Monday, September 30, 2019

Hamlet is a self-obsessed Essay

Throughout the course of the play, the character of Hamlet undergoes major upheaval, so a transition in his psyche is to be expected. One interpretation behind the reason for this transition is the one stated in the title (i. e. that he is a â€Å"self-obsessed, miserable typical teenager†); another may be that he is simply the victim of exceptional circumstances (namely his father’s death and his mother’s marriage to his uncle) – either way, it is clear that Hamlet is acting under severe emotional stress during the play. That Hamlet is a very obsessive young man is easy enough to tell – the list of things he obsesses about is extensive: the afterlife, his father’s murder, his new misogynistic feelings, suicide and general worldly dissatisfaction, to list the main bulk of his obsessions. Some of his soliloquies (which are the passages where Shakespeare allows Hamlet to reveal his complete emotions to the audience) are testament to this obsession, especially concerning suicide (â€Å"O that this too too solid flesh would melt†, â€Å"To be or not to be†). This self-obsession may be thought of as somewhat surprising when it is noted that Hamlet is meant to be heir to the Dane throne, as it portrays Hamlet as someone in a role of great social responsibility who only has the scope to think about his personal problems. Hamlet is by now old enough to attend university (although his age is unspecified), showing that he has reached an age where he can think independently and fully comprehend his duty to society, adding to the sense that he is being selfish in that he does not think of the well-being of his country, despite the numerous references to problems in Denmark (â€Å"Something is rotten in the state of Denmark†). It is this personal fixation and irresponsibility on Hamlet’s part that ends up bringing the ultimately Danish monarchy into ruin, with Fortinbras of Norway ascending to the throne. The claim that Hamlet is also miserable is also a valid one: the audience usually finds Hamlet in a highly melancholic state of mind (whether it is mere sullen impetuousness or full-blown suicidal depression). Hamlet seems dissatisfied with everything: his family, his nation, the world, his very existence. Part of the reason for this depressed nature is Hamlet’s tendency to philosophise and contemplate complex aspects of existence, such as the afterlife, which contrasts with the straight-forward â€Å"action† men that surround him, and is more typical of the modern moody teenager. For all of these reasons, it can be argued that Hamlet is indeed a â€Å"self-obsessed, miserable typical teenager†. However, a different interpretation of Hamlet is that he is the victim of exceptionally harrowing circumstances. His age is indeterminate, although the reader is sure that he is a young man. Already with the weight of an entire nation on his shoulders, his father dies, only for his mother to wed with â€Å"wicked speed† to his father’s brother: such a combination in such a short space of time for one as young as Hamlet is bound to have a detrimental effect on his outlook. Add to this the plainly insensitive handling of this shocking series of events by Claudius which serves only to exacerbate Hamlet’s sorrow and confusion (â€Å"but to persever/ In obstinate condolement is a course/ Of impious stubbornness, ’tis unmanly grief,†) and it becomes evident that Hamlet cannot be compared to a moody teenager, because the events that usually make teenagers stroppy cannot be compared in any way to the mental anguish that Hamlet is probably suffering. Such a comparison would be callous and thoughtless. Hamlet’s apparent descent into a self-crafted madness is indicative of the huge pressure placed upon him by the ghost of his father, who seems only interested in revenge rather than helping his son (â€Å"Remember me. â€Å"). This emphasises the feeling that Hamlet is alone, with no-one truly understanding his situation (with the possible exception of Horatio). Teenagers nowadays have a vast array of methods in which they can seek help (i. e. relatives, hotlines, the police), again stressing the vast chasm between the situation of a moody teenager and the agonising plight which Hamlet finds himself in. The sheer exceptional scale of tragedy that occurs during the play and the profound effect they have on Hamlet are enough to ensure that he should not be compared to a moody teenager: to do so would be highly inconsiderate. Hence the interpretation that Hamlet is â€Å"self-obsessed† is a highly unfair one, as the world he knew previously has been shattered, and the one he finds himself in now is so intolerable to him that he ponders suicide, meaning that the affairs of Denmark do not find such a high priority in his mind because his personal life is in disarray. Even through the catastrophes in the play, as Hamlet lies on the ground dying, he names Fortinbras as the next ruler of Denmark – this shows that, after he has resolved all of his issues, he starts to once again think of his nation, even as he is dying; the claim that he is miserable is a fair one, but he is justifiably miserable. He is not miserable because his parents will not let him attend a party: he is miserable because his father is dead and his mother has begun an incestuous relationship with his uncle. This is a legitimate reason for misery, and so Hamlet should be treated with a fitting level of compassion – at least certainly not compared to typical teenagers. It is for the reasons above that the statement â€Å"Hamlet is a self-obsessed, miserable typical teenager† does not resonate well with the reader: the very fact that he is able to be sullen and even jocular initially (â€Å"A little more than kin, and less than kind. † â€Å"Not so much, my lord, I am too much in the son. â€Å") is a testament to his strong personality – his true feelings are revealed in the following soliloquy. The character of Hamlet is far more complex than a comparatively simple teenager; the circumstances far more tragic; the pressure upon him far greater.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Book Summary: the Bible Among the Myths by John N. Oswalt Essay

John Oswalt, in his book The Bible Among the Myths, presents his position to the reader that the bible is different and separate from other writings of the Ancient Near East. He asserts the Bible is both historically accurate and theologically sound. He makes the defense the Bible was divinely inspired and revealed to humanity and unique from other Ancient Near East literature. There was a time when the Bible, and the Israelite religion was different from its neighboring societies. But as times have changed, many people now lump the bible with other Ancient Near East myths. The book is broken up into two sections. The first half of the book, â€Å"The Bible and Myth,† Oswalt takes the time to define what a myth is and what differentiates the Bible from a myth. He then describes the different between the worldview of the Ancient Near East and continuity is different from the Bible’s transcendence. The second half of the book, â€Å"The Bible and History,† examines several philosophical thoughts proposed by others that attempt to explain the Bible’s relevance separate from historical validity. Oswalt provides excellent arguments against the new age philosophies. Oswalt provides an articulate argument for the veracity of the Bible’s history and theology by providing several convincing points to affirm the Bibles varicity. Introduction John N. Oswalt, in his book The Bible Among the Myths, provides the reader with a brief, yet comprehensive view of the differences and similarities between the Old Testament and Ancient Near East religions. In the introduction, he provides a brief overview of scholarly thought regarding the Old Testament literature and Ancient Near East literature and how perspectives have changed in nearly 50 years. Oswalt states at the time he was introduced to the subject, scholars believed the Old Testament and its theology stood alone from other Ancient Near East religions. He now contends that present day scholars believe the Old Testament is just one of many Ancient Near East religions. Oswalt states it was the differences between the Old Testament and other Ancient Near that separated the two. But today, scholars are taking the same data and looking their similarities (11-13). He states that this is a â€Å"vital philosophical distinction between â€Å"essence† and â€Å"accident.†Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Essence† has to do with the essence of the subject whereas â€Å"accident† is those things that are not essential to the subject (13). He insinuates that scholars of today are centering their attention on the â€Å"accidental† attributes of the Old Testament and Ancient Near East religions and not centering on those things that are the essence of the subject; those things that make the religions different. It is these similarities and differences Oswalt states he will center his attention (14). Oswalt then turns the attention of the reader to the definition of a myth. He states there are different definitions of a myth but the Bible is not one of them. He states when people start to think of this word as â€Å"typical of a myth,† then four things happen: 1) The individual is devalued; 2) There becomes a disinterest in history; 3) People become open to the occult; and 4) People do not take responsibility for their actions (14). Oswalt believes what makes the difference between the Old Testament (OT) and the Ancient Near East (ANE) literature is how God makes himself divinely known to his people. The next premise Oswalt boldly states is that if we believe in Scripture theologically, then we can also believe that the Bible is historically true. He states, â€Å"the veracity of the theological claims of the OT is inseparable from the veracity of the historical claims† (16). The Bible maintains a â€Å"unique worldview† and is one that has been revealed by God to his people, Israel. He states there are things we must wrestle with when it comes to investigation the Bible historically from its theological stand but the Bible can uphold its claim to be theologically and historically viable. Chapter 1 Chapters one through five discuss the differences and similarities of the Bible compared to ANE literature. The premise of chapter one is the Bible has had a major impact on the world, especially with its contributions to Greek philosophy and thought. Greek philosophers believed there was one â€Å"unifying principle in the cosmos† (21) and that everything could be identified and reasoned with through logic. As Oswalt states, this brought into conflict the thought of a myth based polytheistic society to a monotheistic mindset. Oswalt states that the Hebrew thought survived through the exilic period in Assyria and Babylon even though they were in direct conflict with the societies in which they were captive. Israel brought into these societies the thought that there was only one God and He was the creator of the world and humanity. In addition, Oswalt states the Israelites brought the unique ideas that God was not dependent upon humanity but himself and that God revealed himself to humanity and gave them specific understandings of what he expected from his people. It was only by God’s design that the people of Israel were able to maintain their religion in a foreign land. Greek and Hebrew thoughts combined into a complementary way of thinking about the universe and the world. The Hebrew religion of one creator who created the world found a place in the Greek philosophy of a unifying principle to the universe. On the other hand, Greek philosophy could combine itself by to Hebrew ideas by linking the cause and effect of the world (26). Oswalt states that there was a necessity for the biblical worldview. Without it liking itself with the Greek philosophy, we would not have a need for reason, understand the importance of history and have value of the individual (27). Chapter 2 Oswalt, in chapter two, attempts to define the word myth but prior to his discourse, he revisits the divergence of scholars going from believing in the OT as a separate piece of literature from all other ANE mythological literature to being placed in the mix of ANE literature as mythology. Oswalt contends the job of defining a myth is challenging especially in a climate the Bible is being placed with other ANE literature. He states there are two definitional problems. The first problem has to do with the definitions of myth. He states there has been a breakdown in providing an accurate definition. The other problem has to do with the definition itself. It may not accurately describe the members of a class (32). Two primary definitions are provided for the reader. The first is the historical-philosophical definition which attempts to â€Å"describe how the myth operates in society† (40). Subdivisions of the historical-philosophical definition are the etymological, the sociological-theological and the literary. The second is the phenomenological. Etymological definition attempts to identify the false nature of an event or story. The sociological-theological definition is a form of story in which conveys some truth about the world. Literary definition of a myth is the narrative attempts to use the source of symbolism to convey truth or meaning (33-39). The phenomenological definition regarding a myth is to look at the common characteristics of the story and how it relates to the society. Oswalt states that all these definitions have a commonality of continuity. No matter their defined variations, they are interrelated. Oswalt states, â€Å"Continuity is a philosophical principle that asserts that all things are continuous with each other† (43). Myths are to have a common approach to the world (45). Chapter 3 The idea of continuity in myths is continued and expended in chapter three. Continuity can better be defined as all elements of a myth are interrelated physically and spiritually, in a circular motion, to each other. In a story, there are no distinctions between humanity, nature and the divine. This also includes the thought of pantheism, â€Å"the divine is everything and everything is divine† (49). The problem with this is that there are no absolutes, and people and nature are equal to god. Oswalt state, there are a number of â€Å"far-reaching implications† with regard to continuity. The first is that myths only look at the here and now, the present, and keeping things as status quo. Myths are not in interested in the future or moving forward. Second, myths do not look at the involvement of humanity and the choices they made. Third, myths also perpetuate the actualization of a â€Å"timeless reality.† Maintenance of the system is needed. This is accomplished through sexual relations in order to maintain fertility of the earth and living creatures as well as performing other ritualistic acts in order to ensure the gods and goddesses maintain the cycle of fertility. Fourth, nature is used as an important â€Å"expression of the divine.† The gods were personified in nature. Fifth, mythology used magic in order to accomplish something in nature or in the divine realm. Finally, because of this continuity, there are no boundaries which cause a blurring o f the natural, human and divine (44-56). Once both sides of continuity are explained, Oswald provides what he believes are common features of myths. There are always elements of polytheism. There are multiple gods. Gods are always represented by some natural element such as wood, stone or other natural element. The gods are not multidimensional and are stereotyped. The gods are not valued nor are humans. The gods are appeased by certain acts and humans are subject to the gods. There is always an element of conflict in the myth either with the gods or other human conflict. Eternity, both before and after the establishment of the world, was and is chaotic. Because humanity is at the whim of the gods, there is no standard of ethic. Finally, the cycle of life is cyclical. Oswalt states that the cycle goes from â€Å"nonexistence to dependence to independence to dependence to nonexistence† (57-61) Chapter 4 Biblical transcendence and the transcendence of God are the major themes of chapter four. While chapter three centered on the identifying factors of what constitutes a myth, Oswalt provides several key elements that make the Bible, especially the God of the Bible, unusual and exceptionally different from other ANE mythological literature and religions. As mentioned before, there is only one godly source of the OT (64). God who is spirit is separate from his creation and cannot be created in any form (65). Once created, the conflict ended with created order both in heaven and on earth (67). God created man in his image and therefore gave him importance by being in his likeness (69). Oswalt interesting notes that God is â€Å"supra-sexual.† Meaning, God is not known by his sexual identity but his roles. In addition, creation is not directed by sexual activity (73). God in all his activities can be relied upon to do all that he said he would do and not deviate as those gods of myths. God prohibited magic was as a method of manipulating Him into some type of action (75). The final element is in regard to the Sinai covenant God made with the people of Israel. They were obligated to live a certain lifestyle whereas there were no restrictions for the other who lived outside of the covenant (76). Comparing and contrasting the biblical worldview from those of a mythological perspective provides some understanding of how radically different and distinctive they are from each other. Transcendence verses continuity; God is above all and separate from the universe, nature and humanity. God interacts with humanity through his covenant relationship. Chapter 5 Oswalt continues his discussion between the differences between the Bible and mythology however he looks at it in light of their similarities. Before he does looks at those similarities, however, Oswalt digs deeper into the ethic as it relates to human relationships with God and man. He states that there are two offences, which are offenses against the gods and offences against other people (85). The mythic ethic, offences against the gods in literature were â€Å"cultic or magical† where offences against people were against society, (85-86). Oswalt points out offences against the gods had nothing to do with their treatment of each other. The biblical ethic was something different, more wholistic. Behavior on every level, social and personal was out of obedience in the covenantal relationship with God (88). God and his relationship with the covenantal people maintained the same standard. The author provides a few examples where it would seem as though the Bible is a similar to myth. He provides examples of the creation story in Genesis and in Psalms to point some similarities in the Enuma Elish (Babylonian creation account) and other literature. Oswalt acknowledges that similarities and disputes them as something the Bible took from mythos but that they were similar practices not intended to make the Bible like other biblical literature as much as identifying the differences that stood apart from other literature. Chapter 6 Chapter six marks the second half of the book as it discusses history and the Bible. Like before in the attempts of defining myth, Oswalt attempts to accurately define history. He defined history, in summary, as a narrative that records events which is recorded for â€Å"human self-knowledge† and used as a means of evaluation in order to capture important events. According to Oswalt, there are several factors that are dependent upon when understand history. The first thing is that people are â€Å"free and responsible.† The second item is that there are causes and effects in everything that happens. The recorded information must be true is the third element. The fourth key is history can be used as a learning tool for other to grow. Fifth thing is that what happened yesterday is just as relevant today and that there is significance in their â€Å"relationships.† Finally, there must be a standard in which the information is evaluated (113-115). There are several ways ancient people of the Near East recorded events of their lives. They are omen texts, king lists, date formulae, epics, royal annals, and chronicles. Omens were documents that contained something that predicted the good or bad of an event or circumstance. The kings’ lists contained the genealogy of the names and duration of the kings in power. Date formulae contained the yearly accomplishments of the kings. Epics were a narrative of events in a hero’s life which attempted to convey life’s philosophy. Royal annals were recorded events of a king and existed to â€Å"glorify the king† not so much to accurately chronicle what really happened. Chronicles were recordings of what actually happened, both positive and negative. They are about as accurate a historical record then the rest. In all, they were specific in the information they contained (116-122). Unlike our historians today or even the historical view of the Bible, the peoples of the ANE perspective was different than ours today. They were generally focused on the here and now and not future orientated. Their orientation included making sure they maintained the status quo in order to maintain the good in their lives. The best for everyone was to maintain the order of their society. They believed that everything was outside their control with a multiciplicity of causes determining their fate. This provides reasons why they were not interested in recording for the future and concerned about seeing the relationships of the events that took place in their lives. The Bible, on the other hand, provides a different perspective. As Oswalt states, â€Å"They [characteristics of the Bible] are clearly presented to us as unique individuals, firmly rooted in time and space† (125). The events which took place were recorded whether they were positive or negative. The events were recorded showing the interrelationships between the events and persons as well as showing the results of human choices and the impact those choices had on the lives of those people. The Bible connects all the pieces together in a way that transcends â€Å"the events themselves† by showing the divine interaction with humanity (127). Oswalt asks the question how then could the Israelite nation be different without myth. He indicates it is because there was only one God who kept â€Å"breaking into their experiencing and smashing their easy interpretations† (134). God kept involving himself in their lives and these events were recorded. Chapter 7 Chapter seven unpacks Oswalt’s position that the Bible is historically accurate and theologically sound. Oswalt debunks the idea that history must be recorded without divine involvement in order for it to be historically accurate. In fact, he indicates that is what differentiates the Bible from any other work (138-139). The author states that it is the unique working of God in the lives of people to reveal his divine purposes, which is nowhere else in any literature other than the Bible (142). It is what he calls â€Å"revelation through Human-Historical experience† (149). God revealed himself and was divinely involved in the lives of the Israelites. Oswalt notes that he Bible did not â€Å"bifurcate between revelation and witness to revelation† (140). The author goes on to state that if we fail to acknowledge God in the history then how can we accept the â€Å"acts† of God presented in the literature. There is also the question of how can God be known if we take him out of the equation. Although many maintain that one cannot have an accurate account of history with God. Owalt maintains that without God there cannot be an accurate history without God. Israel had a different and unique perspective of God in literature. Chapter 8 Chapter eight is an extension of chapter seven although Oswalt moves forward on his conviction that the Bible is both historically accurate and theologically relevant. He critically reviews two popular scholars’ works that have attempted to separate history from the Bible. The first is Rudolf Bultmann’s Existentialist Foundation and the other is Alfred North Whitehead’s Process Thought. The Existentialist Foundation is the way one sees self relevant to history. As Oswalt explains, â€Å"Instead of seeing the self as an entity shaped by history and a human â€Å"nature,† this way of thinking sees â€Å"existence as the most fundamental aspect of historic consciousness† (156). Oswalt states there are several problems with this philosophy; the first major issue is the use of the term â€Å"history.† He says that the term must be narrowed even further. He introduces the reader to the separation of the â€Å"narrative Geschichte from the event Historie. Geschichte is what is â€Å"going on and is in the domain of the theologian.† Meaning what is in the narrative of the story. Historie defines â€Å"what happened and is in the domain of the historian† (157). Historie centers upon what is the event that is actually happening in the story. Oswalt identifies several flaws with the Existentialist philosophy but the major ones are, 1) God is removed from the process; and, 2) The historical narrative excludes the past there is no acceptance of any standard of evaluation or appreciation of past events. Process Thought is seeks to take the events of the Bible and create together the events that take place into a new event. The events are integrated of the past, present and future. It is interested in the event not so much the substance. This too has its faults, one being that it also removes the transcendence of God in the narrative (167). Chapter 9 Oswalt provides alternative views concerning the biblical worldview in chapter nine. He maintains his stand that the biblical narrative has not changed but thoughts about it have and the biblical narrative is different than other mythological narratives. The author provides four alternatives concerning the biblical narrative. The first alternative is from John Van Seters. Seters stand is that several documents were pieced together and then priests rewrote what we now have today. The document was a work by someone using works similar to Thucydides and Herodotus. The second alternative is from Frank Cross. Cross work asserts that the bible came out of rewriting a poetic epic. The third alternative is from William Dever. Dever does deny archeological evidence of biblical history nor does he believe in the bible’s â€Å"religious explanation of Israel’s existence and nature† (178). Dever stand is Israel’s religion was no different than that of the Canaanite religion until after the exile and the religion has been inaccurately perceived. The fourth alternative is from Mark Smith. Smith suggests that Israel’s religion originated from the polytheistic religion of the Canaanites (181). Oswalt argues that not one of these alternative thoughts of the biblical narrative has proved the unique nature of the Bible. Chapter 10 Chapter 10 concludes the book by summarizing Oswalt’s main points he expressed throughout the book. The bible is both historically accurate and theologically sound. The Bible is unique and separate from myth literature but their similarities should not stand in the way of perceiving it as different. What makes it markedly different is that a transcendent God come to involve him into the lives of humanity is radically different means than that of the other cultures which overrode the continuity of myths.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

The British Mandate on Palestine Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The British Mandate on Palestine - Research Paper Example An analysis of the British mandate of Palestine shows gross deception and disregard for the rule of law on the part of the British and their conduct in making promises. This is because the British made their promises prior to seeking the mandate over Palestine from the League of Nations creating a strong sense of discontentment from the parties involved except for France and Britain, who were the major gainers. The mandate, in its deceptive means, established a home for the Jewish people as it allowed the British to buy more land for the resettlement of the Jewish people returning from Europe. The land was only available in Palestine, where the British had the mandate in terms of colonial authority and the British showered the Jews with support as even the British government was in for them. In addition, in the establishment of the mandate, the British are shown to have had plenty of corruption, where Arab agents were used to drumming  up support for them. They were also used as se ntries to develop and establish borders for the British in their division of the land so that the region could be carved out, as was the agreement between them and the French. The British mandate for Palestine stands for deception and treachery against the Arabs and in favor of the Jews, whose fortunes were overturned due to the approval of the League of Nations for Britain to govern the region. The governance features of the British mandate for Palestine involves the major conflict that culminated from the deception of the British, where both Jews and Arabs believed that the British had promised Palestine to them. With this in mind, governing the lands was a difficult concept for the British as it resulted in war, where the Arabs enforced guerilla tactics to force out British forces. On the other hand, the British favored the Jews in many factors allowing governance on the Jewish part to flow smoothly as compared to the Arabs. In addition, due to the creation of a Jewish national homeland, there was the creation of a Jewish agency in Palestine to allow the Jews to administer the migration and their rule as independent people (â€Å"The Jerusalem Fund†).

Friday, September 27, 2019

Your relationship to pharmaceuticals Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Your relationship to pharmaceuticals - Essay Example Not only the pharmaceutical industry gives small gifts to the consumers to boost their sales, but some pharmaceutical companies really resort to connivance with doctors to increase the sale of their products. Well, in China the pharmaceutical companies are not run this way. Had it been so, I would have certainly felt very angry. Though running a pharmaceutical company tends to be a business, still one simply cannot take the pharmaceutical industry as any other industry. Pharmaceutical industry happens to be different from other industries. The pharmaceutical industry aims at curing people and improving their health. It directly relates to saving the lives of the people who consume the medicines manufactured by it. Thereby, it is indeed understandable that why one does not expect the pharmaceutical industry to ruthlessly behave as any other industry. However, after watching this video I really felt disheartened and discouraged to know that the pharmaceutical companies are run like oth er companies and their main motive is to make profits. With the large amounts of money that the pharmaceutical companies have at their disposal, they can invest much in trying to make the medicines cheaper and affordable. This will indeed save the lives of many people. Besides, there are many people in the US who belong to the marginalized sections of the society and who do not afford to buy costly medicines. It is this segment of the population that suffers most from the greed of the pharmaceutical

Thursday, September 26, 2019

International Marketing w6 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

International Marketing w6 - Essay Example aba College of technology, Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria, wrote an article on environmental perception in bank marketing strategies during the period of December 2009. In this article, the author has addressed environmental factors that impact on strategic marketing practices. According to his work, environmental issues such as technology in banking, government policy, and economic factors influence the banking industry in diverse ways. His particular focus hinges on the introduction of computer technology into the banking services in the country and all over the world. He further reviews how government policies impact on the acquisition and involvement in the technological developments within the country. In a nutshell, the article captures the environmental variables that have affected the strategic marketing moves of major banking businesses. He further asserts that the rate of technological alterations and the nature of the heated competition for the control of the clientele base form the most important aspects that influence organizational strategies in international business (Linus 2009, 1). From the above article it can be noticed that technological changes do affect the conduct of businesses in a big way. As it emerges, the banking system has been faced with this concern. It becomes upon the players in the banking sector to adopt the new innovations like the introduction of computer banking. It is however an optional issue unlike the legal requirements. One major consideration in such case is the motivation to remain in business (Khandwalla 1997, 55). If any bank aspires to remain in business or retain its market control, then the top management should be under no illusions. It should seek ways to introduce the technology or lag behind and lose out to potential competitors. Another reflection that arises is the fact that the business environment remains very dynamic. In light of this, it is the duty of the business entities’ managements to be on the look out for

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

What does gender or race have to do with it Freedom Writers and the Essay

What does gender or race have to do with it Freedom Writers and the American Education System - Essay Example More often not, these films feature an inspiring teacher, which may or may not be relevant to reality depending on which school you attended. Films that illustrate education also often combat issues of race and gender, which come into play in many schoolyards across the world, with problems of language and communication at the forefront of this fight. The film Freedom Writers, released in 2007, illustrates the American school system by being based on a true story, whilst employing a number of stereotypes and Hollywood norms to make the film appeal to the intended audience. Freedom Writers is a tale of a young teacher who comes to work at a school which has just recently brought in a integration plan on the back of the Los Angeles Riots in 1992. This teacher, Erin Gruwell, struggles initially to cope with the racial segregation at the school, as well as the violence between the groups. One day, Gruwell finds a racist drawing by one of the students and uses this to illustrate the probl ems of the Holocaust, which opens the eyes of the students and allows them to see that racism and other discrimination can lead to destructive acts. Gruwell continues on in this path, by inviting Holocaust survivors to the class, as well as encouraging her class to raise the funds to bring the woman that sheltered Anne Frank in the war to their school. Gruwell encourages the class to write their own diaries, like Anne Frank, and complies them into book form, eventually having the success that she desired by preparing a number of her students for attending college. Although some of the information here may be fictional or using Hollywood hyperbole, some interesting points about the American education system were raised. The purpose of this essay is to explore the stereotyping and struggles of the racial groups portrayed in Freedom Writers, and how the film highlights racial discrimination issues and how these affect schools across the United States. The American education system is p ortrayed as place that should inspire students in their learning, encouraging them to make the right decisions and go to college, despite the initial fears and anxieties of the classroom. The inspiration may not be accurate for many, but the difficulties are, which are what makes Freedom Writers such a useful learning tool for exploring both discrimination and American educational philosophies. Intended Audience It is difficult to identify a specific intended audience for this film, although it is useful for any analysis to do so. Using mainstream actors such as Hilary Swank and Patrick Dempsey, as well as the large Hollywood budget, show that the film was intended for mainstream audiences who may have been unfamiliar with Erin Gruwell and her work as a teacher. The idea came from a documentary about Gruwell (The Freedom Writers & Gruwell, 2006), which did not hit mainstream audiences and therefore the film aimed to illustrate her story but with a number of Hollywood-style attribute s to further bolster the decision to release the story to mainstream audiences as a release. Freedom Writers promotional poster (LaGravenese, 2007) As with any education-based transformation Bildungsroman film, part of the intended audience includes young adults from the demographic of the film. This is particularly evident in Freedom Writers, as there are a number of slang terms used throughout the film that are used for comedic effect in one particularly memorable scene. Swank apologises for her â€Å"badness† (LaGravenese, 2007), which the students find hilarious because it has a completely different meaning in their language. Obviously, this scene (and other

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Leadership Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Leadership - Assignment Example A leader establishes the target himself while a manager is not authorized to establish the target. Rest of the work of a leader and a manager is the same. Both plan and control the work of the subordinates. A leader is also a manager but a manager is not a leader. A leader is not able to achieve his target unless he has robust management skills. A manager can be thought of as a leader in his own little capacity. He also takes decisions but his decisions are directed at organizing the subordinates in a way that is conducive for the achievement of the senior’s targets. b) I would consider it a great compliment if I am recognized by someone as a good manager or a good leader. Both are equally difficult skills. Some say that leadership is easier as compared to manager because the individual has the freedom to take independent decision. Nevertheless, this does not come without added responsibility. If a leader becomes successful, the whole team takes the credit. On the other hand, if the leader fails to achieve his target, the whole blame rests with him. Therefore, a leader assumes complete risk for the work. In comparison to the leader, the manager assumes very little risk. A manager is one of the team members in the hierarchy of the organization structure that a leader has. He is answerable to the leader for the compliance of the work quality, progress and cost as per the quality plan, project work schedule and the cost schedule he was originally provided by the leader. There can be a lot of excuses if any of these doesn’t comply with the original schedule owing to the hidden risks i.e. weather risk, political crises and financial crises etc. Nonetheless, management in itself is no less than an art. To make things go as per the schedule, a manager needs to have robust organizing skills. Yes, I can be both a manager and a leader as long as I have good risk identification and mitigation skills. c) Leadership has no relation to gender. A woman can be as good a leader as a man. Both men and women have their own strengths and weaknesses. Even within a particular gender, people greatly vary in their qualities. One woman may be a very good leader while another may not be so. Likewise, some men make very good leaders while others do not. All that matters is the extent to which an individual is foresighted, frugal and dominating, and both men and women can have these qualities in them. Q. 2 a) Emotional intelligence is an individual’s ability to monitor his/her own emotions as well as those of the subordinates or any group of people. People born with high emotional intelligence are more articulate in their manner and know how to deal others without offending them. In everyday life, we encounter a lot of situations which we don’t like being in. We have numerous options to deal with the complications, some of which help us achieve our targets without making anyone feel hurt while others lead us to our targets on the cost of our relationships with others. The behaviors we are required to exhibit in order to make things go smoothly vary from one situation to another. Sometimes, a mere smile on the face solves the problem. In other times, the smile won’t do. It has to be something else. People with high emotional intelligence know what behavior works best in a certain setting. Emotional intelligence has five dimensions namely â€Å"self-awareness, self-management, self-motivation, empathy and social skills†

Monday, September 23, 2019

Case Study 1 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Case Study 1 - Assignment Example This paper will examine how ideas can be extended to businesses, and marketing strategies that attract consumers to products. Through virtual sales representatives, the Laguna Beach experiment was keen to attract people to brands. Some well-known brands use virtual representation to promote their products and services. Once customers get to such informative stages, they are keener as to what an organization is promoting through such means. Virtually, many people are attracted to the ideas presented. Young people get to experience the new technology and are fascinated. The personal level appears as one gets to a local area where many people go to socialise and have fun. This is at the beach where it is an everyday occurrence to have people from diverse regions showing up to enjoy themselves (Klaassen, 2007). The Bank of America from the Internet reached out to older women with children that did not have time to get to the bank. This personal touch indicated that women could open new accounts from the internet, and still have time with their children. What the bank decided to do was a step in attracting more clients, and retaining the ones they had initially. By rounding off the customers’ savings to the nearest dollar, they were guaranteed customer loyalty, and the emergence of a new base of clients (Ante, 2006). Through another outreach program, the bank called on its customers to participate in some activity that could help them find loose change. Through this program, the bank claimed enormous success and this personal venture added to their credibility. Business buyers can use such strategies to attract clients. One strategy that a business buyer can use is the constant use of the internet to attract clientele. This strategy is usually vital in shaping a business venture. The technological age is growing and expanding at a rapid speed (Cunningham, 1995). This implies that almost everyone in the world

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Kalpana Chawla Essay Example for Free

Kalpana Chawla Essay Teachers Day BY vtnay2085 Speech given on the Teachers Day. Ghiyasuddin School, Wednesday 13th September 2006 Madam Aishath Adam, Senior Assistant Principal, Supervisors, members of the staff, Teachers and Dear Students. Assalaam Alaikum and Good afternoon. Today, we are here to celebrate great teachers and great teaching. As a fellow teacher, I find awkward to speak about teachers or for teachers. But, first, let me convey to all the teachers, my personal greetings and best wishes on the teachers day. Dear Teachers: Though a fellow teacher, I want to say I am proud of you. I am proud of your edication to the profession and for the personal sacrifices you make to teach our children. I am delighted of your devotion to train their questing minds, and for your inspiration of their hopeful hearts. I am proud that you take this responsibility seriously †that you see it as sacred trust. We celebrate teachers day, because we value you. I want to remind you that all the parents, students and the wider community deeply appreciate your commitment to teaching and to the children. There is no substitute for education. Firstly, because its the most precious gift we can give our children. Secondly, because its the most critical investment in our future. And thirdly, because its the most effective strategy which will enable us to survive and to thrive in a changing world. Dear Students: I became a teacher because of some of the happy experiences I had in school. There were teachers who touched my soul; who helped me realize my own potential. I decided to become a teacher because I want to help change someones life. Sometimes, it is hard. We have our own families, financial life and life problems that challenge us, like everyone else. Sometimes we are exhausted by our workload nd responsibilities. This is why teachers need encouragement and support. So that in turn, we can devote ourselves to our students. Dear staff and students; On Teachers Day every year, we remember our teachers, we remember our childrens teachers. We recognize these very dedicated people. People who give of themselves and take a personal interest in their students. Teachers who have touched our liv es, moulded us into what we are today, and are helping to shape tomorrows people, tomorrows students. Just as a country is as good as its people, so its citizens are only as good as their teachers. Therefore a great deal depends on you, teachers, and I salute you, all of you, those here today, and those absent, for your passion, dedication, commitment and contributions. I wish to all the teachers a successful career in teaching   a career in which you find happiness, health, friendship and love. Happy Teachers Day and thank you. Kalpana Chawla By Vaishakhi Status Deceased Born July 1, 1961 Karnal, Haryana, India Died February 1, 2003 (aged 42) Over Texas Previous occupation Research Scientist Time in space 31d 14h 54m selection 1994 NASA Group Mission insignia Sts-87-patch. ng STS-107 Flight Insignia. svg Kalpana Chawla , was an Indian-American scientist and a NASA astronaut. She was one of seven crewmembers killed in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. Early life Kalpana Chawla was born in a Punjabi Hindu family at Karnal, Haryana, India. [l] She was born in Model Town Karnal. Kalpana in Hindi means imagination. Her interest in flying was inspired by J. R. D. Tata, a pionee ring Indian pilot and industrialist. [2][3]. Kalpana has two sisters (Sunita ; Deepa) and a brother (Sanjay). Being the youngest, the family members gave her the nickname Montu. She met and married Jean- Pierre Harrison, a flying instructor and aviation writer, in 1983 and became a naturalized United States citizen in 1990. [4] [edit] Education Chawla completed her earlier schooling at Tagore Public School, Karnal. She earned her B. E. degree in aeronautical engineering at Punjab Engineering College in Chandigarh in 1982. She moved to the United States in 1982 and obtained a M. S. degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington (1984). Chawla went on to earn a second M. S. degree in 1986 and a Ph. D. degree in aerospace engineering in 1988 from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Later that year she began working for NASA Ames Research Center as vice president of Overset Methods, Inc. where she did CFD research on WSTOL. [2] Chawla held a Certificated Flight Instructor rating for airplanes, gliders and Commercial Pilot licenses for single and multiengine airplanes, seaplanes and gliders. She held an FCC issued Technician Class Amateur Radio license with the call sign KD5ESl. [edit] NASA career Chawla Joined the NASA astronaut corps in March 1995 and was selected for her first flight in 1998. that flew the Space Shuttle Columbia flight STS-87. Chawla was the first Indian-born oman and the second person of Indian origin to fly in space, following cosmonaut Rakesh Sharma who flew in 1984 in a Soviet spacecraft. On her first mission Chawla travelled over 10. 4 million miles

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Aquinas - Wealth and Power Essay Example for Free

Aquinas Wealth and Power Essay In Question II, Thomas Aquinas breaks down the complex question of where or in what man’s happiness consists, mainly by emphasizing wealth and power. While people dream of obtaining both wealth and power in their life, Aquinas emphasizes that both are neither good nor bad, and both make up a means to an end. Aquinas argues that happiness does not consist in â€Å"wealth† or â€Å"power†, yet presents another argument where he states that happiness can, indeed, be associated with wealth and power. Aquinas begins his second question and first article by pondering the question of whether happiness consists in wealth. He breaks down the two types of wealth into artificial and natural. He describes natural wealth as something that â€Å"relieves man’s natural needs, such as food, drink, clothing, travel, shelter and so on.† In other words, natural wealth fulfills the needs of humans to live and â€Å"cannot be man’s ultimate end.† On the other hand, artificial wealth is â€Å"sought only for the sake of natural wealth.† Augustine argues that a man would have no artificial wealth unless he had natural wealth to begin with. With natural wealth, there is a finite amount of objects one needs in order to survive. For example, a person doesn’t not need to buy several large pizzas to satisfy their hunger, just a few slices to get some food in their stomach and go on with their day. On the other hand, artificial wealth revolves around objects for which people have endless desires for, such as money. There are some people in society who feel that the only thing that matters in life is the amount of money you can earn before you die, just a dollar sign. However, money cannot buy happiness, wisdom, strong relationships, or virtue. Augustine backs up this point by quoting Proverbs 17:16 â€Å"What does it avail a fool to have riches, seeing he cannot buy wisdom?† Aquinas takes into account the arguments that say that happiness can, in fact, consist of riches by offering examples such as â€Å"all things obey money† (Ecclesiastes 10:19). Although he covers both possible sides, he offers his own stance on the question in his response where he covers the differences between artificial and natural wealth. In Aquinas’ fourth article, he discusses the question of whether happiness consists in power. He argues that it is impossible to have happiness in power for two reasons. The first is that â€Å"power has the nature of a principle, whereas happiness has the nature of an ultimate end,† emphasizing that power is a means to an end. Second, he states that power is both good and evil and â€Å"happiness is the proper and perfect good of man.† Although the hook for a popular song, the quote â€Å"no one man should have all that power† uniquely resonates in Aquinas’ argument against happiness consisting of power. People may believe that if they have a greater sense of power, then they feel more important and â€Å"happier.† The more powerful someone grows, the greater their fear grows of losing the very power they obsess over. A classic example from history is Joseph Stalin’s command over Russia. He was given so much power on behalf of the communist USSR that he let his sense of power overcome him. When he had caught word that there was someone planning a revolution in his cabinet, he had every single one of his high commanding officers killed. Very simply, power makes people do very abnormal things to remain in their high position. However, Aquinas argues that power can’t solve every problem in a person’s life. To quote Og Mandino, â€Å"All the gold in the world cannot buy a dying man one more breath so what does that make today worth?† This quote accurately depicts that no matter how much power and wealth someone has, it all means nothing when you are facing death. Although one may seem highly satisfied with the power he possess, it is easily revocable and those with power fear they will lose it. Aquinas presents that questions of whether happiness consists of â€Å"wealth† and â€Å"power† and presents firm arguments against each. Although he may find faults with each idea, especially the warnings of the abundant use of wealth and power, his idea still remains that both â€Å"wealth† and â€Å"power† are neither good nor bad things. For example, if a man is making enough money to feed his family and make a living for himself, that is a fine example of using wealth for good. However, Aquinas reminds us of the arguments against having â€Å"wealth† and â€Å"power† makes up a person’s overall happiness. Using both of these values for happiness is simply a means to an end, Thomas Aquinas emphasizes that these things do not lead to everlasting happiness, an argument that I agree with.

Friday, September 20, 2019

E Business Strategy: An Analysis

E Business Strategy: An Analysis Bank is an institution that deals with money as well as credit. It accepts deposits from the public, makes funds available to those who need then and helps in remittance of money form one place to another (Macesich, George, 2000, p-42). Modern banks today perform a wide range of functions that makes it difficult to give an apt and precise definition of it. One of the famous economists, Crowther had said, a bank collects money from those who have it to spare or who are saving it out of their incomes, and lends this money to those who require it. In short, the term bank in modern times refers to an institution that deals with money i.e. accepts deposits and advances loans; has the ability to create credit which basically implies expanding its liabilities as a multiple of its reserves; creates demand deposits and it is a commercial institution that aims at securing profits. Citibank is a subsidiary of Citigroup. Citibank was founded as City Bank of New York in the year 1918. According t o the latest statistics, it is now the third largest bank holding company in the United States by the total assets after Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase. The bank has its retail banking operations spread over more than 100 countries and territories around the world (Harold, Cleveland Huertas, 1985). Apart from the standard banking transactions, Citibank offers credit cards, insurance and other investment products. Their online services have earned them appreciation from every nook and corner, making them the most successful in the field. The 15 million online users bear testimony to the stated fact. The key people involved in the management of the bank are: Vikram Pandit (CEO), John Gerspach (CFO), Douglas Peterson (COO) and Willliam R. Rhodes, the Chairman. Strategy literally means the way an action is planned to achieve the desired results. Every company has certain aims that it hopes to conquer. It has a vivid description of what it desires to achieve. The vision statement that company has is an idealized picture which inspires it, energizes its efforts towards directing its actions towards the expected goals (Hambrick and Chen, 2007, p 935-955). Strategic Decision Making, in context of a firm or an organization, is the framing of long term plan of action that aims at resulting in success and profits for the products and services marketed by the company, for instance (Triantaphyllou, 2000, p 320). Strategic decision making is important to outperform the various other competitors in the market. The process of determining appropriate courses of action for achieving organizational objectives and thereby accomplishing organizational purpose is known as Strategy formulation. In todays era of cut-throat competition in the business environme nt budget-oriented planning or forecast-based planning methods are insufficient for a large corporation to survive and prosper. The firm must engage in strategic planning that clearly defines objectives and assesses both the internal and external situation to formulate strategy, implement the strategy, evaluate the progress, and make adjustments as necessary to stay on track (Kepner and Tregoe, 1965). A strategy thus formulated, should reflect on environmental analysis, basing on sustainable business. It should lead to the materializing of the vision of the organization, as to where the organization sees itself in the years to come and result in achievement of organizational objectives. It basically comprises of the following steps: Setting up mission and objectives: The mission statement describes the companys business vision, including the unchanging values and purpose of the firm and forward-looking visionary goals that would guide the pursuit of future opportunities and lead to its long term stance in the business world. Measures such as sales targets and earnings growth are the organizations financial objectives. Strategic objectives are related to the firms business position, and may include measures such as reputation in the market and market share. Environmental Scanning: The environmental scanning includes the internal analysis of the firm, external macro-environment and the analysis of the firms task environment. Various scientific analysis have been developed which assist in the process of environmental scanning. A deep rooted internal analysis of the firms strengths and weaknesses and external analysis of the threats and opportunities gives us a clear picture about the firms stance. And a profile of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats is given by the SWOT analysis. It gives us proper information regarding the concerned firm which helps us in matching the firms resources and capabilities to the competitive environment in which it operates (Menon et al, 1999, p 18-40). Strengths are used in developing the rudiments for a competitive advantage. Strengths include exclusive access to high grade natural resources, patents, strong brand names, favorable access to distribution networks and good reputation among cus tomers. The weaknesses are high cost structure, lack of access to the best natural resources, lack of access to key distribution channels, a weak brand name and bad reputation among customers. Opportunities are chance occasions for growth and prosperity. They may include: removal of international trade barriers, loosening of rules and regulations, introduction of new technologies and an unfulfilled customer need (Hill and Westbrook, 1997, p 46-52). The changes in the external environment may pose serious threat to the organization. For instance, emergence of substitute products, new regulations, increased trade barriers and shifts in consumer tastes away from the firms products. The external macro environment can be tested on the PEST analysis scale. The acronym PEST (or sometimes rearranged as STEP) is used to describe a framework for the analysis of these macro environmental factors. It is the Political, Economic, Social and Technological analysis. Political issues include Governm ents policies and legal issues like Tax policy, employment laws, trade restrictions and tariffs and political stability. Economic growth, Interest rates, Exchange rates and Inflation rates determine the Economic conditions of the market. Social factors include career attitudes, age distribution, population growth rate, health consciousness and emphasis on safety. The various factors like Automation, research and development activity, technological incentives and the rate of change of technology, influence the technological aspect of the functioning of the organization. A framework developed my Michael Porter known as Porters five forces can also be used in drawing industrial analysis. Strategy formulation: Keeping in mind the strengths and the weaknesses of the organization, it charts out its strategy that helps it in optimizing its resources and gaining maximum profits out of it. Business trends analysis, Market analysis, Competitive analysis, Market segmentation, Marketing-mix, SWOT analysis, Positioning analyzing perceptions and Sources of information are all studied closely and accurately and then strategies are formulated on the basis of the three generic strategies. The Cost Leadership strategy focuses on being the low cost producer in an industry for a given level of quality (Chaffee, 1985). The firm sells its products either below the average industry prices to gain market share or at the average industry prices to earn a profit higher than the market rivals. In the situation of a price war, the firm can maintain some profitability while letting the competition suffer losses. Even without a price war, as the industry matures and prices decline, the firms that can produce more cheaply will remain profitable for a longer period of time. The cost leadership strategy usually targets a broad market. The internal strengths that lead to success in cost leadership strategy are: High level of expertise in manufacturing process engineering, Skill in devising products for efficient manufacturing, having access to required amount of capital for investing in production assets and efficient distribution channels. The second generic strategy, i.e. The Differentiation Strategy triggers the development of a product or service that offers unique attributes that are valued by the customers and that customers consider it to be better than or distinct from the products of the competition. That means it gives ultimate utility and satisfaction to the consumer. Factors like access to leading scientific research, strong sales team that has the inherent ability to put forward the perceived strengths of the product in the market, highly skilled and creative product development department and corporate reputation for quality and innovation, result in the success of Differentiation Strategy (Mulcaster, 2009, p 65-70). The third generic strategy that is the Focus Strategy, finds its essence in a narrow segment within which it tries to achieve either a cost advantage or differentiation. The basic idea is that needs of the group are better serviced by focusing entirely on it. Strategy Implementation: The strategy thus finalized is then implemented using budgets, programs and procedures. The firms resources are organized and allocated and proper motivation is given to the work force to achieve its objectives and thus the strategy is implemented. The way in which the work force perceives the strategy is different. It is logical, that the people who formulated the strategy and the people who will implement it are very different from each other and thus there might be a conflict of opinions, if proper care is not taken to communicate efficiently. Misunderstanding may lead to chaos. Evaluation and Control: The implemented strategy has to be followed up and monitored in every step, and adjustments, if any required, will be made to adapt to the changed scenario of the market. Evaluation would primarily revolve around defining parameters to be measured, defining target values for those parameters, performing measurements, comparing measured results to the pre-defined standard and making necessary changes. E-BUSINESS: The application of information and communication technologies (ICT) in support of all the activities of business is known as Electronic business or e-business(Louis Gerstner,1996, p 172). Commerce deals with the exchange of products and services between businesses, groups and individuals and can be seen as one of the most essential activities of any business. The application of Information and Communications Technology to enable the external activities and relationships of the business with individuals, groups and other businesses is what Electronic commerce is all about. Electronic business methods empower companies to link their internal and external data processing systems more efficiently and adaptably, to work more closely with suppliers and partners, and to better satisfy the needs and expectations of their customers (Timmers, 2000, p-31). In practice, e-business is far more than just e-commerce. While e-business refers to more strategic focus with an emphasis on the functions that occur using electronic capabilities, is a subset of an overall e-business strategy. E-commerce aims to gather revenue streams using the World Wide Web or the Internet to build and nurture relationships with clients and partners and to improve efficiency (Miller, Roger, 2002, p741). Often, e-commerce involves the application of knowledge systems. E-business involves business processes spreading the entire value chain: electronic purchasing and supply chain management, handling customer service, processing orders electronically, and cooperating with business partners and catering to their needs online, via internet. Special technical standards for e-business enable the exchange of data between various companies. Basically, electronic commerce (EC) is the process of buying, transferring, or exchanging products, services, and/or information via computer networks, including the internet. EC can also be benefited from many perspective including business process, service, learning, community. EC is often confused with e-business. . E-business software solutions allow the integration of intra and inter firm business processes. E-business can be conducted using the web, the Internet, intranet and extranet or a combination of these. E-BUSINESS STRATEGIES: With the arrival of the Internet facilities and plenty of web development technologies all over the world, e-business is the new talk of businesses in todays world. E-business, like any other emerging field, is changing fast and in the process is changing the way businesses formulate their strategies and conduct their business through realization of those strategies. : E-business scores over the traditional sphere of business by adding speed to the business activities and giving a totally new dimension and definition to businesses worldwide be it whether partnerships, joint ventures or large corporations. It makes transactions quicker in this world of fast pace (Andam, 2003) . The intranet, internet, cellular networks and various other forms of digital technology have resulted in formation of a niche value chain among clients, employees, suppliers, stakeholders and traders coordinated and interlinked in the world of web marketing. The equipments and pillars of e-business strategies include acceptance of payments over the Internet, online advertising, on-line trading and auction deals over the Internet. E-business strategies differ for small and medium-sized businesses. Apart from regular sources, e-business strategies can generate revenue made from paid marketing alliances, revenues derived from franchisees and subscriptions and revenue from maintenance of current channel integrity. E- Business technology provides organizations with a great opportunity to nurture relationships with external and internal parties across its value and supply chains, to realise its competitive advantages. In doing so, however, the solution is not in the application of technology alone, to develop an effective e-Business strategy and for a successful implementation to be realised, existing business interactions must be modeled and scrutinized to trace the interactions that will benefit from this paradigm. The business processes supporting these interactions must be reformulated and designed to effectively perform the procedures behind the interactions. These changes to the business will drive changes to the supporting technology and to the stakeholders that perform the business processes using the technology. The use of Internet has helped and garnered the worldwide development of business that reaches out to a wider consumer base and advertises their products more effectively and ef ficiently. E business has been added as the latest domain in business and has become a must-have in the highly competitive technology driven open market. E Business Strategy can be summed up as the overall strategies that govern E Businesses through calculated information dissemination or scattering. Information dissemination has been widely regarded as the strongest attribute of e-business, which uses information technology in a most effective and exhaustive manner. Not only has e-business has come to play a significant role in the scenario of world trade; there is no business without an accompanying e-business in todays world. E business gives a business the opportunity, the chance to open its base to the global market and become a part of the global business community. The most important feature of e-business is that the helps businesses move on to the international scene at maximum efficiency using minimum cost. E-business has achieved unparalleled levels of success as business models (Business Software Alliance. 2001). For instance: Materials Requirement Planning (MRP), EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) or ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning). The essential features of e-business strategies are Supply Chain management and email marketing. A state-of-the-art E Business Strategy would generally include: Supply chain management: According to Harland, the management of a network of interconnected businesses involved in the ultimate provision product and service packages as required by the consumer is known as Supply chain management. The supply chain spreads all over from governing the storage and movement of raw materials to the inventory of the production process and the finished goods, from the origin point till the point where it is finally consumed (Mentzer et al., 2007, p 1-25). The effective management of supply chain can be taken care of with the help of e-business strategies, which will ensure better coordination and understanding between the wholesalers and the retailers of various products that are launched into the market. Better integration of the supply chain right from the source till the final delivery of the product can be effectively put to work using e-business strategy (Hines, 2004). This also leads us to the point of e- commerce where a parallel network of selling and buying can be seen using dissemination or scattering of information over the Internet. Everything ranging from automobiles to electronic gadgets can be bought over the Internet in a hassle free manner under the aegis of sound supply chain management. Customer service and customer relationship management: Effective e-business strategies would involve better customer service and customer relationship management ensuring the highest level of consumer satisfaction. E business is targeted at providing the services that are customer friendly, which would include the delivery of goods right at the doorstep of the consumer, right on time. Inventory and service management integration: E business strategies can also help in improved inventory and service management integration through formulating certain specific plans for accumulation of inventory and purchasing of machinery and equipment which will avoid unnecessary purchases that would ultimately lead to higher expenditures and entail different tax implications. Tactical operations alignment: Tactical operations implying towards short-term goals as opposed to strategic planning aimed at long term goals can be better coordinated by implementing the e-business strategies. Implementing Business Strategy: Implementing e-business strategy is a major task and to ensure its success, from the beginning itself, objectives need to be identified and measurable goals need to be chalked down. This will include finding out steps in a business process, minimizing errors by eliminating paper-based transactions, introducing new market opportunities or improving information access among managers, departments or strategic business units. The costs and impacts of the establishment are measured in terms of resources, time and money. The impact of business should be anticipated, well ahead of time. The introduction of e-business technology across multiple strategic business units will require a major commitment of IT department. Since e-Business applications are transparent to all major hardware platforms, operating systems and databases, thus, using an open architecture configuration eliminates this concern (Charlesworth, 2009, p 49) . If an effort to make clarifications regarding the value of the strategy to the stakeholders is made, then the process of implementation becomes smoother. For instance, e-Procurement applications add value at the purchasing department level by reducing errors and streamlining the processes involved. At the organizational level value is added by facilitated purchasing in groups which cuts costs and vendors receive added value because they have quick and prompt access to information so they can track invoices and payments. The execution of the business interaction model is expected to place us in a position to clearly identify and apply values that can be quantified to the four issues discussed above, the net resul t of which is the formulated e-Business strategy itself. E-business strategy in Citibank: Banks today are up-to-date with both the pros and cons of the internet. They are aware of the opportunities and threats that are associated with the Web. Not a single traditional bank is brave enough to face investment analysts without an Internet strategy. But even a very thoughtful approach to the Web may do no good to the company/ organization. The main purpose behind launching online banking services is to provide the customer an alternative way which is more responsive and less expensive i.e. is cost friendly. CitiDirect is the centre of the Citibank global e-Business strategy. The Business strategy of Citibank is to : CONNECT their customers to their web enabled services, TRANSFORM their capabilities into new Internet offerings and EXTEND our reach into new markets via integrated infrastructure solutions and partnerships with technology companies or e-Commerce market makers. They have innovative e-business solutions like: 1) CitiPhone 24 hours Phone Banking Service 2) ATMs- Automated Teller Machines 3) CitiAlert GSM notifications service 4) E-Card Internet Shopping Card 5) CitiDirect Corporate Internet Banking Service, and 6) Citibank Online Retail Internet Banking Service. Citibank is committed to an e-business strategy-Connect, Transform and Extend-was to web enable its core services, develop integrated solutions and reach new markets. (McCauley Khan, 2002, p.1). Their strategy is to position Citibank as the embedded Financial Services engine that powers the Internet economy. Citibank tries to differentiate itself from competitors by using its customer service efficiently. Several services are offered to their clients. Citibank offers telephone hotlines, customer relations managers to give individual care and attention to address the issues of their customers, and service experts. Citibank has been investing in technology for the front and back end of the banking systems, consistently for a long time now. Citibank was also committed to its customers. According to the case study, Citibanks vision was to become the worlds leading e-business enabler. Citibank had over 268,000 employees located in over 100 countries and their focus was to embed their ser vices into the everyday lives of the local population. Its a bank that has its roots spreading all over the country as deep as any local indigenous bank, offering diverse products, building a broad customer base, actively participating in the social community and recruiting staff and senior management from the local population and hence guaranteeing employment and stability to the economy. Apart from being committed to employees and customers all over the world, Citibank has strong brand recognition and continues to invest in technology. The leading Citigroup formed alliances with Oracle, Commerce One, Inc., SAP AG, Wisdom Technologies and Bolero.net to help metamorphosis of its company to an e-business model, to place itself strongly within the technology sector. In 2000, four companies got together with Citibank to form Financial Settlement Matrix.com It is a company that connected buyers and sellers in e-marketplaces with credit, payment processing and other services through multiple participating banks and financial service companies. Citibank is always open to adjustments to adapt to the ever-changing business environment and thus it obtains the place of one of the most successful banking chains in the world. Citibank, in its pursuit of transforming its traditional assets to digital assets has established departments necessary to manage the process. Citibank form ed the Internet Operation Group which shouldered the responsibility of distributing Internet activities among e-Citi and all other business units. Shortly after that, e-Consumer and e-Business segments were established with the aim of infusing internet to the entire customer and corporate banking activities and services. After a while, e-Capital Markets and e-Assets Management departments were also established. The e-Business unit has the task of developing the software needed to set clients up with electronic business accounts, utilizing both IT and business people. The e-workplace gave a tremendous boost to Citibank when it was in its pursuit of transitioning from the traditional way of doing business to the electronic way. Constant attention is given to development in order to make upgrades in the e-business model. The key to manage the flow of money, for its corporate consumers through the World Wide Web was delivering an integrated solution that would enable its corporate custo mers to conduct transaction on-line. Citigroup desired to be the middle intermediary between buyers and sellers for any sort of transaction. Their strength is the customer-centered approach including response time, technology and support which gains the confidence of the customers on the products of the bank. Citigroup is dedicated towards creating products that cater to different industries and business needs by taking appropriate steps, be it investing thousands of millions of dollars in the online technology or starting e-business groups. By the end of 2000, customers had begun demanding electronic invoicing, online payments guarantees and digital receipts stored online and automatic application of payments to account receivables. Citibanks strategic intent is to convert its traditional money management business into an e-business framework. Porter had accorded two main ways for a company to compete on the global front. One was cost advantage and the other was differentiation {Po rter, M.E (1980)}. And Citibanks strategy was not to compete on price and was bored rooted to the differentiation aspect. Since there are many other companies which market similar products and services, Citibank bases its differentiation on customer service. Traditionally, offering telephone hotlines, product consultants who provided service expertise, relationship managers who understood clients needs and expectations, and most important, continuous involvement in investing in technology to support both the front-end and the back-end electronic banking systems. In order for the transformation of traditional assets into digital assets, to be successful, the company must maintain or enhance its differentiation. Since the companys differentiation is based on customer service, that means that in the transformation from traditional to digital assets the company must continue to be highly responsive to the customers current and future needs and cater to the expectations of every single c lient without any fail or bias, and must do so to a higher level than the competition and set a higher standard than that set by the other competitors in the market. The alliance with the four companies Oracle, Commerce One, Inc., SAP AG, Wisdom Technologies and Bolero.net helped the Citigroup to transform and grow. In earlier occasions, the company had invested millions of dollars on its own in multiple areas of e-business, and had miserably failed. As technology is not Citibanks field of expertise, it found keeping in sync dealing with constantly changing technology to be an expensive battle, which it ultimately lost. However, by 2000 Citibank learnt form its failure. Taking lessons from its experience it changed its strategy to one of garnering alliances and using its partners strengths to create the technological infrastructure that the company needed to access markets and meet its customers changing demands. Working through alliances increased its effectiveness, reduced Citiban ks risks and costs, and allowed it to remain pliable in meeting changing technological and customer demands. Both in the short term and long term, the customers demands vary. According to McCauley and Kahn (2002), one of the most important hurdles for Citibank to overcome in canalizing customers from traditional to digital service was addressing their deep seated concerns about security. While to some extent this troubled Citibanks efforts in rolling out Web-based applications, it did actively implement multi-layered security architecture public and private access keys, single-use passwords and multiple authorization controls in order to meet customer needs (McCauley and Kahn 2002, p. 9). To add to it, with digital processing it aspired to transform repeatable processes that could be commoditized into an efficient digital factory. The transformation of goods and services (or things that may not normally be regarded as goods or services) into a commodity is known as commoditization. Commoditizing repeatable processes improves efficiency, but also gives scope to resources for additional regional emphasis i.e. localization. The strong brand name of Citibank is a resource that translates into increased trust as a trusted provider when competing with Deutche Bank and other competitors. In fact, most Fortune 500 companies assign value to Citibanks specific offerings, and prefer it to other international payment providers. Citibank, then, offers multiple areas of value to customers. The evidences of constant work in the field of imbibing recent technologies and adjusting to the changing business environment are many. The cooperation of the software giant, Microsoft and financial giant, Citibank led to the reinforcement of high standards. With a global network spanning more than 100 countries, Citi will benefit from this collaboration because the CitiDirect BE platform will help monetize its best-in-class service offerings and broad geographic coverage, while taking f ull advantage of Microsofts expertise in platform engineering, development of independent software vendor communities, and product life-cycle management, read an article on internet. Thus the commitment of Citibank to deliver global services and enhanced value through world-class partnership and innovative e-business solutions that meets the customers expectations in very evident and worth trusting. But the question that is worth focusing on now, is whether this value translates into a competitive advantage which translates into additional profits. The focus now would shift to question how unique are the solutions offered by it. Soon the cutting edge technological capabilities might become hygiene factors which will be considered to be required and not a competitive advantage and thus would not qualify for differentiation. Potential growths in e-business are always happening and continuous developments are indispensable. More and more companies are willing and opting to do everything from banking to purchasing to marketing online. Thus it becomes very essential for Citibank to align itself with the right partners in order to maintain their standards and their sta nce in the e-business sector. Company executive Tom Edgerton stated, In the future, it wont be what your company can do, but what the network of companies you work with can provide. In order for Citi to continue to grow, it must evolve in its e-Business model and develop unceasing updates to its online products. Expanding on their existing good reputation, enhanced web features and exceptional customer service, would be the fundamental opportunities for Citibank. According to Edgerton, Citibank brings considerable value to potential alliance partners. Theyre interested in our brand, our financial services expertise, our global presence, our strong customer relationships and position as a trusted provider, as well as our knowledge of specific industries and international markets. The regionalization and specialized processing centers that Citibank has developed has provided them with scale and continual improvement opportunities. Like all other sectors and organizations, Citibank is also dedicated towards improving information management practices. This in turn improves the efficiency of business processes, the demands of compliance reg

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Essay --

In April 2003 the Minnesota Senate passed the Minnesota Personal Protection Act (MPPA). This made Minnesota a "shall issue" state where a properly trained, law abiding adult could apply and receive a permit to carry a firearm. States that allow citizens to carry have less violent crimes then those that don’t allow permits. A permit to carry is another prevention method that allows you to be prepared for emergencies. The MPPA sets out guidelines to insure that not just anyone can receive their permit to carry. Carrying a gun is a big responsibility and it shouldn’t be taken lightly. However I believe the MPPA was the right choice for Minnesotans. When Minnesota became a â€Å"right to carry† state many anti- MPPA supporters claimed that by passing the MPPA that it would lead to blood in the streets. Today there are 40 â€Å"right to carry† states with about 6 million permit holders in the US. In Minnesota there are over 160,000 people with a permit to carry. The FBI’s crime reports shows that violent crimes are 26% higher in states that do not allow permits to carry. There is 2.5 million death...

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Dr. Jeckyll and Mr Hyde :: essays papers

Dr. Jeckyll and Mr Hyde In Robert Louis Stevenson’s famous novel about dual identity, Dr. Henry Jekyll, an affluent surgeon, creates a potion by which he can transform into Edward Hyde, the physical manifestation of his evil side. After many months of thrilling nighttime criminal escapades through the streets of London, his antics under the cloak of Hyde get him in trouble when he slays prominent public figure Danvers Carew. Jekyll is so shocked by this deed of evil that he decides an end will be put to his transformations, a science he calls transcendental medicine. Much to his alarm, Jekyll finds that he now turns into Hyde without his wanting it, undeniably a side effect of the drug. After locking himself into his cabinet, in order to facilitate his use of the drug in case of spontaneous transformations, his concerned butler Poole alerts good friend Gabriel Utterson, a lawyer. Together, they break into the cabinet, only to find they body of Hyde, lifeless on the floor. The pair finds an envelope addressed to Utterson which shall supposedly explain why they cannot find the body of Henry Jekyll. The book finishes with the letter Jekyll wrote for Utterson being presented to us as though he is reading it. Utterson is to rejoin Poole in the house at the stroke of midnight, no later, in order to call the police and inform them of the murder. We will start the chapter three weeks after the discovery of the corps. Note: I have tried to make the style of writing alike to Mr. Stevenson’s as much as possible. The Incident of Mr. Enfield and Mr. Utterson Mr. Utterson, the lawyer, was not a man of weak stomach, but even his strength had restrictions. Although he was an individual of strict self-control, he did approve a known patience for others; an ability he had come by due to a singular resurfacing thread that seemed to wind it’s way through his life: he repeatedly had the luck (or misfortune, as one may see it) to be the last good influence in the lives of moribund men. And so, it seemed, that the thread had reappeared in his life by way of the troubling matter of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and that it was choking the willpower right out of poor Mr.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Major Appliance Business Group

The technique of segment markets and targets of particular groups are a technique aimed to choose a certain class of customers, and It focus on study and find the dimensions of the products that could be played by Increasing marketing. It's important for the company to segmenting the market demands. This means that they need to focus on categorizing certain categories, so that it is possible for each category product to be similar to another one.By doing this technique, the company s selling the same product to match all the needs of the customers. The other goal is to reach and get the largest possible area of the customers by identifying the category or market sector, which has a purchasing power that leads to increase the value of marketing. That market segmentation helps in proper planning to pack the right marketing of the product. It also makes us extend our product at the same time to meet the needs of consumers, which Is very Important In the creation of the product.For examp le if the target category is for the people who are older than 70 years or younger than 20 years old, then we have to take into consideration that there is a limited income of the teenage and the elderly. Market segmentation helps to reduce the risk in determining where, when, how, and who will be marketing the product, service, or brand. It also increases the efficiency of direct marketing through special efforts towards a particular sector in a manner insistent with the characteristics of that part.Segmenting markets Is the simplest and the most Important technique for matching supply and demand. Steven Major Appliance Business Group By gerrymander aimed to choose a certain class of customers, and it focus on study and find the dimensions of the products that could be played by increasing marketing. Of consumers, which is very important in the creation of the product. Segmenting markets is the simplest and the most important technique for matching

Monday, September 16, 2019

Louis Xiv, the Sun King

Louis XIV, the Sun King Historians over three centuries have both defended and criticized Louis XIV’s controversial reign. Many people hailed him as a great king; supreme as the sun he deemed his emblem. A great king is an unselfish one who is able to consider the people’s interest before their own. This is a direct contrast to how Louis XIV ruled France, but he still accomplished a remarkable amount for France. Even with his selfish agenda and lavish spending, it is without question that Louis still remains the most excellent and most powerful absolute monarch in European history.He is the epitome of an absolute monarch. Having so much authority making a few mistakes was inevitable. But in his successes, France was altered for the better, permanently. Louis challenged the status quo by doing what had never been attempted. His bold choices changed the lifestyle and attitude of Europe, by creating one of the most dynamic monarchies in history. Although some may question his effectiveness, under Louis XIV’s reign France achieved political, militarily, and cultural dominance.In regards to politics, Louis’ attitude can be summarized in one infamous statement:   Ã¢â‚¬Å"L'Etat, c'est moi† (I am state). In other words, he possessed total control over his people, as an absolute monarch. He often referred to himself as the Sun King; strategically coming up with such a name because the world revolves around the sun, as he wanted the people to revolve around him. His egotistical thinking earned him a few harsh critics but his dominance remained unquestioned. When in rule, he made it clear that his word was law.This was an effective approach for him. Through his absolute monarchy he was able to accomplish much for France, specifically in the early years of his reign. The Sun King even managed to strip parliament of their traditional power to obstruct legislation. Implementing the idea; once more, that he was absolute ruler of all things. When Louis came to power, France was disheveled nobles were asking for extensions of power, in which they did not need. He put an end to this debacle; in a time of separation, he sought to unify his people and he was able to do so.After centralizing government and gaining total control of reign, his efforts were focused on cutting deficit and promoting industrial growth. With the help of his alter ego, Jean Baptiste Colbert, they brought order out of chaos associated with the royal fiscal administration. Colbert possessed the interest in the people’s ideals that the king lacked; this helped him better advice the king in his political reforms. By enforcing such reforms he pushed France towards a more stable government.Louis XIV made his most substantial impact in the realm of militarism. The foreign policy of prestige was mainly concerned with strengthening the military. The king made such astute claims that needed a strong military to defend his word. During his reign, he to ok the initiative to build a massive army, which grew to be more powerful than ever. Military reforms vastly increased France’s power. By the late 1660’s, France was the most powerful state in Europe. The army’s destructiveness assisted in reaching his main goal: to extend France to its natural borders.His adoration for power led to a series of wars that lasted many years- The four distinct conflicts that characterized his military excursions were: War with Spain, the Dutch war, the war of Palatinate, and the war of Spanish succession. Unfortunately, his desire for expansion gained him a few enemies. The enemies being the countries he was trying to conquer. Even some of his people were underwhelmed with his efforts, having to pay for such reforms in heavy taxes. Overall, his military reforms helped France sustain a stronger army than ever.With such an astute commander, the French military was certainly a force to be reckoned with. Just as Louis’ wars domi nated political history in the late1600’s, his palace at Versailles dominated European culture. The age of Louis saw a flourishing of culture throughout Europe. As an absolute monarch, he assumed total control over everything, and culture was no exception. The state was able to manipulate cultural developments and take them to unprecedented heights. His influence on culture contributed to the prestige of France (). The Sun King also aided in the blossoming of art and architecture.The great king created many programs and institutes to infuse more of the arts into French culture. Louis’ patronage for the arts was concentrated on Versailles, a palace that is an unforgettable symbol of his power and influence on Europe. Versailles was one of the most beautiful achievements of eighteenth-century French art (). There was a shift from articulate paintings to posters, but the idea remained the same, to commemorate his power. The motives in supporting art were simple: to pass t he glamour and glory of his century to the generations to come.Louis XIV served the longest reign in European history. His time in power saw achievements that seemed unattainable for France, in the time before him. The age of Louis XIV was essential to European history for a manifold of reasons. First, his reign saw the triumph of absolutism, not only in France, but also in continental Europe. His creation of Versailles was an extravagant denotation for other European leaders to follow. Second, Louis’ wars proved the system of Balance of power to be an effective method. French aggression was contained and it became the norm.Most importantly, Louis’ reign established France as the dominant power in Europe. However, his legacy was not all positive; his lavish spending habits left his successors a huge debt. While conditions in France were well during his rule, the problems caused by his decisions would help ignite the French Revolution in 1789. With that being said, Loui s’ achievements deemed him one of the greatest monarchs in history. It is unfortunate that so many historians focus only on debt and military failures, and not what he was able to do for France, when they desperately needed change.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Business, Government & Society – Notes on Relevant Journals

Berend (2000) From Plan to Market, From Regime Change to Sustained Growth in Central and Eastern Europe * After the state socalism collapsed in Central and Eastern Europe in the early 1990s, the Washington consensus of 1989 (a broadly accepted set of criteria for a reform program) was adopted as a blueprint for the process of transformation. * Central elements: * Macro-economic stabilization (for countries with significant inflation and indebtedness) * New institutions Legislation * Price and trade liberalisation * Radical privatization * Most of the â€Å"transformatologyâ€Å" literature is based on the assumption that the elimination of deformed non-market economies, a restoration of market, and private ownership, paired with a laissez-faire free market system would automatically solve all major economic/social problems of the transforming countries. The economic crisis within the Central and Eastern Europe area started much earlier – in the mid-late 1970s when growth slo wed significantly and the terms of trade for the state socialist countries began to deteriorate (1973 first oil shock 20% decline, for some even 26-32%) Schumpeter’s theory of â€Å"structural crisis†: advancements in technology lead to decline of the old leading sectors and export branches based on old technology, generating wide-ranging slow-down and decline and causing an economic crisis even in rich, advanced countries.However, although rising new technology led to the emergence of new industries, new leading export sectors and an impressive new boom in the US and other advanced countries, the Central and Eastern Europe countries experienced a â€Å"peripheral structural crisis† – they suffered all the negative consequences of a the â€Å"structural crisis† but due to not having sufficient resources for R&D, know-how and financial sources, they were not able to take advantage of the technological development.After 1989, when the countries of th e region lost the protection from Comecon’s isolation and regional self-sufficiency, they were forced to enter the world market and compete with the advanced countries (already adjusted to new technology) and also on their own opened domestic market. Consequence: the peripheral structural which had prolonged since 1973 continued and worsened during the 1990s. Also contributing to the economic crisis: serious macro-economic policy errors e. excessive devaluation of the currency; too abrupt opening to trade with the West; and the failure in government management of the state sector * Foreign trade deficits increased dramatically and nearly all countries in the region dropped into an indebtedness trap – debt service consumed about 40-75% of the countries’ hard income and quite a few started to lose control over inflation * Economic policy during the transition: Change was too fast countries of transformation should not have attempted to jump directly from a central ly planned to a laissez-fair economy and from an entirely state-owned to a 100% privatized economy * State regulations and government policy were needed self-regulating mechanisms were not yet developed, market imperfections and non-market friendly behaviour were present * Suggestion (Kolodko) : A regulated market, instead of a self-regulation market, a mixed economy with a restructured and efficient state-owned sector for at least a period of time, and a â€Å"fine mixture between market and stae† would have been a more natural transition from plan to market * However, this approach was not adopted and led to a collapse of many old companies (lost a bulk of their value and had to be sold for a fraction of their previous value) mass unemployment, sharp decline in living standards (especially for vulnerable layers of society) * Outcome: Industry recovered only in two countries – Poland and Hungary * Some experienced a new crisis – Bulgaria and Romania * Russia an d Ukraine as well as several other successor states of the Soviet nion had experienced constant decline throughout the entire decade * Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia – market economies are functioning, economic decline and rapid inflation are over, the annual economic growth is impressive * Performance differences: * Often explained by the lack of determination to pursue radical reforms author agrees * However, besides pursuing systemic change, the countries in transformation also have to adjust to the â€Å"structural risis†, by restructuring the economy according to the requirements of modern technology to reach a sustained and higher than average growth technological and structural transformation of the economy are central elements of the transition * Window of opportunity slowly opened after 1989 when direct foreign investment became the key factor in technological modernization and restructuring in the area but only played an important r ole in the three frontrunners of transformation – Estonia, Latvia and Slovenia * In addition, not all investments contributed to restructuring, some of them served only to enlarge the investors’ markets. However, key investments were made in the most backward infrastructural sphere, especially telecommunication that serves as the basis for any kind of technological progress to date. * Investments had positive effects on Eastern Europe where they generated growth of domestic business which led to economic growth (especially in Poland).Big transnational businesses were also obliged to reinvest some of its profits and to use domestic products and sub-contractors initiated small local business activities. * Russia, the successor states of the Soviet Union, and most of the Balkan countries exhibited minimal progress in restructuring. FDI was minimal in this area and mostly went into the extracting branches of oil, gas and raw materials; transnationals are present but do not develop processing industries and export branches. Consequently, this area was unable to adjust to the late 20th century technological revolution and declined into a continuous peripheral structural crisis. In those Central European countries, where impressive FDI assisted technological-structural adjustment, transformation is paving the way to sustained growth and catching up with the West. These countries became memers of NATO and are candidates for EU membership. Murrell (1993): What is Shock Therapy? What Did it Do in Poland and Russia? Poland: * Shock therapy failed in Poland * The reform program implemented in January 1990 comprised a number of related measures * Fiscal policy was tightened considerably budget surplus in Q1 1990 * Real value of the money supply was halved * Tight limits were placed on credit * Trade liberalisation removed all restrictions * Anti-inflation wage tax was set at strict levels Government made a commitment to privatisation on a massive scale * Soli darity and the Catholic Church were two of the strongest social institutions in Eastern Europe helping to maintain the shock therapy model * Once it was realised that the shock therapy was not going to produce as many benefits as expected, it came under severe attack gradually, many of the elements of the initial program were withdrawn or weakened monetary policy was loosened * Further movement away from the shock program occurred throughout 1991 in the face of massive and open opposition to the government’s policy * Fiscal and monetary policy were considerably loosened budget deficit began to rise to the levels of 1989 * Reversal of trade policy tariff rates increased and selective protection was endorsed * Although policy was modified during the two years following the big bang, the commitment of the large part of society to change was never in doubt. * Change was inexorable (kohklematu), given the collapse of the communist regime that had blocked reforms that had been dema nded for so long. * Nevertheless, Polish economy started to show first signs of success after policy was rescued from the shock therapists. Russia: Stages of the reform chronology in Russia are similar to those in Poland, but without a successful outcome * Less preparatory reform during the communist period in Russia * Core group of reformers were radical and ambitious, and more removed from its own society than were the Polish reformers * Radical reforms had hardly advanced beyond their explicitly destructive first phases before they were rejected by society * By 1991 economic reform in the Soviet Union had hardly progressed beyond the stage of decentralisation within the old system and it was still very equivocal * Price controls and state orders contributed to about 75% of economic activity * Small private sector did not thrive on its own, it was in a symbiotic relationship with the state sector * Law on contract had not been implemented by the end of USSR * Russia’s econo mic and political leaders still did not fully comprehend the difficult conceptual and institutional issues related to establishing macroeconomic control and they had little experience Russia could not match Poland’s years of contact with the West, the experience and knowledge of its policymakers gained in the worldwide academic community, and the years of learning in interactions with the world financial community. * In 1990 and 1991, the Russian government had been gradually gained power (and this was accelerated by the failed coup). * In late October 1991, Russian President Boris Yeltsin announced his intention to launch a radical attack on the country’s economic problems. He had been given freedom in administrative and policy choices for one year and he decided to assign the policymaking duties to a group of theorists, who had a strong preference for rapid change and who had vague idea about how to bring this change about * Murrell argues that shock therapy was the guiding force of policy as Russia began real economic reform in January 1992. * The reform (1992) was certainly more radical than the Polish big-bang, including: * Freeing of most prices * Removal of the old supply system * The complete liberalisation of imports * A thoroughgoing change in the tax system * Rapid closing of the budget deficit * Stringent tightening of monetary policy * A privatisation program with very ambitious goals Preparation for early convertibility of the ruble together with and immediate relaxation of rules on foreign exchange trading * Renegotiation of the existing trading relationships with the other ex-republics * There was greater determination in Russia to undermine the existing institutions of government; the incoming government viewed its mission as an attack on the old Soviet system. * In several areas, the degree of shock, the amount of policy implementation, and even actual policy were unclear * Uncertainty about the nature of policy was present even among those at the apex of government * As early as February 1992, criticisms about the economic policy started to arise * As 1992 proceeded and the economic crisis became more threatening, some old mechanisms of control began to return * Broad powers to control prices and to use central directives on production * To avoid large scale bankruptcy, the government began to make credit available to nterprises in significant amounts * Due to a threat that better enterprises were being brought down with the bad ones, directors of enterprises formed an alliance along with independent labour unions to put pressure on the government, which was forced into compromise with these interest groups * Direct consequence of the policies introduced in January 1992 was that the political forces representing the dominant economic interests of the old Soviet system were much stronger than they had been before those policies were introduced * The short burst of shock therapy in Russia had considerable s uccess if destruction is counted as a goal. But the destruction of the old was hardly matched by the creation of market-oriented institutions of economic control. Blanchard (1994): Transition in Poland * First two years: * Large decreases in GDP * Even larger decreases in industrial production * Output stabilised in mid-1992 * Employment declined initially more slowly than GDP, but has kept declining despite the turn in output * Hardening of budget constraints * Subsidies to state firms were decreased Tax arrears, interenterprise arrears and bank loans were limited and decreasing * Sources of output decline during the first 2 years: * Stabilisation * Price liberalisation * Collapse of trade between Central and Eastern Europe countries * State firms are controlled by workers with uncertain stakes and horizons, and have limited access to finance; state has remained de jure owner of state firms but is not able to exercise its control rights control has reverted to the workers * Led to slow adjustment of employment to decreasing output, appropriation of profits to workers in the form of wages and low restructuring and investment * Slow privatisationFidrmuc (2003): Economic reform, democracy and growth during post-communist transition Key point: There are merits to simultaneous democratisation and liberalisation – democracy reinforces economic liberalisation, which in turn leads to better growth performance. Democracy is clearly not a necessary condition for high growth (as the examples of Chile and China illustrate), but as the experience of the post-communist transition countries shows, democracy results in policies and institutions that facilitate economic reforms and create an environment that is favourable for growth. However, democratisation alone is not the key to growth; it is through its positive impact on economic liberalisation that it improves growth performance. By 1993, barely 3 years into transition, three frontrunners – the Czech Repub lic, Hungary and Slovenia – attained a level of political freedom and civil liberties comparable to the UK, France or Germany. * Most post-communist countries succeeded in sustaining at least a moderate level of democracy, despite very turbulent economic and political developments, military conflicts or coup attempts. * The high speed of democratisation reflected not only the desire of these countries’ citizens to live in democracy, but also the encouragement or outright pressure from Western governments, international organisations and especially the EU which made democracy and explicit precondition for accession negotiations. Democracy has a positive effect on progress in implementing market-oriented reforms. * Economic liberalisation, in turn, has a positive effect on growth * Therefore, democracy indirectly improves growth performance. * Economic performance during transition and initial conditions affected the progress in democratisation – countries that we re more developed at the outset of transition and those that grew faster during transition in turn implemented greater degree of democracy. Growth performance during transition: * All post-communist countries experienced dramatic contraction of economic activity at the outset of the reforms, but the subsequent transition paths diverged considerably. Some countries reached the bottom of transformational recession after 2-4 years and then recovered * Some, most notably Poland grew at impressive rates subsequently * Others (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Romania) experienced a second dip later on * In contrast, most Soviet Union countries experienced deep and protracted depression with little subsequent recovery –> for Moldova and Ukraine, transition resulted in a decade of continuous decline * By 2000 only 4 countries have exceeded the 1989 level of output * Berg et al. (1999) found that the initial output fall is attributable primarily to initial conditions and macroeconomic instability, whereas the effect of liberalisation on growth was overwhelmingly positive. When considering separately the effects of liberalisation on state and private sectors, they conclude that liberalisation contributed to the contraction in the state sector, but this was more than compensated by the expansion in the private sector. The further a country lies from Brussels, the more reluctant it was to implement radical economic reforms – therefore, being father away from Western Europe is associated with lower growth, although the relationship is often not significant. * Engagement in military conflicts, not surprisingly, lowers growth. * On the other hand, once the war is over, the affected countries tend to grow more rapidly as they make up for the loss of output. * Government expenditure does not have a significant impact on growth Democracy and growth: * The post-communist countries implemented, at least initially, economic and political reforms simultaneously. In so me cases, political reforms even preceded the economic ones.Hellmann (1998): Winners Take All: The Politics of Partial Reform in Postcommunist Transition Key point: A conventional approach suggests that in the short-term, economic reforms are believed to generate high transitional costs before long-term gains are realised. Therefore, politicians in democratic systems are reluctant to undertake radical reforms whose benefits will not be realised before the next elections. For an economic reform to be successful, governments need to focus on restraining the net winners of the reform as they are the one’s responsible for setting the highest obstacles for the advancement of the reforms. The partial reform model: Explains why some countries have maintained partial reform over time, even though the short-term costs are higher and the overall gains are lower than those associated with more comprehensive reforms * Explains why post-communist countries in which the net winners of the reform process appear to have significant political power over economic policy-making nevertheless have remained mired in a partially reformed economy * Provides a possible explanation for the strong link between democracy and economic reform among the postcommunist transitions that stresses the advantages of including the very groups that suffer from the transitional costs of reform Conclusion: The costs of transition have been substantial in all transition economies – to varying degrees, each country has faced some combination of high inflation, high unemployment, declining real incomes, decreasing state services, and increasing uncertainty. * However, the losers of the reforms have not constituted the main political obstacle to the progress of reform. * In fact, it is these countries in which governments have been most vulnerable to the losers’ threat of an electoral backlash against reform that have adopted and sustained the most comprehensive reform programs. * In contrast, governments insulated from electoral pressures have made, at best, only partial progress in reforming their economies. * Moreover, economic reforms, once adopted, have rarely been reversed, even when the reform governments that initiated them have been ousted.In addition, there have been cases in which electoral backlashes were followed by intensification of reform in some areas * Partial reforms were predicted to generate rent-seeking opportunities arising from price differentials between the liberalised sectors of the economy and those still coordinated by nonmarket mechanisms * Rapid foreign trade liberalisation without complete price liberalisation managers were able to sell their highly subsidised natural resource inputs (oil/gas) to foreign buyers at world market prices * Privatisation coupled with the creation of an effective corporate government structure reduces asset stripping by enterprise insiders. Actors who enjoyed extraordinary gains from the distortions of a partially reformed economy have fought to preserve those gains by maintaining the imbalances of partial reforms over time – the winners from an earlier stage of reform have incentives to block further advances in reform that would correct the very distortions on which their initial gains were based. In effect, they seek to prolong the period of partial reforms to preserve their initial flow of rents, though at a considerable social cost. * Therefore, the challenge posed by the winners is based on a set of assumptions about the costs and benefits of reform that differs from the assumptions of the conventional J-curve pattern upon which most existing models of the political economy of reform are based. J-curve assumes that economic reforms generate concentrated costs in the short term and dispersed benefits over the long term, whereas Hellman has demonstrated that in the postcommunist transitions, economic reforms have tended to produce highly concentrated gains to particula r groups in the short term, while dispersing the transitional costs of reform throughout the economy. * The partial reform model stresses the need to restrain the winners by increasing competition with other groups or by restricting their ability to veto reform measures unilaterally. * In this view, expanding political participation to include the losers in the policy-making process could place limits on the concentrated political power of the winners and prevent them from sustaining a partial reform equilibrium. * One of the fundamental tenets of the politics of economic reform has always been to create a constituency of winners with a stake in sustaining and advancing the reform process. This has been a common strategy both for making the reforms irreversible and for building up the necessary political support for further reforms. * Yet a comparison of the post-communist transitions suggests that the winners can do far more damage to the progress of economic reform than the losers . * Therefore, the success of economic reform depends both on creating winners and constraining them. * Paradoxically, the most effective means of constraining the winners in the post-communist transitions has been to guarantee the political inclusion of the very constituency that most existing political economy models seek to exclude: the short-term losers of reform. Progress in the implementation of market reforms could reduce the private gains to the initial winners over time, while increasing efficiency gains for the economy as a whole from winners’ perspective, J-curve is reversed * Countries that adopt more comprehensive reforms at the start have a narrower gap between the income curves of winners and losers. More on PARTIAL REFORM and other information: Roland (2002): The Political Economy of Transition Normative political economy – focuses on the decision-making problem of reformers Reformers face 2 types of political constraints: * Ex ante political constraint s – feasibility constraints * Ex post political constraints – related to backlash and policy reversal Relaxing political constraints – 4 options: 1.Building reform packages that give compensating transfers to losers from reforms * Easiest way – ‘Buy their acceptance’ * In the real world and transition economies it is hard to do 2. Making reforms partial to reduce opposition * Partial reform, usually in the framework of a gradualist strategy, has some clear disadvantages. It yields lower efficiency gains than a complete reform. * However, partial reform also has several potential advantages over full reform – it is less costly in terms of compensation payments to losers. * If partial reform is less costly to reverse than full reform, political acceptability can be easier than for full reform because it provides an option of early reversal. If a partial reform is implemented, a continuation toward full reform seems unattractive to a majo rity then it is always possible to come back to the status quo (Russia – turned back too early?! ) * Gradualism thus lowers the cost of experimenting with reform and thus makes a move away from the status quo more easily acceptable to a majority. * Partial reform can also build constituencies for further reform through the use of â€Å"divide and rule† tactics (showing that rejection of a current reform plan can lead to the adoption of a plan that would hurt them even more, they may prefer to accept the first one) and the optimal choice of sequencing of reforms (e. g privatisation of those enterprises with â€Å"good† outcome first) 3.Creating institutions that make a credible commitment to compensating transfers * Can offer benefits * However entails economic costs * E. g extending voting franchise- ensuring poorer segments of population vote 4. Waiting for deterioration of the status quo to make reform more attractive * Sometimes only option is to wait * Howev er, decision-making paralysis may occur if political decision making is characterised by different parties trying to push the burden onto the other parties Understanding the difference in transition paths between central European countries like Poland and Russia and the former Soviet Union on the other hand: * Law and property rights: One argument – the extent of state capture and rent seeking was much more important in former Soviet Union countries than in central Europe and this difference goes a long way in explaining differences in output performance (EBRD, 2000; Hellman and Shankerman, 2000) * Geopolitical factors * Quite important, although they have been underestimated since the beginning of the transition – in geopolitical terms, the transition represents the shift of central Europe and the Baltic states toward western Europe several nations are given the opportunity to have more interaction with western Europe or even join the European Union * Entry to the EU implies adopting the political and economic system of the west. The potential reward of belonging to the club of western nations makes it more worthwhile to undergo the cost of transition.Moreover, the geopolitical factor increases the perceived cost of reversing transition policies, since such reversals would raise the risk of being left out of the western club, an outcome than many in central and eastern Europe would view as disastrious. Geopolitical impact of transition for Russia: * Transition represents the loss of the Soviet empire and also of territories (Ukraine or the Baltic States) – wound to Russian nationalist pride * Trauma of the loss of superpower status could be compensated for by economic gains from transition to a certain extent. Unfortunately, such gains have not materialised so far for the majority of Russians. Entry of Russia into the EU is neither expected nor especially desired. * Thus, resistance to transition proved much harder in the former Soviet Un ion than in central and eastern Europe. Sequencing: The sequence of reforms in transition economies are roughly in line with political economy theory, which suggests that reforms expected to be more popular should be adopted first and the less popular reforms tend to be delayed. For example, in both Central and Eastern Europe, democratic reforms preceded economic reforms because support for democracy was much stronger than support for economic reforms. * Apart from political reforms, certain other institutional changes can be decided at an early stage of reforms. For example, establishment of institutions for competition policy should be among the first reforms to be implemented in transition economies.This reduces the danger of existing monopolies going into private hands, which may have enough power to prevent the government from introducing competition policy or any other measures that are opposed to their interests. * Another important early step in the sequence of transition re forms is encouraging the development of a small private sector prior to more comprehensive reforms (in Hungary, small private sector was already producing 10% of industrial output by 1990) * As the Big Bang Price Liberalization in Vietnam showed, the prior existence of a viable private sector buffered the shocks of economic liberalization and macroeconomic stabilization and facilitated a supply response.In Vietnam, after the implementation of a radical price liberalisation, output initially fell, but an impressive growth in agriculture still led to positive growth in GDP. * In transition economies, the best firms tend to be privatized first as the privatization of more profitable firms creates political support and goodwill to for further privatization and other reforms. * Another set of sequencing issues arises with regard to mass privatization. Mass privatization in countries like Russia created a sudden and strong concentration of economic power among insider managers. This is es pecially dangerous because a sudden shift of economic power to insider managers may make it easier for them to threaten or use bribery against politicians and regulators to take advantage of subsidies or favorable legislation.The insider uses the threat of reducing economic activity and destroying jobs which leads to inequality of wealth which in turn might increase political instability. Trade-off between the speed of reforms and the size of budgetary transfers: * The theory of political economy suggests that faster reforms involve higher compensation costs like unemployment benefits and pensions due to a higher level of restructuring. In addition, there are claims that a faster rate of restructuring in transition economies is associated with a worsening fiscal state. * However, the role of the social safety net in helping overcome political constraints is quite clear.In the case of central European countries like Poland and the Czech Republic, the social safety net has helped to m itigate the negative ffects of transition on income inequality, especially for the most vulnerable proportions of the population. Role of political institutions: * When it comes to the role of political institutions and the progress of reforms, there are contradicting views. * Empirical analysis by Hellman and EBRD has found that stronger executive branch of government tends to be associated with less progress in reform, whereas there tends to be a positive correlation between the broadness of coalition and the progress of reforms. * However, empirical findings by Rubini and Sachs, among others, have shown that weak executive branch and broad coalition goverments are obstacles to reforms. Faster progress in reforms due to broader coalition may be explained by the fact that if reforms are accepted by broader coalitions, perhaps there is less chance they can be reversed. * However, broad coalitions tend to paralyze decision making due to the holdup power of some groups and to differin g views within the coalition. * Another possible interpretation is that the population is eager to get reforms implemented, whereas the politicians and those holding office are opposed to it. In that case, closer checks on the executive branch and frequent elections are a way to force the politicians to move, whereas politicians with more discretion would choose to block reforms. According to Roland, the most likely explanation for the positive correlation between progress of reforms and broadness of coalitions and weakness of the executive branch is that it is likely that the countries where it was the easiest to push for democratic reforms, are also the countries where resistance to economic reforms was relatively smaller. Whereas in countries with less initial support for reforms, it is quite likely that both democratic reform and economic reform are less advanced. Therefore, the differences in initial conditions of reform are what determine the intensity of political constraints , and thus the initial choice of political institutions, and hence the initial choice of policies. Popov (2000) – Shock Therapy vs Gradualism:Primary issue regarding transition performance – strength of institutions Secondary – speed of reforms * By now most economists would probably agree that because liberalisation was carried out without strong market institutions it led to the extraordinary output collapse in CIS states * The worse initial conditions for transformation, the greater the probability of the deep transformational recession, and hence the more likely delays in liberalisation * Gradualists objected to the elimination of old regulations and institutions before the new ones are created, warning that the institutional vacuum may have a devastating impact on output Transformational recession Supply-side phenomenon – reallocation of resources (restructuring) due to market imperfections is associated with the temporary loss of output Argument: Di fferences in economic performance in post-communist countries during transition appear to be associated predominantly not with chosen reform paths, but with the magnitude of initial distortions in industrial structure and external trade patterns, and with the initial level of economic development. The higher the distortions (militarisation, over-industrialisation, â€Å"under-openness† of the economy and the share of perverted trade flows), the worse is the performance as measured by the GDP change. And the higher was GDP per capita before transition, the greater were distortions embodied in fixed capital stock, the more difficult it was to overcome these distortions to achieve growth. The impact of speed of liberalisation appears to be limited, if any. Reasons (distortions): * High defence expenditure and the need for conversion * Overcoming the effects of the Cold War Defence expenditure was abnormally high – declines in defence output were not offset by increases in non-defence output * Reallocation of resources from industry to services * External trade distortions – the degree of openness of socialist economies (the share of external trade in GDP) * In most countries, including the majority of the former Soviet republics, trade was relatively underdeveloped * A bit better in Azerbaijan, Hungary and Vietnam * Shift to world market prices in interrepublican trade led to reduced trade – prices used were completely different (resource commodities underpriced, finished goods overpriced) Policy factors: institutions, rule of law and democracy The decline of the institutional capabilities contributed a great deal to Russia’s and CIS poor economic performance * Regardless of the criticism against â€Å"big governments† and too high taxes in former socialist countries, the downsizing in the government that occurred in most CIS states during transition went too far – drastic reduction of government spending (50% and more in real terms in the course of just several years) cannot lead to anything else but institutional collapse * In addition, in most CIS states the reduction occurred in the way that instead of shutting some programs down completely and concentrating limited resources on others, governments kept all programs half-alive, half-financed and barely working Three major patterns of change in the share of government expenditure: 1) Under strong authoritarian regime – China Cuts in government expenditure occurred at the expense of defence, subsidies and budgetary financed investment, while expenditure for â€Å"ordinary government† remained largely unchanged 2) Under strong democratic regimes – Poland * Budgetary expenditure, including â€Å"ordinary government† expenditure declined only in the pre-transition period, but increased during transition itself – social safety nets? 3) Under weak democratic regimes – Russia * Reduction of the general le vel of government expenditure led not only to the decline in the financing of defence, investment and subsidies, but to the downsizing of â€Å"ordinary government† which undermined and in many nstances even led to the collapse of the institutional capabilities of the state * Russian pattern of institutional decay proved to be extremely detrimental for investment, and for general economic performance To sum up, Gorbachev reforms of 1985-91 failed not because they were gradual, but due to the weakening of the state institutional capacity leading to the inability of the government to control the flow of events. Similarly, Yeltsin reforms in Russia, as well as economic reforms in most other FSU states, were so costly not because of the shock therapy, but due to the collapse of the institutions needed to enforce law and order and carry out manageable transition. Therefore, there is enough evidence that differing performance during transition, after factoring in initial conditions and external environment, depends mostly on the strength of institutions and not so much on the progress in liberalisation per se. Democratisation without strong rule of law usually leads to the collapse of output.After allowing for differing initial conditions, it turns out that the fall of output in transition economies was associated mostly with poor business environment, resulting from institutional collapse. Liberalisation alone, when it is not complemented with strong institutions, cannot ensure good performance. Ericson (1991): The Classical Soviet-Type Economy: Nature of the System and Implications for Reform Characteristics of the Soviet-type economic system: * A hierarchical structure of authority * Rigid, highly centralised planning of production and distribution * A commitment to maximal resource utilisation * Formal rationing * Exhaustive price control * The lack of any liquidity or flexible response capability * The lack of legal alternatives to assigned economic rela tionships * Absolute and arbitrary control by superiors Incentives that are geared to meeting the plans and desires of evaluating superiors Any economic reform must struggle against these characteristics and their natural consequences. One important consequence is that while the administrative superstructure has been subject to rather frequent â€Å"reform†, the physical structure of production and interaction has changed only very slowly. Strengths and weaknesses of the traditional Soviet-style system: Strenghts: * Very good at mobilising scarce resources and concentrating on a few clear, well-defined objectives (that can be expressed in measurable, quantitative and communicable terms and that yield large observable outcomes) * Building of major heavy industrial capacities * Collectivisation of agriculture * Post-war reconstruction of industry Development of an unprecedented military-industrial complex * Maintenance of the world’s last true empire Weaknesses: * Centra l authorities lack the information and physical capability to monitor all important costs * Decisions made in ignorance of opportunity costs lead to a vast range of negative externalities: * Damage to the capability of users to produce (especially with needed quality) * Unusable output forced on others in the system * Destruction of the resource base due to improper exploitation * Collateral damage to agriculture etc * Incentives used lead agents to: * Avoid any change or risks * Shun innovation * Ignore information important to others * Work to rules regardless of the impact on othersThus, while the traditional Soviet economic system has been effective in achieving a few centrally definable and achievable objectives, it is also inherently wasteful and inefficient in the pursuit of those objectives. Implications for reform: 2 monumental obstacles: * Vast resource commitment – however, lack of resources currently available in Soviet-style economies is probably not the most ser ious obstacle, for it might be dealt with through aid from abroad * Primary obstacle: characteristics of the Soviet-style system are interconnected and mutually supporting, altering one or a few is merely disruptive of the stable functioning of the system and its effectiveness.Thus, a meaningful reform must eliminate all characteristics more or less simultaneously. THEREFORE Partial reforms will not suffice The analysis implies that radical reformers are correct to seek the total replacement of the traditional system. Radical marketization and privatisation undercut of destroy each of the nine defining characteristics of the traditional system. Fischer & Gelb (1991): The Process of Socialist Economic Transformation Enterprise reform: * Enterprise reform, which requires the imposition of bottom-line discipline, definition and change of ownership, and reform of management, is the heart of the transformation process. Two phases (opinions differ which should come first) * Restructuring * PrivatisationSlow privatisers argue that firms should be sold off gradually after restructuring. They emphasise the danger of severe economic dislocation if too much change is attempted quickly. Fast privatisers argue that the benefits of a rapid and irreversible shift to private production outweigh the costs of reduced state revenue. They believe that comprehensive and rapid ownership reform is necessary to increase efficiency. * Broad distribution of shares, or vouchers with which shares can be bought, across the population The Role of the State: * Redefining the previously all-encompassing role of the state is one of the greatest challenges for reform.Institutions and professions taken for granted in market economies have to be re-created and reformed to support markets: * Secure legal environment to protect property rights and regulate commercial relations * Accounting and audit systems are needed to organise and monitor information * Investments in human capital to complement the system reforms in areas such as: accounting, credit and market analysis and bank inspection. * Management skills need to be upgraded and modernised (especially in finance and marketing) * In some areas, such as financial markets, reform may require a greater state role than before. * Reforming governments need urgently to: * Introduce broad-based taxes and to develop the capacity for tax administration, rather than continue to depend on profit remittances from state enterprises. * Institute a social safety net, especially for those affected by the new phenomenon of open unemployment * Liberalisation of labour and capital markets is also important.Labour market reform measures to make it easier to hire/fire labour, relaxation of wage regulation, introduction of unemployment insurance, establishment of institutions (inc. employment agencies) to encourage labour mobility. Capital market reform development of financial markets and private sector institutions (inc. banks). However, freeing input markets should not be an early priority. * Enterprise reform is the heart of the transformation process. 2 phases: restructuring and privatisation. Slow privatizers vs fast privatizers. Reforming governments will have to introduce broad-based taxes and develop the capacity for tax administration, rather than continue to depend on profit remittances from state enterprises. The reforming goverments will also have to develop a social safety net. Sequencing of reforms: Reforms need to include macroeconomic stabilisation, price reform, trade reform, small-scale privatisation, new regulations for private investment, the creation of emergency unemployment insurance and the start of work on new tax, legal and regulatory institutions. * For countries with severe internal/external imbalances, priority no. 1 has to be macroeconomic stabilisation (e. g sharp cuts in firm-specific subsidies, tight credit limits, trade liberalisation at a heavily depreciated exchange rate, fixing th e nominal exchange rate (in countries with high inflation)). Stabilisation can be assured only by following consistent macroeconomic policies over periods of years. Shleifer (1997) : Government in Transition Key point: Russian government is less effective in serving the market economy – as well as its people – than the Polish government. But why? Arguments to the effect hat Russia is historically and culturally incapable of good government (such as low trust and anti-market culture) lack support. More convincing argument: Russia has not had as radical a change in its government, in terms of both structure and personnel, as Poland or the Czech Republic. Comparison of Poland and Russia: * Both were industrial economies at the time reforms began * Both economies faced substantial disruption from the collapse of COMECON and other trade following the demise of the Soviet Union * Both economies were in poor condition when the reforms began, suffering from inflation, goods sh ortages and declining production. * Both experienced a near-collapse of the state prior to transition. In Poland – total demise of the communist party and its military regime * In Russia – the Gorbachev government faced a similar crisis, which led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the creation of independent Russia * After communism collapsed, both countries moved to fragmented, rapidly changing party systems and â€Å"semi-presidential† regimes, in which a conflict between president and legislature was present from the start. * Both were led in their transition by charismatic, populist presidents committed first and foremost to the destruction of communism. However, despite these similarities as of 1990, the two countries appeared in 1996 to have very different results of their reforms. I argue that an essential part of transition to capitalism is the transition of government.Despite similar economic reforms, government in Russia continues to retain su bstantial political control over economic life, and moreover uses this control to pursue predatory policies toward business. The political transition in Russia has not gone nearly as far as it has in Poland, and this slowness of political transition disturbs economic growth. Government in transition: * Even when the communist power collapsed, some remnants of a large government often remained, ready to continue political control. The principal goal of the political transition was to replace these remnants with institutions supportive of capitalism. This entailed two steps: * Depoliticisation – government control replaced with control by market orces * Price liberalisation – eliminates price controls that were used by planners to either stimulate or discourage production of particular goods, or to create shortages that allow planners to maintain their power over resource allocation. * Stabilisation – imposes a harder budget constraint on the government, and thus prevents politicians from using subsidies to encourage firms (and regions) to pursue political ends * Privatisation – removes direct control over firms from the government * New functions taken on by government: provision of laws and regulations that support a market economy. * The state had to be weakened overall, but strengthened in a few areas. * However, even with the three radical measures taken, the government retains much regulatory power which it can use to either support market economy or hurt it. Shock therapy does not guarantee depoliticization (as politicians can still exercise control in other ways) or a transformation of government institution which includes: * creation of laws and legal institutions that protect private property, enforce contracts between private parties, but also limit the ability of officials to prey on private property * creation of regulatory institutions that deal with competition, securities markets, banking, trade and so on * Despite sho ck therapy, politicians in Russia, particularly at local level, retain enormous control over economic life, which they use to pursue political ends and to enrich themselver. * This makes them rather different from politicians in Poland * Russia is also behind in creating the institutions of a new market economy. ALSO Transition of government into one that supports markets from the one that preys on them has gone further in Poland than in Russia – regulators of small business exert more power over business in Moscow than in Warsaw and use this power to enrich themselves. In addition, the Russian government has not yet successfully taken on the basic market supporting functions, including police protection. * Russia is much more of a laggard in the transition of its government than it is in shock therapy. Human capital of politicians: Key point: Lack of turnover of human capital in Russian politics may well be a serious reason for the poor performance of its government * Many R ussian politicians are communist leftovers experiencing significant hardships understanding what is expected from them. Few of these leftover politicians have transformed themselves into capitalist politicians. In Poland, 75% of local leaders elected in Poland in 1990 had no record of government service and 45% of newly elected mayors were under the age of 40 – in Poland the people have largely changed and been replaced by a younger crowd, with some experience in both democratic politics and market economy, whereas in Russia, the local leaders are largely the very same people who were there before the reform began. In this respect Solidarity changed Poland – Russia would be a very different place politically if it had a similar revolution from below. Incentives of local politicians to support private business * Campaign support * If politicians need to collect campaign contributions to run their elections, they might favour new business as a source of potential campaig n donations * Local tax base * If politicians need to provide public goods to attract votes, and must collect taxes to pay for these goods, they would support the growth of new business to broaden the tax base * Personal share holdings Local politicians may support private business if they effectively become shareholders in it and profit personally when it does well Poland vs Russia: Elections: * Poland had held elections more consistently than Russia and officials at very local level – where small business would actually have a political say – are all elected. * Because of elections, Polish politicians appear to be much more supportive towards private business than Russian politicians. Tax base * In Poland, the principal source of funds for local governments are local taxes and fees, especially property taxes incentive to the local politicians to broaden the tax base to increase revenue through new business formation and employment * In Russia, over 2/3 of local gover nment evenues comes from their share in taxes collected by central government through negotiation governors have little incentive to broaden their tax bases and instead focus on negotiations with Moscow Personal financial incentives: * In Russia, many of the local officials see a rather short and insecure future for themselves in politics. If the private economy grows, they are likely to lose power because they will not be acceptable to the new business elites or will be replaced by younger politicians during new elections. Absence of political security may prevent the politicians from accessing the future profits of the firms, therefore many local government officials simply destroy local business through excessive corruption and regulation – they take what they can while they can. Initial conditions Poland had been pursuing economic reforms at least since the 1980s (much longer than Russia) Polish private sector was well established by 1990 when reforms began (by 1986 1/3 o f the Polish labour sector was employed in the private sector) * Poland had a much more substantial legal history and tradition to rely on – many of its commercial laws were adopted as soon as reforms began because they were based on Poland’s own pre World War II laws * National tradition made the implementation of at least some institutional reforms much easier. * Russia had been building capitalism for a much shorter time – Gorbachev’s reforms allowed some quasi-private firms in Russia, but few compared to Poland. Russia’s history of market institutions is sparse too – pre-revolutionary laws were an instrument of autocratic control, not protection against it; regulatory agencies have been created from scratch, employees often view their jobs as mandates for personal enrichment rather than efficient regulation. * However, author believes that importance of initial conditions can be overrated – many countries in Eastern Europe, such a s Slovakia and the Czech Republic, are growing rapidly even though they had as little private business before the reforms as Russia did. Some countries of FSU are also growing despite having a limited history of legal traditions and public institutions. With proper political incentives, initial conditions are often overcome. Suggestions: Acceleration of elections at the sub-regional or local level * Fiscal federalism – more generally the tax system – needs to be reformed as well. * Institutional reforms need to continue – legal reforms are most important among those, but creating functional bureaucracies, one at a time, is also crucial. * Russia made the mistake of beginning with economic reforms and delaying the political and institutional reforms (however, author believes that business pressures are likely to play a critical role in the political transition of Russia and of course they did not exist before economic reforms) Estrin (1991) – Privatisation in Central and Eastern Europe Key points: Appropriate mode of privatisation depends on the development of capital market institutions and the availability of foreign or domestic private capital * Transition must be rapid to be effective, so reforming governments have been faced with the tasks of selling assets whose value is far in excess of domestic resources. Privatisation: * Objective: to improve enterprise performance and national economic efficiency and to help public finances (Vickers and Yarrow, 1988) * Definition (Milanovic) – transfer from the public to the private sector of ownership in such a way that private individuals become the identifiable ultimate owners Seven central areas in which property rights and the mechanism of resource allocation must be altered in order to build a functioning market sytem: 1) Ownership and control 2) Means of allocation 3) Aims of the System 4) The Allocation of Labour 5) The Allocation of Capital 6) International Trade 7) Role of StateReformers in Central and Eastern Europe strongly believe that their recent history proves that when the state is owner, it will always interfere in the operation of firms in such a way as to hinder the beneficial impact of competition Hinds (1990) – absence of effective private property rights is at the heart of the failure of actual socialist systems, and must be immediately eradicated by widespread privatisation. Privatisation: * Important way of raising government revenues, but it will not affect the state’s long-term financial position if enterprise efficiency is not changed; may still be sensible from a revenue point of view is short-term conditions call for additional expenditures with limited availability of taxation or other income sources * Important element in building markets Significant role in the formation of labour market institutions and the process of wage bargaining * Privatisation prevents a reversion to the old systems How to Privatise and to W hom? One of the main problems – mass privatisation in countries where domestic savings are small and capital market institutions weak Arguments FOR selling state’s assets: * Considerable revenues * If monetary overhang threatens to destabilise the macroeconomy, privatisation could absorb some of the excess liquidity. * Owners established through a process of financial exchange will have the strongest demand effective corporate governance Arguments AGAINST selling state’s assets: * Unequal distribution of income and wealth Traditional modes of privatisation are very slow and most analysts agree that for transition to be effective the changes must be fast * Valuation problem – nothing upon which to base valuation (no relevant record of profitability), a significant proportion of companies are loss-making, thus it is likely that sales price will be negative * No domestic actors with the resources to buy Most of these problems are resolved by a free distribut ion of the state’s holdings: * No need to value the assets initially * No need to find domestic purchasers * Privatisation could be extremely rapid * Provided an operational scheme can be devised, privatisation can be constructed in a highly egalitarian way, preventing the early concentration of wealth in the hands of the nomenklatura or black marketeers who otherwise would be the people most likely to gain from privatisation Disadvantages of free distribution: * Losing the revenues from sales Possibility of weak governance if capital ownership is dispersed – central issue is whether population at large are the appropriate owners to dramatically improve company performance Potential buyers or recipients: * Public at large – external privatisation or privatisation from above * Transfer of ownership to shareholders * Foreigners – access to hard currency, superior management skills and technical know-how * Insiders – internal privatisation or privatis ation from below * Involves the sale of shares to workers and managers in the firm * Attractive: * Could be administered quickly and relatively easily, yet could still provide some revenue to the government * Participative organisations may be more productive * Negative: Yugoslav experience: employee control may conflict with effective corporate governance * No establishment of credible procedure for wage determination and for reducing inflationary pressures * Clearly not suitable for companies that require a significant degree of restructuring (probably the vast majority) * Unjust – workers and managers in profitable firms stand to gain considerably from the privatisation process, while those employed in loss-making firms would obtain nothing * Potential for bribery and corruption as workers and managers can use insider information to undervalue the assets or to transfer them illicitly into their own hands Roland (1994) – On the Speed and Sequencing of Privatisation a nd Restructuring Big bang approach – fast privatisation through mass privatisation plans with no definite sequencing, leaving the task of restructuring to the owners of the privatised firm Key point:Political constraints necessitate a gradual approach to restructuring and gradualism has implications for the speed and sequencing of privatisation. In particular, we ward on the danger of privatising too fast firms where restructuring should best be delayed for political reasons. Conclusion: A condition for successful gradual restructuring is a screening mechanism to separate good firms from bad ones. It is crucial to separate thee firms and their channels of finance, so that good firms would become independent of government through government and face hard budget constraints while bad firms would remain under government control with strengthened control. Arguments for the big bang view of mass privatisation: * Speed Price liberalisation in a state-owned enterprise economy will n ot give the correct incentives, thus it is necessary to achieve very quickly a critical mass of private ownership in order to get firms to respond to market signals. * If not done: * Danger of inertia – due to firms not taking new profit opportunities * Danger of continued soft budget constraints – loss-making firms expect to be bailed out * Importance of getting the State out of the economy * Committing the State to avoid continuous intervention in enterprise activity * Absence of clarified property rights * Danger of large scale decapitalisation by managers who have de facto control without assigned property rights Experience: * Poland Plan: combining fast privatisation through giveaways together with strong control rights given to mutual funds to avoid dispersed ownership of firms * Political constraints have played a major role in blocking Polish mass privatisation – in 1994, four years after the beginning of â€Å"big bang† in Poland, it is still not implemented * Russia * Speed of privatisation – obvious success (about 1/3 of workers were in privatised firms by end of 1993) * Problems with restructuring * Former managers are still in control (workers did not sell their shares to outsiders to assure outsider control; managers preventing them) Political constraints: There are 2 main sources of political constraints to privatisation: * Ex-ante political constraints – feasibility constraints * Proposals may be blocked – e. in Poland where coalition in power preferred distribution to workers whereas the Polish mass privatisation programme involved distribution to the population at large * In Russia, policy-makers took into account ex-ante political constraints by designing a giveaway plan favouring managers and workers (Boycko, Shleifer and Vishny (1993) justify that this was the only way to get privatisation adopted) * Sometimes coalitions push forms of privatisation that are economically not sensible but poli tically difficult to avoid * Ex-post political constraints – concern the danger of backlash and reversal of given politics * This may be the case when a programme advertised as very egalitarian induces a high concentration of wealth in the hands of a small number of people * However, political constraints related to redistribution of wealth and income may not be the most serious * More serious political constraints are related to serious income risks related to restructuring – general knowledge that there will be a massive shift from heavy industry to services, from big to small enterprises, but in most cases, nobody knows in advance which enterprises will survive and which will die Experience: * Big bang restructuring is not ex ante feasible * Gradual restructuring may be more acceptable ex ante because: * Gradualism allows for â€Å"divide and rule† tactics * Gradual resolution of uncertainty may enhance ex ante feasibility * Aggregate uncertainty related to u ncertainty: restructuring may be positive but it can go wrong, too advantage to moving gradually by starting to restructure only a subset of enterprises or sectors * Gradual eform packages tend to start earlier – Hungary and China * Optimal sequencing: * Better to start with reforms having the highest expected outcome for a majority and to delay the reforms that are expected to hurt the most Gradual restructuring and privatisation policies: * No political constraints – restructuring may be left to the new private owners * Political constraints – very fast and non-differentiated approach to privatisation danger of partial renationalisations (subsidising a great number of firms) and general delays in restructuring (due to soft budget constraints/no incentives) * Gradual privatisation policy allows for: Establishment of a screening mechanism separating good from bad firms * Best firms tend to get privatised first as they are more likely to find a buyer less large r edundancies and better performance * Privatisation may be slow, but it is possible to speed it up: * Managers incentives to restructure before privatisation especially when given shares * In Poland, although mass privatisation has been blocked, successful privatisation has continued at a fast speed especially in smaller and medium enterprises through a â€Å"liquidation programme† – management buyout * Emergence of a sound private financial system If good firms get privatised first, bad firms remain under state control private savings are allocated to good firms with high yieldings sound financial system may emerge * A credible pol