You Suck: A Love Story Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen Nobody Likes a Dead Whore Finding her boyfriend tied naked to an upright bed frame, covered in blood, with a dead, blue dominatrix at his feet would be enough to rattle some women's confidence in the stability of their relationship. Some women might even take it as a sign of trouble. But Jody had been single for a number of years – she'd dated rock musicians and stockbrokers – and was conditioned to unusual bumps on the road of romance, so she simply sighed and kicked the hooker in the ribs – more as a conversation opener than a confirmation that the ho was dead – and said, â€Å"So, rough night?† â€Å"Awk-ward,† Abby sang, peeking in the door, then immediately swinging back into the hallway. â€Å"I forgot my safety word,† Tommy said. Jody nodded. â€Å"Well, that had to be embarrassing.† â€Å"She beat me.† â€Å"You okay?† â€Å"Yeah. But it hurt. A lot.† Tommy looked past Jody toward the door. â€Å"Hi, Abby!† Abby swung around the corner. â€Å"Lord Flood,† she said, with a nod and a little grin. Then she looked down at the body, her eyes went wide, and she swung back out into the hall. â€Å"How're your sister's lice?† Tommy said. â€Å"Shampoo didn't work.† Abby called, without looking in. â€Å"We had to shave her head.† â€Å"Sorry about that.† â€Å"It's okay. She looks kind of cool, in a ‘Make a Wish kid' kind of way.† Jody said. â€Å"Abby, why don't you come in and shut the door? If someone walks by and looks in, it might, oh, I don't know, freak them out a little.† † ‘Kay,† said Abby. She stepped in and palmed the door shut behind her, as if the clicking of the door latch might actually be the thing that would attract attention. â€Å"I think I killed her,† Tommy said. â€Å"She was beating me, and she wanted me to bite her, so I did. I think I drained her dry.† â€Å"Well, she's dead all right.† Jody reached down and tossed the blue hooker's arm up. It fell back to the floor. â€Å"But you didn't drain her.† â€Å"I didn't?† â€Å"She'd be dust if you did. Heart attack or stroke or something. Looks like most of her blood went on you and the carpet.†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ â€Å"Yeah, I sort of tore her throat out and she fell before I could finish.† â€Å"Well, what did she expect? You were tied up.† â€Å"You don't seem that bothered by it. I thought you'd be jealous.† â€Å"Did you ask her to bring you here and beat you until you snapped and killed her?† â€Å"Nope.† â€Å"Did you encourage her to beat you until you snapped and killed her?† â€Å"Of course not.† â€Å"And you didn't get off on her beating you until you snapped and killed her.† â€Å"Honestly?† â€Å"You're naked and chained to a bed frame, and I'm just inches away from both a riding crop and your genitals. I think honesty would be a good policy.† â€Å"Well, honestly, the killing part was kind of a turn-on.† â€Å"But not sexual.† â€Å"No way. It was totally homicidal lust.† â€Å"Then we're okay.† â€Å"Really, you're not mad?† â€Å"I'm just glad you're okay.† â€Å"I should feel bad about it, I know, but I don't.† â€Å"That happens.† â€Å"Some bitches just need killing,† Abby said, looking briefly at Tommy, then realizing he was naked under all that blood, looking away quickly. â€Å"There you go,† Jody said. She stepped up and began to undo his restraints. They were double bands of fleece and nylon, with heavy metal shackles locked over them. â€Å"What did she buy these for, to handcuff a grizzly bear? Abby, check the body for a key.† â€Å"Nuh-uh,† Abby said, staring down at the dead blue hooker. Jody noticed that the kid was focused on the breasts, which were defying gravity, and apparently death itself, by standing there at complete attention. â€Å"Those aren't real,† Jody said. â€Å"I knew that.† â€Å"She was a very mean woman,† Tommy said, trying to help. â€Å"With really big but insincere boobs. Don't be afraid.† Abby tore her gaze from the dead woman's chest and looked from Tommy, to Jody, to Jody's chest, and back to the body. â€Å"Fucksocks! Does everybody have big boobs but me? God, I hate you guys!† She ran out the door and slammed it behind her. â€Å"I do not have big boobs,† Jody said. â€Å"Perfectly proportioned,† Tommy said. â€Å"Perfect, really.† â€Å"Thanks, sweetie,† Jody said, kissing him on the lips lightly so as not to get a taste of the whore's blood. â€Å"I think I saw her hang the key in Lash's Forty-Fucking-Niners hat rack by the door.† â€Å"I really need to teach you how to go to mist,† Jody said, retrieving the key. â€Å"Yeah, that would have helped me avoid a lot of this.† â€Å"You know the Animals sold you out, right?† â€Å"I can't see them doing that. She must have blackmailed them or something.† â€Å"Clint told the cops, too. Rivera and Cavuto had our loft staked out.† â€Å"Clint doesn't really count, though. He traded in all his moral credibility in this world when he committed to live forever.† â€Å"Amazing how badly the promise of immortality makes people behave.† â€Å"Like it doesn't matter how you treat people,† Tommy said. â€Å"There!† Jody finally got the shackle on Tommy's right wrist unlocked and started working on the left. They were heavy, but she thought that given the motivation of torture, she could have broken loose, or at least torn apart the bed frame. â€Å"You couldn't just snap these?† â€Å"I guess I need to work out.† He scratched his nose furiously. â€Å"So, should we hide the body or something?† â€Å"No, I think it's a good warning for your buddies.† â€Å"Right.† â€Å"What about the cops?† â€Å"Not our problem,† she said as she twisted the key in the lock and snapped the restraint off his left wrist. â€Å"We don't have a dead blue hooker in our apartment.† â€Å"That's an excellent point,† Tommy said, rubbing his wrist. â€Å"Thank you for rescuing me, by the way. I love you.† He grabbed her and pulled her to him, nearly tumbling over on his face when she stepped back and he encountered the resistance of his ankle restraints. â€Å"I love you, too,† she said, palming his forehead and pushing him back on balance, â€Å"but you are covered with skank oil and you will not get it on my new leather jacket.† In the cab, Abby pouted – sticking out her lower lip far enough that pink was showing above her black lipstick, making her look vaguely like a cat eating a plum. â€Å"Just drop me at my house.† Tommy, who sat in the middle, wearing one of Lash's Forty-Niners jerseys, put his arm around Abby's shoulders to comfort her. â€Å"It's okay, kid. You did great. We are most pleased with you.† Abby snorted and looked out the window. Jody, in turn, put her arm around Tommy's neck and dug her nails into his shoulder. â€Å"Shut up,† she whispered, so soft that only Tommy would be able to hear it. â€Å"You're not helping.† â€Å"Look, Abby,† Jody said, â€Å"it's not something that happens all at once, like in the movies. Sometimes you have to eat bugs for years before you become one of the chosen.† â€Å"I know I did,† Tommy said. â€Å"Beetles, bugs, spiders, mice, rats, snakes, marmosets, OUCH! Stop that, I've been tortured already tonight.† â€Å"You two are just into each other,† Abby said. â€Å"You don't care about anyone else. We're like cattle to you.† The cabdriver, who was a Hindu, looked in the rear-view mirror. â€Å"So what's your point?† Jody said. Tommy elbowed her in the ribs. â€Å"Kidding. Jeez. Abby, we care very deeply about you. We've trusted you with everything. In fact, you may have saved my life tonight.† Tommy reared back and looked at Jody. â€Å"Long story,† the redhead said. Then to Abby again: â€Å"Get some rest and come to the loft tomorrow at dusk. We'll talk about your future.† Abby crossed her arms. â€Å"Tomorrow is Christmas. I'm trapped with the family.† â€Å"Tomorrow is Christmas?† Tommy said. â€Å"Yeah,† Jody said. â€Å"So?† â€Å"The Animals won't be working. I have some issues with them.† â€Å"You were thinking revenge?† â€Å"Well, yeah.† Jody patted the flight bag on the seat, which held all of the money that the Animals had paid to Blue, almost six hundred thousand dollars. â€Å"I think you have that covered.† Tommy frowned. â€Å"I'm beginning to doubt the steadiness of your moral compass.† â€Å"Sure, I'm the one with skewed ethics, when you spent the whole night tied up and beaten by a blue dominatrix and then ripping her throat out.† â€Å"You make everything sound so sleazy.† Abby put her fingers in her mouth and whistled – shrill and nearly deafening in the enclosed space. â€Å"Hello, there's a cabdriver here. Would you two shut the fuck up.† â€Å"Hey,† Jody said. â€Å"Hey,† Tommy said. â€Å"Hey, you, little creepy girl,† said the cabdriver, â€Å"you will not be whistling in my cab again or I will be putting you out on the curb.† â€Å"Sorry,† Abby said. â€Å"Sorry,† Tommy and Jody said in unison. With the exception of the odd serial killer, and car salesmen who think of them as the perfect unit for measuring trunk space, nobody likes a dead whore. (â€Å"Yeah, you can get five-maybe six dead hookers in this baby.†) â€Å"She looks so natural,† said Troy Lee, looking down on Blue. â€Å"Except for the way her arm is bent under her – and the riding crop – and the blood everywhere, I mean.† â€Å"And she's blue,† said Lash. The other Animals nodded mournfully. It was turning out to be a stressful morning for the Animals: cleaning up the mess that Jody had made of the store, getting Drew to the emergency room to get his forehead sewn up where the wine bottle had hit him (they immediately passed around the painkillers he was prescribed, which help to take the edge off), then explaining the broken front window to the manager when he came in, and now this – â€Å"You're the one with almost an MBA,† Barry, the short balding one, said to Lash. â€Å"You should know what to do.† â€Å"They don't cover what to do with a dead hooker,† Lash countered. â€Å"That's a whole different program. Political science, I think.† Despite the dulling they'd given themselves with the painkillers and a case of beer they'd shared in the parking lot at the Safeway, they were all feeling sad, and a little frightened. â€Å"Gustavo is the porter,† Clint said. â€Å"Shouldn't he do the cleanups?† â€Å"Ahhhhh!† said Jeff, the tall ex-jock, as he thumped Clint on the head with a protruding knuckle. Feeling like the knuckle might not quite be enough, he snatched off Clint's horn-rimmed glasses and threw them to Troy Lee, who snapped them into four neat pieces and handed them back to Clint. â€Å"This is all your fault,† Lash said. â€Å"If you hadn't ratted Flood out to the cops, this wouldn't have happened.† â€Å"I just told them that Tommy was a vampire,† Clint whined. â€Å"I didn't tell them he was here. I didn't tell them about your whore of Babylon.† â€Å"You didn't know her like we did,† Barry added, his voice breaking a little. â€Å"She was special.† â€Å"Expensive,† Drew said. â€Å"S, expensive,† added Gustavo. â€Å"She probably could finally afford to go to Babylon,† said Lash. â€Å"Forgive them, for they know not what they do,† Clint said. Troy Lee bent and examined Blue, careful not to touch her. â€Å"It's hard to see bruising through the blue dye, but I guess she broke her neck. The blood must be Flood's. I don't see any marks on her.† â€Å"No bite marks, you mean,† said Clint. â€Å"Of course that's what I mean, nit wit. You know Flood's girlfriend did this, right?† â€Å"How do you know?† Lash asked. â€Å"It could have been Flood.† â€Å"I don't think so,† said Troy Lee. â€Å"Tommy was tied up here – see the orange crap all over the restraints. And these were unlocked, not broken.† â€Å"Maybe when Blue let him go he killed her.† Troy Lee picked something off of Blue's face, as delicately as if he were taking her ghost. â€Å"Except for this.† He held a long red hair up where Lash could see it. â€Å"No reason for her to be here, if Flood was loose.† â€Å"Dude, you're like one of those CSI guys,† Drew said. â€Å"We should call those two homicide cops,† Barry said, like he was the first who might have thought of it. â€Å"And tell them to come help us with our dead hooker,† Lash said. â€Å"Well they know about the vampires,† Barry said. â€Å"Maybe they'll help us.† â€Å"How 'bout we move her to your apartment, and then call them?† â€Å"Well, what are we going to do with her?† Barry said, standing feet apart, hands behind his back, a brave Hobbit ready to face a dragon. Troy Lee shrugged. â€Å"Wait until dark, then drop her in the Bay?† â€Å"I can't bear to touch her,† Barry said. â€Å"Not after the moments we shared.† â€Å"You little puntas,† Gustavo said, stepping up and beginning to roll up the bloodstained rug. He had a wife and five children, and although he had never disposed of a dead hooker before, he thought that it couldn't be any worse than changing the diaper on a gloopy infant. The other Animals all looked at one another, embarrassed, until Gustavo growled at them and they jumped to move the heavy bed frame out of his way. â€Å"I never really liked her that much, anyway,† Barry said. â€Å"She really did take advantage of us,† Jeff said. â€Å"I just went along with you guys so I didn't ruin the party,† said Troy Lee. â€Å"I didn't enjoy even half of those blow jobs.† â€Å"Let's just put her in my closet until tonight, then a couple of us can sneak the bitch out to Hunter's Point and drop her off.† â€Å"On Christmas?† Drew asked. â€Å"Can't believe she took all our money and now she's going to ruin Christmas,† said Troy Lee. â€Å"Our money!† said Lash. â€Å"That bitch!† Nobody likes a dead whore. â€Å"I do like a dead whore now and then,† said the vampire Elijah Ben Sapir, derailing a perfectly good theme. He'd snapped the whore's neck right before she was completely drained so there would be a body. â€Å"But one doesn't want to be too obvious.† He dragged the whore's body behind a Dumpster, and watched as the wounds on her neck healed over. He'd taken her in an alley near Tenth and Mission streets. He'd had the hood up on the oversized tracksuit he was wearing, so she'd been surprised when they'd ventured down the alley and he threw it back to reveal a very pale Semitic man. â€Å"Look at-chew. Thought baby was a playa – † the whore had said, her last words. She'd only had a hundred dollars on her, which, along with the tracksuit and a pair of Nikes, were the complete resources the ancient vampire had at his disposal. He'd come to the city in a yacht worth millions, filled with art worth millions more, and now he was reduced to making kills for petty cash. Of course he owned several homes around the world, and had stashes of cash put away in a dozen cities, but it would take some time to access it. And perhaps it wasn't so bad to have the wolf at the door, for a change. After all, he'd come to the City and taken a new fledgling in order to alleviate his boredom. (It's very hard to feel alive when you've been dead for eight hundred years.) And she had done that. He was not bored – and he felt very much alive. He walked out of the alley and checked the sky. Dawn was threatening – he had perhaps twenty minutes until sunup. â€Å"Where does the time go?† He crossed the street and was buzzed into a hotel with a sign that read for rent, by hour, day, or week. He could smell the cigarettes, sweat, and heroin on the desk clerk, and he kept his head down so the hood covered his face. â€Å"Do you have a room without a window?† â€Å"Twenty-five bucks, like all the others,† the clerk said. â€Å"You want sheets? Sheets are five more.† The vampire smiled. â€Å"No, I don't want to spoil myself.† He paid the clerk, took the key, and trudged up the steps. Yes, he felt very much alive. One really can't appreciate what one has until it's gone. And without a significant loss, how would one enjoy the process of revenge?

Problems in Management System Essay

Problems in Management system in Bangladesh and way to mitigate them Management problem is a fundamental challenge for the country. It is essential to have efficient cost management if we want to see ourselves as an industrialized nation Problems in the management systems are: 1. Problem of managing fund: The major problem a Business firm faces in its establishment period is the problem for capital or sufficient financing problem. One of the first questions any potential entrepreneur must ask is, â€Å"How do I get the money†? The type of the business may be anything but the money necessary for finance is must. Without necessary fuel (money) no ship (Small Business firm) can run As a new Business, there is very few chance to raises the capital from share market. Only personal and family funds and personal loan from the friends are major source. But in this way it is very hard to raise a sufficient amount of capital. 2. Lack of Govt activities: There is a nonstop echo by the government leaders, ‘Come Sun, Come Rain’; trying to state that there is a constructive and favorable atmosphere for investment in Bangladesh. The authorities are either not working together with the relevant people with adequate response, or they are aware of the reasons for the investors stepping away, however still do not want to resolve problems purposefully with the presumption of ‘ostrich attitude’. ?Administrative coordination problem– Policies and the implementation processes are not materialized simultaneously because of lack of administrative communication and coordination among the government agencies. This situation results in high business costs and hassles for investors ? Good governance – Good governance can be defined as a desired condition of management and operations. Good governance along with efficient leadership is achieved by bringing accountability in politics and bureaucracy. Government has to reform its policies and business practices to attain good governance. Good governance can bring about efficient and productive sized government, necessary reformation of legal and judicial system, Fiscal policy and infrastructural reforms, eradication of corruption, bureaucracy and dishonesty, and many more improvements in the country. 3. Corruption: Culture and society have become corrupted through sick politics. The bureaucrats and regulatory bodies are steeped in corruption. For business enterprise, corruption works as taxation or lubrication cost. This corruption would not go up to such an extent if there were appropriate and strong legal and regulatory controls and motivational salary levels. Many companies regard bribery as just one of the costs of doing business (‘Lubrication Cost’) and show these payments as legitimate business expenses. 4. Political and Social Instability: Political and social instability is another big problem. Whether it is a giant company or a Small Business the success of a business is greatly dependant on the political and social stability of a country. Every business firm is dependant on production or purchasing and selling. In Bangladesh our political and social climate is not stable at all. There is a condition of pre-war between the ruling party and the opposition. Always they are face to face with each other. Very often they call ‘Hartal’ and strikes. Such a loss can not be sustained. According to a UNDP research strike has led to 3-4% GDP losses during the 1990s. In the period of 1991-1996, 173 days of ‘Hartal’ were been called in total. It was 140 in 1996-2001 sessions. This creates immense burden on the business firms as the shops often get vandalized during strike violence. 5. Poor law and order situation: A sound law and order situation help flourish business. But the situation has deteriorated over the years. Recent drive to improve the situation has helped but it has done damage to the business communities’ confidence. 6. Shortage of Power and Utility supply: Electricity, Gas, Water, Telephone etc. are some prerequisites for a business. In Bangladesh only the sufferer know how tough it is to get those connections. You need to pay a handsome amount o bribes to a invisible hand. Bangladesh faces a system loss often more than 40% of the gross power generation probing with the lowest per capita power consumption and network coverage of electrification among developing countries. This creates immense discouragement for investment in the power intensive industries. 7. Communication and Transportation Problem Though Bangladesh is a flat country without many obstacles like hills, but some advantage position with hundreds of river all over the country, still communication and transportation is a big problem here. Water way and Railway is used as easy way of transportation all over the world, but we use road as mostly used way of transportation. This road transportation is expensive and not easy. After the British has left this indo bangle sub-continent we could not expand much our Railway, meanwhile many route and stations are closed. Water ways are almost closed due to filtration and not for proper dredging. 8. Effect of business friendly environment: At present business friendly environment is not present in most of the cases due to: A. Differential treatment : Even though the prevailing regulations provide for equality in treatment of local and foreign investors, certain inequitable conventions are practiced with the foreign investors. Such inequalities are evident in cases of authorization necessities for foreign investment, barriers against capacity expansion, supplier’s credit, etc. B. Back up industry: Garments industry is the main foreign income source of Bangladesh, but we are not in good position as mentioned in above paragraphs. For raw materials of these garments we have to depend on another country, we could not create back up industries for this sector so past decades. So we are always in tension for this sector. C. Monopoly market: Monopoly market is not at all good for business. For example at present China is enjoying monopoly market in electronics and mobile phone market in Bangladesh. Once upon a time City Cell was the only mobile phone company in Bangladesh. Then the use of cell phone was very limited due to high call rate and High package charge. Only few people could afford it. Then came Grameen phone in the Cell phone market, But still then the call charge was quite high 7 taka/min. Then came Bangla link, Warid, Tele talk and Rabi (Alkatel) At that time monopoly market in cell phone market collapsed, people now can use any cell phone of any operator easily at a quite acceptable call rate. And business of all operator is expanding day by day. So competition market is good for business and users end (users have option) 9. Lack of efficient distribution channels: Bangladesh has one of the flattest land structures in the world. The lack of obstacles (hills, desert etc) and presence of cheaper transportation option (waterway) makes the country any supply channel manager’s dream. But unfortunately the real picture is somewhat different. The businesses lose near 40% of the perishable items due to lack of efficient distribution channel. Lack of supply chain management knowledge, a weak transportation system, and corrupt road authorities are some factors that contribute to make the system inefficient. 10. Lack of necessary raw material Lack of necessary raw material is another problem. Everyone need run and run for raw materials. Here we don’t have a definite supply chain of raw materials and the producers. Entrepreneurs are ready to pay necessary money for it but there is no instable supply. Sometimes there is nothing found when necessary, sometimes all are very high in price and sometimes adequate raw materials are in the market and it is more than necessary. 11. Skilled labor: Bangladesh may be the land of cheap labor but they are also unskilled. The training institutions are not sufficient to provide the quality labor force the businesses need. 12. Lack of proper business knowledge: Most of the entrepreneurs of Bangladesh apply the traditional hit and miss approach with their businesses. They have little institutional knowledge and have little access to training as very few organizations offer quality facility. In absence of know-how relating to general accounting, branding, taxation, law etc the businesses tend to miss the opportunity that the regulatory environment offers. Internet can play a vital role here for knowledge dissemination but the access to the net is not that easy. 13. Lack of connectivity: The world has moved on to connect itself to the World Wide Web whereas Bangladesh is lagging far behind. Across the world innovative business are emerging using a clicks and mortar business model. They are leveraging the full potential of the World Wide Web. As the access to high-speed internet connection becoming cheaper by the day around the world the story is quite different for Bangladesh. Businesses have to pay a handsome amount in fact one of the world steepest fees to get access to the web. But the scenario is changing in the consumer front. Consumers now have access to the web through their cell. There is a huge opportunity to cater to the foreign customers by displaying the product in the web. But the high-speed internet connectivity is yet to reach the acceptable standard. 14. Absence of realistic data; For a proper business environment requirement of realistic data is very important. In Bangladesh perspective we are short of that both in public and private sector. For example we do not have data regarding requirement of demand of electricity for which we could not plan for production of electricity. Shortage of data sometime creates abnormal situation in our daily market life and our people can not make a plan for demand and supply. (Example: Price of commodity item, Rice, Oil etc). 15. Human Resource Management (HRM) The goals of HRM should not only be limited to ‘a shoulder to cry on’ for the employees. The HRM of an organization should involve themselves in staffing, training and development, motivation and maintenance of the employees ‘If employers don’t give a chance to the young professionals in this line and if they don’t train them, then HR positions will be taken by other nationalities and thus it would be a big loss . 16. Internal management problems: From any giant company to a cottage shop good management is a must for success. Management people should know all the arts of management. There are some problems in management cases of Bangladesh, and for this reason ?-Cannot identify target market or target customer. -Does not plan. ?-Believes advertising is an expense not an investment. ?-Only primary knowledge of pricing policy and strategy. ?-Cannot identify trading area. ?-Cannot delegate. ?-Believes loan would solve every problem. All these problems are usually created by an unskilled management people. And it is it is more that skilled people are not available in the market. Management problems are: Suggestions: Here we are some suggestions that may be helpful to improve the Management sector in Bangladesh. ?As capital is the major problem for l Business development in Bangladesh special emphasis should be put here. Commercial banks should finance Business by giving loan in low interest and for long term in easy way. ?Government should take proper steps to solve problems in the field of Coordination, Planning, and bureaucratic hassle. Red tapism must be abolished. Corrupted officials need to be punished and replaced. ?Political and social instability should be maintained. Terrorism must be sustained and keep under control. Most of our politicians are business men. So they should come in same platform for the betterment of their business and for the greater interest of the country. Govt should be in hard line to maintain law and order situation in the country at any coast. All politicians should help the Govt to wiped up the so called â€Å"Chadabaz† and â€Å"Mastan† ? For the development of the country there is nothing short cut without improving the utility services, especially in case of electricity. Govt has to plan for next decades not only for next one or two years. ?In the o rganizations there should be proper â€Å"Organizational behavior† to protect labor unrest and unseen problems from the employees. ?Training is a continuous process. It is an end less journey

4 article summaries and 1 website review Assignment

4 article summaries and 1 website review - Assignment Example Sources reveal that contracts from first imprints give the publisher the freedom to come up with fresh sources. Most of the big houses have declined to comment on the matter as they argue it is not their place to discuss contract negotiations. One of the challenges of reporting changes of book publishing is that all new contracts are open for discussion (Fawcett 5). This is the normal way of conduction business but agents believe that the fear that vague language about formatting begins to come thus they advocate for a format that was globally accepted in the past. Random house has made changes on its contracts because of criticism from SFWA and other groups on the terms of new digital imprint. The most significant change is that prospective writers will have a chance to choose from the original profit share deal and more traditional royalty deal. In addition to adding new option to the contract, the house has also made public the terms of new contract, which is something that the publishers are not ready to do. There is no advance given in the profit model. Hydra or Flirt and the author will share equally the profit from the first copy sold. The cost of production will be covered by Hydra, Alibi, Loveswept, or Flirt and they will also cover marketing cost connected to imprint. They will also cover marketing costs specifically for the book up to $10000 but the title marketing cost will be proposed to the author (Maeda 17). If the author agrees and there is increment on the cost of the title, then deduction will be made from sale revenues before the profit is shared. If there is any cash owned to the author, then it will be paid quarterly. The advanced plus royalty offers authors a more traditional way of publishing with the royal standard 25% of the net receipts. The authors will be paid an agreed amount against the royalties and production, shipping, and marketing cost will be covered by Hydra, Alibi, Loveswept, or Flirt. Both models give Hydra, Alibi,

Baroque Style Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Baroque Style - Research Paper Example The Taking of Christ, painting by Caravaggio, represents Baroque style as well. The story of the painting is interesting, because for a long time it was attributed to another artist. It was painted at the beginning of the 17th century for Mattei family. It was known that the painting existed but its location was not known. When it was found and examined in Dublin, it became apparent that it truly belongs to Caravaggio’s hand, because it was characterized by the features that typically belonged to the painter’s style: â€Å"bright highlights, dark sharp shadows, and a black background† (Caravaggio Gallery, 2013) One technique that Caravaggio often used in his paintings is the use of the back of his brush to highlight or outline parts. It is also present at the painting. The sharp contrast between light and dark characteristic for Caravaggio, is outstanding here. The artist took Biblical story as the base for The Taking of Christ – betrayal of Christ by Juda s and his taking by the Roman soldiers. There are seven figures at the painting. It is interesting to see how the expressions of their faces are different. Jesus is calm and peaceful, He knows about what He needs to go through, and He is ready for that. In contrast to Jesus, the face of St. John shows pain and distress. The disciple is shocked by what is going on. The face of Judas is seemingly calm as he is kissing the cheek of Christ and thus betrays him. Therhe man with the lantern, is believed to be the self-portrait of Caravaggio himself.

Governments Intervention In Markets For Food Essay

Governments Intervention In Markets For Food - Essay Example One of the major reasons why governments should continue to intervene in the healthcare market is that it can be beneficial economically to provide such services at a reduced rate. Providing good, low-price healthcare means that this service is available to the majority of the population (Gold et al, 1996). This will have the result of providing more healthy workers who will be able to continue to contribute to the economy for years (or decades) longer than their unhealthy counterparts (Briggs et al, 2011). A useful way of looking at the ability of people to contribute to the economy is to use the Disability Adjusted Life Year (DALY), which gives a measure of the total number of years lost to ill-health or early death (Briggs et al, 2011). In the United States, it is suggested that 12,844 years are lost per 100,000 people, whereas in the UK it is only 11, 012. In Sweden, a country in which the government intervenes heavily in healthcare economics, the rate is only 9,564, which has th e potential to benefit the economy greatly (Wang et al, 2011). It should also be noted that many countries in which the government intervenes in healthcare market are considered first world countries. In these countries, the majority of individuals do not have to struggle to buy food as a basic necessity(Zweifelt al, 2009). It is perhaps the very omnipresence of food in these countries and the fact that it is so necessary to life that keeps the prices low and removes the need for a government to intervene so directly in its price and purchasing. Equality is also important here, as the majority of people have roughly equal access to food, but healthcare requires a leveling of the playing field (Donaldson & Gerard, 2005). Additionally, many of the families within these countries who do struggle to pay for food do receive government compensation intended to help make food more available to them; for those that need it, however few, there is market intervention.

The General Principles of Financial Management Essay

The General Principles of Financial Management - Essay Example Profit maximization is the main aim for which the whole organization put in efforts too but it not the only goal of the firm as discussed above. The change in the value of firm can be measured by the change in Earnings/Share which shows the per share return to investors. (Gitman, 2006) Managers and their co-workers can not only depend on the main aim of an organization which is to maximize its profits. It is because of the timing of the cash received is important as the t soon as it is received is better because of the concept of time value of money. Owners receive cash in form of dividend and hence higher EPS doesn’t necessarily mean that there will be an increase in dividends as managers may increase their own bonuses instead. Maximizing profit might result in more risky investments made and hence increasing the beta of the firm so profit maximization is not the only main goal of firm. (Gitman, 2006) Question#2: Total risk of any firm can be bifurcated into two categories: a ) Diversifiable risk b) Non-diversifiable risk The diversifiable risk is one that can be diversified by taking some crude actions and making sure that firm doesn’t lose anything as a whole. This is a kind of risk that is just specific to a firm such as fire at a warehouse. This type of risk can be diversified if special precautionary measures are taken and hence it is in control of the firm to reduce such kind of risk. The chances of fire at workplace can be reduced by placing special notifications at flammable spots in the factory and other working areas. Therefore, this kind of risk is usually referred to as firm-specific-risk or nonsystematic risk. The non-diversifiable risk is the one that is out of firms own control and affects all firms in the industry with the same effect on each of them. This kind of risk is not avoidable and hence no contingency planning can help any firm in this case. The example of this kind of risk is when government increases the tax rate of the firms, they all have to bear it and none can take any step to avoid such an alteration in law. Therefore these kinds of risks are known as market risk or unsystematic risk as well. Therefore it is said that if you can’t do anything about something you just bear with it and hence nonsystematic risk is usually considered to be irrelevant while making long-term decisions. (Niehaus, 1999) Question#3: Weighted marginal cost of capital is the cost of borrowing/financing next extra dollar. The graph that portrays the cost of capital of a firm can be used to identify WMCC. The graph shows the discount rate that is applicable at each point or dollar of financing that is required. Marginal cost of capital is the rate that the firm will pay in return to its financings achieved through a particular source. WMCC is weighted average cost of all the financings done by the firm through several sources like debt, preferred stock, common stock, debentures, loans etc. each financing activity ha s different cost attached to it like common stock bear high cost then debentures or bonds because the holders of common stock have the right to vote for the selection of board of directors and also bear a risk of not attaining anything in terms of dividends if the business make loss in any year. Bonds on the other hand have a fixed rate of interest that is to be paid to the bondholders at the end of every year regardless of the fact that business made any profit or not.

Cognitive and language development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Cognitive and language development - Essay Example Like different species of this environment, animals rely on camouflage, feathers and fur coats, and speed may be some of the things that they use to adapt to the environment they live in. Human beings, on the other hand work upon adapting to their environment, with the help of thinking. Through this, they not only adapt to their environment but also transform it. Hence, we can say that among all the species that live in this environment, we as human beings stand apart because of our mental faculties. Children move from simple to complex tasks, while attaining their cognitive skills. They become more and more effective thinkers with their progressing age. It’s important to note that the mental faculties of a child are not incomplete or less effective than that of adults. But we can see that the child’s focus on a limited amount of information might be adaptive (Bjorklund and Blasi, 2011). Jean Piaget was a Swiss cognitive theorist who completed his education in zoology a nd gave a biological explanation to the things he saw happening in his environment in terms of cognitive development. He viewed cognitive development as an adaptive process in which thinking develops gradually from its less oriented form to something that is driven by logic. It slowly and steadily emerges out to be a fit with the external reality. Piaget’s had a constructivist approach towards the idea of cognitive development. He said that children develop their cognitive skills by progressing via four universal stages. The names of the stages are The Sensorimotor Stage, The Preoperational Stage, The Concrete Operational Stage and The Formal Operational stage (Ginsberg and Opper, 1979). All these constructs that he gave, came under the purview of the theory he gave which he named as the Cognitive Developmental Theory. Vygotsky gave the Sociocultural Theory. In it he devised, that language is a very important determinant of cognitive development and it broadens the purview of cognition of children with the help engagement in dialogues and conversations with people around them, who provide them with new knowledge and reinforce them to master socially relevant and culturally important tasks driven by the norms and values prescribed by the environment they are residing in. According to him the important determinant of cognitive development as it occurs in the life of a child are the social experiences he/she goes through. There are many differences that we come across while trying to decipher the basic nature of both these theories. The very nature of both these theories is different. Piaget devised the theory in terms of the four stages a child progresses through but Vygotsky based his theory on the foundation of developing the basic ideas which are required for the construction of knowledge wherein the concepts of learning play a huge role in the development. According to him development cannot be separated from social contexts a child has to live in, wh ich also involves effective conversations with the significant others with the help of language. This tells us that the most evident difference between the two theories is that Piaget’s theory is hierarchical in nature but on the other hand, we don’t come to see any kind of stagewise progression in Vygotsky’s theory. This tells us that each of the Piaget’s preceding stages must be accomplished before the child moves on to the

Use of the financial statements to make business decisions Essay

Use of the financial statements to make business decisions - Essay Example When the calculations are done, they indicate that at a price of $40.97, the Coca-Cola Company spent a total of $4,015.06 million to repurchase 98 million of common stock in 2014. On the other hand, at a price of $37.11, the company used a total of $4,490.43 million to purchase 121 million shares in 2012. This indicates that the company spent just $475.37 million to repurchase 23 million more shares in 2012, which means that the extra shares only cost an average of $20.66 per common stock repurchased in 2012. This simply goes to show that the extra shares of common stock that were purchased in 2012 above the 98 million mark were very, compared to the price of the common stock in 2014, since they cost 50% less. Additionally, if the Coca-Cola Company had to repurchase 121 million common stocks in 2014, it would have used a total of $4957.37 compared to $4490.43 that the company used to repurchase 121 million common stick on 2012, which shows that the Coca-Cola Company would have saved a total of $466.94 million, if it would have purchased more common stocks in 2012. Therefore, based on these calculations, it would be much cheaper for Coca-Cola Company to repurchase more common stock when the prices are lower since it would save a lot of money. In this respect, the Coca-Cola Company financial statements can help the management to make a decision on whether to use some more of the company’s profits to repurchase more common stocks, other than waiting until the price of the common stock increases.

Management Accounting Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Management Accounting - Assignment Example The information is used to analyse the influence of the company’s undertakings on key accounts such as costs and profits. Therefore, it is fair to mention that the costing systems facilitate decision-making by providing critical information suitable for operation analysis. The common types of costing systems are the activity based costing and the absorption costing system. The paper will provide a profit and loss statement prepared using both the ABC and absorption costing system. In addition, a discussion will be included to explain to Riptide Plc’s manager that the ABC system provides extra information suitable for decision-making. Let us determine the absorption rate for the two departments (machine and assembly department). The absorption rate for machine department = (overhead allocated to machine department/ machine hours) = (504,000/420,000) = $ 1.2/ machine hour. Therefore, the overhead cost per product is as below. The absorption rate for the assembly department = (overhead allocated to assembly department/ direct labour hours) = (437,000/530,000) = $ 0.8245/ labour hour. Therefore, the overhead cost per product is below. Profit statements have been prepared using the ABC system and the absorption costing system. In the process of making the profit statements, the costs incurred by Riptide plc when producing the three products have also been identified based on the two costing systems. Based Table F below, the cost per unit under the ABC system for product XYI, YZT and ABW are  £ 39.25,  £ 92.025 and  £ 73.583. Under absorption costing, product XYI and YTZ cost more than the same products’ costs under the ABC system. However, product ABW cost more under the ABC than it costs under absorption system. Therefore, the differences in the cost of the products under the two costing systems are summarized in Table F below. Based on Table G below,

LSP 5 Ethics - Discrimination and Affirmative Action Essay

LSP 5 Ethics - Discrimination and Affirmative Action - Essay Example The most dangerous job at the company is working at the factory. â€Å"The wood products industry may be divided into the following sub categories:  logging, pulp, paper board mills and saw mills and woodworking†. (Occupational Safety and Health Administration-OSHA). These five processes are equally risky because they involve operating machines and equipment. There are several hazards associated with working in this factory ranging from chemicals used in the processes; machines and equipment when faulty, poor design of work equipment and improper lifting are all common dangers associated with working in factories like this. Sometimes clothes worn by employees can also be trapped in the machines if not the recommended ones. Occupational noise, dust and heat could also be possible risks. I feel that employees are adequately informed of the various risks involved in working in such environments. Due to government regulations and reforms companies are under pressure to formulate safe workplace policies and make sure all employees abide by the set rules and regulations. The government enforces these laws to companies through the Federal Department of Labor, OSHA. Employers abide by the set standards and communicate hazards to their employees. They are also required to carry regular training on workplace safety. Working in the wood mills is the most dangerous occupations in the United States according to OSHA with hazards ranging from wiring, static and moving equipment, and components of products being manufactured to occupational noise and dangers of respiratory infections. These risks are acceptable and reasonable as long as proper communication about them is in place and that employees in the company take precaution as required to avoid incidences of work place infections, injury and accidents. This is because the products made by the company are necessary we

Stereotyping, Discrimination and Prejudice Essay Example for Free

Stereotyping, Discrimination and Prejudice Essay We believe that there should be mutual respect between individuals, which is a vital pre-requisite for social harmony. Our society needs to be more accommodating and less prejudiced. It is incumbent upon us to properly address the issue of stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination in earnest so that we may move forward to a healthier and more caring society. 2. 1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY Stereotype is an image or idea of a particular type of person or thing that has become fixed through being widely held. Discrimination is to make an unjust distinction in the treatment of different categories of people, especially on the grounds of race, sex or age. Prejudice is a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience. (Source: Concise Oxford Dictionary) Stereotype is to decide, usually unfairly, that certain people have particular qualities or abilities because they belong to a particular race, sex or social class. Discrimination is the practice of treating one particular group in the society in an unfair way. Prejudice is to influence someone so that they have an unfair or unreasonable opinion about someone or something. (Source: Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English) Globally, stereotypes, discrimination and prejudice are understood as related but different concepts. Stereotypes are regarded as the most cognitive component, discrimination as the behavioral component of prejudicial reactions and prejudice as the affective. In this tripartite view of intergroup attitudes, stereotypes reflect expectations and beliefs about the characteristics of members of groups perceived as different from ones own, discrimination refers to actions, prejudice represents the emotional response. Stereotypes are not only harmful in their own right; they do damage by fostering prejudice and discrimination. Although related, the three concepts can exist independently of each other. According to Daniel Katz and Kenneth Braly, stereotyping leads to racial prejudice when people emotionally react to the name of a group, ascribe characteristics to members of that group, and then evaluate those characteristics. Moral philosophers have defined discrimination as disadvantageous treatment or consideration. This is a comparative definition. An individual need not be actually harmed in order to be discriminated against. He or she just needs to be treated worse than others for some arbitrary reason. The United Nations stance on discrimination includes the statement: Discriminatory behaviors take many forms, but they all involve some form of exclusion or rejection. (Source: Wikipedia) Stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination reflect the human tendencies to conceptualize and value certain configurations of phenotypic features differently, and act on these thoughts and feelings in our interactions with members of racial categories. Racial categorization reflects the process of placing people into distinct groups based on variation in phenotypic physical features of the face and body such as skin color, hair color and texture, eye shape, nose width, and lip fullness. Racial stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination reflect the human tendencies to conceptualize and value certain configurations of phenotypic features differently, and act on these thoughts and feelings in our interactions with members of racial categories. In both overt and subtle forms, stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination exhibited among individuals belonging to different racial categories has long been a significant source of social strife in American society and abroad. In general, individuals with physical features associated with Whites (lighter skin color, lighter and straighter hair, rounder eyes, narrower nose, thinner lips) are advantaged compared to individuals with features associated with other racial categories. (Maddox, 2012) In Ghana, stereotyping, discrimination and prejudice is alive and kicking in Ghana like it is in any other society. Specifically, the statement brings to the fore some of the unhelpful ethnic slurs or ethno-phaulisms that cut across Ghana’s multiethnic society. There are ethnic stereotypes like Ashanti men are braggers throw their money around and have a superiority complex but they are very ambitious and hard working. Ga men are big talkers but are not big spenders, they are too stingy. Ewe men use juju too much, but are good scholars. Fanti men are romantic and sophisticated but are too honest, so they lack tactfulness and diplomacy. Dagomba men are tall, dark and handsome, but expect one or two rivals wives if you marry one. Akuapem men are very polite and gentlemanly. Kwahu men are very business-minded but stash their money in their house rather than in the bank. 2. 2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM We are concerned with how stereotypes, discrimination and prejudice affect our judgment with others and therefore the relationship we have with people. 2. 3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS * Why do people stereotype, discriminate and prejudice against others? * What are the sources of stereotyping, discrimination and prejudice? * What are the roles of stereotyping, discrimination and prejudice in tribal conflicts? * What are the strategies for dealing with stereotyping, discrimination and prejudice? 2. 4 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY GENERAL OBJECTIVE: To synthesize the people of KNUST, most especially the students as to effects of stereotype, discrimination and prejudice on KNUST campus. SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES: * Identify why people stereotype, discriminate and prejudice. * Examine the sources of stereotype, discriminate and prejudice. * Recognize the role of stereotyping, discrimination and prejudice in tribal conflicts. * Discover strategies for dealing with stereotyping, discrimination and prejudice related situations. 2. 5 ASSUMPTIONS/ HYPOTHESIS * People stereotype, discriminate and prejudice against others in the society because of the desire to dominate and control members of other groups. * People stereotype, discriminate and prejudice because they are unable to obtain all the information to make a fair judgment. * Negative stereotyping, discrimination and prejudices cause conflicts among individuals. * Understanding and appreciating other people’s values and culture will help decrease stereotyping, discrimination and prejudice in the society. 2. 6 JUSTIFICATION OF THE STUDY To seek new insights; to ask questions and assess phenomena in a different perspective in relation to what others have done on the topic. It will educate us about value diversity and equal opportunity. We will understand how to challenge assertively expressions of stereotyping, discrimination and prejudice. Develop a responsible attitude towards person relationships. 2. 7 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY * The study will help us to develop knowledge on our field of research. * The study on stereotyping, discrimination and prejudice will enable us explain to others what it entails and it consequences on human life. * The study will enable us develop our skill in research. * Educate others on the topic. 2. 8 CONCEPTUALIZATION Gender: Women over the years have fought shoulder to shoulder with men to gain recognition and freedom from all source of discrimination and recognition from their hard work and worth. Ethnicity and tribalism: Tribalism infers the possession of a strong cultural or ethnic identity that separate one member of a group from the members of another group. Religion: It involves treating someone differently because that person is associated with an individual of a particular religion or because of his or her connection with a religious organization. Age: It involves treating someone unfairly or less favorably because of his age. Age discrimination can take a form of harassment for example offensive remarks about a person’s age such as teasing offhand comments etc. Program of study: with the program of study, some people look down on other people’s program of study because they feel theirs is better than the others. 2. 9 METHODOLOGY 2. 10. 1 RESEARCH DESIGN AND TYPE OF STUDY Social survey design is a popular and commonly used strategy in social science research and is frequently used to answer who, what, where, how much and how many questions. They allow the collection of large amount of data from a sizable population in a highly economical way. Social Survey Design allows researchers to carry out studies in natural real life settings using probability samples thus increasing external validity of the studies. Using a social survey design will give you more control over the research process and when sampling is used, it is possible to generate findings that are a representative of the whole population at lower cost than collecting the data for the whole population. 1. 9. 2 SAMPLING TECHNIQUE Purposive sampling technique will be used for our sampling technique. With this technique, the researcher selects sampling units subjectively in an attempt to obtain a sample that appears to be a representative of the population. This method is been used also because of its relative advantage of time and cost 1. 9. 3 SAMPLE SIZE Selected students from various halls and hostels. 1. 9. 4 METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION Questionnaire includes all techniques of data collection in which each person is asked to respond to the same set of questions in a predetermined order. 1. 9. 5 SOURCES OF DATA Sources of data include the primary source, secondary source and the tertiary source. We will use all the three sources of data. Primary sources include journals, memoirs, dairies, newspapers, reports, interviews, raw data and many more. Secondary sources include books, television and radio documentaries, conference proceedings etc. Tertiary sources Google, Wikipedia, dictionaries, encyclopaedias, Ghana web, Modern Ghana etc. 1. 9. 6 UNITS OF ANALYSIS The unit of analysis is Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology which has a student population of about 45,000. Established in 1952, KNUST has a rich history in its evolution into a first class University over the years. Kwame Nkrumah, the African Personality of the Century and pioneer of African independence is the founder of KNUST. KNUST believes in achievement through diligence and commitment. 1. 9. 7 LIMITATION OF DATA COLLECTION Possible low response rate Members in a group may influence one’s decision Limited input from participants Certain data may be unavailable It may be time consuming The research may intimidate and suppress individual differences 1. 9 ORRGANISATION OF THE STUDY EVENTS| TIME FRAME| Introduction| 1 week| Collecting information for literature review| 8 weeks|. Administering questionnaires and collection| 2 weeks| Analysis of data collected| 2 weeks| Conclusion and summary| 2 weeks| Total time to be used| 17 weeks| CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW The terms stereotype, discrimination and prejudice are often used interchangeably in everyday conversation. But when discussing these terms from a sociological perspective, it is important to define them: stereotypes are oversimplified ideas about groups of people; discrimination refers to actions toward them and prejudice refers to thoughts and feelings about those groups. (Colledge, 2013) Stereotype is an image or idea of a particular type of person or thing that has become fixed through being widely held (Source: Concise Oxford Dictionary). Stereotype is to decide, usually unfairly, that certain people have particular qualities or abilities because they belong to a particular race, sex or social class(Source: Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English) Discrimination is to make an unjust distinction in the treatment of different categories of people, especially on the grounds of race, sex or age. Source: Concise Oxford Dictionary. Discrimination is the practice of treating one particular group in the society in an unfair way. (Source: Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English) Prejudice is a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience. (Source: Concise Oxford Dictionary). Prejudice is to influence someone so that they have an unfair or unreasonable opinion about someone or something. (Source: Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English) THEORIES RELATING STEREOTYPING, DISCRIMINATION AND PREJUDICE What are the reasons for stereotyping, discrimination and prejudice people? Let’s look at the theories that social scientists have suggested: To be able to measure the existence and extent of stereotyping, discrimination and prejudice of a particular kind in a particular social or economic domain, it is necessary to have a theory of how such issue might occur and what its effects might be. Scapegoat Theory: This prejudice springs from frustration among people who are themselves disadvantaged (Dollard, 1939). A scapegoat is a person or category of people typically with little power, whom people unfairly blame for their own troubles. Authoritarian Personality Theory: According to T. W. Adorno et al. (1950), extreme prejudice is a personality trait in certain individuals. This conclusion is supported by research showing that people who display strong prejudice toward one minority usually are intolerant of all minorities. These people look upon society as naturally competitive and hierarchical, with â€Å"better† people (like them) inevitably dominating those who are weaker. Culture Theory: This theory says that stereotyping, discriminating and prejudice may be characteristic of certain people, but some of this is found in everyone because it is embedded in culture. Think of a child growing up and their parents telling them they should marry from the same ethnic group. Conflict Theory: Part of this theory is when powerful people use prejudice to justify oppression others. An example is when minorities claim that they are victims and therefore are entitled to special consideration based on their race. (DJL, 2008) WHY PEOPLE STEREOTYPE, DISCRIMINATE AND PREJUDICE AGAINST OTHERS IN THE SOCIETY The ability to form general categories is an essential feature of human thought. Without it, we could not make sense of the world. Being able to classify our experiences, the people around us, and the material objects of our culture under general headings enables us to behave in new circumstances. We can then respond in appropriate ways to things and people we have never seen before. It allows us to carry over what we have learned in one situation to another similar situation. However, unlike other forms of categorization, stereotyping provides categories that are little, if at all modified by experience and knowledge. People will often ignore or re-interpret experiences in which an individual does not conform to the stereotype of the group, rather than change the stereotype. (Lorne Tepperman, 1991, p. 187) People discriminate out of ignorance and Selfishness and that they dont think about how it would make other people feel also to make them feels better. (Why do people discriminate, 2012) When people encounter instances that disconfirm their stereotypes of a particular group, they tend to assume that those instances are atypical subtypes of the group. Example: Ben stereotypes gay men as being not athletic. When he meets Al, an athletic gay man, he assumes that Al is not a typical representative of gay people. People’s perceptions are influenced by their expectations. Example: Liz has a stereotype of elderly people as mentally unstable. When she sees an elderly woman sitting on a park bench alone, talking out loud, she thinks that the woman is talking to herself because she is unstable. Liz fails to notice that the woman is actually talking on a cell phone. People selectively recall instances that confirm their stereotypes and forget about disconfirming instances. Researchers find it difficult to measure prejudice. One reason for this is that people differ in the type and extent of prejudice they harbor. For example, a person who makes demeaning comments about a particular ethnic group may be bigoted or just ignorant. Also, people often do not admit to being prejudiced. (Source: (Lewin, 2012), 14th November, 2012, 10am) Why do we form opinions about other people based on their appearance, posture, language, and so on? We do this because different factors contribute to why people stereotype each other. We stereotype, discriminate and prejudice other people when we are unable or unwilling to obtain all of the information we need to make a fair judgment about people or situations. In the absence of the so called total picture, to stereotype people in many cases allow us to fill in the missing pieces of information. Our society often innocently creates and perpetuates stereotypes, but these stereotypes often lead to unfair discrimination and persecution when the person been stereotype is unfavorable. For example, if we are walking through a park late at night and encounter three senior citizens wearing fur coats and walking with canes, we may not feel as threatened as if we were met by three high school-aged boys wearing hoodies. These generalizations root from our experiences we have had ourselves, read in books, and magazines, seen in movies or television, or have had related to us by friends and family. In many cases, these stereotypical generalizations are reasonably accurate. Yet in virtually, every case we are resorting to is prejudice by ascribing characteristics about a person based on appearance, without knowledge of the total facts. By stereotyping, we assume that a person or a group of certain characteristics. Quite often, we have stereotyped a person who might be a member of a group with which we have not had firsthand contact with before. (Why do we stereotype? , 2012). According to psychologist Gordon Allport, prejudice and stereotypes emerge in part as a result of normal human thinking. In order to make sense of the world around us, it is important to sort information into mental categories. The human mind must think with the aid of categories, Allport explained. Once formed, categories are the basis for normal prejudgment. We cannot possibly avoid this process. Orderly living depends upon it. † This process of categorization applies to the social world as well, as we sort people into mental groups based on factors such as age, sex and race. (Cherry, 2013) SOURCES OF STEREOTYPING, DISCRIMINATION AND PREJUDICE IN THE SOCIETY AUTHORITHAIANISM The authoritarian personality is rigid and inflexible and has a very low tolerance for uncertainty. People with this type of personality have great respect for authority figures and quickly submit to their will. They place a high value on conventional behavior. By labeling unconventional people ‘inferior’, ‘immature’ or ‘degenerate’, the authoritarians avoid s any need to question their beliefs and attitudes. SCAPE-GOATING Unpopular minority groups are often used as scapegoats for other people’s problems. They are blamed for wide varied things that they could not possibly have caused. The term originates from a Hebrew tradition. On Yom Kippur, a goat was set loose in the wilderness after the high priest had symbolically laid all the sins of the person on its head (Leviticus 16:20-22). One explanation of scape-goating is the frustration-aggression theory. Its three basic principles are that; (1) Frustration produces aggression. (2) This aggression cannot safely be directed against powerful people and (3) The aggression is therefore transferred to weaker individual who cannot fight such as members of an unpopular minority group. LEARNING Although prejudice and discrimination are sometimes associated with certain personality traits or with frustration, both are learned. South Africans do not need authoritarian personalities to have strong racial prejudice, because they learn such attitudes from their culture. Most prejudice is acquired early in the socialization process. Children adopt their parents’ prejudice as naturally as they adopt their parents’ language, and discrimination follow prejudice as regularly as night follows day. Some of the most common prejudices are taken from ethnic stereotype- ideas that portray all the members of a group as having similar fixed, usually unfavorable characteristics. ECONOMICS Conflicts between ethnic groups foster prejudice and discrimination. Some social scientists particularly Marxists, are convinced that all conflict stems from economic causes. Whether one accepts this idea or not, there is ample evidence that, the realities of economic completion lies beneath much prejudice and discrimination. In times of high unemployment, members of the dominant group can protect their jobs by making sure that members of subordinate groups are dismissed first. It has long been noted that anti black prejudice is high among white-working class men who compete with blacks for low paying, unskilled jobs. POLITICS The quest for power promotes prejudice and discrimination just as the quest for money does. Dominant groups use discrimination as a technique for maintaining their power, appealing to popular prejudice to justify their discrimination. In some societies, political discrimination is obvious and accepted fact of life. For example, South African does not allow native Africans to vote and until quite recently, many American communities denied the same right to their black citizens. (Coleman, 2002, pp.193-196) ROLE OF STEREOTYPING, DISCRIMINATING AND PREJUDICE IN TRIBAL CONFLICTS Stereotypes distort history through oversimplification but they are also extremely dangerous breeding grounds for bigotry, fear, resentment, irrationality, animosity, hatred and ethnic conflict and cleansing. Stereotypes generate self-serving attitudes such as we deserve more because we sacrificed more than others, they are suffering because it is their own fault, and it is their problem since they are killing their own people and it is their government and we have nothing to do with it. In extremes cases, stereotypes have culminated in mass violence, the mass displacement of millions of fellow citizens, ethnic cleansing, pogroms and genocide. (A. B. K. Kasozi, 1999; G. Prunier, 1995; P. Gourevitch, 1998 and M. Mamdam, 2002). The concept of tribe was derogatorily developed in the 19th century by racist western scholars and journalists to designate alien ‘non-white’ people as inferior or less civilized and as having not yet evolved from a primary state. From Kukubor, the following stereotyping, discrimination and prejudice can lead to tribal conflicts. From (Kukubor, 2006), ADVOCATING SEGREGATION. This advocacy represents a belief that different ethnic groups should live apart, have absolute control over certain natural resources, can be exposed to special benefits. This advocacy began in the Ashanti Confederacy at pre-independence unsuccessfully agitated for a Federal state so as to appropriate the perceived wealth of the Ashanti. Extreme pride in one’s ethnic group and Obsequious patriotism is good but extreme pride in one’s ethnic group has proven to be the fascist of all regimes. CONSTANT REFERENCE TO A PERSON’S ETHNICITY A mere mention of someone’s ethnic group on a first encounter could be benign. But constant reference to the person’s ethnic group after a long period f knowing that person, no matter how innocent the references may appear, establishes unmistakably tribal patterns. BELITTLING OTHER GROUPS AND INDIFFERENCE TO THE FEELINGS OF OTHER ETHNIC GROUPS. Constant criticism and ridicule of the opinions of other ethnic groups, which is often done sarcastically without explicitly making mention of the ethnicity of persons. It is also typical to make fun of members of the ‘inferior’ ethnic group. EXCESSIVE HATE FOR A PARTICULAR ETHNIC GROUP. This is where one adopts an exaggerated reaction to any perceived misconduct from a person of the other ethnic group. In this situation, the punishment is out of proportion to the original wrong, whether real or perceived, and completely ignores the provocation that have led to the misconduct resulting in conflicts. NON- RECOGNITION OF THE ABILITIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF OTHER ETHNIC GROUPS. This attitude is so endemic in our political history. Some ethnic groups in this country have consistently denied the intelligence, cultural level, social status or other qualities of other ethnic groups in the face of overwhelming evidence. CONDESCENDING ATTITUDE OR BEHAVIOR. People show condescending attitude towards other members of different ethnic groups. They exhibit this by attacking other members which cause them most offense. They even employ members of other groups they perceive as enemies and use them to attack members of that ethnic group. These ‘employees’ may openly condemn the culture of their ethnic group as backward and shower praises on the members of ‘superior’ ethnic group. Furthermore, these people have no insight into their own prejudice. They believe that their prejudice is based on objective grounds that cannot be compromised. By this strong fixation, an individual is capable of violence and other forms of crime towards members of what he views as the ‘inferior’ ethnic group. For Hima/tutsi elite being called superior and alien had a feel good effect. They were proud to be told that they had racial affinities, however distant, with the new colonial masters Overtime they developed a superiority complex, which they used to claim privileges and entitlements, including being appointed colonial chiefs. They then reinvented the pre-colonial past to live the impression that their superiority had existed since time immemorial. Like the new colonial masters, they grounded their rights and privileges on the right of conquering and subjugating the natives some four to five centuries before the advent of European conquest and occupation. On their part, the natives felt dejected and resentful. They carried the burden of taxation and forced labor. Under colonialism, they served two sets of masters – the white and Hima/Tutsi elite masters. In due course, they sought to turn their supposed native status to their political advantage. In Rwanda and to some extent Ankole, the so-called natives began to make political demands on the ground that they were the natural majority. The extremists even went to the extent of demanding the return of the Tutsi/Hima aliens to their original homelands, where they came from, and wherever that might be (Doornbos, 1978:31). This led to the tensions of the 1940s and 1950s and the expulsion of the so-called Bayarwanda in the early 1980s. ( www. grandslacs. net/doc/3782, 1:15pm, 15th November 15, 2012) STATEGIES FOR DEALING WITH STEREOTYPING, DISCRIMINATION, PREJUDICE RELATED SITUATIONS The key to reversing stereotypes is to contradict them, in direct interactions between people, in the media, and through education. Between the individuals: once people get to know a person from the other side, they are often will determine that the other is not nearly as bad as they originally had assumed. Even when people learn that they share fear or sadness, they can begin to understand each other more. When they come to understand that the other is afraid of being hurt, or losing a loved one in war, just as they are, that brings people together. Depending on the context and other interactions, the image of the group as a whole may become more positive as well. In the media: the media also plays an important role in both perpetuating and in breaking down stereotypes. If they characterize particular groups of people in certain ways, their viewers (or readers) are likely to do the same. So if a movie or the motion picture industry in general, characterizes a group of people negatively, they are likely to be perpetuating negative stereotypes and making conflicts worse. If they emphasize the positive aspects of groups that contradict prevalent stereotypes, they can have a significant role in building mutual understanding. In Education: Educational institutions and teaching materials also have the opportunity to affect stereotypes, and hence influence inter-group relations. Efforts to teach about different cultures and the history of different racial and ethnic groups can help build inter-group understanding if it is done in an effective and sympathetic way. Changing stereotypes is largely the job of individuals. Each of us should examine the assumptions that we make about others and ask ourselves where those assumptions come from. (Source: (Why do we stereotype? , 2012) Training people to become more empathetic to members of other groups is one method that can reduce stereotyping, discrimination and prejudice. By imaging themselves in the same situation, people are able to think about how they would react and gain a greater understanding of other peoples actions. Other techniques that are used to reduce prejudice include: * Passing laws and regulations that require fair and equal treatment for all groups of people. * Gaining public support and awareness for stereotype, discrimination and prejudice social norms. * Making people aware of the inconsistencies in their own beliefs. * Increased contact with members of other social groups. (Cherry, 2013) Pettigrew (1981) and others proposed that stereotyping, discrimination and prejudice can be reduced by increasing contact between groups (the contact hypothesis), social learning, social re-categorization and weakening stereotypes. INCREASING CONTACTS BETWEEN GROUPS Contact is effective under these limiting conditions: * Groups are roughly equal in status (social, economic, or task relevant) * Contact involves cooperation and interdependence * Contact is informal so groups get to know one another as individual * Persons must regard one another as typical of their respective groups SOCIAL LEARNING * To the extent that prejudices and stereotypes are learned, we can work to avoid teaching them to children * Parents and teachers, made aware of their own prejudices, may work to modify their behavior to encourage lower levels of stereotyping, discrimination and prejudice in children. SOCIAL RE-CATEGORIZATION The common in-group identity model (Gaertner, Dovidio et al. , 1993) * When members of different social groups come to see themselves as members of a single social entity, their attitudes toward the former out-group members become more positive * Crucial factor is existence of situation in which groups work together cooperatively toward shared goals * Strong support for common in-group identity model from lab and field studies, but hard to implement in real life settings WEAKENING STEREOTYPES. Stereotypes can be reduced if persons can be made to engage in attribute-driven processing thinking about the unique characteristics of individuals. Factors that encourage attribute-driven processing: * Give person incentive to think accurately about others (Neuberg, 1989) * Inform persons that their own outcomes depend on anothers performance, or that it is important that they form an accurate impression of other. * Successful outcomes for members of other groups (e.g. , career success) can counter stereotypes because we often attribute positive characteristics to those who have good outcomes. (Reducing Stereotyping, Discrimination and Prejudice, 2012) CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK The conceptual framework consists of age, program of study, gender, religion, ethnicity and tribalism which we use as a guide through the study. CHAPTER 3 DATA ANALYSIS The chapter three entails the data collection and analyses based on the objectives. Questionnaires were given out to a sample of 100 students to find the extent of their knowledge on stereotyping, discrimination and prejudice in KNUST and this was their response. The data analyses system used is the SPSS. The bar chart is used to break the frequencies to make it more understandable and easy to interpret. 1. From the 100 respondents, 84% know about stereotyping, discrimination and prejudice in KNUST, 8% do not know about it and 8% also do not really know about it. stereotyping discrimination prejudice in KNUST|. | | Frequency| Percent| Valid Percent| Cumulative Percent| Valid| Yes| 84| 84. 0| 84. 0| 84. 0| | No| 8| 8. 0| 8. 0| 92. 0| | not really| 8| 8. 0| 8. 0| 100. 0| | Total| 100| 100. 0| 100. 0| | 2. Talking about people who speak up when someone is humiliating, insulting and ridiculing another person, 47% said they usually speak up, 15% said they always, 9% said they never and 29% said they ignore humiliating insulting ridiculing another person| | | Frequency| Percent| Valid Percent| Cumulative Percent| Valid| Usua.

Reviewing Corporate Social Responsibility of Starbucks

Reviewing Corporate Social Responsibility of Starbucks The purpose of this annotated bibliography project is to research and review articles within the last 10 years regarding the corporate social responsibility of the Starbucks Corporation. All the articles I have chosen are relevant, recent, and address the following issues: Starbucks commitment to the environment, Starbucks commitment to the employees, Starbucks commitment to consumers, discussions of ethical and unethical business behavior, and Starbucks commitment and response to shareholders. After doing the necessary research, it is obvious that Starbucks and their CEO Howard Shultz are aware of the importance of corporate social responsibility. Every company has problems they can work on and improve in and so does Starbucks. As of recent, Starbucks has done a great job showing their employees how important they are to the company. Along with committing to every employee, they have gone to great lengths to improve the environment for everyone. Ethical and unethical behavior is always a hot topic for the media, and Starbucks has to be careful with the decisions they make and how they affect their public persona. Commitment to the Environment The first way Starbucks has shown corporate social responsibility is through their commitment to the environment. In order to improve the environment, with a little push from the NGO, Starbucks first main goal was to provide more Fair Trade Coffee. What this means is that Starbucks will aim to only buy 100 percent responsibly grown and traded coffee. Not only does responsibly grown coffee help the environment, it benefits the farmers as well. Responsibly grown coffee means preserving energy and water at the farms. In turn, this costs more for the company overall, but the environmental improvements are worth it. Starbucks and the environment benefits from this decision because it helps continue to portray a clean image. Another way to improve the environment directly through their stores is by going green. Their first attempt to produce a green store was in Manhattan. Starbucks made that decision to renovate a 15 year old store. This renovation included replacing old equipment with more energy efficient ones. To educate the community, they placed plaques throughout the store explaining their new green elements and how they work. This new Manhattan store now conserves energy, water, materials, and uses recycled/recyclable products. Twelve stores total plan to be renovated and Starbucks has promised to make each new store LEED, meaning a Leader in Energy and Environmental Design. LEED improves performance regarding energy savings, water efficiency, and emission reduction. Many people dont look into environmentally friendly appliances because the upfront cost is always more. According to Starbucks, going green over time outweighs the upfront cost by a long shot. Hopefully, these new design elements wil l help the environment and get Starbucks ahead of their market. Commitment to Consumers The second way Starbucks has shown corporate social responsibility is through their commitment to consumers. The best way to get the customers what they want is to understand their demographic groups. By doing research on Starbucks consumer demographics, they realized that people with disabilities are very important. The company is trying to turn stores into a more adequate environment for customers with disabilities. A few changes include: lowering counter height to improve easy of ordering for people in wheelchairs, adding at least one handicap accessible entrance, adding disability etiquette to employee handbooks, training employees to educate them on disabilities, and by joining the National Business Disability Council. By joining the National Business Disability Council, Starbucks gains access to resumes of people with disabilities. Another way Starbucks has shown commitment to the consumers is by cutting costs and retaining loyal customers. For frequent, loyal customers, Starbucks decided to provide a loyalty card. Once a customer has obtained this card, they are given incentives and promotions for continuing to frequent their stores. Promotions include discounted drinks and free flavor shots to repeat visitors. Also, with the economy being at an all time low, Starbucks realized that cheaper prices were a necessity. By simplifying their business practices, they were able to provide lower prices for their customers. For example, they use only one recipe for banana bread, rather than eleven! It doesnt end there either! Starbucks recognized that health is part of social responsibility. To promote healthier living, they introduced skinny versions of most drinks, while keeping the delicious flavor. For example, the skinny vanilla latte has 90 calories compared to the original with 190 calories. Since Starbucks doesnt just sell beverages now, they introduced low calorie snacks. Along with the snacks and beverages, nutrition facts were available for each item. Also one big way to cut costs was outsourcing payroll and Human Resources administration. By creating a global platform for their administration system, Starbucks is able to provide more employees with benefits. Plus, they are able to spend more money on pleasing customers, rather than on a benefits system. Commitment and Response to Shareholders One way Starbucks has demonstrated their commitment and response to shareholder needs is by giving them large portions. By large portions, Starbucks is implying that they plan pay dividends equal to 35% or higher of net income to. For the shareholders, paying high dividends means certainty about the companys financial well-being. Along with that, they plan to purchase 15 million more shares of stock, and hopefully this will attract investors who focus on stocks with good results. Starbucks made their commitment to shareholders obvious by speaking directly to the media about it. In 2004, Starbucks won a great tax break, but unfortunately the media saw them as money grubbing. Their CEO, Howard Shultz, made the decision to get into politics and speak to Washington about expanding health care and the importance of this to the company. Not only does he want his shareholders to see his commitment, but he wants all of America to be able to reap this benefits. In order to compete with McDonalds and keeping payout to their shareholders high, Starbucks needed a serious turnaround. They did decide to halt growth in North America but not in Japan. Shultz found that drinking coffee is becoming extremely popular for the Japanese. To show shareholders there is a silver lining, he announced they plan to open thousands of stores in Japan and Vietnamese markets. Commitment to Employees The first and biggest way Starbucks shows their commitment to employees is by just taking care of their workers. For example, they know how important health care, stock options, and compensation are to people in this economy. The Starbucks policy states that as long as you work 20 hours a week you get benefits and stock options. These benefits include health insurance and contributions to employees 401k plan. Starbucks doesnt exclude part time workers, because they feel they are just as valuable as full time workers. Since Starbucks doesnt have typical business hours like an office job, the part time workers help working the odd shifts. Another way Starbucks shows their commitment to employees is by treating them like individuals, not just number 500 out of 26,000 employees. Howard Shultz, CEO, always tries to keep humanity and compassion in mind. When he first started at Starbucks, he remembered how much he liked it that people cared about him, so he decided to continue this consideration for employees. Shultz feels that a first impression is very important. On an employees first day, he lets each new employee know how happy he is to have them as part of their business, whether it is in person or through a video. His theory is that making a good first impression on a new hire is similar to teaching a child good values. Through their growth, he feels each employee will keep in mind that the company does care about them. Shultz wants people to know what he and the company stand for, and what they are trying to accomplish. Ethical/Unethical Business Behavior The last way Starbucks demonstrates corporate social responsibility is through ethical behavior and the occasional unethical behavior. The first ethically positive thing Starbucks involves them self in is the NGO and Fair Trade coffee. Even though purchasing mostly Fair Trade coffee seriously affected their profits, Starbucks knew it was the right thing to do. They also knew that if they did it the right way, everyone would benefit, from farmers, to the environment, to their public image. In the fall of 2010, Starbucks chose to team up with Jumpstart, a program that gives children a head start on their education. By donating to literacy organizations and volunteering with Jumpstart, Starbucks has made an impact on the children in America, in a very positive way. Of course there are negatives that come along with the positives. Starbucks isnt the perfect company like it may seem. In 2008, Starbucks made the decision to close 616 stores because they were not performing very well. In order for Starbucks to close this many stores in one year, they had to battle many landlords due to the chain breaking lease agreements. Starbucks tried pushing for rent cuts but some stores did have to break their agreements. On top of breaching lease agreements, Starbucks was not able to grow as much as planned, resulting their future landlords were hurting as well. To fix these problems, tenants typically will offer a buyout or find a replacement tenant, but landlords are in no way forced to go with any of these options. These efforts became extremely time consuming and costly, causing Starbucks to give up on many lease agreements. As for Starbucks ethical behavior is a different story when forced into the media light. In 2008, a big media uproar arose due to them wanting to rerelease their old logo for their 35th anniversary. The old coffee cup logo was basically a topless mermaid, which in Starbucks opinion is just a mythological creature, not a sex symbol. Media critics fought that someone needed to protect the creatures modesty. Starbucks found this outrageous. In order to end the drama and please the critics, they chose to make the image more modest by lengthening her hair to cover her body and soften her facial expression. Rather than ignoring the media concerns, Starbucks met in the middle to celebrate their 35th anniversary. Subject Area 1: Commitment to the Environment Non-government organizations are concerned with the concept of Fair Trade. NGO hoped Starbucks would buy into Fair Trade Coffee. This posed problems for Starbucks. Knowing that NGO has quite a bit of media pull, they knew they had to do something to please the NGO. In order to keep their clean image, Starbucks had to compromise with the NGO and introduce Fair Trade Coffee for a period of time. Since it wasnt going to be forever, this benefited Starbucks and helped out the farmers. Starbucks has made several goals to improve the community and the environment. They have attempted to double the purchases of Fair Trade and conserve water in the last 2 years. While they are still continuing these goals, Starbucks is hoping to reach a long-term goal of only buying 100 percent responsibly grown and traded coffee. Also in 2009, the progressed towards more energy efficient farming to reduce energy use by 25 percent. By 2015, all of their paper products will be reusable or recyclable. Collaboration with the NGO and recyclers will make this possible. To help draw in new customers and to please the already loyal ones, Starbucks completely renovated their 15 year old store in Manhattan. A more intimate, modern feel was created to draw in on their rich heritage. This Manhattan store is just one of the twelve stores worldwide that are going green. Each of the twelve stores conserves energy, water, materials, and recycles. To show customers and employees how it works, they have places plaques that explain green elements throughout the store. Starbucks has done this in hopes that people will see what they have done for the environment and follow their lead. Many people think going green is expensive, but Starbucks claims over time the enormous savings outweigh the upfront costs. Starbucks has realized its unique market position. They recently pledged that each new store built will be Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) and are expanding into ready brew coffee, which is essentially instant. LEED uses recycled and reused materials to build and create each store. They hope to get ahead of the market with their innovative products and environmentally friendly designed stores. To continue to grow and become even more successful, commitment to consumers and the environment has shown to be important to the Starbucks Corporation. Subject Area 2: Commitment to Consumers Starbucks has been struggling to keep their romance and theatre imagine, yet compete with the worlds largest fast-food chain McDonalds. In the last 2 years, Starbucks has had trouble keeping their share-price up. Many analysts feel this is due to too much expansion in America and all-time high prices. Resulting from this, customers are choosing quicker coffee stops such as McDonalds and Dunkin Donuts. Just when Starbucks thought it couldnt get worse, McDonalds introduced Starbucks-style coffee bars to many restaurants. Starbucks has had to water down their image in order to compete with this type of market. To loyal customers, this appeared as if Starbucks was losing their passion for coffee. Starbucks has grown between 1995 and 2005 faster than any McDonalds growth period in history. Unfortunately, with the downturn in the economy, Starbucks has been facing many challenges. Sales have been at a low and they will have to make some improvements to get back to where they were 5 years ago. Starbucks plans to increase marketing and sell packaged coffee at a more competitive price. Even with the tough competition from McDonalds and other fast-food businesses, Starbucks is said to return good as new in a few years. In 2008, Starbucks decided to place an emphasis on cutting costs and retaining a customer base. In order to retain customers, Starbucks chose to implement a loyalty card that provided customers with promotions that lead to cheaper drinks and keeps customers from frequenting other coffee sellers. To cut costs, they did decide to close several stores. Simplifying the business also helped cut costs. For example, Starbucks is now using one recipe for their banana bread, rather than eleven. Fortunately, they have realized that McDonalds isnt cutting into their sales as much as predicted, which is a good sign for the company. Starbucks is aiming to understand demographic groups better. They have realized that people with disabilities have become an important group. Starbucks is attempting to enhance ethical leadership throughout the company by making Michelle Penman, a 36 year old woman with cerebral palsy, a literal model employee. The company is trying to make stores more adequate for customers and employees with disabilities. Counter height has been lowered at many stores for an easy reach by customers and workers in wheelchairs. Each store has also added at least one handicap accessible entrance. Shortly after, disability etiquette had been added into employee training. This training mostly consists of day-to-day matters people with disabilities deal with. In addition, when recruiting new workers, Starbucks as joined the National Business Disability Council to access resumes of people with disabilities. Since by law employees are not required to record disability information on an application, it is h ard to measure the progress. Starbucks wants the best talent, no matter who it is. Part of social responsibility is keeping people healthy. Healthy food and drink, plus dieting are at an all time high. Starbucks chose to introduce skinny versions of their most popular drink choices. For example, the skinny vanilla latte has only 90 calories compared to the regular version with 190 calories. Along with the skinny beverages, they introduced low calorie Panini sandwiches and snacks for their health conscious customers. In order to education consumers, they also distributed brochures with all the nutrition facts for their products. A recent study found that Starbucks customers would prefer lower prices over new menu items. 65% of customers said if prices were lower, they would return to frequenting Starbucks stores. Along with lower prices, customers would like to see more reward programs, so Starbucks launched a program that offered free flavor shots to repeat visitors. Fortunately for Starbucks, even though McDonalds offers lower prices the quality of coffee doesnt compare to Starbucks. The survey revealed that Starbucks customers arent going to McDonalds instead, meaning they do have loyal customers. For Starbucks, Corporate Social Responsibility serves two roles. They first make sure that social responsibility awareness is at the top of their list when decision making. The second role was to make sure they carry out what they said they were going to do. An annual report follows up with results and progress. Starbucks runs their system as an important supporting action. Subject Area 3: Commitment and Response to Shareholders In 2004, the Starbucks Corporation won a tax break. Unfortunately, the media saw this as a money-grubbing move. Starbucks then decided to hire a lobbying firm. The CEO chose to speak to Washington about expanding health insurance coverage to more workers. He explained his commitment to shareholders and value of employees and how important providing decent health care is to the company. He described how he hoped that this commitment should extend to all of America. Starbucks realized that customers and shareholders like big portions, whether it is of coffee or dividends. This giant serving went to the shareholders. The corporation announced its planning to pay dividends equal to 35% or higher of net income. On top of that, Starbucks plans to purchase 15 million more shares. They plan to attract investors who focus on stocks with a good yield. According to Wall Street, Starbucks was forecasted to have shares at 70 cents each. By the end of 2009, they proved him wrong with shares at 75 cents each. Starbucks began benefitting from their advertisements, becoming the most popular brand on Facebook. With the serious competition fast food chains have imposed, this national marketing campaign had no room for failure. Starbucks is in need of a serious turnaround like McDonalds pulled off in the past. Unfortunately for Starbucks, it is going to be a bit more difficult because it is less in the control of the Starbucks Corporation; this is because they have expanded their customer base further than upper-income customers. Since they are closing 600 locations, Starbucks CEO hopes customers will migrate to other locations, not competitors. This will be tough to avoid since McDonalds and other fast food chains are beginning to offer similar products. Sanchanta, M.   (2010,  April  14). Starbucks plans big expansion in China Chief  executive says coffee giant has turned its fortunes around, is eager to crack  markets in India and Vietnam.  Wall Street Journal   (Eastern Edition),   p.  B.10.   Starbucks CEO Howard Shultz announced that the corporation plans to expand into Japan. This large expansion would make Japan the country with the second most Starbucks stores, first being North America. According to Shultz, they plan to open thousands of stores in Japan and possibly more into Indian and Vietnamese markets. Drinking coffee has become popular for the Japanese making this an easier area to grown into. As for growth in China, Shultz claims a more tactical growth strategy. Over time, he sees China with thousands of stores as well. A good method may be to target the younger generation who are consumed by the internet. Subject Area 4: Commitment to Employees Starbucks aims to constantly be mindful of the publics view on them. In order to do this, Howard Schultz must keep a sense of humanity and compassion in mind. He knows how important health care, stock options, and compensation are for many employees. As long as employees work 20 hours a week, they are given benefits and stock options. Schultz does not ignore health care reform either; instead, he speaks publically about it. He explains to his customers and employees that he wishes to remain small even as it gets big, meaning that he will continue to treat his employees as individuals. Corporate Social Responsibility has always been near the top of his list. Shultz hopes to continue keeping Starbucks as the perfect place between the consumers home and work. Since the economy has been at an all time low in the last few years, companies have had to cut costs anywhere and everywhere possible. In 2008, Starbucks had to inform their employees that they have the right to decide whether they want to contribute to their 401k plan. With this extra cash, Starbucks feels they are able to provide more employees with benefits. Using the utilitarian method, they plan to provide greatest good for the greatest number of employees. Fortunately for Starbucks employees, this cut back was as a last resort to cut costs. Many companies cut benefits altogether. Starbucks aims to make a lasting first impression on an employees first day of work, in a good way of course. Howard Shultz remembers how important it was to him that people cared. He know show new hires how much he cares, by telling employees how happy he is to have them aboard, even if it is by video. Shultz doesnt discriminate based on full time or part time workers, even though part time workers are notorious for high turnover. The theory at Starbucks is making a good impression to a new worker is like teaching a child good values. They want people to know what they stand for and what they are trying to accomplish, and there is no better time than an employees first day. Starbucks plans to outsource payroll and Human Resources administration for US and Canadian employee benefits. In turn, this outsourcing deal will help create a global platform for their HR. Administrative HR systems are extremely costly and companies prefer to spend their money on customers not a benefits system. This type of outsourcing will not only save them money but it will help avoid future increasing costs. Fortunately for HR employees, the ones that stay behind will still have a job and can focus on the bigger picture. Subject Area 5: Ethical/Unethical Business Behavior Johnson Johnson, The Timberland Company, Michael Mayo, Maiden Mills, SC Johnson, and Starbucks all devote a significant amount of effort to ensure corporate social responsibility. In order for Starbucks to keep their turnover rate low, they have realized that awareness of social responsibility is a big help. They give part time and full time employees or partners benefits and stock options. Not only does Starbucks help out their employees, but they do volunteering as well. They provide grants for nonprofit organizations when employees volunteer. Literacy is very important to their CEO, so he donated to nonprofit literacy organizations across America. In addition, he teamed up with Jumpstart, which is a program that gives preschool children an educational head start. To please nongovernment organizations, Starbucks had to implement Fair Trade coffee. To give small famers an income sufficient enough to live off of, Starbucks chose to work off the standards they set for themselves and sell Fair Trade Coffee as much as possible. The NGO still wasnt satisfied because they wanted ALL coffee to be Fair Trade. Starbucks knew that this would seriously affect their profit. In this economy, it wasnt possible for them to do right away; this lead to confrontation between Starbucks and the NGO. In 2008, Starbucks announced that they planned to close 616 stores that werent performing up to par. Starbucks was then forced to battle many landlords due to the chain looking to break leases. Many tenants similar to Starbucks have found offering a buyout or finding replacement tenants as a settlement offering. Unfortunately, these efforts can become costly and time consuming, which Starbucks didnt have. Since they have to close so many current stores, Starbucks will also have to hold off on scheduled new store openings. Starbucks, like many other coffee shops, provides books and magazines to buy and read while you enjoy your favorite cup of coffee. The William Morris Agency (WMA) scouts books for Starbucks to put on their shelves. One of their most popular sellers is For One More Day by Mitch Albom. William Morris represents Starbucks and authors simultaneously and many agents feel this is a conflict of interest for the Starbucks Corporation. Starbucks admits asking for a special two-week exclusive but no special discounts and everything William Morris does for them has had approval from the coffee Starbucks 35th anniversary took place in 2008, and the corporation planned to use their old logo for the cups to celebrate. Unfortunately, the media went crazy over their topless mermaid, which is a mythological creature. Critics claim that they need to protect sirens modesty. The mermaid was not depicted nude, but it was obvious that she was topless with hair covering her breasts. To make the image more modest, they chose to lengthen her hair and soften her expression, which make it a more appropriate design. Instead of ignoring peoples concerns, Starbucks met in the middle for their 35th anniversary. References Corporate behavior and strategy.  (2005). Strategic Direction,  21(8),  26-29.   Retrieved  September 30, 2010, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID:  877321751). Starbucks tracks its global responsibilities.  (2010,  May). Beverage Industry,  101(5),  14.  Retrieved September 30, 2010, from ABI/INFORM Global.  (Document ID:  2041497141). Wilson,  M.  (2010,  June). 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