Corporate Governance and social responsibilities Essay

Corporate Governance and social responsibilities - Essay Example This began in the 1980s when the company put in place structures to check the sources of its funds and how the funds are spent in a transparent and accountable manner. This paper will discuss the extent to which the Coca Cola Company has incorporated corporate governance principles and social responsibility practices into its operations and how effective these strategies have been in fostering the growth of the company in the highly competitive soft drinks industry. Introduction Corporate governance refers to laws, processes and guidelines that a business is controlled, regulated, and operated in. The directors of Coca Cola have laid out factors that have led to improved corporate governance. The Coca Cola Company has been committed that guide corporations in dealing with that govern corporate governance. Corporate governance has been enforced by the shifting attention to high and risky profiles that have shifted the debate on corporate governance. In many cases the coca cola company has been faced with lawsuits from both the customers and employees over their operation errors. Rubach and Picou (2004, p.24), the role of corporate governance has been linked to the economic and social elements arising from the company activities. The Coca Cola Company has adopted the balance theory that sates that the company must find a balance between its internal activities and the activities of external shareholders. The relevant stakeholders that the coca cola company takes in consideration include shareholders, employees, competitors, suppliers and customers. The most relevant stakeholders that determine corporate governance include the shareholders. The institutional theory states that it is that role of the directors to maximize... The objective of this research is to acquire a better insight of corporate governance principles and social responsibility practices using the Coca Cola Company as an example. The Coca Cola Company has adopted the balance theory that sates that the company must find a balance between its internal activities and the activities of external shareholders. The relevant stakeholders that the coca cola company takes in consideration include shareholders, employees, competitors, suppliers and customers. The most relevant stakeholders that determine corporate governance include the shareholders. The institutional theory states that it is that role of the directors to maximize shareholders value because they are the owners the corporation. Davis asserts that the most important corporate governance policies seek to put an institution on more non financial perspective as opposed to the traditional institutional governance. Traditionally, governance of corporations was based on the sole objective s of profit maximization and cost minimization. Since its foundation, Coca cola has practiced traditional governance in its management but the directors in the 1980s came to realize that an organization of Coca Cola’s caliber could not operate on finances alone but the ways in which the finances are generated and used. The main areas that the directors of the Coca cola company have a focused on include endorsement of corporate governance in the company, parties to corporate governance , Corporate governance guidelines and ownership and structure in order to ensure good corporate governance.

Baking pastry Essay Example for Free

Baking pastry Essay Cake decorating is referred to as one of the sugar arts in the world of baking. Cakes are decorated for many people and their special occasions. Many remember the birthday cakes and wedding cakes that went along with creating such fond memories of the events. The success of certain cake decorating shows like Cake Boss, Amazing Wedding Cakes, and Ace of Cakes have taken cake decorating from ordinary and boring to an extraordinary and marvelous level. There are also many new textures and flavors of frosting that have been conjured up over the years. The varieties of frosting have been created to compliment the many creations of cake flavors. The craft has evolved into a form of art over the years using different tips and techniques. It is now a craft which requires a lot of new skills, techniques, and education. One might even pursue a four year or two year college degree in Culinary Arts from a school such as, The Culinary Art Institute. There are also many new textures and flavors of frosting that have been conjured up over the years. The varieties of frosting have been created to compliment the many creations of cake flavors. If you are not easily impressed you might still be amazed at the number, variety and creativity of cakes. Some intricate designs appear to defy gravity. The secret, Patrick says, is judicious use of inedible props, such as Styrofoam (Decorating Lane 58). Sculpted animals are popular. However, theyre at most only cake. Decorating cakes depending on the designing and style tends to be pricier. If the customer tends to ask for a sculpted cake that can make an impressive centerpiece may cost approximately 200 or more. Cakes that are decorated some special way could get good publicity and get good business. Having to sculpt the cake is highly visible and correctly and profitable. Color and dimension is what most people want to see when they order the cake. An if the customers like the work they might come back. However, the cakes must truly be memorable. . One may ask, what does it really take to be a great cake decorator and most importantly where did it all start? Decorating skills and techniques have developed greatly since three-tiered wedding and candled birthday cakes. The process has evolved to this day presenting beautiful towers of deliciousness. These unique creations also take us on an interesting trip through decorating history. As most know, cake is a term with an elaborate history and a subject with many aspects. Cake denotes a baked flour connection sweetened with sugar, honey, eggs and milk. It has a distinct texture created by mixture rising during the cooking process. Cakes found in â€Å"Swiss Lake Villages† were made from roughly crushed grains, moistened, compacted, and cooked on hot stone. Obviously cake techniques have progressed since then. As time passed, over many centuries by trial and error, baking techniques began to improve due to influence from other countries and cultures (Kroskey). Work Cited Decorating in the fast lane. Bakery Production and Marketing 24 Jan. 1992: 58. Culinary Arts Collection. Web. 14 Aug. 2013. Kroskey, Carol Meres. Color and dimension add profits to cakes. Bakery Production and Marketing 24 June 1991: 74+. Culinary Arts Collection. Web. 14 Aug. 2013. Kroskey, Carol Meres. Complementing cakes with color. Bakery Production and Marketing 24 Sept. 1991: 106+. Culinary Arts Collection. Web. 14 Aug. 2013. Kroskey, Carol Meres. Create an illusion. Bakery Production and Marketing 24 June 1993: 56+. Culinary Arts Collection. Web. 14 Aug. 2013. Kuyper, Frances. Making your own decorations in advance. Bakery Production and Marketing 24 Sept. 1991: 112. Culinary Arts Collection. Web. 14 Aug. 2013.

Women In Agriculture In Palestine Sociology Essay

Women In Agriculture In Palestine Sociology Essay The project has as its principal question, What are the characteristics of women and men working in agriculture in Palestine and the impact on? different agricultural patterns and effect on roles, opportunities and gender relations? Having received financial support, the project has now embarked on its next stage and the development of a research methodology to identify this data from which policy recommendations will be made. To assist the development of this project, this literature review provides an overview of the material that is available on the subject. The approach taken has been both specific and comparative, by identifying previous material written about women in agriculture in Palestine as well as in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and beyond more generally. A broader perspective to the question is valuable in highlighting what work has already been done, including the main features associated with women working in agriculture, the methods taken to examine the issue and the policy recommendations that have been introduced to date. Of particular note across the literature is a seeming paradox regarding women in agriculture. On one hand there is recognition of the previously ignored position of female agricultural labour. As a result there has been growing awareness both in scholarly literature and policy interventions to ensure that women are less marginalised in the sector. On the other hand the greater attention to women in agriculture, both in terms of research and policy recommendations, has largely failed to reduce their marginalisation. This raises key questions about the nature of those policies (such as gender mainstreaming and female participation in their formation, development and implementation) and how the same mistakes are not repeated in the current project. This literature review is divided as follows: General overview of women in agriculture Social dimension of women in agriculture Economic dimension of women in agriculture Technical dimension of women in agriculture Political (and policy) dimension of women in agriculture Suggestions and next steps General overview of women in agriculture globally and in MENA As noted above, there is an underlying paradox at the heart of the literature and analyses of women in agriculture and which appears to hold across the world. On the one hand there is a growing recognition of women and their role in the sector. Among scholars feminist attention to gender issues had tended to focus on urban women during the 1970s. It was not until the mid-1980s that increasing attention was placed on rural women and their involvement in agriculture (Maman and Tate 1996). Among policymakers there was an increasing awareness of the feminisation of agriculture, given the rise of visible female agricultural labour and the disappearance of men, through migration and AIDS for example (Sweetman 1999). On the other hand though, there has been a concurrent oversight, awareness and development of effective strategies to enhance the role of women in agriculture. In practical terms and across the globe, many women have struggled for autonomy in the agricultural sector, facing restriction on land ownership and use, access to inputs and credit and other resources like education and training (Sweetman 1999). Even in locations where women appear to have more access to ownership and control of the land, the denial of that right is arguably the greatest contributor to a gender gap and womens weaker social, economic and political status (Arun 1999, Badr 2010). The use of the term gender has meant that the issue of women in agriculture has become largely subsumed into a broader debate about gender and gender relations. Gender constitutes the socially constructed roles surrounding men and women. In other words, it is not the biological differences between men and women that affect their involvement in human activities, such as agriculture, but rather the way that societies around them shape them. Moreover, gender is seen as increasingly important in development terms. The World Bank (2009) bases it on four main grounds: economic (in terms of enhancing efficiency); equity and distributional; food security and household welfare; and as a basic human right. Globally gender differences are apparent in various ways including access to assets and services, such as land, labour, finance, water, rural infrastructure, technology and other inputs. In MENA, there appear to be two main texts which are especially relevant to the projects focus: Lamia El-Fattels 1996 Women in Agriculture in West Asia and North Africa, and the regional study, Women in Agriculture in the Middle East, edited by Pnina Mozafi-Haller and published nearly a decade later in 2005. To these publications may also be considered the gender-related studies conducted by the PCBS over the same period. El-Fattel provided conducted a broad survey of the subject, ranging across several decades and noting several key points. First, she observed that agriculture in different West Asia and North Africa (WANA) countries shared some common themes. This included the fact that agriculture was primarily rain-fed and more technically advanced compared to other developing countries. While there is a greater use of mechanisation and fertilizers, weeding is still done by hand. Farms tend to be run in a patriarchal fashion and are small; the latter which make it hard to absorb labour outside the family. Second, in reviewing the literature El-Fattal commented noted that there had been relatively little systematic or comparative work done to date (12-14). What material was available tended to focus on single cases, usually at the level of the village or a region within the country rather than at country or regional level. Much of this was reflected in the anthropological or general social science studies nature of the literature. Women in agriculture were generally not the focal point of such studies, but rather as aspect of more specific studies into social dynamics within a community. Third, she summarised the literature as follows: (1) women play important roles in food production in WANA and their involvement is increasing, and (2) the extent of their participation, over space and time, is a function of numerous forces at play. (16) Those factors are both diverse yet inter-related and include land holding size and tenancy (as well as landlessness), the type of farming, the degree of mechanisation, available male labour and a womans social and economic status on both farms and in the community more generally (El Fattel 1996, UN 2001: 10). One of the important aspects of Mozafi-Hallers edited volume was its country and region-based focus. It was the only notable result of a decision in the late 1990s by the Danish governments Regional Agricultural Program to improve agricultural planning and technical assistance between Egypt, Jordan, the PA and Israel. The difficulty of achieving much more with the project was undermined by the second Intifada which reduced the scope for collaboration. Meanwhile, gender had not been initially central to the project, but grew in importance throughout the course of the work (Mozafi-Haller 2005). Of particular relevance to the project is the chapter on Palestinian women in agriculture, which was written by Rema Hammami. It is arguably the most comprehensive study on the subject to date. Given the date of publication, Hammimi makes use of data from the 1990s and early 2000s. She cites a 2000 survey on time use, in which agriculture is not disaggregated from primary production). In addition to this report are two others that make passing reference to women and agriculture: a 1999 survey on female ownership and access to resources (specifically through attitudes regarding female ownership and inheritance) and more recent publications on men and women; the latest of which was published earlier this year and notes that 20.5% of women were employed in agriculture and fishing compared to 9.9% of men (PCBS 1999, 2000, 2010). Beyond these publications the PCBS does publish agricultural statistics on a yearly basis, although the questionnaire is primarily concerned with agricultural products, such as livestock, crops and materials rather than any breakdown of farm labour and women. The only agricultural report that it has produced that has a breakdown by sex is in its 2004/05 Farm Structure Survey, where the issue was raised in its questions concerning land holders (PCBS 2006). Social dimension of women in agriculture Women tend to be marginal actors in agriculture. While women suffer discrimination from a wide range of sources, much of this can be traced back to social and cultural attitudes. In the case of Palestinian and Arab women this is apparent in the public role of women, which has been broadly limited to those of mothers, sisters or wives, or childbearers and childrearers. This is reflected in part by the emphasis towards early and universal marriage and high levels of fertility throughout the region (Salman 1987: 8; Zurayk and Saadeh 1995: 37-38). Such attitudes have persisted, even as Arab women have entered the public sphere (UNDP 2006: 91). Indeed, today Arab women generally have three choices of identity: as a housewife and mother; as a housewife and mother with home-based work; or as a housewife and mother with outside employment. Why females may be subject to such attitudes have been explained in MENA in several ways. This begins early, both within the family home and at school. The use of text books, teachers attitudes and methods, early marriage and high fertility, male dominance in the public sphere and arguably the role of Islam have all been cited in this regard (Rubenburg 2001, UNDP 2006, Posusney and Doumato 2003; El-Mikawy 1999). At the same time, Islam as a constraint does not suffice; Moghadam (1993: 8) claims that it is neither monolithic nor intrinsically patriarchal; at time its adherents have sought to bring women into the public sphere, during times of conflict or national hardship when their participation on the front or in the labour force may be seen as an asset (e.g. Sudan and Saudi Arabia). El-Fattal (1996: 15) notes that Islam has proved an unsatisfying framework to account for the position of women: opposing conclusions have been reached as to whether Islam suppresses or liberates wome n. At the same time there have been changes within Islam, such as Islamic feminism has emerged and which rejects the traditional position of women and promotes their empowerment, including the right to religious education and the use of conservative dress as a means of entering the public sphere even as their attempts to reform family law have largely failed (Posusney and Doumato 2003: 9-11). In the case of Palestine these social attitudes are especially entrenched, with women noting particular political/economic limits, social pressure and familial expectations. This may contribute to some of the rights that women have failed to take up, including to education, work, inheritance, freedom of movement, choice of marriage partner and domestic abuse (Rubenberg 2001: 122-3). The effect if also felt in the generally patriarchal nature of the household and the three main family types that exist: the nuclear (father, mother and unmarried children), the extended or hamula (an economic unit based on several related males and their families headed by the eldest) and a transitional type (which combines elements of the nuclear and extended families) (Manasra 1993: 7), which reflect differences between Palestines modern and traditional sectors and urban, rural and camp settings. Economic dimension of women in agriculture This section considers the experience of women in the formal labour market generally and in the agricultural sector. It begins with a broader perspective on the nature of development in the region and the distinction between the traditional and modern economies. Female labour is largely associated with a modernised economy and the shift from the traditional to the modern economy has posed several obstacles to the inclusion of women in the labour market. The second part outlines those limitations this section provides an overview of the current figures and state of female labour in the Palestinian agricultural sector. However, this section ends with a rider, noting the uncertainty surrounding official figures on female agricultural labour and the steps taken to resolve this, both globally and in Palestine. First, according to Motzafi-Haller (2005), in much of the literature on development there is a strong binary tension between the traditional and the modern, whereby women are discriminated against in the former and included in the latter. In addition, this perception implies a non-efficient traditional economic model versus an efficient, sustainable, just and modern version (Motzafi-Haller 2005). Sweetman (1999) notes the emphasis on efficiency in most rural development interventions, with the result that it largely overlooks notions of justice and equality between the sexes. The focus on efficiency (and modernisation) has meant that the prevailing form of female labour (i.e. informal, domestic) has been undervalued, especially in relation to that done by men. At the same time pressure for women to work both inside and outside the home has risen, especially over the past few decades as structural adjustment has reduced income for the poor and weakened household structures. The result has been a diversification of labour and activities as a means of coping. As a result, agricultural labour is but one form of gaining income (Sweetman 1999). Second, within MENA both the proportion and absolute numbers of women in formal employment have tended to be low. In the literature, various explanations have been put forward, including historic, economic and structural. Historically, the emergence of exploitative labour regimes in the colonial period weakened the role and status of women, especially as the demands of the international economy and wage labour in agricultural and industrial sectors grew. The result was female exclusion from the formal labour force and their unpaid or low-paid work in the informal sector (Shukri 1996: xii). Economically, both globalisation and growth rates have been held to account for poorer female participation. Although MENA is classified as middle-income, it has been subject to slow growth, thereby limiting demand for jobs (which affects women more than men) (UNDP 2006: 91). Structurally, the limited nature of female participation may be attributed to various reasons. First, states ideology and de velopment strategies may affect womens opportunity for employment with more capital-intensive measures benefiting male workers while women have found increased opportunities through subcontracting and home-based work (Moghadam 1995: 18-19, 28). Second, women may experience employment disadvantage as a result of economic failures. This may include the U-shaped nature of economic development, whereby at the initial stage female labour participation decreases as that of men increases, followed by a growing demand for jobs in the sector that are filled by women. At the same time women suffer from externality and common access problems, whereby their labour (especially within the household) is unpaid, freely available and largely misallocated (Vecchio and Roy 1998: 10-13). In the case of the agricultural sector, Razavi (2007) highlights several specific factors that have limited female agricultural labour in MENA. Despite noting the advances in the political and legal rights of women to land, she observes that liberalisation policies (which make it harder for low-income women to access land through the market), the predominant form of small scale farming and its restrictions on achieving access to land mean that agricultural labour can only provide a complementary role in livelihoods alongside other income-generating measures. She also notes the use of customary and decentralised systems of land tenure which can be used by strong interest groups to work against womens rights. In Palestine, women face several social pressures that have economic consequences, both generally and in terms of their full participation in the agricultural sector. Women face greater social restrictions than men, including social stigma following divorce and a weaker right of inheritance (Manasra 1993) although differences do exist between women who pursue their inheritance, with brotherless daughters, widowed mothers and daughters of wealthy households those who most actively advance their claims (Moors 1996: 82). Generally though, Palestinian women (and female heads) face many of the challenges that others in the developing world experience, including restricted property rights and family law constraints on women that persist (Vardhan 1999; Vecchio Roy 1998). In the case of Palestine, access to land is mainly through inheritance and traditionally women tend to waive their rights in favour of their brothers who were expected to reciprocate by looking after their sisters (Hammam i 2005: 69). The rarity of womens ownership of land is apparent in the Palestinian Farm Structure Survey 2004/05, which distinguishes between male and female holders. Female holders vary between 3% in Gaza and the southern West Bank to 5.7% in the northern West Bank (PCBS 2006), although the survey does not provide any data that suggests to what extent female holders exercise control of their land in terms of key decisions. This is reflected in the three main types of female agricultural worker. The first type, male members of the household work off the farm while the women work part of the family land. The second type is women who are full-time farmers. In many cases they are entirely responsible for the farm following the death or abandonment of their husbands. The third type is agricultural labourers who work for others, including both Palestinians and Israelis (Hammami 2005: 61). In terms of figures available on Palestinian female agricultural labour, in 1996 29.1% of women in the labour force worked in agriculture compared to 9.9% of men (although in absolute terms men outnumbered women), highlighting that in terms of employment opportunities, agriculture is much more important for women than men and less connected with pressures from poverty than rising productivity even though the characteristics of such women tended to be older, less educated and lower paid than men in the same sector. The bulk of women in agriculture were based in the West Bank, opportunities being less in Gaza as a result of intensive and irrigated farming and the lack of cultivable land (Hammami 2005). However, by 2009 the same number of men worked in agriculture but the number of women employed in the sector had fallen to 20.5% (PCBS 2010). Third, these official figures need to be taken with a pinch of salt. At the global, regional and national level, numbers regarding womens involvement in the agriculture has been largely underreported. This reflects both womens greater participation at working on their family farms and assumptions by both men and women that their participation is not work (UN 2001: 8). The impact of this underreporting is not only a persistent theme in material related to women in agriculture, but is increasingly being addressed by practitioners. For example, in 2003 the FAO held an international workshop on the subject, recommending that the collection of such data would be best served through the national census in different countries. This meant that greater awareness was needed regarding the concepts associated with agriculture, including: holdings, holders (who makes the primary decisions), legal status of holdings (i.e. public, private and the variations of each), holders household (and the diff erentiated activities that exist within it) and economic activity as a permanent or occasional worker (FAO 2003). In Palestine efforts to get around the problem of underreporting including recognition of the informal nature of agricultural labour and the use of time use surveys as an alternative way of yielding data. This was last done in 1999 and 2000 in which agricultural labour was included under a heading of primary production. According to Hammimi (2005) though, this data was insufficiently disaggregated to provide sufficient data on the issue of agricultural work. Technical dimension of women in agriculture Technical advances in agriculture have created their own challenges. The green revolutions of the 1960s and 1970s involved the modernization of land cultivation and more intensive use of pesticides to increase production and since the 1990s the use of GMOs. The relationship of this development to gender has been notable in two ways. On one hand, it has been the well-off who have largely benefited rather than everyone (Sweetman 1999). Among those who have benefited are men, who largely control technical knowledge. However, such knowledge is imperfect which can lead to adverse results and the mismanagement of various resources in terms of land, water and female labour (Morvaridi 1992). On the other hand, the various factors that have marginalised women in agriculture, including a lack of access to resources, lower educational levels and lower rates of productivity are felt in their inability to manipulate more productive, technically advanced agricultural methods. This keeps them ghettoized in less capital intensive and more labour intensive activities (Hammami 2005: 70-71). At the same time it has placed women at greater risk to their health. While the ILO notes that agriculture is one of the most hazardous occupations in health terms, womens lack of technical knowledge is bound to work against them, through the potentially incorrect use of pesticides that can lead to poisoning (Cole 2006). Specifically in the case of Palestine, greater use of technology in agriculture has reduced the burden of work on women but rather increased it while maintaining inequalities in terms of power and income. In many respects it is men that have taken up the more mechanised and productive techniques, with female labour being largely focused at the more time-consuming, labour-intensive end (e.g. planting, transplanting, weeding, harvesting and packaging) (Hammimi 2005: 67). On the other hand, while women generally have been visible in environmental and consumer actions against the green revolutions globally, it is not evident that this is a gender issue rather than a politically-oriented one (Sweetman 1999, Pedersen and Kjà ¦rgà ¥rd 2004). Political (and policy) dimension of women in agriculture The literature review began with a tension at the heart of the topic: that there is growing attention given to women in agriculture but that measures to rectify the gender gap have not worked to date. However, this is not solely limited to the agricultural sector: across MENA there have been general advances in the political and legal rights for women. At the same time, social and economic pressures have worked against womens rights and been institutionalised through the creation of instruments such as personal status laws and officially sanctioned gender discrimination (Badr 2010). In Palestine, a range of political pressures have worked against women in agriculture. First and uniquely there are challenges presented by the occupation, which challenge men as much as women. These include land confiscations, movement restrictions, a lack of an external market and the administrative division and control of the land, all of which was exacerbated even further by the second Intifada, resulting in sieges, invasions, curfews and internal closures. For women, the responses to these processes have involved the search for coping strategies to help support the household (Hammami 2005: 49, 53). Second, compared to women in other MENA countries, those in Palestine appear to be in a more advantageous position relatively. Women are well represented in the education system and in the public sphere, especially through womens organisations and lobby groups. However, at the same time, female involvement in formal institutions is low. This includes both the formal (as opposed to informal) labour force and representation in formal political institutions, such as the legislature and agricultural unions (Hammami 2005: 54-55). The problems faced by Palestinian women (and women more generally) is reflected in the largely failed policy interventions that have resulted in the agricultural sector, which owe much to practitioners world view and failure to implement gender-related solutions effectively. First, Motzafi-Haller (2005: 8-9) draws attention to the concept of paternal feminism and the work of Boutheina Cheriet, an Algerian professor of comparative education. Rather than reducing gender discrimination by including women and modernising the economy, this more critical view maintains women in a submissive position. In the absence of any wider public debate concerning female roles in development, women are either imposed from above or from outside rather than treated as full equals and partners. Second, efforts that aim at gender-mainstreaming have tended to fail, largely because of what Sweetman (1999: 7) notes as a result of mechanistically integrated gender issues in planning and implementation, without [a] commitment to challenging injustice. Moreover, this means not only being gender aware, but also being prepared to tackle all forms of discrimination, from the overt and direct to the less clear and indirect (ILO 2006: 78). In part the absence of accurate data (see above) can mean that development interventions based on them will be undermined (Sweetman 1999). Much of this may be picked up through the use of statistics, surveys, cost-benefit analyses, research and gender-impact analyses (i.e. examine specific activities and their impact on men and women) (UN 2001: 4). This last point emphasises the importance of incorporating men into gender analysis, since the opportunities and constraints facing men and women will be different. El-Fattel (1996: 47) suggests asking spe cific questions of men and women, such as (1) who does what, when and where? (2) who has access to or control over resources? and (3) who benefits from each enterprise? Grace (2004) argues that understanding the roles of men and women means going beyond their sex, to consider other factors such as age, wealth, marital status and stage of their life cycle. Regionally, across MENA the UN has noted different policy measures (2001: 10, 36). In Syria the focus has been on enhancing rural womens status through rural development programmes and reforms in the educational, legal, social, health and economic sectors. In Lebanon attention has been given to income generation and vocational training for rural women and forms of protection in the informal sector. In Jordan the primary aim has been to increase female participation in the labour market. However, in the absence of strong government will to enforce these measures, the position of rural women will remain weak. Globally, awareness of these failures is reflected in the World Banks Gender in Agriculture Sourcebook (2009: 3-4), which provides tools and case studies of practical examples and best practices to incorporate gender into planning processes. The aim of this literature is to support all kinds of practitioners, from those who are aware of gender issues but do not know where to start through to others that require more training and assistance in devising such mechanisms. Specifically, it uses the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach developed by the British Department for International Development as its conceptual framework for gender-related development. Specifically this has involved drawing attention to assets, markets (for products, labour, finances, land and water), risk and vulnerability, and knowledge, information and organisation related to these issues. For Palestine, a good starting point would be that outlined by Hammami (2005: 74), who notes a current lack of sufficiently gender-specific information. She argues that good intentions and development programs alone will not guarantee an improvement in womens situation in agriculture and hence increase in farm productivity. Among the measures that would need to be addressed include: enhanced opportunities in rural areas (more resources and infrastructure), development programs to strengthen rural peoples role and their participation, more gender-related data in agriculture, adaptive and appropriate research and technologies for women, qualified and professional female extension agents, womens access to land, access to credit and other agricultural inputs, better education (to understand technical information) and more incentives to encourage greater risk and productivity (an aim that is undermined by womens general lack of ownership on the land). That Hammimi highlights these recommendations suggests the relatively unsuccessful efforts to integrate gender awareness to date, despite the formation of a Womens Division within the Palestinian Authoritys Ministry of Agriculture in 2000. Before that date, agricultural support services were largely gender-blind and overlooked the role of women as agricultural workers in their own right. Growing awareness that this needed to be addressed took place with the formation of a Womens Extension Division inside the Directorate of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development in 1998 and a general Womens Division in 2000, even as concern persisted that a specific womens unit might ghettoize gender issues as it appears to have done until now. Suggestions and next steps The review of the literature on women in agriculture generally and in Palestine specifically highlights some common themes. Politically, economically and socially, Palestinian female agricultural workers share similar experiences to those of women working in agriculture in other parts of the word. This includes their relative marginalization and lack of access to resources and inputs, such as training, credit, water, land and others. At the same time though, in contrast to previous decades, the issue of gender has become an increasingly important one in studies on agriculture; even if the status and role of women has been overlooked, there had been plenty of attention given to highlighting the situation along with recommendations to implement greater gender awareness and mainstreaming in policy terms. This is apparent in global efforts to incorporate women into the research and policy design process through participation in development planning. That the situation of women is paradoxical overlooked in practical terms yet increasingly considered in scholarly work and policy recommendations suggests a new path forward is necessary. The coordinators of the current project do not presumably want to produce another analysis and report that will result in additional data and policy recommendations that will fail to combat the discrimination that women in agriculture continue to face. Consequently, as a starting point, in the case of Palestine, this might involve the following: Develop more robust data on the state of women in agriculture This would require both quantitative and qualitative forms of data. In addition to revision of the measures to be addressed in the national census, smaller-scale surveys could be done to include disaggregated data that took account of gender and temporary/permanent labour. In addition qualitative data would include descriptive insights by men and women in the agricultural sector, through i

Enron Essay -- essays research papers

Integrative Case – The Downfall of Enron Part I 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ken Lay served as CEO and chairman and Jeffrey Skilling also served as CEO. They both were responsible for planning, organizing, controlling and leading the company. They set goals for the company and organized how they would be achieved. Kay’s role was as the figurehead and the leader. He also served as the spokesperson for the company and made many of the decision on the future of the company. As CEO’s they both possessed effective communication skills, where decisive, which was evidenced by their vision for the company and refusal to admit wrong even at the end, and visionary. Throughout Lay’s tenor the company continued to grow and prosper at a fast pace. 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The challenges faced were those of a changing workforce, competitiveness, and globalization, as well as ethics and social responsibility. While many companies were downsizing in the mid-1980s, Enron continued to grow and expand despite their lofty goals. They ventured out into foreign markets to be more competitive. The workforce also became more diverse and the characteristics changed. Employees during Enron’s tenor were less devoted to long-term career prospects; instead they were more interested in financial gain at any cost. Ethics seemed to be a secondary thought for most people during Enron’s time. To meet these challenges Enron executives had to make working for their company more attractive and lucrative. 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The contributing factors to their ineffectiveness were poor planning and leadership. The company grew to quickly. In their desire to grow and expand, the company’s senior management did not establish and follow ethical practices that would sustain the company. Controls were not established in key places, such as, accounting practices and principles. Senior management failed to appropriately manage the activities of lower level managers and set a bad example. Part II – The People 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Enron sought out young, ambitious, recent college graduates and placed them in entry-level positions and then gave them the autonomy to make big trade decisions. The few star performers were promoted very quickly. Taking this hiring approach benefited the company because it kept labor costs low due to the employee’s inexperience. It also ... ...y grew and prospered very quickly. Employees were motivated to be creative and come up with the next great idea or innovation to increase revenue. These values also hurt the company because it put constant pressure on employees to achieve and constantly pushed them to excel in order to produce more revenue for the company and advance in the company. This forced employees to use unethical practices. They were often left to use their own devices to achieve the aforementioned results. There were no checks in balances in place with respect to managing subordinates. 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Organizations must change in order to meet the needs of the changing workplace, environment, technology, and economy in order to be competitive. Change is good for an organization if it is done in a controlled and structured manner. Change is also risky because it is often met with resistance. For example, people may feel threatened and fear power loses and subsequently, resists the change. Change can also be ineffective if it is narrow and doesn’t concern itself with people and is over determined. In Enron’s case, the organization was constantly changing with no collective rhyme or reason.

Mgt 330 Management Planning Paper

Management Planning Paper MGT 330 Management Planning Paper The Boeing Corporation is the world’s leading aerospace company and is the largest manufacturer of commercial jetliners as well as military aircrafts. Boeing has teams that manufacture missiles, satellites, defense systems, and communication systems. NASA turns to Boeing when they need something and Boeing operates the International Space Station. Boeing has a broad range of capabilities and skills, which is probably the reason they are the world’s leading aerospace company.With the Boeing headquarters in Chicago, more than 170,000 people in 70 different countries find themselves employed with the corporation and most of them hold a college degree (Boeing Corporation,  2012). It takes many hard working employees and managers to make Boeing a successful corporation. This paper will discuss the planning function of management, analyze the influence of legal issues, ethics, and corporate social responsibility an d their effects on management planning. I will also analyze factors that influence the company’s strategic, tactical, operational, and contingency planning as they relate to the Boeing Corporation.The planning function of management is the process of setting goals within the corporation that are expected to be achieved over a set period. Therefore, Boeing got to be the world’s leading aerospace company by setting such goals. The Boeing Corporation has engineer departments, sales departments, mechanical departments, and product testing departments among a few others. Each individual department will have set goals put in place by corporate and guidelines regarding how they should achieve the desired goal for each project.Each goal is designed for each department to become the most efficient in their levels. There are six steps in management planning. The steps listed in provided course materials are situational analysis, alternative goals and plans, goal and plan evaluat ion, goal and plan selection, implementation, and monitor and control (Thomas S. Bateman, Scott A. Snell,  2009). Step one gathers and summarizes information that is in question. It examines current conditions with an attempt at forecasting future conditions. Step two generates alternative goals that may be used as an alternate if the first desired plan does not ork. Step three evaluates the potential of the alternative goals and prioritizes/eliminates ones that might or might not work. Step four in management planning is the selecting of goals believed to be most appropriate and feasible by the managers. Step five implements the goals and plans into action by managers. Goal achievement is likely to be linked to the organization’s reward system to encourage employees to achieve the goals and implement plans properly (Thomas S. Bateman, Scott A. Snell,  2009). Step six is essential in making sure goals and plans are met.If the goals and plans are not monitored and controll ed managers would not know if they were ever met successfully. Boeing the huge corporation that it is has had its fair share of legal issues. The corporation has to pay special attention to detail when it concerns obeying the laws and regulations in regard the manufacturing of aircraft. The planes must be tested for safety and flying ability before they ever hit the mainstream public. Notices on the aircraft tell passengers when they should be buckled and when it is considered safe to unbuckle. Engineers have to provide manuals for the aircrafts in case any issues may arise when in use.Ethical issues come into play when Boeing makes bids to other corporations like the military or NASA. They are not allowed to charge prices that people believe to be unfair or make any changes after things have already been agreed upon. This means that the sales department has to plan how much they want to sell their product for. The main corporate social responsibility that Boeing has is safety. They have to engineer items safe for the public to be on/use. With Boeing being the world’s leading Aerospace Corporation, millions of people rely on the use of their products.That means that engineers have to know the latest safety information and managers have to make sure that they put the safety information to use. Strategic planning is used by the Boeing Corporation when making new aircraft and other items. They have to figure out how to market their item just right so that buyers will be interested in it. This planning has led Boeing to make planes more efficient and comfortable for passengers to ride on. Tactical planning is organized for competition, such as Airbus and demand for product. Boeing is a competitor of Airbus, which is another aerospace engineering corporation.Boeing has to be aware of competitor’s new products and when they will be released. This means that they have to formulate and release products either better or more efficient than the competition ’s. Operational planning identifies the specific procedures and processes required at the lower-levels within an organization (Thomas S. Bateman, Scott A. Snell,  2009). So within the Boeing Corporation this would be those who deal with the delivery schedules and human resources departments. Every plane that takes off or leaves an airport has to be scheduled and the arrival/departure times displayed so that the public is aware.Human resources is responsible for the hiring/firing of Boeing’s many employees and any issues consumers may have with a product or service. If someone believes that they did not have a good experience in the flight he or she would call the resource department, and the department would most likely do everything in his or her power to make the person feel better. Contingency plans are put in place in case of any challenges that may arise when making their products. A good example of Boeing’s contingency plan is in 2008 they were trying to produce 40 aircraft a year but the United States hit an economic crisis.This meant that Boeing had to cut back their number of aircraft being created so they did not feel the effects of the economic crisis. So Boeing did not become the world’s leading aerospace corporation by doing nothing. It took hard work, planning, and management. There are six steps in management planning that corporations follow to try to ensure their survival in a competitive world. Boeing has had its fair share of legal and ethical issues and tries to abide by the rules and regulations for safety set forth by the goverment. Boeing tries to keep a strategic plan when creating new products and a tactical plan on how to market their items.Operational planning identifies the specific procedures and processes required at the lower-levels within an organization (Thomas S. Bateman, Scott A. Snell,  2009). Boeing demonstrates this with arrival/departure schedules. Finally Boeing has a contingency plan in p lace in case plan A is not able to be put into place. References The  Boeing Corporation. (2012). Boeing: About Us. Retrieved from http://www. boeing. com/companyoffices/aboutus/ Boeing Case Study. (2012). Boeing Case Study: The 787 Dreamliner, 1-17. Wall, R. , & Flottau, J. (2010). Stress Test.Aviation Week & Space Technology, 172(30), 36. Thomas S. Bateman, Scott A. Snell. (2009). Chapter 4: Planning and Strategic Management. Retrieved from Thomas S. Bateman, Scott A. Snell, MGT 330 website. The Boeing Corporation. (1995-2012). StartupBoeing – Business Planning. Retrieved from http://www. boeing. com/commercial/startup/planning. html Pritchard, D. , MacPherson A. (n. d. ). Industrial Subsidies and the Politics of World Trade: The Case of the Boeing 7e7. The Boeing Corporation. Retrieved from http://igeographer. lib. indstate. edu/pritchard. pdf

Swanage Geography Coursework

This is the first of the 2 hypotheses I am going to be focusing on in my coursework, I will be using a variety of graphs and relevant statistics to prove my hypothesis. Throughout my coursework you will notice how I will link back my explanation towards my hypothesis and give my opinion of how shops in Swanage need tourist's to be able to run their business successfully. * Retail Opportunities In Swanage Urgently Need To Be Redeveloped To Take Into Account The Needs Of Local Population This will be the second of the 2 hypothesises I will be focusing on and developing as well. This hypothesis is about redeveloping shops in Swanage that need to be redeveloped; I will be working on this near the end of my coursework as I do see areas which are in desperate need of improvement. As I developing the areas of Swanage which need developing I will give explanations as to why I made that choice and what positive impacts can come from it. Site Map of Swanage For my coursework I was asked to produce a Site Map of Swanage which shows the 6 different areas of the area. * Tourist Facilities * Retail Streets * Holiday Flats * Hotels * Residential Leisure * Residential Houses As you can see from figure 1.2 I took the liberty of colour coding these areas so that it would be easier to analyse later for future reference in my coursework. From the Site Map you can see that there is large amount of Tourist Facilities. This further proves my hypothesis 1 which I will discuss later in my coursework. Why is Swanage a Tourist Attraction? Swanage is a place where it is unlikely for you to walking around aimlessly doing nothing; this is one of the reasons why tourists enjoy visiting the area. There are a lot of things tourist's could involving themselves with in Swanage. They could visit the beach or go to the retail stores or just relax and enjoy the scenery. The main reason why people would go to Swanage is simply because it is both affordable and enjoyable le which are the two important factor of a vacation. Tourism is very important in Swanage because without it the facilities that are being opened in Swanage will eventually close down due to no profit thereby no developments will be made, which will make swanage a place that wouldn't be nice to visit. Geology of Swanage Beach In Figure 1.3 you can see it is fairly detailed geological diagram of swanage beach, it also shows all the rocks involved within the beach which will be useful to most geographers. BACKGROUND INFORMATION OF SWANAGE On this Page in my coursework I will give statistics and graphs about some of the relevant information on Swanage like population, Employment Rate, Age Structure etc. From these results it should give me a clear indication about Swanage and its history. Population of Swanage In Figure 2.1 it shows both the statistics and the graph of the Population of Swanage as you can throughout the years is has increased in population. However from the year 1921-1931 there was a major decrease in population. This is probably due to people migrating out of the area because of expenses of houses or people just simply wanted to move out. From 1951 to 2001 there is a constant increase meaning in the future Swanage will overpopulate due to the large tourists and residents. 2001 Census Data for Swanage In Figure 2.2 you can see that it shows both statistics and graphs for the population of Male and Females in Swanage and Dorset. Obviously Swanage is a smaller area than Dorset so Dorset's results will obviously be greater in population. In both areas Females have a higher population than Males. The reason for this is probably because there are more retail shops that attract for Females than Males. Age Structure This Graph shows the Age structure of people from both Dorset and Swanage. From Figure 2.3 you can see that the people from (18-44) and (60-84) have the highest amount of %. This shows that middle aged people live in Swanage and Dorset than Older or Younger people. This means that most residential people who live in Swanage have Jobs or have Part-time Job and owns a house or an apartment. There are hardly any 16-17 yr olds also there aren't that many elderly people as well. Conclusion From all of the statistics I have I will make a final conclusion that Swanage will gradually increase in population which would have more females than males. Also most of the residents would have Jobs because most of the population in Swanage are aged form 18-84. EXTENT OF TOURISM The Importance of Tourism In Swanage Tourism is especially important as that is what keep the area going â€Å"money-wise†, without tourism the town would not get no profit therefore will not be able to develop their area. From the land use map there is a pattern which shows how the shops for Tourist's are near the beach as the beach is the most popular sight in the area. This is what will get tourists motivated to shop in the area. In summer time the tourist visiting rate will increase as the scenery will seem better due to the fact that the weather is beautiful. Who benefits from tourism? The retail store owners would partly benefit from tourism as they are gaining profit from their business which will help them for the future. The whole area of swanage will benefit from tourism as well because with their money Swanage will be able to further develop into something better. TOURIST QUESTIONNAIRE For my coursework I was asked to create a questionnaire based on the tourists of swanage I asked a range of different questions based on relevant information I needed to find out. On this page I will focus on a few questions in particular that will help prove my first hypothesis. The first question I came across is in figure 4.1 it was to find out which shops tourists use when they are shopping. As you can see from the graph the two highest selected Shops were Restaurants and Supermarkets. This Graph tells me that most people would visit Supermarkets and restaurants while they are in swanage. This doesn't surprise because on the geography I came a across a handful of Supermarkets and Restaurants for Tourists to visit so this is an obvious result. So far this proving my hypothesis because restaurants and Supermarkets are the essential thing's a tourist needs so the retail stores would make those types of shops accessible for tourists. This is another question that I have been focusing on in the questionnaire. What this Pie Chart is telling is that because of the impact of tourism, tourism has influenced the area to change the way they run their shops. This is a positive impact as this will persuade more tourists to visit because of the demands previous tourists have made. As you can see from the graph because of tourism there are more restaurants opening and gift shops are opening as well. These are popular retail store for tourist which explains the results. This is the final question I will be bringing forward for discussion as this is one of the most important questions. As you can see from the Pie Chart Tourists would like Easier Car Parking Overall, this is very understandable because on week days and weekends tourists would want to visit shops however the only things delaying their shopping time is Parking. If Tourist's have more parking then more Tourists will be able to shop thereby giving more profit towards swanage. Another improvements that the tourists have mention was the fact that most of the shops need to be open of Sunday's this will give them more shopping time to do last minute shopping which is bound to happen at one point or another. If they put this improvement forward swanage will gain more profit. RESIDENTS QUESTIONNAIRE This is one question I chose from the residents Questionnaire which shows which area Residents visit to shop in the surrounding area. Wareham was the most mentioned. The reason for this is because there is more variety of shops to visit which would keep local people interested. I would imagine that it would closer to their work so the journey would be easier. Another key reason why residents would want to shop elsewhere besides Swanage is because there us easier parking so they will be able to visit shops faster. This is one issue that will lead more local people to shop elsewhere besides swanage the reason being, no good car parking facilities. From the Pie chart it shows that 78% think that there no car parks being provided for local people. As I said before because of this issue swanage will lead local people out of the area due to the fact that they have nowhere to park their cars. These are the improvements suggested by the residents of Swanage; overall it is similar to the Tourist's improvements as both mentioned Car Park as their main concern. Both would rather excellent Car Parking than Shops, I imagine both residents and tourists are annoyed with Car Parks which is the reason they brought it up in the questionnaires. One improvement mentioned in the resident questionnaire which relates back to figure 2.2 is that people require more hairdressers. Because there are more females than males in swanage it is quite obvious that women would be demanding more womanly stores. Conclusion Gathering information from both Questionnaire it is safe to say that the main improvement it Car Parks which is an understandable request. People from swanage should take this on board and make a bigger car park in swanage. They have not got anything to lose because more car parks means more people which means more shoppers which eventually lead to money that they can use to redevelop swanage. RETAIL MAP OF SWANAGE Conclusion As you can see from the annotations I have made you can get a clear idea of the types of shops open on Institute road and Station road. Institute road would be a great place for tourist's as there are more shops which would be suitable for them, Residents would not find shops on Institute road helpful as they are specifically aimed at tourist to persuade them to stay in swanage and the way to do that is to feed them with cheap advertisements. Residents would prefer shops on Station Road as there are shops that are aimed at residents as well as Tourist's so everyone would be satisfied on station road. OPENING AND CLOSING TIMES OF SHOPS THE SECOND HYPOTHESIS Retail Opportunities in Swanage urgently need to be redeveloped to take into account the needs of local population This is the second hypothesis I will be focusing on and developing as well. This hypothesis is about redeveloping shops in Swanage that need to be redeveloped; I will be working on areas which are in desperate need of improvement. As I developing the areas of Swanage which need developing I will give explanations as to why I made that choice and what positive impacts can come from it. The main reason I am going to improve swanage town is because of the improvements people have stated in both the resident questionnaire and tourist questionnaires. The improvements they have made are realistic and true towards the area of swanage. Why would you improve swanage? There are many reasons as to why people would want to improve swanage the obvious reason is to make the living conditions better and the facilities to be more flexible with the needs of residents and tourists. Gathering information from the both questionnaires I feel that swanage does need improving. Better Car Parking would be a huge improvement as most people feel that is a huge downfall in swanage, there is never enough parking. More variety of shops is one suggestion that also seems to be popular in the tourist questionnaire which is understandable as tourists visit areas to shop not to be bored. Opening and Closing times of shops in another issue in swanage, it seems that shops close too early for residents so shops need to be opened later for all people to do last minute shopping. My development plan will support most of those improvements to make swanage a better area to visit. DEVELOPMENT PLAN EXPLANATIONS Development 1 and 2 – These are the first two improvements I have made, I have added two retail shopping areas. The reason why I did this is, is because in the residential questionnaire a large number of residents requested shopping areas that will also be open longer to accommodate the times of residents. The types of shops that will be around here are sports shops because that was also requested in the questionnaire a large amount of residents wanted this. Development 3 – As I said before in the previous explanation a handful of people wanted sports shops so I assumed that they would want leisure facilities as well. Because there are more Females than Males in Swanage it is only natural that some of the residents would request leisure facilities for football or basketball etc. Development 4 – This is the biggest request that the residents have made clear in the questionnaire; there wasn't enough parking throughout swanage I have taken that complaint onboard and have now added a Free Car Parking facility for residents only. Because of this residents will find it easier to get to the shops without any hassle. Since residents already live in the area it would be foolish to pay for their own parking which is why I made car parking free, this was another improvement mentioned in the questionnaire. Development 5 – This is the area that will be having the food market once a week this is another request mentioned in the questionnaire I thought it was a good idea as it would give residents a chance to get food useful for their homes. Development 6 – Hairdressers will be added here because there are not enough hairdressers in the area so adding hairdressers will support the improvement of swanage Development 7 – This will be a huge Supermarket for all residents to support all there need whether it is food or clothes etc. Residents would really appreciate this as there are never enough supermarkets in swanage. This will improve swanage because more people will shop thereby putting more money into the swanage development. Development 8 – This will be the pedestrian path leading to the Supermarket people complain about there being too many cars which could get dangerous for most people Development 9 – This is the final improvement I will make in swanage, this area will be the picnic area/quiet area for residents who would just like a relaxing day. It is away from the supermarket so there will no collision with the people who want to relax and the people that want to shop. I would imagine this was requested by the older people of swanage These are the final improvements I have towards swanage based on the results of the questionnaire. On the next page of this coursework I will justify my coursework giving reason as to why it is effective and fits the needs of residents and if it will benefit them or not. JUSTIFICATION OF PLAN On this page I will evaluate my plan giving reason for why it is good plan and why I placed those specific facilities on the plan. I will also write about who benefits from the result of my plan. Why is my Plan Good? I feel my development plan is well planned out because I have placed facilities according to what people have said in the questionnaire, I took that on board on what the people wanted and added that in my plan. The Car Park issue from before as now been resolved because of my plan, there is now a huge Car Parking facility which is free for residents, so I managed to improve in two ways. Another way my plan is good is because I added a large supermarket for residents to use. Residents would find this very useful as they mentioned this in questionnaire. Most of the facilities did not take much thought it was mostly commence sense and guidance from the tourist and residential questionnaire. Who will benefit? Many people will benefit from this improvement change, one group in particular would be the elderly people because I have added a quiet area away from the excitement where people can relax and enjoy the day. Residents would appreciate this, as they can be in a clam environment which would calm them down if they were stressed. The male groups will benefit because I have added a leisure facility for all popular sport, for men who like sport this is one improvement that will make swanage for enjoyable. For the female groups I have added hairdresser facilities, women from swanage will appreciate this change because there are hardly any hairdressers in swanage and having one near residential houses will benefit residential women. What do I think my plan overall Overall I feel my plan is good because it satisfies the needs of residents and there won't be any collisions with tourist shops. Everyone will be satisfied in the area they are in since the change I made to swanage. CONCLUSION AND EVALUATION Conclusion After all information gathered from questionnaires and statistics I have come to the conclusion that my hypothesis has been proven due to the fact that most all tourist and residents gave listed improvements for swanage. All the data analyzed led me to this conclusion and I feel I made that my conclusion has been proven. Although the conclusion I managed to come up with was true there are still areas in my coursework that I feel can improved. The explanations I gave for my maps and graphs could have been explained better with more evidence to prove my point. The statements I gave for development could've been explained more clearly but was still a satisfactory effort. Evaluation Overall I would say my project would be graded from a B to an A because I followed the criteria given and gave evidence to prove my point. I created diagram and graphs to prove another point. However as I said there are still areas for improvement which is the reason for the grade I have given.