Drug Abuse Essays

Drug Abuse Essays Drug Abuse Paper Drug Abuse Paper Drug Abuse is one of the most common criminal cases in the society today. It is a form of substance abuse, just like alcoholism, since these illicit drugs are actually addictive in nature. Because of this, many people who are hooked on drugs cannot easily let go of the addiction, and would often lead to drug-related crimes like robbery, physical assault, or even murder. Not only does these drugs dangerous to others, but it is also harmful in the drug users’ body, causing the body to take into negative turns, like deterioration and organ failures. One of the most common drugs in the society today is Marijuana. It is known scientifically as the hemp plant, Cannabis sativa, where the leaves are being dried up, rolled into sheets of paper and be smoked just like cigarette or tobacco. It is the most often used illegal drug in the world, known in various names all over, like â€Å"pot,† â€Å"herb,† and â€Å"Mary Jane. † Some users can make use of marijuana by mixing it into food substances or drink it by brewing it with tea. The addictive element of marijuana is its Tetrahydrocannabinol or THC content. The effect of marijuana would depend on how strong or how potent is its Tetrahydrocannabinol content, thus also giving various effects on the marijuana users (Psychology Today, 2002). When a person smokes or inhales marijuana smoke, he would usually feel rapid heart beats, loss of coordination and decreased sense of balance, slow reaction rate and a dry mouth. These are already signs of marijuana intoxication, along with the expansion of blood vessels in the eye, that’s why marijuana users usually have red eyes. The effects of marijuana would usually last two to three hours, where the marijuana user would usually tend to be sleepy. The negative effects of using marijuana would be hindering the user’s short term memory, wherein it would be difficult for him to remember recent events. This would usually lead to car crashes and other accidents, since their sense of coordination is greatly affected. Another dangerous drug would be cocaine. This drug’s effect on the body is really damaging, where addiction to cocaine could bring about permanent damages in one’s body or even death. Cocaine has both short term and long term effects. The short term effects are immediately noticeable, but not that damaging as compared to the long term ones. Because the reward system that drugs activate are usually activated for things that are ecessary for survival the body naturally wants to continue to access this reward system leading to excessive drug use and eventually an addiction. As a person starts to do drugs more and more often a persons tolerance, or the amount of that drug they need to get high increases. When a person does drugs constantly their brain is constantly being filled with dopamine which is the neurotransmitter that most drugs cause a release of. The brain adapts to the constant flooding of dopamine by producing less dopamine or reducing the number of dopamine receptors in the reward part of the brain. This results in the drug and ther aspects of life to become less fun or pleasurable. The change in life now makes life seem not as good leading the person to need to do more and more of that drug just to feel normal again. To keep reaching the high they want the person needs to keep increasing the amount of that drug they are doing until eventually it gets to the point that they need the drugs Just to feel normal again. Different drugs can lead to different addictions and an addiction that a person has can be a physical addiction or a psychological addiction. People who are usually recognized as drugs addicts are people with physical addictions. Many drugs such as nicotine, heroin, and meth cause severe physical addictions that are hard to overcome. When a person has a physical addiction their bodies will experience actual health issues if that person does not keep doing the drug they are addicted to. When people are physically a001ctea to a arug tney wlll Teel SICK ana tnelr oodles wlll nurt IT tney can not ao tne drug. The pain and sickness felt when not doing a drug that a person is addicted to is withdrawal. When dealing with a physical addiction withdrawal can be anywhere from a small headache to very severe problems depending on what it is your body is ddicted to. Withdrawal to some drugs like alcohol can cause seizures which can actually kill the person. Other drugs like caffeine Just cause a small headache in the morning. Often people with a physical addiction to a drug also have a psychological addiction to it. To help get over a physical addiction a person usually needs to go to a detox center and work with professionals, A physical addictions is not to be taken lightly and people with this problem usually need help from other to get over their addiction. Only drugs that actually contain addictive substances can cause physical ddictions and once addicted it can be very hard for a person to stop. Some drugs however can still cause an addiction even if the drug itself has no addictive properties inside it. Unlike with a physical addiction a person with a psychological addiction will not actually have a reaction in their body due to not having the drug but they can still mentally develop an extreme want for it. Psychological addictions are more common in people who abuse drugs like marijuana. Marijuana itself has no substance inside of it that are actually addictive but the brain can still develop a esire for the dopamine that marijuana releases making a person want to do it. Some people say that this is not a real addiction however because a person can develop a psychological addiction to anything. A person with a psychological addiction can usually Just kick the addiction themselves or have a friend help monitor them but sometimes seek professional help anyways. Although not as severe as a physical addiction a psychological addiction can still negatively affect a persons life. People who have really bad addictions are usually easy to identify buy some people with inor addictions can not be spotted unless a person knows the symptoms of an addiction. People with addictions often get confused about things when they are sober because they can not think straight often leading to angry outbursts at people who they actually do care about. People with addictions also often get angry when confronted about their problems. People with addictions cant usually say no to drugs when offered no matter what the consequences are. People with addictions also often try and hide it from their families as well as losing interest in things they use to like that dont have to do with drugs. People with addictions also often neglect to eat and lose interest in having a good physical appearance. People with an addiction also try and find an excuse to do drugs all the time so they dont have to face themselves with wondering whether or not they have an addiction. People who miss work or school to do drugs or people who cannot function properly without doing drugs are also people who have addictions. People often ask if drug addiction can be genetic and the simple answer is nobody really knows. People who do drugs while pregnant also do get the baby addicted to drugs but that is from actually having the rugs in its bloodstream making it non genetic. Although there has never been a gene identified to cause addiction or make a person more or less likely to do drugs it may be harder for some people to quit once they start. People might genetically have certain traits that make it harder to become addicted such as not having as many withdrawal problems or disliking drugs that make other people feel good. Although people mlgnt nave tnese tralts tney can stlll Decome aaalctea to arugs even IT no one in their family has ever done a single drug Just like a person can never do drugs even f they come from a long line of drug addicts. Genetics does not play a big role in drug addiction and besides possibly giving certain traits to help a person resist drug addiction, drug addiction itself has not be proved to be genetic. There are certain conditions however that make a person more likely to do drugs and eventually become addicted. People who have easy access to getting drugs through people such as family or friends are more likely to continue to do them often and become addicted. People who live in a culture where drug abuse is accepted or encouraged also have a higher chance of becoming addicted. People who live a stressful lifestyle either economically or emotionally are more likely to seek a reliever which usually leads to drug abuse and eventually addiction. People with low self esteem might also feel peer pressure to do drugs or might resort to drugs to help them get over their shyness and make new friends. People with health problems such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia or anxiety are also more likely to try drugs and because of their mental health are also more susceptible to becoming addicted. Drug abuse does not start as an addiction but rather becomes one over time. There are four stages of drug abuse which lead from time to time abuse to addiction. The first stage is the experimental stage. During this stage a person is usually doing the drug to have a good time with their friends and may enjoy doing it because it is against the rules. It starts to get bad in the stage of regular usage. During this stage people might do it to ease their pain daily or start missing school and work to do drugs as well as increasing tolerance. A person might start to change their friends and drift away from family during this stage. The drug abuse gets even worse and starts to ecome an addiction in the daily stage. During this stage a person usually loses all motivation when it comes to things like school and work. People start to put drugs before everything even their relationships and often become drug dealers to support the habits. The final stage is dependence and is the stage of full blown addiction. During this stage a person can not function properly without doing drugs. They often sell all their stuff to support their addiction and often lose their family and friends and become suicidal or develop many mental health problems. Drug use may not start as much but eventually it may become drug abuse and finally an addiction. Many people first start taking drugs through a legal prescription. Many people who are injured are prescribed painkillers and many people who believe they have mental health problems are prescribed anti-depressants. Some people break the dose rules but even many people who follow it form a small addiction which leads them to try and milk out their prescription for as long as possible. By the time that they are no longer able to legally get these drugs they are already addicted which eads to them having to find a new way to gain access to these drugs. Many people also start doing drugs to try and escape from the problems they have in their lives. Depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, or even family problems can lead people to replace the lows of their lives with getting high. The emotional letdown of when the drug wears off makes these problems even worse and leads to people doing more drugs more often to escape these problems. While poverty isnt technically a cause of drug abuse people who are poor are statistically more likely to do drugs. The lack of pportunlty In poor nelgnoornooas leads to tnere Delng lots 0T arug dealers maKlng it easy to access drugs. Because of the increased drug dealing and trafficking through those neighborhoods people are more likely to become drug users and eventually drug addicts. Professional athletes also often abuse drugs however they abuse a different kind of drug and for different reasons. Professional athletes only can be successful if they are good and so to be as good as possible they often abuse performance enhancing drugs. To keep up with other athletes who are doing it many athletes do some form of PED. These drugs usually produced good results but can only be maintained if the drug use is also maintained. This cycle often leads to an addiction or a need to find something even stronger to boost performance. For whatever reason a person started to abuse drugs and weather they have a physical or a psychological addiction and no matter what stage of abuse there in drug addictions are bad and people with them often need help. Although the decision to take drugs for the first time is a personal choice, eventually the brain changes to reduce self control and their ability to resist that drug. Drug addiction is a complex roblem and scientists are Just beginning to understand how to successfully assess and treat a drug addiction. Many people who have drug addictions have lost the ability to help themselves and cannot quit the drug they are doing even if they want to. Any kind of drug addiction is bad and needs to be taken seriously before it either becomes worse or leads to death. About nine percent of the American population over 12 has abused drugs before in their lifetime and many of those abusers will eventually become addicts. Drug abuse will often lead to an addiction and once addicted it will take more than Just good intentions to quit.

Probabilities for Dihybrid Crosses in Genetics

Probabilities for Dihybrid Crosses in Genetics It may come as a surprise that our genes and probabilities have some things in common. Due to the random nature of cell meiosis, some aspects to the study of genetics is really applied probability. We will see how to calculate the probabilities associated with dihybrid crosses. Definitions and Assumptions Before we calculate any probabilities, we will define the terms that we use and state the assumptions that we will work with. Alleles are genes that come in pairs, one from each parent. The combination of this pair of alleles determines the trait that is exhibited by an offspring.The pair of alleles is the genotype of an offspring. The trait exhibited is the offsprings phenotype.Alleles will be considered as either dominant or recessive. We will assume that in order for an offspring to display a recessive trait, there must be two copies of the recessive allele. A dominant trait may occur for one or two dominant alleles. Recessive alleles will be denoted by a lower case letter and dominant by an upper case letter.An individual with two alleles of the same kind (dominant or recessive) is said to be homozygous. So both DD and dd are homozygous.An individual with one dominant and one recessive allele is said to be heterozygous. So Dd is heterozygous.In our dihybrid  crosses, we will assume that the alleles we are considering are inherited independently of one another.In all examples, both parents are heterozy gous for all of the genes being considered.   Monohybrid Cross Before determining the probabilities for a dihybrid cross, we need to know the probabilities for a monohybrid cross. Suppose that two parents who are heterozygous for a trait produce an offspring. The father has a probability of 50% of passing on either of his two alleles. In the same way, the mother has a probability of 50% of passing on either of her two alleles. We can use a table called a Punnett square to calculate the probabilities, or we can simply think through the possibilities.  Each parent has a genotype Dd, in which each allele is equally likely to be passed down to an offspring.  So there is a probability of 50% that a parent contributes the dominant allele D and a 50% probability that the recessive allele d is contributed.  The possibilities are summarized: There is a 50% x 50% 25% probability that both of the offsprings alleles are dominant.There is a 50% x 50% 25% probability that both of the offsprings alleles are recessive.There is a 50% x 50% 50% x 50% 25% 25% 50% probability that the offspring is heterozygous. So for parents who both have genotype Dd, there is a 25% probability that their offspring is DD, a 25% probability that the offspring is dd, and a 50% probability that the offspring is Dd. These probabilities will be important in what follows. Dihybrid Crosses and Genotypes We now consider a dihybrid cross.  This time there are two sets of alleles for parents to pass on to their offspring.  We will denote these by A and a for the dominant and recessive allele for the first set, and B and b for the dominant and recessive allele of the second set.   Both parents are heterozygous and so they have the genotype of AaBb. Since they both have dominant genes, they will have phenotypes consisting of the dominant traits.  As we have said previously, we are only considering pairs of alleles that are not linked to one another, and are inherited independently. This independence allows us to use the multiplication rule in probability.  We can consider each pair of alleles separately from each other.  Using the probabilities from the monohybrid cross we see: There is a 50% probability that the offspring has Aa in its genotype.There is a 25% probability that the offspring has AA in its genotype.There is a 25% probability that the offspring has aa in its genotype.There is a 50% probability that the offspring has Bb in its genotype.There is a 25% probability that the offspring has BB in its genotype.There is a 25% probability that the offspring has bb in its genotype. The first three genotypes are independent of the last three in the above list.  So we multiply 3 x 3 9 and see that there are these many possible ways to combine the first three with the last three.  This is the same ideas as using a tree diagram to calculate the possible ways to combine these items. For example, since Aa has probability 50% and Bb has a probability of 50%,  there is a 50% x 50% 25% probability that the offspring has a genotype of AaBb.  The list below is a complete description of the genotypes that are possible, along with their probabilities. The genotype of AaBb has probability 50% x 50% 25% of occurring.The genotype of AaBB has probability 50% x 25% 12.5% of occurring.The genotype of Aabb has probability 50% x 25% 12.5% of occurring.The genotype of AABb has probability 25% x 50% 12.5% of occurring.The genotype of AABB has probability 25% x 25% 6.25% of occurring.The genotype of AAbb has probability 25% x 25% 6.25% of occurring.The genotype of aaBb has probability 25% x 50% 12.5% of occurring.The genotype of aaBB has probability 25% x 25% 6.25% of occurring.The genotype of aabb has probability 25% x 25% 6.25% of occurring. Dihybrid Crosses and Phenotypes Some of these genotypes will produce the same phenotypes.  For example, the genotypes of AaBb, AaBB, AABb, and AABB are all different from each other, yet will all produce the same phenotype.  Any individuals with any of these genotypes will exhibit dominant traits for both traits under consideration.   We may then add the probabilities of each of these outcomes together: 25% 12.5% 12.5% 6.25% 56.25%.  This is the probability that both traits are the dominant ones. In a similar way we could look at the probability that both traits are recessive.  The only way for this to occur is to have the genotype aabb.  This has a probability of 6.25% of occurring. We now consider the probability that the offspring exhibits a dominant trait for A and a recessive trait for B.  This can occur with genotypes of Aabb and AAbb.  We add the probabilities for these genotypes together and have18.75%. Next, we look at the probability that the offspring has a recessive trait for A and a dominant trait for B.  The genotypes are aaBB and aaBb.  We add the probabilities for these genotypes together and have a probability of 18.75%.  Alternately we could have argued that this scenario is symmetric to the early one with a dominant A trait and a recessive B trait. Hence the probability for this outcomes should be identical. Dihybrid Crosses and Ratios Another way to look at these outcomes is to calculate the ratios that each phenotype occurs.  We saw the following probabilities: 56.25% of both dominant traits18.75% of exactly one dominant trait6.25% of both recessive traits. Instead of looking at these probabilities, we can consider their respective ratios.  Divide each by 6.25% and we have the ratios 9:3:1.  When we consider that there are two different traits under consideration, the actual ratios are 9:3:3:1. What this means is that if we know that we have two heterozygous parents, if the offspring occur with phenotypes that have ratios deviating from 9:3:3:1, then the two traits we are considering do not work according to classical Mendelian inheritance.  Instead, we would need to consider a different model of heredity.

Sociology - Discuss the argument that the family is in decline Essay

Sociology - Discuss the argument that the family is in decline - Essay Example school of thought contests this view and a third argument states that nothing has changed and that the family unit remains largely unchanged (Gillies, 2003). This paper explores the argument that the family is in decline. Firstly, a definition of family will be provided. Secondly, three theoretical perspectives will be presented in regards to the family being in decline. Finally, a conclusion will synthesize the main points raised in this paper, and provide recommendations for future research. Defining what a family is is a highly contentious issue. In 1949 George Murdock defined a family as a group of people that includes two of both sexes, at least tow of who have a legally sanctioned relationship, and one or more children. This view was upheld by functionalist theorists such as Parsons and Goode (Parsons & Bales 1955, Goode 1963 cited in Levy, Widmer, & Kellerhals, 2002). However, over time the variety of families in industrialised societies has increased dramatically, hence its definition has been modified. Macionis and Plummer (2002) define a family as a social institution that can be found to exist in all societies. The function of the institution being to unite people into a cooperative group, to enable survival and raising of children, socialization of children and a regulation of the sexual activity of the people within the group. The family unit being a social group of two or more people who may be related through blood or marriage, or through adoption or by vir tue of cohabitation or family by choice, and so share in the economic and social responsibilities (Macionis & Plummer, 2002). In 21st globalised society numerous forms of family structure exist: the nuclear family remains, with two parents and children, although the term has been extended to include same sex couples who may not be married; the reconstituted family that combines two one-parent families; single-parent families; and the extended family which may be â€Å"vertical† in that

The Overcoat - Nikolai Gogol Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Overcoat - Nikolai Gogol - Essay Example The portrayal of the protagonist supports the idea that environmental oppression impacts the individual, which may result in the formation of deviant behavioral patterns. Early in the work, the protagonist’s appearance is describes as ordinary and rather sallow, stating â€Å"There is nothing we can do about [the protagonist appearance], it is all the fault of the St. Petersburg climate† (Gogol 234). While this statement at surface value seems to refer to the weather, it closely parallels the bureaucratic climate that, much like the weather, is a large and dismal force that the protagonist feels powerless to alter. Even the name of the character, Akaky Akakyevich, closely resembles the Russian term ‘okakat’ meaning to smear with excrement, or the term ‘caca’, which is of Greek origin but refers to excrement in many modern languages (Paul 1). A parallel is drawn between the oppression of the bureaucratic system, wherein a designated rank oppress es societal classes, and the oppression of the individual by his personal designation, in this case the character’s given name. This is supported by in the text by statements such as â€Å"with us, rank is something that must be stated before anything else†, highlighting the oppressive qualities of personal designations, such as rank (Gogol 234). Oppression on many levels shapes the traits of the protagonist, suggesting that environmental influences are responsible for future deviant behavior. The protagonist at first negotiates a reality filled with oppression with acceptance; however, when his expectations are made higher by the prospect of a new overcoat, symbolic of a rise in the societal hierarchy, the character develops deviant personality traits, ultimately leading to his death and the wrath of his angry spirit. The author describes the Very Important Person as a character that

Islam Is the Way of Life Essay Example for Free

Islam Is the Way of Life Essay Thank yuo Mrs. Chairman. Well, good morning everyone. I would like to utter my very first salam to the honourable judges, respected teachers and fellow friends. My name is Noor Husna Bt. Ahmad Toha and Im from the red team. The reason why am I standing here today is to give a speech entitled Islam is the Way of Life. First and foremost, I believed that each one of us had already heard the phrase Islam is the Way of Life quite often but what does it really means? So today, lets make ourselves clear with it. Teachers and students, Islam guides from the cradle to the grave. It guides us in all aspects of life rather than just prayer and worship. The way of life of Prophet Muhammad P.B.U.H is the way of life of Islam. His 24 hours of life is the perfect model for the people to follow until the Dooms Day. His way of speech, dresiing, his dealing with the wives, children and people in general, his sitiing, walking, sleeping, eating and even his way in the lavatory are model to us. His dealing as the ruler of the Islamic nation, as the judge, as the commander in chief of army, as the head of the family are examples to follow. Prophet Muhammad had once said, I have left two things with you which if you hold onto, you shall not misguided; The Book of God and my example. Humans are made to obey The Creator. Following the Sunnah are one of the many ways to show our devotion to Allah, and the most important is surely to be gracious and respectful to Allahs Messenger as stated in the Holy Quran in the first sentence of Surat Al-Hujurat which means, O you who believe, do not put yourselves forward before Allah and His Messenger, but fear Allah: for Allahis He Who hears and knows all things. We can see a lot of scams in the business nowadays which is very contrary to what has been taught to us by the Prophet. It is a compulsary to us to be fair and honest in trading. Deceiving is completely forbidden. Cheating in business does not benefits anything but it is more likely to gives bad effect to our own life.

John Keats, La Belle Dame Sans Essay -- essays research papers fc

John Keats is a great British poet. He has written many popular poems. La Belle Dame sans Merci is a ballad that was written in 1819. In this ballad, the knight is deceived by the woman he meets. He falls in love with this woman instantly and is convinced that she too is in love with him. The woman makes the knight fall for her by making herself beautiful. The woman deceives the knight into trusting her and then when she takes him to her cave, she breaks his heart by leaving him after the knight wakes up from a nightmare. The first stanza of this ballad describes the knight as being lonely in the wilderness. A Alone and palely loitering. @ The knight is alone and wandering around on his horse. A And no birds sing. @ In this sentence he describes his sadness because the singing of birds is associated with happiness and the birds are not singing. So haggard and so woe-begone? The squirrel=s granary is full, And the harvest=s done. In this quote the knight is troubled because everything is going as it is supposed to, the granary is full and the harvest is done. This is why the knight is also sad and roaming around on his horse. In the next stanza, the knight is described as exhausted in appearance and afflicted. â€Å"And on thy cheeks a fading rose fast withereth too.† The colour of his skin is fading away, and he is dying. I met a lady in the meads Full beautiful - a faery=s child. Her hair was long, her foot was light, And her eyes were wild. In this stanza, the knight meet...

The important of unity in Malaysia Essay

Malaysia is a country populated by various ethnic, racial and religion. The success of integrating Malaysia’s various ethnic groups would be established in a united Malaysian society. Thus, the national unity plays an important role in progress of Malaysia. Before the Malaysia successfully achieves independent, our ancestries which come from different background cooperate in order to demand for independent. The result for their unity among them has lead Malaysia as a self- governing country. Hence, we could say that no unity, no Malaysia. Secondly, the occurrence of unity in Malaysia has created a harmony and peaceful society. As we know, Malaysia is a nation which group by diverse culture and religion. If the Malaysia people doesn’t implement with the quality of unity, conflict and quarrel will occur among them and thus the stable of political of Malaysia will be corrupt. The visitors from other countries will be attracted by the unity that shown by the Malaysian peopl e. The visitors would like to identify more closely with the Malaysian culture of various races and religion which can live harmony under one society. The presence of the visitors to Malaysia has led to the development of tourism industry and hence increases the nation income. Another importance of unity in Malaysia is the development of economic. The stable of political in Malaysia due to the unity of Malaysian people will attract the foreign traders to make investment in Malaysia. The attendance of the foreign traders will not only cause the economics of Malaysia to increase, it may also raise the status of economic of Malaysia in the world. As conclusion, unity among the various races is vital for the progress of the nation as the saying goes, ‘United we stand, divided we fall’.

Whether or not the civil rights movement has achieved equal rights for black people in USA and if so, to what extent

In this essay, I will aim to establish whether or not the civil rights movement has achieved equal rights for black people in USA and if so, to what extent. In order to do this, we must compare the situation for blacks in USA currently, to that of blacks many years ago. Absolutely no one would even try to argue that Black Americans had equal rights during, or even directly after the abolition of slavery. This would be ridiculous bearing in mind that many were forced to work from sunrise to sunset, an eighteen hour day in some places, with few, if any rights at all. At one point, slave owners were even given specific rights to brand, maim, whip or even burn disobedient slaves. This hardly indicates any sort of equal rights. They were unable to vote, serve on juries receive an education and work in certain trades. The fact that they were unable to serve on juries almost made certain that any black man could be tried and convicted even though totally innocent. Also, no voting meant no black politicians, and no politicians meant no say in government. There were a few lucky blacks living in the south who had managed to obtain freedom, some by purchasing their liberties and others handed their freedom after their masters had passed away. However, these blacks were constantly living in the fear that they could once again be taken into slavery. Most blacks had now been freed, yet they were not compensated for past labours, leaving them jobless and almost pennyless. Many â€Å"white supremacy† organisations such as the Ku Klux Klan were formed solely to intimidate the black population. Public lynchings and public beatings became common place and very rarely was anything done about it in the courts as it was supported by many officials. After slavery was abolished, many years of black campaigning followed and gradually, the campaigning became more and more succesful. In 1870, the fifteenth ammendment was passed declaring the right for all to be able to vote regardless of race. This was seen as a real breakthrough yet celebrations were proved to be far too premature. At first everything seemed fine. States which had black majorities soon began to have black politicians who were more understanding to their plight. Free education was introduced and the system of having to own land to be able to have the right to vote was also scrapped. All seemed well and good until 1877, when the army decided that it was time to pull out of the southern states. This immediately left the blacks vulnerable to attack from the various groups which had been formed who had a great hatred towards the blacks. These secret organisations began using violence in order to prevent blacks from voting and this led to an almost immediate change. The lack of the black vote led to all white governments once again being elected and this in turn saw the re-introduction of many laws against those African Americans. Once again, control of the blacks was firmly in the hands of their white rulers. ‘Jim Crow' laws were introduced enforcing segregation in various araes of life. Transport saw separate seating for blacks and whites. Separate schools and hospitals were also introduced. The segregation even went as far as having different cemetries for deceased whites and deceased blacks, even in church, they were sat seperately. The much lower wages that the blacks were being payed meant that they could only afford housing in more run down neighbourhoods, again leading to a seperation, with â€Å"black only† towns. This residential segregation was even made compulsory in some states. Inter-racial marriages became a massive target for groups such as The Ku Klux Klan. They felt that this would lead to a society where racial categorization would become difficult and white dominance would become hard to maintain. Again violence was used to ensure that no inter-racial marriages could take place. If any kind of recession came round, black employees were always the first to be fired regardless of experience or quality of work and no blacks were allowed to join unions. This of course meant that in the event of any strike action, the blacks would continue to work arousing yet more hatred and hostility from their fellow white compatriots. After the white governments had been firmly re-established, the power of blacks was continually undermined. Successful black businessmen were attacked and any attempts to form black protection groups were quickly quashed. The KKK also introduced lynching for those blacks accused of commiting crimes, many of whom were completely innocent. This was seen as not really a form of punishment for criminals, but more a way of intimidating the local black population into accepting the rule of the whites. Yet again, the blacks were forced to accept the inhumane ways in which they were being treated and once again there was nothing they could really do about it. One hundred years on, to what extent have civil rights been achieved for blacks? On visiting America now, and comparing life to that of a hundred years ago, the most apparent difference is desegregation. Whereas blacks and whites were forced to attend separate schools, take part in leisure activities seperately, use separate transport and forced to be segregated in the supreme court, there is now no lawful segregation in the USA. Blacks have been given equal rights as far as voting goes and it has been this way for many years now. However, this did not mean that all Blacks were suddenly voting. There was still the problem of persuading blacks to register although, this has now been rectified with very public registration campaigns. The result has been a huge increase in the proportion of blacks registered to vote. There have been monumental chnages in attitudes towards blacks which has meant the uprising of many black celebrities which would have been unthinkable until recent years. A prime example of this could be that of black boxer, Mohammed Ali. His refusal to participate in the Vietnam War because of his personal beliefs, and being prepared to go to jail rather than back down, earnt him world wide respect. This went along with the respect that he had already gained from his doubtless talent in the ring. To this day, Ali is one of the most highly respected sportsmen throughout the world. Various blakc musicians have reached stardom also. Examples include Stevie Wonder, Tupac Shakur, Billy Halliday and Bessie Smith, who had to fight adversity throughout her career. However, even here there is the possiblity of racial discrimination having taking place as it is widely claimed that, after a car crash Bessie Smith was refused treatment due to the colour of her skin and as a direct result, died from excessive blood loss. Blacks have also been very successful in Hollywood, with both Will Smith and Samuel L. Jackson being among the top ten earners. This does not even take into acount Denzel washington, Danny Glover, Whoopi Goldberg and many others. The major turning point as far as civil rights were concerened, was the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This finally insured equal oppurtunity for all, in terms of employment and otherwise. There were also affirmative acion programs set up to help those blacks, who through no fault of their own, were given very poor educations. Some blacks have even made a success of themselves by writing or talking about their difficulties in achieving liberation. Maya Angeou is one such person. The political influence of blacks is always rising and I have already spoken about the rise in blacks registered to vote. Recently, we have also seen the rise to prominence of some black politicians. Namely, Jesse Jackson and Colin Powell. Jackson ran for presidency in both the 1984 and 1988 elections and although he failed on both occasions, his skills as a negotiater have been proven on many separate occasions. His current title is Washington's special envoy to Africa. Colin Powell has come into the limelight much more after the very tragic events of September 2001. Much praise has been heaped on the Secretary Of State for the way in which he has handled the cris. He was often referred to as â€Å"the face of America† in the aftermath of the attacks. There have also been great strides made in the way of economic progress. Many blacks have managed to break through into the middle classes. â€Å"The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air† is a popular, black sitcom in which one such family is portrayed. The father is a well respected lawyer and the family is shown to be living in great luxery. Similarly, there have been other very successful â€Å"black† shows such as â€Å"The Cosby Show. There are now many, many black homeowners also, in complete contrast to the slavery which existed a century earlier. As yet, I have talked about the great amount of change and progress which has been achieved for blacks in USA, however, in the same period of time there have been many incidents and there are many facts which suggest that not too much has really changed. For example, many people argue that there is a continuity in attitudes of discrimination and they point to certain events to support this. Accusations of police brutality and heavy handiness towards blacks are constant and the Rodney King incident seems to justify this. Rodney King was a drunken, black driver, who after being stopped by police, was brutally assaulted by four police officers. The whole incident was video-taped by an on looker. Because of the video-tape, there was a resulting trial in which all four police officers were accused of using excessive force. However, the entirely white jury judged all four to have been not guilty of all charges and the result was the largest riots in Los Angeles' history. Many people were injured during these riots. Consequently, there was a second trial, in which two officers were again acquitted and the other two received minimum jail terms. There were fears of a second round of rioting which never materialised. Other such incidents include an African refugee being shot 24 times by police officers. To this day, there are still more blacks than whites on death row, which again leads to calls of discrimination by the police force and law courts. Earlier, I spoke about black successes in politics, pointing to Jesse Jackson and Colin Powell as examples. However, there has still been no black president, and it still does not even seem like a possibility in the foreseeable future. Even, with the prominence of Jackson and Powell, it can still be said that there is an exclusion of blacks in politics. The poverty trap of many years earlier also still exists in many parts of America, where the idea that if a black person was forced to live in a ghetto due to poor wages, there was really no way out and achieving something for their children as opportunities and resources were greatly limited. In conclusion, I think it is obviously clear that change has been achieved and progress has been made as far as civil rights are concerned and there will always be isolated incidents, which suggest otherwise. A great distance has been traveled on the road to achieving equal rights and hopefully, the last few miles will also be covered in the near future.

Millions of Americans Look Outside U.S. for Drugs essayEssay Writing Service

Millions of Americans Look Outside U.S. for Drugs essayEssay Writing Service Millions of Americans Look Outside U.S. for Drugs essay Millions of Americans Look Outside U.S. for Drugs essayToday Americans face a number of challenges concerning the purchase of prescription drugs. Because of the high costs of prescription drugs, Americans should be allowed to purchase prescription drugs legally from other countries that are currently illegal. It is very important to find the proper solution to the â€Å"unregulated and unsafe situation with drug imports that exists today† (Grassley says it should be legal to buy prescription drugs from Canada, 2004). The US legislation should be aimed at reflecting consumer demands for the purchase of lower-priced pharmaceuticals. These drugs can be available in Canada, the UK and other countries. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should not decline to take the proper action regarding this issue that may lead to legal certification of prescription drugs from Canada, the UK and other countries. Today patients in the U.S. have to â€Å"spend more on prescription drugs than any other country in the world, with an estimated $45 billion spent out-of-pocket by Americans last year† (The high cost of prescription drugs, 2013). Although the U.S. Congress has already passed the legislation to assist American patients aged 65 and older, the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act (Medicare Part D), the burden of high cost of prescription prices for the citizens of other age groups remains in place.Some people believe it isn’t legal for Americans to have choice in the global free market to purchase their prescription drugs from where they want. They believe this decision would have negative impact on the U.S. economy. According to the director of the U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, â€Å"although the U.S. law bans nearly all imports of foreign medications, Americans are bringing in those drugs in record numbers† (Flaherty Gaul, 2003). This fact means many American citizens want to save their money, buying lower-priced prescription drugs in Mexico, Canada, the UK and other countries. As a result, the national drug distribution chain is being breached, exposing millions of consumers in the U.S. to certain risks. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration many medications that are brought in from other countries by the U.S. citizens and foreigners are considered to be illegal and some of them may be unsafe.  Nevertheless, the rising cost of prescription drugs has an enormous impact on those citizens who do not use health care programs, including moderate income Americans. Although many American citizens have health insurance, many policies are developed to cover only some small portion of a prescription’s price, while other policies do not cover some categories of drugs at all. Besides, many American citizens do not have health insurance policy. This fact means they have to pay full price for their prescription drugs. Today prices on prescription drugs are still high and some prices continue to rise.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Thus, it is necessary to conclude that the U.S. policy makers should research the major reasons of high costs of prescription drug and determine what routes should be taken to provide effective legislation and price regulation. The U.S. citizens should support their national economy. Besides, Americans should realize that prescription drugs bought in other countries may be unsafe. The U.S. policy makers should make prescription drugs more affordable.

DHL Case Study †Strategic Planning and Strategy

DHL Case Study – Strategic Planning and Strategy Free Online Research Papers Contents: Unit 1 Management Strategy 1. Definition of Management Strategy. 2. Proposal of a suitable structure for Identification of DHL’s appropriate participation from its stakeholders for the development of strategic management 3. Development and description of the key criteria of that DHL considers when reviewing management strategy options 4. 4.1. Construction of an appropriate strategy of DHL employs and indication of its resource implications in the organization. 4.2. Discussion of DHL’s proposal of strategic alliance with UPS for strengthening of market posisstion and share. Unit 2 Vision, Mission, Objectives and Measures 1. 1.1. Identification of DHL’s ethical, cultural, environmental, social and business Objectives. 1.2 How these influence by the current business and economic climate between 2002 and 2008. 2. Description of DHL’s vision and mission statement. How these effect on DHL’s core organizational values. 3. 3.1. Establishment and evaluation of any organizations achievements with its objectives like DHL. 3.2. Process of management of DHL’s culture issues as a result of being a global player. Unit 3 Implementation of the Strategy 1. Development of a timetable outlining the anticipated strategy implementation of the partnership between DHL and UPS including key milestones. 2. 2.1. Appropriate dissemination processes that might assist DHL to encourage participation and commitment to the new strategic collaboration with UPS. 2.2. Setup monitoring and evaluation systems for this new strategy. 2.3. Outlining how this might be possible within DHL. MANAGEMENT STRATEGY can be defined as the future oriented conception in which the relationship between the industry and environment (pattern for adopting to the environment) is described and forms the guiding principles for the people in the industry for decision making. It is definite that the state of affairs with regard to the management strategy like the number of years for which the strategy has been planned, how clearly it has been described and for what level of people it forms the guiding principles etc., differ from industry to industry. Strategic planning of an organization determines over the next years or more, how its going to get there and how it will know if got there or not. The focus of strategic plan is usually on the total organization, while the focus of a business plan is usually on a particular product. Service or program. There are variety of perspectives, models and approaches used in strategic planning both in profit of non-profit organizations. The way that a strategic plan is developed depends on the nature of the organizations leadership, culture of the organization, complexity of the organizations environment etc. Regarding with my assignment on a case study on DHL’s success partnering with UPS, it is found that both of these organizations adapted the goals-based strategic planning with issue-based and organic based strategic planning. 1. DHL ensures appropriate participation with different stakeholders in different ways for the development of its strategic management processes. DHL believe that it is vital that they identify their stakeholders and either consult them, or establish a dialogue with them to understand their key concerns-this will help them shape their future activities and to be sensitive to the impact that they have. Engaging stakeholders can allows them to gather input. After engaging with the World Economic Forum’s Logistics and Transportation Corporate Citizenship Initiative (LTCCI), DHL can participate with stakeholders for the development of its strategic management process on the two levels: First, stakeholder consultation, for the main concern about environmental emissions, ensuring positive impact on local communities, the health safety and well-being of employees. For example, Currently DHL consulting with customers relate to suppliers meeting strict environmental management systems standards, the monitoring of greenhouse gas emissions and adherence to human rights codes etc. Second, multi-stakeholder dialogue: which is convened by the much-respected Goal Reporting Initiative (GRI). Most importantly, DHL can make corporate governance. It is the set of processes, customs, policies, laws and institutions affecting the way in which a corporation is directed, administered and controlled. It can help DHL in declaration of conformity, their corporate values with other stakeholders like employees, suppliers, customers, bank and other lenders etc. O One of the important example of the development of the strategic management process is its partnership with the rival party UPS. By partnering with this win-win strategy, DHL has benefitted shipping, financial services and telecommunication industries and has yielded a positive outcomes in the Fed-ex-US postal services which was signed in 2001. Partnering with rival party can play a major cost-cutting initiatives as the fuel prices are on the rise, may be positive step towards controlling pollution by optimized use of planes. 2. DHL’s most important reviewing management strategy criteria is the cost reduction programs. The chief executive of DHL’s global business, John Mullen admitted that maintaining a scale of network similar to that of UPS and FedEx with just 6% or 7% market share, gave them financial benefits. According to this agreement, UPS will carry DHL’s US domestic and international shipments within North America. The agreement mention that UPS will carry express, deferred and international packages but not freight. It was identified that UPS will also transport DHL air packages between US, Canada and Mexico. Under the deal DHL is expected to pay every year $1 billion to UPS. DHL also plans to restructure its domestic footprint. The third point is the go green programme by reducing carbon emission by implementing a number of measures including, Reducing gas and electricity usage across DHL’s building portfolio, through a means of increased awareness and technique and improve building management. Using 100% renewable energy across all DHL express UK properties. Investing alternative fuel option- DHL is proactively seeking alternative to the fuel volume that are purchased. These trails have been undertaken in collaboration with DHL’s industry partners and have included both courier vans and trucks and are helping to pave the way for future transport solutions. The introduction of 12 fuel efficient double-decker trailers, contributing to a reduction of circa 250 operating runs per annum. Continuing increased amount of waste that is recycled. DHL has three pilot schemes underway whereby waste is sorted on site, baled and sold to recycling agent. 3. Strategic alliances with its rival company like UPS, FedEx can be an appropriate strategy for the DHL and it can be a resource which can DHL implement for its organizations development. Jerry Hempstead, president of Hempstead Consulting in Orlando, said that a large number of shippers who use DHL because of its flexibility with its flight scheduling to accommodate the special needs of specific shippers, will see at least 3.3% decline in the service performance. As a part of its strategic move in 2003, DHL acquired Airborne Express which was the third largest player in the US and ABX Air started providing airlift along with ASTAR Air Cargo for DHL. DHL had big aspirations for its express business in the US after it acquired Airborne Express. Making alliances with other parcel services can save a lot of money especially if these express companies can create a similar route network. Alliance with UPS can cut costs a lot. UPS will carry express, deferred and international packages. It was identified that UPS will also transport DHL air packages between US, Canada, and Mexico. Under the deal, DHL expected to pay every year $1 billion to UPS. Proposed strategic alliance can strengthen the DHL not only for above reason but also this deal was one of the series of transactions such as acquisition of Emery by UPS in 2006 and Airborne by DHL in 2003 which reduced the competition in the express industry. Unit 2 1. 1.1 There are varieties of objectives in related with ethical, cultural, environmental, social and business can be found in DHL. Such as a) Ethical commitment: ? Quality focus- DHL’s commitment is the quality first makes the difference.In order to achieve high quality standards; it works constantly to improve its structure and processes to satisfy the customers. ? Customer’s satisfaction- DHL believes that customer’s satisfactions guarantee their own success. They prioritize customer focus in all of their business processes, projects and dealings. ? Besides these, DHL believes in laws and ethical standards, transparency, accounting and reporting standards, and money laundering as well. b) DHL’s business integrity: ? Shareholders trust- DHL’s corporate management very much transparent to their shareholders and investors. ? Business partner dialogue- share principles of ethical behavior, social engagement, respect their suppliers, subcontractors, agents etc. ? Besides these, conflicts of interests, fair competition, bribery and corruption, gifts and benefits, facilitating payments etc. c) Social responsibilities: ? Communities- DHL is committed to support the communities in which they work. They work for community development with non government organizations. ? Environment- They are committed to improvement the environment as well. They regularly assess and monitor their impacts on the environment. ? Cultural achievements. 1.2. After purchasing by a privatized German postal services, DHL could not fill the planes with cargo to capacity made way for losses. Within a short span, 2004-2008, DHL’s US business lost $3 billion. But, for the above objectives, in 2003, it contributed $64 billion to world GDP. In 2004, it became a global market leader of the international express and logistic industry by attaining revenues over $32 billion. DHL’s overall revenue for the year 2007 was $20.2 millions. Globally, in 2007, DHL express processed approximately $1 billion shipments annually. It was reported that the worlds number 1 in ocean freight and contract logistic in 2008. 2. DHL’s mission is to be first choice worldwide by making the most scale and experience and the passion. Its vision is the transform the logistic industry and to deliver beyond customers experience for the future. DHL’s vision is To intensify customer focus. To deliver consistence service excellence. To extend capabilities ( creating local strength and driving practical innovation) To attract, develop and retain talents. To relentless drive efficiency. To be proactive in social. With using the vision and mission statement, DHL’s core organizational values can be increased by examining its weakness, threats, strength and opportunities. The following swot analysis can be done in DHL. STRENGTH: WEAKNESS: o Strong brand image. High price o Globalism Market share estimate o Eservices and technology Weak visibility o Corporate symbiosis Not as well known as UPS or FedEx o Smart-truck projects. OPPORTUNITIES: o Expansion globally o Joint venture o Expansion of ecommerce o Increased the number of manufacture good. THREATS: o Relation with foreign countries. o Economic and political condition o Restriction o Economic slow down. COMPANY STRENGTH: Strong brand image- In 1997, DHL became the global express transportation company simultaneous system-wide ISO 9001 certificate in international quality standards. Globalism- DHL operate mare than 220 countries over the world on a global scale. E services and technology- it uses and search for a new technology. Product can be tracked, queried, and ordered online. Corporate symbiosis- it helps to encompass the empowerment of its personnel at a local level. Smart-truck projects- it allows DHL to deliver faster. COMPANY WEAKNESS: High prices- prices above their rival company. Mistakes in market share estimate- it it’s the biggest weakness of DHL. Weak visibility- in the community compared with its potential. COMPANY OPPORTUNITY: Expansion globally- it can expand globally including other companies under DHL. Joint venture- DHL can form joint venture integrating their customer bases. Expansion of ecommerce- it serves with shipping online. DHL can enjoy both profit and brand name recognition form this kind of expansion. Increased in the number of manufactured goods- manufactured goods will increased exponentially as a report given be WTO. COMPANY THREATS: Relations with foreign countries- in every country, DHL subjects to laws and order which hinders their operation and efficiency. Economic and political condition- as a global company they are subjects to more risks than other domestic companies. Restrictions- some restrictions like to prevent from china are big problems in the logistic sector. Economic slow down- it decrease the number of products they produced. 3. It is very much difficult to establish and evaluate the achievement of objectives of any organizations like DHL. However, if any organization can manage its own cultural issues properly, then it may be possible to achieve. DHL employees can share common value and strong corporate culture. Their corporate values represent a responsibility and a challenge. They can view themselves as a member of society, and this attitude is reflected in the responsibility that they assume for people and environment. UNIT 3 Implementation of the strategy: 1. Implementation of the Group strategy presented by CEO Frank Appel in the spring of this year is progressing according to plan. Deutsche Post DHL presented DHL Solutions Innovation (DSI), its newly launched business unit at the 26th German Logistics Congress in Berlin. As a motor of innovation and a cross-cutting function of DHL it pools and drives technological development within the Group. Headed by Petra Kiwitt, it reports directly to CEO Frank Appel. Logistics is becoming a sector for trendsetters and setting standards not only with respect to technological development. Petra Kiwitt and her team will contribute to ensuring that our Group remains one of these trendsetters and helps to secure the economic success of our customers by offering future-oriented logistics solutions, said Frank Appel.The newly created organizational unit consolidates the innovation activities of the individual branches of DHL. Based on the results of market studies, analyses of sector strategies and inte nsive customer surveys, DHL Solutions Innovation lays the groundwork for future-oriented and standardized logistics solutions that are becoming applicable across sectors. Our customers expect sustainable solutions, understandable services that are easy to use and uncomplicated access to their service provider. We are achieving this among other things by enhancing connections between the various DHL Units dealing with research and development. This is a way to tap the full creative potential of our staff, Petra Kiwitt stressed.Right from the start, DHL Solutions Innovations has been able to benefit from successful platform approaches, such as the Control Tower Concept. Used for several customers, this concept enables a strategic transport management through modern IT solutions which provide a permanently updated access to all details of the supply chain. The experience and innovative strength of the DHL Innovation Center, which opened in 2007, is another asset. This is where ground breaking logistics solutions such as the parcel robot, the carbon offsetting procedure and the smart truck originated.DSI also proves that the Group Strategy presented in March 2009, which is aimed at strengthening Deutsche Post DHLs leading role in the international logistics market, is being implemented. The strategy is aimed at leveraging the full potential of the worlds leading logistics provider and increasing the profitability of DHL by improving cooperation as One DHL and increasingly dovetailing operations with DHL Global Customer Solutions (GCS). The needs in particular of the 100 biggest customers handled by GCS are valuable indicators, which are now being fed into development processes at an early stage.DHL Solutions Innovations is also the result of the study Delivering Tomorrow Customer Expectations in 2020 and Beyond that was recently presented by Deutsche Post DHL. Our study shows that the omnipresence of the Internet, sustainable resource management and climate cha nge are issues of relevance to society. The logistics sector too must respond to these challenges, stated Frank Appel. DHL Solutions Innovation is another building block that will help Deutsche Post DHL turn these challenges into opportunities. Strategy 2015: The Strategy 2015, which CEO Frank Appel announced on March 11, 2009, is based on two pillars: The first is a strong mail business that is clearly committed to carrying out the universal service obligation of Deutsche Post and that plans to add new value-added electronic services to its range of offerings. The second is an integrated international logistics business that vigorously focuses on quality and customers. The core aim of this strategic shift is to unleash the companys unexploited potential following the aggressive phase of expansion pursued in recent years. The objective is to achieve growth in all divisions that exceeds market performance by 1 to 2 percentage points. At the same time, the Group is committed to ensuring that these growth targets are reached in accord with its responsibility for the environment and society. At DHL, the individual divisions in the future will work even more closely together in order to better address customer needs and to improve profitability of the entire business. The Group has also introduced a new guiding principle for employees with the aim of increasing employee involvement and commitment and of ensuring swift implementation of the Strategy 2015. The strengthening of the First Choice customer initiative will also contribute to this end. Challenges 2009: The worlds economy has been experiencing a tailspin of historic proportions since the fourth quarter of 2008. Throughout all regions and sectors, many customers of Deutsche Post DHL are seeing unparalleled decreases in demand, which then result in lower shipping volume. In the United States, the restructuring of the Express business continues to make good progress. The termination of the entire domestic business was carried out on schedule at the end of January. The remaining international express cargo will be shipped by DHLs current carriers ABX Air and ASTAR Air Cargo. The talks between UPS and DHL about a potential airlift agreement have been terminated. Despite having to master major economic challenges this year, the Group will remain fully committed to its responsibility for the environment and society. As presented in its Sustainability Report 2009, the Group has introduced various initiatives in all Corporate Divisions covering the areas of fleet, buildings, innovative technologies and employee motivation to help improve carbon efficiency. Deutsche Post DHL a year ago launched its Go Green climate protection program aimed at improving carbon efficiency by 10 percent through 2012 and by 30 percent through 2020. Financial improvements: In terms of costs, DPWN expects to see overall profits for DHL Express US improve by $1 billion in 2011, with expected losses of $1.8 billion in 2008, $900 million in 2009, $500 million in 2010, and $300 million in 2011. Although this restructuring is expected to have a significant material impact on DHL’s cost base and overall infrastructure, it is expected to have a smaller impact on customers, said DHL Express CEO John Mullen. DPWN said it expects to spend up to $2 billion to finance the restructuring plan, which will go towards termination costs, leases, severance, aviation assets, and pickup and delivery optimization. And DPWN noted that it anticipates these restructuring efforts will result in annual savings of $1 billion per year (in earnings before taxes), with key changes expected to be completed by the end of 2009 and full plan implementation taking hold by 2010. â€Å"As a result of this, we will have a less complicated ground and air network than we had before, which should deliver more reliability across the whole platform of our combined operations,† said Mullen. â€Å"Most importantly, we believe this plan will protect our international network franchise and our global coverage, which is critical to a global player such as us. It is essential that we have a continuing presence in the U.S.† Industry analysts suggest that there are pros and cons in terms of the type of impact today’s news may have for shippers. â€Å"DHL has stated in the past that its customers pay less than its competitors on many occasions,† said Doug Caldwell, executive vice president of ParcelPool, a small parcel delivery consultancy and services provider. â€Å"So now you have a situation where current DHL shippers with good rates can think this is a positive, because it says DHL is clearly staying in the U.S. and they don’t have to worry about DHL shipments down the line.† But shippers will want to see a smooth transition for DHL’s U.S. restructuring, noted Caldwell, and he said they don’t necessarily need to be exploring other options. Instead, shippers using DHL should be looking to hold onto those rates for as long as they can for two reasons: one being that DHL’s rates are by and large better than what the competition offers, and the second point being the reliability of UPS airlift. â€Å"Why would a shipper want to switch from DHL to UPS, when UPS is already handling the line haul for airfreight on shipments right now? Also, UPS operationally is second to none linehaul with very few service failures. This is a plus for DHL shippers, except for those with a lot of rural shipments, and for those in rural areas normally have a different service expectation.† While Parcel Pool’s Caldwell, said that DHL’s probable agreement with UPS is largely favorable for shippers, Jerry Hempstead, president of Hempstead Consulting in Orlando, Fla., said that today’s announcement overlooks some important points for shippers. One point being that this deal with UPS leaves DHL bound to the UPS flight schedule. DHL, said Hempstead, has a large number of shippers that use DHL, because it has been flexible over the years with its flight scheduling to accommodate the special needs of specific shippers. As an example, he said DHL has a special flight into Memphis that allows it to deliver as early as 4 a.m. to a company that repairs laptops. This gives the laptop repair company the ability to extend its repair window so that laptops can be turned in the same day and shipped out to the customer. He also pointed out that other businesses have special flights into certain cities via these specific DHL flights. â€Å"I am not sure how the new arrangement with UPS is going to address the special situations DHL has developed over the years,† said Hempstead. â€Å"In addition large shippers, by way of the announcement, will see, by DHLs admission at least a 3.3 percent decline in the service performance, and the delivery will be through a hand-off to the USPS. DHL was already struggling with its service image in the marketplace. You can’t price poor service low enough to keep many of the large shippers upon which DHL built its domestic business.† He also cautioned that there are a lot of unknowns in this announcement, with the most disconcerting one being that they announced a deal with UPS without having a definitive contract in hand with UPS, leaving UPS in the driver’s seat in negotiating the final agreement. Its infrastructure network and in aviation with a restructuring plan that focuses on three mainelements: 1. Reducing infrastructure network capacity by approximately 30 percent through the following detailed measures: Consolidating and closing smaller sorting facilities into modernized, larger stations, resulting in reductions of approximately 34 percent Rationalizing pickup and delivery routes by 17 percent, including new courier routing plans to enable better route planning and avoiding peaks in the operation, as well as making changes to staffing plans Ground linehaul network rationalized by 18 percent through improved capacity utilization and footprint reductions in some remote areas. 2. A proposed contract between DHL and UPS whereby UPS will provide air uplift for DHL Express U.S. domestic and international shipments within North America 3. Reduction in overhead and other administrative costs As one central part of its restructuring activities, DHL and UPS will pursue a contract to provide air uplift, creating a single airline partner for DHL Express in the U.S. DHL will continue to operate its courier and ground network as well as pickup and delivery services to its customers across the country. The proposed agreement, in character and scope representing an efficient model in the express industry, will extend for 10 years. The commencement of UPS service into the DHL network is expected to begin later this year. The proposed contract provides both DHL and UPS substantial economic benefits in the U.S. Express market, which remains one of the most challenging marketplaces worldwide in light of the current economic downturn. DHL will continue to compete in the U.S. market under its own brand, offering attractive value to customers. The restructuring action in no way diminishes DHLs commitment to retaining a significant presence in the U.S. market, which is key to DHLs global network. DHLs strategic priorities in the U.S. will be to continue to provide record service reliability, and accelerating growth in more profitable segments of the market through leveraging innovative sales channel strategies like the recently announced Walgreens partnership. To drive the implementation of the restructuring plan, DHL recently announced the appointment of long-time DHL senior executive, Ken Allen, as CEO of DHL Express U.S. Allen has extensive experience executing restructuring plans within DHL. In his previous role as CEO of DHL Express Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (EEMEA), Allen has doubled revenue growth and margin within two years. In addition, his experience as CEO of DHL Express Canada resulted in turning many years of negative performance into what is now positive financial development for the company. Conclusion: From the above discussion, it can be said that-Centralization is not a benefit in and of itself, but it does enable the practice of strategic planning. Strategic Planning can be applied to both a centralized and a decentralized model. But is easier to apply strategic planning to a centralized model, and it’s more difficult to apply strategic planning to a decentralized corporate culture. It allows for economies-of-scale on a worldwide basis, the benefits of which can be applied to every component of the value chain. In my opinion, DHL can make successful their business buy developing a contract whereby UPS will provide airlift for DHL express US domestic and international shipments within the US. The two parties will now rapidly conclude a definitive contract with the goal of being able to provide service in the second half of 2008. The two parties will now rapidly conclude a definitive contract with the goal of being able to provide service in the second half of 2008. References: ? Applied Strategic Planning: How to Develop a Plan That Really Works, by Leonard Goodstein. ? The Board Member’s Guide to Strategic Planning: A Practical Approach to Strengthening Nonprofit. ? Organizations (Jossey-Bass Nonprofit and Public Management Series) by Fisher Howe. ? Organizations (Jossey-Bass Public Administration Series) by John M. Bryson, Farnum K. ? Alston. Jossey-Bass, 1995. ISBN: 0787901423. ? High Impact Tools and Activities for Strategic Planning: Creative Techniques for Facilitating Your. ? Organization’s Planning Process by Rod Napier, Patrick Sanaghan, Clint Sidle. ? Strategic Planning: What Every Manager Must Know, by George Albert Steiner. Free Press. Additional Resources ? Websites ? www.wikiswot.com/swot4_user_generated/DHL.html ? Community Associations Institute- www.caionline.org ? Foundation for Community Association Research- www.cairf.org Research Papers on DHL Case Study - Strategic Planning and StrategyThe Project Managment Office SystemOpen Architechture a white paperIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaPETSTEL analysis of IndiaBionic Assembly System: A New Concept of SelfRelationship between Media Coverage and Social andInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesDefinition of Export QuotasMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever Product

International Finance Course project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

International Finance Course project - Essay Example This write-up will look into among other things, the motivation behind the introduction of the URR, Impact of URR provision on the exchange rate of Thai Baht, impact of URR on Thai financial markets and finally impact of URR on neighboring financial markets such as Malaysia, Philippine, Singapore and Korea. Motivation behind introducing the URR provision The motivation, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kingdom of Thailand (2008) was the need to â€Å"deter short-term capital inflows.† Simply put, the Unremunerated Reserve Requirement was motivated by the need to discourage people; particularly investors from undertaking short-term investments that only bring about short-term capital inflows. The Deardorffs' Glossary of International Economics (2010) notes that short-term capital flows are â€Å"of interest because such capital flows are likely to be very liquid and therefore easily reversed and sources of instability in exchange markets.† This is to say tha t the Thai government was motivated by the need to ensure that investments undertaken in the country through the country's banks and other financial institution were going to be long-term and trustworthy for solid future benefits. This is because short-term investments hardly yield any fruitful benefits for the growth of the country's economy. Impact of URR provision on the exchange rate of Thai Baht with other major currencies such as US$ and local currencies The Unremunerated Reserve Requirement is believed to impact on the exchange rate of the Thai Baht by ensuring stability and growth of the currency as against other major currencies. This is because as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kingdom of Thailand, (2008) notes, the URR will lessen the pressure of Baht speculation rather become instrumental in â€Å"ensuring the Baht stability and its movement more in line with regional currencies.† Such stability against major currencies is assured because there would no longer b e extreme volatility of the Thai Baht: a situation that causes long term economic instability (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kingdom of Thailand, 2008). The stability of the currency would also be achieved because the Bank of Thailand will â€Å"buy up the incoming dollars and other major currencies† (Bangkok Post, 2010). As a matter of fact, the growth of the currency of any country is of prime interest to the economic and finance planners of that country. This is because with the growth of a particular country's currency, investors and business personnels in that country are put in a better position to competing in global and international trade without fear of rampant foreign exchange rates. The government on the whole also benefits because it is put in a better position to compete globally and economic growth and stability is assured. For instance with a very stable currency, the government is not put in a position where it has to spend so much local currency in a bid to u ndertake foreign trade because of the weak value of the government's trading currency. It is against this background that the government introduced the Unremunerated Reserve Requirement. In two Graphs below represents the monthly exchange rate for the years 2005 when the URR was not in force and 2011 after the URR had been in force. Figure 1: 2005 Average Monthly Exchange Rate for US Dollar Against the Thai Baht from January to

Measures to reduce the energy consumption for the sewerage plants Essay

Measures to reduce the energy consumption for the sewerage plants - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that sewage plants consume a lot of power although they also generate a lot of heat and power. They generate heat through biogas production, which is purified and used to power locomotive machines like gas motors. The process of biogas production requires power especially in the fermentation and decomposition process because of temperature regulation. This is to say that production of energy from sewerage plants includes both aspects of increasing energy efficiency and reducing energy consumption. Biogas is produced through a process of anaerobic digestion.   Biogas production is environmentally friendly. Biogas is a gas produced through the breakdown of organic matter in the absence of oxygen Sewage plants produce biogas, which is a good source of energy. During the sewage treatment process in the sewage plant, a lot of energy is consumed approximately 50 kWh per person. That means that a substantial amount of energy is required to treat sewage from the population. Research shows that sewage treatment is one of the sectors, which requires a lot of electricity. Biogas is a renewable source of wind and solar energy.   For the production of biogas to occur, the sewage undergoes a process known as anaerobic digestion.   In this process, anaerobic bacteria are used to break down the waste materials. The biogas produced is mainly carbon dioxide, methane, and small amounts hydrogen sulfide. Gases produced hydrogen; methane and carbon monoxide oxygen oxidize them to allow a release of biogas used as fuel.