Dna Transcription, Translation Quiz Study Guide Essay Example

Dna Transcription, Translation Quiz Study Guide Paper Study Guide 3/1/11 1. Describe the three parts of a nucleotide and how they bond to form a nucleotide. The three parts of a necleotide are a carbon sugar, a phosphate group and a nitrogenous base. The carbon sugars bond to the phosphate groups by covalent bonds while the nitrogenous base bonds with it’s compliment by hydrogen bonds. 2. Summarize the role of covalent bonds and hydrogen bonds in the structure of DNA. The role of covalent and hydrogen are as follows. ydrogen bonds, being easy to break, allow the DNA to break so that copies can be made. Whereas covalent bonds keep the sugar and phosphate together, which allows proper placement and structure. 3. Relate the role of the base pairing rules to the structure of DNA. The bases in a strand of DNA relate to the base pairing rule due to the combination of GC and AT, make equal strand, that is held together by a hydrogen base. 4. What is the primary function of DNA? What is DNA long chains of? The primary function of DNA is to code for information. DNA consists of long chains of amino acids. 5. State the names of the nitrogenous bases using purines and pyrimidines . The bases in a strand of DNA relate to the base pairing rule due to the combination of GC and AT, make equal strand, that is held together by a hydrogen base. 6. Explain Chargaff’s rule of base-pairing. Chargaff observed that the percentage of adenine equals the percentage of thymine, and the percentage of cytosine equals that if guanine in the DNA of a variety of organisms. So being opposites, they attract. A to T and C to G. 7. We will write a custom essay sample on Dna Transcription, Translation Quiz Study Guide specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Dna Transcription, Translation Quiz Study Guide specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Dna Transcription, Translation Quiz Study Guide specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Show how dehydration synthesis (condensation reaction) bonds occur at 2,3 and 5 prime carbons of sugar. Monomers join together to form polymers by removing water to form covalent bonds. It takes OH from sugar on the 5th carbon and takes H from phosphate group to kick off water and form covalent bond. 8. Explain how the DNA double helix is formed using 3’-5’ linkages, anti-parallel strands, complementary base pairing and hydrogen bonds. As the DNA strands separate, free nucleotide monomers from hydrogen bonds with the exposed nitrogenous bases by the process of complementary base pairing. Also one side called the leading strand when reproducing goes from 3’ to 5’, but the lagging strand due to anti parallel strands has to go from 5’-3’ this is another factor in the double helix. 9. Understand the importance of the enzymes responsible for DNA replication. The role of helicases , and the role of poylmerases are as follows: polymerases add complementary nucleotides to each of the original strand of DNA, as well as replicating, and reparing. Helicases, on the other hand, separate the DNA strands, breaking the hydogen bonds between the complementary nitrogenous bases. 0. When and where does the process occur? What is the significance of DNA replication? In the nucleus for the purpose of repairing the body. 11. Explain semi-conservative replication and how it related to our outside simulation. DNA is a semi-conservative process because it uses half of the original DNA strand, and a new, freshly replicated stand. 12. Explain transcription. creatin g a complementary RNA copy of a sequence of DNA 13. Where does it occur? What is involved in the process? Transcription occurs in a the cells nucleus. 14. Given a genetic code- be able to find amino acids based on the chart. Will do 🙂 15. Given a DNA strand, be able to find complementary strand, the mRNA to it, and the tRNA to the mRNA. Will do as well 🙂 16. During translation- what components must be aligned for the process to happen? Where does this occur? Why? Each of the 20 amino acids must be aligned with their corresponding codons. It occurs in the ribosome just as the strand is being ready to replicate to allow the correct amino acid to attach and align with the correct codon. 17. What are the different types of RNA? Messenger RNA, Ribosomal RNA, and Transer RNA. 18. What are the differences between DNA and RNA? In DNA the A matches with a T and a G matches with a C, but in RNA goes from A to a U and G to C. Also RNA is in short one sided strands and DNA is in a double sided double helix long strand. 19. How is DNA changed into RNA? Why is it important for this process to occur? RNA Helicase attaches to the promoter and seperates the DNA in one section. Then the polymarase RNA comes and matches up with the DNA (AU)( GC). 0. How is DNA related to how proteins are made? Proteins are created from the messages the DNA send out in the form of RNA. Then the RNA is turned into a protein using amino acid chain that is made in the ribosome. 21. Explain what enzymes are significant to transcription. RNA polymerase and also DNA polymerase 22. Explain the process of translation. In translation, messenger RNA produced by transcription is decoded by the ribosome to produce a specific amino acid chain, or polypeptide, that will later fold into an active protein

Former Cop Daniel Holtzclaw Sentenced to 263 Years

Former Cop Daniel Holtzclaw Sentenced to 263 Years In January 2016, former Oklahoma City police officer Daniel Holtzclaw was sentenced to 263 years in prison for the rape and sexual assault of 13 black women in 2013 and 2014. State prosecutors argued that Holtzclaw should serve his sentence consecutively, making the case that each survivor deserved to have justice for the individual crimes. Holtzclaw made a career of assaulting Black women motorists during traffic stops and other instances and then scared them many of them into silence. His victims- many of whom were poor and had prior records- were too afraid to come forward. A jury found Holtzclaw guilty on 18 out of 36 criminal charges, including three counts of procuring lewd exhibition, four counts of forcible oral sodomy, five counts of first and second-degree rape, and six counts of sexual battery in December 2015. The jury recommended that Holtzclaw serve 263 years in prison. Three of Holtzclaw’s victims delivered impact statements at the January 2016 sentencing hearing- including his youngest victim who was just 17 years old at the time of her assault. She told the court about the great damage she experienced, revealing the her life â€Å"has been upside down.† How Hotlzclaw Chose His Victims At least thirteen women came forward to accuse Holtzclaw of sexual assault. Many of the women had not reported the assault for fear of reprisals or fear-later confirmed by the jurys failure to find Holtzclaw guilty on all 36 of the criminal charges brought against him-that they would not be believed. At a preliminary hearing in the case, the 17-year old survivor explained her reasoning, â€Å"Who are they going to believe? It’s my word against his. He’s a police officer.† This notion of â€Å"he said, she said† is a fairly common argument used to discount sexual assault survivors. And when the accused is a person in a position of power, such as a police officer, it can be even harder for survivors to get due process. It was this very circumstance that Daniel Holtzclaw was counting on. He picked out very specific targets: women who were poor, Black, and who, in several cases, had run-ins with the police because of drugs and sex work. Because of their backgrounds these women would not make credible witnesses against him. He could act with impunity and never have to face any consequences because his victims were already considered guilty in the eyes of the law and society. A similar case happened in Baltimore, where poor Black women were targets of sexual assault: â€Å"20 women who filed a lawsuit against the Housing Authority of Baltimore City are splitting a settlement worth almost $8 million. The lawsuit alleged that maintenance workers at various housing complexes had demanded sexual favors from the women in exchange for receiving badly needed repairs on their units.† Again, these maintenance workers, not unlike Daniel Hotlzclaw, banked on these women being both desperate and untrustworthy.   They believed that they could rape women and not be held accountable. Daniel Hotlzclaw was disabused of this power when he pulled over the wrong the woman, however.   Jannie Ligons, a 57-year-old grandmother, also survived an encounter with Holtzclaw. She was the first woman to come forward. Unlike many of the other victims, she had a support system: she was supported by her daughters and her community. She helped lead the charge that prompted 12 other victims to come forward and speak truth to power. Whats Next? Holtzclaw’s attorney said he plans to appeal. However, the judge has previously denied Holtzclaws request for a new trial or an evidentiary hearing. Holtzclaw is currently in jail serving his 263-year sentence. Convictions for police in sexual assault cases are rare and hefty sentences are even rarer. Nevertheless, sexual misconduct within the police force is fairly common. Here’s hoping that Holtzclaw’s case will not be exception but rather the signal for a new era where police are held accountable for sexual violence.

Handgun owners Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Handgun owners - Essay Example The central tenet of this paper is the idea that carrying a concealed hand-gun does not, in point of fact, put the owner of that handgun at greater risk when confronted with a mugger, that carrying a concealed weapon actually makes someone safer when confronted with violent crime.There is a central problem with this paper, however, is that none of the following arguments or topics actually relate directly to the central thesis. After arguing that carrying a concealed hand gun makes one safer when confronted by a thug, the paper moves on to discussing concealed carry laws (without directly relating those to safety), before moving on to arguing that people who carry concealed weapons with permits are law abiding (again, not directly related to safety). The only argument actually related to safety is in the conclusion, when the paper quotes John Stossel without using a source to say that he says that maximum security felons avoid neighborhoods where they perceive a large number of gun o wners. 2. As mentioned above, little evidence is given directly in support of the thesis. There are two concrete pieces of evidence given: the number of permit carriers in the country (which the author uses to counter the notion that there would be lots of violence if there were a lot of gun carriers).).This doesn’t logically link to the argument, however, because a) the number given is very small compared to the population of the US and b) the author doesn’t try to argue that gun violence is rare

There are no circumstances under which child labour can ever be Essay

There are no circumstances under which child labour can ever be considered acceptable. To what extent can such a claim be justified Illustrate your answer with suitable evidence - Essay Example Child labour refers to the illegal practice of using children below a certain age for labour work. Despite of the fact that the legal and moral definition differs in some parts of the world but the basic idea is the same. Unfortunately, almost all the countries have been in the frontline to condemn and oppose child labor; however, very little has been done by these countries to actually prevent it and still today the numbers regarding child labour are alarming (Nangia, pp. 20-21, 1987). This paper is an attempt to look at the serious issue of child labor, and present some arguments, sufficient for opposing child labour under all possible circumstances. As mentioned in the introductory section of the paper as well that every child undergoes a process of emotional, physical, mental, social, and moral development under his introductory years of life. In fact, as psychology tells us that these years are crucial in determining the overall personality of that individual. Lessons learnt in these early years stay there forever and leave such significant impact that it becomes virtually impossible to separate a person from his or hr childhood influences. This explains why parents try their best to give their children an environment of understanding, comfort, mutual consensus, love, affection, care, consideration, devotion, and respect because they want them to learn and value all these things in their early childhood. The reason is that if they do it now, this would most probably stay with them until the rest of their lifetime (Gabalawi, pp. 54-55, 2009). Very common is to see a mother teaching his son the value of speaking truth and helpi ng others and a father telling her daughter the importance of unity and respecting their elders. More importantly, parents put in their maximum effort to keep their children out and away from any tough, stressful or

Premature babies' medical care Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Premature babies' medical care - Essay Example Additionally, it is also a decisive concern on who acts on the person's behalf if he/she is incompetent in order to protect his/her interests. It is stated clearly as one of the rights of patients that they have a right to refuse treatment to the extent permitted by law (Annas 1989). Despite the critical issue in medical law that surrounds the protection of interests on children and incompetent adults, the decisions as to the withholding or withdrawal of medical treatment is being settled on the discretion of the court provided that patient's incompetence has been clearly determine. Most of the problems and difficulties when working with very premature babies are related to practical problems of the management and medical treatment. This has created confusion between parents and the medical staff on their decision over the actions that have to be taken. Such a particular has been recurrent yet still has to be highlighted if we are to ensure that all babies can receive the best care and attention. Even though there have been great improvements in the care of babies, we've yet to find the best ways in managing these problems that may arise. According to Brazier and Lobjoit (1991), even though it is ideal to obtain consent of the parents prior to entering babies into a new study, there are some circumstances in neonatal care where it is very difficult and even almost unethical to try to obtain properly informed consent. In these circumstances if the doctors are always constrained to obtain consent this may either prevent a satisfactory study from taking place or bias the study, because not all the babies with a particular problem would be eligible and it may unnecessarily increase the parents' anxiety level. However, ethics still comes out as the guiding principle. It would be unethical in trying to answer a relevant problem without consent as much as conducting what one considers to be an inadequate study or the obviously dishonorable way of never conducting the study so that no one knows the right way to cope with that particular problem. Brazier and Lobjoit (1991) make a final point that informed consent is as important in neonatal studies as in any other situation. On the other hand there are circumstances when the most ethical thing to do is to conduct the study without asking for the parent's consent due to the nature of the problems encountered both in terms of the care of the baby and the parents. Medical Ethics on Children As much as caring with premature babies, infants and children draw up concerns that ought somebody to be particularly careful (WMA 1989). The MRC (1964) suggest strict rules to be followed by hospitals in dealing with children. The council suggested that one cannot undertake research on children that is not directly intended to benefit those children. And in 1973, the RCP (1973) permits the non-therapeutic research as an exemption and could be conducted if those procedures brought about negligible risk or discomfort. However, the guidelines failed to define what is meant by "negligible. It was the BPA guidelines in 1980 that lays out particular consideration in non-therapeutic research on children. They suggest the consideration of an examination of the degree of benefit which might result. One particular example given

Molecular Docking: Experimental Techniques

Molecular Docking: Experimental Techniques Experimental techniques for the determination of three-dimensional structure proteins crystallographic and magnetic resonance protocols have contributed for the deposition of over 12,000 protein structures in the Protein Data Bank. Although the number of available experimental protocols is large and improving rapidly, the determination of the structure of all detected protein-molecule interactions experimentally at high resolution is still an impossible task. Hence, reliable computational methods are of increasing importance. Protein docking involves the calculation of the three-dimensional structure of a protein-molecule complex. The molecule can be another protein, a small peptide or other small molecule (e. g. ligand). Ligand docking is nowadays of great importance in the drug discovery area, with great scientific and commercial interest. The main goal of protein docking is to predict how a pair of molecules interact, predicting accurate ligand poses and evaluating the main existi ng interactions. It should be able to adequately search the conformational available space and calculate the free energy of each conformation to identify the minimum energy conformation. Goals and Steps Protein docking requires the structures of the elements that form the complex and aims to predict correctly the binding site on the target, the orientation of the ligand and the conformation of both. At the end, a rank of possible docking poses based on estimated binding affinities or estimated free energies of binding is given. To successfully predict a target/ligand complex three steps are needed: (1) have accurate structures of the molecules involved in the interaction, (2) location of the binding site, and (3) determination of the binding mode and evaluation. According to Gray, the best docking targets are single-domain small proteins with known monomer structures, with experimentally-determined micromolar or better binding affinity, and minimal backbone conformational change after binding. The docking problem becomes more complicated when one of the structures undergoes significant conformational changes upon binding , for proteins whose structure was solves by homology modeling or for molecules with high degrees of freedom. However there have been reported successful docking results with modeled targets. The second step depends on the algorithm behind the docking software. Some of the used algorithms will be described further on. The hypothesis behind docking predictions is that the structure of a complex is the lowest free energy state that is accessible to the system. In Nature a protein-molecule complex change their conformations to become more compatible to one another, shifting two equilibriums progressively from less compatible to most compatible conformations for both, located at the local minimum of their potential energy surfaces. However ligands do not always adopt their lowest potential energy conformations when binding to their protein targets. Combining these two facts, the results can be influenced by the previous knowledge of the system. If a ligand has to explore a large area of the protein surface to find an adequate docking location, there is a lower probability of find the energy minimum than in the case of docking to a well-defined binding site on the protein. If a putative interaction region has been experimentally determined, this information can be used as useful input to guide the docking algorithm. Several new techniques to locate putative binding sites based on physicochemical properties or evolutionary conservation have been developed in recent years and are reviewed elsewhere. However, a good docking algorithm has to be able to predict realistically the docking site and distinguish it from nonspecific and/or energetically unfavorable ones even when performing a blind docking calculation. The third step is the determination of the binding mode and it mainly depends on the atoms surrounding the docking site and the distance between suitable interacting pairs, as well as the specific conformation and orientation of the molecules of the complex. The resulting conformation is ranked according to its evaluation by the used scoring function. Docking Approaches The speed and accuracy of the docking results depends on the used docking approach. Two major docking approaches are used by the available docking softwares. Shape Complementarity/Matching Methods This is the most common docking technique. The molecules are described in terms of descriptors, which may include structural complementarity terms (solvent-accessible area, overall shape and geometric constraints) and binding complementarity terms (hydrogen binding interactions, hydrophobic contacts and van der Waals interactions). Taking these terms into account, a given molecule is docked into the protein target by matching features. A combination of different descriptors is found to be able to enrich the number of near-native solutions in the set of best ranked docking solutions. This is a fast and robust technique that has been used successfully to screen large compound databases. Its main disadvantage is based on the incapacity of modeling accurately large protein motions and dynamic changes in the conformations. Simulation Methods The second approach simulates the real molecular recognition mechanism, a more complicated and detailed process. According to this method, the two molecules from the complex are distanced by a physical distance and the ligand explores its conformational space and finds its docking site after a finite number of moves. These moves can be translations, rotations, torsion angle rotations or others, and each have a different contribution to the final total energy of the system. The advantages of this approach include a better incorporation of ligand flexibility and a physically closer approach to what happens in reality. However, as the ligand has to explore a large energy landscape, this approach takes longer to evaluate the best docking site. Grid-based techniques and fast optimization methods are being developed to overcome this disadvantage. Mechanics of Docking The success of a docking software depends on two components: (1) the search algorithm, and (2) the scoring function. The combination of these two components will dictate the overall results of the docking task. Search Algorithm All possible rotational and translational orientations, distortions, backbone and side chain flexibility and various degrees of freedom make it impossible to perform an exhautive sampling. To lower the possibilities, most docking programs account only for ligand flexibility (e.g. representing it as a ensemble of structures), maintaining the target rigid. Others attempt to insert some target flexibility by using rotamer libraries, or some degree of side-chain flexibility by using soft interfaces and scaling sterical interactions, or a further side-chain refinement stage. Some of the most used search algorithms are described below. Systematic or stochastic torsional searches about rotatable bonds Rigid body methods This searching method is based on a simplified rigid body representation of the protein onto a regular 3D Cartesian grid. Then it distinguishes grid cells according to whether the two molecules are near or intersect the protein surface, or are deeply buried into the protein core and the degree of overlap is scored. This method generates a large number of docked conformations with favorable surface complementarity. The disadvantages of this searching method are that it maintains the target protein rigid and it cannot find binding modes with a high degree of accuracy due to its inherent simplification of the complex. However, most rigid-body procedures result in good docked conformation if the used structure of the target protein used is obtained by experimental data. Molecular dynamics simulations In this approach the protein is kept rigid while the ligand explores freely the conformational space, obtaining a ensemble of states accessible to the complex. The generated conformations are docked and a determined number of minimization steps are performed, followed by an overall ranking. This is a computational complex method, although it does not need a specialized scoring function and it provides a useful tool to generate ligand conformations. In principle, it allows for full atomic flexibility or flexibility restricted to relevant parts of the complex during the docking task. Genetic algorithms These searching algorithms perform global conformational searches particularly well. Based on the language of natural genetics and biological evolution, their goal is to evolve previous conformations into new low energy conformations. Each spatial arrangement of the pair is represented as a gene with a particular energy and the entire genome is a representation of the complete energy landscape which will be explored. Similar to biological evolution, random pairs of individuals are mated using a process of crossover and there is also the possibility of a random mutation in the offspring. During each iteration, high-scoring features in the current generation are preserved in the next cycle. This approach permits exploring of large conformational spaces. The main disadvantages include requiring the target protein to remain fixed during the docking task and multiple runs to obtain reliable results, which makes it a poor candidate to perform large databases screening. Limiting the conform ational space to explore and the explorations of conformational changes at sites of interest can largely increase the performance of the docking task using this algorithm. Scoring Function In docking, the goal of a scoring function is to serve as a mathematical method to predict the strength of the non-covalent interaction between the two molecules. Usually, this value is represented as the binding affinity, and indicates how favorable the binding interaction is. An ideal scoring function should be able to recognize favorable native contacts and discriminate non-native contacts with lower scores, and rank a set of molecules, predicting the correct modes of binding. These scoring functions can be parameterized (trained) against a set of experimental data for combinations of binding affinities, buried surface areas, desolvatation and electrostatic interation energies and hydrophobicity scores of molecular species similar to the species in study. There are four classes of scoring functions, which are described below. Choosing a scoring function should always be based on the resolution of the search method. Most scoring functions are physics-based molecular mechanics force fields that estimate the nonbonded interaction energy of the docking pose. Affinities are estimated based on the total internal energy, which is estimated taking into account the strength of intramolecular van der Waals and electrostatic interactions and the desolvation energy. It is know that the free energy of binding is higly dependent on the system and it is often dominated by desolvation or electrostatic contributions. Other software also take into account the torsional free energy and the unbound systems energy as penalizing terms. At the end, a low (negative) energy indicates a stable complex, with a likely binding interaction. Empirical scoring functions define simple functional forms for interactions between the two molecules of the complex. Some examples include the number atoms in contact between ligand and receptor, change in the solvent accessible surface area, number of hydrogen bonds, conformational entropy, and hydrophobic and hydrophilic contacts. These provide a fast method to rank potential inhibitory candidates. Knowledge-based scoring functions are based on statistical analysis on intermolecular interactions and interactions distances extracted from large databases of protein-ligand complexes (e.g. PDB). This method is based on the assumption that there are intramolecular interactions between certain atoms that occur more frequently, which will be energetically favorable. If detected these interaction will contributed more to a favorable binding affinity. Hybrid scoring functions combined one or more features from the ones described above. There has is always a focus on the scoring function when developing a new docking program. Newly developed scoring functions are evaluated based on their ability to reproduce known ligand-binding patters for well-studied receptors. Despite the development of new and improved scoring functions, there is still a difficulty in identifying the best docking solutions from a list of false positives or decoys. Disadvantages of Molecular Docking Docking calculations can be hampered by a number of reasons: (1) the ligand binds to deep specific pockets of the protein structure; (2) does not consider the presence of solvent, which can be crucial to allow hydrogen bond interactions to occur; (3) if there is an attachment of the ligand to a solid surface (e.g. resin) via a spacer arm; (4) ligands with high flexibility; (5) weak interactions between the ligand and the protein; (6) large-scale motions of the peptide backbone. However, new optimizations and extensions are being developed into existing programs to overcome these drawbacks. AutoDock Autodock (version 4.0.1) was the program package that was used for the docking task in this work. It is used for automated docking of small molecules (e.g. peptides, enzyme inihibitors and drugs) to macromolecules (e.g. proteins, antibodies, DNA and RNA). It is a very complete software package, allowing a robust and accurate procedure and a reasonable computational demand. AutoDock which allows the use of ligand with fixed and flexible degrees of freedom. The searching function used by AutoDock is the Lemarkian Genetic Algorithm (LGA), throughly described by Morris et al. LGA is a hybrid searching algorithm that combines the advantages of the global search of the common genetic algorithms and the advantages of a local search method to perform energy minimization, enhancing the performance relative to genetic algorithms. The local search does not require gradient information about the local energy landscape, facilitating torsional space search and allowing to handle more degrees of freedom. The AutoDock scoring function (described by Huey et al is a semi-empirical free energy force field scoring function that evaluates conformations and calculates the ligand-receptor binding affinity. The force field was parameterized using a large set of complexes with known inhibition constants (Ki), structure and binding energies. It evaluates enthalpic contributions (e.g. repulsion, hydrogen bonding) using a molecular mechanics approach and evaluates de changes in solvation and conformational mobility through an empirical approach. At the end of the docking task, Autodock returns a set of the top ranked answers according to the input system and parameters. Each is accompanied by the information regarding the estimated Ki and estimated free energy of binding, which is decomposed into (1) final intramolecular energy (van der Waals, hydrogen bond, desolvation and electrostatic energy), (2) final total internal energy, (3) torsional free energy, and (4) unbound systems energy and estimated as: (1)+(2)+(3)-(4). Due to its technical characteristics, automated docking with AutoDock is not widely used to screen a large number of compounds. However, Park et al performed a benchmarking which showed the potentialities of this software for database screening, with a overall better average docking time and performance than other tested docking software. The vast conformational sampling, degrees of freedom, complicated steric and chemical complementarity still offer a challenge for the computational approach to molecular docking. The inclusion of all possible conformational changes during docking searches is still impossible, and it would be of particular importance where only homology modeled structures are available. Slight modeling inaccuracies can result in false negatives, weak binding or even wrong docking poses. Better insights into the nature of protein folding and binding, protein dynamics and biomolecular energetics will allow the development of better docking algorithms. Unilever Case Study Analysis: SWOT Unilever Case Study Analysis: SWOT INTRODUCTION: There are many kinds of business everywhere; where there are many issues related to the growth of the company and Different strategies will enable different companies to reach those goals. Unilever is a company started in 1930 formed of Dutch Margarine Company and British based lever brothers. Unilever holds a wide range of products which include food, personal care, beverages, canned foods, ice creams and many more which are worlds best consumer brands. The case study describes a lot of information regarding Unilevers business strategies, key elements of Unilevers path to growth, how they rejuvenated and restructured the companies slow moving performance to wide range of brands across the world. BRIEF CASE STUDY: Unilever was created in 1930 as an outcome of merger with dual chairpersons and headquarters one in Netherlands and other in United Kingdom. This is of one the giant and best competitors in the industry which holds wide range of products. The two chairpersons have launched a strategy in early 2000 to recover the companys performance which was said to be lackluster. With the new strategies the company showed a significant progress and has gone through many dealings over the next years, this made the company to open 20 new acquisitions worldwide and increased the sales of the company. Thus the companys business was restructured, renovated and improved through its acquisitions. Then their came companies likes nestle which effecting the growth of Unilever. Unilever then started efforts to attract and motivate young, talented and innovative managers from outside its company. TASK 1: SWOT : A planning technique which is used for summarizing the key issues and evaluates the Strengths (S), Weaknesses (W), Opportunities (O) and Threats (T) in any business is called an SWOT analysis. Analysis is the brief study of any case how they are going to be obtained, who are responsible for causing it and solving it by planning which involves internal and external factors of a business or an organization; internal factors are classified as strengths(S) or weaknesses (W) and external factors are classified as Opportunities (O) or Threats (T). Strengths are those characteristics of a person or a company that are useful to achieve the goals. Weaknesses are the characteristics of a person or a company that is destructive to achieve the objective. Opportunities and threats are the external factors that are helpful in achieving and damaging the business performance respectively. The figure1 show the illustrative diagram of SWOT analysis. The internal factors include personal, finance, manufacturing capabilities, etc and the external factors may include technological changes which may cause changes in products and processes that is inventing a new product or making the product better which include quality of the product and the consumer desire, market influences due to unemployment rates effect the company and price factors is one of the important thing to keep in mind , market place is one more thing which is very important that is the company or a business should be located in a convenient environment to the consumers to attract and the product should be user friendly. Another important factor is that its external appearance the packing and the name of the products should be eye catchy. At last he customer relations should be friendly and consumer satisfaction is very necessary. Other than these there are some more factors which may be changing due to econ omic and social factors and competitive positions which may create new opportunities or threats. SWOT analysis is useful in decision making when most wanted these include nonprofit organizations, individuals. It is the only method for classification and has its own weaknesses. A SWOT which produces no strategies is of no use whereas which generates important strategies is useful. Unilever had a very tough competition during that time when it was bringing about the changes it was probably at this stage that these companies had moved forward with there various strategies. Skills, assets, finance, facilities are the resources which are used in any business to compete in the industry. In the same way Unilever used their own resources to grow as giant company. They have implemented SWOT analysis and implemented new business strategies and rejuvenated their company from lack lust to significant progress in sales. It has concentrated on marketing and advertising its business and gained increased pricing with supermarket vendors. Unilever was lagging in sales when compared with nestle, Procter Gamble, Kelloggs etc its path of growth strategy which met considerable uncertainty which made Unilever to undertake a series of actions by cutting the companies profile to reach corporate goals and introduced 20 new acquisitions worldwide and restructured the company into two divisions one includes all food products and other household and personal care. Then started other two new businesses across the world. The external market factors such as technological changes, social factors, and other companies growth made a very big impact on the consumer preferences and Unilever had to cut its revenue growth. Later it continued to obtain more products across the world and these products gave managers to make their own decision making to set priorities by introducing new initiatives. Unilever has even motivated and attracted young talented managers from outside the company to join their company. According to Unilevers SWOT analysis the strengths of the company are recognized as it is a global company with strong brand profile with worlds best brands and maintains strong relation with its retailers. But coming to its weaknesses it has insufficient management of brands and doesnt not connect with customers. And inability to maximize acquisitions has reduced spending for R D. Thought it has got many opportunities by introducing many products by changing customer preferences and increase in productio n of quality goods. There are threats equally which cause decrease in revenues with high market competition, increasing the number brands and exchange rates. There are many growth expectations, risks, profit margins in food and house hold industry which is composed of many sectors and sub sectors by challenging the change of customers preferences with challenging rival firms to gain market shares. Then with competitive achievement by creating attractive products through acquisitions and with capability of growing sales of the brands which existed and improve margins. For all this the many key to success was advertising the products. By improving the profits of the company not only included shifting sales of the products but also boosting efficiency and unit costs. There were three factors which worried in 2000, the consolidation pressures in food industry which bothered were slower growth rates in food industries, rapid consolidation among grocery markets that is between branded manufactures and private manufactures for good self space in the grocery stores. In the United States for several years the food industry was miserable and was expected to continue for few more years due to more women working and decreasing house hold sizes, single parents and singles. But the food industry in Europe, Asia, Africa and other less developed countries were attractive. Thought the competition between branded and private manufactures was a never ending issue, private manufactures improved their quality of products by growing market shares. Then there came many giant super markets and gave an opportunity for private brands with attractive prices below branded products and even provided checkout scanners to help the customers know price difference which tempt them to BRIEF SWOT ANALYSIS OF UNILEVERS CASE STUDY STRENGHTS WEAKNESSESS Global company. Reduced spending for R D. Best Brands. Inability to maximize acquisitions. Strong relation with retailers. Insufficient management of brands. Dual Leadership. OPPURTUNITIES THREATS Increasing in need of quality products. Decrease in revenues. Changing customer preferences. Strong competition. Increase in brands. shift to the private brands. Due to the heavy competition among them manufactures had to cut down the costs of the products, number of versions of the products and weed out weak brands and concentrate on those brands which were popular among the customers and those could develop into global brands. Introducing dual headquarters by dividing the food industry which consisted of 6 categories and household industry which consisted of 8 categories there were many benefits such as improving food and household industry by focusing more on them regionally and globally. Accelerating decision making and successful integration of R D though there were some critics that Unilever has been paying more for some of its acquisitions such as acquire Amora Maille. Unilever as of then in 2003 had been seen as a growing organization which probably had all the necessary requirements to make it a force to recon with, during the Path to Growth strategy many aspects of the company had come out some of them included the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Strengths, probably the biggest strength that the company had at that time was the correct selection of the brands and the products it had in store unilever had done many researches and had to make many decisions to get the right combinations products that where to be sold it also had the right ideas to increase the sales and all the leading brands to help its cause. Unilever was very good at that time even if the financial aspect was taken into consideration it could experiment with various aspects of its store cause had the financial backup which was required at that time to help it implement various ideas and deal with the market pressures, for any company to improve its sales marke ting always plays a very important role this was probably there biggest strength as the marketing strategy applied by them managed to grab peoples attention as they easy to be connected to and much more simplistic and realistic. Unilever did manage all its clients very well considering that during a phase when they where cutting on the brands it would have been a risk to out anything at that time but it was very well managed by the company. Mainly the fact that unilever was now looking to make the higher range or the brands which where more famous as there core brands which made it much easier for them to advertise considering that it is much easier to promote a very well known and a trusted brand rather than a normal or new brand to increase the sales. Weaknesses, though unilever had a very good policy and all the right objectives to make a difference in the industry it couldnt happen basically due to the lack of proper organization, it was actually much like a bureaucratic organization where things where divided between too many people and it had become difficult to get the ideas moving due to the lack of proper organization, it probably all started with the fact that the company had to deal with too many brands in the first place it would obviously have the impact when the Path to Growth strategy came up cause of the then 1600 brands only 400 brands where retained and rest all where either removed or replaced, that shows that due the lack of proper organization and too many brands being part of it didnt help it in making the changes it wanted to in a better and quickest way. The organization was probably one field in which the company was lacking because it was felt that at the top of the company as there were too many people mak ing decisions and these decisions had to be put forward and this delayed the process of improvement for the company. Opportunities, during this phase of development and renewing it content and upgrading of the stock it turned out to be very fruitful as it provided many working opportunities for people it was at that time that many people where starting to get full time work, during this phase a lot of acquisition also took place with the major brands which resulted in some alterations in plans to that which were planned. SlimFast which is a private company is another acquisition of Unilever after implementing path to growth strategy in 2000 the company bargained an agreement to purchase slimfast diet foods. It had strong sales and network and has a special space in every super market and drugstores these products were made from natural ingredients and added vitamins and minerals to provide good nutritional profile. It also maintained a very good relationship with Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other agencies. Unilever has concentrated more on this Slimfast since the company was growing fast and attracted the customers to buy more of it for healthier and long living life .Management of Unilever utilized the opportunity to globalize the product in other countries like Europe, Australia due to increase in the percent of obese. According to the world health organization percent of the obese was increasing gradually. UNILEVERS TOP COMPETITORS ? Figure: Competitors Performance Comparison http://finance.aol.com/company/unilever-plc-amer/ul/nys/top-competitors Ben Jerrys acquisitions which produces one of the finest ice creams anywhere in pint cartons and wholesale at groceries. Their sales slogan was Vermont finest All Natural Ice cream. They never use any artificial flavors thought the cost is little more it is worth the price. According to the time magazine Vermont makes the best ice cream in the world with 29 flavors in pint cartons and 45 flavors in bulk cartons. There products were distributed throughout the world. On demand Ben jerry operated three manufacturing plants where Vermont plant produces super premier ice cream and frozen yogurts where as spring field produces ice cream, lot fat ice creams in bulk, pint cartons and half gallons. Dreyers and Haagen-Dazs were the two major competitors of Ben jerry and other competitors were Colombo frozen yogurts, Kemps ice cream and star bucks. Ben Jerry produces a wide range of ice creams products like sticks, bars, frozen yogurt pops etc. Though Haagen- Dazs was the global market leader followed by Ben jerry it had an insignificant market share in United States where as Haagen- Dazs was more significantly sold in foreign markets. Both Ben jerry and Haagen-Dazs produced ice creams with cookies and candies in it. Bestfoods was a global company across the world almost in 60 countries which was busy in manufacturing and marketing the food products. Bestfoods profits are almost from outside of the United States that is almost 60 percent of its profits. It is one of the best managed food companies among United States who has much number of employees working with in their company in which half of them were at non US locations. The company increased payments for 14 successive years has its revenues grow by7.8 percent annual rate and suddenly slow downed during the period of 1997 and 1999. Then the company introduced a strategy with four core elements. Globalization of the companys core consumers: Products which are new in the market are needed to be globalized that is the products which are less popular among the consumers, are needed to be advertised and market those products to increase its sales and profits of those products. Few such products are knorr product line, salad dressing and food service operations. The advertising of such kind of products was done very well in order to get those products globally recognized and be accepted among many big brands and soon they became household names. Improvement in cost effectiveness: With changing customer preference the quality of the products must be improved and therefore there should also be improvement in cost effectiveness as the quality improves cost increases. Cost effectiveness is nothing but it is a way by which you show to a customer that a certain is product is worth using or is better than other product or the money u spend on it is worth it. Cost effectiveness in simple would be defined as showing the worth of the product. Looking for new market opportunities: Extending the product sales all over the world via new product introductions and extending sales of the products which are existed in the market. It is very important for any company to be always alert and look for opportunities to extend the business to a large scale and see it in a bigger picture based on the opportunities it gets. Using free cash to make new acquisition: With expanding the products and brands company has created 60 acquisitions in the global market. After struggling a lot in June 2000 best foods agreed to be acquired by Unilever. Best foods were the largest acquisition undertaken by Unilever by as far as concerned and which makes a largest combination of food companies in 12 years. Management of Unilever believed that combining and assimilating bestfoods would result in pre tax cost saving, better efficiencies in business process, synergy in distribution marketing, reformation of general and administrative functions and improved economies of scale. By creating robust business in United States market, increasing strengths of Unilever and best foods in Europe, building of best foods in Latin America to speed up the growth of Unilever brands, by distributing strengths in Asia- pacific to grow and sped up Bestfoods brands and increasing the sales of Unilever products by food service channel of Bestfoods. The work culture was so casual to make the atmosphere fun and lively with communication between the management and employees. The company respected the employees suggestions and respected them even paid the employees a reasonable salary Finally Unilever has announced sale of Bestfoods Backing Company to Canadian food and super market group known as George Weston for $ 1.76billion though Unilever declared to divest Bestfoods Baking Company and Unilever other products and bakery products does not exit any more at Unilever. Bestfoods has 19plans across the United States with a strong management team and was entirely US based. It was one of the best distributing for delivering the baked products which are really baked fresh and sent directly to the retail stores. With its dedication and hard work Bestfoods sales has increased its profit margins by 8 percent. Later again Unilever announced to sell 19 Bestfood brands across North America to ACH food companies which is a supplementary of Associated British Food. By successfully combining the operations of bestfoods with Unilever by the year end of 2003 the two companies had been merged in 63countries across the world TASK 2: Path to Growth: Path to growth strategy was initiated in 2000 and was restructured for several years for better and significant results. The key elements of this Unilevers path to growth strategy were cutting down its brands from 1600 brands to 400core brands to achieve top line sales and increase profits by advertising the brands which are more popular and leading brands across the world and concentrating on R D. Another important key element was divesting underperforming brands and theirs companies and introducing more innovated things to enhance the internal development of the organization and making new acquisitions. Unilevers years of slow performance and its lack of corporate strategy in the competition industry with low number of brands and ordinary performance in growing markets with a little global presence made to create a path to growth strategy which was a 5 year growth plan which made them to concentrate on more brands and product innovations for internal and external growth of the company. And made the company to grow with acquisitions. According to FitzGerald and Bergmans path to growth strategy they predicted to manufacture double digit wages per share growth and superior positions. Focusing on the key brands by advertising and marketing made business grow higher and build brand value and increased brands prices. The case study shows Unilever as a global company according to SOWT analysis after introducing the path to growth strategy the company had really increased its sales and with introducing more number of acquisitions and cutting down the cost of revenues. As the acquisitions like Slimfast, Ben jerry and best foods were rapidly growing their market across the world building a very strong profile and providing customers attractive products and offers. Slim fast has 20%anual growth rate with strong sales and distribution all over the world and also maintained good customer relation. Where Ben jerry was worlds giant ice cream products and yogurt maker with strong brand equity. Bestfoods was USs 10 largest foo d products company with a strong global position. The two key elements of the Unilevers new business strategy was to cut down on the number of brands that were being sold or being marketed by the company, at that time Unilever was operating with as many as 1600 brands and much more products due to this the cut down on the number of products and brands was considered, the 1600 brands that where part of the company were cut down to as many as 400 core brands, the core brands mostly included all the famous and popular brands which are generally very popular among people, this idea came up as to make sure that the products where sold and by doing this it would not be much of a problem for the marketi8ng of these products as most of these brands where already day to day and very famous brands which people would generally prefer buying, which would mean that it would take much less an effort to connect to the people and more over the marketing was also done in such a way that people where able to connect to it very easily, the other key e lement of the unilevers strategy was to remove all the underperforming companies or brands and introduce some other new brands or companies in order to enhance the internal development of the organization and make new acquisitions which would enhance the sales of the company and make it more likable for the people this strategy was designed to increase the sales of the company and get rid of the companies which where not much in demand . Weaknesses according to SWOT analysis showed the company has dual leadership, insufficient management of brands and reduced R D after all this slow performance and small global presence the management has introduced path to growth strategy, which increased the company sales with cutting down it costs and introducing more acquisitions resulted in globalizing the company. As a result there were few expectations to achieve a double digit growth and securing a better position in global market for food and household products by increasing the quality of the product to gain pricing power and attract more customers. But according to the strategy plan the targets which were set was really high that is top line sales growth of 5-6 percent annually, increasing profits, and plan to complete by the end of 2004. If we look and analyze the path to growth strategy we can tell whether the strategy is working or not, we can say that it is working by its success rates and increase in profits and increase in brands and acquisitions that is the consumer preferences have changed due to which the products quality has changed and prices have changed the leading brands sales have increased from 75 percent to 93 percent. Food and personal care industry have increased its profits consistently. Operating assets have also improved by 9 percent. Acquisitions like slim fast, Ben jerry and best foods have gradually improved its growth and established its acquisitions all over the world. But the other side it is completely not yes, Unilever was gaining profits significantly after introducing new strategies but it was losing too yes it reported a net loss of $318M as the competitions was increasing and new brands were coming in to the market and rivals were introducing new strategies to compete Unilever. In th e year 2004 sales grew only by .4 percent leading brands by .9 percent so this proves that Unilever was lagging behind competitors in terms of innovation and advertising. Unilevers lack of advertising and marketing failed to improve sales. The company was small and not globalized. In this case Unilever attracted the new young talented manages to join their company with innovated ideas to increase its company profits by new methods of advertising and marketing. To justify Unilever strategies it maintained dual headquarters and dual chairpersons which reduced effective thinking and slow downed the decision making. Unilever is divided into Unilever Plc and Unilever NV. This made Unilever to focus on the needs of the customers and increase its sales profits in various industries like food, personal case, and household industries all over the world. As customers demand the products which are of the best quality and branded but at the same time convenient, cheap and attractive. The market for household products have been decreased its profits as the numbers of single parents have been increased and the rate of females working out have been increased and the demand for the healthy and high quality food has been increased. The consumers preference of the products such as its look, quality of the product and nutritional values has been increased by providing a strong competition against its giant competitors and private manufactures. This allows Unilever to focus on the need of its customers by increasing its sales. In 2003 Unilever executing its path to growth strategy by increasing its operating margins to over 15percent, but the sales of the leading brands growth as slowdown and raised questions among the investors and retailers that whether company brands could deliver some 5-6 percent of growth in revenues in the next coming years. TASK 3: Unilevers current business Strategies: Ever since the ‘Path to Growth strategy ended in 2005 there has been a 15% increase in the sales and development in the overall progress of Unilever. After the ‘Path to Growth came to an end a new process was developed by Unilever called as the Brand Imprint which helped the marketing teams in understanding how the business could face risks as well as opportunities from the social, economic and environmental issues. In this process each brand was scrutinized by a team looking into various aspects of it such as the direct as well the indirect impacts of the product, it also checked how the brand would go ahead in the future looking at the products possibilities of growth both from a customer and a stakeholders point of view. The outcome of the Brand Imprint is that the process has helped in making important decisions for the company keeping the future in perspective it also developed in addressing social missions, social and environmental issues. The Brand Imprint provided a perfect experience to find some systematic and measurable ways to explore different brands and improve the brands by addressing social issues, helping people the product well and reducing the environmental issues. When the S.W.O.T analysis was done on the ‘Path to Growth strategy many different aspects of the strategy where scrutinized using the SWOT analysis in which it dealt with many aspects such as the strength, weakness, opportunities and the threats that are being faced. After the analysis it came out that it had been very useful to determine the various aspects attached to it. Unilever for years had been a slow developing company, though the company had the right infrastructure and the capital but it couldnt utilize it properly that was basically the reason why the path to growth and various other strategies where starting to come up to help the company to increase the sales of the products and improve the business. Path to growth played a major part in the development of the company. The Path to Growth strategy did prove to be quite a useful thing considering the fact that during this period almost all of the unsuccessful brands where removed or replaced and the brands which where trusted and kept managed to increase the sales by 75% to 93%. Unilevers growth was considerably slow during this phase because the company was at that stage making very drastic changes and for these changes to come up and make a difference was something unexpected but the companys growth was obvious in certain fields thanks to the new strategies that had come in to improve the sales of the company so as to improve the business of the company. It was due to the fact that the company probably took way too much time u started and implement its plans that it caused the success to be not as higher as expected. Many business analysts and commentators felt that most of the strategies of the path to growth where working fine but there was always a speculation that what ever progress was talking place was happening too slow considering the competition the market was in with at that time, it was also felt that as the basic functionality of the business was spread among way too many people made the management way to complex and it would have been better off if it was simpler. It did work out fine when it came to the advertising of the product and getting it known to the people as it was more public oriented and it used the sources to the full extent to connect to the people. It did experience a drastic growth during that period as the analysis had proved that the company had the highest growth percentage as compared to any other company during that period it did bring in high profits to the company but looking at the whole picture it did prove to be a huge loss for the company considering the fa ct that they faced a countable loss in the revenue margin and that proved to be the difference, though it did have the right amount of sales and customers due to the slowness of there analysis to sort out and remove or replace the stuff did make a difference to analysis in the larger picture. But the company did grow during that time which might as well have effected the revenue cause many new store where started and large number of employees where starting to be employed on a full time basis. It did do quite well on the international market as well. By looking at the way the company had grown during this stage is quite remarkable many business analysts and commentators had felt that they probably had the right scheme of action because during that time they where handling 1600 brands and which was way too much and among those were quit few brands which hardly made any diff to the company so then the whole idea of brands cut based on the market outlook and sales reports was looked into to classify as to which of the products or brands where fast selling and which had the scope to sell more. It was that idea to cut down on the number of brands and start promoting only few brands which where much easier to be marketed and which where more likable by the people by which it would increase the sales and also make the marketing of these products easier cause when you are promoting bigger brands which are often very well known to public would mean that u don have to spend much on the marketing. Did the company experience growth during this period? Yes, would be the right thing to say voiding the minor things which might effect the outcome but it did see the light of success though slowly and there process and ideas where starting to get implemented in a better way and in a more successful way to deal with the growth of the company, the process of cutting down on the under selling companies was probably the decision that started to turn the tide for the company as it was when the losses where starting to be covered and it was mor

Marijuana Essay -- Agriculture Illegal Drugs Essays

Marijuana The third largest agricultural good in the nation and a ten billion-dollar industry has nothing to do with the agriculture we are use to. This good is Marijuana, an illegal drug. It is "the most widely used illicit drug in America" n(Gold v). In Florida alone, marijuana sales are greater than all businesses except tourism (Gold v). What is marijuana? Marijuana, a plant, known as Cannabis Sativa, labeled that by Carolus Linnaeus in 1753 (Grinspoon 1), is "one of nature's hardiest specimens" (Abel ix). It can survive in any climatic condition possible, and flourishes like weeds do. Marijuana acts like a weed, stealing all the sunlight and nutrients around it. The soil needed for growing marijuana for its intoxicant, is dry thin soil, along with horse or cow manure (Grinspoon 40). It can grow to be from three to twenty feet at maturity (Abel ix), and grows at a rapid speed. Germination of the plants occurs simultaneously. Life shows six days after planting, and after two weeks, strong h ealthy leaves should have grown (Grinspoon 40). The marijuana plant is dioecious, which means that it grows separate male and female plants. The male plant is usually taller than the female plant, and dies after its flowering cycle (Abel 4). The female plant is bushier and "secretes a resin that covers the flowering tops and nearby leaves" (Abel 5). This resin is secreted by glandular hairs that are found on the leaves and is used to protect the marijuana plant from water loss (Gol...

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The basic reasons for the collapse of the soviet Essay Example

The basic reasons for the collapse of the soviet Essay Example The basic reasons for the collapse of the soviet Essay The basic reasons for the collapse of the soviet Essay Introduction This paper discusses the grounds behind the prostration of socialism in Europe. The first portion analyses the internal decay by looking at the economic system, inefficiency of the system, suppression, denial and dishonesty, patriotism, Brezhnev epoch, resistance every bit good as the Gorbachev epoch. The 2nd portion analyses external taint, concentrating on western influence and the function of faith. Finally, the paper describes the domino effect , which led to entire prostration of the socialist governments. INTERNAL DECAY Economy Probably the most of import long-run implicit in inadequacy of the province socialist societies was the autumn in the rates of economic growth ( Lane 1996:152 ) . Harmonizing to Brown ( 1991 ) , the system had non been able to set up rational and satisfactory criterions of life and run into the lifting popular outlooks. The economic theoretical account which was adopted was cardinal planning, corporate agriculture, province ownership and centralized direction of the production and distribution system. This resulted in omnipresent genteel poorness for the multitudes ( Neimanis 1997 ) . The industrial and technological advancement neer created a sufficiency of consumer goods and services and the criterion of life got stuck in communal flats and long lines in shops. The state of affairs across Eastern Europe was made even more hard in 1980s, with the Soviet Union unable to supply economic aid due to its ain crisis ( Brown 1991 ) . The socialist provinces were non able to guarantee freed om from unemployment, the one promise they lived up to throughout their being ( Glenny 2004 ) . When Gorbachev was elected secretary of the communist party of the Soviet Union in 1985, he inherited an tremendous backlog of jobs ( Dawisha 1990 ) . The bulk of the scientific community’s attempts have been directed at military demands and the Soviet weaponries buildup was excessively expensive to keep ( Longworth 1994 ) . Neither overall economic returns nor indirect costs to wellness and environment were given adequate accent. The public assistance system had become excessively dearly-won. Furthermore, it could no longer afford to subsidize the remainder of the axis with inexpensive energy that was frequently supplied on recognition. Harmonizing to Kotz ( 1995:2 ) , the recent rejection of planning and public belongings by many socialists appears to derive from the belief that the cause of the prostration of province socialism was its trust on economic planning and/or public belongings, with really limited functions for markets or private property . Inefficiency The system failed to call up ( Neimanis 1997 ) . It failed to choose skilled people for cardinal places. Harmonizing to Columbus ( 1998 ) , the educational system was successful in bring forthing intellectuals, but the planning and labor market system was unable to offer them an tantamount occupation. Peoples did non hold to work really hard and it was this disaffection from work and personal duty that created cancerous inefficiencies that finally killed the system(Neimanis 1997, Lane 1996) .Furthermore, callings were closely dependent upon the party which used this as their vehicle to remain in power ( Kupferberg 1999 ) . Harmonizing to Kotz ( 1998 ) , the governments were a deformed signifier of socialism, in that it was run by a privileged party-state elite and it had inhibitory, undemocratic and hierarchal characteristics that were foreign to socialism. Suppression Brown ( 1991 ) argues that for the remainder of Eastern Europe, the fact that socialism was regarded as foreigner in kernel and alien-imposed was a basic ground for its eventual failure. The government was imposed by Soviet forces of weaponries. In 1968, Breznev called for a soviet-led invasion against reform in Czechoslovakia, known as the Prague Spring, signaling Moscow’s refusal to let any Eastern European government to seek to renew itself. This, nevertheless, ensured a quicker death for socialism and its entire prostration in 1989. This is why in Yugoslavia and Albania, the merely two Eastern European states who did non hold Soviet-imposed systems, socialism was still lasting by the terminal of 1989. Harmonizing to Kupferberg ( 1999 ) , socialism neer asserted that sort of clasp over the Black Marias and heads of the population in Eastern Europe. They bribed and coaxed its citizens into obeisance, non defying until each and every one of them was personally committed to as sisting the province to last. Denial and Dishonesty Under the Soviet government, the leading at all degrees rarely learned from experience because failures and defects were systematically denied ( Neimanis 1997:3 ) . The public media reported and the instruction system substantiated and legitimised the studies that the USSR marched from success to success. Harmonizing to the Soviet imperativeness and official statistics, no serious accidents, no serious offense, and really few natural catastrophes occurred. That is why Khrushchev’s address at the 20ThursdayParty Congress in 1956, in which he revealed and denounced Stalin’s offenses, perfectly stunned the party members. The Communist party leadings refused to acknowledge that the working category lived in more seamy conditions, take a breathing in more detrimental air and imbibing more toxic H2O, than western working category ( Glenny 2004 ) . Denial and dishonesty continued during Brezhnev’s reign, including prevarications about indigence in the West. Patriotism Nationalism bit by bit filled the nothingness in thought in the districts of the USSR and some of the Eastern European provinces ( Lane 1996:173 ) . Harmonizing to Glenny ( 2004 ) , the Eastern Europe was non a cultural and political monolith. The rebellions in East Germany, Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia from 1953 to 1981 demonstrated the mutual exclusiveness between Soviet involvements and East European national aspirations ( Glenny 2004, Brown 1991 ) . The more they were suppressed, the more deadly and utmost resistance became ( Dawisha 1990 ) . When the drape came down, national symbols that had been adapted by the Communist party were restored to their original signifier. The ties that used to adhere the Eastern European states loosened about nightlong. The 1989 was the finest hr of Eastern European patriotism, when the natural desire for release was expressed through a reaffirmation of national identity ( Glenny 2004:204 ) . As National and cultural tensenesss continued to show Gorbachev with some of his most hard political jobs, many of the cultural jobs facing the USSR resulted from comparative success in raising the educational degrees, increasing the economic complexness, and using the function of media in national countries ( Balzer 1991, Neimanis 1997 ) . New elites in these parts, instead than showing gratitude to Moscow, became progressively self-asserting. In 1980s more extremist reforms called for abolition of the cardinal program and cultural and political liberty ( Neimanis 1997 ) . Lithuania declared independency in 1990, while Estonia and Latvia started to move as independent provinces. In August 1991 there was a push to reconstruct the floundering system but the multitudes and the ground forces did non react. This asserts that they judged the system as non deserving keeping. Brezhnev Harmonizing to Brown ( 1991 ) , it was Brezhnev who destroyed whatever attractive forces communism as an political orientation still retained. However active he was, nil positive came out of his actions. His scheme led to an economic catastrophe in the 1980s. Furthermore, he ever made bad judgements of a crisis. In 1967 he failed to detect that the spring was coming and subsequently he was slow in gaining that it had arrived. In 1976, he was ready to shut his eyes and listen to Pole president Gierek’s bland reassurances. Resistance The insufficiency of resource direction led to a crisis in the loyalty-solidarity system ( Lane 1996:156 ) . Significant groups of people felt that the wagess did non fit the needed outgo of energy and committedness. The economic failure and force per unit areas from the Soviet Union stimulated and amalgamate social resistance in most Eastern European states. After the soviet-led invasion in Czechoslovakia in 1968, force per unit area for alteration did non arise from within the system but from the exterior, in the streets, the mills and in the circles of ill-affected intellectuals ( Brown 1991 ) . It brought together intellectuals, immature people and many workers. The Magyar Revolution in 1956 was the first act of the play of Eastern Europe and socialist regulation. Furthermore, Solidarity, a Polish phenomenon, was a effect of the suppression of the Czechoslovakian reform in 1968. Polish intellectuals cooperated with the workers in order to put up and rede the Solidarity. The growi ng of the population, the rise in degrees of urbanization and the quality of instruction created a big professional center category, and immature coevalss more receptive to thoughts of the market ( Lane 1996 ) . It was dissenters and their thoughts that influenced Gorbachev’s reforms ( Horvath 2005, Balzer 1991 ) . They violated long-standing tabu and put new criterions of bravery. Gorbachev borrowed the term glasnost’ obviously from the dissenters. After two decennaries of their protest, constructs of democracy, human rights, the regulation of jurisprudence and glasnost were widely understood. The perestroika old ages were dominated by publications like Glasnost and Ekspress-Khronica, which were founded and edited by dissenters. The resistance besides in secret came from within the authorities itself. Harmonizing to Longworth ( 1994 ) , the flicker which ignited the Czech revolution, the decease of a pupil demonstrator at the custodies of the constabulary, was faked by KGB agents working in concurrence with the Czech secret constabulary. Gorbachev The concluding phase of the prostration of the Soviet Union had been coming since 1985 when Mikhail Gorbachev came to power and initiated his policies of openness and restructuring ( Longworth 1994 ) . The kindling was already at that place, but it needed Mikhail Gorbachev to illume it ( Brown 1991:4 ) . He called for practical strengthening of socialism in all domains: economic, political and religious ( Balzer 1991 ) , every bit good as the edifice of dealingss with Eastern European states ( Dawisha 1990 ) . There were, nevertheless, a few cardinal issues. The restructuring enabled the engagement of civil society ( Balzer 1991 ) . Gorbachev besides met with church leaders and encouraged the turning activism by many spiritual groups. Informal administrations excessively became a major characteristic of restructuring , going a critical portion of political life and a preparation land for new political militants. In October 1989, the Communist party of the Soviet Union besides decided to abandon its political monopoly in relation to other Eastern European provinces. Harmonizing to Kotz ( 1998 ) , the attempt to reform the Soviet economic system created conditions in which a pro-capitalist alliance arose in Soviet society. This alliance gained strength during 1989-1991, eventually taking power at the terminal of 1991, including most of the clerisy, plus the shadow economic system operators. The party-state elite had come to dwell chiefly of people interested in power and stuff privileges, which were limited compared to those of the category that runs the capitalist systems of the West. Leveling the old system and replacing it with capitalist economy enabled them to go proprietors, instead than directors of the economic system, with a large expected addition in personal wealth. EXTERNAL CONTEMINATION Western Influence The really being of Western Europe was a destabilising factor in the East ( Brown 1991 ) . Detente was in topographic point to supply a safe conformance in Eastern Europe. However, Detente had ever weakened socialism ( Brown 1991 ) . The decennary of detente in the seventiess tended to do some governments obliged to the West, particularly in the economic sense, and therefore more tolerant of social dissent than they would otherwise hold been ( Brown 1991:26 ) . The rise in the degrees of mass communications informed the people about life in the West, which became for them the ideal ( Lane 1996 ) . Western plans became accessible in the GDR, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and the Baltic provinces through telecasting. Video recording equipments gave entree to Western movies. The dad compulsion and wind devotedness were large parts of the multinational ethos. Much more unsafe and insurgent was the nexus between this musical passion and the sound and videocassette phenomenon, as they were used for more direct political propaganda ( Brown 1991 ). Furthermore, the West imposed between itself and the East a assortment of limitations and trade barriers that kept a tight palpebra on commercial ties ( Glenny 2004 ) . The West used political standards to make up ones mind which states would be granted good trading agreements, using political force per unit areas on Eastern European states. One of the most powerful facets of western influence was the indebtness of Eastern European authoritiess to the West ( Glenny 2004 ) . The Poles, Hungarians, Romanians, Bulgarians and the Former Yugoslav provinces accepted the offer of big credits in 1970s. Almost all ordinary Eastern Europeans have suffered badly from debt. By mid 1989, merely 6 months before Ceausescu’s autumn, Romania had paid off most of its debt but merely at the cost of an dismaying squeezing on life criterions that had left the population cold, hungry and finally ready for revolution. ( Glenny 2004 ) Religion By the terminal of 1970s, faith was playing an progressively of import function by pulling turning Numberss to it ( Brown 1991 ) . In Poland Catholicism had historically been interwoven with patriotism, as it had in Slovakia and Croatia. The election of John Paul II immeasurably strengthened the assurance of the Poles. THE DOMINO EFFECT The Collapse of Socialism The 1989, revolutions in Eastern Europe could non hold occurred without the beginnings of revolution in the Soviet policy toward Eastern Europe ( Brown 1991, Longworth 1994 ) . Developments in the Soviet Union made the Eastern European revolutions both inevitable and successful. Gorbachev’s unfavorable judgment of conditions in the USSR and his call for extremist reform automatically legitimised unfavorable judgment of bing governments and policies in Eastern Europe. Since the Soviet Union itself was rejecting the ideological rigidnesss of Marxism-Leninism , giving range to democratic resistance and encouraging free endeavor and foreign investing, it was no longer allow for its orbiters to retain the old patterns. They wanted non socialism but democracy, non the East but the west, non a new relationship with the Soviet Union but their ain independency, with every bit small of the Soviet connexion as geopolitical worlds would permit ( Brown 1991:54 ) . It was so that the domino es began to fall. One by one, most of the socialists’ authoritiess in the Eastern Europe collapsed ( Longworth 1994 ) . Poland and Hungary went foremost, followed by GDR and Czechoslovakia, and so Bulgaria and Romania. Decision The first ground for the prostration of socialism in Europe was internal decay. Harmonizing to The system had non been able to set up higher criterions of life and run into lifting popular outlooks. The system was besides inefficient, neglecting to call up and promote personal duty. Socialism was regarded as foreigner in kernel and imposed on in Eastern Europe. Failures and defects were systematically denied. Eastern Europe was non a cultural and political monolith and there was an mutual exclusiveness between Soviet involvements and East European national aspirations. It was Brezhnev’s incapableness that destroyed whatever attractive forces communism as an political orientation still retained. Actions and thoughts of dissenters influenced Gorbachev’s reforms that led to the prostration of the socialism in the Soviet Union. The 2nd ground for the prostration of socialism in Europe was external influence. The presence of Western civilization, enabled through mass communications, had annihilating effects. Furthermore, the West-imposed limitations and trade barriers applied political force per unit areas on Eastern European states. One of the most powerful facets of Western influence was the indebtness of Eastern European authoritiess to the West. Religion by the terminal of 1970s was playing an progressively of import portion, pulling turning Numberss to its different signifiers. Socialism eventually collapsed in Europe due to domino effect . Gorbachev’s unfavorable judgment of conditions in the USSR and his call for extremist reform automatically legitimised unfavorable judgment of bing governments and policies in Eastern Europe. Bibliography Balzer, H.D. ( 1991 ) ,Five Old ages that Shook the World: Gorbachev’s unfinished revolution.Westview Press. Brown, J.F. ( 1991 ) .Rush to Freedom: The terminal of communist regulation in Eastern Europe.Duke University Press. Columbus, F. ( 1998 ) .Central and Eastern Europe in Passage: Volume 1 ( erectile dysfunction. ) .Nova Science Publishers, Inc. Dawisha, K. ( 1990 ) .Eastern Europe, Gorbachev, and Reform: The great challenge ( ed. ) .Cambridge University Press. Glenny, M. ( 2004 ) .The Rebirth of History: Eastern Europe in the age of democracy.Penguin Books. Horvath, R. ( 2005 ) .The Legacy of Soviet Dissent.Taylor and Francis Group. Kotz, D.M. ( 1995 ) .Lessons for a Future Socialism from the Soviet Collapse.Review of Radical Political Economics, Vol.27, Iss.3, pp.1-11. Kupferberg, F. ( 1999 ) .The Break-Up of Communism in East Germany and Eastern Europe.St. Martin’s Press Inc. Lane, D. ( 1996 ) .The Rise and Fall of State Socialism.Polity Press. Longworth, P. ( 1994 ) .The Making of Eastern Europe.The MacMillan Press LTD. Neimanis, G.J. ( 1997 ) .The Collapse of the Soviet Empire: A position from Riga.Praeger, UK.

Describe how networking skills can improve project success Essay

Describe how networking skills can improve project success - Essay Example his is not the case with the free networking websites like LinkedIn, Monster and the like where every other individual is online and has something to say or the other. The professional associations offer a more practical approach towards building professional relationships which is not the case with the free networking websites that seem to come up every now and then. The need is to comprehend the respective roles of these avenues more than anything else and then delving deep further into their domains. The professional associations are renowned globally for the high standards which have been set in accordance with the professional principles, rules and codes of conduct, the industry requirements and so on. Free networking websites like LinkedIn cannot ask for a proper appraisal of such nuances because it only allows the individuals to come and meet one another on the websites rather than introducing the capabilities in a way that these professional associations do (Kurtz, 2011). The benefits are therefore in terms of more credibility, better selection of individuals for the coveted posts and technological success that is there amongst the people who have been listed within the professional associations. 2) Is the cost of joining any of the professional associations worth it, based on what you can see from the information on their website, when it comes to making professional contacts that can benefit your career? Why or why not? I believe there are a positive as well as a negative side to any subject. Same is the case with joining the free networking websites where chances of coming across individual from the desired industries are higher and that too without any cost. However, when one views the professional associations that have been built with the passage of time, hard work and a cost that is attached to it, there is a general feel of something formal taking place somewhere. Yet this feel seems to be a missing link within the free networking websites which

Business Law - common law question Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Business Law - common law question - Essay Example Law is separated into two parts which are criminal law as well as civil law (Barker, 2000). Criminal law is enacted when some harm is committed to the social order and the convict person is penalized with fines or imprisonment. Criminal law is developed from the common law as well as the statutes enacted by the government like the Crimes Act 1900 New South Wales (NSW). Most of the criminal statutes of Australia are derived from the English criminal law. Criminal law is divided into two segments which are ‘indictable offences’ as well as ‘summary offences’. ‘Indictable offences’ are the cases which are recorded in the document ‘indictment’ prepared for the ‘Crown’ (State) as prosecutor. ‘Summary offences’ are the cases which are required to be settled in front of the magistrate (Criminal law and civil law, 2012). Civil law deals with disagreements in among individuals or organizations as well as provides leg al remedy. Civil law involves cases relating to accidents as well as contracts. The civil law cases are to be settled in a court before a judge providing reasons for the actions taken in settlement of the claims (Criminal law and civil law, 2012). IRAC denotes Issue, Rule, Application as well as Conclusion. The method or framework is a valuable process to formulate legal analysis. The aspect of issue depicts the significant controversy upon which the basic foundation of the case is formulated. The section of rule or relevant law describes the prevalent laws that can be applied to the identified issue in terms of legal case scenario. The analysis section comprises the use of the relevant rule to the recognized issue. The conclusion section includes the expected outcomes of the identified issue/case. In relation to the provided scenario, the IRAC method would be applied in order to gauge the possible outcomes of the case (What is IRAC?, n.d.). According to the scenario of the case, An na was injured for apparent negligence of Michael who was driving the car under the influence of alcohol. Thus, Anna wanted to take legal actions against Michael. Issue The identified issue that would be presented to the court for trials would be a scenario which occurred in a rainy late night where Anna desired to have a lift to home from Michael rather than waiting for other taxis for commutation to home. During her travel with Michael, Anna came to know that he had consumed alcohol and he faced problems in keeping control of the vehicle. However, Anna still agreed to continue her journey with Michael on way to Anna’s home. After travelling to a certain distance, Michael lost control over the car and hit a tree. This accident resulted in causing severe injuries to Anna and Michael. Subsequent to the accident, Anna decided to sue Michael for the accident causing her injuries and moreover for the probable negligence which took place on that on behalf of Michael. Moreover, thi s case intends to emphasize on the circumstances that whether Anna will be able to sue Michael for his negligence or not in relation to the circumstance in which the accident took place. In this case, in order to succeed in the trails after suing Michael the aspects that Anna should consider and establish have also been analyzed. Rules/Relevant Law In relation to the issue of the case, Anna was provided lift by Michael who had consumed more than allowable level of alcohol which resulted in an accident causing injuries to