Businesses are not Behaving Ethically Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Businesses are not Behaving Ethically - Essay Example Also, if a company follows ethical practices in its operations it is able to gain customer loyalty. And it is not necessary that to be ethical a company incurs more costs than one that doesn't. It's a win-win situation for ethical companies (Rupal). There may be numerous reasons for businesses to be considered as acting unethically. Actions used to cut down costs, access more resources, raise their profit earnings, or simply to enter into a new market could be taken in an unethical manner. The prime example could be of Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart has captured the U.S. market for retailers. But in its search for cheaper products to beat out its competition with, it offers its laborers in developing countries with barely subsistence wages due to which laborers put in hundreds of man-hours yet still earn an income which could barely support them (Nassar). Their entrance into foreign markets bring business to that country but the conditions of the people living there do not improve as they are still below their poverty line and there is no rise in their gdp/capita. To provide their consumers with the cheapest products in the market Wal-Mart is abusing its workers and providing them with miserable working conditions. A similar sweatshop case was witnessed when people found out that the "lovable" Disney franchise was using laborers working in miserable conditions to manufacture the products which helped sustain the multi-billion dollar industry that relied on Disney products such as their clothing line and the other products sold at their theme parks. In our immediate present we can see how Lehman Bros. helped cause the economic collapse which sent tremors all over the world. By giving mortgages to people who could not afford them they created the sudden defaults which would later cause a chain reaction which would not only affect the U.S. but the entire world. Whole economies collapsed and the tax payer's money was diverted towards the protection of these banks rather than on any infrastructural projects for which they should have been spent. Immense unemployment arose worldwide, countries had trouble importing items since they did not have sufficient funds, defaults in payments for national debts, and fall in investments were observed. This whole incident single handedly brought down the GDP of many European nations as well as the U.S. The state of our national healthcare system is ample proof that businesses on a whole are unethical if given the choice and freedom to be. Given the slightest laxness from the government and the assurance of no action to be taken on them on legal grounds corporations begin to adapt behaviors which are unethical. Why Act Unethically Most businesses act unethically when they know that their actions would result in no consequences to harm them. If they had the fear that they would be persecuted or that they might face negative opinions in the market then they would not resort to unethical means to jump ahead of their competition. This could probably be a reason why unethical practices are observed more in developing countries where the government regulations are weak and corruption

Past, Present, and Future Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Past, Present, and Future Paper - Essay Example It was a confusing situation at times. I knew that education and learning was important, but at the same time I really didn’t see how it related to real life. When I enrolled at the University of Phoenix, I felt that I had good basic communication skills. I was able to read and write well. I could comprehend complex texts and I could convey information that I learned clearly to others. I did know that I writing I struggled with spelling and grammar. This problem has plagued me for my whole life. In some ways I have always felt as though it wasn’t a big deal. I could always figure something out if I really needed to. I also felt that I was dependable and could work well with people on a team. In a way, I guess I entered the program feeling as though I had some weaknesses academically, but that they could be overcome. I was able to function fully in my job in the Human Resources department and felt competent in my professional life. Entering the program, my career goals w ere to obtain a more senior position within my current employment. I wanted to work my way up and be a specialist within the Human Resources department. I realized that I needed a proper degree to do this. I also began to watch how the senior members of my department communicated and worked with one another. I realized that there were some skills that I was lacking in addition to a degree. I could see that when I compared my current ability to communicate to their ability to communicate, I was found lacking. I resolved that I would gain the skills necessary to feel comfortable and confident when working with these senior members of the Human Resources department. I felt that if I could feel comfortable working with them, then I would be in a position to one-day hold a senior position as a Human Resources Specialist myself. When I began working on the Bachelors of Science in Management (BSM) degree at the University of Phoenix, it became clear that I was not nearly as prepared taking these classes as I thought. I discovered that my spelling and grammar that I knew was a weakness turned out to be much weaker than I thought. I found that just muddling through was not good enough any more so I grew determined to really improve my weaknesses so they could actually become strengths. I found the high level of expectations that was set for clear writing and concise communication to be challenging but helpful in my goal to improve. The feedback I received from professors and other students was very helpful. Collaborating with other students was a part of the course study that I really enjoyed and was actually where I learned the most about writing. I have always enjoyed working in a team atmosphere and felt that I could do it well. What I found at the University of Phoenix was that I actually got better at using collaboration as a tool for learning. I began to see how I could use the feedback from my peers to really improve a paper or to develop a new perspective on a problem that needed to be solved. Through this collaborative process, I feel that my abilities in information retrieval, communication, writing and oral communication skills have greatly improved. I feel that there are three specific classes that really helped me to improve in these areas. The first of these classes was my Skills For Professional Development class. I call this my wake-up call class, because it was in this class that I

The report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The report - Essay Example The company has grown extensively over the past few decades and opened thousands of stores across America, China, and other countries across the globe. The retail business in US has undergone rapid transformation since the emergence and growth of Wal-Mart culture. The Wal-Mart business model is being widely adapted and implemented by most competitive agencies owing to its successful operations and increasing revenues. The Wal-Mart has emerged as a popular brand name among the consumers looking for competitive rates and a comfortable shopping experience. The success of the business model adopted by Sam Walton is attributed to a deeper understanding of consumer behaviour and consumer psychology that plays actively while making a purchase decision. â€Å"The secret of successful retailing is to give your customers what they want. And really if you think about it from your point of view as a customer, you want everything: a wide assortment of good quality merchandise; the lowest possible prices; guaranteed satisfaction with what you buy; friendly, knowledgeable service; convenient hours; free parking; a pleasant shopping experience† (Walton, 1992). Wal-Mart procures goods from suppliers at low cost that translates to low pricing offered to the consumers. The incredibly low prices offered by the stores attract increased number of consumers to Wal-Mart and this is a major factor behind the success of Wal-Mart. The customers at Wal-Mart are offered with a wide variety of products at comparatively low rates that accounts for a conve nient shopping experience under a single roof. Technology has equipped the workforce with speed and accuracy that has enhanced overall productivity and efficiency within any organization. Innovation is the key to success in most business enterprises and it is evident in the way Wal-Mart has leveraged the use of innovative technology to gain cost advantage in their retail operations. The use of bar code technology has helped the

Impact of Demand and Supply Forces in the Market

Impact of Demand and Supply Forces in the Market In general, equilibrium market price is determined by where quantity demanded meets quantity supplied. This holds true for the property market in the UK, where prices are being driven by large demand for housing and an almost fixed supply of property. This larger demand of housing over existing supply has been the main factor driving UK property prices up in the last 10 years. However, these increased prices cannot last forever, the market (through changes in supply and demand, as well as government intervention) will find a new equilibrium due to factors that will bring demand down again. According to demand and supply theory, for a downward sloping demand curve, as price increases, quantity demanded moves leftward along the demand curve, resulting in a lower quantity demanded. On the other hand, in an upward sloped supply curve, as price increases, then quantity supplied moves rightwards along the supply curve for a higher quantity supplied. In the case of the UK housing market, let’s suppose we had a downward sloping demand and upward sloping supply, which intersected at P0 and Q0. About 10 years ago, the UK economy was starting its upwards growth cycle. This gave people more money which they could freely spend on purchasing property, increasing demand for housing. This increased demand caused the demand curve for property to shift outwards from D0 to D1. With this increase in demand, and the same supply curve S0, prices would have increased from P0 to P1 and quantity demanded and supplied would have increased from Q0 to Q1. However, this increase in demand which caused higher prices would also affect supply, so more builders and developers would want to construct housing in order to fulfil this growing demand. Yet, this increase in supply is always smaller than the increase in demand because of resource constraints—where will you actually build new housing and the time it takes to build such once you have found a place to do so and also because the builders know that others will be building too and so the increased price will not be as high as they initially saw. In the end, the total increase in supply is smaller than the increase in demand. This increase in supply (which takes a bit longer to be reflected in the market than the increase in demand) would imply an outwards shift of the supply curve from S0 to S1. This in itself would then reduce prices from P1 to P2 and increase quantity even more from Q1 to Q2. Since the increase in supply is not enough to offset the increase in demand, the cycl e begins again with another outward shift in demand, since those demanding Q2 at the lower price P2 are willing to pay up to P3, driving demand out again and helping the boom in housing prices. In reality, this increased demand and supply is continuously occurring and the process cannot be explained by the diagrams above. Some believe that part of the real reason why prices are so high right now is because people are buying based on how prices have been behaving and are not arbitraging: instead of correcting each others mispricing, they reinforce it. (Farlow 2004) However, in the future, demand for housing could become lower than supply, which would mean that prices would go down. Given the high prices to date, more developers are building new housing which would imply that supply is increasing. If this continues or even grows, then supply could at one point exceed demand, driving prices downwards. This is unlikely, as when builders are making decisions as to whether or not create new homes they factor in the supply of housing being built by their competitors, which sometimes causes the overall growth in supply to be lower than what some expected. Another factor that could influence a price crash is an economic recession, whereby many people are laid off and their disposable income is reduced. Were this to happen, then demand for property would decline, and again, prices would have to reduce to accommodate the lower demand. A third factor that could influence is if the government increased interest rates dramatically. In this case, the increas e in interest rates would result in two main issues: reducing consumer spending, which would include buying property, in favour of saving money, as savings rates would increase, and secondly, a reduction of people wanting to borrow money for properties, as mortgages would go up. This two-way reduction would also reduce demand for property, with a result of a reduction in property prices. As we have seen above, demand and supply forces can be used to explain how it is possible to get such a continued increase in the prices of UK housing over the last 10 years, beginning with a strengthening of the economy which injected cash into the market. This led to increased demand for housing which was not offset by identical increase in supply, which combined with continued economic growth and low interest rates just continued putting upward pressure on demand for housing and thus increasing prices. There have been many recent articles wondering when this upwards spiral will end but it is difficult to predict. The Bank of England has been trying to intervene by increasing interest rates in the last few months with yet another increase predicted in the near future, but this is not reflecting in a reduction for housing demand. A big factor that could help reduce property prices is a reduction in the overall economy, as occurred in the 1980s, when unemployment hit certain areas an d many were left with little income for buying homes. This, however, does not seem likely, given the pressure to maintain the economic boom. However, there will come a point when the majority of people will be unable to afford any housing due to its continuous price increases, driving demand for housing down. REFERENCES Farlow, A., 2004, â€Å"Part two: The UK Housing Market: Bubbles and Buyers†, Credit Suisse First Boston. Lipsey, R.G. and K.A. Chrystal, 1999, Principles of Economics, 9th edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Memorable Day Essay -- Personal Narrative Tourism Traveling Essays

Memorable Day Drip, drop, drip, drop; it’s the sound of light rain on the window of my small, cramped hotel room in New York City. I pray that the sound will just drift away to nothingness and bring back the heavy sounds of the city. I wait patiently in the early morning darkness, which the rain has brought to my window waiting for some kind of sign of a hot New York day. Of all the days to rain, why did it have to be this day? The one full day I have to spend in New York and get to know the city. The plans of walking, sightseeing, and browsing the many stores have come to an end due to the loud sounds of big fat rain drops hitting the pavement. The rain, which only moments before was small with a promise of stopping soon, was now coming down hard and fast, drenching everything in its path. As my husband and I walk towards the entrance of the hotel, all we saw was a wave of umbrellas blocking out the site of the streets, but leaving an intricate pattern of color in its place. After purchasing a couple of umbrellas, Todd and I decided to try and brave the rain and continue our plans to tour the big Apple, but one step outside of the hotel had us hailing a cab and heading off to do what most people do on a rainy day. Todd and I asked the cab driver to head over to the Metropolitan Museum. Now, everyone goes to a museum once or twice every few months, because people can’t seem to get enough of old dinosaur’s bones and other naturalistic pieces behind plated glass. I have been told by many that a typical museum visit is fine, but a visit to the Metropolitan is a site to behold. After being dropped off in front of an old classic building I knew in that moment that the rain gave me a precious gift. After all, when it c... ...ll say there are some very unusual paintings we saw at the Met. I sometimes wonder what an artist is seeing when they are painting. Our day had to come to an end because there are only so many hours in a day. As my husband and I step out of history and back into reality we see that the rain has subsided just long enough to begin a nice stroll through central park. As my husband and I begin walking back to our hotel we start to share what parts of the museum we liked the best. The exhibit we liked the best was the medieval time period, because there is just so much interesting history behind this period. I can’t believe it has been almost a year since that trip to New York, but I can still remember my experiences at the Metropolitan Museum. I was able for just one day to travel from time period to time period viewing wonderful pieces from all over the world. Memorable Day Essay -- Personal Narrative Tourism Traveling Essays Memorable Day Drip, drop, drip, drop; it’s the sound of light rain on the window of my small, cramped hotel room in New York City. I pray that the sound will just drift away to nothingness and bring back the heavy sounds of the city. I wait patiently in the early morning darkness, which the rain has brought to my window waiting for some kind of sign of a hot New York day. Of all the days to rain, why did it have to be this day? The one full day I have to spend in New York and get to know the city. The plans of walking, sightseeing, and browsing the many stores have come to an end due to the loud sounds of big fat rain drops hitting the pavement. The rain, which only moments before was small with a promise of stopping soon, was now coming down hard and fast, drenching everything in its path. As my husband and I walk towards the entrance of the hotel, all we saw was a wave of umbrellas blocking out the site of the streets, but leaving an intricate pattern of color in its place. After purchasing a couple of umbrellas, Todd and I decided to try and brave the rain and continue our plans to tour the big Apple, but one step outside of the hotel had us hailing a cab and heading off to do what most people do on a rainy day. Todd and I asked the cab driver to head over to the Metropolitan Museum. Now, everyone goes to a museum once or twice every few months, because people can’t seem to get enough of old dinosaur’s bones and other naturalistic pieces behind plated glass. I have been told by many that a typical museum visit is fine, but a visit to the Metropolitan is a site to behold. After being dropped off in front of an old classic building I knew in that moment that the rain gave me a precious gift. After all, when it c... ...ll say there are some very unusual paintings we saw at the Met. I sometimes wonder what an artist is seeing when they are painting. Our day had to come to an end because there are only so many hours in a day. As my husband and I step out of history and back into reality we see that the rain has subsided just long enough to begin a nice stroll through central park. As my husband and I begin walking back to our hotel we start to share what parts of the museum we liked the best. The exhibit we liked the best was the medieval time period, because there is just so much interesting history behind this period. I can’t believe it has been almost a year since that trip to New York, but I can still remember my experiences at the Metropolitan Museum. I was able for just one day to travel from time period to time period viewing wonderful pieces from all over the world.

Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News Essay

The nonfiction book of Bernard Richard Goldberg entitled â€Å"Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News† is phenomenal and controversial. Goldberg boldly and bravely mentioned celebrity news man and reporters who actively participate in the idea of media bias. His book generally states the slanted or one-sided nature of the news coverage. The book will give the readers ideas and evidences on how integrity, fairness, and balance disappeared from news reporting. Hence, this paper attempts to give the readers a glimpse about Goldberg’s perceptions of the how the news is being formulated nowadays. It intends to discuss some of the evidences backed up with Goldberg’s opinion about news formulation in America particularly in the CBS News. This paper also aims to provide personal feedback and evaluations about Goldberg’s charges of media bias and present ideas about journalism today. Veteran CBS reporter, Bernard Richard Goldberg in his book â€Å"Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News† exposed how media bias prevails in America’s media. The title itself gives the readers an idea about its content. The book clearly walks them through from the author’s experiences in the world of journalism. He delivered an array of criticisms against major broadcasting networks and news reporters. He mentioned his perceptions about his colleagues’ biases in presenting news. Goldberg showed how news organizations and his colleagues working as ‘journalists’ operate behind the cameras. Any reader will agree that the extreme bitterness of Goldberg towards his colleagues before was very evident and transparent in the book. The book presents facts and evidences about the idea of the media being leftist. Chapter 5 is a good example on how reporters used media for political persuasion. Goldberg supported this idea through evidence. In 1980, Goldberg started noticing that the homeless people in America showed on the news â€Å"didn’t look very much like the homeless people† (Goldberg 63). The ones he saw on the sidewalks at large were drug addicts or winos who mumbled crazy things, but the ones that journalists showed on television were different. â€Å"They looked as if they came from their neighborhood and mine. They looked like us† (Goldberg 63). The quantity of homeless people being depicted in the media will somehow tell the leader’s capability to lessen poverty. During that time, the elected president was Bill Clinton. Goldberg clearly said that media illustrated Bill Clinton as a perfect humanitarian. Homeless people have a better situation than before, or better yet, the problem of homelessness was solved. According to Goldberg, this was about not wanting to show certain Americans at all. Monumental stories of how Americans live their lives are not nearly monumental to some TV journalists. Goldberg criticized that journalists delighted so much on news and stories like Princess Diana, Fidel Castro’s communist dictatorship, and Jon Benet Ramsey but failed to focus on more important issues for American people that need to be addressed. The TV news influenced the viewers that the most important and significant story of contemporary times was Princess Di because it inspired and illuminated the people, but how about the more important realities which need to be solved? Goldberg presented wordy references of how media always ignore more relevant information. An example of the presented evidences was that â€Å"more and more mothers have opted for work outside of the house over taking care of their children at home and the results have been disastrous† (Goldberg 164). However, serious stories like this were not given serious coverage. The increasing number of sexual abuse in America, the increasing number of premarital sex of children below 15 years old, the effects of divorce and absence of American mothers at home were some of the important stories that were not accentuated in media. Identity politics, according to Goldberg, was very eminent. In his book, Goldberg gave an example: â€Å"During the Clinton impeachment trial in 1999, as the senators signed their names in the oath book swearing they would be fair and impartial, Jennings, who was anchoring ABC News’s live coverage, made sure his audience knew which senators were conservatives but uttered not a word about which ones were liberal† (Goldberg 57). This was a cold fact given which proves that conservatives and liberals in politics are treated in an obviously different manner by the news media. The book also informs the readers how media selects news and how they present it according to their own stand to attract attention. One prominent example is the way AIDS in the U. S. was depicted as an epidemic to â€Å"spark demand for massive government AIDS spending. † Since Goldberg has been in the news reporting field for a long time, readers can easily assume the credibility of the book. Most of the facts presented were even based on his personal experience in the business. His perceptions are backed up with statistics and evidences which will give the readers’ impression that he knows what he is talking about. His bravery to name names would make him gain heroic impression. Personally, however, I found weaknesses in the book. I agree with the idea that reporters mentioned by Goldberg tend to slant the news to cater to their own preference—the standard of most viewers or the pro government. However, I am skeptic about whether the presented evidences given by Goldberg are enough to coin them media biases. It may be safe to conclude that Goldberg’s colleagues provided some favorable information and concealed unfavorable information to the news viewers. Goldberg observed that reporters choose to cover certain events only, but did he not consider that events are infinite in number which means space and time are necessarily limited? Reporters make their judgments in choosing events to cover which they think are newsworthy. Personally, that is not enough to label them as bias in general. I strongly believe that there is media bias as Goldberg wanted to depict, but the presented evidences were not just enough. I wish he went beyond that. Another weakness I found in the book is that Goldberg used political and technical terms like liberal bias, liberal hate speech, and conservatives to name a few. He failed to define them according to its context. Defining those terms will give the readers an idea what he was talking about. It may be easy to conclude that his target readers are those people working in the same business. Thus, those ordinary people who seek the truth can just define those terms in their own context and reality. As a result, they may misinterpret the message. Goldberg also failed to mention what factors made the media elite to be bias in presenting and choosing news. Was it because of their educational background? What kind of orientation and realities do they have that affect their preferences in judging what is newsworthy? Was it because of laziness, or was it because they unintentionally conform to the standard of the majority? It is natural for a reader to assume that Goldberg can actually answer these questions since they became his colleagues. I wanted to commend Goldberg’s idea about the homeless story. I find it weak. The readers may ask themselves whether homelessness during Bill Clinton’s administration remained stagnant. If only Goldberg provided information on the succeeding 0% of homelessness during Clinton’s era, it might truly create a stronger impact. However, in reading the book based on Goldberg evidences, I came up with the conclusion that the media abused their power to give information according to their own preference and standard. The problem is that they are not aware of it. They think that what they are doing is right. His book is good though in suggesting the news they are feeding the public are filtered and manufactured either intentionally or unintentionally. News must be presented accurately and completely, then let the public judge its context. The problem with journalists is that they tend to go beyond their job. I do not want to think that men and women entered journalism because they want to make a difference. Although that is good, the problem is they may just report certain news motivated by their own idealism and preference. For example, highlighting inspiring stories that may, in their own idea, inspire people and make a difference. Media must be very careful in giving the right and accurate information. Viewers of news want accurate information. They dislike slanted information because it will be costly in time, money, and effort to seek the truth. Despite its weaknesses, the book has motivated me to go and seek beyond the box. It cannot be ignored that Goldberg presented facts in his charges and accusations. The book provides one assurance: one cannot expect perfect accuracy and balance of information even from competitive and â€Å"credible† media.

My Different Kinds of Friends

I have formed many friendships in life. Each friend, however, is different. Some are closer than others. Some are more important to keep than others. There are friends made out of necessity and some formed as if by fate. Friends, certainly, are of various kinds. I have one best friend. We share many similarities in character and preferences. We have been through a lot since we first met. The best friend is someone whom you think you could trade personalities with. He is someone whom you could share your secrets, dreams and problems.He will accept you for both your good and bad traits and could be depended on in both happy and sad times. The other type of friend I have made is the group-friend. The clique is a group of people whom you go in a group with. I am part of one in school and another in the neighborhood. When I start working in a company, I know I will be part of another. Although the closeness is less than that of the best friend, belonging to a clique means having a group t o hang out with, play games with, and sympathize with each other’s life stories.Then, there are the friends I keep in close contact with but am not really close enough to confide in. I keep a good relationship with them because I see them regularly. They are schoolmates, sons and daughters of my parents, neighbors, and other people whom I interact with in a regular basis. Finally, there are the friends whom I make at various stages in my life but whom I lost contact with through the years. For instance, childhood friends who went to different schools or have already moved to other places.I keep in contact with some of them through email and sometimes I see them but a long distance friendship is different to having a regular friend around. Friends change every year or so. Even a best friend can become a mere acquaintance later on in life. There are no permanent friends unless one takes the extra effort. Friends are important to have in life, however, in that they are like life -saving crafts. We need them during fun times, but we need them more during the low moments of life.