Who Is Responsible For Cleanup Under CERCLA Essay Example For Students

Who Is Responsible For Cleanup Under CERCLA? Essay Who Is Responsible For Cleanup Under CERCLA?What is CERCLA? The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, andLiability Act ( CERCLA )1)The purpose of CERCLA is to make owners and operators of hazardous wastedump sites and contaminated areas, as well as their customers, responsible forcleanup costs and property damage. 2)CERCLA is also referred to as THESUPERFUND.It is authorized to a level of 8.5 billion dollars. The funding forCERCLA comes 87% from taxes on the chemical industry and 13% from generalrevenues of the federal government. Who is responsible? After a hazardous waste site is identified, CERCLA places ultimate cleanupresponsibility on those who used the site.Parties responsible for a waste dumpare liable for the cost of waste removal and other remedial action. If potentially responsible parties can be identified, then they can beheld liable for either cleanup costs incurred, or for replenishment of theSuperfund. We will write a custom essay on Who Is Responsible For Cleanup Under CERCLA? specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now Who is a Potentially Responsible Party?1.)Owners and operators of waste sites. i)CERCLA actions against dissolved corporations are permissibleii)If one is the owner or operator, liability may attach even if some otherparty in the past placed hazardous wastes there. ( The seller of a foundry wasfound liable under CERCLA when it was sold for $25,000, but was appraised at$200,000, suggesting the decision to sell was for disposal of hazardousmaterials.)A vendor is not an owner if it did not own the property at the timeof toxic discharge from the facility. iii)A parent company may be considered the owner, despite the formation of asubsidiary with day to day control over operations. iv)Lenders and secured creditors are liable if they actively participate indecisions involving either waste treatment, or site development. They are notliable if they do not participate in management decisions. (silent partners andbanks)v)An owner, employer,or waste generator may be liable for the harmfulconsequences of disposal practices undertaken by third parties in a contractualrelationship with it.( If I hire Fly-By-Night Disposal Corp. to dispose of mywaste and they do so by dumping it in the river, then I may be liable.)2.)Persons who accepted hazardous substances for transport or disposal. 3.)Persons who arranged with a transporter for transportation of wastes. 4.)Any person who arranged for disposal or treatment of hazardous substances. 5.)Transporters of hazardous waste can be liable only where they have selectedthe site for delivery of the hazardous waste. What is a Potentially Responsible Party liable for?1)PRPs are liable for releases or threatened releases which cause theincurrence of Response Costs.A response cost entails all costs of removal andremedial action, any other necessary costs consistent with the NationalContingency Plan, and the costs of any health assessment of effects study. 2)PRPs may also be held liable for damages to or loss of natural resources.

Why Google is Looking for These 5 Key Traits in Employees

Why Google is Looking for These 5 Key Traits in Employees Google did a two-year study of its workers and discovered (surprise!) that fancy degrees and super-genius IQs don’t make great team players. Recent research out of the University of Notre Dame confirms this: what matters most is that coworkers trust each other and believe in what they’re doing. Forget self-interest and pedigree. Forget top-name colleges and the SATs. Google is now shifting course to recruit people who are hardworking and resilient instead- and finally working to diversify their workforce (which is a shocking 70% male and 60% white). Say goodbye to the old elitism of the lone wolf superstar, and say hello to an appreciation of candidates who can overcome adversity.The most important thing companies want to do is building better teams, and here’s what they’ll be looking for:1. Psychological safetyTeam members need to trust each other to take risks. Superegos only get in the way. Team members need to be comfortable being vulnerable together t o do their best work.2. DependabilityThe best teams get it done on time and set the bar consistently high.3. Structure ClarityThe best teams work together with clear roles and goals and strategies.4. MeaningIt’s important to believe in the work you’re doing together and to make it matter.5. ImpactThe best stuff comes out of teams working to make something meaningful and affect change.As a Harvard HR rep wrote in a blog post, â€Å"Who  is on a team matters less than how the team members interact, structure their work, and view their contributions.† The dream team of the future is a powerhouse of people with a wide variety of strengths and talents, people who can trust each other enough to take risks and create a more dynamic future. It doesn’t matter where you went to college. What matters is what you bring to the table and how well you contribute to the group.

HR Management, Industrial Relations, and Personal Management Essay

HR Management, Industrial Relations, and Personal Management - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that for many years, organizations have always emphasized on human resources for the achievement of  specific  goals. The human being had and still being treated as significant resources that contribute immensely to the objectives of an organization. Many of us have seen organizations with the variety of workers/employees. Such employees are from a different background, with different qualifications, outlook, and understanding. As such, there is a need to emphasize on the development of employees or human resources if the business wants to achieve better in the future. Businesses can make it better and progress by creative efforts and abilities of their human resources. Many businesses have a variety of functional areas. Some include production management, financial management, marketing management and human resources management. Our focus is on human resource HR or human resources management HRM. As mentioned above, human resource is e ssential to organizations. As such, human resources management in an organization has a number of functions in relation to human resources. They acquire human resources, develop and maintain it. In a simple explanation, HRM does staff recruitment, retention, and development of the human resource. Industrial relations, personnel management, and HRM all simply represent the activity of managing people. They may have different methods but at the core are focused on the same principle of managing people which have developed throughout the years in order to help the workforce.

Working in Orgnistions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Working in Orgnistions - Essay Example Bsing on the interviews tht I conducted previously nd literture tht I hve reserched, I evlute orgniztion nd suggest its design. Mny retil shopping centers hve tried nd filed to perform excellently outside their home mrkets. Likewise, some retilers hve led stry trying to develop Internet shopping. s result, TESCO, the United Kingdom's biggest grocer, hs drwn significint ttention becuse of its mbitious overses strtegy nd its successful on-line home delivery service. nother successful key fctor tht inputs to TESCO sustinble development nd growth is the mrketing communiction pln tht provides the detiled overview of the Compny's fiscl policies s for meeting the clients' needs nd providing competitive prices within wisely locted grocers ll over the world. TESCO understnds tht successful mrketing strtegy should be bsed on customers' need, tht is why the Mission Sttement declred for the Compny sounds s it follows: "One of our vlues is to understnd customers better thn nyone. We go to gret lengths to sk customers wht they think, listen to their views, nd then ct on them. We look both t wht customers sy nd wht they do . This feedbck guides the decisions we tle" (www.TESCO.com) Tesco is the lrgest food retiler in UK, operting round 2,318 stores worldwide. Tesco opertes round 1,878 stores throughout the UK, nd lso opertes stores in the rest of Europe nd si. Tesco.com is wholly-owned subsidiry offering complete online service, including tescodirect.com nd tesco.net. The compny lso offers rnge of both online nd offline personl finnce services. Tesco is hedqurtered in Hertfordshire, UK. For the yer ended October 2005 Tesco PLC chieved revenues tht totlled 33,557 million, n increse of 18.7% ginst the previous yer's revenues tht were 28,280 million. s well s convenience produce, mny stores hve gs sttions. Section 2: Methodology Informtion for this explortory study ws gthered by conducting semistructured interviews with route slespersons hving knowledge of wholesle theft methodology. These individuls were selected on the bsis of their willingness to shre pertinent informtion with the uthors with whom they or their contcts hd estblished trusting, personl contcts. It is virtully impossible to get rndomly-selected strngers to discuss such sensitive informtion. fter the purpose nd scope of this study were fully explined to ll respondents, ech ws ssured of nonymity, nd no ttempt ws mde to gther informtion from the respondents other thn theft methodology. Section 3: Data Data for this study are mainly based on the face-to-face interview coducted recently with Tesco employees. The interviews were open-ended to ensure proper understnding of the often complicted theft methods. There were eight interviewees. Ech hd t lest two yers experience s route slesperson, nd ech greed to prticipte nonymously without compenstion. Each interviewees was given to complete the questionnaire (Appendix B), that covered various questions on organizational structure and design. Questions

Research paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Research paper - Essay Example Hemingway’s statements were short and direct, then there are parts that reflect the way the main character was thinking; Hemingway did not waste too many word explaining, and I liked that. Maupassant’s story was so memorable because it is true today as it was during his time, that people can be just as hypocritical. For the poems, the more memorable ones are â€Å"Facing It† by Yusef Komunyakaa and â€Å"We Wear the Mask† by Paul Laurence Dunbar, because of their courage and outspokenness at a time of bigotry and racial hatred. Sometimes, I mentally place myself in their shoes, and I am unsure whether or not I could be as brave as them. Because of their writings, our literature is all the richer and lessons of history better preserved for generations to come. Yes, I had shared my assigned readings with friends and family, and they were visibly touched by some of these. The poetry evokes a different set of sentiments for each reader, depending upon their pe rsonal experiences. Among the writing techniques I found the most challenging is systematically writing my analysis of short stories. The framework of the literary analysis is specific and highly structured. I also found it diff

Governance And Leadership Of Project Management Commerce Essay

Governance And Leadership Of Project Management Commerce Essay The purpose of this document is to describe and evaluate the governance structure and leadership approaches currently adopted by the LEGO Group; suggest new or additional governance structures and leadership approaches that could improve the companys performance; and a reflection on the propositions made in the latter half of this document. Table of Contents Background  [1]   The LEGO Group is a family owned toy manufacturing company founded by a Danish carpenter-turned-toymaker Ole Kirk Kristiansen during the great depression in 1932. The company manufactured wooden toys because of the declining demand for building houses and furniture. In 1934 Ole combined the Danish words leg godt meaning play well to form LEGO. Ole founded LEGO with the motto Only the best is good enough (he produced toys using high quality materials and workmanship) which is still used by the LEGO Group as a guiding principle. In 1947, after World War II, LEGO acquired a plastic mould injection machine, which allowed LEGO to expand its business operations to produce a relatively large volume of plastic and wooden toys, resulting in the production of the first LEGO bricks. In 1954, Godtfred Kirk Kristiansen (one of Oles sons), found an opportunity to create toy products that were able to connect with products in the toy manufacturing industry, resulting in the birth of LEGO play-sets. In 1958, LEGO patented the improved LEGO brick design, also the year when Godtfred took over the company due to the death of his father. Between the 1960s and 2000s LEGO continuously grew into one of the worlds top largest toy manufactures, by expanding; with international sales, new innovative play-sets, sports and media licence acquisitions (i.e. franchise films, basketball, hockey, soccer), LEGO magazine subscriptions, erecting a LEGOLAND theme-park, launching a LEGO website, and LEGO videogames. However, in the early 2000s, the company experienced a decline in sales and profit: in 2003 revenues dropped 30% and continued another 10% in 2004. To overcome this crisis LEGO underwent a governance change to resolve the problems in the pre-existing management. In 2004, Jà ¸rgen Vig Knudstrop (the director of strategic development) replaced the CEO at the time, and in his first action as CEO he arranged a team to analyse the companys supply chain operations, from product development to production and distribution. The team discovered that although the newer products represented a large portion of annual revenues, newer generation play-sets were more elaborately designed and generated less profit; product designers were creating products without total consideration for material and production costs; designers used their own vendors resulting in LEGO having to deal with over 11,000 suppliers; inefficiencies in the organisation of the plastic mould injection machines, since each machine was capable of producing every type of LEGO brick retooling was required, causing downtimes resulting production facilities operating at 70% capacity. To bring the company back on track the team: reduced their product line where necessary as well as reduce the selection of colours for designs by half; used production costs of each brick to reduce expensive products, in-turn reducing the amount of suppliers needed by 80%; designers were shown the impact of using existing bricks over creating new ones for future designs; certain plastic mould injection machines were assigned specific LEGO bricks on scheduled cycles to reduce downtimes and retooling costs. These changes to product development, production and distribution implemented by Knudstrops leadership resulted in the LEGO Group earning a profit of $72 million in 2005, with profits increasing by 240% in 2006. Introduction  [2]   The LEGO Group is a privately held company based in Denmark. The company is currently owned by the 3rd and 4th generations of the Kirk Kristiansen founding family: Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen (Oles grandson) and his three children. Ownership of the company is handled through KIRKBI (an investment company) and the LEGO Foundation: KIRKBI owns 75% while the remaining 25% is held by the LEGO Foundation. As of 2012, the LEGO Group manufactures toys in more than 130 countries, has approximately 10,000 employees and is the third largest manufacturer of toys in the world (in terms of sales) after Mattel and Hasbro. Governance  [3]   The LEGO Groups approach to governance is focused on combining the strengths and benefits of private ownership with the applicable elements from good corporate governance for listed companies (Jensen, 2012). The certain requirements from listed companies (from the Danish Stock Exchange) are not all compatible for a family-owned company (Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen is majority shareholder) while recommendations of corporate governance structure and board composition still apply. The LEGO Group maintains the importance of having a strong and competent board of directors, especially because of family-ownership. To support this, the company elects a chairman among independent board members to ensure professional board management. This process is regulated via: ensuring a diverse and complementary board composition; regular board self-assessments; competitive compensation; and clear specific rules mandated for each management body. Being a family owned company, the LEGO Group is exposed to risk through the handover of ownership across generations. The mediation strategy is to highly involve the next generation in company matters pertaining to ownership. Organisational Structure The LEGO Group uses a hierarchical top-down structure with five separate departments (see Appendix A, pp. 8), this structure centralises the companys management to a functional management structure which rests the authority with corporate management the corporate management consists of the CEO, the CFO and four Executive Vice Presidents (The LEGO Group, 2010, pp. 7). The centralised functional management structure ensures consistency in organisations, as a limited number of persons are in charge causing jobs to be simplified allowing employees to be highly specialised in their work since specialisation leads to operational efficiencies where employees become specialists within their own realm of expertise (BusinessMate, 2010). This form of governance however, can result in slow decision-making processes as decisions must pass through bureaucracy in order to get through to corporate management (Riley, 2012). A disadvantage of functional management structures is that it facilitates rigid communication between employees and corporate management: employees can feel unheard and excluded from decisions that directly affect them. This lack of involvement can be detrimental to the job satisfaction, motivation and productivity of the employees (Jones and George, 2006, pp. 53-54). Leadership The current CEO (Knudstorp) emphasises a decentralised and innovative-oriented approach in contrast to the existing structure. To implement this combined strategy Knudstorp uses a managing at eye level approach, which he defined as being able to talk to people on the factory floor, to the engineers, to marketers being at home with everyone (OConnell, 2009). Knudstorp achieves this through a relaxation of the top-down management style, allowing responsibility and decision making to be pushed as far down the hierarchy as possible (OConnell, 2009), much like McGregors (1960) Theory Y where collaboration within the company relies on leaders recognising the potential of their resources and how to realise that potential. Through the realisation of the Knudstorps leadership style the LEGO Group moved away from a hierarchical organisational structure to a flatter one with: cross-functional teamwork, employee involvement, more open communication lines and styles. With open communication whe re all the members of the company are in contact with each other in some way or another the company is able to have a stronger sense of community. The LEGO Group communicates its attitude to the responsibility of its employees through communication, health safety, people and culture policies and promises. Link between Project and Corporate Strategy  [4]   The LEGO Group uses an innovation matrix a tool developed within the company to help identify, allocate resources and coordinate different innovation activities (projects) for developing new products. The strategic coordination of innovation activities is led by a cross-cultural team: the Executive Innovation Governance Group (EIGG), they determine LEGOs innovation goals and strategy; define the new product portfolio; coordinate innovation activities ensuring they are mutually reinforcing; delegate authority; allocate resources; and evaluate results to ensure that all innovation activities support the corporate strategy. Using the innovation matrix allows LEGOs management to understand what; resources to allocate, risks to monitor; and selecting who is responsible for reviewing the innovation activities. The company divides its innovation activities into eight distinct types, and distributes the responsibility for them across four different areas of the company: functional groups; concept lab; product and marketing development; community, education, and direct. Overseen by the EIGG, the four areas work to achieve innovation activities (projects) that mutually reinforce each other while providing different degrees of innovativeness back to the company. Relationship with Stakeholders/Shareholders The LEGO Group emphasises a strong focus on ensuring the balance of the value created for the owners in comparison to the value creation for the remaining stakeholders such as: consumers, employees, customers and other partners. The company believes that creating value for the companys stakeholders will result in long term value creation for the owners. It is important for us to engage in respectful stakeholder dialogue by being transparent and ensuring an open and honest dialogue. It is fundamental to us that the relationship between our company and our host communities are based on trust, mutual respect, and a cooperative spirit. (Jensen, 2012). Shareholder Relationship The CEO is the head of the company, but it is a family-owned company controlled by Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, the majority shareholder of KIRKBI: the investment company with 75% control of the LEGO Group (The LEGO Group, 2012). Due to this power structure, the central management does not have full control, meaning that final decision do not rest solely on the CEO, but with influence from the family shareholder. Internal Stakeholders Due to the organisational structure, employees have to report back to their respective managers. However, under Knudstorps leadership the looser control system provides employees more influence a factor which can work as a motivator. The employees in the LEGO Group are the building blocks of our success today. We strive to improve the well-being and job satisfaction of our employees. (Jensen, 2012). External Stakeholders In 2005, Knudstorp identified the significance of customer involvement in the product development process. Knudstorp found that the adult enthusiasts could articulate the product strengths and weaknesses that young children may sense but cant express (OConnell, 2009). The LEGO Group actively engages customers to participate in the design and creation of new products and ideas. Although they lose come control over its system, the company gains knowledge from its most valued consumers. Suggested Governance and Leadership In 2009, Knudstorp stated that the company was pursuing organic growth, and needed to change leadership style again to continue building sales volume. Knudstorp asserted that the change is necessary as the company had become risk averse while focusing on survival, and that they needed to become opportunity driven, which requires taking greater risks (OConnell, 2009). In 2011, Hasbro, one of the companys major competitors planned to launch a new product called the Kre-O, which was designed to be compatible with LEGO bricks (Anderson, 2011). This poses a significant threat to the company due to the size and brad power of Hasbro. To mitigate threats such as competition from new/existing sources, it is important for the LEGO Group to change its governance structure to help the company formulate a corporate strategy that allows the company to maintain market dominance and financial stability/success in the future. Governance Currently the LEGO Group has combined the behaviour and outcome oriented approach in the overall governance of the company: behaviour oriented organisations are indifferent to whether projects are managed in-house or externally so long as the process conforms with the companys policies; outcome oriented organisations manage projects internally through employees with a wider skillset (Mà ¼ller, 2009). The LEGO Group works with both internal and external designers as well as customers in product development (behaviour orientation) while having a board member or the EIGG overseeing the project management, and ensuring it fits in with the corporate strategy (outcome orientation). According to Mà ¼ller (2009) there are four governance paradigms, the: flexible economist, versatile artist, conformist and agile pragmatist. The LEGO Group currently falls under the versatile artist paradigm where the company prioritises the diverse user needs using project management methods to realise the requirements of a variety of stakeholders, as well as promoting high productivity. However, the company needs to migrate to a more behaviour oriented agile pragmatist paradigm, which also accounts for the needs of the diverse stakeholders, but allows for products to develop from core functionality; to include additional features; to enhance the flexibility and user-friendliness, especially when dealing with the gaming and computer entertainment products which include successful franchises such as LEGO Star Warsà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢, LEGO Batmanà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ and LEGO Harry Potterà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ (The LEGO Group, 2012). Leadership Although the current leadership style within the company is flatter with more open communication lines, the leadership is still quite bureaucratic, albeit the authority for decision making has been pushed down the hierarchy as much as possible, the structure remains top-down. The LEGO Group needs to be more flexible in their leadership approach, which according to Frame (2003) and Mà ¼ller (2009) bureaucratic leadership is the least flexible leadership style of the four: laissez-faire, democratic, autocratic and bureaucratic. The company may experience better performance if a democratic approach was adopted, as it allows for additional flexibility and builds on the existing flatter communication style. Reflection

Health - The Controversial Topic of Food Allergies :: Health Nutrition Diet Exercise Essays

The Controversial Topic of Food Allergies Food allergies are the most controversial allergy-related topic right now. It's controversial because of several facts like: * many kinds of bad reactions to foods have nothing to do with allergies * * foods are often for symptoms that result from each other * * children often out grow sensitivities to foods * * even if you're allergic to certain foods, you might be able to eat small amounts of the food without any reaction * Some of the most common foods that cause symptoms like severe stomach pain, diarrhea, hives, swellings, wheezing, vomiting, hayfever symptoms, excema and wheezing are nuts, chocolate, strawberries, milk, wheat and corn. There is one term in particular that can be used to clear up some confusion about various kinds of reactions called food allergies. That term is called "food intolerance" and it applies to abnormal reactions to foods regardless of the cause. Food intolerance may cause the release of amines (histamine, dopamine, etc.) from cells. Amines are found in food and can affect many body functions like the size of the blood vessels, blood pressure control, heart rate, brain activity, and nerve function. Histamine is the most common mediator. It also is a compound that causes allergic responses. Foods high in histamine are red wine, sauerkraut, strawberries, some cheeses and alcoholic beverages. Dopomine comes from fava beans and octopamine comes from some citrus fruits. Beta-phenylethylamine comes from chocolate. If your body is depleted or has an overabundant amount of amines you might have neurological or psychological problems. There are many allergic reactions that come with food allergies. The main one is called anaphylaxis. This fatal reaction is a violent allergic reaction that occurs thought the body causing nausea, vomiting, swelling, chest pain, choking and collapse. "Another painful allergic reaction is called Celiac Disease. This reaction is caused by a chronic adverse reaction to gluten, a protein found in grain, wheat and corn. Children who have this disease, are sickly, have chronic diarrhea and fail to grow properly until all gluten containing products are taken out of the child's diet" (Edelson, 49). You probably didn't even consider food additives as being something that would cause an allergic reaction. Well this food additive named Tartrazine, better known as FD&C (Food, Drug & Cosmetic) No. 5 has been suspected of creating asthmatic attacks & chronic hives. Tartrazine sensitivity is also linked to aspirin sensitivity.

Alibaba Competing in China and Beyond

Case: Alibaba Competing in China and Beyond Electric commerce (e-commerce) is the buying and selling of products or services over an electronic medium like the internet. The advantages of e-commerce are speedy transactions, less travel, low operational costs, ability to reach a large customer base, and round the clock buying and selling. Some of the disadvantages of e-commerce are the minimum amounts of customer to company interactions which leads to trust issues, e-commerce is prone to fraud and theft, and there is no guarantee on product quality.In a market like China, it's important to understand the local culture, values, the political government, and the language. The political government in China has a major impact on the Internet companies in China. It is important for e-commerce companies in China to understand how to successfully launch a Chinese language website or design a search engine that would suit the complex language. In order to gain an edge amongst their competitor s, international companies must seek out local help to understand the local culture and values, the language, the consumers, and how to deal with the politics of the region.Alibaba, founded by Jack Ma, is a website which allows for buyers and sellers all over the globe to engage in electronic business transactions. Alibaba played a major role in bringing the Internet Revolution to China. Ma achieved this by allowing small and medium-size enterprises (SME) in China to benefit from cross border trade through his website. Alibaba made their money from the 21 million users who paid annual subscriptions. Alibaba established itself when the Chinese Internet industry was still in its infancy.This was the perfect opportunity for e-commerce companies because of the lack of competition. However, the competition that they did face were Global Sources and MeetChina, which were also launched in 1999. In order to gain a competitive advantage in the B2B market Alibaba did not charge fees for any t ransaction. That was a strategy that critics were skeptical about. However, Alibaba built a customer base that would end up to be unrivaled. What made Alibaba so successful was its ability to rapidly adapt to current market trends in China.In the dotcom bubble burst Alibaba reformulated their strategy to concentrating on improving its business in China rather than focusing on global markets, they moved the headquarters back from Shanghai to Hangzhou, and they would concentrate on the richest regions in China. Foreign companies saw opportunity in China's expanding e-commerce market. One of those companies was US-based eBay Inc. , who entered China by acquiring stake in Shanghai's EachNet. com for $30 million. Ma then launched Taobao to rival eBay in the Business to Consumer (B2C) and Consumer to Consumer (C2C) market.Again, Taobao employed the free concept strategy to attempt to build a consumer base by offering free listings on their website. Alibaba also developed a promotional str ategy for Taobao in which they advertised through online ads and billboards. Taobao also had a unique feature where users can e-mail and chat with each other onsite unlike their eBay counterparts who concealed sellers identity and only offered communications through offline messaging. Taobao also addressed the trust factor during online transactions between buyers and sellers by developing AliPay, similar to Paypal.The first mistake that eBay Inc. made was that they based their business strategy on the US business model. What works well in one region will not work in others. Ma quoted â€Å"We knew that someday, eBay would come in our direction. † indicating that Alibaba had done their research and they were prepared for the arrival of any potential rivals. After cornering 79% of the market shares in China, eBay soon found itself in fierce competition with Alibaba when Alibaba made quick marketing adjustments. Bay ‘s other mistake was that they entered China assuming th at they have a global product. What they failed to realize is that the Taobao product was designed for the local consumer while eBay's product was more product based, meaning they are more concerned with how to get more consumers to use their product rather than does this product fit the consumers wants and needs. eBay declined to drop their auction fees and failed to improve consumer interaction on their website to compete with Taobao. eBay should have focused more on the local strategies that other local business use.They could have done this if they were more consumer driven and aligned with the local environment. eBay should have went through the process of environmental scanning. They should have conducted an analysis of their current and potential competitors to find out what their goals and strategies are and what are their strengths and weaknesses. eBay's lack of knowledge and ignorance of the local market left them unprepared for rapid change that local businesses employ. F oreign competitors fail to enter the Chinese market because they lack the nderstanding of the language, the culture, and they lack the ability to adapt rapidly to change. Foreign companies can address this issue by preparing a strategy for entry such as organize ways to enable fast communication and processes for quick business decision making. They should hire within the country to adopt the workers who have a understanding of the local culture and values. They should be prepared for change and learn to adapt with the local market trends and prepare a plan of action to react faster.

buy custom Benefits of Non-Dividend Paying Stock essay

buy custom Benefits of Non-Dividend Paying Stock essay A non-dividend paying stock is the one that do not give interest to people who invest in it. Though this type of investment does not give interest on the capital invested, that does not mean that they are the worst investment ever. A person may decide to start a family business, which does not pay any dividend. However, with time the business can grow and become a major success. One of the reasons that can make a person invest in a non-dividend stock is the need by many people to be their self-bosses. The SP 500 is one of the non-divided stocks whose value has risen rapidly in the recent past (ADVFN. 2012). Primary factors affecting decisions of capital structure Ability of cash flow The business capacity to stabilize, generate cash inflows and promte certainity of such inflows influences the capital selection structure. It is important for a business to have stable cash inflows than average cash inflows. Growth and sales stability Rapidly growing firms need big amount of capital because the cost of floatation associated with debt is smaller than those in common stock. Company size The enterprise size highly influences the availability of funds. The debenture terms are more favorable to large companies. Control Directors who may need to retain control may not want to sell common stock for it may bring new voting investors who may make control hard. Risks of long term and short term loans Long-term loans despite the advantages have risks both to the lender and to the borrower. The lender has the risk of not being paid while borrower has the risk of paying more due to inflation, due to interest and even be tied by the long time payment. Weakness in managing my money I have a big problem in managing my money. Some time I may say that I want to limit unnecessary expenses but that is in vain. I always spend unnecessarily. This is a critical problem in not only my life but other peoples lives because it affects their capacity to save which implies that they live from pocket-to-mouth. The possible way to control this is to set a fixed amount of money to save every month and to stick to a consistent saving pattern whatever the circumstances (Jones Frank, 2007). Buy custom Benefits of Non-Dividend Paying Stock essay

Nitrogen in Tires

Nitrogen in Tires Question: What makes nitrogen in tires better than air? I see a lot of tires with the green cap indicating they are filled with nitrogen. Is there any advantage to putting nitrogen in my automobile tires instead of compressed air? How does it work? Answer: There are multiple reasons why nitrogen is preferable to air in automobile tires: better pressure retention leading to increased fuel economy and improved tire lifespancooler running temperatures accompanied by less pressure fluctuation with temperature changeless tendency toward wheel rot To understand why, its helpful to review the composition of air. Air is mostly nitrogen (78%), with 21% oxygen, and smaller amounts of carbon dioxide, water vapor, and other gases. The oxygen and water vapor are the molecules that matter. Although you might think oxygen would be a larger molecule than nitrogen because it has a higher mass on the periodic table, elements further along an element period actually have a small atomic radius because of the nature of the electron shell. An oxygen molecule, O2, is smaller than a nitrogen molecule, N2, making it easier for oxygen to migrate through the wall of tires. Tires filled with air deflate more quickly than those filled with pure nitrogen. Is it enough to matter? A 2007 Consumer Reports study compared air-inflated tires and nitrogen-inflated tires to see which lost pressure more quickly and whether the difference was significant. The study compared 31 different automobile models with tires inflated to 30 psi. They followed the tire pressure for a year and found air-filled tires lost an average of 3.5 psi, while nitrogen-filled tires lost an average of 2.2 psi. In other words, air-filled tires leak 1.59 times more quickly than nitrogen-filled tires. The leakage rate varied widely between different brands of tires, so if a manufacturer recommends filling a tire with nitrogen, its best to heed the advice. For example, the BF Goodrich tire in the test lost 7 psi. Tire age also mattered. Presumably, older tires accumulate tiny fractures which make them more leaky with time and wear. Water is another molecule of interest. If you only ever fill up your tires with dry air, the effects of water arent a problem, but not all compressors remove water vapor. Water in tires should not lead to tire rot in modern tires because they are coated with aluminum so they will form aluminum oxide when exposed to water. The oxide layer protects the aluminum from further attack in much the same way chrome protects steel. However, if you are using tires that do not have the coating, water can attack the tire polymer and degrade it. The more common problem (which I have noted in my Corvette, when I have used air rather than nitrogen) is that water vapor leads to pressure fluctuations with temperature. If there is water in your compressed air, it enters the tires. As the tires heat up, the water vaporizes and expands, increasing tire pressure much more significantly than what you see from the expansion of nitrogen and oxygen. As the tire cools, pressure drops appreciably. The changes reduce tire life expectancy and affect fuel economy. Again, the magnitude of the effect likely is influenced by brand of tire, age of tire, and how much water you have in your air. The Bottom Line The important thing is to make sure your tires are kept inflated at the proper pressure. This is much more important than whether the tires are inflated with nitrogen or with air. However, if your tires are expensive or you drive under extreme conditions (i.e., at high speeds or with extreme temperature changes over the course of a trip), its worth it to use nitrogen. If you have low pressure but normally fill with nitrogen, its better to add compressed air than wait until you can get nitrogen, but you may see a difference in the behavior of your tire pressure. If there is water in with the air, any problems will likely be lasting, since theres nowhere for the water to go. Air is fine for most tires and preferable for a vehicle youll take to remote locations, since compressed air is much more readily available than nitrogen.

Discuss accounting principles and applications for business and Essay

Discuss accounting principles and applications for business and personal use - Essay Example Accounting identifies the increases and decreases in spending and shows the major components of your spending. Thus if there are any excessive spending or and wasteful items being purchased, by identifying those, any corrective actions can be taken to get rid of that unwanted excessiveness. All of this will eventually help you to be compatible with your financial targets or budget. Accounting helps in an individual’s life as well, even it’s a professional life. Most of us are in habit of taking loans to fulfill our needs. And there are times too, when most of us are not having much attractive earnings or savings. In those times properly managing of financial resources is of high importance. If you are in debt, you need to first get rid of that because that may even affect your personal reputation and image. Accounting not only makes you more responsible towards personal management but positively affects your lifestyle as well by organizing your professional life with discipline. Accounting increases a person’s financial awareness. Now days, accounting is not that difficult as it used to be perceived before, with lots of calculations and paper works but after the development of many accounting software, accounting has become too easy and it is no more a thing restricted to finance professionals but even an ordinary man can operate it as efficiently as any finance guy can. The difference between a successful and not-so-successful individual today is of better financial management. Today, people are more categorized on the basis of their lifestyles and social classes and these two things are better attained with the possession of money, for which financial management is highly important. Even if one wants to succeed in life, personal management is one thing that makes enormous difference in the approaches that people follow to be successful and financial management is one the major component of personal management. And the essence

Circuits with Feedback and Sine Wave Oscillators Coursework - 1

Circuits with Feedback and Sine Wave Oscillators - Coursework Example These are positive or regenerative feedback and negative or degenerative feedback (Ellinger, 2008). The different between the two types of feedback entails whether the feedback signal is out of phase or in phase with an input signal. Positive or Regenerative feedback is said to occur whenever the feedback signal happens to be in phase with an input signal (Maas 53). The block diagram below shows an amplifier having a positive feedback. It can be deduced from the diagram that the input signal and the feedback signal are in phase implying that the feedback signal regenerates or adds the input signal. Following this, there occurs somewhat larger amplitude in the output signal that it could occur without there being the feedback. Considering a positive feedback in the transistor amplifier, it is noted that it is somewhat simple providing a positive feedback in the common-base transistor amplifier. Given that the output and the input signals are both in phase, what one requires to do is to couple a section of the input signal back to an input. The block diagram below shows these phenomena. Basing on this diagram, it is clear that the feedback network is constituted by C2 and R2, with the value of C2 being larger in order for the capacitive reactance labelled XC to become low and to enable the capacitor to be able to couple the signal quite easily. Moreover, the value of the resistive R2 must be larger in order for it to limit the amount of feedback signal, as well as in ensuring that the majority of an output signal is connects to the next stage via C3. As widely cited, the common-emitter configuration is one of the most common configurations for the transistor amplifiers (Maas 34). However, a positive feedback seems to be somehow more difficult with the common emitter configuration since in most cases, the output and input signals are often 180Â º out of phase (Maas 46). Negative feedback, on the other hand, is often achieved through adding part of