Copyright Infringement

Copyright Learning Team Weekly Reflection LAW/421 Learning Team D Weekly Reflection Week three focused on copyright infringement, and the legal issues in cyberspace associated with copyright laws. Copyright infringement can be classified into three theories; direct, indirect, and vicarious. Direct is the most obvious form because the copyright owner can prove legal ownership of the work in question and that the infringer copied the work without permission. A facilitator in indirect theory of copyright infringement is liable for damages.The copyright owner must identify the direct infringer, and the facilitator must have knowledge of the infringement. The copyright infringement case against Napster was a landmark case that forced Napster, once a free subscription service, to re-emerge as a paid subscription service. This case changed the way music was bought. Contributory infringement was used against Napster to force them to shut down and change their business model. Understanding th e defense to infringement claims, specifically fair use can be complex. Fair use is the most common defense of copyright infringement.Under the fair use defense, some infringement is permitted if the device can be used in a significant non-infringing way, such as a VCR. With the digital age and the growth of the Internet applying the copyright law has become more difficult for the courts. Photography, music, and software are the biggest areas affected by copyright infringement and issues dealing with cyberspace. Formats such as MP3 have made it easier for infringers’ to record audio and data files much faster than before, which can make it harder to catch the infringer or facilitators.Software has also become increasingly popular for unauthorized duplication. iTunes has stepped up to adhere to the laws protecting copyright by implementing safeguards to prevent illegal downloads. Digital photography and social networking have opened up new dimensions of copyright infringement issues for photographers. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act has made strides in protecting copyright holders in the digital age by holding third parties responsible and going after parties that illegally download copyrighted aterial. Given that technology is proceeding at a lightning pace, one can only imagine how the music and movie industries are grappling with keeping as much as the profits as possible from their creative works. Although challenging for lawmakers, the advancement of technology in recent years has led to the culmination of new laws and precedent in protection of intellectual property. The Computer Software Copyright Act of 1980 afforded protection to computer software programs.Since then, appellate courts have suggested patents instead of copyrights provide the most appropriate form of intellectual property protection. Copyright infringement and protection is an important issue for all businesses small and large. Most large businesses started out as small busin esses that had a good idea that changed everything. Many small businesses don’t own patents or copyrights, but as information becomes more and more valuable parts of businesses they are becoming more of a concern. The most valuable part of most companies is their intellectual property.The franchisor must give full disclosure and details that relate to any part of the franchise or company in question under certain terms and conditions. It’s also important to remember to check and see whether the franchiser has established another franchisee or any other promissory agreements. Patent and Trademark lawyers are familiar in these matters and should be consulted upon buying a company with valuable information or if your own company or if patents and copyrights get involved (Steingold, 2005).

Social Studies Sba

Acknowledgement The researcher wishes to express her gratitude towards her social studies teacher who was abundantly helpful. The researcher would also like to thank her parents for their kind co-operation and for supporting her financially throughout this assessment. Lastly, the researcher would like to thank the almighty god, without whom nothing is possible. Introduction This assessment is based on child labour.Child labour refers to the employment of children in any work that deprives children of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and that is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful. This practice is considered exploitative by many and legislations across the world prohibit child labour. Statement of Problem What are the effects of child labour in Cumberland village, East Canje Berbice? Reasons for Selecting Area of ResearchThe reasons for selecting this area of research is because the prevalence of child labour among s chools in the researcher’s village is high; the researcher would also like to study the factors related to child labour, like the reasons for children working, problems faced by the children, work place conditions, etc. Method of Investigation The method of investigation used for this project was in the form of a questionnaire. The questionnaire was used because of the following reasons: * It is cheaper It does not require as much effort from the questioner as verbal or telephone surveys * It has standardized answers that make it simple to compile data. Instrument Used to Collect Data Questionnaire 135 New Street Cumberland East Canje, Berbice. 21st September, 2012. Dear Sir/Madam, The researcher is a fifth form student of New Amsterdam Secondary School. The researcher is pursuing a course of subject in the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC), Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) in Social Studies, which the researcher would be writing in 2013.The researcher is re quired to conduct a research on a school based assessment (SBA) based on the topic child labour. The researcher is hereby seeking your assistance. To complete this questionnaire you are required to put a tick ? in the appropriate box. Thank you for your co-operation. Yours Truly, Fifth Form Student of N. A. S. S Nafesia Hack. Caribbean Examination Council Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate School Based Assessment Social Studies 2013 Topic: Child Labour Instruction: To complete this questionnaire you are required to put a tick ? in the appropriate boxes. 1. What is your sex? Male ? Female ? 2.What is your age? 16-20 ? 21-30 ? 31-40 ? 3. What is your ethnicity? African ? East Indian ? Mixed ? 4. What is your religion? Christian ? Hindu ? Muslim ? 5. How much have you heard about child labour? A lot ? A little bit ? Not Much ? 6. What comes to your mind when ‘child labour’ is mentioned? Children being forced to work ? Children working in terrible environments ? Chi ldren working to earn a living due to poverty ? 7. What do you think creates awareness about child labour most effectively? Internet ?Newspapers ? Television ? 8. Which gender do you think is more affected by child labour? Male ? Female ? Both ? 9. Do you think child labour is serious in this community? No ? Yes ? 10. What do you think is the reason for child labour? Education ? Political Systems ? Poverty ? 11. What kind of industry mostly appears in your village? Agriculture ? Household ? Textile ? 12. Do you think a child below the age of sixteen going to work is right? It’s up to them ?They should not cut down on their childhood ? It’s a horrible concept ? 13. Do you think that enough is being done to reduce child labour? No ? Yes ? 14. Who do you think can help to reduce child labour? Schools ? Government ? Business Organizations ? 15. Do you see the problem of child labour being eradicated in the long run? No ? Yes ? Procedures Used to Collect Data To gather data for this assessment the researcher constructed a questionnaire which consisted of fifteen questions.In Cumberland village, there is an average of two hundred (200) households. It was calculated that a sample of 10% was necessary in order to ensure accurate information on the causes, consequences and measures to reduce child labour in the village (10%/200=20). The household was selected by random selection. Twenty (20) questionnaires will be distributed to those homes. It was expected that at least fifteen (15) of these questionnaires will be returned. A total of twenty (20) questionnaires were distributed to the residents of the selected homes, fifteen (15) was returned while the other five (5) wasn’t returned.The questionnaires were delivered on 6th October, 2012 and received on 12th October, 2012. Of these respondents, sixty percent (60%) were females and forty percent (40%) were males. Presentation & Explanation of Data Source: Question 5 – How much have you heard about child labour? Figure 1 – This bar chart represents that 50% of the respondents have heard a lot about child labour, 30% of the respondents have heard a little bit about child labour while the other 20% of the respondents haven’t heard much about child labour. Source: Question 2 – Which gender do you think is more affected by child labour?Figure 2 – This cylinder chart represents that 60% of the respondents are of the view that males are more affected by child labour while the other 30% of the respondents are of the view that females are more affected by child labour. Source: Question 10 – What do you think is the reason for child labour? Figure 3 – This pyramid chart represents that 60% of the respondents are of the view that the reason for child labour is poverty, 20% of the respondents are of the view that the reason for child labour is education while the other 20% of the respondents are of the view that the reason for child labour are the political systems.Source: Question 14 – Who do you think can help to reduce child labour? Figure 4 – This pie chart represents that 40% of the respondents are of the view that schools can help to reduce child labour, also 40% of the respondents are of the view that governments can help to reduce child labour while the other 20% of the respondents are of the view that business organizations can help to reduce child labour. Analysis & Interpretation of Data Twenty (20) questionnaires were distributed randomly to both male and female, ages 16-40.The majority of respondents agreed that child labour is dangerous and harmful. The research reveals that 60% of the respondents are of the view that males are more affected by child labour. Throughout the village, many children work, full-time whether it’s male or female. They do not go to school and have little or no time to play; they are also denied the chance to be children. More than 50% of them are exposed to the worst forms of child labour such as work in hazardous environments, slavery or other forms of forced labour.It was also noted that 60% of the respondents are of the view that the main reason for child labour is poverty, since income from a child’s work is usually crucial for his or her own survival, or for that of the household. Immature and inexperience child labourers may be completely unaware of the short-term risks involved in their work, long-term health problems are common in communities where children are forced to work with dangerous chemicals.Last but not least, 40% of the respondents are of the view that primary school education which is free, accessible and compulsory does more than any other single factor to reduce exploitative child labour. Reducing the costs of education and ensuring that the quality standards are high will be a monumental step towards eradicating the problem of child labour in the long run. Child labour does more than deprive children of th eir education, mental and physical development – their childhood is stolen. Findings The researcher found that: 60% of respondents are of the view that males are more affected by child labour. * 60% of the respondents are of the view that poverty is the greatest cause behind child labour. * 20% of the respondents are of the view that the lack of meaningful alternatives, such as affordable schools and quality education is another major cause driving children to harmful labour. * 80% of the respondents are of the view that the major consequence of child labour is that children face many physical dangers and death from forced labour. 80% of the respondents are of the view that the government and schools can help to reduce child labour. Recommendations & Implementation Strategies Recommendations * Primary Education – should be compulsory and free. * Education and Training for Women – Studies show when women are educated, trained and empowered, child labour drops. * Social Services – should help children and families survive in crises, such as loss of home and shelter. Give jobs to children’s adult relatives – This way, the family won’t suffer and this should indeed be helpful. * The government should ban the worst forms of child labour such as bonded labour, etc. Implementation Strategies * Assisting with developing and implementing national policies on child labour problems. * Creating awareness on the problem nationwide, in communities and workplaces. * Strengthening existing organizations and motivating a broad alliance of partners to acknowledge and act against child labour. Bibliography Social Studies Sba School Based Assessment Subject: Social Studies School: Willowdene High School Candidate #: Centre: Territory: Teacher: Mrs. Mitchelle Year: 2012 Title: TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Acknowledgements (1) Introduction (2) Statement of the problem (3) Research question * What are the causes of teenage pregnancy? (3) * How does the problem impact the lives of the teenagers? 4) * What can be done to correct this problem? (5) Reason for selecting area (6) Method of Investigation (6) Instrument used to collect Data (7-11) Procedures used to collect Data (12) Presentations and Explanation of Data Interpretation of Data Findings Recommendations ACKNOWLEDGMENTS INTRODUCTION Greater Portmore is a large community in the parish of St. Catherine, which is located in the county of middle sex, Jamaica. One of the sectors of Greater Portmore called Sabina Park is where I interviewed some of the teenage others living in the area. For the past sixteen years I have been a resident of Sabina Park. During my t ime here I have discovered that a number of teenage girls who were suppose to be at a secondary level are not attending school and this disturbs me a lot. I have notice the lack of father figures in most of the teenage mother’s houses in my community, this is so because the fathers refuse to take responsibilities for their children which resulted into single mothering where the child has to grow without his/her father.I have also observed a standard of low living where teenage mothers were not able to go back to school because of the post-natal care of their children and how their pregnancy affected them educationally. This caused them to be unemployed and nondependent. I have therefore decided to perform a survey to examine the cause, effect and solution of teenage pregnancy in Sabina Park, Greater Portmore. Task 1 Statement of the problem How does teenage pregnancy contribute problems to themselves and there babies?Research questions 1. What are the causes of teenage pregn ancy? (cause) Obviously the cause for pregnancy is no use or the misuse of protection. Children under the age of 18 should abstain. So why do teenagers have sex? Why don’t they use protection? Most pregnant teenagers were pressured into having sex. They were so young and naive they thought, and even believed, that they loved so much that they couldn’t say no to the male and would do anything to please him. Boys would tell the girls what they wanted to hear. They would use flattery and vain promises to lure her.If a guy is handsome, looks neat, have a lot of cash and even say the words, â€Å"I love you† on the first date, would drive some girls crazy turning a million â€Å"no’s† into one yes! Most times this would disillusion them from seeing that they were being used. When the males are forcing a girl to do something they do not do it aggressively, they take the time to study her, find out her weakness, and aim. In a number of cases, they did not intend to get the girl pregnant. They just wanted to urgently get what they came for in the relationship. Hence, the non –use or misuse of protection.Some girls are otherwise forced into early sexual activities, resulting in teenage pregnancies, either by choice or by â€Å"design†. Some, due to inadequacy of basic financing, either choose to or are forced by parents to do so. 2. How does the problem impact the lives of the teenagers? (effect) Due to the fact that teenage pregnancy occurred at the Secondary Education stage of life, their lives are affected in numerous ways. Teenage mothers are more likely to become depressed than adult mothers because they have to be worrying about financial needs, limitations, commitments, overall the period of post-natal care.Teen pregnancy can result in a young girl’s education being put on hold indefinitely. Teenage mothers often drop out of school before they had an opportunity to develop meaningful life skills, a higher l evel of education and achieving goals. Teenage pregnancy creates a financial burden for the teenagers because they are too young to obtain a job making an adequate salary to support a family especially because they aren’t experienced and they are under educated. However, because of this they do depend on their parents for financial support.Teenagers do not want to be taking care of a family at such an early age; they do not want to be lack of restrictions they don’t want any responsibilities because they love their freedoms. Most teenage got to go out and enjoy their selves on the weekends; they can’t just sit around and take care of a child when they want to go to parties, movies and even school. They aren’t yet ready to be in a committed long-relationship; therefore they are more single teenage parents in the society. This now leaves one party with the obligation of raising the child on their own.However, as I said before, the parents will be maintainin g their child and grandchild financially. Taking care of a child is a lot of responsibility for one human being, causing less freedom. Teenage mothers often experience social exclusion; they are not able to carry out their usual daily activities, as well as the relationship between both their parents and peers being more distant. Since they are now mothers they have to be spending a lot of time with their babies so they aren’t able to go out with friends but only to do shopping for their child.However, some of the teenagers even though they are mothers still do their normal activities because they are not yet matured or responsible to take care of their child so they would leave them on guardians or friends. 3. What can be done to correct this problem? (Solutions) This issue of teenage pregnancy has been around for a very long time, but is not an acceptable occurrence in most, if not all societies. Because of that, several studies have been done and attempts made to correct, or at least to significantly reduce the problem.Most teenagers are led to sexual activities because of various reasons such as lack of communication with parents, not enough sex education in schools, peer pressure and a lack of responsibility to use protection. An Interaction with a parent plays a big part in a child’s life growing up. Each Parent should have a bond between them and their child where they can have a discussion about the preparation for the outside world including sexual relations. Sex education should also be taught in the homes as much as the other subjects in school.This will make the child more comfortable to know that they can talk to their parents, they are being listened to while being taught at the same time and understanding more about sex education. Teenage pregnancy can be prevented by more availability of sexual education among students in institutions in our society; therefore giving the children more information about the risk of getting pregnant at an early age so that they would at least take it into consideration. Not every child is aware of sex education so most likely it will change someone lives, one more child will have the opportunity to enter the world of work and even if it is one erson who gets the message it will make a difference in their lives and our society. Teenagers are most likely to be pressured by their peers because they are afraid that if they don’t go along with the most popular actions they wouldn’t be classified as a norm. If teenagers would have a mind of their own, stop following bad company and have a higher self esteem they will not be in a situation where they have to be taking care of a child at an early age. Teens should be thinking more wisely as they mature day by day; therefore they would be conscious of where they are heading and block out obstacles in there way like teenage pregnancy.Lack of Protection is the cause of pregnancy but for teenage pregnancy it should not be so . Teenagers should not be having sex so early because their body isn’t fully matured and so they are not ready physically or mentally. The age of consent, strangely is now sixteen (16) so teenagers sixteen and over should become more responsible to use protection because they are now matured enough to know the dangers of life. However, I still do consider that the best way to prevent teenage pregnancy is to abstain because it makes sense. It will make the future better. Task 2Reason for selecting area of research This area of research was selected because of seeing people all around who have been through this situation. It is very disturbing to see women suffering and struggling mentally, physically and educationally because of teenage pregnancy. This is also a recommendation to resolve the problem of teenage pregnancy, making a difference in the society. Task 3 Method of investigation I used an interview to collect the data for my research The method used for investigation h as a number of advantages: * It goes into further details than the questionnaire making the interviewer nderstand their research much better. * It is also useful to obtain detailed information about personal feelings, perceptions and opinions. * Respondents could be lack of reading skills so an interview would be more valuable than a questionnaire. Task 4 Instrument used to collect data Teenage pregnancy Interview Age you got pregnant: 13-15 16-19 Are you a single parent? Were you forced in to having sex, resulting in pregnancy? What was your reaction when you found out you were pregnant? Did you grow up in an environment/home where teenage pregnancy occurred before?If so, how did you relate to it? Were you and your partner thinking about having a family after finding out your pregnancy? Why Did you think of having an abortion? Why Were you afraid of how people would react to your pregnancy? Were you familiar with sex education? Was your baby healthy after birth? Did you contract an y STD’s? If yes, did it affect your child in any way? Did it affect you knowing that you had to be taking care of a child at an early age? What were your parents/guardians reaction when they found out you were pregnant? Did you get any support with the baby from your family?What was your partner’s reaction when he found out that you were pregnant? Were your parents/guardians aware that you were seeing your partner? Did he take any form of responsibility for his child after birth? What were your decisions to proceed in life after your pregnancy? Did you drop out of school as a result of your pregnancy? Have you been able to continue any educational studies? If yes, how long after your pregnancy What main factor do you think would have helped you to avoid getting pregnant so young? Task 5 Procedures used to collect DataSabina Park has approximately 130 houses. It was calculated that a sample of 10% was necessary in order to ensure correct termination of teenage pregnancy . (10% of 130=13) A total of 15 interviews were prepared for selected teenage mothers in the community. Therefore, I went around the neighborhood in searching of citizens who were available. There were a number of mothers who were not in attendance which resulted in the sum of 10 persons included in the discussion. Task 6 Presentation and examination of Data A total of 10 teenage mothers were interviewed succesfully.Of theses respondents, all were females in which 90% got pregnant at the age 16 and 10% got pregnant at age 19. Fig. 1: Pie chart showing the current status of selected teenage mothers Most of the residents (80%) are single mothers because their partners denied to accept the child as their own, refused to take responsibility and also refused to be a part of the child’s family. 20% of teenage mothers are not single because one of the fathers were at a matured age and decided to be a part of their child’s life and the other mother is now married.Fig 2: Pie-ch art showing the period of time it took the mothers to return to school to further their education. According to the chart, 30% of women went back school couple months after their pregnancy. Most of the citizens (40%) took 1 year to go back to school in which 10% of the 40% went back to secondary level and the rest (30%) went on to a territory level. 10% went back to school very late(over 10 years) because of financial problems at the time. However, 20% did not return to further their education because they could not afford financially which led to unemployment. Fig 3.Bar showing the main factors teenage mothers thought would have avoided their pregnancy The factor that got the most percentage was more interaction with parents. 50% of teenage mothers did not have a good relationship with their parents causing them to search for love and neediness somewhere else; they got involved in sexual activities which led to pregnancy. The factor that got the least percentage (10%) was better re sponsibility to have used protection. This was selected because the mother was matured enough to have sex, was not pressured so she should have been more responsible. 0% of mothers would have avoided teenage pregnancy if it was not for peer pressure. Fig 4. Showing if the mothers believed in abortion In figure 4 50% of mothers do not believe in abortion because they could not live with their self with the fact that they killed something which was growing inside of them. Also 50% do believe in abortion because they had financial problems, because of the reaction of their parents they felt ashamed and also they thought that having the baby would have been a very risky thing to do. However, they kept the child. Task 7 Analysis and interpretation of data Task 9 Social Studies Sba Acknowledgement The researcher wishes to express her gratitude towards her social studies teacher who was abundantly helpful. The researcher would also like to thank her parents for their kind co-operation and for supporting her financially throughout this assessment. Lastly, the researcher would like to thank the almighty god, without whom nothing is possible. Introduction This assessment is based on child labour.Child labour refers to the employment of children in any work that deprives children of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and that is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful. This practice is considered exploitative by many and legislations across the world prohibit child labour. Statement of Problem What are the effects of child labour in Cumberland village, East Canje Berbice? Reasons for Selecting Area of ResearchThe reasons for selecting this area of research is because the prevalence of child labour among s chools in the researcher’s village is high; the researcher would also like to study the factors related to child labour, like the reasons for children working, problems faced by the children, work place conditions, etc. Method of Investigation The method of investigation used for this project was in the form of a questionnaire. The questionnaire was used because of the following reasons: * It is cheaper It does not require as much effort from the questioner as verbal or telephone surveys * It has standardized answers that make it simple to compile data. Instrument Used to Collect Data Questionnaire 135 New Street Cumberland East Canje, Berbice. 21st September, 2012. Dear Sir/Madam, The researcher is a fifth form student of New Amsterdam Secondary School. The researcher is pursuing a course of subject in the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC), Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) in Social Studies, which the researcher would be writing in 2013.The researcher is re quired to conduct a research on a school based assessment (SBA) based on the topic child labour. The researcher is hereby seeking your assistance. To complete this questionnaire you are required to put a tick ? in the appropriate box. Thank you for your co-operation. Yours Truly, Fifth Form Student of N. A. S. S Nafesia Hack. Caribbean Examination Council Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate School Based Assessment Social Studies 2013 Topic: Child Labour Instruction: To complete this questionnaire you are required to put a tick ? in the appropriate boxes. 1. What is your sex? Male ? Female ? 2.What is your age? 16-20 ? 21-30 ? 31-40 ? 3. What is your ethnicity? African ? East Indian ? Mixed ? 4. What is your religion? Christian ? Hindu ? Muslim ? 5. How much have you heard about child labour? A lot ? A little bit ? Not Much ? 6. What comes to your mind when ‘child labour’ is mentioned? Children being forced to work ? Children working in terrible environments ? Chi ldren working to earn a living due to poverty ? 7. What do you think creates awareness about child labour most effectively? Internet ?Newspapers ? Television ? 8. Which gender do you think is more affected by child labour? Male ? Female ? Both ? 9. Do you think child labour is serious in this community? No ? Yes ? 10. What do you think is the reason for child labour? Education ? Political Systems ? Poverty ? 11. What kind of industry mostly appears in your village? Agriculture ? Household ? Textile ? 12. Do you think a child below the age of sixteen going to work is right? It’s up to them ?They should not cut down on their childhood ? It’s a horrible concept ? 13. Do you think that enough is being done to reduce child labour? No ? Yes ? 14. Who do you think can help to reduce child labour? Schools ? Government ? Business Organizations ? 15. Do you see the problem of child labour being eradicated in the long run? No ? Yes ? Procedures Used to Collect Data To gather data for this assessment the researcher constructed a questionnaire which consisted of fifteen questions.In Cumberland village, there is an average of two hundred (200) households. It was calculated that a sample of 10% was necessary in order to ensure accurate information on the causes, consequences and measures to reduce child labour in the village (10%/200=20). The household was selected by random selection. Twenty (20) questionnaires will be distributed to those homes. It was expected that at least fifteen (15) of these questionnaires will be returned. A total of twenty (20) questionnaires were distributed to the residents of the selected homes, fifteen (15) was returned while the other five (5) wasn’t returned.The questionnaires were delivered on 6th October, 2012 and received on 12th October, 2012. Of these respondents, sixty percent (60%) were females and forty percent (40%) were males. Presentation & Explanation of Data Source: Question 5 – How much have you heard about child labour? Figure 1 – This bar chart represents that 50% of the respondents have heard a lot about child labour, 30% of the respondents have heard a little bit about child labour while the other 20% of the respondents haven’t heard much about child labour. Source: Question 2 – Which gender do you think is more affected by child labour?Figure 2 – This cylinder chart represents that 60% of the respondents are of the view that males are more affected by child labour while the other 30% of the respondents are of the view that females are more affected by child labour. Source: Question 10 – What do you think is the reason for child labour? Figure 3 – This pyramid chart represents that 60% of the respondents are of the view that the reason for child labour is poverty, 20% of the respondents are of the view that the reason for child labour is education while the other 20% of the respondents are of the view that the reason for child labour are the political systems.Source: Question 14 – Who do you think can help to reduce child labour? Figure 4 – This pie chart represents that 40% of the respondents are of the view that schools can help to reduce child labour, also 40% of the respondents are of the view that governments can help to reduce child labour while the other 20% of the respondents are of the view that business organizations can help to reduce child labour. Analysis & Interpretation of Data Twenty (20) questionnaires were distributed randomly to both male and female, ages 16-40.The majority of respondents agreed that child labour is dangerous and harmful. The research reveals that 60% of the respondents are of the view that males are more affected by child labour. Throughout the village, many children work, full-time whether it’s male or female. They do not go to school and have little or no time to play; they are also denied the chance to be children. More than 50% of them are exposed to the worst forms of child labour such as work in hazardous environments, slavery or other forms of forced labour.It was also noted that 60% of the respondents are of the view that the main reason for child labour is poverty, since income from a child’s work is usually crucial for his or her own survival, or for that of the household. Immature and inexperience child labourers may be completely unaware of the short-term risks involved in their work, long-term health problems are common in communities where children are forced to work with dangerous chemicals.Last but not least, 40% of the respondents are of the view that primary school education which is free, accessible and compulsory does more than any other single factor to reduce exploitative child labour. Reducing the costs of education and ensuring that the quality standards are high will be a monumental step towards eradicating the problem of child labour in the long run. Child labour does more than deprive children of th eir education, mental and physical development – their childhood is stolen. Findings The researcher found that: 60% of respondents are of the view that males are more affected by child labour. * 60% of the respondents are of the view that poverty is the greatest cause behind child labour. * 20% of the respondents are of the view that the lack of meaningful alternatives, such as affordable schools and quality education is another major cause driving children to harmful labour. * 80% of the respondents are of the view that the major consequence of child labour is that children face many physical dangers and death from forced labour. 80% of the respondents are of the view that the government and schools can help to reduce child labour. Recommendations & Implementation Strategies Recommendations * Primary Education – should be compulsory and free. * Education and Training for Women – Studies show when women are educated, trained and empowered, child labour drops. * Social Services – should help children and families survive in crises, such as loss of home and shelter. Give jobs to children’s adult relatives – This way, the family won’t suffer and this should indeed be helpful. * The government should ban the worst forms of child labour such as bonded labour, etc. Implementation Strategies * Assisting with developing and implementing national policies on child labour problems. * Creating awareness on the problem nationwide, in communities and workplaces. * Strengthening existing organizations and motivating a broad alliance of partners to acknowledge and act against child labour. Bibliography

Internal and External Accountabilities for Organizational Governance Research Paper

Internal and External Accountabilities for Organizational Governance - Research Paper Example Internal accountability in the not-for-profit organizations refers to the internal stakeholders such as employees, managers, directors etc, their quality of work and the coordination between them which leads to the welfare of the public or any other organization whom they are responsible to benefit. Profit is not their motto, their main aim is to provide services to others, therefore, the needs of others and their fulfilment by the staff and the financial resources of an organization are all a part of the internal accountability of a not-for-profit organization. Internal accountability in a for-profit organization similar to the internal accountability of a not-for-profit organization refers to the internal stakeholders such as employees, directors, managers, shareholders etc and the coordination between them. But, the difference between both of them is that, the internal accountability of a for-profit organization deals with the profits and loss made by the company, Such organizatio ns don’t work for the profit of others, instead they work for their own profit, therefore, they are basically concerned how well the internal stakeholders work in order to make more and more money for the organization. External accountability of a not-for-profit organization is concerned with all the external factors that affect a not-for-profit organization. Charities, donations, sponsors etc are some of the external stakeholders of not-for-profit organizations. External accountability of a for-profit organization includes external stakeholders such as customers, clients etc which affect or make up either profit or loss for a for-profit organization.

Organizational behavior Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Organizational behavior - Essay Example It is basically a practice of proper or suitable human behavior within the organizational setting (Griffin and Moorhead 3). The human behavior within the organization depends on many important factors and they are the organizational structure, motivational factors, job satisfaction, leadership qualities of the managers, communication processes and many more. However, with the advancement of the behavioral approaches of the new age work forces the organizational behavioral approaches of the management are also changing. The ROWE program in Best Buy is a great example to be studied by most of the organizations. Organizational structures (on the basis of decision making) Centralized: According to the centralized method the top level managers take the final decision and it is been carried downwards to the employee level. In this case the numbers of the managers are less and they stay away from the service point. Most of the traditional organizations follow the centralized structure. Dece ntralized: The decentralized system is totally different. The decision can also be taken in a much lower level. However, it is better than the centralized methods as the decision is made fast and the decision maker stays near the service point (Finkler et al; 43). Relation between organizational behavior and Structure: Strategy is the long term goal of the organization towards the proper direction. There are many strategies related to the organizations behavior and many strategies are discussed above and will be discussed in the later part of this paper. However, the organizational behavior and the organizational structures are closely related to each other. The decision making process and the behavior of the organization highly depend on the organizational structure. The structure and the behavioral strategies have reciprocal relationship (Hitt, Ireland, and Hoskisson 312). This important relation focuses one strategy formulation and the strategy implementation. In the recent time the ROWE program in the Best Buy can be presented to understand the relation between the organizational behavior, the structure and the strategies accordingly to match both the entities (Hitt, Ireland, and Hoskisson 312) Organization Behaviors: Group behavior: An organization is made of different people from different cultural back grounds and the group behavior plays a vital role in this context. However, group behaviors can referrer to many things. For an example, a group made of similar mentality people for some personal achievements can be a great negative character for an organization. However, a systematic grouping of employees for the betterment of the organization can be called as a team. And, team work is a great positive point for any organization. However, a group behavior is less predictable as many people are associated with a group (Yalom, and Leszcz 261). Job Attitudes: The attitude is a relative and evaluative statement; it can be favorable or unfavorable towards an object, person or job (Robbins, 55). It is a complex behavior of a person and it is highly dependent upon individual. However, attitudes can be molded with proper behavioral practices. The attitude of an employee towards her or her job depends upon many important factors and they are the job profile, motivation

Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 6

Case Study - Essay Example The company found itself left out in the cold financially when they were blocked from accessing needed investment resources. An additional significant internal influence in the demise of Burgmaster was a sense of complacency (which damaged the entire industry) that led to a drop in quality, and the neglect of the characteristic benefit that was formerly most associated with the company: innovation. External factors also played an important role in this organizational tragedy. Some would argue that the political environment at the time is what doomed Burgmaster, as it failed to adequately protect the company from international competition. The competing businesses may have been the most crucial issue. Japanese companies were quick to capitalize on all opportunities, including a swing in market demands toward the perceived (and real) benefits associated with Asian technology. Accordingly, the operational strategy that would have been the best hope for saving Burgmaster should have been focused on improving

Analysis of the operations management activities of zara Essay

Analysis of the operations management activities of zara - Essay Example The organisation that has managed to pull this off is Zara, the Spanish fashion retail chain. Not only has Zara continued to record rising profits in a stagnant market, but is increasing the pace of store openings to almost one per day in the current year. Currently there are 758 Zara stores throughout the world in 58 countries, but by 2009, there are planned to be 4000. (Kane 2005). The company is not just a European phenomenon, but a global force and in many ways could be considered a leader in the retailing revolution that is sweeping the fashion world. Zara is a company within the Inditex holding group also founded by the creator of Zara. Before looking in depth at the successful business model that Zara operates and how it was developed it is worth looking at the overall fashion scene in order to gauge the field and to further show how different Zara is and how it became and remains so successful. Without doubt, there is a fashion revolution underway in the High Street. This revolution underscores a fashion retailing war that can only be described as cut throat and it reflects a huge change in the underlying cause of fashion expectations amongst the shoppers - the huge reduction in cost of high fashion items which has been pioneered by such fashion retailers as H&M of Sweden, Top Shop of the UK and especially Zara of pain. The war has had many casualties which have been mortally wounded amongst them C&A and M&S which catered for the wrong people at the wrong time and ended up with millions in unwanted unsaleable stock. Other companies struggled through the bad patches and are fighting back to remain in the high street realising belatedly that shoppers all over Europe and indeed the rest of the world want to dress like the rich and wealthy and the stars of stage and screen. Fashion retailers are rushing to satisfy this demand and shops like Top Shop, gap, Zara and others are b attling it out to get ahead and stay on top in this cutthroat and swiftly changing business. The market in Britain alone is worth 27 billion pounds and decisions made by company and group managements right down to store managers together with their chosen business models make the companies sink or swim. A BBC report on the subject (BBC News 2003), noted that shoppers had become obsessed with the way that celebrities dressed because those clothes have become so much more accessible in both price and availability. Stores are becoming that much better at including items that celebrities wear and reproducing them very quickly. The same report quotes Top shop director Jane Shepherdson as saying that customers want to be able to buy into the trends that they've seen from the catwalk as soon as possible. Top shop wasn't always able to accommodate this because of its inflexible business plan that operated separate summer and winter collections which often had lead times built into the system of up to 18 months. By observing another rival on the high street scene, Gap, it can be seen that by relying on previous problems were due to a mistaken strategy of targeting the teenage market with its Old Navy stores. The Swedish firm H&M was one of the leaders in changing that by appointing young designers to make high fashion as swiftly and as cheaply as possible, but initially the quality

Mixed method methodology Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Mixed method methodology - Assignment Example Integrating quantitative and qualitative methods capitalizes on the strengths of each approach, and offsets their different weaknesses. Use of complementary paradigms promote corroboration of a research study, expand a set of results, or even discover something that would have been missed otherwise.Qualitative research explores the richness, depth, and complexity of phenomena. They aid in gaining critical insights, and unravel latent meanings by improving our comprehension of the whole. Interpretivism is the backbone of qualitative research.Quantitative research is generally used to investigate research questions. An array of possible quantitative research designs can be applied. However, in areas like sociology, where it is difficult to do pure experimental research, quasi-experimental, and non-experimental designs can be adapted.Research results have greater objectivity and credibility. Researcher’s bias can be eliminated. Data collection is structured, precise and quick. Re search findings can be generalized if sufficiently large populations are sampled during data collection. Testing and the validating hypothesis is simpler and follows mathematical frameworks. Examples of quantitative research abound in marketing, finance, trend analysis and co-relational studies. For instance, studying the effect of a drug or treatment could follow tightly controlled experimental methodology; whereas, studying the effect of some disease on age, gender, life style would require co-relational approach. Abundant literature on quantitative research is available, (Sibanda, 2009) provides a comprehensive review. Key considerations for mixed method design for research study: Johnson and Onwuegbuzie (2004) articulate two typologies: mixed-model designs; and mixed-method designs. The authors contend that, mixed-model designs can be constructed by mixing qualitative and quantitative approaches within, and across the stages of research viz.: problem definition, data collection, and analyzing-interpreting data. Mixed-method design on the other hand, the authors opine, are based on the crossing of paradigm emphasis, and time ordering of quantitative and qualitative phases. How much of the qualitative-quantitative mix, and at what stages of research, are a few key dimensions for mixed-method research model. Caracelli & Greene (1997) proposed following framework for consideration of mixed-method approach in research study: Design Description Triangulation Different methods used concurrently, preferably with equal priority, to assess same phenomena toward convergence and increased validity Expansion Different methods used for different phenomena; can be sequential or concurrent, equal or unequal priority, with paradigm assumptions important or

Mongolia Tourism Article Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Mongolia Tourism Article - Essay Example The outcomes of the study were utilized in making recommendations to the Mongolian tourism authority on efficient targeting of its international tourism market and improvement of tourism services in the country. 2. A number of factors have influenced the growth of international tourism in Mongolia. The collapse of the eastern European communism system, poor economic conditions, forest fires and adverse weather conditions made international tourism in Mongolia to deteriorate between 1990 and 1997. Business activities brought tourists from China and Russia Federation across Mongolia and this led to a sharp improvement in Mongolian international tourism in 1998. Other factors that improved tourism in Mongolia include favorable visa regulations that enabled tourists to get visas at the Mongolian border. The National Tourism Board that was promulgated in 1995 helped market Mongolia as a favorable tourism destination. Businesspeople from Korea and Japan who worked in Mongolia spread news back in their home countries about Mongolia. The internet helped raise awareness about Mongolia, increased accessibility to travel advertising and reservations and made them less costly. The good impression that Mongolia created in its early Japanese and Korean visitors was another factor in the improvement of tourism in the country (Yu & Goulden, 2006). 3. Cognitive dimension is one of the constructs through which tourism satisfaction can be viewed. The dimension entails tourists’ experience with services. Tourists’ reaction to service performance is captured in the affective dimension of tourism. Systemic dimension of tourism articulates the disparity between the services that tourists expect and things that they get while on the ground. The cross-cultural dimensions of tourism emphasize the impact that cultural difference has on tourists’ perception of service delivery and quality. The dimension reckons that the difference between the

Compatitive Strategy and Innovation Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Compatitive Strategy and Innovation - Case Study Example So what made them so different from the rest in the corporate jungle to bring about rather such exquisite products or service offerings that consumers lapped up them in time The answer well lies in the fact that these guys are not only great entrepreneurs, techno honchos, and brilliant chaps but rather they always understood that to stay ahead in the rat race of corporate tussle; you have to keep a tab on the pulse of the consumers. The key always lies among them. Again a different perspective can very well be that these guys were great practioners of marketing principles and understood the 4Ps' of Marketing very well enough to always come up with great products and services which mapped the consumer needs so well that today they are all in the list of Forbes 500. These people could create an idea which held the attention of millions together and then they had the brilliance to turn the attention into a long term association and loyal purchase. Apart from corporate and organizations, we also certainly can't ignore the everyday innovations we make in our daily lives, from mending a simple broken cigarette to finding ways how to make life simpler by implementing certain simple and unthought-of of innovative ideas and processes which actually makes life simpler and smoother. On the whole what I am trying to say is that innovation can be brought about by virtually anybody at any place and at any point of time, but to commercialize it one necessarily needs to take the corporate route. So let's see and understand how certain key players in our society have unraveled innovations to make life simpler and technologically progressive. To take a prime example we'll concentrate on Mr. Steve Jobs the CEO for Apple Inc. He along with Steve Wozniak started Apple Computers in their garage in 1976. From their onwards to revolutionizing the computer world with iMacs' and the music industry with his concepts in music download i.e iTunes' and iPod. We have seen a man change from being extremely bull headed to becoming one of the foremost leaders of the 21st century. From getting ousted from Apple to starting up NEXT and Pixar Animations, this is one person who has learnt from his own mistakes and has decided to take Apple to newer heights and as once envisioned as a youn g entrepreneur. When Steve Jobs was ousted from Apple Inc, it was pretty well known as to why he was removed from his post as Chairman. His overbearing and prejudiced management style and constant conflict with then CEO John Sculley (Steve Jobs Transforms Apple), as result by the time he left it was assumed that Apple was in good hands now. But the company may have had taken the decision in haste as it had removed one person from the organization whose core skills lay in product innovation. As a result when he joined back again in 1997 it was very well known that the organization needed some new product offerings apart from iMac Slim and its desktop variants. As a result by 2005 he had come

How the area of a wire affects the resistance in a circuit Essay Example for Free

How the area of a wire affects the resistance in a circuit Essay Electricity is conducted through a conductor. Resistance is the word used to describe the opposition between forces. The more free electrons there are, the better the conduction and the worse the resistance is. The more atoms vibrate, the more resistance there is. The free electrons are given energy, as a result they move and collide with the surrounding electrons. This happen throughout the whole wire. This is how the electricity is conducted. Resistance is the result of energy loss in form of heat. How do we measure it? V=I/R V=Voltage I =Current R=Resistance Ohms Law. This law states that the current through a metallic conductor (wire) at a constant temperature is proportional to the potential difference (Voltage). Therefore the Voltage and Current is constant. If the resistance increases the temperature increases, so it stays constant. At higher temperatures the particles move more quickly, increasing the collision of the free electrons. Possible Input Variables Wire area Wire thickness Wire length Applied voltage Material Taught connections Cross-sectional shape Insulated Density of wire Coiled or not Temperature Preliminary Experiments. Easy to measure? Easy to change Wire area V V Wire thickness X X Wire length V V Applied voltage V V Material X V Taught connections X X Cross-sectional shape X X Insulated X V Density of wire V X Coiled or not V V Temperature V V Applied I or V by a double cell which is measured by digital volt and ammeter. I will find out the Resistance by the formula using R=V/I. Wire area. It is difficult to change the area. A possible solution would be to add wires and twist them together. Coiled or not? It has not got an obvious affect. The Voltage and Current didnt increase or decrease. Temperature. My idea was to set up a water bath to keep the wire at a same temperature at every point. I would experiment with temperatures from 20? C-100 (room temperature to the boiling point of water) Wire length. Is very easy to set up. There is a very large range of results. Chosen Input variable I chose wire area as my variable because it is has a better variety of results. I will have 8 wires with the same cross sectional area. It would be to expensive using different cross sectional sizes of wire. I will put the wire parallel to each other an twist them add the end to increase the area of the wire. My chosen output variable is resistance because that is what I am looking for in the wire. Fair Test In the experiment I am not going to change anything ( wire length and applied voltage). The only thing I will change is the area of the wire (input variable). I will use the same equipment throughout the test, to make sure it is a fair test. If I would use different equipment it may give me different readings. I am using a safety resistor, so that the current is the same and that the wire will not overheat. It would not be a fair test if the wire would heat because it would give my different sets of results at different temperatures. It could also be a safety hazard if the wire overheats. Method Cut eight wires of the same cross sectional area in 35cm length (only 30cm of wire measured because I have to attach crocodile clips on each side   The equipment is as following: 2 cell Battery Ammeter+ Voltmeter Safety Resistor 8 wires (35cm) 2 crocodile clips   My circuit will look as following:   Let electricity pass through the circuit and note down the readings of the ammeter and voltmeter. Add more wires to the circuit and continue as planned   Make three sets of results through an accurate experiment Prediction I will expect that if the area of the wire increases the resistance will decrease. This can be proven by background physics of the past. Observation Test Results Nr. of wires   This graph shows the voltages I measured Nr. of wires This graph shows the Current I measured Nr. of wires R1 R2 R3 Rave Area m^2 1/Area   This graph shows me the resistance and resistance average I have worked out. It also includes the formulas for the Area and 1/Area My Graphs are on a separate sheet of graph paper. Analysis My graph shows me that if I increase the area the resistance decreases. I have plotted two graphs to give me a wider range of results and averages in different areas (1/Area and Area m^2). My Area graph looks like a y =1/X graph X Y 1 1 2 0. 5 3 0. 333 4 0. 25 To reassure this I have plotted an average 1/Area. If it is correct then I should get a straight line. When I plotted the graph I had a straight line. This tells me that the average is proportional to 1/Area i. e. Rave ? 1/Area. The slope is: y/x= 10. 5/16= 0. 66 ? /mi I am ignoring the offset on my 1/Area graph This experiment shows me that resistance is definitely affected by the area of the wire. Looking at my background physics it has worked out like resistors on a parallel circuit. When attaching another wire to the experiment it acts like adding another parallel resistor in a parallel circuit. So if the area of the wire increases the resistance decreases. Also I have learned if the voltage goes down the resistance goes up Evaluation I found this experiment easy to do. I had no anomalies on my graph. This means that the points I have plotted are all in a acceptable arrangement. There were no experimental caused by a faulty connection. There were no safety hazards and the experiment was safe to do.

Marketing Essays Starbucks Coffee

Marketing Essays Starbucks Coffee Starbucks Coffee Starbucks Coffee company is headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It began in 1971 with just one retail store at Seattles historic Pike Place Market. Now it has become the leading brand and retailer in the world. Starbucks went public on June 26, 1992. The main aim of Starbucks is to become the leading brand and retailer of finest coffee in each of its target markets nationally and internationally by selling the best quality coffee and related products, and by providing high class customer service. Starbucks purchases and roasts a high quality whole bean coffees to sell them with fresh, rich-brewed espresso beverages, different varieties of pastries and coffee related accessories and equipments (www.starbucks.com). Moreover Starbucks also sells coffee and tea products strategically through other channels such as supermarkets and non traditional retail channels such as United Airlines, Marriott International, Barnes Noble bookstores and Department stores. More than quality coffee, Starbucks features a variety of hand-crafted beverages, pastries and in some markets, a selection of sandwiches and salads. Starbucks merchandise includes exclusive espresso machines and coffee brewers, unique confections and other items related to coffee and tea. Some of the Starbucks products are as follows; Beverages: Brewed coffees, Italian-style espresso, cold blended beverages, roasted whole bean coffees, tea products, fruit juice, sodas, and coffee liqueur. Food: Sandwich, Salads, pastries and ice creams Non food items: Mugs, Travel tumblers, coffeemakers, coffee grinders, storage containers, compact discs, games, seasonal novelty items, Starbucks card, media bar. Starbuckss main mission is to be a global company. In order to achieve this it needs, the development strategy that Starbucks implemented to adapt with variety market and local need are: joint ventures, licenses and company owned operation. The total number of Starbucks stores are 15,011 which are operated and 3,891 are licensed operation in US which are spread out in 50 states. For the international location, Starbucks’ store can be found in 44 countries outside of the United States and 1,049 stores are company owned operated in Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Singapore, Thailand and the U.K. and 6,506 are joint ventures and licensed operation. Internationally Starbucks opened their stores in the following countries; Starbucks open in Tokyo, Japan. Nowadays, there are more than 700 retails shops in Japan. Furthermore, Starbucks also open in Hawaii and Singapore. Starbucks open in Philippines Starbucks open in U.K., Taiwan, Thailand, New Zealand and Malaysia. Starbucks open in Beijing, Kuwait, South Korea and Lebanon. Starbucks open in United Arab Emirates, Shanghai, Australia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Starbucks open in Switzerland and Austria. Starbucks open in Oman, Germany, Spain, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Southern China, Macao and Shenzhen, Greece and Indonesia. Starbucks open in Turkey, Peru, Chile and Cyprus. Expansion to France The latest expansion in Jordan 5 Ps for Starbucks Coffee Company Starbucks is not just a good cup of fresh coffee, but a better quality product, excellent customer service and better understanding of coffee culture. Starbucks has so far achieved unpredictable achievements in coffee chain industry. Now we will go through the strategies of 5 Ps, price, product, place, promotion and people. Price: The Starbucks prices continuously matches with its competitors competitively represents Starbucks an attractive combination of features, high quality, excellent service and other attractive attributes. Product: Starbucks is known very well in the market due to its high quality coffee, care in selection and expertise in roast. It purchases coffees that have been grown and processed which meets strict environmental, economical, social and quality standards, which is suitable appropriate for the market and the customers. Starbucks establishes its longer lasting and more profitable competitive advantages by broadly differentiating its coffee and coffee related products depending upon its competence and innovation. Place: The decisions of Starbucks about where to site its stores depends on reaching its potential customers and providing better service to its existing customers. Its stores are typically clustered in high-traffic, high visibility locations. When it opens a new store near an established Starbucks, it is generally intended to relieve long customer lines and improve service. It takes more than just location to be successful. Attracting customers to Starbucks happens by providing high-quality coffee as well as creating inviting, comfortable places located in convenient location. The store expansion strategy for Starbucks is by entering new markets wherever the opportunity exists to become the leading specialty coffee retailer. Its current location totals 8,505 worldwide by the year 2007. Promotion: There is not much conventional advertising because Starbucks found that there is too much competition for consumers attention in TV, radio and print media. Starbucks usually picks one or two charities or events that reach the community it serves. This will inspire people inside and outside the company and reinforce the companys value and image. For instance, after September 11, stores in New York, Washington D.C and Pennsylvania brewed coffee free of cost for relief workers. People: One of the strategy of Starbucks is to believe that the Company is in the people development business as well as in the coffee business. As stated in its mission Provide a great work environment and treat each other with respect and dignity, Starbucks realizes that one of the most important resources contributing to success is their employees or partners as referred by the Company. Starbucks is attempting to imbed its values in the Company culture. They use these values to give employees a sense of meaning to their work even if it is just pouring a cup of coffee. The coffee chain provides medical, dental and vision coverage to all employees, even including part-timers. The part- time partners are also eligible for the companys stock program. The purpose is to instill in its partners a sense of purpose, commitment, loyalty and enthusiasm. Expectedly, what Starbucks benefits are the reduced recruiting and training costs. Get help with your essay from our expert essay writers ‘PESTLE’ Analysis for Starbucks Coffee Company Political: High taxation imposed on farmers in those countries producing the coffee bean will usually mean Starbucks pay a higher price for the coffee they purchase. Any fluctuations in taxation levels in the industry are almost certainly ultimately passed on to the consumer. Trade issues will affect Starbucks predominantly when exporting and importing goods. When another country’s government imposes a tariff it not only results in an efficiency loss for Starbucks but large income transfers can become inconsistent with equity. This extra charge can turn a bargain into a rip-off. Also, since 9/11, trade relations have been adversely affected between the USA and some other countries. Starbucks should thoroughly investigate the political stability of any country they plan to expand to. Changes in government can lead to changes in taxation and legislation. The American elections may have an effect on Starbucks as new legislation or new or existing government may bring in taxes. Also, those countries in political turmoil or civil war (e.g. Zimbabwe at present) should be approached with great caution when considering new ventures. The international economy must be brought into consideration as it can affect Starbucks’ sales and markets. The aftermath of 9/11 was an example of an economic downturn that affected the world market. A reduction in licensing and permit costs in those countries producing the coffee bean for Starbucks would lower production costs for farmers. This saving would in turn be passed on to the purchaser. Economic: A rise in interest rates means investment and expansion plans are put off resulting in falling sales for Starbucks and their suppliers. Also mortgage repayments rise so consumers have less disposable income to spend on luxury products such as coffee. Low interest rates will have the opposite effect of it. If growth is low in the nation of location of Starbucks then sales may also fall. Consumer incomes tend to fall in periods of negative growth leaving less disposable income. Consumer confidence in products can also fall if the economic situation is bad. Competitive pricing from competitors can start a price war for Starbucks that can drive down profits and profit margins as they attempt to increase, or at least maintain, their share of the market. Globalisation of the coffee market has meant farmers of the bean now earn less money than they used to. This can result in a decrease of people willing to do it for a living, which will mean a decrease in coffee produced, resulting in a drop in Starbucks supply levels and probably profits. Starbucks are affected by exchange rates when dealing with international trade. If the value of the currency falls in the country of a coffee supplier this enables Starbucks to get more for their $ or  £ when importing the goods to their country. This saving can be passed along to the customer. Exchange rates are forever changing throughout the world in today’s market. Social: Where income is distributed is another factor that Starbucks should look at as this also demonstrates the ideal place to aim their marketing or to locate their stores. Coffee is more of a luxury product so it is those people/places with the most amount of disposable income to spend that should be targeted the most intensely. Starbucks would not want to locate to an area where the local population have a poor attitude to work. Recruitment would be difficult, training arduous, and staff turnover would be high. Attitudes to work are important in other ways. Transport needs to the premises must be considered for both staff and customers. Easy access is vital to ensure there is no excuse for staff to arrive late or for customers not to visit. Research shows the average age of the population is getting older and birth rates are stagnating. Starbucks is presently aiming it’s product at young people but maybe these views will change in the long-term as the market proportion for young people diminishes. The most profitable way forward may be to widen their target market despite the risk of alienating present customers. Technological: Developments in the technology of coffee making machines and the computers that Starbucks use to run their cash registers will enable their staff to work more quickly and efficiently. This will result in customers being served quicker and create the potential to serve more customers in a day. In the short-term, Starbucks must identify the most efficient software upgrades to use to keep up with the competition. This applies to the improving the accessibility of their website (www.starbucks.com) and also improving the speed and quality of the service provided on the shop floor. As a multi-national business empire, Starbucks has the budget and the resources to have a cutting-edge RD department. The website is very accessible, the facilities are state of the art but more importantly new ideas are consistently being tried in terms of a constantly updating menu. The rate of technological change in the current world market is high, much higher than, say, thirty years ago. Much of this is down to the Internet and the speed with which information can be communicated around the globe. Starbucks will need to invest heavily just to stand still in their ever expanding and developing market, and even more so to try to stay ahead of competitors. Legal: Starbucks need to be aware of the trade laws in the various countries they occupy and do business with. They need to ensure they are not in violation of e.g., religious laws. Also, certain countries impose a tariff that has to be paid when goods are imported/exported so this must be taken into account. Each country has varying employment laws. Some may have a Sabbath day, some may have a limit on the number of hours an employee may work per week, and all will have varying levels of minimum wage. Starbucks should consider these factors when deciding on relocation. Starbucks may have to abide by local planning regulations when building shops or altering purchased sites, as certain areas of land may be protected or unsuitable. All matters would be addressed by the local government. Environmental: Starbucks customers create a lot of waste as they often leave the shop with their cup of coffee and then dispose of it in the street. The packaging for this cup must be carefully considered to make it as biologically degradable as possible. Certain other materials can be very harmful to the natural environment. Planning permission may not be granted if Starbucks wish to build in an area that could be harmful to the environment. The land may be protected. Starbucks need to carefully consider the methods in which they dispose of their waste as there are strict laws in most countries to ensure a firm trading in their country disposes of the waste that is created in their business in a specific and efficient way. Starbucks should be aware of the physical and influential power of groups such as Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth. Find out how our expert essay writers can help you with your work ‘SWOT’ Analysis for Starbucks Coffee Company Strength: Strong brand name and image The reputation of brand name and image of Starbucks allow brand recognition and consumer retention. Therefore, the expanding of stores to other countries is more proficient and easier. Healthy financial performance The financial performance of company has positive aspects. The revenues of Starbucks in 2007 were $9.411 billion, growing at about 30 percent. The exponential growth in revenue and profit creates the strong financial statement and reliability to shareholders. High-skilled management team Starbucks has highly skilled and professional Chief executive officers (CEOs), for example, Howard Schultz, Orin Smith and Howard Behar. These lead to the rapid and stable growth of Starbucks. High technology Starbucks brings the technology to use in the stores in order to attract more customers. For instance, there are high-speed internet, website and prepaid Starbucks card. It might be increase traffic in the stores particularly in new generation group. High quality and innovation of products Starbucks uses high quality of coffee beans and dairy goods. Furthermore, new products are usually introduced by Starbucks including coffee and beverage line. Both of them enable Starbucks to be able to maintain level of sales and keep competitors out. Weakness: High price Starbucks has increased the price due to rising cost of production, including cost of dairy goods and cost of rent. The increase of price might have an effect on the falling of sales and customer retention directly Clusters of store Because Starbucks has a lot of stores and also these are located in closed areas, it leads to the scramble of customers in each store. Clusters of store might cause inefficient performance of the company. Opportunities: Large consumer group China has the biggest world’s population. Coffee drinking is more popular among young generation, especially those who have overseas education, which influences the coffee consumption. Many of these teenagers have lived in western countries for a long time and they have familiar with the coffee culture. When returning to China they have carried on living in this fashion. Chinese teenagers also like to choose western style coffee shops as their favorite place. Lifestyle Modern lifestyle of Chinese teenagers and adults supports the proliferation of western coffee shops. Meeting and discussing business in a warm and nicely designed coffee shop have become more popular in China. Consequently, the teahouse’s domination has been challenged by the foreign coffee house. Threats: Competitors The global coffee market is a very competitive sector. Starbucks is facing the increase of competitions from other foreign players. The latest Starbucks’ competitor is Canadian chain Blenz Coffee, which plans to open a string of cafà © in China where consumers can smoke, while Starbucks is non smoke stores. Intellectual-property violation Starbucks filed a lawsuit for trademark infringement against Shanghai Xingbake which signs, logos and names similar to Starbucks. It would seem that chances of consumer confusion are high. Porters Five Forces Analysis Porter’s five forces analysis is an important tool for analyzing an organizations industry structure in strategic processes. It helps the marketer to contrast a competitive environment. It tends to focus on the single, stand alone, business or SBU (Strategic Business Unit) rather than a single product or range of products. Porter has identified five competitive forces that shape every industry and every market. These are: The threat of entry, The power of buyers, The power of suppliers, The threat of substitutes and Competitive rivalry. The threat of entry: The threat of entry covers: Economies of scale, The high or low cost of entry, Ease of access to distribution channels, Cost advantages not related to the size of the company, Whether competitors will retaliate? Government action and How important differentiation is. There will always be a continuous pressure for Starbucks to react and adjust to these new entrants. The easier it is for new entrants to enter the market the more competition there is within the market. Although this really should not pose too much of a problem for Starbucks as they have a very large share of the market that will be relatively immune to the threat of new entrants. Starbucks is a company that have years of experience in roasting specialised coffee, if a company was to enter the coffee industry it would be extremely difficult for them to offer the same quality of coffee at a competitive price. As a company’s volume increases, so does its experience and knowledge which tends to decrease the cost of their products The power of buyers: Buyer power is likely to be high if a number of conditions are in place. There is a concentration of buyers, particularly if the volumes of purchases of the buyers are high, the supplying industry comprises a large number of small operators, there are alternative sources of supply, the component or material cost is a high percentage of total cost, the cost of switching a supplier is low or involves little risk, there is a threat of backward integration by the buyer. This is high where there a few, large players in a market If there are a large number of undifferentiated, small suppliers The cost of switching between suppliers is low for Starbucks. The power of suppliers: If the market is dominated by few large suppliers rather than numerous fragmented sources, a suppliers bargaining power is likely to be high. Although suppliers do have certain amounts of power, it is limited. With Starbucks being ‘the most famous specialty coffee shop chain in the world’ and still expanding they should still be requiring coffee beans for some time. It is safe to say that the Suppliers need Starbucks, just as much, if not more so than Starbucks need their supplies. Fortunately for Starbucks they buy their coffee beans directly from producing countries: Latin America (50%), Pacific Rim (35%) and East Africa (15%). The threat of substitutes: This occurs where there is product-for-product substitution, where there is a substitution of need e.g. a bald head reduces the need for hair gel, where there is generic substitution and finally the attitude ‘we could always do without. An example for Starbucks would be if an alternative to coffee was offered e.g. a customer switching from coffee to tea. Competitive rivalary: Numerous factors contribute to intense rivalry between existing competitors in an industry. This is most likely to be high where entry is likely; there is the threat of substitute products, and suppliers and buyers in the market attempt to control. This is why it is found in the centre of the diagram. The extent to which competitors are in balance, this is where competitors are of an equal size which creates intense competition as one of the competitors tries to gain dominance over the other, high fixed costs in an industry may result in price wars, differentiation is important as in a commodity market where products or services are undifferentiated there is little to stop customers switching between competitors. Starbucks do not really have any competitive rivals that are of similar size to them so there are not any rivals in the market that would be considered in balance with them. However, they must maintain their excellent standards and always be on the lookout for new innovation s in order to stay as the market leader. Competitor Analysis Competition is steadily growing against Starbucks each year as the industry grows. Competitors look to gain an advantage by price cuts, launching a rival product, aggressive expansion of production to increase market share or inclusion of significant modifications to a product that other competitors must also undertake to keep up. The following are the current figures showing the market share of companies in the coffee industry. 35% Starbucks 20% Local Coffee Outlets 14% Internet Cyber Cafes 13% Caffe Nero 10% Costa Coffee 8% Coffee Republic Culture Model The culture of an organisation is the set of values that helps its stakeholders understand what the organisation stands for, how it does things and what it considers important. Under culture model, we are going to explain the communication and decision making of Starbucks. The Organisation its environment (Source: Davidson, 2002 pg. 73 Figure 3.1 In the diagram (above), owner created the company objective for Starbucks and the boarder of directors is going to lead company to achieve that company objective. Therefore, the boarder of directors has to choose the suitable organisation culture environment for Starbucks in order to achieve the company objective. The Value System The value system is the inter-organisational links that are vital in the creation of the product or service of a company. It follows the production of the service/product from raw material stage right through to the customer purchase. Each instruction for the development of the product is detailed and explained at each stage of the value system. The ‘firm value chain’ is the most important to a manager because that is their company, however, a good manager will understand the whole process and how to manage each individual link and relationship to maximise customer value. Managers should also need to learn the whole value system because most of the cost and value creation occurs in the supply and distribution chains. For Starbucks, the ‘supplier value chain’ deals with where they get the coffee beans from that they use to create their end product – a cup of coffee. Starbucks buy all their beans direct from the farmers in the producing countries cutting out any middle-man therefore keeping prices to a minimum. The countries that supply them can be found in Latin America, East Africa and on the Pacific Rim. Starbucks fully appreciate the need to oversee all aspects of the value system and we can see an example of this in their determination to obtain the highly sought Narino Supremo crop in 1992. This acquisition ensured some of the highest quality coffee supplies in the world would be reaped by Starbucks. The company has close relationships with their coffee exporters. They maintain this by working directly with them and training them. A good relationship here is essential and needs to be maintained. The ‘firm’s value chain’ consists of: The Firm’s infrastructure; which is about the ways in which Starbucks want their organisation to run and how it is best to implement systems of planning, finance, quality control and information management, it is also where they have made the decision to make high quality coffee from the best coffee beans as this is involved with the quality control. Human Resource Management; It is concerned with the activities involved in recruiting, managing, training, developing and rewarding people within the organisation. For Starbucks this is where they have made decisions about the fact that all employees are equal, even those on the shop-floor that are working over 20 hours a week receive bonuses like free coffee and health care coverage, this was to make sure that the members of staff felt as if they were valued by the company and would continue to provide a good service. Another implemented scheme is for all Starbucks store staff to have a comprehensive 24 hour training scheme before they were allowed on to work directly with customers. Technology development; Starbucks has a large number of areas where it uses technology from regulating their stock levels to the cash registers. There is also technology to enable customers can to order their coffee over the internet and then pick it up from the store when they get there. Some stores now also contain computers where customers can access the internet. Procurement; this refers to the processes for acquiring the various resource inputs to the primary activities. For instance, the method of obtaining the grade A coffee beans from suppliers to use in the Starbucks coffee. Inbound logistics; For Starbucks this means receiving the coffee beans and other products that they need to make the products in their stores from their suppliers and storing these until they are used to make the product that they are going to sell. Operations; this is the stage where Starbucks make the coffee in the store and package the other subsidiary products. Outbound logistics; this is collection, storage and distribution of coffee. A customer actually purchasing a cup of Starbucks coffee from the store. Marketing and Sales; This is how consumers become aware of Starbucks coffee and purchase it. Starbucks is a worldwide company and their brand is recognised all over the world, which means that marketing is not as necessary as it once was. Most people now recognise the name and associate the brand-image with high quality products. Service; this includes all the activities that enhance or maintain the value of the product, e.g. installation, repair and training. This area is concerned with the members of staff that deal with the customers, it focuses on the need to ensure the ‘customer experience’ of visiting a Starbucks store is all the more enjoyable due to the friendliness and efficiency of staff and consistently high quality product on offer.

Essay --

When imagining the Cold War, it is safe to assume that most people envision a picture that of its namesake; a game of spy versus spy, secret black operations and nuclear threats, with no major physical conflict. However, contrary to the aforementioned portrait, and the given label, the Cold War was anything but â€Å"cold.† Not only was there physical conflict, but full-scale wars, fought out on the battlefield rather than the podium. Engulfed at the start was the Korean War, a bloody wake-up call for America on how far the Communists will fight for their government. A fact to be once again reinforced with the Vietnam War, both of which shook America up to the point of questioning their own â€Å"invincibility.† The â€Å"revelation† in the United States was due to the outcome of both wars, which points to the inarguable fact that our quest to stop Communism in Asia was an overall failure. The fact that the United States was not the global dominant power thought to be after WWII was a tough truth to swallow for the American populace at the time (and perhaps today). After WWII, the US was exhausted, battered, and relieved. Years of fighting finally ended how it began: with the bombing of an unsuspecting populace. A hypocritical, albeit â€Å"necessary† evil. With the newly established United Nations, the world could finally rest in peace. However, the US and its allies now how had a bigger problem to contend with. Many people saw it coming, even before the end of the war. General George S. Patton saw threat in the Soviet Union's power, even while US troops were fighting and dying alongside them. However, despite the warnings, the United States failed to act, and thus, found themselves reacting to Russia's every move. The lines were set, the alliances... ... topic on the minds of even the truest patriots: Did we win? Some might argue yes, since South Korea remains a democratic state today, a fact that cannot be stated if North Korea had won. However, some might argue the opposite; the fact that North Korea is still a thorough-bred communist threat proves that we failed our goal of uniting Korea under a democratic government. The line between winning and losing was, and is, too blurry to accurately decide a conclusion. This was in sharp contrast to WWII, or WWI, or even as far back as the Spanish-American war, where America won. America always wins, right? For the first time in almost 200 years, the answer to that question is no longer clear. And that scared the American people. And with that scare, the cracks of doubt formed in the window of invincibility. A window about to be shattered, by the Iron Hammer of Communism.

Stolen Lives by Malika Oufkir and Michele Fitoussi Essay -- Books Lite

Stolen Lives by Malika Oufkir and Michele Fitoussi For my final paper, I read a book titled 'Stolen Lives' by Malika Oufkir and Michele Fitoussi. This is the true story of Malika's life. This book is divided into two parts; the first part is a description of Malika's fairy-tale life. She lived alongside a princess, in a palace, and was wanting for nothing. The second part of the book tells the story of Malika and her family's time spent in prison and the suffering they went through. Malika Oufkir was born in 1953 in Morocco to a loving mother and father. Her family was very close to King Muhammad V and the royal family of Morocco. Her father was appointed the chief aide to the king after playing an active role in bringing the king back from exile. The king had a young daughter, Lalla Mina, the same age as Malika and wanted them to grow up together so he asked that Malika come and live with him. This was not a request her parents could say no to. She was basically taken from her parents without much explanation to her and brought to live with the royal family. Her mother was allowed to visit her but the visits became less and less frequent. Malika lived inside of the palace where she attended school. She lived a luxurious life, and was treated like a princess herself, but felt like she was a prisoner. The palace was surrounded by walls and her every move was watched so she could not go outside of these walls. The only time she could leave was when the royal family left to vacation at another palace. The king treated Malika very well, as if she were his own daughter. After routine surgery, King Muhammad V died when Malika was seven. King Hassan II, the son of King Muhammad, took over the throne. Malika?s mother thoug... ...e survived all this time in the conditions they had to endure. But I don?t think they could have survived if it weren?t for the support they showed for one another. This is an amazing story of the human spirit and of a bond that held this family together. I would recommend this book to any person that likes human-interest stories. I think we need to be aware that this still does go on in some parts of the world. I enjoy learning about history and this story provided some historical information. I realize how far we have come in this country with women?s rights and how primitive some societies still treat women. Also, it served as a reminder to me that different parts of the world have very diverse beliefs and how lucky we are to live in this country. Works Cited Oufkir, Malika, and Michele Fitoussi. Stolen Lives. New York:Editions Grasset & Fasquelle. 1999

The Catbird Seat

The Catbird Seat English 3 AP Date: 3- 13- 13 Pd. 5th Comprehension: 1. Birnbaum feels his â€Å"new place in society† after his accident is that he’s provides with certain specialties due to his disabilities and that now he has special privileges that regular people doesn’t contain. 2. He takes advantage of his new status by cutting in front of lines at the DMV, the movies as well as many other places where people tend to have to wait in a line. He’s also not punished as hard as a regular person for the mistakes he’s made due to his disability. . He describes them as his â€Å"even uppers† for his physical limitations and for the difficulties caused by establishments not complying with the Americans disabilities act. 4. He realized he has limitations as well as everyone else after the incident he went through with the blind person and observed how the blind is much more privileged than the ones with the wheelchair. Purpose and Audience: 1. H e expects the reader to now occupy the life of a disabled person in a wheelchair.He gives daily life examples of his life to show who stands above him and what special benefits have he conquered due to his accident. 2. He specifies his thesis late in the essay since he believes starting off the essay with examples will cause more of an impact on the reader than just stating the thesis so his technique was well thought out. 3. His view point would make an utter change as he might encourage as well as inform the disabilities to know what benefits they achieve as well as the limitations that come from them. . His goal for the essay seems to inform the readers as well as educate them on the life of the disabilities. Now he expects readers to have the same amount of knowledge as him when it comes to people on wheelchairs. Style and Structure: 1. Starting off the essay with an example is an effective introductory strategy, since it grabs the reader’s attentions much more closer tha n any other techniques could have. 2. His essay is definitely much more convincing due to his experience in the life on a wheelchair.It would be impossible to try to come up with other ways to make it much more convincing. 3. He arranges his examples through chronological order and through out a whole direction where the reader wont fall off a cliff. 4. It helps the readers see how people treat the ones that are disabled and has requirements as well as showing how people react to the ones that are much more severely disabled. Vocabulary projects 1. Quadriplegia – Paralysis of all four limbs; tetraplegia. 2. Reprimand – A rebuke, esp. n official one. 3. Purser – An officer on a ship who keeps the accounts, esp. the head steward on a passenger vessel. 4. Condescending – Acting in a way that betrays a feeling of patronizing superiority. 5. Patronizing – Treat with an apparent kindness that betrays a feeling of superiority. 6. Chardonnay – A var iety of white wine grape used for making champagne and other wines. 7. Trumps – any  playing  card  of  a  suit  that  for  the  time  outranks  the  other  suits,  such  a  card  being  able  to take  any  card  of  another  suit.Journal entry – It is reasonable to provide someone with a disability with special privileges since their life long goals are limited. Although it is understandable to see why they are provided with these privileges, it is only required for them to use it well and not act condescending where they take too much of an advantage of the privileges they are provided with. The same aspect applies to Birnbaum as to just keep his advantage level to a minimum and not to rise it to a great extent like he described in his essay. At that point, normal people wouldn’t required the need to act patronizing.

Do Prisons Work Essay

This study will examine the effectiveness of current prison treatment programs in Australia, New Zealand, South East Asia, United States of America in rehabilitating or reforming an individual and coinciding recidivism rates upon a prisoners release. Prison based treatment programs for sex offenders in Western Australia, New South Wales and New Zealand are examined and recidivism rates compared. Treatment programs for offenders with drug and alcohol issues and the various strategies within the criminal justice system such as diversion, education and drug court programs are examined and differences explained. Rehabilitation programs such as education, life skills, employment and cognitive behavioural treatment are explained and research discussed. Conclusions will be drawn outlining programs with the highest level of recidivism both in Western Australia and globally. The â€Å"nothing works† mantra (Martinson) 1974, is seen to be refuted and treatment is seen to be successful when it is matched to the criminogenic needs of the offender (MacKenzie, 2006). Future recommendations are made in regards to the need for correctional staff to assess each offender as an individual with different needs, and to therefore implement programs that will give the offender the best change of reform or rehabilitation (MacKenzie, 2006). There are many treatment and rehabilitation programs currently used in corrections around the world aimed at reducing recidivism (MacKenzie, 2006). A heuristic approach classifies various strategies into incarceration, treatment programs and rehabilitation (McKenzie, 2006). These interventions represent different strategies for controlling crime in the community, and have some theoretical rationale for expecting a reduction in crime, despite being different in the mechanism anticipated to produce the reduction (MacKenzie, 2006). Incarceration deprives the prisoner of opportunities to commit crime, usually through detention in prison or in some states capital punishment (McKenzie, 2006). Rehabilitation is based on the premise that people can change, and if assessment is to contribute to rehabilitation it must be capable of measuring change (MacKenzie, 2006). The Static 99 risk assessment measure is an International Tool that is currently used to assess recidivism levels of sex offenders (Hoy & Bright, 2008). Rehabilitation orientated treatment programs include education, cognitive skills and employment (MacKenzie, 2006). Correctional educational programs are seen to have optimistic results in lowering levels of recidivism in prisoners (Stevens & Ward, 2007). Kaki Bukit Prison School based in Singapore is seen to be successful in reducing recidivism by aiming to creative a learning environment based on Peter Senge’s book â€Å"The Fifth Discipline† (Senge, 1990). Part of the discipline involves inmates engaging in the â€Å"The Reflective Thinking Process† (Oh, 2007), an education programme which aims to assist prisoners in reflecting on past destructive behaviour and to encourage appropriate restitution. The school is supported by a multidisciplinary team of teachers, prison officers and counsellors who work together to help students in their studies and in their journey of change to become responsible, thinking citizens (Tam, 2007). For inmates who completed their studies at Kubit Bukit Centre and were released in 2000 and 2001, the 2 year recidivism rate was 24% (Oh, 2007). Acacia, Western Australia’s only private run prison, is operated by Serco and aims to bring service to life (Needham, 2009). Storybook Dads is an example of this and aims to rehabilitate prisoners, break the cycle of reoffending and close the gap between a child and his father (Needham, 2009). The program opens up a broad range of educational opportunities ranging from writing their own stories to learning how to use a computer (Needham, 2009). The main objective of the program is to empower fathers and for children to feel loved, which then improves the lives of the prisoner’s children (Needham, 2009). Prisoners are given the opportunity to record their child’s favourite bedtime story on a CD with sound effects, personal message and CD cover (Needham, 2009). Current research indicates that fathers who have been imprisoned tend to withdraw from life outside the prison and subsequently lose contact completely with their children (Needham, 2009). Statistics show that six out of ten children whose father is a current or ex- prisoner become involved in criminal activities and consequently find themselves in similar situations to their father’s in prison (Needham, 2009). The Storybook Dad’s program runs in eighty prisons in the United Kingdom and maintains family connections and reduces reoffending (Needham, 2009). The National Fatherhood Initiative runs a similar programme called the Incarcerated Father’s Program which operates at Branchville Correctional Centre in Indiana (Gosnell, 2006). It is similar to Storybook Dad’s programme in helping prisoners reunite with their children and families (Gosnell, 2006). One study monitored 186 men for three years after release from prison with only five returning (Gosnell, 2006). Three men returned for small offences whilst two came back on a long term basis indicating low levels of recidivism, when in comparison seventy percent of men released from prison normally return within an average of one to three years (Gosnell, 2006). Prison based treatment programs offered in Western Australia for sex offenders are the Sex Offender Program, Indigenous Sex Offender and Intellectually Disabled Offender (Macgregor, 2008). Community based maintenance programs are offered for each type of offender, the current program for disabled people being the Safe Care Program (Macgregor, 2008). In Australia, most treatment programs for sex offenders are based on cognitive behavioural therapy aimed to target the criminogenic needs or risk factors of offenders (Macgregor, 2008). If these needs are altered the chances of changing the criminal behaviour are higher in the range of 10-30% (Blud, 1999). The programs are seen to be effective in that they work to alter many of the cognitive deficits displayed by offenders (Blud, 1999). They target the known risk factors for sexual reoffending which are cognitive distortions, empathy deficits and wide ranging self regulation (Hoy & Bright, 2008). A Western Australia study in 2002 measured recidivism rates of 2165 sex offenders referred to the treatment unit from 1987 to 1999 (Greenberg, 2002). The study compared treated offenders with non-treated offenders, with no significant findings on effects of treatment on sexual recidivism (Greenberg, 2002). Systematic differences between the non-treated and treated group in the Western Australian study, such as indigenous status, risk category, and length of sentence may have impaired comparisons of groups (Lievore, 2004). Inconsistencies across the data, methodological limits may have limited the study from being able to identify less significant treatment outcomes, and to identify sources (Greenberg, 2002). At present a prison based treatment program designed for adult sex offenders is offered in every Territory and State Australia, despite many having yet to be evaluated (Macgregor, 2008). An evaluation conducted in New South Wales on the Custody Based Intensive Treatment program for high risk offenders (Hoy & Bright, 2008) compared recidivism rates of 117 treated offenders with those predicted by the STATIC 99 risk assessment measure, an internationally used tool that assesses the recidivism risk of sex offenders (Hoy & Bright, 2008). STATIC 99 risk probabilities are based on a large sample of sex offenders in the United Kingdom and Canada (Hanson & Thornton, 2000). The study found that 8. 5% of sex offenders treated at the Custody Based Intensive Treatment programs committed further sexual offences in 3. 5 years, compared with a predicted sexual recidivism of 26% (Hoy & Bright, 2008). An evaluation was conducted on the Te Piriti Special Treatment Program for child sex offenders in New Zealand (Nathan, Wilson & Hillman, 2003). Te Piriti incorporates cognitive behavioural therapy methods in combination with Tikanga Maori, holistic practices derived from world view and a desire to understand the universe (Nathan, 2008). This study compared recidivism rates of Te Piriti graduates with a control group used in the Kia Marama study (Nathan, 2008). In comparison with the non-treated group’s sexual recidivism rate of 21%, a small 5. 7% of offenders who completed the programme at Te Piriti reoffended sexually (Nathan, 2008). Maori sexual offenders were also found to have a positive response to the program (Nathan, 2008). Only 4. 41% of Maori offenders reoffended sexually after receiving treatment at Te Piriti (Nathan) 2003 compared with 13. 58% of Maori Kia Marama graduates (New Zealand Corrections, 2003). These results are supportive of the argument that programs are more effective in reducing sexual recidivism when the design and implementation are attuned to the cultural background of the offenders (Macgregor, 2008). Currently, there are various strategies within the criminal justice system that respond to offenders with drug and alcohol issues (Makkai & Payne, 2003). At one end of the spectrum is the diversion by police of first offenders or low level offenders into education or treatment programs (Makkai & Payne, 2003). At the other end, is the diversion of repeat drug dependent offenders facing imprisonment into intensive drug court programs (Makkai & Payne, 2003). Drug courts aim to divert both men and women offenders (Freeman, Karski & Doak, 2000). The elements of the New South Wales drug court program are treatment; social support and the development of living skills; regular reports to the court; and regular urine testing (Freeman et al. , 2000). During the twelve month program, participants are expected to stabilise their lives by not using drugs to address health issues, and to cease criminal activity (Freeman et al. ,). Ideally, they consolidate their situation and develop life and job skills, and financially reintegrate fully, becoming financially independent (Freeman et al. ,). Analysis of the data indicates a high success rate, with only thirteen percent of the participants having committed an offence on completion of the program, indicating a low level of recidivism (Freeman et al. ,). A promising approach to combating illicit drug use has been implemented at the Metropolitan Women’s Correctional Centre in Victoria (Peachy, 1999). Carniche program includes core courses in drug awareness, drug education and Alcoholics Anonymous, which provides a group therapy environment and a twelve step program based on abstinence and group support (Peachy, 1999). The program runs for three to four months, after which the prisoners are reintegrated into the mainstream prison population (Peachy, 1999). The program involves a maximum of ten prisoners who live in a residential unit separate from the main prison population who participate in intensive drug group and individual counselling (Peachy, 2000). The program has not been evaluated for its effect on offender recidivism and its success may depend on the support available to prisoners upon release (Peachy, 2000). A new program for women offenders, titled Reconnections, completed its pilot phase at Bandyup Women’s prison in September 2009 (Porter, 2009). The program was based on therapeutic interventions to assist women in looking at past trauma and abuse in addressing their offending behaviour (Porter, 2009). Although the program was scheduled to commence in early 2010, funding problems prevented the commencement of the program (Porter, 2009). Despite the program failing to commence prison doors at Bandyup continue to open to volunteers and visitors, a move imprisoned women value (Department of Corrective Services, 2005). The Western Australian Department of Justice allows over 3,000 volunteers who provide support for victims of crime, prisoners and juvenile detainees (Department of Corrective Services, 2005). Western Australia’s drug rehabilitation is seen to be a part of the whole sentencing process both in prison and the community for a prisoner’s release on parole (Cox, 2007). There is a continuum drug users who go through the Perth Drug Court’s treatment programs are less likely to reoffend than those sent to prison (Cox, 2007). Recidivism rates for offenders using the court’s drug treatment programs were 17 percent lower than those for offenders sent to prison (Cox, 2007). The study assessed 250 drug users, dealt with the Drug Court who were charged with offences such as burglary, theft or fraud between 2000 and 2003 (Cox, 2007). In comparison to Western Australia one in every 100 adults is locked up in America and there punitive corrections system do not follow a Western approach, incorporating resources such as Drug Courts to help prevent re-offending (McClatchy, 2008). Kansas has been seen to rethink incarceration policies, with a focus on reserving prison for the worst criminals who pose a real danger to society (McClatchy, 2008). Kansas’ only drug court, in Lyon County, has slashed offender rearrest rates almost by half. (McClatchy, 2008). In California, a study found that in a two-year period, drug courts cost $14 million but saved tax-payers more than $43 million over the costs of sending offenders to prison (McCatchy,2008). Kansas Department of Corrections has had success with a new parole re-entry program, including a pilot project in Wichita that gives parolees more support and helps them to keep on the straight and narrow (McClatchy, 2008). Corrections Secretary Roger Werholtz has seen the new philosophy dramatically cut re-offender rates state-wide and reduced recidivism (McCatchy, 2008). Spectrum Addiction Services offers residential treatment, outpatient, detox and domestic violence service for substance abusers and Correctional Recovery Academies in Massachusetts, Georgia and Rhode Island (Astell, 1995). The treatment strategy supported by Spectrum is based on behaviour and based on self-esteem, participant’s feelings, and self-revelation much as the 12 step program of Alcoholics Anonymous (Astell, 1995). Spectrum views the way to fight recidivism is behavioural, teaching people the skills to stay straight (Astell, 1995). A situational approach to drug abuse may be another avenue to explore when examining the Vietnam War (Astell, 1995). Many American soldiers who were involved with heroin use in South East Asia did not bring the habit home, indicating that some drug abuse is situational (Astell, 1995). In the mid 1970’s a pessimistic assessment of rehabilitation programs by Robert Martinson asserted that â€Å"nothing works† in correctional treatment (Cullen & Gendreau, 2000). However recent reassessment using methods of meta-analysis has found that offender treatment programs do reduce problem behaviour (Cullen & Gendreau, 2000). Effective programs are those which recognise the importance of individual differences and the measurement of these factors when assessing what programs and interventions would be most suitable for each offender (Harland, 1996). Privatisation of prisons is seen to be a positive solution to improving treatment programs and reducing associated recidivism in developing more of a restorative framework to treatment programs (Corporate Responsibility, 2007). This involves emphasising the importance of good relationships between prisoners and staff, the need to recognise the impact of cultural differences when implementing programmes and matching an officer of suitable culture and temperament to best assist the needs of the prisoner (Corporate Responsibility, 2007). Further study is indicated as being required for WA Sex Offenders with little research being available for this group of offenders when compared to other states in WA (Cullen & Gendreau, 2000). Systematic differences between the non-treated and treated group in the Western Australian study, such as indigenous status, risk category, and length of sentence may have impaired comparisons of groups (Lievore, 2004). Inconsistencies across the data, methodological limits may have also limited the study from being able to identify less significant treatment outcomes, and to identify sources (Greenberg , 2002). A recommendation for improved research design is suggested in the implementation of a similar tool as the Static 99 in Australia which is currently only available internationally in measuring sexual recidivism (Mackenzie, 2006). Another finding from reviews of the studies is the large difference of amount of research completed for drug-offenders in comparison with other offenders, such as women prisoners and sex offenders which is currently limited (MacKenzie, 2006). Given the current concern about the increasing amount of drug offenders entering the correction system it is apparent as to why there is uch a large number of evaluations of programs being completed for these offenders (MacKenzie, 2006). Although the role for corrections appears to be a current challenge, it is hoped that with further research, funding , availability of treatment programmes and education of prison officers in addressing individual and cultural differences, that the offender be given the greatest chance for rehabilitation, reform and consequently a life of freedom outside the prison bars (MacKenzie, 2006).