Fiscal and Monetary Policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Fiscal and Monetary Policy - Essay Example Therefore, it would be government who has to come forward and prepare a discretional fiscal and monetary policy in collaboration with the central bank to reduce the expansionary or contractionary gap. On the other hand, the pundits of passive policy assumes that the current position of economy is quite stable such that the market forces can better interact with each other to achieve the equilibrium in the economy due to the presence of automatic stabilizers in the economy. Active policy is quite famous among the policymakers due to the fact that by apply this approach the economy can be steered to a particular direction in quick times. The active policy is mainly utilized by the existing presidents just before the elections in order to gain some short term advantages so that their chances of being elected for the next tenure can be increased. Another important strength of this approach is that generally this approach is presented to the public in a very decent manner by the central bank and the government, but in reality, both these institutions heavily emphasize on the passive approach which is the core tool behind stabilizing the economy after recessions. This policy can provide its best of the results when some sheered expert policymakers are given the command to formulate a policy to come out of the recession. When those policymakers sit together and think, they can use active policy as their premier tactic which can bring stability to the economy . The weaknesses of this policy mostly wipe out the strengths of active policy because of considerable difficulties which arises when this policy is to be formulated. The biggest weakness of this policy is the difficulty in estimating the future output level of the economy and the unemployment rate. Both these factors are hard to foresee and identify under this approach. Another important weakness

The 2012 Obama Presidential Campaign Research Paper - 1

The 2012 Obama Presidential Campaign - Research Paper Example The primary purpose of surfacing is to help determine the focus of the campaign (Smith 189). Barack Obama establishes the rhetorical theme for the campaign. Running for his second term, as he travels around the country, he begins to understand the concerns of the people, begins to relate himself to those concerns, and begins to develop solutions to issues that appear to be in agreement with popular opinion. The mass media reiterate Obama’s statements and hence help transform the issues and opinions into state or national concerns. Barack Obama officially declared his re-election campaign on the 4th of April 2011 (EM Publications (b) 18). The very first communication activity they engaged in was a promotional video depicting Obama supporters mobilizing for the re-election campaign. They used Facebook and Twitter to reach a larger target audience. Even the official announcement of his re-election plan was carried out through an online video that can be viewed on his campaign web site. The campaign started with the slogan ‘It Begins with Us’ (EM Publications (b) 18). Another communication strategy of the Obama campaign for 2012 was the decision to base the campaign in Chicago, where recent former U.S. presidents also based their re-election campaigns. On the 30th of April 2012, the campaign launched a new slogan: ‘Forward’ (EM Publications (b) 18). Basically, Obama had a massive campaign effort. Obama applied his 2008 campaign communications to reinforce his goals for 2012.

Fiscal and Monetary Policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Fiscal and Monetary Policy - Essay Example Therefore, it would be government who has to come forward and prepare a discretional fiscal and monetary policy in collaboration with the central bank to reduce the expansionary or contractionary gap. On the other hand, the pundits of passive policy assumes that the current position of economy is quite stable such that the market forces can better interact with each other to achieve the equilibrium in the economy due to the presence of automatic stabilizers in the economy. Active policy is quite famous among the policymakers due to the fact that by apply this approach the economy can be steered to a particular direction in quick times. The active policy is mainly utilized by the existing presidents just before the elections in order to gain some short term advantages so that their chances of being elected for the next tenure can be increased. Another important strength of this approach is that generally this approach is presented to the public in a very decent manner by the central bank and the government, but in reality, both these institutions heavily emphasize on the passive approach which is the core tool behind stabilizing the economy after recessions. This policy can provide its best of the results when some sheered expert policymakers are given the command to formulate a policy to come out of the recession. When those policymakers sit together and think, they can use active policy as their premier tactic which can bring stability to the economy . The weaknesses of this policy mostly wipe out the strengths of active policy because of considerable difficulties which arises when this policy is to be formulated. The biggest weakness of this policy is the difficulty in estimating the future output level of the economy and the unemployment rate. Both these factors are hard to foresee and identify under this approach. Another important weakness

Family Map Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Family Map Project - Essay Example They sometimes represent unbalanced relationships in the family that prevents healthy family dynamics. Connected and cohesive levels of family cohesion represent the â€Å"most functional across the life cycle, in part because they balance separateness and togetherness† (Olson, et.al., 2005). Family flexibility is the â€Å"amount of change that occurs in leadership, role relationships, and relationship rules† (Olson, 2003, as quoted by Olson, et.al., 2005). Flexibility refers to the family’s ability to adapt or to adjust to an event and to deal with changes in the family. Flexibility is also categorized into four levels, which are: rigid, structured, flexible and chaotic. The balanced response to change indicates the degree of a family’s flexibility. A rigid family has an extreme resistance to change and the chaotic family leans so much on change that its stability is placed in jeopardy. The structured and flexible family balances stability and change as and when events take place in the family. â€Å"Families need a basic foundation that gives them stability, but they also need to be open to change when necessary† (Olson, et.al., 2005). In order for a family to become stronger as a unit, it needs to accept the inevitability of change and sti ll maintain its stability despite the changes. The third dimension of the couple and family map model is communication. â€Å"Communication is the grease that smoothes frictions between partners and family members† (Olson, et.al., 2005). Communication allows family members to work through and to work out their problems and issues with each other. It involves listening skills, speaking skills, self-disclosure, clarity, staying on topic, and respect and regard. Listening skills include empathy and giving feedback; it is not just hearing the other person speak, but also listening to what the other person wants to say. Speaking skills

Procurement in Construction Essay Example for Free

Procurement in Construction Essay A basic definition for the procurement is â€Å"the way the building is realised† and â€Å"involves assembling and organising the skills and services of a team of construction professionals†. (the Construction Round Table, 1995). More precisely, the construction industry describes procurement as â€Å"a system that establishes the roles and relationships which make up a project organisation†; hence the overall organisation and communication structure for the management, administration and control of a project is established by the procurement system. (D.C.H Coles, 2010) * Procurement Systems essentiality: Choosing the most suitable procurement method for the specified construction project is a long term hard decision; it is a crucial task â€Å"it is one of the most crucial decisions on any building project† (Gillespie, 1994). Choosing the appropriate procurement system is the determinate for a successful project (Building Procurement, 2006) this statement is supported by the investigation done on 25 National Audit Office (NAO) reports, were it was concluded that choosing the wrong procurement method is a major risk source (covering 29% of the risk source percentage) for public sector project failure. Furthermore, an American study concluded the total project cost can decrease about 5% by choosing the correct procurement methodology. â€Å"Failure to choose the appropriate procurement approach is recognised as the primary one source for project failure (Building Procurement, 2006) * Role of the Project Manager â€Å"The presence within the client company of a Senior Executive willing and able to act as a single point of contact throughout the building process, gives the client a distinct advantage† (Construction Round Table, 1995) Within the last fifteen years, the role of the Project Manager has developed in the construction industry, what is mentioned above proves that having someone to manage and supervise the project is the key for a successful project. The client can appoint a project manager from his company â€Å"in-house† or an external consultant appointment. Overview for the Project Manager’s duties: A project manager can be appointed by the client (especially if it was an inexperienced client in the construction industry where the majority of clients in the UK fall into this category), in order to help him build up his business needs case for the project development, find alternatives and options that are more suitable in order to achieve his business needs, work out the investment appraisals and risk assessments, choose the most suitable procurement method for the project, select the project team, establish and supervise the performance. An important task the project manager must perform before adopting the procurement method is to approach the client, and understand specifically what does he requires and what the outcomes from the new construction building are, more specifically the objectives and the products of the building. After performing this action the project manager will look at all the alternatives if there are any. Comparing the past with nowadays, when the architect and the engineer had the major role in the project during the past, if the client requests a new building to be constructed they will support his case while the project manager will look at all the alternatives that might be better for the client and his business, the alternatives might include: * Building an extension to the client’s existing building or carrying out alterations and refurbishments to it. * Moving the building to a position that might be more suitable to the business of the company. After understanding the needs of the client and finding all the alternatives, it is the project manager’s task then to choose the most appropriate procurement method for the project. As mentioned earlier, choosing the most suitable procurement method for the project is one of the most crucial decisions on any building proje ct. The Construction Round Table (1995) covers a list of priorities that the project manager must take into account referring to the client’s objectives in order to choose the most appropriate procurement system, these include: * Timing For most of the clients, timing is a crucial factor that must be taken into major consideration, especially for clients with a required known completion date. For example, supermarkets such as Tesco, the cost might not be their major concern but time is since the earlier they open the supermarket the earlier they can make profit. Timing might not be an important issue for Public Schools since there will be a predicted birth rate. * Price certainty The price of the project generally includes the total constructional cost (design fees, construction contracts, financing costs and client management costs); it may also include the land costs, sales costs and the associated agency costs together with developer’s margin. Nowadays, with the global credit crunch existing, most of the clients and companies are critically focusing on cost, they simply cannot go over budget, and hence cost plays a major role when deciding the procurement method. * Quality/Performance level Quality must be appropriate to what the client request; it is a variable issue, for example the quality for constructing a five stars hotel in central London is different than the quality from building a seven stars hotel in Dubai, most importantly the quality of the design and materials should be appropriate to the standard and functional use of the building. For shops such as Next or Marks and Spenser, the layouts change every now and then, hence the project manager must make ensure that the layout won’t be designed for more than a considerable period since it will be a waste of money. A basic definition for performance is how the building is going to be used (how the goods flow). * Complexity Within the early life of the project, it should be clear whether the project is a complex one or not. Complexity won’t affect simple projects whereas if the project is technically complex (advanced design and high serviced construction requirement), then this will affect the project could be procured in another way. An example for complexity is the British Library; the temperature for every floor was required not to be more than a half degree different. * Competition Suitable competition methods must be includes in the chosen procurement method for Public projects (publicly funded 50% or more) in order to satisfy the EU Procurement Directives 2004/17/EC and 2004/18/EC and the U.K.s Public Contract Regulation 2006. * Controllable variation This mean making decisions as late as possible in the construction process. Some projects won’t have sufficient detail to enable the contractor to prepare a tender, such as high complex projects, hence a procurement method that allows change in a controlled manner must be chosen. An example on controllable variation is Heathrow Terminal five, the client did not make decisions about a number of issues within the terminal design, such as baggage claims, check in online system. Hence what is ideal for the project manager is to have a procurement system (one or more) that can make decisions as late as possible. * The division of the management responsibilities An important procurement assessment criterion involves the clients choice whether he wants to manage separate consultants and contractors or to manage one company (single point responsibility). Furthermore, the project manager must make sure about the client’s objectives for the fact whether he wants to be in charge or not and if so how much does he want to be included. A good idea for the project is to produce a project management handbook for all the parties involved in the project. For the contracts case, recently the ICE7 contract has been withdrawn from the construction industry and so the projects now have to follow the NEC3 contract. * The extent of the professional responsibility/accountability required For the case of accountability, copies of all the variation, money and extension of time must be provided in order to be accounted, this is very important for local authorities and government departments. * Risk avoidance Assigning and managing the risk has an important effect of the procurement assessment criteria. With the aid of a risk register, the project risks can be carried out in three stages: * Name the risks linked with the client’s objectives and priorities. * Sort out the number of times the risks might occur and their impact on the project. * Choose the best party involved to sort out the risk. The client has a major role in this issue, more specifically if the client does not wish to deal with any of the risks that might occur, then the project manager might choose the Design and Build method since it is the ideal procurement method, since the contractor will carry most of risks existing, but the cost of his tenders will increase since he is carrying most of the risks. If the client does not wish to pay more for the contractors tender for carrying out the risks on site and does not mind carrying most of the risks, then the project manager would go for the Management procurement method which might be the ideal solution for the issue. The next step for the project manager is to relate the client’s objectives and priorities with the primary issues by using Diagram1 (shown on page6), this way the choices of the procurement methods suitable for the project will be narrowed down. Diagram 1 shows the relationship between the client’s objectives and the priorities and the various procurement methods. (Source: Construction Round Table, 1995) The project manager can review the reports of similar successful projects from organisations such as Constructing Excellences in order to guide him for the present project. Generally, the focus of the clients is upon time, cost and quality. Most of the clients request their buildings to be constructed in high quality level, in a small period of time and in a low price. This is very unlikely to happen (does not exist) and if the client did not have a priority of criteria even with the aid of the project manager, disappointment and project failure will exist (Building Procurement, 2006). The project manager must understand exactly the client’s objectives and his criteria, in order to relate it to the ideal procurement method. All of the procurement methods provide satisfactory levels of performance in time, cost and quality but each method have different levels of risks and control on the client (as previously mentioned). Diagram 2 below, shows the three common favourable priorities for the clients and which procurement method is best to follow.

History And Future Of Mahindra And Mahindra Limited Business Essay

History And Future Of Mahindra And Mahindra Limited Business Essay Mahindra and Mahindra limited is a part of the huge Mahindra group. Mahindra is a company, which has started before independence under K.C Mahindra and J.C Mahindra along with Malik Gulam Mohammed. In 1945 the company was called as Mahindra and Mohammed later after independence Malik Gulam Mohammed left the elite and he became the finance minister for Pakistan. After his exit the company changed its name into Mahindra and Mahindra (MM). In 1947, the company started its business from assembling jeeps and slowly moved on to making utility vehicles and agricultural tractors. With in no time MM as emerged as one of the leading brands in India. Today MM is a diversified group employing more that 65,000 people directly. MM has substantial presence in sectors like automobile, equipment for farms, financial services, automobile components, after-market, IT and infrastructure. MM is one of the Indias most respected and reputed business groups. Reputation Institute declared MM as one of the most reputed companies in the world. MM is also only one of the ten Indian companies to get featured in the prestigious Forbes magazine. Over the past few decades the company has grown in the international automotive segment.  MM has a strong presence in several countries across the world including Italy, Spain, Turkey, Australia, South Africa, Brazil, Chile and South Asia.   Few of the core values of the MM are Good Corporate Citizenship, Professionalism, Customer First, Quality Focus and Dignity Of The Individual. We dont have a group-wide mission statement. Our Core Purpose is what makes all of us want to get up and come to work in the morning Anand G. Mahindra. The core purpose of MM: Indians are second to none in the world. The Founders of our nation and of our Company passionately believed this. We will prove them right by believing in ourselves and by making Mahindra Mahindra Limited known worldwide for the quality of its products and services. Milestones achieved MM: 1945 2nd October 1945 Mahindra and Mohammed established. 1949 Jeep assembly started. 1956 Company shares were listed on Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). 1969 MM started their venture into the world market by exporting utility vehicles and spare parts. 1975 MM developed diesel engine for over coming the fuel crisis. 1983 MM became the market leader in the Indian tractor market. 1986 established Tech Mahindra. 1994 Implemented BPR programs. 2000 MM adopted a new logo. 2002 Launched SUV Scorpio. 2004 Launched Mahindra World tractor in International Market. 2009 MM launched Xylo. 2010 MM acquired Ssangyong and a major share in electric car company Reva. Few factors that affect the business environments are: Social factors: Every business organisation operates within the norms of the society and exists primarily to satisfy its needs. Hence, a business organisation has an important position in social system. The social factors influence the policy and strategy of business; the organisation strives to satisfy the needs and wants of the society. There are many social factors that affect the policy and strategy of corporate management. Culture, value, tastes and preferences, social integration and disintegration, and so on must be a part of every business organisation. As observed by Keith Davis and Robert Blomstrom, business is a social institution performing a social mission and having a broad influence on the way people live and work together. Many companies that are hugely successful contribute a lot to the society. At MM corporate social responsibility is taken very seriously in 2009 MMs employees contributed 49,280 man-hours towards social programs. Mahindra and Mahindra contribute 1% of its profit after tax (PAT) for developing the society every year. MM considered education and training as powerful tools to address majority of Indian social challenges. Corporate Social Responsibility has always been an integral part of the vision of the Mahindra Group and the corner stone of our core value of good corporate citizenship Keshub Mahindra. In a way by helping the society, MM is enjoying the fruits of it, after all business is only a part of the society. I think because of MMs strong CSR activities it is wining the hearts of the people and not allowing any NGO to point fingers. Ecological Factors: Protection of the environment and preservation of ecological balance is the responsibility of every business organisation. Ecology deals with the study of the environment, biotic factors, abiotic factors, and their interactions with one another. A change in any biotic or a biotic factor causes ecological imbalance. Industrial activities, automobiles, emission of fumes or smoke and effluents, and so on, result in environmental degradation. MM is committed to the preservation of ecological balance. MM has turned 400 acres of barren land in to a park; MM had planted across 7000 trees near its factories to counterfeit the pollution. Environment is the key factor that no company tries to neglect. MM takes up lot of activities to help the environment. Its a fact that buildings consume 40 percent of the worlds energy; keeping this in mind MM started retrofitting their towers for Energy efficiency. The result was that they started consuming 10 percent less energy when compared with their previous consumptions. The retrofitting has affected an average savings of 36,185 kWh / month, the equivalent CO2  saved is 29.3 tonnes / month. As carbon-di-oxide is one of those gases that contribute to global warming MM decided to reduce the consumption of paper. Now MM uses different software to keep the use of paper as low as possible. MM took up an activity of refurbishing of water reservoir, which is now helping 4000 dwellers. Economic Factors: Economic factors, such as per capita income, national income, resource mobilisation, infrastructure development, capital formation, employment generation, and so on, influence the business environment. The economic performance of a company also determines its business environment. The economic factors helped MM to some extent to become successful, like getting cheap labourers etc. but MM had really worked very hard to over come the other things like formation of capital in not so strong economy, dealing with infrastructure problems etc. Government Policies: The government policies provide the basic environment for business. Industrial and licensing policies, trade policies, labour policies, export-import policies, foreign exchange policies, taxation policies etc pave the way for business environment. In brief the policies that were changed and their effect on MM. In between the period of 1947 to 1979 the government intervention was too much and indirectly the government was playing the major role. As MM was not a huge company at that time the government protected it. The policies gave an encouragement to the industry that in turn means encouragement to the company. The one disadvantage MM faced was due to licensing competition was curbed. In between period 1980 to 1990 the policies were a bit liberal and government less involved in companies activities. In this time frame competition slowly picked up which helped MM to be more efficient and effective. After 1991 government never played a direct role but played an indirect role. Due to liberalization MM started raising its standards and started simulating demand. Only after 1991 MM started exporting a lot and investing in RD a lot. The above snap shot shows how important are policies for a business. The success tool for MM was having the flexible nature, which allowed it to take advantage of the policies. Cultural Factors: The cultural factors of a business environment should also be taken into consideration while scanning the environment and during the policy formation. Policymakers in a global business cannot disregard cultural variables like social and religious practices, education, knowledge, rural community norms and beliefs. A company like MM, which has its growth in a globally oriented way, takes these cultural factors very seriously; one example is that MM supplies customised jeeps to Australia, which suits their local style or culture. Geographical factors: In a global business environment, geographical locations, seasonal variations, climatic conditions etc. considerably affect the tastes and preferences of customers, and also prospects and the labour force. The pace of development in various geographical locations considerably influences the policies of the government regarding industrial locations. Some times this helped MM because, if the government wants to develop some particular region it gives a lot of subsidies for the companies that are interested in setting up their plant in that region. Legal Factors: Law in India regulates every aspect of business. Hence, the legal government plays a very vital role in the business. The legal factors in India (pre liberalisation) that effected MM are like heavy protection from government by using the licenses, huge excise duties, discrimination done by the government on the basis of price, very high import duties and liberal policies for the foreign players. During this period MM was not so successful in expanding but after liberalisation MM grew at a huge rate. The legal factors post liberalisation period that helped MM grow are like the complete removal of the license raj system, excise duties were continuously restructured, reducing the duties on import and allowing fdi. Labour factors: Although labour with in the organisation constitute its internal environment, general labour policies and climate may form a part of the external environment. MM always strictly followed Labour laws in compensating their employees and other things that fall under that law. One incident were MM dint handled its employees very well was in 1994 when company went for Business Process Reengineering (BPR) their was huge opposition from the labour unions then the company after few months managed the situation and till date the company enjoyed the support of its employees. One of the core principles of MM states that their employees are considered as a very valuable resource. Technological Factors: Technology is considered to be one of the most important factors of any business environment. That is why the Government has always stressed about sophisticated technology and technology transfer in most of its policies. Foreign investment up to 100 percent is allowed in industries with sophisticated technology. MM has always laid emphasis on RD and always tried to make technologically sound products. The recent acquisition of Ssangyong motors by MM was mainly for the technology, this shows the companies quest for technology. MM recently acquired the electric car company Reva that shows their prediction for the future and they what to be ready by not considering technology as a barrier to their success. Competitive Market Condition: Competitive market condition is an important environmental factor, especially in a global business environment. In a socialist economic environment, a centralised authority -the government controls the market whereas the competitive forces determine the market in a fully capitalist economy. India, which has accepted the middle path, had been fostering both the conditions. As a result of liberalisation, some characteristics integrating the Indian economy with the global economy has emerged. As a result, a competitive market condition has emerged in India, creating a competitive business environment. A situation of perfect competition is seen in automobiles, fmcg etc. This is often taken as an opportunity by MM to grow and to show its capability in the market. Creating competitive market is the responsibility of every player in the market. MM keeps its responsibility by having competition in terms of both price and non-price with its other counter parts. In a way MM is helping itself and also the economy. A competitive business environment is an essential characteristic of globalisation. The nature of competition varies in different economic systems. In the context of widespread globalisation process, tremendous changes are taking place in the business environment of economic systems. MM concern for the international business environment is understandable in relation to the globalisation of business. Conclusions: All the above factors have affected MM in positive and negative way. But by studying these very closely has helped MM to take or to develop broad strategies and very long term policies for itself, by having clear understanding of the different environment factors MM was able to analyse its competitors strategies and, thereby, formulate effective counter strategies. Knowledge about the environment helped MM to be dynamic in its approach, which means that MM had very flexible structure for their strategies or policies that helped them to be dynamic in nature. Being a company that has expanded overseas needs to understand the above factors to have a visibility over the changing socio-economic factors at the national and international level for its stability. The executives of MM were able to adjust to the prevailing conditions and, thus, influence the environment in order to make it congenial for business. The environmental factor plays a major role for MM to expand overseas. In the post liberalisation period government reducing the import duties helped the company to improve its infrastructure and technologies. With the allowance of fdi in to the country MM started expanding and in a way made it a conglomerate. The structure of the industry, which includes the company and the competitors in addition to the potential entrants, suppliers, buyers, and so on determines the level of competition. Hence, the environment is influenced by all of them in some manner or the other. The business policy of every player has, therefore, to take cognisance of the treats posed by every other player including the entrants. Thus, subject to the influence of a number of factors, the business environment provides opportunities and threats, while its internal environment provides its strengths and weaknesses.

The Question of Freedom in America :: Argumentative Persuasive Essays

The United States' democratic system embraces its numerous obligations in a manner which promotes a comfortable and effective society in which the citizens may embark on everyday life knowing that the government is continually engrossed in performi ng its duties to protect and support the rights of the people. Although suicide is illegal, the government must recognize the trauma of those who are terminally ill in order to maintain a fair and equal democracy. By weighing these ideas and recognizing the dignity of an individual along with the law, government attempts to provide a suitable life for all. Through combined efforts of freedom of expression and censorship, liberty is maintained, because both the speaker's and the listener's rights are re spected. The government recognizes that all human life is precious; and, therefore it does its best to enable each individual the ability to gain their desired position in life throug the help of social services. A position not n ecessarily of vast wealt h, but one in which a person may feel content and gratified. Jefferson envisioned such cases as above long before they were contemplated; it is through the Declaration of Independence in 1776, he reflected his strong, intellectual beliefs (Jeffers on 615). Of the most important part of Jefferson's philosophy is the following quote: Â   All men are created equal, they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. To secure these rights governments are instituted, deriving their powers from the consent of the governed. Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter it. (616) Â   In accordance with the remainder of the Declaration of Independence, this statement has been the basis of both human rights and overall justice in American democracy. Because there is a partnership between the government and the people in the U nited States, society has improved in every aspect. The government recognizes and embraces responsibility, knowing that the citizens may control their own lives without harming others. Likewise, individuals are given the ability and courage to pursue a joyful life. Hence, people are free to express themselves with all intention towars respecting individual freedom of others.