Doing business in Europe (German) 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Doing business in Europe (German) 2 - Essay Example logical changes, and even environmental changes generate ever new problems and challenges which companies must face in order to continue to operate successfully. For instance, changes in the enforcement and interpretation of tax laws in Europe have had an impact on the operations and viability of such companies in the European continent. The problems are tied to the way Europe for instance is pushing for higher tax collections from HP and other American firms, and that these problems in turn affect the profitability and the viability of companies such as HP (Duncan, 2012). Does HP enter at all, and what kind of entry strategy makes sense in light of this problem? When it has entered, does it pull out and miss out on the large and lucrative European market for computing products and services, or does it adapt and shift strategies in order to properly deal with the problem of more persistent and higher tax collection efforts on the part of the European governments? This is one case amo ng many others that this paper discusses, presenting the problems faced by companies such as Siemens, BMW, Airbus, and Mercedes Benz, and also presenting the ways in which these companies solved these problems, using a variety of approaches specific to their circumstances and the problems that they faced, with a focus on the German market (The Economist Newspaper Limited, 2013). In the case of HP and other American companies operating in Europe, the problem has to do with the way European governments have been pushing to collect more taxes from those companies, who in turn have been trying to move the other way via a global practice that sees those firms trying to avoid paying taxes by financial accounting maneuvering so that profits are reported in so-called tax haven territories. This is tied to the problem of HP being able to enter and operate successfully in the continent, and in what manner. In the end the solution seems to be to financially retain the identity of HP as an entity

Law of Contract - Exclusion Clauses Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Law of Contract - Exclusion Clauses - Essay Example Exclusion clauses are only considered valid if they are consistent to the law and have been included correctly in the contract. Interpretation rules of contracts require that exclusion clauses be unambiguous and clearly expressed. This is because if they are unambiguous or are unclearly unexpressed they will be ineffective. I would notify Marion that under the UK laws, exclusion clauses are regulated by statutes: the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 and the Unfair Contract Terms Act (UCTA) 1977, as well as a number of common law rules that limit the operation of these clauses.2 There was a breach of implied terms by the seller (Practical Electricals Ltd) acting in the course of business as the seller implied that the goods supplied under the contract were of satisfactory quality only for the buyer to find that they are not of satisfactory quality. ... king, it was expounded that if the exclusion is wider than the party relying on it must put more efforts to bring the attention closer to the other party.3 Also, incorporation test demands that a contract pass the test of incorporation by notice which requires that an exclusion clause be incorporated into the contract if the party relying on it made considerable efforts in bringing attention of the clause to the other party, as stated in the case of Parker v SE Railway.4 More importantly, as demonstrated in Olley v Marlborough, the party relying on a given clause must give notice regarding exclusion clauses before entering into an agreement with the other party.5 . Besides, the clauses should be part of the contract. As noted in the case of Chapleton v Barry UDC, reliance of exclusion clause that does not form part of the contract by one of the parties renders the clause ineffective.6 In this case, the defendant was relying on exclusion clause that did not form part of the clause as it was written on the back of the receipt. In addition, the previous course of dealings forms a reasonable basis of incorporation of exclusion clauses. Incorporation of exclusion clauses may be done if there have consistent and regular course of dealings between the parties to the contract, as illustrated in the case of McCutcheon v David MacBrayne Ltd.7 Traditionally, incorporation by signature is considered as the most appropriate way of ensuring that the exclusion clauses form part of the contract. An exclusion clause is part of the contract if the document on which the clause is written has been signed by all relevant parties, as illustrated in the case of L'Estrange v Graucob.8 In the case, it was held that the party signing a contract is bound by it and it would be immaterial whether

IKEA Franchising Strategy

IKEA Franchising Strategy IKEA is an international home furniture company that selling the wide ranges of well-designed and functional products which packed in form of ready-to-assemble. According to IKEA (2012), its business is founded in 1943 by 17 years old Ingvar Kamprad in Sweden. The headquarter company of IKEA is placed in Delft, Netherlands. With the time turned, furniture retailer IKEA becomes one of successful companies around the world and has ability to take advantage of globalization. Therefore, now IKEA has 325 stores in 38 countries in which 287 stores in 26 countries is wholly owned INGKA Holding (non-for-profit corporation) and the remaining 38 stores are run by franchisees which under Dutch company (for-profit corporation) (n.a, 2012). INGKA Holding is parent company of Dutch company. The largest stores around the world are placed in China, German and Sweden (IKEA, 2012). The IKEA business is developed starting with home selling and then turn to become international nowadays. Originally, IKEA only sold small home accessories and trinkets products in its home, Sweden. Until 1948, IKEA began to design its own furniture products and sold in low price with high quality (Ellis, 2010). The process of business development is from home selling the products, open a retail store in Almhult town, Sweden (1958), then develop a larger retail outlet in Norway (1963). In 2012, IKEA committees plan to develop a wholly-own subsidiary corporate in India countries after did the market investigation. Currently, majority of IKEA stores are wholly owned and managed by INGKA Holding (also known as Stichting INGKA Foundation). The wholly owned subsidiary strategy explain that majority of stores operations, management, its furniture design and manufacture are overseen by INGKA Holding. For the case, IKEA has long eyed the retail market in India, now plan to invest  Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬900 million to create a wholly own subsidiary in India (Kinetz, 2012). On the other hand, IKEA also implements the franchising strategy in some countries to manage minority stores. The franchisees who allowed using IKEAs concept and trademark to run business have to pay 3% of revenue back. Since the culture and value is different in every country, IKEA committees evaluate the countrys local market and its future expansion opportunities before go in. For the future expansion, we suggest that IKEA should take joint venture strategy as business expansion strategy in India country. Joint venture is a good strategy to assist a company enters into a different cultural market. As an example, Wal-Mart knew nothing about Asian retail market, they choose entered into Hong Kong via joint venture with Thai conglomerate (Neelima Mahajan-Bansal, 2012). Second recommendation we suggest to IKEA is using wholly owned subsidiary to enter Brazil. The reason we choose Brazil as another target market because it has stability of political economy environment which can reduce various risk of business (n.a., 2011). IKEA also can take the advantage of Brazil since there has full of high quality woods as the resource for business (n.a., 2011). 2.0 Current Expansion Strategy Wholly owned Subsidiaries IKEA use wholly owned subsidiary as their main expansion. The IKEA corporate structure is divided in to two parts which are operating and franchising. Most of the IKEAs operations practices are overseen and managed by INGKA Holding B.V. INGKA Holding B.V is wholly owned by Stichting INGKA Foundation, a non-profit registered in Leiden in the Netherlands which is controlled by the Kamprad family (IKEAFANS, 2009). In year 2011, there are IKEA stores in 38 countries operating around the world such as United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Netherland, France, Russia, Saudi Arabia, China, Malaysia, Australia, and etc. There are 287 stores run by the INGKA Holding B.V and the remaining 38 stores are run by franchisees (Inter IKEA Group, n.d.). IKEA can either set up new operation in the country or can acquire an established firm in the host nation and use that firm to promote its promote its product as long as IKEA own 100 percent ownership of the stock. Habitat Retail Ltd. is a household furnishings retailer in the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Spain and in the year of 1992, IKEA acquired Habitats UK and French chain with about pound 55m to expand their business (Moore. J, 1992). IKEA own all of their buildings and land, and stores are custom built and designed for efficiency and sales potential. In order to do that, IKEA do not cut back investment in retail stores. (Deniz, Marco Art, 2012) The main purpose of the IKEA use this expansion strategies is to ensure operational control, standardization, and provide a smooth entry into to a new market. The attractive way to use wholly owned subsidiaries is where IKEA can reduces the risk of losing control over their core competence and its concept. This expansion strategies give IKEA have the full control over operation practices such as marketing, logistics and decision in different countries to meet their standard. In addition, all the profits will go to IKEA due to having full control on every operation. It is necessary for them engaging in global strategic coordination. Wholly owned subsidiaries also required IKEA to realize location and experience curve economies (Hill et. al., 2011). This which means, IKEA able to achieve economic of scale by manufacture more products and reduce the average cost of products (Hill et. al., 2011). Indirectly, this also fulfill the IKEA porter generic strategies which is cost leadership. However, wholly owned subsidiary strategy is highly expensive choice for company that would lead to severe financial risk if not successful. IKEA have to bear the full costs and high risk by themselves of setting up the factories, stores and retail shops operations in other nations (Hill, et. al., 2011). Japan was the first country in Asia that IKEA considered to enter in 1970s during their expansion to the international market. Their first entry to Japan market was in 1974 (n.a, 2008). Due to the differences between culture, lifestyle and behavior lead to IKEA face the failure and they had to withdraw their store out of Japan. However, IKEA decided to re-enter the market in 2002. This time IKEA conducted a thorough study of the markets and understand their requirement (Alexandra, 2009). At present, there are five IKEA stores in Japan, last of which was opened in year 2011(Inter IKEA Group, n.d.). Besides that, there are political risks of entering in to the market wholly in the form of nationalisation threats or corruption and bribery (Back et. al., 2010).   Recently in year 2009, there have been issues about corruption in the opening of retail store in Russia (n.a., 2011). It has been held by safely officials requests for payments and IKEA is refusing to so. Thus, IKEA has ended up by would not build more stores outside the Moscow region until Russian officials stop withholding permission and freeze expansions on Russia (n.a., 2011). Franchising Strategy The IKEA concept which bring IKEA franchise worldwide is belong to the Inter IKEA System B.V in Netherlands. Inter IKEA Systems B.V is the franchisor and it is the owner of the IKEA concept and trademark (IKEAFANS, 2009). The franchisees have the right to operate IKEA store under the franchise agreements in accordance with franchisors systems and methods to use IKEA trademarks establish by Inter IKEA Systems B.V(Inter IKEA Group, n.d.). Besides, IKEA franchisees able to access to the product range of IKEA and opportunity to continuously take part in IKEA concept development in their own stores. (Inter IKEA Group, n.d.). Then, IKEA franchisee has its own responsibilities to manage, develop and run their local market business with efforts after granting the rights of IKEA concept. The main concept of IKEA want to expand its market by implement franchising is due to the objective of Inter IKEA Systems B.V.. According to the objective of Inter IKEA Systems B.V., its objective is to increase the availability of IKEA products through world-wide franchising the IEKA concept (IKEAFANS, 2009). So, this encourages the IKEA wanted to create infinity for IKEA through franchising. Besides, the decisive factors for IKEA to franchise for long-term approach are due to its ownership structure and total independence in furniture market (Inter IKEA Group, n.d.). Thus, IKEA bring out the franchising method so that it can secure an infinite life for the IKEA concept when the different companies in different countries able to build the resources needed to expand global under IKEA concept (Inter IKEA Group, n.d.). Moreover, the franchisor, Inter IKEA Systems B.V. acts role to perform some important tasks such as expand IKEA business, improve and develop IKEA concepts, transfer know-how of IKEA to its retailers, monitor IKEA concept implementation and protect IKEA concept (Inter IKEA Group, n.d.). Currently, total of 38 IKEA franchisees are located over 11 countries. The countries with IKEA franchisee included 2 stores in United Arab Emirates, one stores in Kuwait, 3 stores in Saudi Arabia, 2 stores in Australia, 7 stores in China Taiwan, one stores in Cyprus, 5 stores in Greece, 3 stores in Malaysia and Singapore, 5 stores in Turkey, one stores in Iceland, 2 stores in Israel, 1 stores in Dominican Republic and 4 stores in Spain (Inter IKEA Group, n.d.). Franchises strategy not only provide the firm with high control of brand and strategy, but it is also a low financial investment risk and enabling the company to benefit from local knowledge (Back, Andrew Sparapani, 2010). Furthermore, some benefits can be able to gain through franchising by IKEA. For instance, it can earn extra source of income in term of loyalty and franchise fees since it franchises its retail stores located over 38 countries. The franchisees who allowed to use the concept and trademarks of IKEA is necessary to pay 3% of revenue earn to Inter IKEA Systems B.V annually (IKEAFANS, 2009). So, this intentionally provides other cash inflow for the IKEA. Although by using franchising strategy, IKEA can relief of many of the cost and risk of opening a foreign market (Hill Hernà ¡ndez-Requejo, 2011). However, this could make IKEA difficult to control the standards and quality where some franchisees may not concerned about these issues. This could be happened and hard to detect due to the geographic distance between franchisees and main franchisor. This might lead to affect consumer views of IKEAs product if the standards of products are not standardize in its own country compare with the IKEA main stores. 3.0 Future Expansion Strategy Joint Venture to Enter into India Market Joint venture is suitable for IKEA to enter into India Market. It refers to the set up of a new company that is jointly owned by two or more participants (Hill Hernà ¡ndez-Requejo 2011). Each partner must have something special and important such as knowledge, skill, and capital to offer the venture and simultaneously provide a source of gain to the other participants.  The reason for enter into India market is India furniture retail market has been classified by CSIL Milano as one of the 14 largest furniture markets in the world with the worth of US$8 billion and is growing at 30% annually (n.a., 2012). The second reason is that the furniture industry in India is highly unorganized. Nearly 85% of the home furnishing industry is in the unorganized sector and remaining 15% is in the organized sector which included domestic players and also imports (n.a., 2009). The reason to use joint venture is due to the government policy in inviting foreign company to invest in India. According to past policy in India, foreign firms can only own up to 51 percent of joint venture (Sharma Hansegard, 2012). The policy has changed last year by allows some retailers to own 100% of their Indian units. After the change of policy, IKEA have applied for permission to invest into India. However, the result of permission still has not come out. IKEA should not realize on the permission of the wholly own subsidiary given by the local government. If government reject its application, is it IKEA will not enter into the one of the 14 largest furniture markets in the world? There are many successful example of joint venture or cooperative between foreign furniture companies with local company in India today. Arrital Cucine, an Italian furniture company sells its products in India through its Indian partner, Overseas Connexions while the Germany company, Wilhelm Bolt C o. has a technical agreement with Arvind furniture to produce furniture at India (Mukherjee Patel, 2005). There is no time for IKEA to waste as they should quickly enter into India market through joint venture with local company to set up its manufacturing plants and also sell its product around the India. Culture is an important aspect that multinational company should consider before take an action to enter into a specific country (Hill et. al, 2011). Indian culture and their home decoration style are different from western country. Consumers may not accept the western design furniture as they are used to purchase traditional design of furniture which suit to their culture. Thus, set up a joint venture with local firm is a better way to doing business in India and hence can reduce the risk of failure. The difference of culture can directly affect the way how a business operates in that country. The experience of IKEA in China should be take note. Although there is a rapid increase in the number of visitors and sales volume in China, IKEA had yet to make a profit in China. IKEA showed local consumers new home decoration concepts using its various products but Chinese consumers do not accept it (Li Xu, 2007). IKEA have 25 years of procurement experience in China but yet still cannot understand deeply about the Chinese culture and consumers living style, preferences and taste. Thus, before set up its own retail store in India, they should make a deeply study on the local market. Joint venture with local company can bring more valuable information and knowledge for IKEA. IKEA can build relationship with local suppliers, distributors, and media. They can get the data and information form the joint venture firm. Besides that, cooperation with local branded company can quickly promote its brand name into consumers mind. Who should IKEA select to cooperative is crucial. Durian, Furniturewala, Zuari, Renaissance, Furniture Concepts, Millenium Lifestyles, are some of the key players in Indian furniture industry. Local company who can provide marketing expertise, local knowledge, have strong relationship with government, suppliers and distributors should be consider as they can provide many benefit to IKEA for their future operating its own subsidiary in India (Hill et. al, 2011). Besides that, good reputation and image of the local company also is one of the aspects to be considered for cooperative. Company with good reputation can bring IKEA into local market and also consumers mind easily. In contrast, cooperative with company possess bad reputation will straightly harm IKEA brand name and thus being bookmark as poor image company in consumers mind. Thus, companies mentioned above are the best local company for cooperation. According to IKEA Company, the requirement of purchase at least 30% of goods from local small and medium size enterprise under the new policy will remain a challenge for the company (Sharma etc. 2012). Thus, direct investment may not be a best strategy as they are not familiar with local business and industry. Until now, they still cannot truly build the supply chain network in India, so how are they going to set up its own retail store and run the business by themselves. Thus, when should they enter into India? If they do seriously consider the joint venture strategy, they should enter into India 1 or 2 year ago. With joint venture with local firm, IKEA can quickly access to local suppliers through the network of the local company and operate its business smoothly. The growing of furniture industry in India is due to two reasons, Indias large size and Indian tastes have started changed and Indian people are looking for more western furniture style (n.a., 2010). The market attractiv eness is not a problem and it is a chance to take the advantage for establishes its own retail store in coming year. As conclusion, due to local government policy, cultural difference, and also local business network, IKEA should use joint venture as entry mode to enter into India. This action enables them to build up a strong base for future expansion. Wholly Owned Subsidiary to Enter into Brazil IKEA needs to expand the business by entering into new foreign markets in order to ensure the companys future growth. We recommend IKEA can enter into Brazil in South America by considering the wholly owned subsidiary strategy. IKEA have entered into Europe, Asia, North America, Middle East and Caribbean but have yet entered into South America (IKEA, 2012). Two of the mandatory requirements for IKEA to move into Brazil are that the host country must be a member of the World Trade Organisation and a signatory to the agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) (Back et.al., 2011). The reason we choose to enter into Brazilian market because of the stable political economy factors. Political factors, economic factors, demand factors are factors that will influenced the potential attractiveness of a foreign markets (Hill et al., 2011). The Brazilian economys entered into a stable growth stage after the recovery form financial crisis in 2008. Besides that, Brazil estimated to grow 4.0% in 2012 and the economy is expected will rises from the seventh worlds largest to the fifth within next few years (n.a., 2011). Comparing with other countries in South America, Brazil has the highest Market Potential Index (MPI) (n.a., 2011). As a result, Brazils economy is the best that all of other countries in South America (CIA, 2012). Since domestic savings are not sufficient to sustain long-term growth rates, Brazil is currently encourages foreign direct investment (FDI) and it is the largest recipient of foreign direct investment in South America (n.a., 2011). The entry of IK EA can increase the employment rate of Brazil and increase the revenue of government. Furthermore, IKEA may exploit the market of South America by grabbing this opportunity. Furthermore, the furniture and furnishings sales in Brazil has grown by 5% in 2009 to reach over R$18 billion (U$ 555,435,224.08) and expected continue to grow in the next few years (Ong, Ng and Wu, 2010). This indicated that the demands of consumers are increasing and providing the opportunity for business to grow. IKEA expand into the Brazil market would form early market entry because it enters first into South America markets before other foreign firms. According to Lieberman and Montgomery (1988), the advantages of first mover are the ability to pre-empt rivals, capture demand by building s strong brand name, rides the learning curve ahead of rivals and the ability to create switching costs that tied customers into their products and services. For example, Walmart entered into the China market as early mover, which gained the ability to pre-empt rivals and capture early demand and still dominating the market over the late over Tesco (Waldmeir, 2010). IKEA has experienced as an early mover into the markets in the past. The company has entry into Canada markets in 1976, USA in 1985 and China in 1998 (IKEA, 2012). Thus, IKEA have the advantages of pre-empt rivals and riding the learning curve ahead of its rivals. However, IKEA also suffered from the pioneering costs when they realised of the need for localisation of its American product range (Back et al., 2011). The reasons IKEA failed in the Japanese markets was because IKEA lack of readiness for the Japanese market and lack of readiness of Japanese consumers for IKEAs do-it-yourself concept  (Wijers-Hasegawa 2006). Consequently, IKEA need to beware that riding the learning curve can be a long ride if the market is not ready to adapt the products. We suggest IKEA use wholly owned subsidiary because there are around 16,000 furniture companies in Brazil and most are family owned companies. There are few key domestic players included Florense, Brazil Furniture Group, and others. The furniture market is keep growing and there is yet well known and large furniture company emerge in the market. (Evans, 2012). Thus, the furniture market in Brazil is still unexplored by multinational furniture company. Thus, a well known brand name is easily discover by the market and the consumer when large company entering into that industry. IKEA, a world famous furniture company, have the competency to entering into furniture industry in Brazil and create strong brand image to the entire furniture market easily. As there are many small furniture companies, it is easily for IKEA to enter and dominate the Brazils market. The worlds largest rainforest, The Amazon, is located in Brazil. Thus, Brazil has abundance of high quality woods as the raw material for IKEA produce high quality furniture to consumers. This is the main reason for IKEA to use the wholly owned subsidiary to entry into Brazil. Besides that, the labour cost in Brazil is cheap compared to Europe and America (n.a., 2011). In other words, Brazil has significant comparative advantages compared to others exporting countries because it has excellent quality of raw materials at low costs and flexible labor (n.a., 2004). Wholly owned subsidiary can enable IKEA gain full control over the businesss operations which will also lower the brand risk in the same time (Back et.al., 2011). By wholly owned subsidiary, IKEA can get 100 percent profits that generated in Brazil. Besides that, by adapting wholly owned subsidiary, IKEA can gain the ability to realize location and experience economics as the company is adopting transnational strategy (Hill et. at., 2011). Thus, IKEA can make full decisions to produce products that are customized to the local customer wants and needs. In the South America Context, Brazil is the most preferred country for investment. Entering into South America market is an imported step of the IKEAs globalization strategy. 4.0 Conclusion In conclusion, we knew that IKEA is a very successful worldwide home furniture company. But, they are also facing franchising control management problem due to geographic distance. If franchises do not operate well in the current market, this will affect IKEAs reputation. They tend to reduce this problem by using wholly owned subsidiaries for expansion. This strategy also not very well for IKEA because full control over their competence and its concepts but instead increasing the risks for entry the market due to cultural conflict. We can see that IKEA was failure to entry in Japan before due to diff culture, lifestyle and purchasing behavior. So, we recommended that joint venture is suitable for IKEA to further expand. This strategy can reduce risk for entry and for better handle the market culture and policy. The joint venture that enable IKEA cooperative with those company that fulfill marketing expertise, local knowledge and skill and the most important factor is have strong relationship with government. These benefits encourage IKEA enable to operating well in the specific country. A successful company should analyze all the variables that will lead to failure before enter into a specific market. Although this strategy has occurs some problem and risk but compare to previous strategies, this strategy is better for IKEA sustainable development. Furthermore, cooperative with well known company will also increase IKEA reputation and influence local consumer purchasing behavior. Finally, a very successful company will not stop growing their business and finding the ways that lead to further expansion. They must know well their limit and beat all the deadlines. IKEA has put a lot of efforts on developing their business that strengthen capacity for further expansion. Consequently, they should use joint venture strategy to expand in other countries. The more understanding other countries culture, lifestyle and behavior, the closer the gaps for success.

Psychopathy Essay -- Psychology, Psychopaths

Psychopathy is a topic of extreme interest among the psychological community and stimulates wide debate on its various aspects. There have been many studies attempting to define and measure psychopathy (e.g. Levenson, Kiehl & Fitzpatrick, 1995), but it is commonly thought to be a combination of specific traits and behaviors (Lilienfeld & Arkowitz, 2007). Psychopaths commonly have many socially unattractive traits such as callousness and insincerity (Snowden & Gray, 2011), however the trait that this report will concentrate on is impulsivity. Hare’s Psychopathy Checklist (PCL) (Hare, 1980, as cited in Bartol, 1999) and Psychopathy Checklist Revised (PCL-R) (Hare, 1991, as cited in Bartol) are widely recognised as a reliable method of measuring male psychopathy in criminal populations (Bartol). The PCL-R is a twenty-item checklist that is recognised to distinguish three areas of psychopathic traits: interpersonal deficits (how they interact with others); affective deficits (lack of feelings or emotion); and impulsive and criminal behavior (Lilienfeld & Arkowitz, 2007). Arguments have emerged regarding the ability of the PCL-R to differentiate between those who have extreme mental disorders that may be affecting results, and those who don’t (Howard, 1990, as cited in Bartol). Levenson, Kiehl and Fitzpatrick (1995) believed the capability to measure psychopathy in a non-institutionalised population would be of great interest. Using the PCL as a model, Levenson et al created a 26 item, self-report, questionnaire. Karpman (1948, as cited in Levenson et al, 1995) suggested the need for a distinction between primary psychopaths (manipulative and deceitful traits) and secondary psychopaths (extreme impulsivity and anxiety, resulting fro... ...the relationship between impulsivity and psychopathy among a university population. Our hypothesis was that impulsivity would be positively correlated with secondary psychopathy. Drawing from Snowden and Gray’s (2011) study, evidence shows that impulsivity was significantly correlated to secondary psychopaths in a criminal population. Similar results are expected in our study as Snowden and Gray used the PCL-R to measure psychopathy, which was used as a model to form the LSRP we used to measure psychopathy in our population. Furthermore we will also be using the same measure of impulsivity (BIS). We expect that the LSRP and BIS will be successful in measuring the relationship between psychopathy and impulsivity in non-institutionalised populations and in line with Snowden and Gray we expect impulsivity to only slightly, if at all, correlate to primary psychopathy.

Differences between bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites. Essay

Bacteria: These are tiny microorganisms, they cannot be seen with the naked eye. They exist on virtually every living thing or object in the environment i.e. dirt, water, caves, trees, dead animals, and within everybody living on earth. Its nutrition is from its surroundings. We carry bacteria in the body, mainly in the intestines, on the genitalia or on the skin. Bacteria can be good or bad. It can help our immune system but there are bad bacteria which make you become ill. Meningitis is a bacterial infection, this can be life threating to a young baby and is most common in young children. It is an infection of the membranes covering the brain and/or spinal cord, this is a reason it can be life-threatening. MRSA is another big bacteria illness, this commonly affect hospitals and is due to lack of hygiene. Food poisoning is a common cause of illness caused by bacteria. This is because bacteria lives on food. If cooked and food has not reached a high enough temperature to kill off bac teria then it can cause the bacteria to rapidly grow and cause sickness to a person. The types of food poisoning are; salmonella, E. coli, norovirus, campylobacter, listeria, clostridium perfringens. These are also linked with viruses too. Also most sexual transmitted diseases are a bacterial infection i.e. syphilis, gonorrhea. Also Lyme disease, this is spread by the bite of a deer ticks most common around wooded, rural areas. If untreated it causes an arthritis-like condition that can last for months. Viruses: This is a disease producing agents which are far smaller than bacteria. They are enclosed in a protein coating which makes them more difficult to destroy. These replicate only inside the living cells of organisms. They can infect all types of life forms i.e. plants, animals, and bacteria. The most common virus is the flu, it’s a contagious infection (it spreads from one person to the next). Foot-and-mouth is a virus disease which is caused within an animal. Plant viruses such as mild mottle virus eat away at the flesh of i.e. peppers. This can cause harm onto animals and people if they consume the food. Some viruses can replicate within archaea, these are double stranded DNA viruses with unusual shapes. Chicken pox is another virus illness, this affects normally in children. Fungi: This comes from the plant kingdom but are quite different from green plants. The basic  unit of a fungus is a hypha which is a hollow tube. This spreads out over and into the food material making a visible mesh. Some mass together to create toadstools, releasing spores into the environment. Some fungi can be quite dangerous causing hallucinations but some can even result in death. There are 1.5 million different types of fungi in the world. Out of that only 300 are known to cause illness. Aspergillosis – this normally occurs with a person who has a lung disease or a weakened immune system. Dermatophytes – this in fungal infection to the skin and nail i.e. athletes foot. Fungal keratitis- this is the inflammation of the cornea (the clear front part of the eye). Parasites: A parasite lives in a close relationship with another organism (host) this causes harm. It is dependent on the host for its life functions e.g. viruses are common parasites. It lives, grows and multiplies off the host. A hookworm is a common type of parasite, pets can get thes e and transfer then onto humans. Hookworms attach in the lining of the small intestine, causing disease and malnutrition as well they eat the nutrition and prevent the host from getting them. Parasites can give off toxins that make the host sick resulting in an infection. Malaria is one of the deadliest parasite diseases, this is why when flying abroad you must ensure all injections against parasites are up-to-date. So there are three types of organisms where parasitic infects; protozoa, helminths and ectoparasites. Protozoa are singled celled that live and multiply within humans. An infection caused by this is giardiasis, this is caused from drinking water infected with protozoa. Helminths are multi-celled organisms that can live alone or in humans and animals. These are commonly known as flatworms, tapeworms, ringworms, roundworms. Ectoparasites are multi-celled organisms that live or feed of the skin of humans such as mosquitos, fleas, ticks and mites. When we have an invasion of the body of microorganisms which are not normally present, we call it an infection. This is when germs such as parasites, microbes etc. attack our body and cause harm (disease) or even death unto a host (organism) body. An infection may remain localised in the body (stay in one place) or it may spread through the blood or lymphatic vessels to become systemic (body wide). So something which is linked with ‘infection’ is something called ‘colonisation’. This is the process in the biology by which a microorganism will spread to new areas/part of the body. Colonisation is the development of a bacterial infection on/in an  individual. The individual becomes a carrier to the infection but may have no signs or symptoms of illness. They do have the potential to infect others. Systemic infections affect not just one part but all of the body, examples of this are flu/HIV. And localised infections are limited to one area ear/eye infection. Identifying poor practise that could lead to infection are fairly simple and basic. Ensuring that you wear clean clothes every day, washing hands very regularly, wearing all correct PPE. Incorrect storing or cooking of foods will lead to infection so you must ensure that things are stored correctly i.e. fresh meat should not be kept on top shelf of the fridge above fruit and veg, contamination of blood could occur. 2.1 What conditions are needed for the effect of growth on micro-organisms? Food is the main source, organisms need food to survive, foods with high protein such as fish and poultry. Warmth is another key factor, anything between 20-40 degrees will really encourage microorganisms to develop and grow, and moisture enables the multiplying process further. Air (usually) although some microorganisms do not need the use of air to spread. So all of these factors seems very every day and very easy for an organism to grow very quickly although a single M.O becomes 2 every 20 minut es. This means the process can take fairly long so regularly cleaning surfaces and storing food correctly will decrease the contamination. 2.2 Infectious organisms that can enter the body are many. They can potentially cause harm to the body, they enter through different openings in the human body. As well as this they can be transferred from mother to baby during pregnancy. The respiratory system – the infectious organisms that cause communicable diseases such as common cold, flu, and pneumonia. They enter through the nose and then begin to multiple, if not treated right away they can cause other additional problems. The digestive system – with this the organisms are found in food i.e. food poisoning. If food is not correctly cooked at a high enough temperature to enable the bacteria to be killed off. The organisms enter the digestive system and can make you sick when the body is trying to digest the tainted food. Some food poisoning can be fatal if they’re left untreated. Penetrating through the skin – infections organisms that can cause sickness  like tetanus and hepatitis C enter the body through the skin. Once entered they start to multiply and can cause more serious problems if untreated. Sexual transmission – some infections such as sexually-transmitted diseases like HIV and gonorrhoea, are transmitted through body fluids such as semen. Once it has entered the body the infection multiplies and can cause complications if it’s not tre ated. Contact with animals – if you come in contact with an animal that is infected with i.e. rabies the virus can enter your body through the skin. Transferring from mother to child – a woman who is pregnant can transfer lots of kinds of infections such as rubella, German measles, this can be done without realising, and vaccinations for babies once born must be given to prevent the infections. Infections are a significant problem which humans have to face on a daily basis. They can affect the body in some of the most unpleasant ways. They have multitude causes, some are completely uncontrollable. Some people can have an infection and not even know (asymptomatic infections). There are actually five types of microorganisms called bacteria, viruses, fungi, rickettsia, and protozoa. Microorganisms are normally found in the human body in small amounts and are actually indispensable. Sources of infection can be classified as endogenous and exogenous. In endogenous infections, the agent causing the problem comes from the human body. Some of the microorganisms living here exceed their limits ad start causing damage. This might happen because the immunity is compromised and it is very common in patients who have had surgery or in undernourished people. Exogenous are sources of infections that microorganisms from outside the human body find their way inside and cause illnesses or di seases. Exogenous sources of infections that can be split into three main categories: a human origin, of animal origin and of environmental origin. Animals are a source of infection. If an animal bites you, they can transfer the infection. Water, air and soil are significant other sources of infection. This can be contaminated water from parasites. Air and soil are not sources of infection themselves but they mainly contain non-pathogenic agents that can get contaminated microorganisms carried by humans or animals and contribute in spreading them. Air is one of the most important sources of spreading as we breathe air in. The term of how an infective agent can be transmitted to a person is the transmission of microorganisms directly from one person to  another by one or more reasons. These being: Droplet contact – coughing or sneezing on another person Direct physical contact – touching an infected person, including sexual contact Indirect physical contact – usually by touching i.e. soil contamination or a contaminated surface. Airborne transmission- if the microorganism can remain in the air or long periods. Fecal-oral transmission – usually from contaminated food or water sources. So transmitting of a microorganism can have many routes in which it can be caught. It can be indirect, via another organism, either a vector (mosquito) or an intermediate host (tapeworm) indirect transmission could involve zoonoses (infectious disease that can be transmitted form non-human animals) or more typically larger pathogens like macro parasites with more complex life cycles. Times when an infection is more likely to occur is when a person has a low immunity or is on long term antibiotic therapy. Poor hygiene when treating wounds or dealing with personal care can aid the transmission of infection. Any contact with bodily flu ids, hygiene i.e. dirty services or clothes (contamination).

Ethical Issues in Organizational Behavior Essay

Ethical decisions play a very important role in an organization. Ethics is the concept of good and bad behavior. Ethical behavior is governed by state, federal, and local laws. It is important for an organization to promote good moral choices and do everything in its power to prevent unethical behavior from taking place in the workplace. This can be achieved through continuous training and reinforcement of the desired behavior. Unethical behavior in the workplace can be detrimental to an organization because it is both costly and can ruin a good relationship between business associates. There are several influences on ethical behavior. They can range from the diversity of the workforce to the technology used in the organization to the quality that is now required of the products produced by an organization. Diversity can become an issue when a manager uses personal race related biases in organizational decisions. Technology can be an issue when proper training is not available to the employees in an organization. The fact that the employee is not trained properly makes them more likely to make a mistake or incapable of performing job duties. Quality can become an issue when an organization does provide its employee with the tools necessary to provide products within the specifications of their customers’ requirements. An employee is then forced to make a decision on whether or not to continue in the development of the less than required product. All of these influences to ethical behavior can be tracked back to a system breakdown. An organization can influence the ethical behavior of employees in several ways. First the organization can offer some kind of reward for behavior defined as ethical. This will give the employee reason to continue making the â€Å"right† or desired organizational behavior. Continuous training will enable the employees to efficiently perform specified job duties. It will also enable managers to clarify desired behavior and give the employee a sense of security and confidence. Management is primarily responsible for ensuring that the proper tools and training are available to all employees. Deming’s observations led him to believe that â€Å"the typical manager spends most of his or her time wrongly blaming and punishing individuals for system failure† (Kinicki, & Kreitner, 2009, pg. 11). His 85-15 rule is helpful in preventing a manager from jumping to conclusions and making an unethical decision. Using the principles of Total Quality management will also aide in influencing ethical behavior in the workplace. They are as follows: a) Do it right the first time to eliminate rework b) Listen to and learn from customers and employees ) Make continuous improvement an everyday matter d) Build teamwork, trust, and mutual respect These principles will add to the security and confidence that employees will get from continued training. An example of ethical issue being faced by an organization is the ethical, legal, and social issues derived from the Human Genome Project. This project is funded by the U. S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). There are several ethical issues related to this project. One concern is fairness in the use of genetic information. It must be determined who should have access to the information and how the information should be used. Another ethical issue faced by funders of the Human Genome Project is privacy and confidentiality. It needs to be determined who owns and controls the findings from the project. Another ethical issue is the psychological impact and stigmatization. Before findings are made public, it needs to be determined how this information will affect an individual. The uncertainties that are tied to gene testing are another ethical issue that DOE and NIH are faced with. They have to decide if testing should be done even when treatment is not available. They have to decide if a parent has the authority to test their children for potential diseases. They must determine if the test are reliable and interpretable by members of the medical community. There are many other ethical decisions that must be made with the continued study of human genetics.