1970s and 1980s, they also encountered various barriers and obstacles but Japanese firms gradually diminished the hostility and cautiousness and successfully took initiatives in global investment sectors23. Image-making:Japanese firms laid emphasis on image-polishing via the ‘think tank’ and the news media. In the 1980s, in response to the increasing hostility, Japanese firms implemented diverse strategies to turn them acceptable to the American society. Since most official critics were from the Congress, major Japanese companies established or enlarged the representative offices in Washington, DC. They tried to create the mainstream opinion via the cooperation with the think tanks, journalists orand former governmental officials and in return the think tanks held periodically forums on Japanese investments and published reports arguing that Japanese investments were beneficial to the USA economy. In most cases, Japanese firms sponsored or funded the researches or cooperated with the scholars in this field. Sustainable strategy: Japanese firms focused on a long-term effect of investments, pursued a resource-preferred acquisition strategy and did not deviate from the aim easily even if confronting temporary losses or missing profitable opportunities. As a result, the investment terms of Japanese firms were longer than those of Chinese firms. In addition, Japanese companies coordinated well with each other and avoided internal malicious competitions (which often happened among their Chinese peers) to maximize their coalition strength. Differing from Chinese acquirers in Australian market, Japanese companies were used to form an acquisition group of 3-4 firms to optimize the bargaining potential and profit margin. Local management: Unlike Chinese companies which preferred to appoint Chinese executives in overseas subordinates, Japanese investors trusted localAmerican managers and appointed them as executives. Besides, they tried to localize material supplies as much as possible. According to the report published in 2002 by the Bureau of Economics Analysis24, USA, from 1982 to 2002, the number of American suppliers of Honda25had climbed from 40 to 55026. Likewise, when negotiating with partners for acquisition deals, Japanese companies seldom requested to participated in the business operation so that they could avoid the employment, salary or land disputes, which considerably reduced the management risk and integration failure. Community relation: When investing in overseas countries, Japanese firms endeavored to integrate themselves to local culture and contribute to the construction of local communities. For example, sponsoring a baseball team or funding a cancer research center, Japanese firm had donated millions of dollars for local charity. All of these merits of goodness conveyed the information that Japanese firms respected local culture and put high value on local development. This is a sharp contrast to Chinese firms’ behavior in that they were only keen on making money but were indifferent to the lives of local residents. Recommendation Corresponding to the problems figured out discussed and the comparisons analyzed above, I would like to share my view on how to improve the overseas MA operations of Chinese enterprises. Firstly, we should reduce the role the state plays in international acquisitions and create effective communications with stakeholders. To be honest, many overseas MA cases illustrated the economic targets of Chinese government, which is the most controversial issue and the biggest concern in foreign markets. As the government, it must be aware of its duty and the boundary of public power, decrease the interference to micro economic operation and liberate the creativities of Chinese enterprises in overseas markets. On the other hand, Chinese government should provide necessary supervision and guidance of overseas acquisitions, reform improper and complicated formalities of abroad transaction and facilitate the currency flow by loosing strict exchange control. However, to eliminate political obstacles, the majority of the tasks are at the shoulder of Chinese enterprises themselves. It shouldmay be necessary for them to put public relationship management top of their agenda. For example, learn to communicate with the public media and the local communities in the language and style they could understand, find spokesmen in think tanks and sponsor local research academies or educational institutions are all constructive measures to enhance the soft powerimage of Chinese enterprises. In principle, we must try to let the host country, the local public, the local staff and other stakeholders believe that Chinese acquisitions are not only a business but also a kindness, not a threatens but an opportunitiesy, to all of them. Secondly, it is essential to break the spell of speculation and to adopt strategic thinking. Acquisition is not gambling but rather implementation of strategy, hence before initiating offers Chinese buyers must set up definite targets and strategies. In short, what do we exactly want? Every overseas acquisition case must have a clear strategic demand: to enhance the buyer’s weight in the value chain; to extend the brand reputation; to expand the production line or to extend the market share? We should not launch an acquisition merely because the target company is cheap or the acquisition is an eye-catching advertisement. Nothing would be more surprising than the news that a Chinese Millionaire Chen Guangbiao, whose business is recycle resourcing, announced a plan to buy New York Times. After the aim is set up, Chinese enterprise should establish and hold a firm strategy, draw an feasible plan in details to implement the strategy step by step and unless the market surroundings changes fundamentally, do not give up the fixed strategy easily. Thirdly, it could be urgent for Chinese firms to substantially enhance their management strength to survive the integration difficulties after takeovers. It is desirable for the acquirer to keep the previous management team of the acquired firm as much as possible and to pursue a ‘win-win’ target by satisfying both the requirements of the buyer and the demands of the seller as well asand its employees. Plus, they also should build a thorough management systems in accordance with international convention, enhance overall managerial strengthability, perfect internal corporate governance and establish rational incentive mechanism, to achieve a smooth integration and a sustainable development. Fourthly, it is not exaggerating to say that the failure of an overseas acquisition is actually the failure of cultural communication, which reminds Chinese buyers to take care of the cultural difference. Currently, most of the targeted firms are matured western enterprises which have built their own tradition and culture and hope to maintain rather than change it. In the contrary, Chinese firms have not developed a systematic and matured cultures. That is, China buyers have to absorb the advanced elements of the existing cultures and mix them in the formation of a new culture. Under some unique circumstances it is necessary to give up or reform the unreasonable parts in our own cultures that iare s unacceptable to the host country. Conclusion To summarize, overseas MA is an effective way for Chinese enterprises to realize the hyper-normal development in global markets. But every opportunity could also be seen as a crisis and vice versa. It is a cake or a trap merely depends on what areis our choices. Friendly market, clear strategy, efficient management and proper communication may bring you a bright perspectives while hostile surrounding, blind expansion, poor administration and cultural conflict could catch usyou in a deep traps. For the better preparation to survive international MA competitions, it is high time for Chinese enterprises to sum up the successful experiences and to learn from the costly lessons. If this article could provide some advisable suggestions on this topic, it would be my greatest pleasure.

Economic Profiles of Arab Countries

Economic Profiles of Arab Countries QATAR Qatar has been ranked as the world’s wealthiest country on a new list compiled by the prestigious US. Qatar has 2,051 million people, the majority of whom (about 90%) live in Doha, the capital. Qatar is the 146th most populated nation , age structure 0–14 years: 21.8% (male 92,896/female 87,201) 15–64 years: 76.8% (male 451,127/female 182,330) 65 years and over: 1.4% (male 6,545/female 4,690) (2008 est.) with a GDP of 181.7 Billion per capita of ~102,700USD. Sharing the same Arabic language presents an advantage for ANB to enter Qatar. The country’s population is growing by an average of 1.093% (2008 est.) Petroleum the cornerstone of Qatar s economy accounts for more than 70% of total government revenue, more than 60% of GDP, and roughly 85% of export earnings Oil has given Qatar a per capita GDP that ranks among the highest in the world. Qatar is now the richest country in the world caused by a rising global oil demand which helped current GDP per capita to expand 94% in the Nineties. Income distribution in the country is relatively balanced, with a majority (70%) in the middle class, The economy is expected to grow at a healthy rate of 5% for the coming years. Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup bid is the successful proposal from the government of Qatar to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Qatar will be the first Arab state to host the World Cup. Qatar promoted their hosting of the tournament as representing the Arab World, and has drawn support from across the member states of the Arab League. They also positioned their bid as an opportunity to bridge the gap between the Arab World and the West. Furthermore, people coming from different nations visited Qatar for this match and strengthened the image Qatar would depict of their interest in the World Cup 2022. Additionally, Qatar hosted the 2011 Asian Cup . With a fast-expanding population and substantial economic growth over the past decade, a reliable and extensive transportation network is becoming increasingly necessary within Qatar. So far the government, the primary transport developer, has done well in terms of keeping up with demand for new transportation options. In 2008 the Public Works Authority (Ashghal), one of the bodies that oversees infrastructure development, underwent a major reorganization in order to streamline and modernize the authority in preparation for major project expansions across all segments in the near future. Ashghal works in tandem with the Urban Planning and Development Authority (UPDA), the body that designed the transportation master plan, instituted in March 2006 and running to 2025. As driving is the primary mode of transport in Qatar, the road network is a major focus of the plan. Project highlights in this segment include the multibillion-dollar Doha Expressway and the Qatar Bahrain Causeway, which will connect Qatar to Bahrain and Saudi Arabia and is considered a milestone in regional interconnectivity. Mass-transit options, such as a Doha metro, light-rail system and more extensive bus networks, are also under development to ease road congestion. In addition, the railway system is being significantly expanded and could eventually form an integral part of a GCC-wide network linking all the Gulf states. once all projects are up and running Qatar will have one of the most advanced and modern transport infrastructures in the region, it will be an opportunity and a niche market for ANB BAHRAIN Bahrain has a very small population of ~1.3 Million, of which more than 50% are non-nationals, with a relatively high GDP ~27,000USD. The middle aged population (30-64yrs) including non-Bahrainis is around 48%. Bahrain has the first post-oil economy in the Persian Gulf because the Bahraini economy does not rely on oil. Since the late 20th century, Bahrain has heavily invested in the banking and tourism sectors. The countrys capital, Manama is home to many large financial structures. Bahrain has a high Human Development Index (ranked 48th in the world) and was recognized by the World Bank as a high income economy. Bahrain was designated a major non-Nato ally by the Georges W. Bush administration in 2001. Bahrain has the fastest growing economy in the Arab world, Bahrain also has the freest economy in the Middle East and is twelfth freest overall in the world . In 2008, Bahrain was named the worlds fastest growing financial center by the City of Londons Bahrains banking and financial services sector, particularly Islamic banking, have benefited from the regional boom driven by demand for oil. Petroleum production and processing account is Bahrains most exported product, accounting for 60% of export receipts, 70% of government revenues, and 11% of GDP . With its highly developed communication and transport facilities, Bahrain is home to a number of multinational firms and construction proceeds on several major industrial projects. OMAN The current GDP is $78.11 billion, expected real GDP growth of 4.5 per cent in 2013 and 4.0 per cent in 2014. Current GDP per capita has expanded continuously in the past 50 years. It grew 339% in the 1960s reaching a peak growth of 1,370% in the 1970s scaling back to modest 13% growth in the 1980s and rising again to 34% in the 1990s. Officially called the Sultanate of Oman . It has a strategically important position at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. From the 17th century, Oman had its own empire, Unlike its resource-rich neighbors, Oman has modest oil reserves, in 2010 the UNDP ranked Oman as the most improved nation in the world in terms of development during the preceding 40 years. Additionally, Oman is categorized as a high income economy and ranks as the 45th most peaceful country in the world. Omans Basic Statute of the State expresses in Article 11 that the national economy is based on justice and the principles of a free economy. Omani citizens enjoy good living standards, but the future is uncertain with Omans limited oil reserves. Other sources of income, agriculture and industry, are small in comparison and count for less than 1% of the countrys exports. Oman has a very diversified economy . Since Jan 2009 Oman has a free trade agreement with the United States , eliminating tariff barriers on all consumer and industrial products, also providing strong protections for foreign businesses investing in Oman. The total population is 2,773,479 and of those, 1,957,336 were Omanis. 43% of the population is under the age of 15. About 50% of the population lives in Muscat and the Batinah coastal plain northwest of the capital; about 200,000 live in the Dhofar (southern) region, and about 30,000 live in the remote Musandam Peninsula on the Strait of Hormuz. Omans economic growth plunged to 2.8 per cent in nominal terms in 2013. In April, the International Monetary Fund estimated in its World Economic Outlook that the non-OPEC crude exporters economy expanded 5.1 per cent in 2013 when adjusted for inflation, slightly outperforming a 5.0 per cent rise in 2012. Expected economy growth 4 to 5 per cent this year, underpinned by stable oil prices and the billions of dollars spent on major projects in the past two years. Last years slowdown in nominal growth was mainly due to a 1.4 per cent fall in the oil sector, which accounts for nearly 46 per cent of Omans $80 billion economy and had seen a 10.7 per cent jump in nominal terms in the previous year. KUWAIT Kuwait one of the richest Arab countries, and has a population of 2,695,316. includes 1,291,354 non-nationals. Population growth rate by 1.79% and this rate reflect a return to pre-Gulf crisis immigration of expatriates. Urban population 98.3% of total population . Age structure 0–14 years: 25.8% ,15–64 years: 72.2% , 65 years and over: 2% Kuwaiti citizens accounted for 40% of Kuwaits total population in 2011 the rest is foreigners. The government and people of Kuwait consider the high level of immigrants to be a problem. This led to the announcement in 2013 that Kuwait will reduce the number of expatriates by deporting 100,000 expats annually over the next 10 years. A recent proposal by a Kuwaiti lawmaker restricts all expats to only five years residence in Kuwait, all expats will be deported after living 5 years in Kuwait. Kuwait also banned expatriates from driving. Kuwaits economic freedom score is 62.3 making its economy the 76th freest in 2014 index, with a GDP 151$ billion with a 5.1% growth 39,889 per capita . the unemployment rate is 2.1% Kuwait holds the world’s sixth biggest proven reserves of oil and oil extraction accounts for 40% of GDP . The strategic location of Kuwait and geopolitical turbulence in the region helped foster economic prosperity in Kuwait. Kuwait became wealthy due to Basras instability. It was estimated that Kuwaits sea trade reached 16 million Bombay rupees by 1800, a substantial amount at that time. Economic prosperity during the late 18th century attracted many immigrants from Iran and Iraq to Kuwait. Kuwaits pre-oil population was ethnically diverse.