Events Management Report on Fan Expo †Canada Essay

This report has been commissioned by James Armstrong of Hobby Star Marketing to critically analyse and evaluate the Fan Expo Canada event. A general overview of the event will be provided as well as the event category it falls under and the implications of this. The event will then be analysed in terms of its social impact, the stakeholders involved and economic implications. This report is limited to the event information available on the internet and in the prescribed text for theory based arguments. This report aims to advise Hobby Star Marketing on the current and future states of their event and as related to tourism theory, what impact this may have on social and economic factors, as well as impact on event stakeholders as a whole. In conclusion recommendations will be put forward as to the best approach for event organisers to take in the future to ensure all stakeholders are kept satisfied as well as the wider community. 2.0 Description of EventFan Expo Canada is held annually at the end of each summer in Toronto Canada and features three days of non-stop festivities in the areas of video games, anime, science fiction, horror and comic books. The expo has been running for 12 years with its name recently being changed from the Canadian National Expo. Fan Expo is held primarily in the Toronto Metro Convention Centre and last year boasted over 37 000 admissions. Fan Expo is a unique event targeted to a specific range of markets. Having been dubbed in the past the ‘Nerd Prom’, the Fan Expo draws visitors from all around the globe to Toronto Canada, enhancing awareness of the region and its status in gaming, anime, science fiction, horror and comic book realms. Due to these factors it is suitable to classify this expo as a Hallmark event. This type of event is typically defined as a major one time or recurring event of limited duration developed primarily to enhance awareness or appeal and profitability of a tourism destination in the short or long term. In order to obtain success such events rely primarily on their uniqueness, status or timely significance to create both interest and to attract attention (Ritchie, 1984, p.2; Getz 1997 pp.5-6 in Allen et al. 2005). Fan Expo is highly significant to its target markets and provides the host venue, community and destination as a whole with a competitive  advantage over other conven tions of a simular nature in North America (third largest event of its kind in this region) (Hobbystar 2006). 3.0 Social Impact 3.1 Social BenefitsAll events have a direct social and cultural impact on their participants and sometimes on the broader host communities (Hall, 1989; Getz, 1997 in Allen et al. 2005). In terms of the Fan Expo, the social impacts are expansive and many benefits come to fruition as a result of the event taking place. One in particular is the validation of community groups associated with the event. A positive impact can be seen here through the acknowledgment of local comic book artists, with the talents of the normally ostracised minority being recognised and applauded at an international level. As the community is one of the major event stakeholders, not only are these groups validated but further encouragement of community participation also results due to the overwhelming achievements of specific community members. Social constancy and community pride are again other factors that result in benefits to the community of Toronto. Fan Expo brings tourists from all over the world to one epicentre of likeminded people. Through this experience the local community may volunteer and band together to present their city in the greatest state possible to expo visitors. The impact this effect has on the tourists is also significant as it encourages migration attractiveness as well as an increased positive image tourists have about the city of Toronto. This has a two fold effect as the community also notes the economic gain of for example encouraging a major video game expert to relocate to Toronto (stronger and more competitive local economy). In retrospect the community is more socially aware of itself and its visitors and is more likely to retain and develop higher visitor rates due to its strengthened welcoming culture. The convergence of these likeminded industry experts also facilitates an arena for the development of new ideas and partnerships both within the industry and between expo visitors. Tourists that bring already existing ideas to the expo then can have that idea realised through the resources of local and visiting industry experts (i.e. a gaming designer that wants to  sell his or her idea to a major video game corporation). The potential for economic growth due to this convergence is quite extraordinary. 3.2 Social Costs Of the research conducted about what social cost Fan Expo has had to the local community, one common theme that was realised was the apparent facilitation of strongarm tactics. In an overview of what was discovered, local comic book retailers were being forced by expo organisers either feature solely in their expo (not other competing expos) or not feature at all. The local community backlash from this decision was quite significant with many key industry leaders in the community moving to boycott the Fan Expo event. The ramifications of this monopolistic type approach on the community can cause not only resentment towards event participants and tourists, but also commodification of the event because of the lack of attendance of original industry leaders and pioneers (eg. instead of the creator of the comic book ‘The Phantom’ attending in person, Fan Expo constructs a video montage of the comic book creator and his work instead). This can cause dissonance between fans and organisers as what was once expected and a major highlight of the event is now replaced with a display that for most fans, the information presented is not uncommonly found on say the internet. On a whole, community resentment for the event taking place in their city can occur but also tourist resentment for the visiting the destination in the future is also a possibility. Social consequence such as criminal activity may occur as a result, specifically if some visitors have travelled a significant distance to attend the event. 4.0 Stakeholders In regards to the stakeholders for Fan Expo Canada, a number of categories can be used to separate the role and objectives of each. In terms of the host organisation, the Toronto City Council is a major figurehead as the support from local government for funding and other regulatory and staffing concerns is vital to the success of this event. Hobby Star Marketing as a corporation is also another obvious stakeholder as they are the primary event organisers and have substantial amounts of  resources injected into fate of this event. The Toronto Metro Convention Centre is also another key stakeholder as the event is being held at their premise. Their objectives for the event will be to ensure their function areas function as they should throughout the expo as well as working closely with Hobby Star to ensure all logistical requirements are executed without delay or error. Toronto as a community is also a primary stakeholder as its involvement and expectations for the event are additionally significant. For Hobby Star, their understanding of the local community is a key factor for the event to be a success. Specifically in this case, the understanding of local community comic book or gaming groups and societies will enable event organisers to develop the event to cater for the needs of these groups. Furthermore representatives from these groups could provide recommendations and assistance for future event ideas. In doing so the community expectations can be more accurately met and overall dissonance of the event significantly reduced (Allen et al. 2005). In terms of the media, local television, radio and print associations are also termed stakeholders as they have been invested in and have also dedicated resources to either cover the event progress or advertise the event in the weeks leading up. Due to the events widespread appeal, web media would also be considered an important stakeholder as accurate information needs to be communicated to tourists planning on attending. Web media is also important to monitor because as noted earlier, backlash or community opinions are not contained within the community when the web is involved, and negative impacts can occur quickly through use of the internet. Other stakeholders include event staff, volunteers and centre management and staff. Their role is to ensure the event plan is executed effectively and their presence as a required resource must also be nurtured through not only being catered for and looked after during the event, but also recognition for their contributions once the event has ended. One way this is performed is by volunteers being given free access to any event over the three days before and after their allotted shift time (Happy Star 2006). For any event  to be truly effective, the vision and philosophy of the event must be shared by all of the team (Allen et al. 2005). The participants of the event which include guest speakers, retailers, performers, industry professionals and the general public are also significant stakeholders. To make the event memorable and meaningful, the event manager must ensure all of these figureheads are satisfied in terms of what they want to get out of the event, which includes their physical needs of comfort, safety and security. At Fan Expo in 2006, it is the 40th anniversary of the birth of Star Trek and the key guest speakers are two famous stars from the original television series. Their involvement and satisfaction of how the event is run and managed will be reflected on how well they address the audience and subsequently the level of enjoyment the spectators receive. 5.0 Economic Analysis The economic standpoint in regards to events is the make or break factor – events must generate revenue to be successful. Therefore one of the most important impacts is the tourism revenue generated by an event (Allen et al. 2005). External visitors not only spend money on the event itself such as tickets and merchandise but also on items such as travel, accommodation and other goods and services available in the host city. This economic influx is sometimes depended on in many smaller communities however in the case of Toronto, effective tourism can result in visitors that are in town for the event to extend their stay and consequently increase spending (Allen et al. 2005). As described in Section 3.1, many business opportunities are possible through the interaction of local and visiting industry members. Furthermore their interaction with the local community and its economy may also give way for tourists to increase stay or indeed make a bid to stay permanently. For the expo, this could mean opportunities for more qualified industry leaders to be a part of the planning process for the following year’s expo. The overall benefits for Fan Expo could include for example the cast voices for the latest Star Trek game to be sourced and recorded in Toronto due to Microsoft Games setting up headquarters after negotiations. In hindsight whilst the  majority of the Fan Expo is based around a market and display type setup, there are also many exclusive forums and networking conferences that occur over the weekend to further facilitate the creation of business opportunities (Hobby Star 2006). Higher rates of employment can also result from this event – employment requirements for Fan Expo itself but also local industry members showcasing their talents then being offered work at a major firm. This can also have a negative effect as the local talent is snapped up and shipped out to other cities or countries, possibly damaging the part of the local economy they were once involved in. On the other hand if nurtured the community member could leave to gain more knowledge then return to the city, bringing with them a wealth of knowledge and experience that could significantly increase the economy of the city and region. On the agenda of negative economic impacts, opportunity cost can clearly be linked to the issues described in Section 3.2 in regards to strongarm tactics allegedly being used by Hobby Star Marketing. With retailers being forced to choose between festivals, the chance for economic gain is lost. Spectators that cannot attend the Fan Expo are left with no alternatives to view and purchase expo items and retailers in general loose out because of reduced exposure. This consequently forces retailers to ascertain which festival would be more financially beneficial to them, hence reducing exposure and possible loss of business opportunities. As stated in Section 3.2 this can generate a negative reputation for Happy Star and the Fan Expo in general and have many negative social and economic impacts. 6.0 Conclusions This report has provided an overview of the Fan Expo Canada event and classified into the Hallmark event category. The event was then analysed in terms of its social impact, the stakeholders involved and economic implications. This report has found that Fan Expo appeals to a unique market and draws visitors to the town of Toronto. It has outlined relevant stakeholders and their goals and found that increased integration of local community groups with the planning process of the expo could be beneficial to future success and reduced dissonance. This report described the importance of economic planning and how decisions that are made in the best interests of the event may not be in the best interests of the wider community. This report aims to advise Hobby Star Marketing on the current and future states of their event and as related to tourism theory, what impact this may have on social and economic factors, as well as impact on event stakeholders as a whole. In conclusion recommendations will be put forward as to the best approach for event organisers to take in the future to ensure all stakeholders are kept satisfied as well as the wider community. 7.0 Recommendations In hindsight to this report, the following recommendations are made:Increase communication with community industry leaders to ascertain the best approach in organising the event so maximum exposure can be generated. Further develop networking events at the expo and facilitate the creation of business opportunities and discovery of new talent in the local community. Promote to industry leaders the benefits of setting up operations in the community and tie this in with a major showcasing of their products at the following years expo. Work closer with Toronto City Council to further promote local and regional tourism to increase longer stays and increased economic activity. Reduce dissonance by operating competitively and ethically with other expos. List of References Allen, J O’Toole, W Harris, R McDonnell, I 2005, Festival and Special Event Management, John Wiley & Sons, Milton. Hobby Star 2006, Fan Expo Canada, viewed 20 August 2006, Getz, D 1997, Event Management and Event Tourism, Cognizant Communication Corporation, New York. Wikimedia Foundation 2006, Fan Expo Canada, viewed 6 August 2006,

Family and marriage ten theories Essay

1. Family Ecology- The ecological context of the family affects family life and children’s outcomes. It explores how the family is influenced by the environment.This theory studies how family lives and decisions. It basically brings forth the idea that every choice that you make affects your family, your lifestyle, the surrounding events as well as historical events. Key Concepts Natural physical-biological environment- This concept deals with climate and climate change, soil, plants and animals. Social- Cultural environment- This concepts deals with human made things as well as cultural artifacts. Theorist/ Individual- This concept was discovered/ or created by ecologist Strength and Weaknesses- Some strengths of this theory is that What You Think- I think that this theory is totally correct. I feel like every choice I make does affect my family. It affects their lifestyle as well as how they view things, as well as how they form their opinions. These decisions that I am making now, affects how we live and will affect how they decide they will live when they get older. These decisions are things like, where we live, how we live, work ethics, as well as the food we eat. 2. The Family Life Course Development Framework – Families experience predictable change over time. This basically brings forth the idea that families go thru unpredictable changes, which add and subtract from their family composition. This means birth, death and the leaving home of a family member. Key Concepts Family Life Course- Events that add and subtract from a family’s composition Developmental Tasks- tasks that have to be completed before you can transition to the next stage. On Time Transitions- Events that occur when they are supposed to, as opposed to being too early, or too late. Role Sequencing- The order in which major transitions take place. Theorist/ Individual- Life Course Therapist, and Ueker and Stokes Strength and Weaknesses Some of the strengths of this theory is that it analyzes the family as a unit. What You Think- This theory basically states that family life begins with marriage. This is crazy and untrue. I say this because nowadays family life begins when you have a kid as opposed to when you get married. 3. The Structure- Functional Perspective- The family performs essential functions for society. This deals with the way families fulfill basic societal needs, such as raising children responsibly, providing economical support, and emotional security. Key Concepts Social Institution- Family Structure Family Functions Functional Alternatives Theorist/ Individual- Social Scientist Strength and Weaknesses- Some of the strengths is that it analyzes the way families raise their kids, as well as how the family meets the needs of its members. The weaknesses of this theory is that it analyzes the family as a whole, as opposed to analyzes each person individually and how they deal with each other. What You Think- I think that each perspective is uniquely different and this perspective analyzes how families fulfill its members needs. The needs that they analyze, are basically what makes a family functional. These needs are things that each members needs to feel like they play a part in the unit. 4. The Interaction- Constructionist Perspective By means of interaction, humans construct socio-cultural meanings. The internal dynamics of a group of interacting individuals construct the family. Key Concepts Interaction Symbol Meaning Role Making Social Construction of Reality Destruction Postmodernism Theorist/ Individual Strength and Weaknesses- The strengths of this theory is that it looks at the family as a whole to see what is being done collectively to create the closeness. One of the weaknesses is that it does not look at the obvious, it should analyze the person that keeps the family together. Each member is following the lead of one person, who’s main goal is to keep the family together. What You Think- I think this theory basically analyzes family practices and what things, like rituals, bring them together, or create a apparent closeness. These are things that can be used to identify, or analyze another persons behavior, when they don’t come from a family like structure. 5. Exchange Theory- The resources that individuals bring to a relationship or family affect the formation,continuation, nature and power dynamics of a relationship. Social exchanges are compiled to create networks and social capital. This meaning that when people are engaged in social exchanges they limit their costs and maximize their rewards. Key Concepts Resources Rewards and Cost Family Power Social Networks Social Support Theorist/ Individual- Social Therapist Strength and Weaknesses- The strengths of this theory is that it analyzes relationships and people’s economic perspective on forming the relationships. The weaknesses are that the perspective analyzes the people’s economic perspective on forming relationships but it doesn’t analyze thoroughly what type of person they are, and how they attract friends, and form relationships. What You Think- I think this is a great theory. It basically means that when you are forming relationships with people you are analyzing what you can get from the relationship, as opposed to what you are giving in return, or what you have to bring to the table. It basically states the person with less committment to the relationship has more power.  This is because the person with less committments not the person competing for the relationship,as if they don’t care either way, whereas the other person actually cares and wants the relationship to bloom. 6. Family Systems Theory- The family as a whole is more than the sum of its parts. This meaning that the family, becomes whole, although it is comprised of interrelated parts. Key Concepts System- a combination of elements or components that are integrated and organized as a whole. Equilibrium- balance Boundaries- ideas about who is in the family and who is out  Family Therapy- Theorist/ Individual- Psychotherapist Strength and Weaknesses- Some of the strengths are that the theory is that it bases its theory off of research of the family and how it is comprised of different parts. One weakness is that it does not analyze the different personalities within the family as well as the family interactions to determine what keeps them balanced. What You Think- I think that the Family Systems theory is a theory that basically researches the family and it looks at a system as a combination of elements. This is good because it looks at how the family actually interacts together. 7. Conflict and Feminist Theory- Gender is central to the analysis of the family; male dominance in society and in the family is oppresive of women. It is the opposite of structure functional theory. The theory argues that human physiology, genetics, and hormones predisposed individuals to certain behaviors. Key Concepts Male dominance Power Inequality- Theorist/ Individual- theoretical scientist/ social scientist Strength and Weaknesses- Some strengths of these two theories are that they basically analyze what causes certain people to be treated unfair and unequally. It basically tries to ask and answer the question as to what makes males more dominant than females. One of the weaknesses is that it can not effectively  answer this problem, nor solve it because it still exists. What You Think- Conflict Theory analyzes unequal Power. Feminist Theory analyzes gender issues. 8. The Biosocial Perspective- Evolution of the human species has put in place certain biological endowments that shape and limit family life choices. Key Concepts Evolutionary heritage Genes Hormones Brain Processes Inclusive Fitness Theorist/ Individual- Behaviorist Strength and Weaknesses- One of the strengths is that it analyzes the fact that a persons environment helps shape them. One of the weaknesses is that their research found that they could not the factors considered were dependent upon each other, as opposed to just one. What You Think- I think that this theory basically analyzes how a person sees the world and how their behaviors are affected by their environment and family life. 9.Attachment Theory- Early Childhood experience with caregivers shape psychological attachment styles. This brings forth the idea that during infancy and childhood a young person develops a style of attaching to people. Key Concepts Secure Insecure Anxious Attachment Styles Theorist/ Individual- Behaviorist Strength and Weaknesses- some of the strengths are that it analyzes why kids act the way they do and how they get attached to people. The weaknesses are that it does not leave the door open to explain if they are conditions that worsen the child’s ability to attach to a person, or What You Think- I think that the theory is dead on and it explains why a child acts a certain way towards people they don’t know, meeting new people, and why they don’t want to be seperated from their care giver.

The broader impact of DSP in the economic Research Paper

The broader impact of DSP in the economic - Research Paper Example I. INTRODUCTION Digital signal processing (DSP) is duly considered to be an arithmetical treatment of an information signal, which tends to alter or enhance it in certain specific ways. It is usually characterized by way of representation of discrete frequency, discrete time or any other discrete domain signals with the help of a sequence of symbols, numbers or processing of these signals in a uniformed manner. DSP is widely applied in various fields, which specifically include speech along with audio signal processing, radar and sonar processing, spectral estimation, sensor array processing, digital image processing and systems control along with various other operations/applications. This component can be very well related with that of development in the overall context of technological landscape. With the inclusion of this particular component i.e. DSP in the technological aspect, integration to a whole new level is attained at large [14]. With this concern, this research report w ill highlight all those significant factors that are associated with the broader impacts of DSP in a social, global along with economic context. ... III. THE IMPACT OF DSP IN AN ECONOMIC CONTEXT In relation to economic viewpoint, it can be affirmed that DSP has been able to create all round diversity in the overall economic context. Analyzing the relevance of DSP in an economic standpoint eventually helps in identifying its broad interrelations relating to economic integration. DSP is applied in varied fields, which directly or indirectly impose considerable impact upon the economic conditions at large. The broad areas in which it is applied include consumer applications and biomedical fields. In this regard, the various aspects of consumer applications comprise digitalized televisions, cellular phones, digital cameras and internet enabled mobile phones among others. On the other hand, the aspects of biomedical fields encompass patient monitoring, ECG Analysis and X-Ray storage/enhancement among other various fields. The utilization of DSP in all these broader areas can be viewed to provide variable grounds for the development of economic conditions. Specially mentioning, this particular technology also leads towards mass expansion in technological domain, which eventually resulted in fulfilling different economic objectives. Besides, the component has been able to create superior level of economic integration in terms of supporting the most booming industries in the world such as information technology. Also, DSP is highly recognized for providing solutions to various departments including engineering, sales operations and finance among others (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, â€Å"The Broader Impact of DSP in a Global, Economic and Social Context†). Its utilization in all these departments ultimately imposes extensive impact especially upon the economic

International Marketing Plan Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

International Marketing Plan - Assignment Example The Chinese culture has been the inventor of paper, tea etc. The culture is five thousand years old and to the modern days the country has been able to maintain the ethnicity and the distinctiveness of the culture. Ethnic groups like the Huns and the Mongols have ruled the country from time to time. (A brief introduction to Chinese culture, n.d.) Today, China has opened up to the foreign countries in the wake of the globalization of the economy. The westernization of the culture is evident from the dressing trend of the people. The traditional dresses are used during the times of occasion while in normal times they wear modern dresses. Gini & Jony is focused on the modern dresses for the kids. The company will have tremendous scope for growth in the country. (Living and Values, n.d.) Shanghai has been the most populated city in China with a population of 16.74 millions according to the census of 2000. Out of the total population 88.31% is urbanized and the density is 2,657 people/ square kilometer. The fertility rate of the city has been controlled and it was one of the first regions to have a negative growth rate. It has been maintaining a growth rate of -1.9%. The per capita income in the area is 5,596 Yuan, which is higher than that of Beijing and Tianjing. (Shanghai, n.d.). The city offers a good opportunity for a company like Gini & Jony to cater to the high value customers. The fertility rate has been a problem. However, the company caters to children of various age groups. Shanghai opened up to the foreigners in the 1800s. Since then, Shanghai has been flooded by religions from all over the world. The Christians came in with their religion and so did the other religions. There are five principal groups in the city today - Buddhism, Catholicism, Taoism, Islam and Protestantism.  The culture of Shanghai has opened up from the traditional to the modern forms. This is an

Examine the development and implementation of corporate strategy in a Essay

Examine the development and implementation of corporate strategy in a regulated and competitive environment - Essay Example Its YouTube services were completely blocked in China besides other services such as Picasa, blogger etc were altered to suit the regulatory environment of the country. (LaFRANIERE, 2010) Though China has emerged as one of the leading economies with the world due to its openness of trade however, it still is a central economy. The resources are virtually under the control of government and due to ideological foundations of the country, Chinese government maintains strong control over internet, media and other channels of communication. The regulatory environment of the country therefore, sometimes, compels even firms like Google to comply with its regulations in order to operate in the region. Google has also been subject to the anti-trust laws because of its monopoly over the search engine market. EU and US governments are vigorously perusing this issue to decide the fate of Google in its primary segment of the market i.e. search engine services. This paper will discuss the developm ent and implementation of corporate strategy which Google has adapted in regulated environment of China. It will also detailed out the linkages between the competition as well as regulation while at the same time discussing the same within the perspective of Porter analysis (five forces), Sun Tzu principles, organizational structure, industry segmentation structure, competition and value chain analysis. Competitive and Regulatory Environment of Google in China Google initially started as a search engine service offering internet searching services to the users without charging them anything. Initially, it competed against the search engine services of Yahoo Inc however, due to its superior design and technology; it soon surpassed all other search engine services and became the leading service provider in the world. Over the period of time, Google has diversified itself and started to offer other services like Google Maps, online video sharing service with the name of YouTube, social networking services with the name of Orkut besides offering other paid and free services. Google’s competitive strategy has remained focused on the growth achieved through constant acquisition of new and promising businesses. Over the period of time, Google has not only grew organically but it has also been able to make some strategic acquisitions which added variety to its services besides offering it an opportunity to compete on many fronts. Google is now also planning to launch its own operating system for PCs whereas its operating system for touch screen mobile phones and tablet PCs has already hit the market. In this segment of the market, Google is facing competition from Apple as well as Microsoft with both the companies having their own operating system for mobile platforms. Despite such diversification, Google still remains the most dominating player in the search engine services and has developed a virtual monopoly over this market. Google’s primary market w as US at the start of its services however, due to expansion of its services across the globe and very nature of internet services, Google has been subjected to different regulatory environments. In a competitive environment where competition is multi-faceted, it is critical for Google to comply with the regulatory requirements while at the same time, ensuring that it remains competitive against its major competitors. (Crofts, 2009) Since external environment affects an

Advantages to employers in instituting family-friendly policies Research Paper

Advantages to employers in instituting family-friendly policies - Research Paper Example A human’s life comes with a lot of responsibilities to fulfill.But these responsibilities sometimes prove to be difficult to manage such as the work life and the family life.But effective work life balance establishes itself to be a win-win situation for both the employer and the employee. It helps to retain the employees and also increase their performance by providing them benefits that makes the juggling between home life and work life easier and flexible. But like every human phenomena, it also has a flipside. The job sharing done to accommodate the work that could not be completed is given to the employees who don’t have children. This makes them to work out two jobs for a single wage. Hence, effective distribution of the work is the key in here. Introduction Life is not easy. There are many spheres in our lives that hold equal importance and hence we need to manage all of them. Our work, our family, our social life and our health are some of the areas that we need to juggle between. Neglecting any of them proves to be harsh on us. New age employers are now understanding this fact and taking initiatives to make work life much more flexible and hence happier, by employing family friendly policies. Today, employing family friendly policies is not just about the happiness of the employees, but it’s also about the attaining the status for an employer which increases his value in the market and gives him a gut above the rest with the help of the tag â€Å"a good employer†. ... This in turn affects their performance as a whole which leads to a dip further in their job satisfaction (Halpern, 2005). If they are not satisfied, this feeling will further have a loading on their personal lives. The stress they experience will have its dire manifestation on their health. Many diseases that can result out of this are hypertension, heart disease, polycystic ovarian disease and so on. This can be seen in times of economic nose-dives such as recession. This was a time where the employees didn’t have a clear idea as to will they retain their jobs the next consequent day or will they be called- off from their jobs. The new age employers understand the importance of keeping employees happy even in the hardest of times because this will lead to greater production for the organization’s stated goals. Some of the family friendly policies can be that the organizations provides coverage for prescription drugs, hospital bills, basic clinician’s expenses an d other paramedical services such as the visits to a psychologist. The juggle between work and family and the tight schedule where in to sit comfortably and contemplate for one’s life becomes a rare luxury. Taking this scenario into account, we need to understand that an employee is also a human being and may also get nasty spells of depression and frustration and hence there might be a need for him to vent out all the anger and pain that is loitering around with him in all his spheres of life, making them even more unmanageable. Here comes a need for a psychologist. A faulty thought pattern may lead to faulty behavioral tendencies. Next Level Games is a Vancouver based organization that understands this fact and gives coverage

Five greatest U.S. presidents Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Five greatest U.S. presidents - Essay Example Such a benchmark should enable one to determine varying degrees of greatness based on the extent to which each President under consideration meets or exceeds it. For purposes of this study, which purports to rank the five greatest Presidents in the history of the United States, greatness is defined as having had a direct impact on setting the course of America toward what it is today. In other words, the greatest Presidents are those without whom America would not have become the country it has become. These leaders each fundamentally altered the course of evolution of America, for better or worse, and thereby have heavily influenced present-day American life by way of their leadership. This being a top-five list out of forty-three possible choices, it need not imply that those who did not make the list were not great Presidents. Rather, the following five American Presidents were arguably the most influential in shaping America of all of the greatest and most influential leaders in American history, of which there were surely more than five. They are, in order of greatness: Franklin Roosevelt, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Harry Truman, and Bill Clinton. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was arguably the greatest American President in history. ... me and abroad, much less did so as effectively and with such positive results and while suffering from the effects of a ravaging disease (Coggan, 2003). Roosevelt led the nation with such a firmness of purpose and confident assurance that he was able to rally and inspire Americans to sacrifice in the name of a greater good for as long as it would take to achieve victory. The Great Depression was Roosevelt's first great test. Never before had the nation known such economic despair, nor lost confidence to such an extent in America's capitalist underpinnings. For the first time, the unfettered marketplace rolled over to reveal its vulnerable underbelly, and it was shocking to see how exposed it was. By the time Roosevelt entered the Oval Office, America was in the midst of a full-blown crisis that threatened its very fabric. Roosevelt reassured the nation through his "Fireside Chats" in a way that no previous President had ever before communicated with the country. He quickly went to work to craft and implement legislation that reestablished confidence in America's stock market, banking system and other capitalist institutions. He established public works programs that reemployed hundreds of thousands of laid off workers. Further, he Americanized the concept of social welfare with programs such as Social Security that peacefully coexisted with a free ma rket system. Roosevelt also led America into World War II, delivering one of the most inspirational rallying speeches in American history in the wake of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. His leadership was largely responsible for the Allied victory, and catapulted America toward its Post War Superpower status that it still retains to this day. Roosevelt essentially led the world in its greatest struggle against evil and

History of Aviation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

History of Aviation - Essay Example Joseph and Jacques Montgolfier designed a hot air balloon with the help of their father’s paper factory. This balloon flew at a height of 6500 feet, first thing to fly at such a great height. The astonishing thing about this flight was not its height but, the animals it carried. There were a goose, a rooster and a sheep in a basket carried by the balloon. These were probably the first living thing to fly at such a height proving the fact that flying is possible for a living thing. Later in the year 1783, the two brothers were finally successful in convincing two men, Pilatre de Rozier and Marquis d’Arlandes to be a part of their experiment. This time their balloon flew at a height of 300 feet. The balloon traveled 7.5 miles in less than half an hour. The flight is considered to be the first manned balloon flight in the history. It proved the safety of flying against all the odds and speculations. The flight also showed the less time-consuming side of traveling by air. Even though the first balloon flight of 1783 is still considered the most important breakthrough in aviation. The desire of man to conquer the skies was not yet fulfilled. The ballooning industry was at its top and no other way of flying but through an air balloon was considered possible. Flying was considered possible with the help of a hot air balloon. Then in the year 1853, George Cayley built a triplane glider that carried a man over 290 feet across a valley. This flight is considered as the first flight of a man in an aircraft.... Attempts were made to design wings that could enable a man to fly but all ended up in failures. Then in the year 1853 George Cayley built a triplane glider that carried a man over 290 feet across a valley. This flight is considered as the first flight of a man in an aircraft. The Wright Brothers The researches and attempts to build a machine that could carry a man were at their peak in the early 20th century. The Wright brothers were also one of those who had dedicated to the dream of the world. They taught themselves the methodologies of flying and were always trying to develop a machine that could carry a man in the air. Their work has been considered the most important in the history flying. After many successful glider test flights in the years 1901-02 the flyer was ready to fly in December 1903. The flight of the flyer acted as a major stimulant to the aviation industry and the industry was at its peak in not more than a decade when fighter planes were used in the First World Wa r. The Wright brothers clearly made the first flying machine and boomed the aviation industry. No matter what, they are still considered as the pioneers of aviation. Modern Aviation In the mid of the 29th century, there is remarkable progress of the aviation industry. International and intercontinental air travelling started. Fighter planes were being manufactured at large scale. But, the propeller driven planes were still too slow for a man who always wanted more. The quest for the best continued and jet engines were developed which has almost completely replaced propellers in the modern aviation making the aircrafts faster than sound. Development of safety guidelines have made them much safer than they were earlier. Travelling by air is much pleasant now than it

Having our say (racism) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Having our say (racism) - Essay Example Bessie being darker encountered harsher racism than Sarah. The sisters were different in life but they came from same family and never married and had respectable jobs. They went to same college and were extremely well educated. Bessie always stood for herself and resisted racism and white people. The sisters were hard working and chose career over marriage as they belonged to a poor background. Both these sisters faced racism early in their life. They were born out of a white father and a quarter black women but still were tagged as colored people. They had to face many obstacles from white men in their neighborhood. According to ( Delany 39)â€Å"In the decades after the Civil War, "education" became the rallying cry of those seeking to improve the lot of former slaves, whose prospects were limited usually to hard labor in the fields or to domestic work in white peoples homes†. Bessie being bold to respond to criticism was strong willed while Sadie was calm. They understood not to mess with me from the first day itself (Delany 9) Bessie when confronted by a drunken white man she responded harshly .When she saw the seating arrangement in a drinking place she feels resentment on the division for white and black people. They also face racism at work place but overcome it. They achieved their goals steadily despite facing discrimination and prejudices. Sadie being lighter in complexion was non aggressive to racism. She was the first black women to be a teacher by not disclosing her black ethnicity to the employer. Bessie being proud and emotional was opposite to Sadie who was calm and easy going. The racism is a dark side of American history which exists still in a milder manner. These sisters is a proud icons of American which shows that nothing is an obstacle if there is will to achieve what one wants in life. Growing in a poor and racist atmosphere they achieved what they wanted. They became well

Utilitarianism - Justice Essay Example for Free

Utilitarianism Justice Essay A person who is a utilitarian believes in one principle of utility, which is to opt for an action that will bring the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people (Ronsenstand, 2013). It is not a decision made with selfish intentions, as it does not matter who benefits from the decision, as long as it is for the greater good. The utilitarian belief can be a solution to certain moral problems, but there are also problems that may arise from it. One of the problems of the utilitarian theory is that it is hedonistic and ignores individual rights (Sandel, 2009). Utilitarians will often look at the ‘big picture’ to determine the course of action that should be taken. If the decision is made in favor of the happiness of the greatest number of people, then what happens to those who are in the minority group? One example is the death of 6 months old Isis Charm Vas who was thought to be murdered by her babysitter, Ernie Lopez in 2011. Medical examiners failed to take into consideration that the child might be suffering from a rare blood disease. It is often found that in cases concerning the death of children, the law is quick to convict a person just to close the case as it impacts the society emotionally. Similarly, William Dillon served 27 years in prison for murder before he was exonerated from the crime he did not commit. It is not unusual for the law to convict innocent people just to provide closure for the family of the victims and also to give a sense of satisfaction or justice to the society. Society will naturally demand justice for these murders, thus putting pressure on the law to act quickly and often, make costly mistakes on behalf of innocents in the process. These people might sometimes be considered as ‘scapegoats’. Based on these cases, a utilitarian might argue that in general, it might bring a greater good to the vast majority if such criminal cases were brought to a closure, no matter if the person is truly innocent or not. Sacrificing one person is better than the unhappiness of a whole society. Closure reduces the hype around a particular case especially if it concerns children, which plays with the sympathy and anger of the society. The theory of utilitarian might argue that it is more important to restore the faith of the people in the law. If too much time is spent finding exact evidence pointing to the right offender in a case like Isis Charm Vas, the community might lose faith in the law thus creating even more problems in future. If no one trusts the law to provide justice, people might stop abiding the law altogether.

Spatial-temporal Analysis of Land Market in Urban Fringe

Spatial-temporal Analysis of Land Market in Urban Fringe 1. Research context There is a widespread deem that urbanisation is the outcome of the configuration of modern human society. The 19th century, which assumed to be the era of modernization all over the world, has experienced rapid urbanisation. For instance, urban population has increased from less than 14 percent to more than 50 percent of the worlds population during 1900-2000 and if this growth continues, urban population in the world will arrive at 4.72 -5.00 billion in 2030 (increase of 48.61-57.84 percent comparing to the current population) comparing to 6.835-8.135 billion (18.71 percent) increase in total population and 3.348-3.267 billion (2.42 percent) decrease in rural population. Nevertheless, the devastating situation will be at the developing countries, where the urban population growth is forecasted to be 74.17 percent in 2030 comparing to the current population (Zhang, 2008). Interestingly, maximum of this urban population agglomeration is in largest cities, especially megaciites (Li, 20 03) and these megacities are growing at an unprecedented rate. For example, in 1950 there were only 4 megacities, which increase to 28 in 1980, 39 in 2002; and 59 in 2015 (UN 2002). Then the question arises which criteria define the megacities. Some urban geographers tried to define the megacities based on the global economic power or influence. With the exception of Lo and Yeungs (1998) ‘Globalization and the World of Large Cities, which includes Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Cairo and Johannesburg, and more recently systematic work by Taylor (2000), Lo and Marcotullio (2000), Taylor and Walker (2001) and Shin and Timberlake (2000) much of these works (Friedmann, 1986; Sassen, 2004) have either focused on the developed world or merely mentioned ‘megacities in the developing world (Yulong and Hamnett, 2002). However, an extensive debate has still been going on the definition of megacities. United Nations categorize the megacities with population of 8 millions while Asian Development Bank extends the population limit to 10 million along with other characteristics such as complex economy and integrated transport system. Thus, discussion takes into account the ‘population greater than 10 millions as an indicator of megacities. According to the World Population Report 2001 by UNFPA, currently there are 19 megacities such as Tokyo (26.4 millions), Mexico City (18.1 millions), Mumbai (18.1 millions), Sà £o Paulo (17.8 millions), Shanghai (17 millions), New York (16.6 millions), Lagos (13.4 millions), Los Angeles (13.1 millions), Calcutta (12.9 millions), Buenos Aires (12.6 millions), Dhaka (12.3 millions), Karachi (11.8 millions), New Delhi (11.7 millions), Jakarta (11 millions), Osaka (11 millions), Metro Manila (10.9 millions), Beijing (10.6 millions), Reo de Janeiro (10.6 millions) and Cairo (10.6 millions). Still there is a controversy about the geographical extent of these megacities. Even some of these megacities are growing on forming the urban corridors (Tokyo-Yokohama-Nagoya-Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto Shinkansen in Japan, Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan in northeastern China; and the Mumbai-Pune development corridor in India) and urban mega-clusters (national capital Region of Delhi, Dhaka, and Metro Manila; Karachi mega-urban region, Bangkok-Thonburi metropolitan region, and Jakarta-Bogor-Tangerang-Bekasi region). This continuing growth of megacities is now the burning research topic of the policy makers as well as international communities (Renaud, 1981; UN, 1993) and different policies are already been applied to counterpart this rapid urbanisations in megacities such as China, Egypt, Brazil, Korea, Mexico, and China have promoted different promotional programs (e.g. dual track urban system) for patronizing the medium size cities in their respective country level (Henderson, 2002; Ades and Glaeser, 1995). Still a comprehensive strategy needs to be initiated in order to counterpart the unprecedented rate of urbanisation and urban agglomeration. 2. Overall aim and objectives The overall aim of the thesis is to determine the economic value of land at the urban fringe of a megacity in developing country. Based on the aim, the objectives are categorised into two broad areas theoretical objectives and empirical objectives. Theoretical objectives To examine the extent of influence of urbanisation process, and land acquisition and speculation, by both the public and private sectors, on the dynamics of urban agglomeration or urban sprawl. To examine the changing urban spatial patterns of the megacites due to sprawl and to explain them within the framework of different urban growth theories. To examine the nature, characteristics, and dynamics of urban land and the land market within which land assembles, urban renewal, gentrification and development has taken place. To identify different spatio-temporal econometric methods for determining land price. Empirical objectives To develop an economic instrument, considering both spatial and temporal aspects of land, for understanding the dynamics of the land price at urban fringe of a megacity in developing country To determine the extent of influence of environmental attributes on the price of urban-rural interface lands. 3. Methodology In order to attain the objectives, the research will be carried out by following the comprehensive methodology, the structure of which is given below: The detail of the methodology and structure of the chapters to attain the objectives is given below: Objectives Methodology Organizati-on of chapters Objective 1: Definition of urbanisation and urban agglomeration; reasons; challenges; trend of urbanisation in developed and developing countries; growth pattern of different hierarchy of urban settlements; socio-economic, political and physical characteristics of urban settlements; economic, institutional, and political factors of rural-urban migration; government policies and urban politics in the context of urbanisation and urban agglomeration; concept, nature, characteristics and dynamics of megacities; spatial pattern of megacities; cases and consequences of rapid urbanisation and urban space challenges especially in megacities. Literature review of journal, books and reports of different organisations working on urbanisation and urban agglomeration Chapter 2 Objective 2: Urban land economic theories (such as classical theories, neo-classical theories, new economic geographic theories, and new institutional economic theories) in the context of urbanisation and urban agglomeration Literature review of journal and books Chapter 3 Objective 3: Dynamics of urban land market, urban land politics, actors of urban land politics, contemporary urban land regulatory mechanisms and their acceptability in different contexts, planning mechanisms for controlling land conversion or development at the urban fringe, land acquisition process, government strategy for land ceiling standard and land speculation, actors controlling the land market, impact of land use change on the wetlands and agricultural lands at urban fringe and challenges for attaining sustainability. Literature review of journal, books, reports of different organisations, and government policies, strategic plans, rules, and regulations. Chapter 4 Objective 4: Different types of spatio-temporal econometric methods for determining the land price at urban fringe Literature review of journal and books. Software for Spatio-temporal autoregressive analysis Chapter 5 Objective 5: variables or attributes explaining land market at urban fringe, compatible econometric instrument for drawing the equation of land market at urban fring Application of spatio-temporal econometric model for regression analysis Chapter 8 Objective 6: economic valuation of environmental attributes and its influence on the land market at urban fringe 4. Theoretical framework Various factors are attributed to the urbanisation in megacities such as rural-urban migration (Goldstein, 1990; Chan, 1994a,1994b; Rempel, 1996; Ma, 1999), natural population increase and even the government policies (Lo, 1994; Sit, 1995; Lin, 2004; Bloom et al., 2008) on foreign direct investment (Sit and Yang, 1997; Shen, 1999; Shen et al., 2000), expansion of tertiary industries (Lin, 2002) and economic transition (Gu and Wall, 2007). This section explores the reasons behind the urbanisation and urban agglomeration in megacities, and spatial patterns of megacities. Economic development There is a significant positive correlation between the economic development and urbanisation (Henderson, 2003), which can better be explained by the hypothesis of Williamson (1965) (Hansen, 1990). Due to the economic development of the city, the significant amount of industries are concentrated within the city core and this upshots in development of knowledge, skills, and economic infrastructure which leads to development of physical structures such as transport and communications. This physical development make obligatory to the investors or manufacturers to recalculate the cost-benefit analysis of the geographical locations of their industries taking into account the external and internal economies of scale- resulting in urban expansion or deconcentration of industries from the urban core (El-Shakhs, 1972; Alonso, 1980; Wheaton and Shishido, 1981; Junius, 1999; Davis and Henderson, 2003; Barro and Sala-I-Martin, 1991, 1992; Kuznets, 1966; Abramovitz, 1989; Easterlin, 2000). This a rgument is vivid by reviewing different literatures on the economic growth and urbanisation in megacities (Aguilar and Ward, 2003; Firman, 1997; Fanni, 2006). However, the basic assumption of urbanisation is the rural-urban migration. According to the western economists, urbanisation/ rural-urban migration is the resultant of increase in the productivity of agricultural sector and the increasing demand for labour needed by an expanding industrial sector. This economic model was adopted for the western economics, which was later tried to adopt in the urbanisation pattern of the third world countries by Lewis (1994). Nevertheless, the increasing rural-urban migration, despite the high unemployment and underemployment situation in urban areas of developing countries, raises the question of its validity. Later on, comparative evaluation of expected wage rates between urban and rural (by Harris-Todaro migration model), and present value of expected benefits and costs (by Sjaasted migration model) were identified as the key economic factors of urbanisation process. Brueckner and Zenou (1999) and Brueckner and Kim (2001) have incorporate the effe cts of land price escalation due to the migration within the Harris-Todaro model. Furthermore, classical economists (e.g. (Gordon, 1975; Petty, 1683; Yang, 1991; Yang and Rice, 1994; Sun, 2000; Sun and Yang, 2002; Zhang and Zhao, 2004) and neo-classical economists (e.g. Fujita-Krugman, 1995; Helpman, 1998; Lowry, 1966) try to project the ‘division of labor and production, and ‘economies of scale as the basic economic prerequisite of urbanisation respectively. Government policies and urban politics After the economic development, the next significant characteristic of urbanisation in megacities is government interventions or policies (Renaud, 1981; Ades and Glaeser, 1995; Moomaw and Shatter, 1996; Henderson and Becker, 2000; Davis and Henderson, 2003) by sometimes prioritizing the megacities over other cities during decisive policymaking (Fujita et al., 1999). This may cause because of their political significance and interest of the elites and bureaucrats (such as in Bangkok, Mexico City, Jakarta, and Paris, Sà £o Paulo). For promoting economic development in the megacities, the government (either national or local) of concerned countries sometime has taken promotion strategies such as in Shanghai, China (Cai, 1995; Han, 2000; Fu, 2001); Jakarta, Indonesia (Firman, 2000; Goldblum and Wong, 2000; Henderson and Kuncoro, 1996; Kaiser, 1999); Manila, Philippines (Kelly, 2003; Bankoff, 1996; Sidel, 1999); Mumbai and Delhi, India (Valerie, 1999); Cairo, Egypt (Sutton and Fahmi, 200 1); and even in London, Paris and New York (Lever, 1997; Short and Kim, 1999; Tickell, 1998).. However, the impact of dynamic government polices on urbanisation and urban agglomeration is most acute in China such as ‘Socialist Economic theory based urban-biased Hukou system during the ‘pre-reform period (Oi, 1993; Naughton, 1996; Zhang and Zhao, 2004; Chan, 1994a, 1996; Gu and Shen, 2003; Sit, 1995; Harrison, 1972; Murphey, 1974; Ma, 1976; Nolan and White, 1984; Prybyla, 1987; Kirkby, 1985; Kang, 1993; Chan, 1994b; Liu, 1999; Ma and Fan, 1994; Buck, 1981; Parish, 1987; Ofer, 1977; Konrad and Szelenyi, 1977; Ronnas and Sjoberg, 1993; Sjoberg, 1999; Kirkby, 1985; Kang, 1993; Chan, 1994b; Solinger, 1999; Lieberthal, 1995; Fallenbuchl, 1977; Zhang and Zhao, 1998; National Bureau of Statistics of China, 2000; Konrad and Szelenyi, 1977; Ofer, 1977, 1980; Musil, 1980; Murray and Szelenyi, 1984), especially in China (Cell, 1979; Orleans, 1982; Whyte, 1983; Ran and Berry, 1989; Ebanks and Cheng, 1990; Yu, 1995; Tang, 1997; Song and Timberlake, 1996; Lin, 1998; Dong and Putt erman, 2000). Later on, ‘post-reform policy also boosted the urbanisation by encouraging the foreign and private investments in megacities (Banister and Taylor, 1989; Shen and Spence, 1995; Shen, 2002; Shen et al., 2006). However, the national or local government is not solely responsible for urbanisation, urban development as well as urban expansion. Then the question is: Who runs the cities? Government interventions or policies in the urban strategic planning for political significance and interest of the elites and bureaucrats are proverbial in the cities of both developed and developing world (Renaud, 1981; Ades and Glaeser, 1995; Moomaw and Shatter, 1996; Henderson and Becker, 2000; Davis and Henderson, 2003). This is why; urban theorists are focusing on urban politics rather than on economic attributes in formulating state policies for urban development (Sites, 1997; Cockburn, 1977; Castells, 1979; Stone, 1993; 1998). Nevertheless, the influence of urban politics in urban planning priorities in different parts of the world is very complicated because urban politics are viewed from different perspectives. State-centred perspective argued for key role of government, autonomy of the state or the lo cal state and pre-eminence of political attributes in strategic planning (Steinmo, 1989; King, 1995; Thornley, 1998; Evans et al., 1985; Gurr and King, 1987), while coalition politics (Stone, 1987, 1989, 1993; Sites, 1997; Elkin, 1987; Harding, 1994; Gurr and King, 1987; Turner, 1992; DiGaetano and Klemanski, 1993; Orren and Skowronek, 1994) argued for public-private partnership for implementing planning strategies because either for the vulnerability of local government in inter-city economic competition or for the division of labour. This is why; various urban theorists (Park and Burgess, 1925; Dahl; 1967; Wirth, 1969; Jacobs; 1969; 1984; Saunders, 1983; Rae, 2004), who tried to entangle urban politics within their own theories, either failed or misinterpret the urban planning practices. The basic controversy of urban politics lies within two distinct definitions of community power (Polsby, 1980; Harding, 1995; Judge, 1995) power within communities and the power of communities (Harding, 1997). The first is concerned with ‘social production and ‘power to while the latter on is with ‘social control and ‘power over (Stone, 1989). ‘Power within communities, also known as ‘urban regime prompts integration or political coalition of civic groups and public institutions (Dowding et al. 1999; Shefter, 1985; Elkin, 1987; Stone and Sanders, 1987; Mollenkopf, 1992; Turner, 1992; Di Gaetano and Klemanski, 1993; Davies 2001, 2003; Stone, 1989, 2002, 2005; Peck and Tickell, 1995) at different levels of intensity and clarity (Stone, 2005) for economic development and physical regeneration or gentrification (Harding, 1997; Elkin, 1987; Stone and Sanders, 1987; Stone, 1989) and urban growth machines (Molotch, 1976, 1990; Logan and Molotch, 1987; Mo lotch and Logan, 1990). On the other hand, ‘power of communities is more concerned about the acting power of the actors rather than coalitions and is defined by elite and pluralist theories. Beyond the community power debate, another significant factor of citys strategic planning is the politics of globalization (Harding, 1997), which strengthens subnational autonomy and declines national importance (Ohmae, 1993). This can be elucidated by evaluating the role of business sectors on the local civic life of US and European cities. For instance, business-sectors of US cities are remarkably organized, who have strong influence on land ownership and land use planning, taxation and revenue distribution, private credit and public borrowing (Stone, 2005), election campaigns of local as well as national political leaders (Elkin, 1987) and resulting in they are within the governing system. Furthermore, the weaker capital investment by local government has persuaded for effective regime (Davis, 2003). Encouraged by the successful history of urban regime in US, Thatcher government took an ambitious initiative to install this US policy within new dimension of urban regeneration partnerships in UK (Berger and Foster, 1982; Boyle, 1985; Ward, 1996; Wolman, 1992) without resolving three questions What will be the role of development coalitions in the city politics as a whole? What types of private-sector act ivities will lead business-sector involvement in the coalitions? How can the activity balance between public and private sector be achieved? (Harding, 1997). Furthermore, some urban scholars attempted to exploit the regime concept in the European contexts (Vicari and Molotch, 1990; Harding, 1994; Kantor et al., 1997; Di Gaetano and Klemanski, 1999; Mossberger and Stoker, 2000; Zhang, 2002). The US policy was not possible to adopt in the UK context because of the powerful role of central government in the urban politics (Thornley, 1998), lack of bargaining power of urban government, reluctance of local business actors in coalitions (Peck and Tickell, 1995; Davis, 2003). This is why; the attempt has been resulted in different collaborative mechanisms, which were explained by different theories such as Rhodes and Marsh (1992) model of policy network analysis by Stoker and Mossberger (1994), integration of regulation and regime theory by Harding (1994) and Lauria (1997). Urban politics in the context of developing countries (e.g. Brazil, Mexico, Nigeria, Egypt, Indonesia, Philippines, Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan) are almost similar to the politics of UK rather stronger role of national government and local government. Either military government or monarch or autocrats reined most of these countries throughout the major portion of their history after independence and they have a close tie with the business elites and bureaucrats. Eventually, the business elites and bureaucrats are influencing the urban policy agendas behind the scene. Nevertheless, the context of socialist China is quite complicated, which can be categorized within pre-reform era (before 1978) and post-reform era (from 1978 till today). Urban politics during the pre-reform period was solely contracted by the national government. After the reform policy, the national government had decentralize their economic and political powers among the local government and influential actors. H owever, the interesting thing is that ‘a clever fox is hiding inside the reform policy by controlling the property ownership, leaving the economic burden to the local government, strongly linking the vertical tie at the government level. Locational economies of production and class segregation The urbanisation of a city can be a consequence of social division of labour and industrial diversification (Harvey, 1973; Henderson, 2002; Scott, 1986; Weber, 1899; Haig, 1927; Allen, 1929; Perrin, 1937; Florence, 1948; Wise, 1949; Lampard, 1955; Hoover and Vernon, 1959; Hall, 1962; Tsuru, 1963; Sjoberg, 1965; Thiry, 1973; Webber, 1984). This can better be conceptualized by considering vertical and horizontal integration and disintegration of production and labor forces. In case of vertical and horizontal disintegration, the industries or firms try to be concentrated within the core region of a city because various economies of scales (Coase, 1937; Holmes, 1986; Richardson, 1972; Scott, 1983; Pye, 1977) and this was obvious at the earier stage of megacities of developed countries such as New York, London and Paris. On the contrary, when the vertical and horizontal integration of firms or products is strong both in spatial and temporal aspects, geographical expansion of city are more likely to be happened because of internal and external economies of scale (Scott, 1980; Brook et al., 1973; Gilmour, 1971; Abernathy et al., 1983; Piore and Sabel, 1984). Moreover, urbanisation in megacities is dependent on the type of products such as gold and diamond in Rio de Janeiro, coffee in Sà £o Paulo, manufacturing industries in Seoul, tertiary activities in London, Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo (Duranton and Puga, 2001; Waley, 2009; Mukherjee, 1990; Banerjee, 1985; Glaeser et al., 1995; Lee and Kang, 1989; Lee et al., 2007; Godfrey, 1999). Locational preference Most of the megacities are located at the coastal areas[1] because of their strategic geographical location which offer the advantages of trade, communication, and living environment (Godfrey, 1995; Vance 1990). Presently, 60 percent (nearly 3 billion people) or half of the worlds population lives within 100 km or 60km of the shoreline respectively (Yeung, 2001; Hinrichsen, 1990) and it is estimated that this population will be doubled within the upcoming 30 years among which coastal megacities will contribute the lion share of population (Li, 2003). Furthermore, the number of coastal megacities will be increased to 36 from the existing 16 at the year of 2015 of them 30 will be in developing countries and 22 will be in Asia (Kullenberg, 1999). Sometimes policy makers prepare the economic development plans giving prime focus on the coastal cities (Yeung and Hu, 1992) because it is comparatively less perilous to promote economic development plans in coastal cities because of its good a nd cheap communication and already established structures and physical infrastructures. On the other hand, capital cities get also locational advantages because of the center of institutions, organizations, information and culture such as Beijing (Yulong and Hamnett, 2002), Metro Manila (Cuervo and Hin, 1998), Delhi, Dhaka, and Jakarta. Colonial influence Most of the megacities were under the different European colonies such as British, Spanish, French and Portuguese. Historically, European colonials developed these megacities for their defensive and trade functions. For example, apprehension about French incursions, the Portuguese founded Rio de Janeiro in 1565 (Godfrey, 1999); before Spanish era (1521-1898), Manila was the entry-port of Chinese, Indians and Arabian merchants (Cuervo and Hin, 1998); Bombay, Calcutta and Madras are trade oriented port cities due to British colonial legacy; New York was used as commercial center by the Portuguese colonial. Land speculation and real estate development Land conversion is a normal part of urban development in both developed and developing world (Pierce, 1981; Lockeretz, 1989; Tsai, 1993; Winoto, 1996; Kustiwan, 1997; Yeh and Li, 1999; Grigg, 1995). Nevertheless, land speculation by real estate developers has been observed at an alarming rate in Mexico City, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Jakarta, Metro Manila and megacities of developing countries (Deng, et al., 2008; Arcadis Euroconsult, 1999; Leaf, 1991, 1993; Akbar and Subroto, 1999; Firman, 2000; Bouteiller and Fouquier, 1995; Goldblum and Wong, 2000). Spatial pattern of urbanisation in megacities Megacities had grown to become primate cities at the earlier stage of urbanisation (Parai and Dutt, 1994; McGee and Greenberg, 1992). Megacities now present more polycentric spatial expansion of urban centers and sub-centers following a network pattern that tends to sprawl along major highways and/or railroad lines radiating out from the urban core (Aguilar and Ward, 2003). However, megacities have passed over four stages of urbanisation urbanisation, suburbanisation, counterurbanisation and reurbanisation (Champion, 2001; Van der Berg et al., 1982; Klaassen et al., 1981; Schweitzer and Steinbrink, 1998) ‘cyclic model. In case of ‘urban centre hierarchy, the consecutive phases of urbanisation can be illustrated as a diffusive wave of differential urbanisation (Pacione, 2001; Geyer and Kontuly, 1993) ( 5). The first phase (U) explains the concentration of population in the central city due to rapid rural-urban migration, while the second phase (S) shows an increasing population at its urban periphery and decreasing population at the central city. Third phase (D) shows decreasing of population both in central city and urban periphery and the final stage shows increasing of population at both locations. The first phase (U) explains increasing population in Primary city and intermediate city but decreasing population in the small cities. In the second phase of counterurbanisation (C), reversal situation of first phase is happening after a certain time. In the final, changing rate of net migration is falling down in case of all size of cities. However, the population of primary city will continue to growth for a certain time thereafter it will fall. On the other hand, the population of intermediate city will reach to the optimum level while population of small cities are still growing. Megacities in Latin America Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Santiago, and Sà £o Paulo are in suburbanisation stage because of the continuation of heavy concentration of production activities and population in the urban core and expanding towards sub-urban areas or fringe areas (Farà ­a 1989; Sassen 1994; Pereira 1967; Caldeira 1996; Aguilar and Ward, 2003; Gwynne, 1985; UNCHS, 1996; Aguilar, 1999a and 1999b; Campolina 1994; Parnreiter, 2002; Ward, 1998; Vance, 1990). There is different argument about the urbanisation stage of Latin American megacities such as Townroe and Keene (1984) and Gilbert (1993) claim that megacities of Latin America are in counterurbanisation stage as the secondary city growth is underway with a polycentric urban form suggestive of polarization reversal with the growth of intermediate sized cities leading to a more balanced national urban structure. Megacities of Southeast Asian are also in suburbanisation stage because of the fusion of urban and rural functions that is a mix of rural and urban activities in peri-urban areas and known as extended metropolitan region (desakota) (Gingsburg et al., 1991; McGee and Robinson, 1995; Firman, 1996; Forbes, 1997; Murakami et al., 2005). However, Beijing is still quite monocentric, and its CBD continues to contain a large share of the metropolitan areas total employment, largely because of the centrality of various urban amenities, and because of the concentration of government activities in Beijing (Zheng and Kahn, 2008). On the other hand, other megacities of China Shanghai and Guangzhou are shifting their urban spatial pattern from monocentric form to polycentric form. Lagos of Nigeria is still in urbanisation stage and there are no evidence of meta-urban or peri-urban development (Briggs and Mwamfupe, 2000; Yeboah, 2000) rather city growth is contained within clearly defined boundaries. Megacities in Western Europe and United States are the stage of reurbanisation (Antrop, 2000, 2004) such as Paris (Sallez and Burgi, 2004; Cavailhes et al., 2004), New York (Godfrey, 1995; Preston and McLafferty, 1993), and London (Bendixson, 2004). 5. Research Timeframe for initial 9 months Activity schedule Time Frame Oct- 09 Nov- 09 Dec- 09 Jan- 10 Feb-10 Mar-10 Apr-10 May-10 June-10 Conceptualization Discussion on the context, key features and material sources of the research Chapter 1: Theoretical framework on the contextual terminologies on urbanisation and agglomeration Chapter 1: Fixation of aims and objectives, and development of methodology and research structure Preparation and presentation of 100-days viva Chapter 2: (objective 1) Literature review Chapter 3: (objective 2) Literature review 6. Research Timeframe for 3 years Activity schedule Time Frame 2009 2010 2011 2012 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Conceptualization Discussion on the context, key features and material sources of the research Literature Review stage Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Empirical stage Sample size formulation Primary data collection Secondary data collection Data verification, editing and input Chapter 6: Methodology Chapter 7: Data analysis Chapter 8: Objective 5 and 6 Evaluation and conclusion Chapter 9: Findings Chapter 10: Recommendations and Implementation guidelines Chapter 11: Conclusion Final presentation and submission 7. References Abernathy, W. J., Clark, K. B., and Kantrow, A. M. (1983). Industrial renaissance: Producing a competitive future for America. New York: Basic Books. Abramovitz, M. (1989). Thinking about Growth: And Other Essays on Economic Growth and Welfare. New York: Cambridge University Press. Ades, A. F., and E. L. Glaeser. (1995). â€Å"Trade and Circuses: Explaining Urban Giants,† Quarterly Journal of Economics 110, 195-227. Aguilar, A G (1999a). â€Å"Mexico City growth and regional dispersal: the expansion of largest cities and new spatial forms,† Habitat International 23(3), 391-412. Aguilar, A G (1999b). â€Å"La Ciudad de Me ´xico en la Region Centro. Nuevas Formas de la Expansio ´n Metropolitana†. In: Transiciones. La Nueva Formacio ´n Territorial de la Ciudad de Mà ©xico, (eds.) J. Delgado and B. RamÄ ±Ã‚ ´rez, pp. 147-169. Programa de Investigacion Metropolitana-UAM, Plaza y Valdez, Mexico. Aguilar, A. G., and Ward, P. M. (2003). â€Å"Globalization, regional development, and mega-city expansion in Latin America: analyzing Mexico citys peri-urban hinterland,† Cities 20 (1), 3-21. Akbar, D. B., and Subroto B., 1999. â€Å"Northern bandung area development† Unpublished Paper, Department of Regional and City Planning, Institute of Technology, Bandung, Indonesian. Alonso, W. (1980). â€Å"Five Bell Shapes in Development,† Papers of the Regional Science Associations, 45, 5-16. Antrop, M., (2000). â€Å"Changing patterns in the urbanized countryside of Western Europe,† Landsc. Ecol. 15, 257-270. Antrop, M. (2004). â€Å"Landscape change and the urbanisation process in Europe†. Landscape and Urban Planning, 67, 9-26. Arcadis Euroconsult, 1999. â€Å"Land aquisition and development control† Final Report, National Planning Agency and Land Development Agency, Jakarta. Banerjee, N. (1985). Women Workers in the Unorganized Sector: The Calcutta Experience. Hyderabad: Sangain Books. Banister, J., and Taylor, J. R. (1989). â€Å"China: surplus rural labour and migration,† Asia-Pacific Population Journal, 4(4), 3-20. Bankoff, G. (1996). â€Å"Legacy of the past, promise of

Racism In America :: essays research papers

There is surely no nation in the world that holds "racism" in greater horror than does the United States. Compared to other kinds of offenses, it is thought to be somehow more reprehensible. The press and public have become so used to tales of murder, rape, robbery, and arson, that any but the most spectacular crimes are shrugged off as part of the inevitable texture of American life. "Racism" is never shrugged off. For example, when a White Georgetown Law School student reported earlier this year that black students are not as qualified as White students, it set off a booming, national controversy about "racism." If the student had merely murdered someone he would have attracted far less attention and criticism. Racism is, indeed, the national obsession. Universities are on full alert for it, newspapers and politicians denounce it, churches preach against it, America is said to be racked with it, but just what is racism? Dictionaries are not much help in understanding what is meant by the word. They usually define it as the belief that one's own ethnic stock is superior to others, or as the belief that culture and behavior are rooted in race. When Americans speak of racism they mean a great deal more than this. Nevertheless, the dictionary definition of racism is a clue to understanding what Americans do mean. A peculiarly American meaning derives from the current dogma that all ethnic stocks are equal. Despite clear evidence to the contrary, all races have been declared to be equally talented and hard- working, and anyone who questions the dogma is thought to be not merely wrong but evil. The dogma has logical consequences that are profoundly important. If blacks, for example, are equal to Whites in every way, what accounts for their poverty, criminality, and dissipation? Since any theory of racial differences has been outlawed, the only possible explanation for black failure is White racism. And since blacks are markedly poor, crime-prone, and dissipated, America must be racked with pervasive racism. Nothing else could be keeping them in such an abject state. All public discourse on race today is locked into this rigid logic. Any explanation for black failure that does not depend on White wickedness threatens to veer off into the forbidden territory of racial differences. Thus, even if today's Whites can find in their hearts no desire to oppress blacks, yesterday's Whites must have oppressed them.

The Guidance Counselor Essay -- essays papers

The Guidance Counselor INTRODUCTION According to the U. S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Outlook Handbook, Counselors are defined as persons who â€Å"assist people with personal, family, educational, mental health and career decisions and problems. Their duties depend on the individuals they serve and the settings in which they work† (169). Examples include Mental health counselors who help people cope with daily life issues such as marital, family, stress management, or addiction problems. These counselors primarily work in private office settings. Rehabilitation counselors help people deal with different aspects of their physical disabilities, these counselors generally work in medical facilities. Employment counselors assist individuals in making wise career choices and most of these counselors work in community agencies. Thus counseling is a diverse field that encompasses an array of situations and settings. This report will center on High School Guidance Counselors. The primary focus will be to discuss the educational requirements necessary to apply for jobs in the field, the needed skills and abilities desired from employers, and the main duties of the job. EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENTS Requirements vary by state for specific types of degrees and or licenses and certifications that must be held by guidance counselors. Missouri Law requires that all High School Guidance Counselors have secondary counselor certification. Criteria for certification is listed below and was obtained from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Individuals desiring to become guidance counselors must understand that acquiring certification requires an enormous amount of time, dedication, and education. Initial Certification The professional certificate is valid for five years from the effective date on the certificate and is issued to persons meeting the following criteria:  · A valid Missouri teaching certificate  · A minimum of two years classroom teaching experience  · A minimum of one year experience working in a field other than teaching or counseling  · Completion of a course in Education and/or Psychology of the exceptional child worth two or more semester hours  · Completion of a master’s degree with a major in guidance and counseling from a college or university meeting approval of the Missouri Department of Elementa... ...ctices. Bibliography: Works Cited â€Å"Certification Requirements for Secondary Counselor (Grades 9-12)†. Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. March 06, 1998 . (November 02, 1998). Chiles, Donna. School Guidance and Counseling. Pupil Personnel Services Recommended Practices and Procedures Manual. Springfield: Illinois State Board of Education, 1983. Ellis, Thomas I. The Missouri Comprehensive Guidance Model. Ann Arbor: ERIC Clearinghouse, 1990. Feller, Richard, & Daly, J. Counselor Role and Educational Change: Planning, Integration, and Basic Skills: Book 5 - Comprehensive School Counseling and Guidance Programs. Fort Collins: Colorado State University, 1992. King, Gloria. Personnel Director, St. Louis Public Schools. Telephone Interview. 27 October 1998. Thomas, Preston. Director of Student Services, Cardinal Ritter College Prepatory High School. Personal Interview. 4 November 1998. Thompson, Rosemary. School Counseling Renewal: Strategies for the Twenty-first Century. Muncie: Accelerated Development Inc., 1992. U. S. Department of Labor. Occupational Outlook Handbook, 1998-99 Edition. Indianapolis: JIST Works, Inc., 1998.

Canadian Trade Balance Analysis :: essays research papers

Canada   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Canadian economy and the United States economy tend to move together because of the amount of transactions that take place within the two nations due to their geographical proximity. With the United States recently experiencing a downturn in the economy, analysts estimate that the Canadian economy will not be far behind. However, in the past 10 years the Canadian economy and especially the trade balance have been very healthy. Current Account   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Since 1992, Canada has increased their amount of exports of goods year-in and year-out until slight downfalls in 2001 and 2002. However, between 1992 and 2000 they raised exports from $135 billion to $289 billion, an increase of 114%. Imports of goods also rose consistently over that nine year period from $128 billion to $244 billion. The key fact there though is that imports rose only 90% compared to a rise in exports of 114%. This has allowed Canada to maintain a very healthy trade balance, which has also risen consistently except for a few decreases in 1997, 1998, and 2002. They have not run a trade balance deficit on goods once since 1992.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Canada’s trade balance for services is similar to their trade balance for goods from a growth perspective, but with fewer breakdowns. Both exports and imports of services took very small hits in 2001. Overall, between 1992 and 2003 exports and imports of services rose 105% and 65% respectively. However with services the Canadian economy continually ran a deficit over this 12 year period.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Canada’s overall balance of goods and services also rose every year except for 1997, 1998, and 2002. They initially were running an overall deficit in 1992 and 1993 from a larger deficit in services than surplus in goods. The most common trend that is evident is that every trade category dropped in 2001 and/or 2002. There were no real substantial drops and the declines were quickly met with increases in the following years. It is likely that Canada’s economy felt at least some of the effects of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 because they are such a large trading partner of the United States.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The statistics indicate that Canada has primarily been an investor abroad, with substantial amounts of cash flows leaving the country. Again, both of these accounts grew almost every year. Between 1992 and 1997, funds received dropped only once in 1993. Likewise, funds invested abroad dropped only once within this time interval in 1996.

A well run business Essay

J. B. Priestley ‘An Inspector Calls’ is a play set in 1912 in the Birling’s family dining room. It was written in 1945 and set in Brumley. It features a typical affluent upper class family who own a well run business. The play starts with a small family celebration in which the daughter, Sheila Birling, is getting engaged to Gerald (a business man of the same class). The head of the family, a very prominent opinionated man, makes several toasts to the couple and lectures them about his knowledge of the world. Everything is going cosily until an unexpected visitor turns up on the Birling family’s doorstep. It’s a very sleek, mysterious inspector. The Inspector brings news of a young girl’s suicide. The Birling Family and Gerald first deny all connections with the suicide until the inspector rigorously questions each one of them and their shameful secrets are revealed. One of the reasons why J. B. Priestley’s ‘An Inspector Calls’ has remained popular is because there is some hope for the younger generation. During most of the play the atmosphere is depressing, drab and sad. The play is based on the inspector accusing each member of helping with the suicide of the young girl. The family all concentrate on how it’s not their fault. They try to blame it on each other and remain in a haze of selfishness. Towards the end of the play the younger generation, mostly Sheila, rise above this haze and look at the consequences. Sheila says ‘But you’re forgetting one thing; everything we said had really happened and if it didn’t end with the girl’s suicide, then lucky for us. But it might have done. ‘ Sheila rises above the dilemma and tries to turn the investigation of the inspector from a depressing and pointless conversation to a well learned lesson. During this Mr and Mrs Birling seem not to care about their harsh involvement with the girl. The younger generation care more and are deeply affected with their participation of the suicide. During ‘An Inspector Calls’ both the children argue with their parents. Eric accuses Mr Birling as ‘Not the kind of father a chap could go to when he’s in trouble. ‘ Mr Birling disagrees sternly with Eric and makes a point that he has treated him more than fairly. Mr Birling argues back with ‘Your trouble is that you have been spoilt. ‘

Chapter 6 – Planning Capacity

chapter 6: Planning capacity Capacity the maximum rate of output of a process or a system. Acquisition of new capacity requires extensive planning, and often involves significant expenditure of resources and time. Capacity decisions must be made in light of several long-term issues such as the firm’s economies and diseconomies of scale, capacity cushions, timing and sizing strategies, and trade-offs between customer service and capacity utilization. Planning capacity across the organizationAccounting provide cost information needed to evaluate capacity expansion Finance financial analysis of proposed capacity expansion investments and raises funds Marketing demand forecasts needed to identify capacity gaps. Operations selection of capacity strategies that can be implemented to effectively meet future demand. Human Resources hiring and training employees needed to support internal capacity plans. planning long-term capacity When choosing a capacity strategy: How much of a cushi on is needed to handle variable or uncertain demand? Should we expand capacity ahead of demand, or wait until demand is more certain? easures of capacity and utilization Output Measures Are best utilized when applied to individual processes within the firm, or when the firm provides a relatively small number of standardized services and products. For example, a car manufacturing plant may measure capacity in terms of the number of cars produced per day. Inputs Measures Are used for low-volume, flexible processes (custom products). For example a custom furniture maker might measure capacity in terms of inputs such as number of workstations or number of workers. The problem of input measures is that demand is expressed as an output rate.If the furniture maker wants to keep up with demand, he must convert the business’s annual demand for furniture into labor hours and number of employees required to fulfill those hours. Utilization Degree to which a resource (equipment, space, w orker) is currently being used. Utilization= Average Output RateMaximum Capacityx 100% The numerator and the denominator should be measured in the same units. A process can be operated above the 100%, with overtime, extra shifts, overstaffing, subcontracting, etc, but this is not sustainable for long. Economies of scaleEconomies of scale The average unit cost of a service or good can be reduced by increasing its output rate. Why? * Spreading fixed costs same fixed costs divided by more units * Reducing construction costs doubling the size of the facility usually doesn’t double construction costs (building permits, architect’s fees, rental) * Cutting costs of purchased materials better bargaining position and quantity discounts * Finding process advantages speed up the learning effect, lowering inventory, improving process and job designs, and reducing the number of changeovers. diseconomies of scaleDiseconomies of scale The average cost per unit increases as the facili ty’s size increases. The reason is that excessive size can bring complexity, loss of focus, and inefficiencies. capacity timing and sizing strategies sizing capacity cushions Capacity cushion=100%-Average Utilization rate (%) When the average utilization rate approaches 100% for long periods, it’s a signal to increase capacity or decrease order acceptance to avoid declining productivity. The optimal capacity cushion depends on the industry. Particularly, in front-office processes where customers expect fast service times, large cushions are vital (more variable demand).For capital-intensive firms, minimizing the capacity cushion is vital (unused capacity costs money). timing and sizing expansion Two strategies: * Expansionist strategy large, infrequent jumps in capacity. Is ahead of demand, and minimizes the chance of sales lost to insufficient capacity * Wait-and-see strategy smaller, more frequent jumps. It lags behind demand. To meet any shortfalls, it relies on sho rt-term operations (overtime, temporary workers, subcontractors, postponement of preventive maintenance on equipment).It reduces the risk of overexpansion based on overly optimistic demand forecasts, obsolete technology, or inaccurate assumptions regarding the competition. This strategy fits the short-term outlook but can erode market share over the long run. Timing and sizing of expansion are related: if demand is increasing and the time between increments increases, the size of the increments must also increase. An intermediate strategy can be â€Å"follow the leader†, so nobody gains a competitive advantage for being ahead of demand, and everyone shares the agony of overcapacity in the other case. inking capacity and other decisions Capacity cushions in the long run buffer the organization against uncertainty, as do resource flexibility, inventory, and longer customer lead times. If a change is made in any one decision area, the capacity cushion may also need to be changed to compensate. For example: Lower volume of production (more capacity cushion) to raise prices or vice versa. a systematic approach to long-term capacity decisions 4 steps: 1. Estimate future capacity requirements 2. Identify gaps by comparing requirements with available capacity 3. Develop alternative plans for reducing the gaps . Evaluate each alternative, both qualitatively and quantitatively, and make a final choice step 1: estimate capacity requirements A process’s capacity requirement is what its capacity should be for some future time period to meet the demand of the firm’s customers (external or internal), given the firm’s desired capacity cushion. Larger requirements are practical for processes or workstations that could potentially be bottlenecks in the future, and management may even plan for longer cushions than normal. Capacity requirements can be expressed in: * Output measure * Input measureEither way, the foundation for the estimate is forecasts of demand, productivity, competition, and technological change. The further ahead you look, the more chance you have of making an inaccurate forecast. Using output measures Demand forecasts for future years are used as a basis for extrapolating capacity requirements into the future. If demand is expected to double in the next 5 years, then the capacity requirements also double. For example: Actual demand 50 customers per day; expected demand = 100 customers per day; desirable cushion = 20%. So capacity should be (100)/(1-0. )=125 customers per day. Using input measures Output measures may be insufficient in these situations: * Product variety and process divergence is high (customized products) * The product or service mix is changing * Productivity rates are expected to change * Significant learning effects are expected In these cases, an input measure should be used (number of employees, machines, trucks, etc) One product processed When just one service or product is processed at an operation and the time period is a particular year, the capacity requirement (M) is: M=DpN[1-C100]D=demand forecast for the year (number of customers served or units produced) p=processing time (in hours per costumer served or unit produced) N=Total number of hours per year during which the process operates C=desired capacity cushion (expressed as a percent) M=number of input units required and should be calculated for each year in the time horizon Many products processed Setup time time required to change a process or an operation from making one service or product to making another. To calculate the total setup time D/Q*s Where D=demand forecast for the yearQ= number of units processed between setups s= time per setup For example, if the demand is 1200 units, and the average lot size is 100, there are 1200/100=12 setups per year. Accounting for both processing and setup times for multiple products, we get: M=[Dp+DQs]product 1+[Dp+DQs]product 2+†¦+[Dp+DQs]product nN[1-C100 ] When â€Å"M† is not an integer and we are talking about number of machines, you can round up the fractional part, unless it is cost efficient to use short-term options, such as overtime or stockouts.But if we are talking about number of employees and we get 23. 6, we can use 23 employees and use a little overtime (in this case, 60% of a full-time person). step 2: identify gaps A capacity gap is any difference (positive or negative) between projected capacity requirements (M) and current capacity. step 3: develop alternatives Develop alternative plans to cope with projected gaps. One alternative is the base case do nothing and simply lose orders from any demand that exceeds current capacity or incur costs because capacity is too large.Other alternatives: various timing and sizing options (expansionist or wait-and-see strategies); expanding at a different location; and using short term options. For reducing capacity, the alternatives include closing plants, laying off employ ees, reducing days or hours of operations. step 4: evaluate the alternatives Evaluate qualitatively and quantitatively. Qualitative concerns The manager looks at how each alternative fits the overall capacity strategy and other aspects of the business not covered by the financial analysis (uncertainties about demand, competitive reaction, technological change, and cost estimates).Some of these factors can’t be quantified and must be assessed on the basis of judgment and experience. Quantitative concerns The manager estimates the change in cash flows for each alternative over the forecast time horizon compared to the base case. tools for capacity planning waiting-line models Are useful in high customer-contact processes. Waiting-line models use probability distributions to provide estimates of average customer wait time, average length of waiting lines, and utilization of the work center.Managers can use this information to choose the most cost-effective capacity, balancing cu stomer service and the cost of adding capacity. This topic will be treated more deeply in the appendix (siguiente resumen) simulation Simulations can identify the process’s bottlenecks and appropriate capacity cushions, even for complex processes with random demand patterns and predictable flows in demand during a typical day. decision trees A decision tree can be particularly valuable for evaluating different capacity extension alternatives when demand is uncertain and sequential decisions are involved.