Family in Europe Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 6

Family in Europe - Coursework Example This was generally expressed in terms of the father as king over the family. He was the ultimate authority who decided all things and in whose hands the welfare of all rested. However, problems at the state level began to change this dynamic. It was proven again and again that the kings did not necessarily take their paternal duties seriously, allowing many of their ‘children’ to die of disease and starvation. In order to break with these monarchs, it was necessary to break the linkage in people’s minds between the king and the father. This break, once instituted, remained and the political role of the family in terms of defining the operations of the state waned. The idea that the father was the king of the family led to a natural relationship between the king and the father. Viewed as a king, the King of a nation was often too abstract and distant for common people to fully understand or heed allegiance to. However, thinking of the king as the father made him instantly more accessible as his duties became clear in the minds of the populace. While peasants had a very little conception of what a king was required to do in order to make the state operate efficiently, they were able to envision him as the man taking care of all the top-level orders that would be necessary for the running of an efficient estate as the father normally did. This was true whether the estate was a leased cottage on farmland or a grand collection of homes and properties that each had to be maintained. This connection was reinforced by Biblical connection to the tasks laid upon Adam and the analogy between king and God in that each determined the fates of the flock of ‘children’ under him. Adam was given the rulership over all life on earth, highlighting the need for a supreme ‘decider’ while God was the ultimate father in heaven.  

Political background of russia

Political background of russia POLITICAL BACKGROUND RUSSIA FORM OF GOVERNMENT Type of Government: Federal Republic The 1993 Constitution declares Russia a democratic federative state based on the rule of the law and a republication from of government. Source: PricewaterhouseCooper (2009) Doing business and investing in the Russian Federation. Russia. http://www.pwc.com/ru/en/doing-business-in-russia/index.jhtml [24.3.2010] GOVERNMENT STRUCTURE AND HOW IT OPERATES The 1993 Constitution declare Russia a democratic federative state based on the rule of law and a republican form of government. State power in Russia is divided among the executive, legislative and judicial branches. The President of the Russia is considered to be the head of the state where he is responsible for approving the major decision which are taken by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister of the Russia is considered to be the head of the state where he is responsible for approving the major decision which are taken by the Prime Minister. The Government which comprises prime minister, deputy minister and minister of Russia is responsible for exercising the executive power. The government along with the federal assembly of the Russia is vested with the legislative power. The Legislature consist of bicameral Federal Assembly: State duma is the lower house or parliament which can draft legislation and amend the constitution and file an impeachment against president but cannot put in force directly. Federation Counsil is the upper house and has the power to approve or reject laws adopted by the state Duma. Source: PricewaterhouseCooper (2009) Doing business and investing in the Russian Federation. Russia. http://www.pwc.com/ru/en/doing-business-in-russia/index.jhtml [24.3.2010] INTERNATIONAL RELATION WITH OTHER COUNTRIES Participation in various international organizations Russia has steadily moved from initial pro-western policy towards one that combined elements of co-operation with West (especially on economic issues) and attempts to reassert Russias status as a great power with distinct interest. Russia is a part of the European Union and it accounts to be its main economic partner at the same time it accounts for more than half of its external trade, the bulk of its energy exports and most foreign investment inflows. Russia has its presence with the Asian powers such as China and India. China is still likely to overtake Germany as Russia main trading partner in the next few years. At the same time china could become an important export market of Russian energy, although Russia remains wary of china rise as an economic power. http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy-m.deakin.edu.au/ehost/pdf?vid=4hid=8[emailprotected] CORRUPTION BRIBES According to the Russian Economic Report 2008, there has been seen an 8% growth in the economy of Russia and due to which it has witnesse economic growth over the past years. Source: World Bank 2008, Russian economic report [online], Available from: http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTRUSSIANFEDERATION/Resources/rer17_eng.pdf [Accessed: 31.3.2010]. The lack of trust in institution and corruption has affected the confidence of the investor in spite of a massive economic stimulus package given by the Russian government. According to the Institute for Public Project (INOP) along with Institute for Comparative Social Research (CESSI) in their price list of bribes has cite large companies as a major barrier in doing the business in Russia. Source: Business anti-corruption portal 2009, Russia Country Profile [online], Denmark, Available from: http://www.business-anti-corruption.eu/index.php?id=9085 [Accessed: 25.3.2010]. According to the Global Competitiveness Report 2009-2010, â€Å"the business executives which were surveyed the corruption was the key factor identified as the most problematic factor in doing business in Russia. According to a CDI 2008 report on this price-list, the private players will have to pay USD 1-5 in order to get licence and one third of the order price to win a government contract†. The Economist reported in late 2008, reported that USD 10,000 to USD 130,000 was the increased size of the average bribe business According to the Public Opinion Foundation survey, in 2008 around 56% of the business people polled pay bribes. A 2008 survey conducted by the Public Opinion Foundation reveals that 56% of the businesspeople polled pay bribes. Due to more corruption and weak rule of law foreign companies find trade and investment as unattractive in Russia. According to the World Bank IFC Enterprise Surveys 2009, over 29.4% of the unofficial payment are done by companies to get their work done. According to the INDEM reports and Bribe Payers Index 2008, 80% of all Russian companies pay bribes and mostly when doing business abroad. Companies that plans to invest or when operate in Russia must strengthen integrity system and to conduct extensive du diligence. Source: Business anti-corruption portal 2009, Russia Country Profile [online], Denmark, Available from: http://www.business-anti-corruption.eu/index.php?id=9085 [Accessed: 25.3.2010]. Russian Federation 2009 Corruption Russian Federation Region All Countries % of firm expected to informal payment 29.44 17.42 27.11 % of firm expected to give gifts for operating licence 22.18 12.88 16.23 % of firms expected to give gift to get government contracts 46.32 25.95 28.11 % of firms identifying corruption as a major constraint 50.00 33.53 36.62 Corruption 2006 [online], Available from: http://www.enterprisesurveys.org/ExploreEconomies /?economyid=159year=2009 [Accessed: 28.4.2010].

Making Education an Essential :: Educating School Teaching Essays

Making Education an Essential An important part of education is the way a student is taught and the way a teacher chooses to teach. I believe that the decision made about who someone becomes is based on how a person embraces their education. How a teacher uses his/her knowledge and skills of their specific curricular area to motivate students is important and can cause students to want to learn and be educated. Knowledge, which is important for both students and teachers, is both relative and absolute. It can be constructed based upon people and their needs and views, but it can also be true no matter the person or the place in time. For example, because I am interested in English, I perform better in English and English related classes than I do in others subjects such as History or Science. My thirst for knowledge in English is based upon what I like. In an absolute sense, there are many events that have happened throughout history that most people are aware and knowledgeable of no matter what they like or what point they are at in their lives. I believe knowledge of the bigger and more important issues in life is absolute, while knowledge of smaller and more people-based issues tends to be relative. The nature of knowledge is similar to the nature of students because students in many cases are very different from each other. I believe the nature of students is based upon many factors in life, but the way a teacher treats his/her students can have a profound effect on students and how they perform. A student who comes from a poverty stricken home and who is not treated well by his/her parents is different socially, mentally, and intellectually than a student who comes from a wealthy family and is treated well. Though this is true, the performance of both students in the classroom can be similar based on the way the teacher treats each student. If the student from the poverty stricken home is treated well and just as fairly as the wealthier student it can cause somewhat of a balance in the classroom because each student is being treated fairly based on their academic level. In my classroom where most of the students are culturally different from each other I believe I wi ll be the one who sets the neutrality.

British American Tobacco Implementation of SWOT Analysis

According to the economic theory (firm theory), a firm’s utmost objective is to maximize its profit. Hence during the initial stages of the enterprise growth, managers use financial metrics such as cash flows, revenue, and pre-tax profit to evaluate performance of their firm.However, these metrics only tell of past events and therefore can not be used for strategic management, with time the market conditions change. As a result, a firm will tend to invest more to develop capabilities and customer relationships on a long-term basis.Customer relationship is becoming critical for the firm and therefore as the firm embarks on the financial metrics; it must also add consumer satisfaction metrics for it to remain successful. Hence in this new environment over reliance on the financial metric is not enough in evaluating the path to be followed by companies to increase value through investing in employees, consumer, technology and innovation. In order to address the insufficiency of t hese metrics, business information consultants have put forward several strategic management tools and models.Some of these models and tools include the SWOT analysis, Balanced Scorecard (BSC) analysis etc. The BSC has four aspects namely, the customer perspective, internal business perspective, innovation and learning perspective and financial perspective.The SWOT analysis evaluates the weakness, strength, opportunities and threats involved in company's operations. Strengths and weaknesses are internal to the firm and evaluate the internal capability while Opportunities and threats are out-offing business control and refer to how the business is affected by the external environment.Strengths refer to areas where the business can excel in, for example business's competence and resource utilization. Weaknesses is what the company cannot do and managers should consider areas which need improvements, areas which the company do poorly and what should be avoided.Opportunities refer to th e market attractiveness and threats are the potential challenges which hinder business operation. British American Tobacco’s (BAT) goal is to build a long-term shareholder value through development of new brands and products.The company has used the SWOT analysis to implement strategic management and performance evaluation to achieve this goal. BAT is multinational company that manufactures tobacco products and it has many branches around the world.The implementation of business management tools is aimed at shifting management from quality performance to corporate performance. Strengths The company manufactures markets and sells cigarettes and other tobacco products. By the end of year 2007 the company had more than 300 brands and a work force of about 53,907 employees both in UK and internationally.Its revenue base for the period stood at $ 20,054 million. It offers adult consumers products of high quality and also assists them to make sure that they choose their product ove r those of competitors.Continued improvements in productivity have helped the company develop more brands hence increase earnings: for instance it has introduced smokeless cigarettes aimed at reducing smoke related diseases. To remain competitive in the market, the British American tobacco has embarked on cost reducing strategies and complexities in its supply chain.In 2004 the company made the commitment to reduce overheads cost and other indirect costs by $ 200 million annually by the end of 2007 through implementation of a single procurement processes within its area of operation.The company also offers from time to time training to its workers so as to make them adapt to the changing business environment. Threats The company's operations have been affected by the tobacco regulation policies across the world. One of them is the suggestion by the World Health Organization to have all products packaging be plain or unbranded.Removing colors and trademarks familiar to consumers is a critical challenge because consumers will not able to differentiate cigarettes from BAT and those of its competitors or the genuine products and fake ones.The company has strongly opposed the idea of plain packages claiming that there is no evidence that suggest that plain packs would have effect on smoking by children. In addition restriction of corporate trademarks by any government is a breach of intellectual property rights in international trade.The issues of counterfeit product harm the company's revenue and there have been cases of trade in illicit tobacco globally. In order to reduce the cases of cigarette smuggling, the company has supported various governments, world custom organizations and world trade organization in seeking ways to eliminate illicit tobacco trade. WeaknessesThe main internal challenge that has faced the company is the inability to produce less harmful products. However, for some years now the company has embarked in search for less harmful products.Hig h overhead costs have been another threat to the market competitiveness of the company's product. Before the implementation of single procurement system in 2003, the indirect costs had been too high which resulted to high cost of its tobacco products.Opportunities British American tobacco has more that 30 branches across the world and about 180 markets and has opening new factories in more countries. The demand for tobacco products has been rising as more and more youths have started smoking.The company has utilized this opportunity provided by the market through development of more products to satisfy the market demand. The company has decentralized its factories across the globe to increase it market share and position their product for the consumer who have decided to buy tobacco products.Bibliography BAT, consumer and trade, retrieved on 13 December 2008, from http://www. bat. com/group/sites/uk__3mnfen. nsf/vwPagesWebLive/DO6ZXMRV opendocument&SKN=1BAT, plain packaging, retriev ed on 13 December, 2008, from http://www. bat. com/group/sites/uk3mnfen. nsf/vwPagesWebLive/DO7J7DCZ?Opendocument&SKN=1 Capgemini, ‘5-year procurement target at British American Tobacco,' 2003, retrieved on 13 December 2008, from www. at. capgemini. com/m/at/cs/ss_British_American_Tobacco. pdf.Dickson Vicky, Balance Score Card as strategic management tool, 2005, retrieved on 13 December 2008 from http://www. betterlocalization. com/index. php? itemid=44.

How to Maintain Biodiversity

There are several important ways in which humans can slow biodiversity loss, although there is no way to bring back the species that have already gone extinct. Protecting Areas Creating protected areas where human activity is limited is the best way to prevent deforestation and exploitation of organisms and the resources they need to survive. In order to truly make a difference, much planning needs to go into the creation of a protected area. It needs to consider all elements of the ecosystem it is trying to protect, so that it isn’t too small.It needs to include all resources that are utilized by its inhabitants; for example, leaving out a stream where half of the mammals go to drink would not make a protected area very effective. Preventing Species Introductions It is often much easier and less expensive to prevent a problem from developing in the first place than to try to fix it once it occurs. This is the case with invasive species, which can wreak havoc when introduced t o ecosystems that aren’t prepared to deal with them.Many governments prohibit bringing foreign plants and animals into their countries without authorization; some even go so far as to disinfect landing planes and the shoe-bottoms of people on them. Informing / Educating Education is a powerful tool, and the more people know about biodiversity loss, the more they will be prepared to help slow it. Spreading the word about detrimental human effects on plants and animals can encourage people to change their ways and effect changes to preserve biodiversity.Slowing Climate Change Climate change is the documented cause of several extinctions that we know about, and has likely caused hundreds of species to go extinct about which we may never know. Any efforts as individuals, organizations, or governments, to slow current human-caused global warming is a step towards slowing biodiversity loss. Promoting Sustainability Sustainable agriculture is much better for the environment than gra zing and cropping that rely on clearing swathes of forest or field.