Compare Africa, Latin America and Asean as Potential Investment Destinations of China’s Outward Fdi Essay Example

Compare Africa, Latin America and Asean as Potential Investment Destinations of China’s Outward Fdi Essay Example Compare Africa, Latin America and Asean as Potential Investment Destinations of China’s Outward Fdi Essay Compare Africa, Latin America and Asean as Potential Investment Destinations of China’s Outward Fdi Essay Compare Africa, Latin America and ASEAN as potential investment destinations of China’s outward FDI China has become a capital-surplus economy and its overseas investment has grown apace. Although its outward investment is still small in absolute terms, especially compared to the huge inward flow, Chinas overseas enterprises have been quietly gaining importance as new sources of international capital. They are now globally diversified and involved in a wide variety of sectors, including banking, manufacturing and natural resource exploitation. In the coming years, Chinese outward investment is expected to accelerate. But what is the best destination for China to do the investment? In order to compare Africa, Latin America and ASEAN as potential investment destinations of China’s outward FDI, we should have a clear understanding about the business environment. Environment of Business includes the economic and legal environment, the technological environment, the competitive environment, the social environment, and the global business environment. These five factors can potentially have both a positive and a negative impact on the business. Let’s begin with the first one the economic and legal environment. Financial backers often complain of legal and judicial uncertainties in Africa. This has obviously a dissuasive impact on international investors and weighs heavily on one of Africa’s main structural problems, which is: lack of investment. However, Africa’s subsoil is so rich of commodities that are essential to the world’s economy that Africa can simply not be avoided by foreign investors. The birth of the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (â€Å"OHADA†) was a consequence of the awareness by certain African states mostly former French colonies of the challenge represented by the globalization of markets. While in Latin America it comes to formulating cluster-oriented policies. Clustering seems to enable firms, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), to grow and upgrade more easily. SMEs may even become players in world markets if a high degree of interfirm specialization and their proximity to other firms performing complementary functions offset the disadvantages of being small. Clusters often create positive externalities which help managerial and technical learning. Empirical evidence shows that clustering is especially common among traditional small-scale and labor-intensive activities. Upgrading these activities contributes to a more balanced firm size structure and a more labor-intensive growth pattern. These features of clustering have attracted the interest of policymakers in developing countries and development assistance agencies. With Chinas dynamic economic growth, its relations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) states have expanded rapidly in recent years, culminating in the conclusion of the landmark China–ASEAN Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement in 2002. Beyond trade and economic activities, China–ASEAN cooperation has broadened to cover the environment, science and technology, non-traditional security areas and related legal issues. Chinas relations with ASEAN have reached a new era where the two sides have established an economic, legal and political framework for their comprehensive cooperation. Then we should concern about the technological environment. It’s known that productivity increases are facilitated by technology innovations, integration of technological innovations with changes in policies, organizations, human capital and infrastructure related to extension, input and output markets and processing services, and coordination of these innovations across different stages. As we all know, in the history, Africa has not got very strong power of science and technology. It has always been a big problem which keeps the economic of Africa from developing. At least, the infrastructure such as transportation, telecommunication, and power is a big limiting factor. In this case, technological environment is not good in Africa for international business. On the other hand, however, this disadvantage also offers much space for international communication. For example, they can receive a lot of technological and financial help and investment. In the past few centuries, many foreigners have brought to the continent their notions of science and technology to harness both the African environment and often also its people. In Latin America, they also have technological gaps. But there have been many changes in these years and they have got new patterns of firm behavior, the new institutional environment and the new policy agenda gradually emerging in the region in the field of Science and Technology as a result of recent trade liberalization and market deregulation efforts. While in this aspect, ASEAN has an absolute advantage. Many countries in ASEAN are not weak in technology. So it is obvious that their technological power provides a better environment for international business, and it will be much more convenient for them to receive introducing investment. Then it comes to the competitive environment. Africa is not developed, but it has its own advantages for development. Resource is the most significant one of them, and it’s also a big reason to cause the competition in international business. The more resources, the more competition. Actually, when talking about resources, things in Latin America are similar to those of Africa. Besides, exploitation in these two regions began late, and countries in these two regions can hardly exploit and develop all by themselves, so they need more investment and many other countries pay attention to them. As a conclusion, it is much more competitive in Africa and Latin America than in ASEAN. It’s time to analyze the issue of social environment. I think different people and different cultures matter most. We can tell it clearly that it’s much easier to invest in ASEAN than in the other two regions. Because China is closer to countries in ASEAN than Africa and Latin America, and our tradition and habits can be similar, so it will be easier to communicate with them and undertake the investment. The last one is the global business environment. The global environment includes war and terrorism, globalization, regional integration. First is the issue of security. ASEAN is the safest region, and there are small local wars and sometimes pirates appear in Africa and Latin America. As to globalization, I think all of these three regions have a good state of it because of the convenient transportation and other aspects. However, ASEAN does better in regional integration, because it covers more than one continent. Comprehensively speaking, I think ASEAN has better global environment. All above is my opinion about Africa, Latin America and ASEAN as potential investment destinations of China’s outward FDI.

Marketing Project Essay Example

Marketing Project Essay Example Marketing Project Essay Marketing Project Essay Executive Summary Wentworth Industrial Cleaning Supplies is an organization whose potential is currently clouded by their lack of competitive strategy. Through analysis of their current situation, several key issues were identified: * Market Research is ineffective and unimplemented * Product line ignores majority of market * Roles of key personnel are illogical and inefficient * Relations with distributors are hostile and unsustainable * Profits and growth is stagnant in an advancing industry * Communication mechanism is fragmented After evaluation of the alternative courses WICS has for consideration, recommendations to address and rectify each issue were chosen. Through assigning specific tasks to the marketing department and enabling a communication mechanism along the personnel chain, objectives and opportunities can be shared. By making strategic role changes to the territorial and area managers, redundancies can be eliminated and the goal of developing and maintaining a unified network can be achieved. Through the addition of a big-tickets sales team and the outsourcing of economy chemical for use in private labels, WICS can gain a larger market share and sustain increased profits for years to come. In combination, these actions provide the basis for the development of a large-scale, well-branded organization with responsiveness to growth and opportunities in the market. Issues with Current Operations Market Research WICS lacks the marketing insight to target clients appropriately. As a solely premium brand, market research is crucial to customer perception and increasing the 40% share of customers willing to pay premium prices for WICS products. Moreover, new lines or line extensions are difficult to launch when there is no market research. In an evidently growing industry, the inability to provide an appealing value proposition to 60% of the customers has caused WICS to halt sales growth and struggle to keep its current market share. Furthermore, the justified frustrations of the area managers cannot be resolved until WICS is able to give them appropriate job descriptions and requirements contingent on the nature and changing behaviour the industry derived from market research. Product Line â€Å"Only 8 percent of customers describe their experience as superior, yet 80 prevent of companies believe the experience they provide is indeed superior† Roger J. Best Current Segments Opportunity for Growth Distributors claim â€Å"WICS products are basically no better than anyone else. This is a dangerous mentality when they are currently responsible for actively promoting and marketing WICS products. Their products, priced in the premium category, are reliant on promotion to build a strong perceived value. Furthermore, only 40% of consumers are willing to pay premium prices, leaving 60% of end users uninterested in WICS. This presents a unique marketing challenge for WICS- the need to expand to reach a greater s hare of the market while upholding their image as a premium manufacturer. Role Distribution For managers, a lack of job autonomy creates a feeling of resentment towards superiors and inhibits productivity. (Quote OB Book). Furthermore, the current incentive program stresses disproportionate selling techniques by placing heavy emphasis on hunting at the expense of neglecting farming attained accounts. This focus on hunting new accounts has resulted in acquiring unprofitable accounts that do not allocate a sufficient amount of their total purchases to WICS products. It is expensive and frustrating for distributors to maintain these clients, and they ultimately add little value to the corporation. Finally, the allocation of area manager duties (exhibit 6) results in low productivity by emphasizing ineffective selling techniques and needlessly excessive time spent on demonstrations Communication Discrepancies Internal communication is crucial for any functioning business competing in any industry. The marketing vice president de-motivates his staff members by projecting low confidence in their abilities and using threatening tactics to scare employees into scrambling to do their work for the sake of maintaining their jobs (OB BOOK). Moreover, SSDs feel neglected in the sense that they lack direct communication to management level WICS employees and/or the ability to relay their concerns/recommendations via area managers. Distributor Relations The perceived subjection to â€Å"pressure tactics† and the lack of belief in WICS products amongst distributors is an ongoing promotional issue that must be immediately addressed. As well, the combination of WICS current high minimum buy-ins and lack of communication between SSDs and management level WICS staff has yielded an environment retardant to growth for WICS products. WICS’ refusal to grow geographically with its respective SSDs is limiting both to SSD relations and company growth. Requiring SSDs to beta test WICS products is detrimental to both WICS brand image and once again, SSD relations. Because the products currently require timely demonstrations, high sales costs for SSDs have occurred. Recommendations Additional Duties for Territorial Managers The territory managers will be responsible for hunting new distributor clients that would work with WICS and assigning them to an area manager. The territory manager will allocate the new distributor to a manager in accordance with the ratio that we have in place: 1 Territory Manager: Area Managers – 4:1 Area Manager: SSD’s 2-4:1, based on size of SSD 1 Territory Managers: Area Manager – 4:1 4 2-4 Teea Manager – 4:1 Maintaining this ratio will allow territory managers to operate more effectively. Reallocation of Area Managers’ Duties Currently, the Area Managers’ roles and expectations are outdated and ineffective. Their duties need to be reallocated to give more autonomy to the Area Managers when hunting new clients. In this way, they can use their discretion when choosing which methods they prefer to use with their clients, based on their skills and what they feel is most effective. We propose they no longer push the demonstrations onto the SSDs, and instead offer sample Kits that the SSDs would give out to customers to sample the product before making their buying decision. Consequently, the Area Manager will cut this time in half and instead give information sessions for SSD staff about the DIY Sample Kits, negotiate lowering margins, and implement new products. Another 20% of the Area Managers’ time will be spent on the relationship with the SSD’s. Creating and Motivating Personnel Network WICS’ distributor network will be more interactive, fostering communication amongst all three key players- SSD’s, Territorial and Area managers. The Area managers will visit distributors on a weekly basis to receive feedback, address concerns, and discuss routine business logistics. In addition, distributors will receive a bi-monthly visit from their allocated territory manager, who will ensure that any feedback on the effectiveness of the area manager is heard and acted upon. Similarly, there will be weekly communication between territory managers and area managers. This will allow any corporate objectives to be reached, and to share ideas on tactics for reaching sales goal. The evaluation of the SSD’s roles will be done by area managers, with autonomy to create and execute incentive programs within a given budget. Although area managers will have the ability to identify the measurement tactics and rewards for managers, the general incentive drivers will be determined based on sales goals by the marketing department and manager. This will allow the company to emphasize sales of particular products, balance goals for growth with those of customer maintenance, and deliver a customizable incentive program to distributors that will ensure a strong partnership. For Area Managers, incentive programs will be designed and measured by Territorial managers. In a similar fashion to the distributor incentive structure, this method will allow WICS to balance their need for resonant, customized rewards with their efforts to align progress with corporate objectives. Drivers for measuring area manager success may include looking at feedback from SSD’s to evaluate communication and negotiation skills, looking at results in efforts to attract new customers, and evaluating their ability to foster an effective and profitable network through working with their subordinates and superiors on the WICS personnel chain. As area managers are a key link between WICS management and their front-line sales force, it will be essential to harness the competitive nature of the individuals working as area managers through recognition and reward. As a result, winners of incentives and titles will be well-publicized with the corporation, and the objectives by which measurement and designation of winners are achieved will be constantly re-evaluated to ensure that it is meaningful. Providing Raw Materials for Private Labels Only 40% of end users are willing to pay premium prices leaving the majority of customers within the janitorial cleaning supplies industry unaddressed by WICS. In order to maintain active growth, WICS needs to address the unserved 60% of the market. There are two typical ways to approach this problem ) create economy product lines 2) create a flanker brand The first solution not only poses the problem of diluting WICS premium brand image, but also presents the problem of cannibalization. The second approach, although separating WICS from the name of its economy brand, still faces strong opposition as SSDs will be hesitant to hold products that are directly competitive with their private labels. A more innovat ive and successful approach is to being providing SSDs with competitive incentives to sign over their private label outsourcing to WICS. In doing so, WICS will promise to match or provide SSDs a lower price for the raw core materials required to create their private labels. WICS will not pursue/take over any private label outsourcing activities if the prospects prove to be unprofitable, however it will strive to reap economies of scale in the production their raw chemicals, and to strengthen their vested interest in the market segments by sharing in the growth and profitability of the economy lines of the distributors. Hunting and Farming Tactics for Market Share Development WICS will be most successful in its business development efforts if it targets customers using the most successful tactics. For new, high-end customers willing to pay premium prices, tactics such as spotters, use of personal network, research and cold-calling can be used. This will allow WICS to identify potential large-contract clients and either reach out to them via connections or cold-call and pitch their value proposition. Examples of events in which WICS can capitalize on the need for industrial cleaning products include: * Sporting Events- 1992-1996 is the most concentrated time in history for the Olympic games- with two games in 1992, and two more in 1994 and 1996, WICS has the opportunity to capture huge contracts and expand into other sporting event clients * Airlines- in 1992 alone, 86 new airlines were launched. WICS should aim to approach start-up companies in travel and high-growth tech segments for potential contracts * Malls- with Mall of America opening in 1992, WICS should capitalize on the opportunity to develop a sales pitch aligned specifically with the needs of retail malls. Through the sale of chemicals to distributors private labels, Wentworth now holds a vested interest in 100% of the industry. As a result, they have the opportunity to pair with SSDs to farm current customers and pitch a full-package contract in which the SSD private line and WICS products cover all the needs of the client. Special Sales Force Big Ticket Clients With the aforementioned large-scale contract opportunities, WICS needs to devote highly effective salespeople specifically to the attainment of big-ticket sales. The strategy behind acquiring such â€Å"big-ticket† clients involves partnership with market leaders from the other three segments in the institutional maintenance chemical market (EXHIBIT 1). Through partnership, it becomes possible to offer such big clients with massive cleaning requirements in every segment with relatively cheap product bundles. Product bundles are able to be priced as low as necessary to entice clients to pursue them exclusively because of economies of scale. Market research would determine viable market leaders that suit WICS brand image to be pursued by WICS Special Sales Force. The Special Sales Force would initially comprise of two management- level staff members (SEE NEW ORG. CHART) who strictly work towards pursuing the logistics of â€Å"big-ticket† clients. This number can expand as WICS grows contracts and profitability in new sales segments. Further advantages of creating product bundles with the other three respective segments in the institutional maintenance chemical market is utilizing partners as spotters. Spotter perks involves exchanging market research, customer information, and referring prospective customers. Furthermore, some big tickets clients may present unprecedented marketing opportunities for WICS. For example, if the product bundles are successful in attaining most of the purchasing of one or both of the Olympic games, WICS could always offer further discounts in exchange for soft advertising such product placement. Implementation of Strategic Recommendations: * Within the next 6 months: The measures taken during the next six months are going to lay the groundwork for WICS to become more efficient, reduce costs, forge better relations with SSDs and staff, and increase market share. Firstly, area and territory managers need to be retrained into their new roles with in the company. This training needs to be carefully implemented, and WICS needs to ensure that the staff are happy with the changes and behind the revamped corporate strategy. Once staff understand their new roles, the infrastructure and products must be ready. The chemical products need to be available for sale as soon as possible for the area managers to start sales. Area managers need to get to work on private label sales as quickly as they can in order to begin penetrating the market. As well, the do-it-yourself kits need to be made and sent out to distributors so that customers can begin testing WICS products without the distributors and area managers having to worry about the timely demonstrations. With the new roles in place, the feedback mechanism will immediately begin so that the distributors begin to feel the shift in customer focus that WICS will be adopting. With the increased support from all WICS staff, and the lower cost of sale, this will motivate the distributors to push WICS products more, without the pressure from area managers, and will grow market share and sales for WICS. * Long term goals: As adoption rates of WICS raw chemicals increase, the company should work towards an objective of serving products in 100% of the industrial cleaning market’s segments. This will be achieved by a combination of increased sales in the WICS line, representing 75% of the market, and the addition of private label products which serve the remaining 25%. This goal should be attained within the next three years, and the mechanism for its realization is the ability of area managers to negotiate and finalize outsourcing contracts with their distributors.

Discusion 4 707 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Discusion 4 707 - Assignment Example She would otherwise not be depressed. Veronica also appeared direct on her negative opinion towards the review and her testimony to the physician and Mart’s testimony shows this. Mart report her position on his future in the organization while Veronica reported that Mart’s performance was substandard and that he was likely to lose his job within that year. Her attitude was therefore likely to discourage Mart, who already had personal problems, than motivate. Even though Mart thought about improvement initiatives, Veronica had not noticed any improvement and this suggest that the review had negative effects. Conflicts are common in nursing organizations and may have adverse effects on performance. In my conversations, I may try to incorporate conflict resolution strategies, through a win-win approach, in order to ensure positive outcomes such as developing self-esteem in the other party (Brinkert, 2010). I may also incorporate qualitative research in my conversations, through exploring a person’s experiences, in order to understand factors to a controversy for developing a solution to a problem instead of victimizing the party (The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, 2011). In the conversations with the physicians, for example, it emerges that the employee has personal problems and that he is willing to learn and improve. The problems may be undermining his potentials and a qualitative approach to evaluation would identify this and help in solving the

Answer the question separate Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Answer the question separate - Essay Example ure and can climb the steps of success, but call of heart unleashes the stress at heart and makes life more worth of living enabling an individual to see the world under a benevolent light. Therefore, if I needed to omit anything from Thoreau’s words in my definition of a beautiful life, I would have excluded the phrase â€Å"live according to its [wisdom] dictates†, while including other attributes like â€Å"a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity, and trust† at the same time, with a bit more importance (Thoreau, 1882). Des Pres envisions the human moral senses from the experiences of the concentration camp survivors, where humans were kept under most strict surveillance so far in the modern world. Therefore, the visions about moral senses and humanity framed by Des Pres are worth of modern life style. According to Des Pres, human moral order evolves from an evolutionary survival strategy and is definitely illusionary and idealistic. Worthily, Des Pres comments, â€Å"Group formation in defense against predation is common from insects to primates, and protective strategies often depend on intricate systems of communication and mutual aid† (Des Pres, 1976, pp. 199). Therefore, morality or sense of compassion and virtues like empathy or sympathy in human nature is not imbibed, neither they are inherent as Des Pres envisions them. According to him, human moral order is the consequence of collective effort and survival support system rendered to each other during the time of

Diageo Plc Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Diageo Plc - Case Study Example At that time (eighteenth century), it was identified mostly with spirit brands like Justerini, Malts of Scotland such as Talisker, Glenkinchie and Lagavulin. In the nineteenth century, the company introduced Johnnie Walker; one of the most popular whiskies to date. In that same century, there was introduction of Smirnoff and subsequently Bailey's. In the twentieth century, the company started getting associated with Captain Morgan rum and eventually adopted it. Ever since, the company has been characterized by numerous innovations and introductions of new alcoholic drinks the world over. The Diageo Plc Company falls under the food and beverages industry in general and in the distillers sub industry. Therefore all the factors affecting the company will be examined in against the backdrop of this industry. The industry analysis will be done through SWOT and PEST analysis. The former type of analysis is instrumental in identification of the internal and external factors affecting a given company. It is also crucial in identification of the factors impending growth of a particular company. PEST analysis is more useful in determination of the external environment. (United Nations, 2001) The most outstanding feature about Diageo Plc is its brands. Some of the brands it offers have been around for centuries. This implies that the company has been able to secure brand loyalty. These include Smirnoff, Johnnie Walker and Bailey's. On top of this, the distiller has a huge size with branches all over the world. The advantage of such a large size is that the company can appeal to numerous market segments. Besides this, it can make up for weaknesses in one area with strengths in another country. (Hill, 2005) The Company also has confidence in the fact that it produces good quality beer. This means that sometimes the product 'sells itself' so to speak. It can also pride itself in the fact that it delivers lots of products in an efficient and fast manner. Actually most bars and pubs in the United Kingdom heavily rely on supplies from the company. Such an arrangement is only possible if the supplier has established a name for itself. This is definitely the case with Diageo. Another source of strength is the fact that the company promptly caters for its clients through efficient customer care. Responses to customer requirements and needs are done promptly and most of the time this is achieved through cooperation with the marketing and sales team. The Company has been at the frontline in employment of technological advancements in its production processes. For example, some of its distilleries are up to date in order to speed up the rte of production. On top of this, it is continuously introducing latest bottling technologies. It

What Is Political Philosophy Essay Example for Free

What Is Political Philosophy Essay What is philosophy and particularly political philosophy? Philosophy is a broad or specific study of areas concerned with existence, values, ethics, knowledge and reason. The word philosophy is rooted in the Greek word philosophia which literally meant ‘the love of knowledge’ So questioning human existence is one example: Does God really exists etc. Important as well are questions about what we know and what we can know; both constitute the area of philosophy known as epistemology (the theory of knowledge) Ethics is also a part of philosophy dealing with human conduct. What responsibilities do we have to ourselves as well as others? The study of political philosophy asks questions surrounding a just society and or state. David Rafael defines political philosophy as a doctrine or ideology setting up norms or ideal standards for the society. He claims that the ideal philosophy tells us what we ought to be or to do. In this regard political philosophy differs from political science. Political science seeks to explain facts as instances of general laws, but political philosophy is more idealistic. Hence; †¢philosophy- what ought to be done (idealist). †¢science- what actually happens/ based on facts (more realist) In studying philosophy, a central feature or one can say is the most dominant feature is the Western Civilization. Western civilization should not be confused as a geographical concept. As noted by Ebenstein and Ebenstein (2000) â€Å"Its birthplace is the Mediterranean  ¬ Greece, Palestine and Italy. From there it spread through Europe and the Middle East. A penetration into Asia and Africa lasted for several centuries. † Importantly, the spread of the west should not be confused with mere colonial expansion. It’s broader than that. It is the way of thought, Language yes, but religion, ethics, morals, ideas of life and livelihood are only some of the broader areas that the â€Å"West† embodies. E. g. Less than two hundred and fifty years old, the United States is now the centre of gravity of western civilization in terms of economics, politics, culture and military power. In antiquity, Athens, Jerusalem and Rome were the leading points. During the Dark Ages, Byzantium was the most important site of cultural, literal, and administrative leadership. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries Paris was the undisputed cultural capital of the West. In the nineteenth century, London inherited that place. New York became the leading artistic, scientific and intellectual clearing-house in the world during the twentieth century, and its place in the year 2000 is being taken, in terms of cultural influence by Los Angeles demonstrating the geographical mobility of western civilization. Western political thought (Philosophy) The tradition is generally associated with historical Greek cultures. In the early days Greece was a divided polis (city-state) which was constantly at war: an example is the Peloponnesian War between the democratic Athens and the Authoritarian Sparta. The Greek World view; intellectual culture and political practice spread as a result of colonial expansion. It spread further when Europe colonized the rest of the world. The Greeks idea of democracy and of course its political traditions spread to other areas with the rise of Macedonia whose leader at the time was Alexander the Great and he was taught by Aristotle. Alexander the great formed an empire that encompassed a federation of Greek states. It included Egypt, parts of India and other territories which we know now as Uzbekistan. The western traditions in Political Philosophy became more dominant in the European conquest, its creation of the plantation system, the dominance of African labour and eventual colonial subjugation of the non-European world. So here we are: how do we identify the defining features of Western Political thought? Ebenstein says that we have to find the things that are so central to the society and strip them away and see if the society exists without them. The Roots of the West are as follows: †¢the Greeks concept of Reason †¢two, the Jewish belief in one God (monotheism) †¢and three, the Christian conception of love. In the Great Political Thinkers (Ebenstein and Ebenstein, 2000) †¢Rationality: â€Å"The belief and use of reason are not inventions of the 20th century. However they argued that the Greeks invented rationality. They noted that Greeks did not start from scratch, as various Oriental people influenced them but they noted that Greek civilizations has it imprinted itself on the rest of the world, was Originally, the Greeks were not derived from earlier people in the direct way the rest of the world barrowed the ideas from the Greeks. The supreme Greek ideal was to think clearly. †¢Monotheism (belief in one God) is the second root of the West, with the resulting concepts of brotherhood of mankind (all men and women being children of the same Father) and one of one world ruled by a higher law which is above human whim and arbitrariness. It could be argued that other societies came close to the concept of â€Å"one God† before the Jews did; but the Jews were the first to build their whole life around their belief in God, and to base their thoughts, ethics, laws and government on this belief. †¢Love (Christian conception) is the third root of the West. Christianity incorporated Greek rationalism and absorbed Jewish monotheistic ethics, and added a new dimension that went beyond both: the principle of love as the basis of people’s relation with God, and more importantly, each other. Here, the point can be made that Greek thought and life put a great value on â€Å"sympathy† (a Greek word meaning â€Å"to feel with†) and friendship, the latter considered by Aristotle, for example, to be the basis of all social and political organizations. The Greeks were intensely interested in love; Plato’s dialogue Symposium is one of the great conversations on love in world Literature. Yet love in Symposium is primarily the mutual embrace of two souls soaring together to the heights of perfection in life of reason. On a lower level, love was seen by the Greeks as a fierce demon, something approaching madness. Similarly, classical Jewish thought emphasizes compassion and charity, and admonishes its adherents to â€Å"love thy neighbour as thyself†. But neither the Greek nor the Jewish conception of love has the unconditional, universal character of Christian love. In Christian thought, love is not in the periphery of life, in the rare moments of ecstasy, but in the centre of life: Love is life itself. EXERCISE QUESTION 1 (This question is only for discussion in the first tutorial and will not be accepted as coursework). What is the meaning of epistemology, ontology, and agency? How do you define and identify yourself? What are the sources of ideas and meanings you have been using to define and identify yourself? What are the epistemological bases of your personhood? Why do you believe what you believe? What beliefs, what set of ideas have shaped your concept of self and who you are and are becoming?

Wal-mart: Not A Villain :: essays research papers

I live in Mentor, Ohio, a suburb about thirty-five miles east of Cleveland. It used to be all greenhouses, until a few decades ago when it began the process of commercialization, along with other neighboring cities. Big-name stores moved into town, slowly at first. After awhile, along came a shopping mall and stores such as K-Mart. These businesses really began to change the community for the better. As the area became more developed, more people moved there. Eventually Wal-Mart made its way into town. The onset of competition forced K-mart to relocate (less than a mile down the road from the original site, across the street from where the Wal-Mart was being built) and upgrade to a Super K-Mart Center. The difference between K-Mart and Super K-Mart is that Super K-Mart has everything that regular K-Mart has, but it is now also equipped with a complete grocery section. This enables customers to do all of their shopping in one location.It all started in 1962. The first Wal-Mart Discount City opened that year in Rogers, Arkansas, and the franchise has been growing exponentially ever since. In 1980 there were 276 stores, and in the year 2000, there are more than 3,400 Wal-Marts in every state of the USA and a handful of foreign countries. These countries include Germany, Mexico, Canada, Brazil, and Korea, to name a few. Wal-Mart has aspirations to be globally recognized like McDonald's and Coca-Cola. For five years, the state of Vermont waged a war against Wal-Mart, refusing to let any of these super stores inside state boundaries. Eventually Wal-Mart won the battle and the first store opened in Bennington, Vermont. Instead of expected protests, Wal-Mart's business was booming. During the first week, the store had almost 1.5 times as many transactions as people live in the town. According to "Shopping With the Enemy", town life will never be the same because "people crave the low prices, large selection and convenient parking," offered by discount stores (146).In the article "Wal-Mart's War on Main Street," by Sarah Anderson, it is correctly stated that "rural life is changing and there's no use denying it." (Anderson 139) Even without imposing businesses, the technological advances of today make the world smaller and smaller. It used to be that in rural places there would be one farm and then nothing for miles. There wasn't much contact with people outside of one's family.