Changes in House prices in UK over the Last Three Years Essay

Changes in House prices in UK over the Last Three Years - Essay Example This was a very big challenge for citizens to purchase houses. It happens in that; the demand for houses has gone up from Q1 to Q2, but the quantity supplied has not changed and remains stable at Q1. This means the number of houses available in the market is minimal than the number of houses the buyers are willing and able to buy. This created a shortage for the houses, which is the difference between Q2 and Q1. According to supply and demand theory, when demand is high and supply is low, the sellers tend to increase the price of a commodity from P1 to P2. In the short run, supply in the house market is inelastic. Therefore, the increased demand translates to an increase in the prices of houses. The increase in prices results from the fact that the supply (Q1) of houses is not equal to the demand (Q2) of houses and this causes disequilibrium in the market (Higson, 2011: 81). However, the prices of houses in the long run have gone down. Several factors cause the decrease of the house prices. One of the factors leading to decrease in prices is that the government has ensured that interest’s rates of getting a loan are very low. This has encouraged investors to obtain mortgage loans at relatively low interest rate. This implies that they are able to refund the money with very little amounts of interest. Therefore, supply of houses has gone up within the period. When supply increases, the price of the houses go down since the supply exceeds demand. On the other hand, deposit rates of a mortgage have been high, and this leads to a decreased demand. As a result, there has been excess supply in the house market. Another factor that has led to the decreased demand of houses f or the last three years is that the rate of unemployment has gone up. Reduced interest rates have resulted to losses in the financial institutions. These institutions have to lay off some of their employees. Therefore, many people end up losing their jobs and this increase the rate of unemployment. This increases the number of people without the ability to pay the high mortgage deposits (Vermeulen, 2003:37). This means that the number of capable buyers of houses has reduced. As a result, the demand for houses decreased yet the supply of houses increased form Q1 to Q2, yet the able buyers remain Q1 who are less as compared to the supply. Therefore, because of an increase in the unemployment rates, this is a cause of low demand in the house market. According to the demand and supply theory, when the supply increases and demand decreases, the price of a commodity falls from P1 to P2. Another factor that has led to falling of the house prices in UK is issuing of residues to investors in the house market. This has encouraged investors to build more houses hence increasing the supply of the houses. Increase in supply is subject to a reduced demand and a decrease in the house prices (Geyer, 2009:138). This increases the loss made by financial institutions because residues discourage investors from borrowing from the lending institutions. Finally, lenders continue making more losses. This leads to a high rate of unemployment when the companies continue making losses. All these discussed factors leading to the reduced prices are crucial and have relatively led to a decreased demand (Geyer, 2009:139). In the coming years, the prices of houses will continue going down. The reasons for the low prices are that people will continue losing their jobs, and this will reduce demand for houses in UK. However, though the mortgage finances availability

CPOE,Electronic Signature, 3 Risk Management Recommendations for Assignment

CPOE,Electronic Signature, 3 Risk Management Recommendations for Nurses - Assignment Example Secure information management system ensures integrity and trust with individual and others’ personal information. In this case, enhanced security measures should be initialized. For example; biometric signing in and out, immediate automatic log out when a computer is idle, and always encrypt information so as to be accessed the intended recipient only. For this scenario, the nurse should have either completely attended to the first patient before diverting her attention to the next case or she could have called in another nurse or primary care practitioner and give instructions accordingly with proper documentation of the extent she had examined the patient. Alternatively she could have procedurally handed over to the next shift of nurses before leaving the hospital. The fact that data/ information in the Case Study health institution is never handle with the expected care and given proper security is the most troubling issue. Professionally information is the key to success, meaning therefore that all that information kept in this institution forms the background of good management. Ethically, medical information of either inpatient or outpatient should always remain a secret between the doctor/nurse and patient for that matter. However, this scenario demonstrated neither ethical nor professional ways of handling such information in that on arrival at work the following day she found addition of medical records done, inappropriate web access, gained access to the narcotics, and a print out copy of the assessment left in the patient’s

Challenges to HR Managers at British Gas

Challenges to HR Managers at British Gas Challenges to HR Managers at British Gas 1.0 Q 1 . Business Environment is changing everyday and bringing new challenges to the HR Managers. What are the challenges forces by HR Managers at British Gas in the UK? Ans.: With the increase in business competition locally and globally, organizations must become customer-focused to succeed. Therefore HR professional has to work out to become a strategic partner and a change mentor within the organization. In order to succeed, Human Resource must be a business driven function with a thorough understanding of the organizations big picture and be able to influence key decision and policies. In general the focus of todays HR Manager is on strategic personnel retention and talents development. And they will also promote and fight for values, ethics, norms and beliefs within the organization. In a 2004 Deloitte Research Study, Athey (2004. p1) noted that, organizations in recent days have to deal with many external forces which influences the way they do business and how they develop and implement a business plan. Some of the external influences that impact an organizations business planning are: government, natural disasters, terrorist threats, local and community, vendor, competitors, transportation etc. Therefore it is important for British Gas to have their business continuity plan. If British Gas able to do so then they can reduce their small and large unknown affect in their daily operations. That is why HR Manager of British Gas should evolve with the change in competitive market environment and realize that they must play a more strategic role in the success of an organization. So, in this global business environment crisis what kinds of challenges are faced by the British Gass HR managers? In UKs market the companies like: EDF energy, EON energy, N power, Scottish Hydrogen are consistently competing with British Gas. If these companies reduce their prices to attract more customers then it will be a challenging issue for British Gas. If this happens then, British Gas can reduce their prices at the same time manage their customers with quality services and make them happy with offering some bonus facilities. For doing this British Gas has to hire skilled employee and place them in a challenging position, Otherwise they might face the retention challenges. Secondly, looking at some political challenges like: regulation of counter policies country tax; Since the whole world economy is unstable and to make some positive changes in UKs economy govt. might impose some extra taxes to the big companies like British Gas. And if this is happen then British Gas management might think about to reduce their workers salary or layoff some workers. Thus how to plan the HR competency towards British Gas employee then? Then again some social factors like: attitude of workers towards the management is a problem. Example: workers are not giving their best effort, may be they are emotional or not satisfied with their job. Sometimes the workers bring their family problem in work. So how the HR manager will handle these issues? Then again, when British Gas hire employee from different culture sometimes the hired people dont know the English very well but they have the competency of holding the offered position. So its a kind of challenge for HR manager tha t which trainings are given to the employee and how that employee will be fitted to the specific position. A part of that, every single day new technologies are coming up. So how the British Gas HR will fit the workers with their new technologies, which training they can provide to the workers then? Then the late ages workers are not that skilled of using the technical staffs but they are well efficient towards their manual works. Thus how HR will fix this problem. According to Cox, (1993) suggests that a HR Manager needs to change from an ethnocentric view (our way is the best way) to a culturally relative perspective (lets take the best of a variety of ways). This shift in philosophy has to be ingrained in the managerial framework of the HR Manager in his/her planning, organizing, leading and controlling of organizational resources. Now we should look forward to how globalization changes the HR policies and a part of that, what kind of challenges are facing by the HR Managers. So globalization can be defined based on ongoing political, economical, social and technological issues and with the help of these issues business environments have been greatly changing from last few decades. Thus organizations are required to respond in a strategic manner to the changes in order to survive and progress in this competitive world. And for surviving well into the market the HR manager should be integrated with the strategy and strategic need of the firm. Then HR policies should adjust, accepted and used by line managers and employee as part of their daily work. According to the above statement, the British Gas has already focused on macro based oriented, productive, and long term goals. Nowadays Human Resource function faces many challenges during the globalization process, including creating global mind-set within the HR g roup, creating practices that will be consistently applied in different locations while also maintaining the various local cultures and practices and communicating consistent corporate culture across the entire organization. In this circumstance British Gas Managers should meet these challenges and the whole organization should consider the HR personnel not as just the administrative service but as a strategic business. As an expanding business of British Gas, HR managers will face some problems like: Health Safety policies, EU regulations, huge demand for quality service to the customers. Therefore British Gas can developing health safety policies by conducting risk assessments which indentify hazards, carrying out health safety audits and inspections, implementing occupational health programs, managing stress, preventing accidents, communicating with employee about the health safety practices etc. And for fulfilling the customer demand, those who are working for British Gas needed more technical training, people skills training. And the HRD of British Gas also can come up with some global training programs like: Cross cultural technology transfer, international protocol and presentation, Language training etc. If British Gas trains their employee with a global perspective then the trained employee shall be improving job satisfaction and retention of overseas staff and enabling a newly assigned employee to communicate with colleagues abroad. These kinds of training will not only help them to develop their skills and knowledge but also work as motivational and building block to organizational success. Q2. Comment on how HR activities contribute to the success of British Gas. Use any 2 HRM Models to explain your answer. Ans.: Nowadays effective and efficient HRM is a big challenge to all HR professionals. And the sole purpose of HR is to help humans via mediator between employees and employer. Thus British Gas has to determine what benefits they are willing to offer to their employees and what portions the company is willing to pay for those benefits vs. what they may mandate their employees to share costs in those same benefits. Since HR professionals are playing a very vital role for British Gas therefore its important to know that how the HR strategies align with British Gas business strategies. Since British Gas is a huge company and lots of technical workers are working with them thus in this company there is a need to attract, retain and motivate employee because it is heavily dependent on the knowledge base and expertise of the employee and such there is a need for building a kind of high performance culture based on a strategic mission. HR activities contribute to the success of British Gas in the following way: Recruiting both skilled and unskilled employee which have to go through the training and development called traineeship, which provides a way the new employee/recruit learns about the gas industry, gain relevant skills and qualification to ensure that organization objective to meet consumers high demand for quality services and competitive price for products and services. HR train their engineers throughout that career which ensure that its employees are kept up to date with new information and technology to enable them provide the best possible service. HR has strategy of retaining its people by offering a mix of financial and nonfinancial benefits. This is in line with the organization strategy. As well as the good pay and pension scheme also providing each employee the opportunity of buying shares in Centrica. From the analysis above, it is clear that we can say British Gas adopts two models, namely: Fit model Holistic/dialogue model. Fit Model: represent recognition of the importance of the people in the achievement of organizational strategy. Employees are seen as key in the implementation of organizational and HR strategy is designed to fit the requirements of the organizational strategy. British Gas uses this method to align their HR strategy with organization strategy also it aligns the interest of the workers (pension scheme, investment opportunity, development and training, salary interest)with the interest of the organizations (to maintain the competitive position the company has within the energy market, ensure returns on investment by making profit by share holders) end goal. Harvard Framework for HRM: Harvard model (Beer et al) of HRM developed by Michel Beer, Richard Walton, Quinn Mills, they argues that human resource policies are to be influenced by two significant consideration, first, situational factors, second, shareholders interest. And Harvard framework also explains the significance of the HR policies in the organization which recognize external environment and refers that if its properly used would lead to organizational effectiveness. It also can be used a good fit between organization environment and HR policies and it would lead to various element like employee commitment, cost effectiveness in product and services and congruence which are all covered by the Harvard model and the British Gas holds firmly these elements in dealing with its employee as one of its organizational; objectives. The following elements will give us the idea that how the HR in British Gas apply this to the organization. Competence: The HRM of British Gas has a policy that reflects to the organisational objective in selection of their workforce. HR department not only concern about recruiting skilled engineers but also give attention to go through its assessment centre before appointing an employee for his/her job, which can determine the core competence and life skill of that employee. Personal skills that are created an impact on the customers experience when someone is to work on the field. Core competencies involves team working, leadership skills, listening skills, problem solving skills, interpersonal skills(such as properly dealing with customers), motivation skills, innovation skills and responding to changes. These are crucial skills that can affect the way an individual fits in and works within an organisation and also important because these skills can determine the companys lose or gain more customers. And if British Gas loses then the customers will be shifted to their rivals. Commitment: according to Bratton, John and Gold, Jeffrey (Beer et al: Human resource management Theory and Practice second edition: page 19). Refers, one way HR of British Gas can contributes to the company is that the employee are made to invest high interest to their work within the organization, which will give up two aspects: First, it will enhance self respect and value, at British gas the HRM has a policy that counter on employees, for those offered a job, With Human resource strategy British Gas provides the job benefits including a market competitive starting salary and van from outset. And with British Gas development offers technical comprehensive training for all its engineers throughout their career by their training academy. And the training ensures that employees are kept up to date with new information and technologies and provide best services possible. Second, it will accelerate the employee loyalty and performance towards their work. When British Gas offers employee to invest in the company with having to their own shares in its Parent company (Centrica), also offering good pension scheme after retirement which increase the commitment of the job and good sense of responsibilities. And its the plus point of promotion to management level, which is a strategy of the HR in retaining its suitable people for promotion to higher role, because it needs managers to plan, organise and co-ordinate the teams of engineers. Congruence: here it states that there must be agreement between and amongst various HRM policies and practises in operation. At British Gas HR need to keep in mind the fact that having a company policies of recruiting people from different background and sex as is seen in the case, the company in trying to meet with a recruitment process that is all embarrassing (being recognised by operation now, wining the prestigious award for inspiring the work force of the future, an award for women into science and engineering etc) must consider not just overall employee numbers but ensuring that it attracts and retain the skills that will be required within the business. British Gas managers articulate a programme of forecasting to assume how much the UK market for domestic gas service will grow and this helps the company to decide how many additional engineer they will require in the near future. Cost effectiveness: At the same time HR policies must be evaluated in terms of wages, benefits, turnover etc. In this segment British Gas HR implements its strategy that confront to the organisational strategy in developing and recruiting their employees to become capable and competent employees. And future managers can ensure the organisation turnover remains increasingly high and implement in their salary policy that is highly competitive. Thus, HRM knows it is much more cost effective to retain trained staff than recruit and train up new people therefore this strategy which is in line with the organisations strategy of minimising cost and maximising quality staff retain ship through offering a mix of both financial and non financial benefits helps the organisation achieve its goals. Lastly, looking at long term scenario, the organisation tries to differentiate between three levels: social, organizational and individual. In organisational level increased effectiveness and ensure the survival of the organisation. By providing top-class service at lower price to its customers and ensuring for a well define working environment, and also developing job training and a good pension scheme for it employee at the British Gas. At individual employee level the long term output comprises the reward receive by the workers for their efforts. In the societal level some of British Gas societal goals (employment and growth) are attained, offering exciting career paths for people of all backgrounds. This is how HRM at British Gas can achieve the success. Q3. Describe Recruitment Selection Strategies that have been taking by British Gas to enhance organization performance? Ans.: For British Gas workforce planning is essential because it analyze an organizations future needs for people in terms of numbers, skills and locations. It allows the organization to plan how those needs can be met through recruitment, selection and give them proper training. It is vital for British Gas to plan ahead because the company wants to satisfy their diversity customers by recruiting socially inclusive workforce. It seems that their HR personnel are little too much busy with the recruitment and selection process to meet its future demands for staff. It allows a business time to train existing staff to take on new responsibilities and to recruit new staff to fill vacancies or to meet skill shortages. But due to the recession, many organizations including British Gas not willing to expect so much on recruitment. Thus is this circumstance what are the strategies they are following in their recruitment and selection process. Recruitment strategies: British Gas recruitment involves attracting the right of applicant to apply for vacancies. They follow some ways of recruiting people. They first looks at its internal talent plan to fill a vacancy. This is a process that lists current employees looking for a move within the same level or gets a promotion to the next level. Since they need to make happy diversify customers thus they need to search people from the different regions peoples. So they can help their customers by offering different language, cultural value, norms ethics. They also emphasis on recruiting female engineers so that they can handle the female customers. This is just because sometime some female customers do feel comfortable to talk to the male one. And for some other external recruitment, British Gas advertises vacancies (like: apprenticeship) via their specialist Sky channels like parliamentary project TV, radio, newspapers, DVD for schools and British gas website. Selection Strategies: involves choosing the most suitable people from those that apply for a vacancy, while keeping to employment laws and regulation. For British Gas screening candidates is a very important part of the selection process. This ensures that those selected for interview have the best fit with the job requirements. Ref: The Challenges of Human Resource Management..:The Challenges of Human Resource Management. 25th November, 2009

Biography of Federico Garcia Lorca :: Spanish History Poets Poetry Dramatists Essays

Biography of Federico Garcia Lorca Federico Garcà ­a Lorca was born into an educated bourgeois family in Fuente Vaqueros, in Andalusia, Spain, in 1898. His mother was a teacher and his father a rich farm labourer. He read literature and music at Granada University and in 1919, at the age of 21, he published his first book, Impresiones y Paisaijes, that was inspired by a trip around Spain that he took as part of his degree. That year, Lorca went to Madrid to continue with his studies. He moved into the Residence of Scholars (residencia de estudiantes), a liberal institution that taught according to the social, political and religious philosophies of Krause. Their view of religion gave way to what is called pantheism, which is a perspective Lorca embraced in his work. The importance of the residencia in shaping a generation of writers and poets that became known as the Generation of ’27 cannot be underestimated. All the latest innovations in the arts were discussed and debated within the walls of this institutio n and its students included names as was a had a profound affect on Lorca’s generation, where he would meet and make good friends with the famous Spanish poets, Juan Ramà ³n Jimà ©nez (born in Huelva in 1881-1958), Emilio Prados (born in Mà ¡laga in 1899-1962), Rafael Alberti (1902-present) and Jorge Guillà ©n (1893-1984), as well as the famous Surrealist artist, Salvador Dalà ­ (born in 1904 in Figueras), to whom he would write an ode in 1926, and Luis Buà ±uel (born in 1900 in Teruel), among others. Through his friends at the Residencia he soon got to know a number of other poets with whom he also shared a bond in terms of friendship and ideological leanings and who have since been given many names including that of â€Å"La Generacià ³n del  ´27† (The Generation of  ´27). This group, or generation includes his friends Prados, Alberti and Guillà ©n, as well as Pedro Salinas, Gerardo Diego, Dà ¡maso Alonso, Vicente Aleixandre, Luis Cernuda and Manuel Altolaguirre. Of these, Lorca’s poe try has most often been compared with that of Rafael Alberti. Lorca was a prodigious artist, poet and playwright; his first play, El Maleficio de la Mariposa (The Butterfly's Evil Spell), premiered in 1920 and his first book of poems, Libro de Poemas (Book of Poems), was published the following year, although neither of these initially received the acclaim that his later works would. In November 1921 he wrote Poema del Cante Jondo, which would not be published until a decade later, in 1931.

Enduring Vision Chapter 30 Notes

Identifications: * Yuppies/VCRs/Three Mile Island * Yuppies: young, urban professionals who wore ostentatious gear such Rolex watches or BMW cars. they came to symbolize the increased pursuit of wealth and materialism of Americans in the 1980s, represented decade of greed, stopped being radical, worried about weight. * VCRs: video cassette recorders became popular in the late 70's that allowed viewers to tape and view later their favorite programs and to rent movies on cassette.As entertainment became privatized, families stayed home with the VCR instead of going to the movies * Three Mile Island: 1979 an accident at the nuclear plant at this location that caused a radiation leak and forced the evacuation of 140,000 people near the site. the story made headlines around the world and seemed to confirm people's fears about nuclear power. * Roe v. Wade/Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)/AIDS/Moral Majority/televangelists * Roe v. Wade: the 1973 Supreme Court decision holding that a state ban on all abortions was unconstitutional. he decision forbade state control over abortions during the first trimester of pregnancy, permitted states to limit abortions to protect the mother's health in the second trimester, and permitted states to protect the fetus during the third trimester * Equal Rights Amendment (ERA): a constitutional amendment originally introduced in congress in 1923 and passed by congress in 1972, stating that â€Å"equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the united states or by any state on account of sex. despite public support, the amendment failed to acquire the necessary support from three-fourths of the state legislatures. DID NOT RATIFY * AIDS: AIDS epidemic in the 1970s made many Americans more cautious in their sexual behavior. * Moral Majority: political organization of the United States which had an agenda of evangelical Christian-oriented political lobbying. Formed by Jerry Falwell. organization made up of conservative C hristian political action committees which campaigned on issues its personnel believed were important to maintaining its Christian conception of moral law. his group pressured for legislation that would ban abortion and ban the states' acceptance of homosexuality. * Televangelists: ministers who would spread their messages via television networks * Gerald R. Ford/WIN/Mayaguez incident/Election of 1976 * Gerald R. Ford: Nixon’s vice president after Agnew resigned; he became the only president never to be elected. Taking office after Nixon resigned, he pardoned Nixon for all federal crimes that he â€Å"committed or may have committed. * WIN: â€Å"Whip Inflation Now† a program by the ford administration to curb inflation and dramatic price increases by putting pressure on businesses to lower prices and deter consumers from hording goods. Did not really work. Start due to OPEC * Mayaguez incident: in May of 1975, Cambodian communists seize the ship Mayaguez and 39 Ameri cans are held hostage. In retaliation the president ordered bombing on Cambodia and the launch of a rescue mission * Election of 1976: Jimmy Carter/democrat vs.Gerald Ford/republican= carter wins * Jimmy Carter/Love Canal/Panama Canal Treaty/SALT II/Iran hostage crisis/Camp David * Jimmy Carter: from Georgia was viewed as a Washington â€Å"outsider† with no political ties and no scandals, people thought he would bring fresh ideas * stressed human rights. because of the soviet war in Afghanistan, he enacted an embargo on grain shipments to USSR and boycotted the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. Created the department of energy and the department of education. e was criticized for his return of the panama canal zone * Love Canal: a neighborhood in Niagara falls, New York, which became the subject of national and international attention, controversy, and eventual environmental notoriety following the discovery of 21,000 tons of toxic waste buried beneath the neighborhood * Panama Canal Treaty: 1978 – passed by president carter, these called for the gradual return of the Panama Canal to the people and government of panama.Very controversial. The people were not happy. * SALT II: (strategic arms limitation treaty) superpowers pledged to limit nuclear arms production, although signed it was never officially ratified by the American senate * Iran hostage crisis: in November 1979, revolutionaries stormed the American embassy in Tehran and held 52 Americans hostage. The carter administration tried unsuccessfully to negotiate for the hostages’ release. n January 20, 1981, the day carter left office, Iran released the Americans, ending their 444 days in captivity * Camp David: peace talks between Egypt and Israel mediated by president carter * they led to a peace treaty the next year that returned the Sinai peninsula to Egypt, guaranteed Israeli access to the red sea and Suez canal, and more-or-less normalized diplomatic and economic relations between the t wo countries. his isolated Egypt from the other Arab countries and led to Sadat’s assassination in 1981 * Ronald Reagan/Reagan Revolution/Reaganomics/deregulation/Contras/Grenada/Beirut bombings * Ronald Reagan: elected president in 1980 and again in 1984. he ran on a campaign based on the common man and â€Å"populist† ideas. Had participated in McCarthy trials. Iran released hostages on his inauguration day in 1980. he used the strategic defense initiative to avoid conflict. his meetings with Gorbachev were the first steps to ending the cold war. e was also responsible for the Iran-contra affair which bought hostages with guns * Reagan Revolution: increased defense spending reduced social programs and cut taxes they were based on supply side theory of growing the economy by cutting government interference and taxes. attempt to return America to the traditional values of church, family, and free enterprise * Reaganomics: these policies combined a monetarist fiscal pol icy, supply-side(cut income taxes), and domestic budget cutting. heir goal was to reduce the size of the federal government and stimulate economic growth, unemployed started going back to work * it included tax breaks for the rich, â€Å"supply-side economics,† and â€Å"trickle down† theory * Deregulation: the lifting of restrictions on business, industry, and professional activities for which government rules had been established and that bureaucracies had been created to administer * Contras: a Nicaraguan rebel group that got financial support from the CIA. his group was formed as a response to the overthrowing of Anastazio Somoza Debayle * Grenada: a small Latin country where a communist government had taken power. Reagan invaded the country in protest of communist expansion, showing that he was not pursuing detente. Beirut bombings: Lebanon 1983: two truck bombs struck separate buildings housing united states and French military forces killing 299 Americans and Fr enchmen – suicide bombers – led to the withdrawal of the international peacekeeping force from Lebanon – Reagan administration was ; is severely criticized for its foreign policy * SDI/Election of 1984/Iran-Contra Affair/Mikhail Gorbachev/START/INF Treaty/Pan Am 103 * SDI: Reagan’s proposed strategic defense initiative (1983), also known as â€Å"star ars,† called for a land- or space-based shield against a nuclear attack. Although SDI was criticized as unfeasible and in violation of the antiballistic missile (ABM) treaty, congress approved billions of dollars for development. * Election of 1984: republican: Ronald Reagan (won in a landslide) democrat: Walter Mondale (running mate: Geraldine Ferraro– first woman candidate). Iran-Contra Affair: president Reagan authorized the off-the-books sale of stolen weapons from the pentagon to Iran in order to fund the Nicaraguan contras; congress had forbidden him to use government funds to support the contras; helped keep Iraq from winning the Iraq-Iran war (did not want a middle eastern superpower); very illegal (Iran was considered a terrorist state) and almost caused Reagan to be impeached * Mikhail Gorbachev: soviet statesman whose foreign policy brought an end to the cold war and whose domestic policy introduced major reforms * START: â€Å"Strategic Arms Reduction Talks†, talks between the united states and the soviet union in which reductions in missiles and nuclear warheads, not merely a limitation on increases, were negotiated * INF Treaty: 1987 agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union. Signed in Washington, DC. by US. President Ronald Reagan and Gorbachev on December 8, 1987. he treaty eliminated nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with intermediate ranges, defined as between 500-5,500 km (300-3,400 miles). under the treaty both nations were allowed to inspect each other's military installations * Pan Am 103: 19 88 Libyan terrorist attack on US; destroyed American plane (bomb); worst terrorist attack on us until 9/11 (270 killed) Questions: 1. Which social activist movement of the 1960s continued strongly in the 1970s and 1980s? Why? a. The environmental movement continued strongly in the 1970’s and 1980s. It gained momentum with Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, and the environmental laws of the 1960’s and the start of Earth Day in 1970.The creation of groups such as Sierra Club and Greenpeace, for which membership increased greatly. Campaigns to save animals, plants, and the ocean were launched. In the 1970’s environmentalists attacked the nuclear plants employing rallies and protests. The Three Mile Island incident and the China Syndrome movie also aided in Environment change. b. The woman’s movement also continued strongly. With the Roe v. Wade decision, and the ERA 2. What was the  Roe  v. Wade  decision? Why did it prove to be politically divisive throughout the 1980s and early 1990s? c. Roe v. Wade was the 1973 Supreme Court decision holding that a state ban on all abortions was unconstitutional.The decision forbade state control over abortions during the first trimester of pregnancy, permitted states to limit abortions to protect the mother's health in the second trimester, and permitted states to protect the fetus during the third trimester. d. The decision proved controversial, especially with the Evangelicals who were pro-life. The women, however, responded with Pro-life campaigns, which polls revealed represented the majority of Americans. 3. How did prospects for Native Americans improve in the late 1960s and 1970s? What significant problems continued to plague American Indians? e. Acts of militancy by the Native Americans caused the government to give the native Americans more rights over their lives and the reservations. Pride in being Native grew.The natives also launched business ventures on the reservations, maki ng a lot of doe. They also gained the rights guaranteed in previous treaties. Alcoholism, disease, and high unemployment rates still affected the reservations but they still gained prosperity as a whole. 4. In what ways did religious faith play a more decisive cultural and political role in the 1970s and 1980s? f. The evangelists took on conservative backlash against the radical changes in America. They first made movements against Roe v. Wade which led to the government stopping Medicaid for abortions. It also stopped the passing of the ERA bill. It also retrogressed the gay rights movement. New groups formed with religion and spiritual questioning.The moral majority formed the pro-life, pro-family, pro-moral, and pro-American crusade. Televangelists appeared on TV across the nation reaching millions of viewers. 5. What were the troubles that overwhelmed the Carter administration and prevented Carter's reelection? g. Carter gave the Panama Canal back to Panama. His sheltering of th e Shah in Iran led to the hostage situation in Iran. The Iranians abused the American flag, and had anti-American mobs. Inflation grew sharply worse as a second major oil crisis drove up prices. The Federal Reserve Board pushed the discount rate ever higher. With the cost of both credit and oil so high, economic activity deteriorated to â€Å"stagflation. † Carter’s reign was cursed.

East Orchids

THE CASE STUDY OF EAST ORCHIDS AREAS OF CONSIDERATION: The East Orchids is an orchid farm in the campus grounds of the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City. It was formally opened on May 31, 1989, by Mr. and Mrs. Max Prieto. East Orchids sold both cut flowers and plants. As a typical with orhidariums, the farm has a 3,000 sq. m. Canopy enclosure of green netting that covering a huge inventory of orchids. HISTORY The Prieto’s family was one of the prominent families in Davao, where Mr. Prieto was a former mayor. It was during the term of Mr. Prieto that his wife Princess became interested in orchids. The decision to breed orchids was very arbitrary and definitely not for the purpose of putting up a business. The East Orchids was started as a hobby of Mrs. Prieto before it was organized as a business. She got curious when her friends were into orchids. She bought a couple and decided to try to take care of them just for fun until she became obsessed with them. She treated the orchids like her babies that she felt that she just had to take care of them. Mrs. Prieto’s orchid collection grew. Soon, the orchids filled the entire garden and were running over into their driveway and some of them had to place outside the house. Soon, neigbors and nearby flower shops were offering to buy cut flowers from her. At first, she simply gave the flowers but as the offer increased she began selling these. It was when the orchids alarmed to take over every living space in the home of family Prietos that Mrs. Prieto decided to sell the whole plants. Because of enormous money was coming into their way, they started to think about orchids as a business. In 1989, when the Prieto’s family moved to Manila due to Mr. Prieto’s commitment, they also made up their minds to lease 5,000 sq. m. of land from University of the Philippines at the lease price of P12,000. 00 a year. They invested to clear up the land which was originally the garbage dump and for the net enclosure and putting other facilities to start their business. OBJECTIVE The Prieto’s family is planning for the expansion of their orchid farm in either Davao or Los Banos and Antipolo. The goal of this case is to determine if the East Orchids has the capabilities to exploit such opportunities. S. W. O. T. ANALYSIS The strengths the EAST ORCHIDS †¢The price is a bit lower than other competitors which will attract more customers to buy on them. †¢The overhead expenses are much lower †¢The location is very accessible The weaknesses of the EAST ORCHIDS †¢No internal control in the business and the owner has no management background †¢The owner is lenient in financial aspects of the business †¢No business plan was made before starting the Orchids farm, just started out as the hobby. †¢The workers are not well-trained The opportunities of the EAST ORCHIDS The East Orchids has the greater chance to expand if just to have proper management and new technologies and skills to improve the cultivation of orchids at minimal cost †¢It can compete to others because of low prices †¢The orchids are saleable even the onset of the rainy season doesn’t seem to threaten a reductions in sales The threats of the EAST ORCHIDS †¢The workers might hike because they are not-well compensated †¢There are no new technologies in improving the orchids growing †¢ The approaching termination of the lease contract to University of the Philippines. COURSE OF ALTERNATIVE TO DETERMINE THE OBJECTIVES ALTERNATIVESADVANTAGESDISADVANTAGES 1. )Training program and study for the expansion of orchid farmsThe owner should broaden her knowledge in cultivating the orchids though she already had personal experience in raising the orchids. The owner should attend proper training in order to cut costs and know some new technologies to improve her orchid’s farm. And also she should study on how to run a business and have basic accounting knowledge. She should know the operations of her business and focus on the financial aspects. If she will attend the training and seminars regarding orchids business it will be expensive and time consuming on her part. 2. )Hire an expert or managerIn expanding the East Orchids, it should have a manager, who is knowledgeable about orchids business and have a management background, to help the owner in managing the business because it is already a big business to handle by an owner who has no formal training on orchid growing and business management. Additional employee which may ask for a high salary and the owner has no control to run the business all by herself because has to consider the opinion of the manager first. . )Evaluating the operations of the business and make a business plan for expansionTo determine business plan will make a business success. The owner should evaluate first the business operation if it is doing well and know what should have to do to meet the goal. In determining the financial aspects of the business the owner will see the capabilities of the co mpany to expand or not. It will hold back the expansion due to procedure in evaluating and making a business plan and also it will be expensive RECOMMENDATIONS Alternative no. , there should be proper evaluation of the financial statements of the East Orchids to determine the cash position and the results of the operations. And SWOT analysis should be taken into consideration so that Mrs. Prieto should understand her business she would know what these are and how to improve such weaknesses and how to combat the threats on her business. CONCLUSIONS Some additional questions that must be taken into consideration that might help in expanding their business are: 1. Is East Orchids really a profitable enterprise? If it is so, do the margins justify the company’s existence? If not, what justifies the company’s existence? Based on Figure 1 below shows that the company has very minimal margins and that margins do not justify the company’s existence if it will continue to be like that. The East Orchids should so something about their business operation and what strategies to be apply for them to boost their revenues. EAST ORCHIDS UP Compound, Diliman, Quezon City Sales:(average sales for 3 months 200,000 x 4 quarters)P 800,000. 00 less: Cost ( 30% of sales) 240,000. 00 Gross Sales 560,000. 00 less: Operating expenses Salaries (10 boys @ P1,200. 00x 12 months)P 144,000. 0 Ferilizer ( P 5,000 x 12 months) 60,000. 00 Water bill ( P 6,000 x 12 months) 72,000. 00 Electric bill (P15,000 x 12 months) 180,000. 00 456,000. 00 Estimated Net incomeP 104,000. 00 2. How is Mrs. Prieto, who is not a trained orchid or businesswoman, able to compete with established orchid growers? Mrs. Prieto has interest, skills and talents in growing business and she is a ble compete in the sense that she has this marketing strategy of lower prices which attracts the customers to buy orchids to East Orchids. 3. Should the Prietos push through with their plans to expand their business? Would such expansion compatible with the Mrs. Prieto’s current method of managing the business? I think the Prietos should hold back first their plans to expand their business until they see the problem with their business. Mrs Prieto’s current method of managing the business is not compatible if they will expand because it will require proper accounting system and competent manager who knows the orchid farms operation. 4. Is she a true entrepreneur? Mrs. Prieto is not a true entrepreneur although she has interest and skills in growing orchids but her attitude does not illustrate being a true entrepreneur. East Orchids THE CASE STUDY OF EAST ORCHIDS AREAS OF CONSIDERATION: The East Orchids is an orchid farm in the campus grounds of the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City. It was formally opened on May 31, 1989, by Mr. and Mrs. Max Prieto. East Orchids sold both cut flowers and plants. As a typical with orhidariums, the farm has a 3,000 sq. m. Canopy enclosure of green netting that covering a huge inventory of orchids. HISTORY The Prieto’s family was one of the prominent families in Davao, where Mr. Prieto was a former mayor. It was during the term of Mr. Prieto that his wife Princess became interested in orchids. The decision to breed orchids was very arbitrary and definitely not for the purpose of putting up a business. The East Orchids was started as a hobby of Mrs. Prieto before it was organized as a business. She got curious when her friends were into orchids. She bought a couple and decided to try to take care of them just for fun until she became obsessed with them. She treated the orchids like her babies that she felt that she just had to take care of them. Mrs. Prieto’s orchid collection grew. Soon, the orchids filled the entire garden and were running over into their driveway and some of them had to place outside the house. Soon, neigbors and nearby flower shops were offering to buy cut flowers from her. At first, she simply gave the flowers but as the offer increased she began selling these. It was when the orchids alarmed to take over every living space in the home of family Prietos that Mrs. Prieto decided to sell the whole plants. Because of enormous money was coming into their way, they started to think about orchids as a business. In 1989, when the Prieto’s family moved to Manila due to Mr. Prieto’s commitment, they also made up their minds to lease 5,000 sq. m. of land from University of the Philippines at the lease price of P12,000. 00 a year. They invested to clear up the land which was originally the garbage dump and for the net enclosure and putting other facilities to start their business. OBJECTIVE The Prieto’s family is planning for the expansion of their orchid farm in either Davao or Los Banos and Antipolo. The goal of this case is to determine if the East Orchids has the capabilities to exploit such opportunities. S. W. O. T. ANALYSIS The strengths the EAST ORCHIDS †¢The price is a bit lower than other competitors which will attract more customers to buy on them. †¢The overhead expenses are much lower †¢The location is very accessible The weaknesses of the EAST ORCHIDS †¢No internal control in the business and the owner has no management background †¢The owner is lenient in financial aspects of the business †¢No business plan was made before starting the Orchids farm, just started out as the hobby. †¢The workers are not well-trained The opportunities of the EAST ORCHIDS The East Orchids has the greater chance to expand if just to have proper management and new technologies and skills to improve the cultivation of orchids at minimal cost †¢It can compete to others because of low prices †¢The orchids are saleable even the onset of the rainy season doesn’t seem to threaten a reductions in sales The threats of the EAST ORCHIDS †¢The workers might hike because they are not-well compensated †¢There are no new technologies in improving the orchids growing †¢ The approaching termination of the lease contract to University of the Philippines. COURSE OF ALTERNATIVE TO DETERMINE THE OBJECTIVES ALTERNATIVESADVANTAGESDISADVANTAGES 1. )Training program and study for the expansion of orchid farmsThe owner should broaden her knowledge in cultivating the orchids though she already had personal experience in raising the orchids. The owner should attend proper training in order to cut costs and know some new technologies to improve her orchid’s farm. And also she should study on how to run a business and have basic accounting knowledge. She should know the operations of her business and focus on the financial aspects. If she will attend the training and seminars regarding orchids business it will be expensive and time consuming on her part. 2. )Hire an expert or managerIn expanding the East Orchids, it should have a manager, who is knowledgeable about orchids business and have a management background, to help the owner in managing the business because it is already a big business to handle by an owner who has no formal training on orchid growing and business management. Additional employee which may ask for a high salary and the owner has no control to run the business all by herself because has to consider the opinion of the manager first. . )Evaluating the operations of the business and make a business plan for expansionTo determine business plan will make a business success. The owner should evaluate first the business operation if it is doing well and know what should have to do to meet the goal. In determining the financial aspects of the business the owner will see the capabilities of the co mpany to expand or not. It will hold back the expansion due to procedure in evaluating and making a business plan and also it will be expensive RECOMMENDATIONS Alternative no. , there should be proper evaluation of the financial statements of the East Orchids to determine the cash position and the results of the operations. And SWOT analysis should be taken into consideration so that Mrs. Prieto should understand her business she would know what these are and how to improve such weaknesses and how to combat the threats on her business. CONCLUSIONS Some additional questions that must be taken into consideration that might help in expanding their business are: 1. Is East Orchids really a profitable enterprise? If it is so, do the margins justify the company’s existence? If not, what justifies the company’s existence? Based on Figure 1 below shows that the company has very minimal margins and that margins do not justify the company’s existence if it will continue to be like that. The East Orchids should so something about their business operation and what strategies to be apply for them to boost their revenues. EAST ORCHIDS UP Compound, Diliman, Quezon City Sales:(average sales for 3 months 200,000 x 4 quarters)P 800,000. 00 less: Cost ( 30% of sales) 240,000. 00 Gross Sales 560,000. 00 less: Operating expenses Salaries (10 boys @ P1,200. 00x 12 months)P 144,000. 0 Ferilizer ( P 5,000 x 12 months) 60,000. 00 Water bill ( P 6,000 x 12 months) 72,000. 00 Electric bill (P15,000 x 12 months) 180,000. 00 456,000. 00 Estimated Net incomeP 104,000. 00 2. How is Mrs. Prieto, who is not a trained orchid or businesswoman, able to compete with established orchid growers? Mrs. Prieto has interest, skills and talents in growing business and she is a ble compete in the sense that she has this marketing strategy of lower prices which attracts the customers to buy orchids to East Orchids. 3. Should the Prietos push through with their plans to expand their business? Would such expansion compatible with the Mrs. Prieto’s current method of managing the business? I think the Prietos should hold back first their plans to expand their business until they see the problem with their business. Mrs Prieto’s current method of managing the business is not compatible if they will expand because it will require proper accounting system and competent manager who knows the orchid farms operation. 4. Is she a true entrepreneur? Mrs. Prieto is not a true entrepreneur although she has interest and skills in growing orchids but her attitude does not illustrate being a true entrepreneur.