Humorous Wedding Speech Made by a Fellow Teacher :: Wedding Toasts Roasts Speeches

Humorous Wedding Speech Made by a Fellow Teacher Ladies and gentlemen, it's an honour to be standing here. I suppose I should actually say it's an honour and a pleasure, but I know the pleasure won’t kick in until this speech part is over. I must admit to being a little surprised when James invited me to his wedding as I only met him a few years ago. But on reflection, I think he was swayed by the fact that I know very little about the first years of his life, which therefore puts some rather embarrassing stories out of reach. James and I have been close ever since we met whilst (while) teaching at Ferndale secondary school - so close, in fact, that he has told me secrets that nobody else knows. One of those secrets is that James keeps a diary. In preparation for this speech, I decided to swipe his diary and would now like to read to you a few of the entries that chart the blossoming romance between James and Anis. [pull out a diary prop] So here it goes: September 5th 1998 – Today was my first day as a teacher. When the kids got out of line, I just got loud and acted tough like dad does. I hope they don't realize that I am really just a big sissy. September 6th 1998 – A pretty teacher at school talked to me today. That was weird. September 7th 1998 – I said â€Å"hi† to the pretty girl today. It's a good thing Jason [best man] taught me how to be cool. September 13th 1998 – Ate dinner at Pizza Hut tonight with Jason, Sarah, and the pretty girl named Anis. I think I like her. September 14th 1998 – I couldn't sleep last night with all the butterflies in my stomach. I think I like this girl more than my car. September 15th 1998 – Jason is the coolest guy I know. I hope he doesn’t decide to go out with Anis. September 14th 1998 – Anis kissed me. It was amazing. I haven't kissed a girl since Freshers’ Week at Uni (the university). December 7th 2001 – I proposed to Anis today. She accepted, but only after criticizing my way of kneeling. This is one of the happiest days of my life. Unfortunately, I can't see much because I've been crying like a little girl.

Magnet Status

While many nurses are campaigning for staffing ratios, others are putting their hopes in a different kind of â€Å"magnet† – hospitals throughout North America (and one in the United Kingdom) that have received special designation by the American Nurses Association (ANA) through its American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). Some supporters of the â€Å"Magnet hospital† concept view it as a substitute for ratios, others don’t. The term â€Å"Magnet† was coined in the 1980s, when researchers for the American Academy of Nursing (AAN), and ANA affiliate, began analyzing hospitals with a good record of nurse retention. The forty-six facilities studies in the original 1983 report were places where nurses, not surprisingly, said they liked to work. These hospitals had low turnover and vacancy rates, although they were located in areas with a lot of labor market competition for nurses (Gordon, 2005). Hospitals that act as a â€Å"magnet† for excellence creates a work surrounding that distinguish, rewards, and promote proficient nursing. Organization attributes that attract nurses to magnet hospitals support better patient care and outcomes, including a strong presence of nurses in patient care decision making, a high level collegiality between nurses and physicians, and more time for nurses to care for and teach patients, and the encouragement and expectation of critical thinking. Magnet designation is also an effective marketing tool for attracting patients and for recruiting and retaining quality nursing staff. Although the magnet designation provides numerous benefits for a hospital, the road to attaining it is not an easy one. The written application for magnet status must demonstrate how the hospital implements the Scope and Standards for Nursing Administrators and how it incorporates the forces of magnetism within nursing services. It can take two or more years to perform the assessment, compile the documentation, and have the site visit by magnet reviewers (Grossman, 2007). Some tips on making the journey to magnet designation a successful one include the following: –  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Get buy-in front from executive management, nurse managers, and nursing staff –  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Seek advice from other organizations that have navigated the process –  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Organize the effort across all organizational levels and departments –  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Establish a timeline to keep team efforts on track and promote team focus –  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Coordinate personality styles and team members’ strengths, teaming â€Å"thinkers† with â€Å"doers† Hospitals meet the magnet standards by having a flatter organizational structure that allows nurses more say in both patient care and how their jobs are designed, making the chief nursing officer part of the executive team, hiring more staff nurses and reducing or eliminating agency and travel nurses, and supporting top nurses in pursuing research and advanced degrees (Porche, 2005). References: Gordon, S. (2005). Nursing Against the Odds: How Health Care Cost Cutting, Media Stereotypes, and Medical Hubris Undermine Nurses and Patient Care. New York: Cornell University Press. Grossman, S. (2007). Mentoring in Nursing: A Dynamic and Collaborative Process. New York: Springer Publishing Comapny. Porche, R. A. (2005). Issues and Strategies for Nurse Leaders: Meeting Hospital Challenges Today. Oakbrook Terrace, IL: Joint Commission Resources.   

Corporate social responsibility Essay

Social responsibility is an ethical theory that an entity, be it an organization or individual, has an obligation to act to benefit society at large. Social responsibility is a duty every individual has to perform so as to maintain a balance between the economy and the ecosystems. Businesses can use ethical decision making to secure their businesses by making decisions that allow for government agencies to minimize their involvement with the corporation. Critics argue that Corporate social responsibility (CSR) distracts from the fundamental economic role of businesses; others argue that it is nothing more than superficial window-dressing; others argue that it is an attempt to pre-empt the role of governments as a watchdog over powerful corporations though there is no systematic evidence to support these criticisms. A significant number of studies have shown no negative influence on shareholder results from CSR but rather a slightly negative correlation with improved shareholder returns. Corporate social responsibility (CSR, also called corporate conscience, corporate citizenship, social performance, or sustainable responsible business/ Responsible Business) is a form of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model. CSR policy functions as a built-in, self-regulating mechanism whereby a business monitors and ensures its active compliance with the spirit of the law, ethical standards, and international norms. In some models, a firm’s implementation of CSR goes beyond compliance and engages in â€Å"actions that appear to further some social good, beyond the interests of the firm and that which is required by law. CSR is a process with the aim to embrace responsibility for the company’s actions and encourage a positive impact through its activities on the environment, consumers, employees, communities, stakeholders and all other members of the public sphere who may also be considered as stakeholders. FUNCTIONS OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY The function of corporate social responsibility is for corporations to hold themselves accountable for the ethical, legal, societal and ecological impacts of their business practices. Corporate social responsibility practices are self-monitoring, meaning there aren’t laws requiring corporations to behave in a socially responsible manner. Rules regarding corporate responsibility practices are generally written into the corporate bylaws, mission statements and employee handbooks. Ethical Function Ethics are one of the most important aspects in corporate governance and therefore have an important function in corporate social responsibility. A company must have internal controls regarding the expected ethical behavior and consequences of unethical business practices of its top executives and employees. Behaving ethically makes the company as a whole accountable to its investors, shareholders and consumers. The ethical function of corporate social responsibility helps to prevent conflicts of interest between earning corporate profits and maintaining the integrity of the company and the goods and services it produces. Legal Function The legal function of corporate social responsibility is to encourage transparency in a company’s business practices and financial reporting. Maintaining high levels of legal business practices, such as adhering to Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, regulations promotes goodwill toward employees. Maintaining high levels of legal financial practices maintains good will among investors, stakeholders and government financial-reporting regulatory agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC. Societal Function The societal function of corporate social responsibility is to respect and invest in the communities in which the company operates. Companies are aware of how the production of their products affects the local community. These companies take necessary actions to diminish the negative impacts of factors such as increased traffic, noise and pollution for the communities in which they operate. The societal function of corporate social responsibility also includes companies reinvesting in the communities in which they operate, such as donating money to local charities. Ecological Function The ecological function of corporate social responsibility is to not only respect the immediate environment in which the company operates but also to respect the company’s effect on the global environment. Companies are aware of the environmental impact the production of their products have on their local communities. In corporate social responsibility, these companies adhere to strict standards in an effort to diminish the negative impact of the environmental byproducts such as air and water pollution from the production of their products. Having such standards impacts both the local and global environments. CHARACTERISTICS OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY The idea of Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR, first appeared in the late 1960s in response to the need for businesses to address the effect of their pursuits on the environment and society, in addition to the interests of their shareholders. CSR attempts to portray corporations as responsible citizens who are concerned with issues of social and environmental welfare. The Public CSR argues that corporations bear responsibility for the effect they have on other sectors of society. The activities of corporations have an impact on individuals who don’t work for them and don’t buy their products, through, for example, secondary economic impacts and degradation of the natural environment. CSR acknowledges this, and attempts to make the interactions between corporations and society positive and productive. This can be done by consulting with neighbors and citizens who are affected by corporate activities and by striving for transparency in corporate pursuits so that the public knows what is going on. The Environment Increased knowledge on the part of the public about declining resources, toxic waste and global warming is compelling companies to make more efforts to be more environmentally benign. The traditional view that the natural world is merely a source of materials and an equally convenient dump for waste is being challenged from many quarters, and CSR is an attempt by corporations to respond to these concerns. The sincerity of changes being made on the part of corporations includes some serious efforts to achieve sustainability and other efforts that are essentially â€Å"greenwashing,† activities in which corporations put more effort into appearing green than into actually being green. Clients CSR challenges the traditional wisdom that the interests and needs of the clients of a corporation will be adequately protected by the market itself. Because the free market has been severely compromised by a combination of government subsidies and manipulative marketing practices, CSR attempts to remedy this situation by installing practices into corporate life that will monitor the interaction between corporations and their clients in an attempt to ensure that nobody is being exploited or cheated. Consumer protection can be enforced by the government or voluntarily pursued by companies, the latter course have clear advantages for the public relations of the company. Staff Staff and employees of corporations have a right to expect fair pay, safe working conditions and meaningful work. CSR is one aspect of a transformation in the corporate world that attempts to overcome archaic views of workers as mere means to an end on the part of shareholders. Particularly in less developed countries that are often the sites of intensive resource extraction, the treatment of labor is frequently substandard. CSR is intended to promote the rights of all workers and to ensure that corporations respect these rights and make whatever changes are required to prevent the exploitation and mistreatment of labor. FOUR TYPES OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY As large corporations begin to dominate the world economy, it raises questions about the importance of corporate social responsibility in business. A variety of types of corporate social responsibilities have emerged in public discussions, and understanding their implications is important. Environmental Responsibility People expect businesses to exhibit environmentally responsible behavior, as evidenced by a PricewaterhouseCoopers survey that found that the No. 1 issue for companies in the future, according to U. S. respondents, is carbon emissions reductions. Specific environmental issues that affect businesses include global warming, sustainable resources and pollution. Businesses are being urged by environmental groups and governments to reduce their carbon footprint, to obtain their materials from sustainable sources and to reduce their pollution. Human Rights Responsibility The 21st-century marketplace is highly global. This means that when a product is purchased in the United States, for example, it may have been produced in China, or have components from South America. The ethical issue for corporations is ensuring that human rights are respected throughout all levels of the supply chain. Major companies have received criticism for their use of sweat shops and for sourcing resources that are harvested by unfairly treated workers. This has lead to a push for the use of strict labor standards to be applied to suppliers, and a demand for fair trade products such as chocolate and coffee. Financial Responsibility Financial responsibility is an important issue in corporate social responsibility. In the wake of the accounting fraud perpetrated by Enron and Arthur Andersen and Ponzi schemes orchestrated by the likes of Bernie Madoff, businesses are questioned about the accuracy of their financial reporting by increasingly skeptical shareholders and government officials, as evidenced by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Employees are expected to act as whistle blowers in such situations, and white collar crime is seeing high-profile prosecutions like that of Martha Stewart or former Worldcom CEO Bernie Ebbers. Political Responsibility Trading with repressive regimes is a difficult issue in corporate social responsibility. Some businesses argue that working with these regimes will help to advance them and bring rights to the countries. People and governments have demanded that businesses stop trading with repressive regimes, which was most notably observed when several western governments launched an embargo against the Apartheid government in South Africa during the 1980s. Shell Oil received considerable consumer backlash during the 1990s for its complicit involvement with the Nigerian government that murdered anti-oil activists. These issues make doing business with certain governments an important consideration for corporate social responsibility. PROS & CONS OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY Corporate social responsibility is generally perceived as a positive business ideology in the 21st century, despite some challenges. A significant expansion of basic business ethics, CSR establishes guidelines for ethical and socially responsible behavior. It addresses how companies that want to satisfy government and societal requirements should treat key stakeholder groups, including customers, suppliers, employees and the community. Pro 1: Social Responsibility and Customer Relationships One of the foundational elements of CSR is that it causes companies to reason beyond basic ethics to consider the benefits of active involvement in communities. In his article â€Å"The 7 Principles of Business Integrity,† business strategist Robert Moment argues that 21st-century companies must prove themselves to customers to build long-term, trusting relationships. They must also get involved in the community to give back. This community connection endears your company to the local markets in which you operate. Pro 2: Motivated Employees Employees are a company’s most valued asset. This is the premise of a company’s obligation to this key stakeholder group with regard to CSR compliance. This means treating employees with respect and offering fair working conditions. It also means establishing fair hiring practices and promoting a non-discriminatory workplace. This improves morale within the workplace and encourages teamwork. Additionally, a writer on the As You Sow website stresses the importance of managing a diverse workplace so that you can benefit from a variety of backgrounds and life experiences. Con 1: Expenses The main reason any company would object to participating in CSR is the associated costs. With CSR, you pay for environmental programs, more employee training and efficient waste management programs. Proponents of CSR agree that any expenses to businesses are ultimately covered by stronger relationships with key customers. However, David Vogel indicates in his Forbes article â€Å"CSR Doesn’t Pay† that investment in CSR programs may not necessary result in measurable financial results. Con 2: Shareholder Expectations Another challenge for companies when considering CSR is the possible negative perception of shareholders. Historically, publicly-owned companies had a primary focus of maximizing shareholder value. Now, they must balance the financial expectations of company owners with the social and environmental requirements of other stakeholder groups. Some shareholders are happy to invest in companies that operate with high integrity. Others may not approve of the aforementioned expenses of operating under CSR guidelines. IMPORTANCE OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY Social responsibility is so important to current and long-term business success that corporate social responsibility, CSR, has become a widely recognized business process in the early 21st century. An entrepreneur point out that CSR is an evolution of corporate ethics because it involves balancing the social expectations of all stakeholders, including shareholders, citizens, providers and customers, along with environmental responsibility. Basic Integrity Most experts and CSR analysts agree that this broad business concept is an evolution of basic business ethics and integrity. Entrepreneur and business strategist Robert Moment â€Å"The 7 Princes of Business Integrity† agree that treating stakeholders with respect and earning trust of customers through ethical business operations is the CSR foundation. Leading advocate of corporate accountability, the As You Sow Foundation, also stresses the importance of internal business controls that mandated ethics from corporate leaders and employees. Community Relations The word â€Å"social† is key to understanding how CSR goes beyond basic integrity. Moment states in one of his seven principles that as a CSR adherent, you must â€Å"remain involved in community-related issues and activities thereby demonstrating that your business is a responsible community contributor. † This community involvement and participation shows your marketplace that you are interested in more than just taking money from their pockets. In the long run, this strategy leads to a stronger public reputation and more profitable business relationships. The Environment Another reason CSR is much broader than conventional business ethics is its necessary inclusion of environmental responsibility. Once an opportunity for companies to add value and enhance their brand image, green-friendly operations are now a societal requirement with CSR. As You Sow discusses the importance of preserving the environment, optimizing efficient use of natural resources, such as renew, reuse and recycle, and reduction of waste as important to the environmental component of CSR. Companies that do not consider these initiatives draw the ire of the government, public and consumer watch groups. Bottom Line The underlying question is whether CSR operations improve a company’s bottom line performance. David Vogel argues in his 2008 Forbes article that â€Å"CSR Doesn’t Pay. † Vogel argues that operating under CSR guidelines is not likely to produce higher tangible profits for a company throughout time. Now that socially responsible behavior is expected, it goes largely unnoticed, argues Vogel. He does agree, though, that companies that ignore CSR may experience public backlash and negative business consequences. Still, many advocates of CSR believe that companies can still profit in the long run through stronger business and customer relationships. PRINCIPLES OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY The main principles involving corporate social responsibility involve economic, legal, ethical and discretionary aspects. A corporation needs to generate profits, while operating within the laws of the state. The corporation also needs to be ethical, but has the right to be discretional about the decisions it makes. Levels of corporate social responsiveness to an issue include being reactive, defensive, responsive and interactive. All terms are useful in issues management. Selecting when and how to act can make a difference in the outcome of the action taken. CSR has inspired national governments to include CSR issues into their national public policy agendas. The increased importance driven by CSR has prompted governments to promote socially and environmentally responsible corporate practices. Over the past decade governments have considered CSR as a public issue that requires national governmental involvement to address the very issues relevant to CSR. The heightened role of government in CSR has facilitated the development of numerous CSR programs and policies. Increasingly, corporations are motivated to become more socially responsible because their most important stakeholders expect them to understand and address the social and community issues that are relevant to them. Understanding what causes are important to employees is usually the first priority because of the many interrelated business benefits that can be derived from increased employee engagement (i. e. more loyalty, improved recruitment, increased retention, higher productivity, and so on). Key external stakeholders include customers, consumers, investors (particularly institutional investors), and communities in the areas where the corporation operates its facilities, regulators, academics, and the media. The debate, on whether responsibility of a business enterprise is only to its shareholders (owners) or to all stakeholders, including environment and the society at large, is an on going one and continues. In received literature â€Å"Stakeholder†, as an expression is fairly recent in origin, reportedly appearing first in an internal memorandum of the Stanford Research Institute in the year 1963. According to a definition given by Edward Freeman â€Å"A stakeholder is any group or individual who can effect, or is affected by the activities and achievements of an organization. † Friedrich Neubauer and Ada Demb in â€Å"The Legitimate Corporation† identify six groups of distinguishable stakeholders (not necessarily in this order) as follows a) Providers of funds b) Employees c) General public d) Government e) Customers and f) Suppliers An increasing number of companies are reporting publicly on their social, environmental and ethical performance, both as a communication to stakeholders, and as a management tool. However, as this practice has only become more widespread since the mid 1990s, there is as yet no standard format to address the type of information companies choose to report, or how that information is collected, analyzed and presented. At the same time, many stakeholders are becoming increasingly sophisticated in the type and quality of information they are demanding from companies. In an effort to meet these demands – as well as to strengthen the credibility of their social and environmental reports – some companies are choosing to have their reports externally verified. In doing so, companies recognize that verification by a third party can add value to the overall social and environmental reporting process by enhancing relationships with stakeholders, improving business performance and decision-making, aligning practice with organizational values, and strengthening reputation risk management. Social Responsibility Principles The Corporate Social Responsibility is based on the following principles: Legal Compliance Principle: The enterprise shall comply with and understand all applicable, local, international, written, declared, and effected laws and regulations, in accordance with fixed, specific procedures. Adherence to Customary International Laws Principle: The enterprise shall adhere to international and governmental agreements, executive regulations, declarations, covenants, decisions, and guidelines, when setting its policies and practices pertinent to Social Responsibility. Respecting Related Stakeholders lefts Principle: The enterprise shall acknowledge and accept the diversity of related stakeholders’ lefts and interests, and the diversity of the major and minor enterprises’ activities and products, among other elements, which may affect such related stakeholders. Transparency Principle: the enterprise shall clearly, accurately, and comprehensively declare its policy, decisions, and activities, including known and potential effects on environment and society. Moreover, such information shall be available to affected persons, or those who are likely to be affected materially by the enterprise. Respect for Human lefts Principle: the enterprise shall execute policies and practices which shall result in respecting existent human lefts in the Universal Declaration of Human lefts. Because CSR can influence economic, environmental and social factors in a variety of ways, there is no â€Å"one size fits all† approach. An effective CSR strategy must consider alignment with the organization’s business strategy, commercial added value, and sustainability of impact. The benefits of an effective CSR approach to an organization can include: Stronger performance and profitability Improved relations with the investment community and access to capital Enhanced employee relations and company culture Risk management and access to social opportunities Stronger relationships with communities and legal regulators CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AT RELIANCE POWER LTD Reliance Power Limited is part of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, one of India’s largest business houses. It was established to develop, construct and operate power projects in the Indian and international markets. Reliance Energy Limited, an Indian private sector power utility company and the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group promote Reliance Power. With its subsidiaries, it is developing 13 medium and large-sized power projects with a combined planned installed capacity of 33,480 MW. Reliance Natural Resources merged with Reliance Power in 2010, shortly after its initial public offering. The group operates across multiple sectors, including telecommunications, financial services, media and entertainment, infrastructure and energy. The energy sector companies include Reliance Infrastructure and Reliance Power. Reliance Power has been established to develop, construct and operate power projects both in India as well as internationally. The Company on its own and through its subsidiaries has a portfolio of over 35,000 MW of power generation capacity, both in operation as well as capacity under development. The power projects are going to be diverse in terms of geographic location, fuel type, fuel source and off-take, and each project is planned to be strategically located near an available fuel supply or load centre. The company has 1,540 MW of operational power generation assets. The projects under development include seven coal-fired projects to be fueled by reserves from captive mines and supplies from India and elsewhere; two gas-fired projects; and twelve hydroelectric projects, six of them in Arunachal Pradesh, five in Himachal Pradesh and one in Uttarakhand. Reliance Power has won three of the four Ultra Mega Power Projects (UMPPs) awarded by the Indian Government so far. These include UMPPs in Sasan( Madhya Pradesh),Krishnapatnam( Andhra Pradesh) & Tilaiya(Jharkhand). UMPPs are a significant part of the Indian government’s initiative to collaborate with power generation companies to set up 4,000 MW projects to ease the country’s power deficit situation. Besides these, Reliance Power is also developing coal bed methane (CBM) blocks to fuel gas based power generation. The company is registering projects with the Clean Development Mechanism executive board for issuance of Certified Emission Reduction (CER) certificates to augment its revenues. Reliance Power in its continuous efforts to positively impact the society, especially the areas around its sites and offices, has formulated policies for social development that are based on the following guiding principles: Adopt an approach that aims at achieving a greater balance between social development and economic development. Adopt new measures to accelerate and ensure the basic needs of all people. Work towards elimination of all barriers for the social inclusion of disadvantaged groups- such as the poor and the disabled Give unfailing attention to children for in their hands lies the country’s future. It is for their sake that health, education and environment get topmost priority in our programs and investments. In areas around its power plant sites in Sasan,Rosa,Krishnapatnam,Butibori,Chitrangi and others, Reliance Power has been actively involved in various social and environmental organizations to address the issue of sustainable development and social uplift. The Company in discharge of its responsibility as a corporate citizen actively contributes to community welfare measures and takes up several social initiatives every year. Reliance Power Ltd. has been closely working with institutions and social organizations and supporting their programs for social development, adult literacy, adoption of village, tree plantation schemes etc. HEALTH Health and safety are of universal concern across the spectrum of communities. As a company, we are not only committed to compliance with legal norms but its is our endeavour to voluntarily go beyond that and provide quality healthcare facilities in the regions around our site. We are committed to providing all possible support to create awareness on various health related issues impacting the local people. We believe in a multidimensional approach that considers the needs of the area leading to an effective plan to address all issues in consultation with the local administration, community workers and NGOs working in the area. At its various project sites, Reliance Power sites runs medical facility center, physiotherapy center, and mobile medical vans that dispenses free medicines and provide free health check-ups. Also periodically we come up with health camps like general health check up camps, gynecology camps, eye check up camps and corrective surgery camps for disabled children. EDUCATION Education is a basic tool to bring development to an area and its people. We aim to create an awareness pool of human resource both within and across our area of operations. We are committed to bridging the digital divide between the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ in educational infrastructure and facilities. Exposure to technology along with a sustainable education model could be strengthened through partnership with government and quasi-government agencies. Reliance Power is involved in a surfeit of activities that have changed the lives of the people residing at the sites or the PAFs (Project Affected Families). Education is the main thrust of these activities. Major contributions made in the area include building of a DAV school at the site for the children of the PAFs and the children of the villages around the sites, free school bus facility for the students, stipend to every child who attends school (a boy child gets Rs. 250 per month while a girl child gets a stipend of Rs. 300 per month), free uniforms, study tours for children, teaching aids to the teachers, training of teachers, as well as night schools for uneducated adults etc. EMPLOYMENT Community is an integral part of the business environment and the basic commitment lies towards augmenting the overall economic and social development of local communities by discharging our social responsibilities in a sustainable manner. Reliance Power invests significantly in skill up gradation of people around the sites. The trained manpower available for construction will ensure quality and accident free working. CIDC, a Government of India initiative has been engaged and has trained about 300 project affected youths as electricians, welders, carpenters and masons and bar benders in batches of 40 each. To further encourage them we paid them, a monthly stipend of Rs. 1000 per month. In addition efforts are on to enroll the oustees in short term courses at the ITI operating in the region. Apart from these, training is also provided are: Computer coaching centre English speaking classes Personality development classes Physiotherapy training center Training by NAC (National Academy of Construction) and use them for future requirement of the construction. For the women folk of the villages, in an effort to empower them the company trains them in soft skills like tailoring and poultry farming etc. Reliance Power provides assistance to women keen on starting their own businesses. THE HUMAN TOUCH BEYOND POLICY IMPERATIVES Although the main thrust of Reliance Power’s CSR lies in providing quality education, health care and livelihood, we don’t restrict ourselves to it. In order to better lives around our areas of interest and business, we strive to provide basic amenities like electrification in the villages, augmentation and development of roads connecting the village to the main roads, old age support for senior citizens of the project affect families, development of the grazing lands for the cattle of the villagers, afforestation and veterinary camps for domestic cattle. Moral and financial support is extended during social occasions like marriages, community prayers, funerals and other such occasions.

Ibm Risk Analysis

Relative Size in the Industry IBM is part of the technology sectors in the diversified computer systems industry (IBM: Summary for International Business Machines- Yahoo! Finance). The market cap is 254 billion with IBM making up 218. 6 billion. IBM is the largest company relative to the diversified computer systems industry. In a less specific industry of computers IBM only trails Microsoft Corporation by 12 billion dollars (â€Å"International Business Machines Corp. â€Å").Because of IBM’s large size relative to its industry the relative size does not pose a large business risk to IBM because they can leverage their large market share, capabilities, and achieve economies of scales. Acceptable audit risk is affected by the relative size of IBM in the industry it operates. IBM is a large global corporation and thus there are a very large number of financial statement users. The large number of financial statement users causes the auditors to set acceptable audit risk at a lower number and thus lowering planned detection risk and increasing the amount of evidence that must be accumulated.Major Competitors IBM’s major competitors in the diversified computer systems industry are Hewlett Packard Company Common, Teradata Corporation, Cray Inc. , and Silicon Graphics International (IBM: Summary for International Business Machines- Yahoo! Finance). These competitors do not pose a large risk to IBM because they have much smaller market-shares than IBM Hewlett Packard Company Common IBM’s closest competitor only has a market capitalization of 24. 4 billion and the next closes which is Teradata Corporation only has a market cap of 10. billion (IBM: Summary for International Business Machines- Yahoo! Finance). In the computer industry IBM’s major competitors are Microsoft, Apple, Oracle, Cisco Systems, and Intel Corporation (â€Å"International Business Machines Corp. â€Å") IBM due to operating in over 170 different countries in multipl e different industry segments and competitors vary by segment from large international enterprises to smaller narrowly focused entities and thus IBM recognizes 100s of competitors (International Business Machines Corporation 2011).Intense competition regardless of IBM being a leader in almost all segments however does increase risks for IBM such as price competition which lowers gross margin ratios, losing market share, and obsolescence of current products. IBM’s major competitors by business segment are discussed in the next section. Major Products & Competition by Product IBM’s major business segments are Global Technology Services, Global Business Services, Software, Systems and Technology, and Global Financing.Global Technology Services includes strategic Information Technology outsourcing services to transform clients existing infrastructures, global process services which includes process platforms and business process outsourcing, integrated technology services which are a project based portfolio of services to optimize IT which is built around key assets and patented software to drive efficiency, flexibility, productivity, and reduce costs, and the GTS services delivery which is responsibly or delivery of IBM technology worldwide. International Business Machines Corporation 2011) Global Business Services provides consulting and system integration which bring value to the customer by improving strategy and transformation, application innovation services, enterprise application, and business analytics and optimization. Global Business Services also includes application management services which provide assistance in application development, management, maintenance and support for software and custom and legacy applications. International Business Machines Corporation 2011) IBM faces major competition in the global services segments global technology services and global business services from the broad based competitors Accenture, Computer S ciences Corporation, Fujitsu and Hewlett-Packard Company. IBM also competes with India-based service providers, public accounting firms providing consulting services, and companies that focus on local market and niche service areas. International Business Machines Corporation 2011) IBMs software segment includes the sale of middleware software which enables clients to integrate systems, processes, and applications across a standard software platform. Operating systems are the software engines that run computers. Two thirds of the revenue from software is from annuity based recurring license charges and ongoing subscription and support.One third of the revenue comes from one time charge arrangements where customers pay up front for a license which is typically from one year of subscription and support but they can purchase subscriptions and support after the first year. Software offerings include information management software, trivoli software, lotus software, rational software, se curity systems software and operating systems. This segment is in a highly competitive market and the companies main competitors are CA. Inc. , Microsoft Corporation and Oracle Corporation. International Business Machines Corporation 2011) The IBM systems System Z, Power Systems, and System X range from general purpose and integrated systems designed and optimized for specific business, public, and scientific computing needs and form the foundation for IBM’s integrated offerings. Storage includes data storage products and solutions to help clients retain and manage complex volumes or rapidly growing digital information. They address vitally important issues such as security, compliance, storage optimization, and retention and archiving, availability, etc.Retail store solutions include Point-of Sales and self-service systems and include hardware, software and services. Lastly microelectronics include semiconductor design and manufacturing primarily for use in IBM systems. In s ystems and technology IBM’s major competitors are Cisco, Dell, HP, Oracle, and EMC Corporation. (International Business Machines Corporation 2011) Global Financing facilitates customers acquisition of IBM systems, software and services and includes client financing, commercial financing, and remanufacturing and remarketing.Client financing includes lease and loan financing to end users and internal clients with terms between 1 and 7 years. Internal financing supports long term client service contracts in the Global Services department and Global financing also factors a portion of the company’s accounts receivable. Commercial financing includes short term inventory and accounts receivable financing to dealers and remarketers of IT products. Remanufacturing and Remarketing includes equipment which is returned at the conclusion of a lease contract which is they sold or leased to another client internally or externally.The company competes with Cisco HP and non-captive fi nancing entities of companies like General Electric and banks and financial institutions and in remarketing the company competes with local and regional brokers and original manufacturers. (International Business Machines Corporation 2011) The nature of IBM’s products and the intense competition in all its business segments causes many risks on the audit as a whole and the audit of specific accounts.The overall audit risks because there are many inherent risks associated with intensely competitive environments which can cause products to become obsolete, loss in market share and lowering gross margin, and the inherent risks associated with financing. One particular account that is affected by this is inventory which should be checked for realizable value and possible obsolescence. The software and services that are provided to customers are highly complicated and are bundled together and thus sales and accounts receivable should be checked for proper classification and timing .Global financing poses many risks to IBM because of its exposure to the risk of economic downturns and the tightening of credit spreads and also there is a risk that the clients they provide financing for will not be able to meet contractual obligations and or default on payments. With global financing the auditors must make sure that leasing arrangements are properly accounted for and that the appropriate presentation and disclosures are included in the notes to the financial statements.For leases the audit objectives of classification, accuracy, and realizable value are of particular importance. Major Customers No clients represent more than 10% of the company’s revenue so lack of major customers reduces risk. (International Business Machines Corporation 2011). Having major customers could be risky because losing the major customer could have a large impact on sales; also having major customers could allow those customers to have bargaining power over IBM.IBM while it does not have any major customers it is overly dependent on the geographic region of the Americas for revenue. In 2011 the Americas were the source of 43. 1% of the total geographic revenue. (â€Å"International Business Machines Corporation- Financial and Strategic Analysis Review. â€Å") This over dependence on the Americas could cause substantial business risk due to the economic downturn in the Americas and if conditions were to become adverse and or demand were to decline this could hurt the business. â€Å"International Business Machines Corporation- Financial and Strategic Analysis Review. â€Å") Locations IBM operates in over 170 different countries and one of its major strategies is to expand into emerging markets. IBM’s major markets are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States, the UK, the Bahamas, Belgium, the Caribbean, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzer land (International Business Machines Corporation 2011).The emerging markets that IBM is focusing on which have higher market growth rates than the global average are countries in Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Latin America (International Business Machines Corporation 2011). This causes substantial risk for the company because each country is going to have different laws to which IBM must comply with or face possible law suits.The fluctuations in different currencies can cause a lot of risk to IBM because the value of revenue in certain countries could decrease substantially and they also must value the different currencies in US dollars for the financial statements. Other risks for companies that operate internationally include acquiring export licenses, laws and business practices that favor local businesses, trade restrictions, duties and tariffs, and the risk of not accounting for taxes correctly in the multiple jurisdictions that the company operates in.IB M operating in over 170 companies and is looking to expand into other emerging markets causes a substantial amount of risk for the company and should be considered when conducting the audit. First it affects the audit as a whole because the inherent risk and therefore risk of material misstatement is increased because of IBM’s international operations. Specific accounts and or assertions that are affected by this risk would be sales. Sales should be checked to make sure that the values are accurate and that the appropriate currency conversion rates were applied when changing foreign currency to US dollars.Another balance related audit objective would be accuracy and classification related to taxes payable and tax expense because tax laws are highly complex and the company would owe taxes to multiple local, state, and federal jurisdictions due to global operations. Another audit objective that should be checked would be that all necessary disclosures regarding law suits and ot her contingencies related to foreign operations are present in the notes to the financial statements and thus satisfy the completeness audit objective and the accuracy and valuation objectives in the presentation and disclosure-related udit objectives. Impact of Technology on Business Operations IBM is part of the technology sector and thus the impact of technology on the business operations of IBM is huge. In IBM’s business of being a computer and software manufacturer and service provider the pace of technological change is extremely rapid. IBM in order to be competitive with other major companies in the industry must be a leader in innovation and constantly be developing new products and capabilities to be competitive with other companies also trying to provide similar services in the same sector.Due to the rapid change in technology IBM must invest heavily in research and development which it does with annual expenses of approximately 6. 258 billion dollars, 5. 99 billion was for scientific research and application of scientific advances for new and improved products, their uses, and also services and their applications and the other 267 million was for product engineering (International Business Machines Corporation 2011).This investment in research and development is necessary but still has inherent risks because if competitors are able to come out with similar products to IBM’s products before IBM then they could lose a substantial amount of market share also the research and development process itself is a long and risky process because it may or may not result in a marketable product with sufficient consumer demand. Rapid technological change also has the inherent risks of causing IBM’s inventory to become out- dated and thus obsolete.Rapid technological change also affects the business operations of IBM because IBM will have a lot of intellectual property as a part of their assets on the balance sheet. In 2011 alone IBM was award ed 6,180 patents and in the last 19 years IBM has been awarded 47,000 patents and been the leader in receiving patents (â€Å"International Business Machines Corporation- Financial and Strategic Analysis Review. â€Å") There is a risk that IBM won’t value these intangible items properly and thus cause misstatements in the financial statements.Rapid technological change has the overall effect on the audit of increasing the amount of inherent risk in such accounts as intangible assets, and also research and development expenses. Specifically the audit of intangible assets will be affected because the auditor must pay specific attention to the valuation and allocation assertion and make sure that the intangible assets are valued at the correct amounts and that any necessary adjustments to the value of the intangible assets is made. Another balance related objective they should make sure the client satisfies is rights and obligations.The auditor should make sure that the clien t has the right to this intellectual property which can be satisfied by checking the related patents. The other account that must receive special attention is research and development. The auditor needs to make sure that all research and development is being expensed and is not capitalized and thus the classification of transactions related to research and development are properly classified as expenses and that related product expenses are only capitalized once the product has hit the market. Special Accounting PracticesIBM is affected by special accounting principles for revenue recognition. Revenue recognition for software vendors can be extremely complex and one of the complexities for software vendors is for multiple-deliverable revenue arrangements. Software vendors are able to account for individual products and services that are bundled together as a package separately if they can make a best estimate of each items fair value selling price. Companies must come up with vendor specific objective evidence (VSOE) of the fair value in order to account for them separately.If VSOE exists for undelivered items but not for delivered items the company uses the residual method but if VSOE of fair value doesn’t exist for the undelivered items then revenue cannot be recognized until VSOE of fair value does exist or all items have been delivered. Other issues that complicate revenue recognition for software companies such as IBM are whether or not new products are more than minimally different from existing products or whether it is just an upgrade.If an arrangement does include the right to an upgrade it must be determined whether the right is specified and whether VSOE of fair value can be determined or if it is unspecified and just included in PCS. Lastly if the company makes price concessions those must be analyzed to see whether they are stand-alone concessions or whether they expect to make similar price concessions to other customers because this could have a large effect on the realizable value of accounts receivable and the appropriate numbers to report in sales. (Triplett & Miller)The complexity of multiple deliverable revenue arrangements has a large impact on the audit. First and foremost the complexity of these accounting rules causes a large increase in the inherent risk. Specific audit objectives which are affected by these risks would be the realizable value of accounts receivable, the accuracy of sales, and the timing of revenue recognition in the sales cycle. If the company commonly makes price concessions then the realizable value of accounts receivable could be over-valued unless the company makes reasonable estimates of this and recognizes it with the original sales.Sales could be over or under valued if the VSOE of fair value is not accurate and the auditors must check that there is substantial evidence to support the prices the vendors come up with. Lastly the timing of sales could be greatly affected by these acc ounting principles because if VSOE of fair value cannot be established then revenue recognition must be delayed until all items in the arrangement are delivered. Works Cited â€Å"Diversified Computer Systems Overview: Industry Center – Yahoo!Finance. †Ã‚  Diversified Computer Systems Overview: Industry Center – Yahoo! Finance. Yahoo, 2012. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. . â€Å"FASB Accounting Standards Update Number 2011-02. †Ã‚  FASB. org. Financial Accounting Standards Board of the Financial Accounting Foundation, Apr. 2011. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. . â€Å"IBM: Summary for International Business Machines- Yahoo! Finance. †Ã‚  Yahoo! Finance. Yahoo, 2012. Web. 0 Nov. 2012. http://finance. yahoo. com/q? s=IBM â€Å"International Business Machines Corp. †Ã‚  International Business Machines Corp. : NYSE:IBM Quotes & News – Google Finance. Google, 2012. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. . International Business Machines Corporation (2011). 10-K Annual Report 2011. Re trieved from SEC EDGAR website  http://www. sec. gov/edgar. shtml â€Å"International Business Machines Corporation- Financial and Strategic Analysis Review. † Global

The Role of Economic Fertility and Population in Economic Growth Essay

The Role of Economic Fertility and Population in Economic Growth - Essay Example And although there was a slowdown in per capita growth from the period 1961-85, Brander and Dorwick attributes this due to a decline in technological progress and less so due to the doubling of population at the world level. Finally, technological change is taken as an exogenous variable in the models of this paper, where possible recommendations include detailed modeling of endogenous emergence of technological progress as an outcome of the maximization by firms in an imperfectly competitive environment and keeping in mind that per capita income approximates the economic welfare of both children and adults. Ever since the inception of scientific studies which tackle population or fertility as an underlying reason of economic stagnation, there has been an increase not only in awareness of overpopulation as a leading factor for poverty, but also in general funding for contraceptives both from private and public institutions. To this extent, key people in society have agreed that the p opulation problem is the principal element for long-term economic development. Even before this study of Brander and Dorwick, the United States has already adopted a policy the National Security Memorandum 200: Implications of Worldwide Population Growth for U.S. Security and Overseas Interests which gives priority on population control measures and the promotion of contraception among 13 populous countries. Insofar as the effects of overpopulation is concerned, media including USAID has touted the rational that the U.S. economy requires large and increasing amounts of minerals from abroad and that these countries can produce destabilizing opposition forces without support for population-related efforts. Initial regression equations proposes per capita output growth as the dependent variable and population growth and crude birth rate as individual independent factors affecting per capita income. The theoretical framework used for the paper by Brander and Dowrick, however, has its ro ots in the aggregate production function, Y = Y(K,H,R;O,o) where Y represents domestic output, K represents capital, H represents effective labor input, R represents fixed factors of production such as land and natural resources, O represents the states of technology and o represents other factors. After parametric transformation, the main factors considered to affect per capita output growth in percent includes annualized five year growth rate in the share of population of working age, annualized five year population growth rate, investment as a % share of GDP (5 year average) and the log of relative productivity. Sub-regressions were made for growth in working age share of population versus birth rates and investment as affected by birth rate, relative price of investment and income. All in all, the channels by which fertility affects per capita income include the share of population of working age, the change in population growth rates leading to changes in availability of capita l and natural resources per person and economies of scale, and through per capita investment rate, all of which lead to a negative relationship with per capita income. Like all regression models, the model by Brander and Dorwic

Racism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Racism - Essay Example The concept of ‘other’ creates the boundaries between people. Racism is prevalent everywhere one goes. Asians go to the European countries and do menial jobs for minimum wages. It is hard for them to score jobs they dream of doing. Even the economic analysts consider the Asian community as the labor community; washing dishes, working at gas stations or flipping burgers. The situation is not only prevalent in European countries, Silicon Valley United States is considered a dream place to get a job. However such a statement is highly overrated because the situation on ground is based on segregation. Hence it is true that racism is not only physical but it is a mental state. And in Silicon Valley it is termed as environmental racism. The immigrants are the ‘others’. The definition of other is that there is always ‘us’ and there is ‘other’ which is different from ‘us’. The other looks, different, talks, walks and eats different. These differences create imaginary walls between the two (i-e us and them). On the same psychological basis people divide other people in nations, ethnicities and races. This segregation goes on to include religions, cultures and any other classifications. There are two aspects of racism. One is when a white person feels superior because of the skin color. The other is when a black person feels inferior because of his color. The standards of beauty are defined by the modern media (especially Hollywood productions) that project white beauty and white lifestyle as the symbol of success and prosperity. Screenwriters, storytellers, movie directors and producers are biased in portraying a story or a life event. Hollywood movies do not explicitly show racist culture in their movies. But the majority of the movies in Hollywood show white lead role. The black guy is in his accomplice. The black guy is usually

Study Shakespeare's Hamlet and Webster's White Devil to compare the Essay

Study Shakespeare's Hamlet and Webster's White Devil to compare the ways that women in the plays are victims of male pride. Cri - Essay Example Among the female characters of William Shakespeare the role of Ophelia is supreme. She is considered as the most fragile character in his heroines. The attributes of Ophelia are far in high whereas the other female character in the play, Gertrude does not get much acclaim. The character Vittoria in The White Devil has been put to many comments. For many she is considered as the white devil in the play. As the other female characters of the play carry the attributes of innocence and good heartedness the chief lady, Vittoria is remarked for her wisdom, courage and harshness. The present essay tries to make an analysis on the female characters in these two plays. Further, a study is being conducted on the females as victims of male pride in these two plays. True, the Elizabethan and Jacobean attitudes of considering the females are also seen in these plays. As females they had to undergo male dominance and male chauvinism which caused the tragedy of the women characters vividly in these two. Women characters in the play Hamlet: The major women characters who enriched the play, Hamlet are Ophelia, the lover of Prince Hamlet and Gertrude, mother of prince Hamlet. The King of Denmark is killed by Claudius, his own brother and the uncle of prince Hamlet who later marries the former queen, Gertrude. It really infuriates prince Hamlet who was well aware of the plot of his uncle. The ghost of the King Hamlet appears before his son Hamlet, Horatio, and Marcellus reveals the story of his tragedy. The thoughts of revenge engulf in the mind of young Hamlet and the whole play is centred on his revenge against his uncle Claudius who killed his father and married his mother. The five long acts of the play tells his attempts to take revenge on his uncle and in the meanwhile it can be seen that Ophelia, the daughter of Polonius, the trusted courtier of Claudius is making love with Hamlet. The suffering of Ophelia begins when Hamlet mistakenly kills Polonius by thinking it as Clau dius. She becomes mad due to her father’s death and moreover at the rejection of Hamlet and commits suicide. Christy Desmet (1999, p.11) makes clear assessment about the character of Ophelia when he writes, â€Å"Ophelia is a cipher, or a â€Å"plot device† or pawn used by her father, her lover and Shakespeare himself; at most she seems a â€Å"sacrifice to the general meaninglessness and loneliness pervading the play.† The words of Gabriel A. Rieger (2009, p. 47) is also notable when he remarked thus; â€Å"Ophelia is an inversion to the prince.† Laertes, the brother of Ophelia is ravaged to take revenge on Hamlet and in the final scene it can be seen that the sword of Laertes is poisoned as instructed by Claudius and again a cup of bowl filled with poison was made ready for Hamlet. Meanwhile Gertrude drinks the cup for Hamlet and dies and she at the time of death announces the evil works of her present husband. Laertes wounds Hamlet and is himself woun ded by the poisoned sword. When Laertes is seen dying he tells all about the plans of Claudius and at the end Hamlet stabs Claudius and makes him drink the poison prepared by himself. Thus in the final scene of the play a series of murders can be seen. Gertrude’s death is seen a part of her husband’s folly. Horatio, a friend of Hamlet becomes a witness to all the disgraceful acts that happened at the final scene. Two main characters in the play, Ophelia and