How Energy Division Lead to Major Losses for Sime Darby

There are 4 multimillion Ringgit projects entered by Energy and Utilities division of Sime Darby, but turned out bad. One of the projects is collaboration with Qatar Petroleum (QP), the Bulhanine and Maydan Mahzam project. Sime Darby has been awarded a RM265 million contract to build wellhead platforms where the scope of works in the contract covers three wellhead platforms, installation of about 40 kilometres of pipeline, 23 kilometres of umbilical and alteration to existing platforms. It started in April 2006 and supposedly completed in August 2008. However, the division has encountered delays and cost overruns which resulted in losses on the project exceeding RM500 million, which have already been accounted for. At that time, they still try to negotiate with the QP project’s client on claims for the over budget cost, but the Board has already decided to reverse the revenue of RM200 million previously recognized in the Group accounts for Financial Year 2009. The second project is the Maersk Oil Qatar project (MOQ). Maersk Oil awarded Sime Darby Engineering the EPCIC contract to build and install a process platform, a utility platform and three bridges off the coast of Qatar in February 2007. It was scheduled for completion in October 2009 but there have been delays and cost overruns in this project which caused losses of RM159 million for Financial Year 2010. According to Sime Darby, the cost overruns were incurred on transport and installation, and hookup and commissioning works. It is not clear if the overruns were the result of under-budgeting, and unexpected increase in raw material costs, or both, or some other reason. Even though negotiations were made with the client, they still could not probe the losses. The third project related with the MOQ project, which is the construction of vessels for the MOQ project’s usage called the Marine Project. MARINE Project was meant to turn Sime Darby Bhd into a major marine vessel player in the oil and gas industry, but it didn’t turn out as planned when they picked the wrong shipbuilder. The project including building a derrick-lay barge, a pipe-laying ship, an anchor handling towing supply, and a tug boat that could send supplies to offshore oil rigs. Sime Darby had suffered cost overruns of some RM1. 3 billion for all three projects. And the last project is the Bakun hydroelectric dam project. The project was tendered to Sime Darby Group along with seven-member consortium by the government at a total of RM 1. 788 billion. The Bakun hydroelectric dam project, in which Sime Engineering Sdn Bhd holds a 35. 7% effective interest, was awarded in September 2002 and was initially scheduled for completion in September 2007. However, due to various factors, completion has been delayed and costs have escalated. There are three developments affecting the Bakun project. The first is the merger of the Sime Darby, Guthrie and Golden Hope into a new entity named Synergy Drive. The second is the proposed takeover of the Bakun project by the contractor, Sime Engineering. The third is the revival of the submarine HVDC cable under the South China Sea to transport electricity from Borneo to Peninsular Malaysia. These four projects were under the former president and four other senior executives’ control. They are Datuk Seri Ahmad Zubir Murshid (CEO), Vice-president Datuk Mohamad Shukri Baharom, chief financial officer Abdul Rahim Ismail, head of oil and gas Abdul Kadir Alias and senior general manager of Sime Darby Engineering Mohd Zaki Othman. These personnel were accused of failing to carry out a due diligence on all projects. It also has been reported that they had neglected findings from KPMG, specifically on the deals with MLC shipping Group (construction and sale of four units of anchor handling towing supply at RM285 million and construction of a derrick lay barge for a sum of RM 295 million) and Puteri Offshore Pte Ltd. The VP was blamed for disregarding the due diligence process when he did not disclose or sufficiently highlighted the fact that he had already signed deals with MLC and Puteri Offshore. Sime Darby also has done investigation conduct by the legal and forensic consultants which has validated the finding where they may have been breaches of duties and obligations and inappropriate conduct.

Inductively Coupled Plasma †Atomic Emission Spectroscopy Essay

The aim of this practical was to use an ICP-OES to perform a multi-elemental analysis of different types of tea. The elements that were analysed in the tea were copper, iron, manganese and magnesium. The sample is introduced into the plasma as an aerosol. Argon gas flows through three concentric quartz tubes in the plasma torch. This argon gas transports the sample from the nebulizer, acts as a cooling gas and is also a source of electrons and ions for the plasma [1]. A magnetic field is created around the plasma torch. The ionisation process is started by the ignition of the argon gas from a spark produced by a tesla coil [1]. During this process the plasma reaches a very high temperature and the sample is atomised. The atoms are then excited to a higher state. Since this is an emission analysis, the analysis is performed as the atoms emit energy and return to a lower energy state or their ground state. A spectrometer or monochromator is used to select the wavelength that is being analysed. The multi-element detector then gives us a readout that can be understand for each element that is analysed Explain the benefits and limitations of plasma over a conventional flame used for FES with photometry and AAS. The benefits of using plasma are that the chemical interferences are decreased due to the high temperatures that the plasma reaches and refractory elements can also undergo excitation. There are also many wavelength for different that can be chosen for analysis so you don’t have two elements that have wavelengths that are close to each other as this would interfere with the analysis. A limitation is that spectral overlap can occur and the preparation of the samples is a very long process compared to that of the flame spectrometry Data Show the calculations for you multi-element standard. Instrument: Perkin Elmer OES (optima 5300 DV) The preparation of multi-element standard 1000ppm solutions of (Cu), (Fe),(Mg) and (Mn ) were given. A working standard solution containing the entire four elements was prepared in the following way; 1 ml, 10 ml and 5 ml of Fe, Mg, and Mn were respectively added in one 100 ml volumetric flask. A solution of Cu was prepared separately (intermediate solution) by placing 1 ml of the 1000ppm Cu solution in a 100 ml volumetric flask and made up to the mark with distilled water, the resulting concentration was 10ppm. The formula that was used to calculate the volume of the 1000ppm Cu solution needed to prepare 10ppm solution in a 100 ml volumetric flask is; C1V1 = C2V2 †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ equation 1 Where C1 is the initial concentration C2 is the final concentration V1 is the volume of the initial concentration V2 is the total volume of the initial concentration and the solvent The volume of the barium required was calculated as follows C1V1 = C2V2 1000ppm x V1 = 1ppm x 100ml V1 = 10 ppm x 100 ml 1000 ppm = 1 ml Then 1 ml of the 10 ppm Cu solution was placed in the 100 ml volumetric flask that contained the other three elements, and made up to the mark with distilled water, this was the working standard solution. Using equation 1 it is found that the concentrations of the elements in the working standard solution are as follows. Explain why the type of sample preparation carried out was necessary. The Acid digestion was suitable because a complete transfer of analyte into the solution in order for the determination step to be introduced in liquid form is highly desirable and this method completely transfers the analyte into solution. This thus means that the digested sample is a complete solution of the analyte and has a complete decomposition of the matrix however with minimal loss or contaminated of the analyte Explain what matrix matching is and what problems may arise if this is not carried out. Matrix matching involves preparing solutions in which the major chemical compositions of the standards, blanks and samples are made identical thereby cancelling out the effect of the sample matrix on the analysis results. While matrix matching involves matching the solvents, it also involves matching the concentrations of acids and other major solutes. In case where the standard and sample matrices are quite different or cannot be matched and interference occurs as a result, internal standards can be used. Comment on the correlation coefficient of your calibration graphs. The correlation coefficient measures the strength in the linear relationship between two variables. A correlation coefficient of 1 would mean a very strong linear relationship between two variables, which means the points form a perfect straight line. The correlation coefficients for the calibration graphs were very good. The calibration graphs for copper, iron, magnesium, and manganese gave correlation coefficients of 0.991539, 0.991005, 0.999874, and 0.999952 respectively. This shows that the samples were prepared very well and that there is a strong linear relationship between the emission and the concentrations of the elements. Compare the different elements in the different types of tea. Which tea would you recommend and why? The tea that seems to be most essential for human consumption is the green tea owing to the high content of each and every element present in it. It has high concentration of manganese which is a vital substance in the body as it is an enzyme activator; it keeps bones strong and healthy, and also maintains the health of our nerves. References 1. Dr L Pillay, Chem 340, Instrumental Analysis, ICP-OES notes 2. http:// www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=nutrint& dbod=77(accessed 16/04/2013) 3. http://www.chemplex.com/petrochemical/multielementMetal.aspx(accessed 16/04/2013)

Classic Comparative Advantage vs. Porter's Competative Advantage Essay

Classic Comparative Advantage vs. Porter's Competative Advantage - Essay Example These five forces explain the rules of competition in any industry. As per Porter, the ultimate aim of any competitive strategy is to cope and change the rules in the behavior of any firm. (Porter’s 5 Forces and Industry Structure, n.d.) The firms create competitive advantage by discovering better and innovative ways and bring them to the market that act as an innovation. These innovations shift the competitive advantage when the rivals fail to perceive new ways of competing or are unable to respond. It is quite obvious that there are noticeable advantages for the early movers. The typical causes that shift the competitive advantage are shifting buyer needs, new technologies, changes in government regulations, shifting the availability or input costs, and the emergence of any new industry segment. A particular firm gains the competitive advantage by performing the strategically important activities in a more cheap way than its competitors. In other words, it is able to deliver similar benefits like its competitors, but at a much lower cost. A firm might also deliver benefits that exceed the benefits of its competitive products. Therefore, competitive advantage enables a firm in order to create greater value for the customers and in turn, higher benefits for itself. Thus, Michael Porter has identified two types of competitive advantages; differentiation advantage and cost advantage. (Competitive Advantage, n.d.) David Ricardo has explained the famous theory of Comparative Advantage in explaining foreign trade. Explaining with the example of two nations and two commodities, he argued that trade is beneficial even if one country has absolute cost advantage over the other country in both the commodities. Ricardo has argued that there are gains from the trade, even if a particular nation specializes completely in the production of a particular good, which has a

Site Surveying Procedures Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Site Surveying Procedures - Essay Example Uren. J. & W.F.P. (1999) Surveying device, consisting of a visual structure for collimating a measuring position, a driving unit for performing scanning in a dimension range said visual structure, a distance-measuring unit comprising a radiance gesture detachment measuring scheme, an image pickup unit for captivating an illustration in the size range, an icon meting out unit for performing reflection meting out to haul out edges from the image pulled out up, and a control mathematics operation unit for choosing a position near the periphery as a measuring position on the figure singled out for controlling supposed distance-measuring unit to carry out surveying procedure of the measuring position. Uren. J. & W.F.P. (1999) Three-dimensional data is normally surveyed on an object as this flat within a predetermined range; however the past has gripped this model of surveying on an object such as building within a predetermined range, there have been disadvantages in the past in that much time was required and there was limitation in acquired amount of the surveying data because an operator must determine a measuring point and surveying operation must be carried out one point after another. By the use of automatic instruments, surveying operation is automated, raster scanning is performed by determining a range with fine pitch, and a vast amount of 3-dimensional surveying data can be collected more quickly than in the operation by the surveying operator. A great number of measuring points are required and storage capacity o a storage device to store the data at the measuring points also must be large. In case unnecessary data is incorporated as measuring data, the continuity of the data may be lost, and the measurement must be repeatedly carried out in many cases. Tifadi, T. & Booth, D.W. (1997) To obtain the site configuration through the

What changes would you make to the English law of restitution Explain Essay

What changes would you make to the English law of restitution Explain why you think these are desirable, but also identify any potential disadvantages that might result from them - Essay Example fusion of contract and equity based remedies justified under the head of restitution and generally, the courts have been unwilling to recognise restitution as a separate principle of recovery due to alternative common law methods of recovery such a quantum valebat and quantum meruit, the doctrine of waiver in tort and equitable claims3. As such, Tettenborn argues that â€Å"faced with this situation it is not surprising that the judges chose to remain within the existing categories of recovery rather than postulate any new theory of liability4.† The focus of this paper is to critically evaluate the law of restitution and consider possible reform. To this end, I shall firstly consider the essential principles of restitution and it is submitted that the inherent problem with restitution based claims is the doctrinal difficulty of quantifying the concept of â€Å"unjust enrichment†. As such, the underlying objective of restitution has often been confused with equitable trust law principles, compounding legal certainty in this area as evidenced by the swaps litigation in decisions such as Westdeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale v Islington LBC5 Accordingly, in evaluating the law of restitution and possible reform, I shall contextually consider the swaps litigation and submit the proposition that possible reform in restitution should consider categorisation of according to the nature of the dispute and consider the common intention of the parties in considering the concept of unjust enrichment. As highlighted above, the underlying basis for restitution under English law is to protect a claimant against the unjust enrichment of a defendant. However, in practice the inherently ambiguous nature of what constitutes â€Å"unjust† in order to merit recovery has led the judiciary to obfuscate the distinction between restitution, equity and contractual principles for recovery6. This in turn has fuelled academic debate as to the appropriate role and applicability of restitution

Choose a method of implementing QoS Research Paper

Choose a method of implementing QoS - Research Paper Example If two, three, or more traffic forms have equal value and requisites, it is needless to classify that numerous traffic types. Traffic sorting, which is the second step in implementing quality of service, will label a small number of traffic types, not hundreds. The applications that end up in various traffic types have separate requisites; thus, the network have to supply them with varied service classes (Hall, 2002). The classification of how every traffic form is serviced is called the network policy (Flannagan, 2001 & Hall, 2002). Determining traffic forms and their requisites, the first stage of implementing quality of service, involves the following components or sub-stages: 1) completing a network audit, 2) completing a business audit and identifying the significance of every application, and; 3) identifying the proper service levels for every traffic type. The second stage of implementing quality of service is categorizing traffic based on the requisites determined. The meanin g of traffic types does not have to be universal; it must contain the traffic (application) forms that were detected during the network audit stage. You can categorize tens or even hundreds of traffic variants into a small number of types. The classified traffic types should be in accordance with business goals. The traffic or application forms in the same type should have similar INTEGRATED SERVICES MODEL 3 requisites and business requisites. The exceptions to this policy are the scavenger-type traffic or applications that have not been determined. Classifying policies for every traffic type is the third stage of implementing quality of service. Following the traffic types have been produced based on the network audit and business goals, the final stage of implementing quality of service in an enterprise is to supply a network-wide classification for the quality of service service-level that will be allocated to every traffic type. This is called determining a quality of service po licy, and it may consist of having to finish the following: 1) establishing the highest bandwidth limit for each type, 2) establishing the lowest bandwidth guarantee for each type, 3) allocating a relative priority level to a type, 4) using congestion avoidance, congestion management, and several other highly developed quality of service technologies to a type (Fgee, Philips, Robertson, & Sivakumar, 2003). In the mid 1990s, IntServ or the Integrated Services model was developed and was the initial serious effort to supply eng-to-end quality of service (Fgee et. al., 2003). It was necessary for simultaneous applications. Integrated Services is based on clear caching/administering and signaling network resources for the applications that warrant it. Integrated Services is usually referred to as hard quality of service, since hard quality of service ensures attributes such as packet loss, delay, and bandwidth, thus supplying a forseeable service level (Hall, 2002). Integrated Services uses RSVP or Resource Reservation Protocol as the signaling protocol (Fgee et. al., 2003). Any application having a particular bandwidth requisite have to wait for RSVP to run along the course --- source to destination --- step by step, and request bandwidth reservation for the application path. An application can start to operate after a successful effort INTEGRATED SERVIC

Ethics in Professional Societies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Ethics in Professional Societies - Essay Example In any professional sphere, it is relevant to follow ethical principles and not only to work. Ethical principles have a different power in comparison with laws. Thus, laws can regulate or not, support or not some ethical principles. For example, from the perspective of medical ethics, abortion is unethical deed. It is a life interruption. In accordance with laws in many countries abortion is a legal issue. Nevertheless, Civil Rights Law in America propagates ethical and legal commitment. In one way or another, but the modern society requires ethical regulations in any profession. Still, the conditions of underdeveloped professional ethics among engineers cannot be denied. The fact that medical ethics is more developed cannot be denied as well. Still, the necessity of ethical principle following in these both spheres is an inarguable fact. Ethical principle relevance in the medical professional society usually concerns how medicals should ethically behave when they deal with the issue s concerning life and death. The most known ethical code of behavior for medicals is the Oath of Hippocrates. Currently, the American Medical Association has introduced bioethics. It covers such issues as pharmacy, nursing, social work and so on. Therefore, we can claim that for the American Medical Association ethical principles following in all spheres and aspects of medicine are of crucial importance1. It goes another way in the professional society of engineers. ... eering and Technology, a specific nature of ethics in engineering encompasses the following issues: â€Å"public safety; bribery and fraud; environmental protection; fairness; honesty in research and testing conflicts of interest†2. The necessity to develop code of ethics for engineers in accordance with the specific nature of the field of their activity can be explained by the following facts: the decisions made by engineers can cause a negative impact on public’s health; moral implications are of high importance for engineers. In such a way, it is necessary to support legally the development of ethical principles for engineers: the latter would think critically and independently about different moral issues; moral thinking would be incorporated in the professional engineering practice. In accordance with the research project â€Å"Ethics in Engineering†: â€Å"ethical problems in engineering are often complex and involve conflicting ethical principles. Enginee rs must be able to intelligently resolve these conflicts and reach a defensible decision†3. Therefore, engineers are not considered in the modern society as technicians, they are intelligent individuals with the ability to morally and ethically behave and think. Ethical principles of engineering in comparison with other professions There are numerous complexities within the professional field of engineers. These professionals are not self-employed and usually work for large corporations. Moreover, there is a lack of respect paid to engineers in comparison with medicals 4and they also do not have such high payments as physicians or lawyers do. Engineering professional society is not as well developed as the professional society of medicals (AMA) or as the professional association of lawyers (ABA)5. Therefore,

Case Study - Culinarian Cookware Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

- Culinarian Cookware - Case Study Example The company has conducted previous price promotions of 20% discount in the year 2004 (for CX1 Tyro collection line), in the year 2005 (for CX1, DX1 line) and in the year 2006 (CX1 and DX1 line). Vice President of Marketing’s View Vice president of marketing for the company believes there is no need for adopting price promotion because that can hurt the premium brand image of the company. He took help of research report prepared by consulted to show that price promotion in 2004 impacted negatively to the profit margin of the company. The company hired external consultant to analyze profitability of 2004 price promotion. The consultant pointed out price promotion has caused of loss of $469, 489 as contribution during 2004 period. Time series analysis shows that unit sales for DX1 line decreased by 4800 units during price promotion hence external consultant concluded that $99,332 was lost as contribution DX1 product line due to brand cannibalization. Taking support from above men tioned statistics marketing vice president of the company concluded that price promotion for a single product line might increase sales revenue for that particular brand but it would eat the revenue of other brand. Price promotion for a particular product line will encourage customers to switch from purchasing other product lines offered by the company in order to purchase discounted products and as a result total revenue earned by Culinarian Cookware would be decreased. Senior Sales Manager’s View Senior sales manager is in support for price promotion and she pointed out that report of external consultant is apocryphal due to following reasons. Sales revenue for first quarter of 2004 was 24% low in comparison to sales revenue for the same quarter in 2003 hence due to external reasons. She concluded that company should not blame price promotion alone for the low sales volume of second quarter in 2004 and sales data for the year should be judged by lowering the margin by 24%. Inclusion of elements other than labor and raw material in variable cost calculation in the report was questioned by her. Cannibalization cost calculation method was also questioned by her. Industry Trend Research data shows offering gift with purchase is more successful push strategy in comparison to price promotion strategy. Competitors of Culinarian Cookware such as Robusto and Le Gourmand offer gifts with purchase. Multi dimensionality of the condition forced Culinarian Cookware to rethink about implementing price promotion strategy to increase sales revenue. Major marketing challenge for the company is to select a pricing strategy which can help them achieve sustainable growth in near future. Analysis of the Current Situation Strength Culinarian Cookware sells premium range cookware products and also the market leader with 6.5% market share in the premium product segment. They offer four product lines complemented with Tyro Collection (CX1), Classic Collection (DX1), Advanced C hef collection (SX1) and Professional Grade collection (PROX1). Variety of product line helps the company to cater multidimensionality of customer’s demand. Sales and distribution channel for the company is

Management Planning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 2

Management Planning - Essay Example n organization and thus it is paramount for an individual to be able to grasp the various concepts that have to do with them Doing so allows one to be able to perform their functions in an efficient manner that will guarantee progress within the company (Johnson, Scholes & Whittington, 2012). Two of the features that have been mentioned above and affect managerial performance include interpersonal relationships and communication skills. These two features can be said to have a relationship with one another as for one develop one, they will need to be able to develop the other (Boddy, 2011). In such a case, it can be said that interpersonal relationships and communication skills are involved in a harmonious existence with one another in the business world. There are a number of ways that these two features can affect the level of performance capable of a manager, but in order to determine what they are, one first needs to understand what these they are (Johnson, Scholes & Whittington, 2012). Interpersonal relationships can refer to an association between two or more people formed as a result of regular interaction between the involved parties with one another (Gable & Reis, 2010). There are different underlying reasons behind the development of this interaction such as lo ve, inference or business/work obligations that require one to spend time with another. This type of relationships can be said to be formed within the contexts and guidelines of society and thus can be governed by the law, mutual agreement or cultural aspects. Interpersonal relationships can be seen as the backbone of society as a whole. Communication skills have to do with the level of ones ability to successfully communicate with another person (Maniaci & Reis, 2010). Communication itself can be explained as the process whereby a message is successfully transferred from one person (the sender) to another (the receiver). Without communication, one would not be able to understand others and thus

Comparing Human Resource Management in Multinational and Local Essay

Comparing Human Resource Management in Multinational and Local Companies in Hong Kong - Essay Example Moreover, there is a clear difference in how it is executed. All employees from the American company were divided into different groups, and in order to ensure efficient management of the employees, a manager was assigned to each group. The company also had a data base where each individual's sales performance and feedback from customers was encoded and saved. In these instances, in terms of employee performance, employees within the group were also allowed to put in their opinion of their colleagues. Using numerical totals from the database, an evaluation on how each person has been performing could easily be established. Moreover, the interesting part of this database is on how customers’ feedback was also accounted for in the overall evaluation of the employees. The fact that the employees formed groups to monitor one another was very much in keeping with the findings of Bjorkman (2003) on Chinese companies’ putting greater emphasis on team work. The Swiss company al so showed traces of an Appraisal system in place. They also went through a performance evaluation process for their employees. They mostly divided their staff into two groups: first, the lower level staff which were general operational staff, and second, the other staff which were usually higher level employees. The lower level staff usually underwent a two-way communication process using the Preference Evaluation (PE) form. Employees would then set objectives at the beginning of the year, with fulfillment of the objectives monitored throughout the year. By the end of the year, their managers usually evaluated the individuals by assessing whether or not they have achieved their objectives. A performance rating also followed the assessment. Among higher level staff, they also underwent a similar evaluation process, however, the review was called performance cycle, and was usually done through an online tool. These individuals also set objectives at the beginning of the year and were then monitored throughout the year. The difference in these two groups of employees is that towards the end of the year, there was a performance calibration session conducted by the managers on the employees. Such a session was not carried out on managers. This session consisted of an open forum where the managers discussed employee performance and then agree on a performance rating for each employee. This allowed a more unbiased evaluation of the employees. It also created a chance for cross department discussions and the sharing of opinions among these departments. In contrast, employees from the Hong Kong Company revealed that their company was using a more traditional appraisal system. Managers evaluated employees’ attitude in the workplace, and took into account the number of times each employee was late for work or if their work was done on time. The Hong Kong company does not have an evaluation system like the other two companies, and the employees’ evaluation i s mainly based on their performance and the perception of their managers. The Swiss company’s evaluating system shares some similarities with the American company. They both have a database for the easy evaluation of their employees. They also have groups which help with the evaluation process and which help illuminate the probability of bias. Both companies have traces of HR practices from the East and the

Corporal Punishment Essay Example for Free

Corporal Punishment Essay Corporal punishment is a subject that has a lot of emotional opinions for me. The Collins English Dictionary describes corporal punishment as punishment of a physical nature, such as caning, flogging, or beating. The description of caning, flogging or beating should be enough to indicate that it is not needed for children. Corporal punishment has a tone that is too close to child abuse to be comfortable with any form of it. I suppose the clarity should be to try to define the line between discipline and abuse. Corporal punishment in my mind is abuse, not discipline. Discipline should not leave marks, bruises or cause lasting physical or emotional pain. It should be something that gets the child’s attention and offers correction, but too many parents or adults simply just don’t know where the line is and when they have so clearly crossed it. I realize that psychological marks or bruises maybe difficult to read but I believe that there can be some tell-tale signals that indicate how effective it was in a child’s upbringing or how ineffective it was in the same measure. Corporal punishment in families is a controversial practice in the United States and worldwide. (Zolotor, A. J. , Puzia, M. E. (2010). 229-247) Zolotor indicates that advocates of corporal punishment deem it to be a necessary practice for well-behaved children. He further states that it harms children psychologically and interferes with development. Ask any parent, â€Å"do you spank your children? † and, many will quickly admit that they do. However their definition of spanking and the reality of corporal punishment are often too close to each other to separate discipline from abuse. I grew up in a family that discipline meant instant harsh responses to someone’s disfavor of your actions. In my family, discipline could be dealt out by anyone your senior including aunts, uncles, grandparents, older siblings, older cousins, or just about anybody who would have a reaction to a child being a child and investigating their limitations and curiosities. When I think about whether or not corporal punishment is effective or not, I have to admit that I have a severely tainted view and opinion. It is not easy to see clearly how punishing a child for discipline sake and having hem scream, â€Å"I am scared† when they are about to be disciplined can possibly mean the same thing. As I sit here preparing to provide opinions or belief systems in my life that do not support corporal punishment, I think of the moments in my childhood that I remember most. I remember a sad day in my mother’s life when she, for some reason, asked me what I remember most about my childhood and I said, â€Å"The beatings, mom, I remember the beatings most†. I saw the pain in her eyes and it provided no consolation for me or peace for me. I realized in that moment, I probably hurt my mother emotionally more than she ever hurt me physically. I wasn’t trying to be dramatic or even trying to punish her for the life I led as a child. It was just the truth as it stood that day. I am almost fifty years old and I must admit that I still flinch when I am walking through a door and happen to have a woman walk in at the same time or behind me. My father used to smack the boys in the back of the head if we did not remember our manners and hold the door for women. He would scream some unusable obscenity and tell us to be a man of respect and manners and just about knock us to the ground in the process. The argument might be that it was effective because I will almost break my arm to hold a door open for a woman entering a room or a building regardless of the situation. I just think that chivalry is not dead and just do what is expected of a man who provides appropriate respect to women. Twenty-four countries have passed legislative bans on corporal punishment since the passage of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Coleman, D. , Dodge, K. A. , Campbell, S. (2010). This would seem to be sufficient information to indicate that there is strong evidence to prove that it is not a practice that can be tolerated or supported. If the leadership of twenty-four countries have agreed that this is not a proper way to take care of discipline issues with children, someone must have decided that there was enough evidence that proved children need to be protected from the ignorance of their parents. This statement holds a lot of credence for me because this had to be a subject that drew national and international attention at some time in the recent past. Someone brought up the subject of corporal punishment to the leadership of twenty four countries who all agreed that it was an ineffective form of discipline. I remember when I was a child in school at a small school in Arkansas, the principal, Mrs. Hewey, would have a conversation with my brother and me at least twice a week. The conversation was usually followed by the use of a two and a half foot long board that was about five inches wide and had holes drilled in it. Depending on our offense that day we would see anywhere from one to three good solid swats from that board and I swear that she would lean back all the way into the hallway to get a running start at the swing before it viciously collided with your backside. I don’t think this was really that effective but it usually took less than two days for my brother and me to be right back in her office for another try at that board. The only real problem was that every day we had this interaction, we were sure to get some more when we got home from one parent or the other and possibly both if the offense in school was strong enough. Children whose parents approved of and used corporal punishment were more likely to endorse hitting as a strategy for resolving interpersonal conflicts with peers and siblings. (Simons, D. A. , Wurtele, S. K. (2010) Reading this statement alone provides insight on the problems with relationships today. Whether it is factual or just opinion, it would seem that this is reason for other relationship issues that deal with conflict and conflict resolution. It would seem that we could easily expect to hear someone say, â€Å"if he hits you, hit him back† and this would be the fantastic wisdom they provide their children as they also are swift to find reason to administer swift punishment for simply being a child. I was once in a grocery store and overheard an overzealous father telling his son, â€Å"If he hits you again, you hit him back and if you have to do it when he is not watching, but you hit him and hit him again and again. He will certainly leave you alone if you do. † I immediately thought how awful this child’s youth and teenage years were going to be if he followed his father’s misguided advice. I must admit that in hearing just thirty seconds of a conversation, I felt sadness for the boy and disappointment and pity for the father. I thought that someday he is going to be one of those fathers who receives a phone call that says his son is in the hospital or worse because he followed his advice. He will never associate the situation with the advice he gave his son in his most impressionable years. He will just think evil of the people who harmed his son. HE will then respond in the only way he knows how, he will strike back too. Proving again that the discipline he received and the discipline he provided lacked wisdom and only invited sadness and loss in it. According to an article written by Hicks-Pass in 2009 entitled, â€Å"Corporal Punishment in America Today: Spare the Rod, Spoil the Child? † Hicks-Pass described findings that supported an intergenerational cycle of violence; parents who experienced frequent corporal punishment during childhood perceived its use as acceptable and frequently spanked their children. Basically, this means that whatever environment you are raised in will more than likely become a part of your belief system up to and including your approval of the use of corporal punishment. I have often that the exact opposite about some things as I look back on my youth and early parenthood, I found myself saying, â€Å"As a father, I refuse to repeat this behavior with my children† and worked very hard to recognize the responses in me that would have or could have led to the use of corporal punishment. I am a long way from perfect but there are a lot of ways that I have separated myself from the intergenerational beliefs systems that could have overpowered my desire to be different and in some cases better. Some of the ways that I believe a parent can discipline a child that are far removed from corporal punishment are: a) Communicating with them on their level and at a tone of instruction. Yelling is not allowed. This takes patience recognizing that a child doesn’t understand at the same pace or academic level as an adult. So it is one that requires parents to sit down and talk things out with the child explaining the right and wrong behavior and the expected behavior from the parent’s standpoint and then enforcing the change through limitations. b) Time outs that separate them from the situation completely and give them time to calm down and for the parent to do so as well. My children have a five-minute egg timer that we use when they need some time to stop and regroup. We have a place in their room where they have a chair and the egg timer. Once seated there, they cannot move until the ding of the egg-timer goes â€Å"bing†. Then they have to bring the egg timer and the explanation of the situation. Then as a parent, I explain to them the difference between what is expected and what they were doing and then ask for their confirmation of understanding. With five year olds, this takes patience because their attention span is so much shorter. ) Take aways – When my twins begin to argue about something it is usually because one of them has something the other wants and they both begin to fight for it. It is funny that they do not want it until it is firmly in the grasp of the other twin and then they begin to fight for position or possession. Here I just simply take away whatever it is they are arguing about until they can calm down and realize that it is not appropriate or fair to be jealous of someone else especially when they were doin g something that you had no interest in until they began it. This is usually over the use of the I-Pad, Computer, or some form of their homework or books in their room. Through it all, the idea is simple. If twenty-four countries have made corporal punishment illegal, then it would only make sense that we have to begin to educate those families caught up in the circle of violence that it more often than not follows. We have to also educate them with alternatives and coach them through it as they learn alternatives methods of providing discipline and guidance. I can’t remember how many times, my father was providing his discipline and was saying something like, â€Å"I told you not to do this and you are going to get it even if I have to beat it into you! † The fact is I don’t think I ever really got it and therefore have spent most of my adult life separating myself from it. If we start with ourselves and help educate others, we can make a difference but it will take generations to do so. It will not come quickly enough and many children with suffer the wrath of parents who have become their parents.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) at Doctors Surgery

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) at Doctors Surgery Proposed Working Title Does Customer Relationship Management (CRM) build stronger bonds with the customers and help provide quality services in a doctors surgery at Camden? - A case study of NHS Research Background and Context I have chosen this topic in order to find out what are the key issues that are important for successfully running a doctors surgery. We have been seeing that there are always patient dissatisfaction and complain about the services, both clinical and non-clinical. Hypothesis The hypotheses that will be tested in this research are as follows: To analyze what aspects of CRM strategies are missing in running this doctors surgery. To identify what benefits can be attained by completely implementing CRM at PPCC To what extent the employees are playing their role according to CRM strategies. To look in various models, strategies, theories and methods that can be used to make the services effective at doctors surgery. Organisation Background – Partnership Primary Care Centre (PPCC) The Surgery has been established in 1973 for the people who are living in the housing. It was named Fairweather House Surgery. Initially it had 250 patients from the housing. Dr. Morris Davies was founder General Practitioner (GP). In 1976, Dr. Diane Rosenthal, Dr. Jonathan Rosenthal, Dr. Enid Greenbury and Dr. Wil Cupola took over from Dr. Morris Davies and this Surgery was under Camden and Islington Primary Care Trust (PCT). In 1976 Camden and Islington PCT allocated more patients and gave a practice boundary that is a catchment area. In 1976, GPs appointed a practice nurse who used to do child immunisation, dressing, and cervical smear. In 1988 Dr. Wil Cupola left the surgery and Dr. Ian Hopkinson joined the surgery as a partner and there were 8 sessions of doctors and 5 sessions of nurses. GPs decided to register more patients and in 2003 total registered patients were 1900. It was difficult to offer more services from the small premise, so GPs had several meeting with the PCT to move to a bigger building. During this time, Camden and Islington PCT divided into two and this surgery came under Islington PCT who decided to move the Surgery in a bigger premises. Meanwhile, one of the local GP died and another GP went for retirement. In 1st October of 2003, Fairweather House Surgery shifted to newly built premises and named the surgery as Partnership Primary Care Centre (PPCC). After moving to this new premise, there are now 16 consulting session of doctors, 10 nurses session and 5 health care assistant sessions. Now the total registered patient is 3300 and growing everyday. (Source: Mr. Rashidul Hasan: Practice Manager and Mrs. Heather Johnson: Ex-Practice Manager at PPCC) Services Offered at PPCC Services that are offered by PPCC are personal doctoring, urgent medical problems, out of hours emergencies, home visits, talking to a doctor or nurse on the telephone, family planning services , antenatal care , child health surveillance, screening and health promotion, travel immunisations advice, sexual health for teenagers adults, quit smoking advice, alcohol advice , advice on drug problems, test results, repeat prescription service, interpreting services, careers needs and special nurse-led clinics available that include asthma/COPD clinics, diabetic clinic, cervical smears, childhood immunisation, family planning, heart disease/stroke prevention, well person checks. (Source: PPCC leaflet) Customer Relationship Management System at PPCC The surgery uses patient data storage system called VISION that is the most popular GP data storage system in the country. It has been maintained by the company called INPS. It holds all the information about the patients who are registered with PPCC. It holds the name, date of birth, address, telephone numbers and obviously the medical information. This system is also linked with the Whittington Hospital in order to receive test results including X-rays that are transferred electronically to the surgery. Rationale for the chosen topic I have selected Customer Relationship Management (CRM) because it is one of the best and most popular methods of developing stronger bonds with customers (in this research my customers are the patients who come to the doctors surgery). It can be said that if there is no patients then there is no need of doctors surgery, that is – no patient, no business. By the implementation of CRM strategies, PPCC can become one of the role model for other doctors practices. Customer satisfaction is the core of any business and when it comes to patients, it is a must. Research Questions- Formulation of researchable questions Like all research, my research also has an objective and to achieve that objective I have prepared a researchable question. The most important question to me is: ‘How effective will be customer relationship management strategies in providing quality services in doctors surgery? I will be focussing on this question through out my analysis of this research. Some of the important concerns that will arise while answering this question are as follows: †¢ What is CRM? †¢ Usage of CRM? †¢ What are the organisational benefits of CRM? †¢ How successful CRM can be in providing quality services? †¢ To what level can customer satisfaction can be achieved? †¢ How the organisation can achieve competitive advantage by CRM? Research Aim The aim of this research is to determine the relationship between the CRM and the quality of services and does it build a stronger bond with customers. Research Objectives The main objective behind this research is to understand and identify the root cause of customer dissatisfaction with the services provided at the doctors surgery. This research will focus on the real life example of a London based doctors surgery called Partnership Primary Care Centre (PPCC). I will discuss about the implementation and benefits of CRM to PPCC. In order to achieve the above aim, the following research objectives have been set: †¢ To understand and identify the root cause of customer dissatisfaction with the services provided by the doctors surgery, †¢ To determine the variable factors that could influence customer satisfaction level, †¢ To determine how CRM can bring a positive change in the quality of service, †¢ To identify how implementation of CRM can benefits PPCC. Literature Review A literature review discusses published information in a particular subject area, and sometimes information in a particular subject area within a certain time period. For the purpose of this research, the literature review is on Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Customer Relationship Management (CRM) The better a business can manage the relationships it has with its customers the more successful it will become. In order to have a better understanding and knowledge about the customers needs and demands, customer relationship management strategies can be used. Customer relationship management (CRM) is not just the application of technology, but is a strategy to learn more about customers needs and behaviours in order to build up stronger relationships with them. As such it is more of a business philosophy than a technical solution to assist in dealing with customers effectively and efficiently. (www.xicom.biz , Accessed: 21/08/09) According to Armstrong and Kotler (2005) customer relationship management (CRM) is managing detailed information about individual customers and carefully managing customer â€Å"touch points† in order to maximize customer loyalty. CRM involves all of the corporate functions (marketing, manufacturing, customer services, field sales, and field service) required to contact customers directly or indirectly. The term â€Å"touch points† is used in CRM to refer to the many ways in which customers and firms interact. (Gray and Byun, 2001) The foundation of customer relationship management CRM is based upon identifying; understanding and being able to provide a better service to customers. CRM allows build a better relationship with customers, improving customer satisfaction and maximising profitability. It is about understanding, anticipating and responding to the exact needs of customers with a constant eye for making the services to them the best it can possibly be. The main target of CRM is to improve long-term growth and profitability through a better understanding of customer behaviour. (Source: www.customerrelationshipmanagementcrmuk.co.uk, Accessed: 21/08/09) CRM consists of three basic components: customer, relationship and management. (Roberts-Witt, 2000) Customer If there is no customer then there will be no profit now or in the future. But a good customer, who provides more profit with less resource, is always scarce because customers are knowledgeable and the competition is fierce. Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish who is the real customer because the buying decision is frequently a collaborative activity among participants of the decision-making process (Wyner, 1999). Information technologies can offer the skills to distinguish and manage customers. CRM can be thought of as a marketing approach that is based on customer information (Wyner, 1999). Relationship The relationship between a company and its customers involves continuous bi-directional communication and interaction. The relationship can be short-term or long-term, continuous or discrete, and repeating or one-time. Relationship can be attitudinal or behavioural. Even though customers have a positive attitude towards the company and its products or services, their buying behaviour is highly situational (Wyner, 1999). Management CRM is not an activity only within a marketing department. Rather it involves continuous corporate change in culture and processes. The customer information collected is transformed into corporate knowledge that leads to activities that take advantage of the information and of market opportunities. CRM required a comprehensive change in the organization and its people (Wyner, 1999). Specific software to support the management process involves: Field Service, E-Commerce Ordering, Self Service Applications, Catalogue Management, Bill Presentation, Marketing Programs, and Analysis Applications. They can be used to take the advantage of CRM, but keeping in mind that CRM is not about just technology but more about quality service. (Source: http://www.tupublicas.com/docs/12-44-15-02-2004-leyva.pdf, Accessed: 17/08/09) The core components of customer relationship management The content of a CRM strategy consists of six mutually dependent criteria (Donaldson and OToole, 2002) Emphasis on quality: if we provide poor service we will lose our customers and ultimately business. The core product alone is no longer sufficient, and service quality is considered as the key to successful business. Measure customer satisfaction but manage customer service: This implies understanding and defining the various benefits that a prospect expects prior to purchase and the management of the gap between expectations and performance after the purchase process. Invest in people: Both internal and external relationships are important. Implementation of a relationship orientation can only come from the people in the organisation understanding the objectives set and meeting the required standards. Maintaining dialogue with customers: Building long-term relationships is the key issue in CRM. Companies that listen and adapt to preferences of individual customers have a higher chance to retain them and make them loyal. Setting realistic targets and assessing performance: Organisations must have an understanding of customer views of the various elements in the offering and the elements important to each individual customer. Relationship-based interfaces: This means being in touch with both internal and external customers in a responsive and flexible manner. In practice, there is a gap between what firms do, what they should do, and what is most desirable to do. The means of communication should be adapted to the needs of the individual customer. (Donaldson and OToole, 2002) Types of Customer Relationship Management There are different variations in CRM approaches and they are all in different software packages focusing on different aspects. Some of the main types of CRM are as follows: Operational CRM Operational CRM is for â€Å"front office business processes. It interactions with customers to gather and stored customer information, so that later staff can retrieve customer information as necessary. The reasons for storing this information are as follows: Managing campaigns Enterprise Marketing Automation Sales Force Automation Sales Management System Analytical CRM Analytical CRM makes strong use of data mining and other techniques to create useful results for decision-making Analytical CRM analyzes customer data for a many reasons and they are: Designing and executing targeted marketing campaigns Designing and executing campaigns, Analyzing customer behavior in order to make decisions relating to products and services Management information system In this stage the importance of fully integrated CRM software becomes most apparent because the more information the analytical software has available for analysis, the better is the predictions and recommendations are. Sales Intelligence CRM Sales Intelligence CRM is more or less like Analytical CRM, but is intended as a more direct sales tool. Features include alerts sent to sales staff regarding: Cross-selling/Up-selling/Switch-selling opportunities Customer drift Sales performance Customer trends Customer margins Customer alignment Campaign Management Campaign management includes elements of Operational and Analytical CRM. The functions include: Target groups formed from the client base according to selected criteria Sending campaign-related material to selected recipients using various channels. Tracking, storing, and analyzing campaign statistics, including tracking responses and analyzing trends Collaborative CRM Collaborative CRM consists of a companys dealings with customers that are handled by various departments within a company, such as sales, technical support and marketing. Staff members from different departments can share information collected when interacting with customers. Collaborative CRMs main focus is to use information collected by all departments to improve the quality of services provided by the company. (Edwards, 2007) Consumer Relationship CRM Consumer Relationship System is mainly for a companys dealing with customers handled by the Consumer Affairs and Customer Relations contact centers within a company. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_relationship_management, Accessed: 24/08/09) Benefits of Customer Relationship Management Exceptional customer service is about being aware of customer needs and reacting to them effectively. CRM facilitates to understand, anticipate and respond to customers needs in a consistent way, through out the organization. Practicing CRM requires an efficient and integrated internal business system. Many businesses benefit from the organizational discipline CRM imposes, as well as from the technology itself. CRM will help business if we view it as a set of tools that let us do more for, and get more from, our customer. CRM can: Develop better communication channels Collect vital data, like customer details and order histories Create detailed profiles such as customer preferences Deliver instant, company-wide access to customer histories Identify new selling opportunities To better serve customers, organizations must ensure that information can be accessed through one single source throughout the enterprise. (Source: http://www.is4profit.com/business-advice/it-telecoms/crm-customer-relationship-management_2.html, Accessed: 16/08/09) Business benefits of CRM Setting customer relationship management (CRM) solution in practice requires substantial time and expense. However, there are many potential benefits. A major benefit can be the development of better relations with the existing customers that leads to: Increased sales through better timing due to anticipating needs based on historic trends, Identifying needs more effectively by understanding specific customer requirements, Cross-selling of other products by highlighting and suggesting alternatives or enhancements, Identifying which of the customers are profitable and which are not. This can lead to better marketing of the products or services by focusing on: Effective targeted marketing communications aimed specifically at customer needs, A more personal approach and the development of new or improved products and services in order to win more business in the future. Finally this leads to: Enhanced customer satisfaction and retention, ensuring that the good reputation in the marketplace continues to grow, Increased value from existing customers and reduced cost associated with supporting and servicing them, increasing overall efficiency and reducing total cost of sales, Improved profitability by focusing on the most profitable customers and dealing with the unprofitable in more cost effective ways. Once the business starts to look after its existing customers effectively, focus can be shifted on finding new customers and expanding the market. The more we know about our customers, the easier it is to identify new prospects and increase our customer base. (Source: http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/, Accessed: 16/08/09) Customer privacy is an important issue in CRM. CRM deals with large amounts of customer data throughout various touch points and communication means. The personalization process in CRM requires identification of each individual customer and collections of demographic and behavioural data, this is the very information that most customers consider personal and private. The individual organisation gets into an ethical dilemma as it wants to collect as much information as possible about each customer to further its sales. It is a must to have the customer consent to avoid any future problems. Authorized personnel should only have the access to the stored information and data. Drawbacks of CRM As of any other topic there are some negative sides about CRM. According to a research study released in March, 2001 by the Meta Group (cited in Connor 2001), between 55% to 75% of CRM projects fail to meet management objectives. However, research undertaken by CRM Guru (The Blueprint for CRM Success 2002) indicates that the failure rate of CRM projects is 35 %. About 50 % of projects get a payback within 18 months. Research Methodology The two most common methods of data collection for any research are qualitative and quantitative. It is important to define qualitative and quantitative methods. Quantitative data is the term given to data that can be quantified where as qualitative data is the term given to data based on meanings which are expressed through words and language (Anderson, 2004). Both these methods will be used to gather data and information for this research. Interviews will be conducted with the staff members to learn about their ideas and opinions on what they can add to the existing services that they provide. If possible and permitted, then a group of patients will be selected and will be interviewed about what their expectations from the doctors surgery. A questionnaire will be prepared for conducting this research which will be given to the patients who come to take service to the surgery. All these descriptive, exploratory, ethnographic, qualitative and quantitative methods will be used to fulfill the requirements of this research. Data Collection Methods This study draws on both primary and secondary data, such as past customer satisfaction levels, as well as both qualitative and quantitative data. The main focus will be on the qualitative approach as well as observation. This is because my data analysis will be based on words rather than figures. In addition to this, an interview will be conducted on a focused group of patients as primary data source. Primary Data Collection Methods Primary sources are original works of research or raw data without interpretation or pronouncements that represent an official opinion or position. Included among the primary sources are memos, letters, complete interviews or speeches (in audio, video, or written transcript formats), laws, regulations, court decisions or standards, and most government data, including census, economic, and labour data, (Cooper and Schindler, 2003). For the purpose of my research, qualitative method of data collection is more appropriate. Qualitative research is centrally concerned with the understanding rather than the measurement things (Hague Jackson, 1996). Moreover it is believe that qualitative research provides data that is open to interpretation and argue. (Brassington Pettitt, 1996). The search will use a combination of structured and unstructured questionnaires during face-to-face in-depth interview that provide a mixture of closed and open-ended questions for ease and for the acquiring opt imum data. The interviews will be with the parties, the service providers and the service receivers that is the patients. Questionnaire and Interview Questionnaire will be one of the most important approaches that would be used in this research as it provides the simplest and fastest way of primary data collection. A questionnaire will be design to handout to all interviewees and this will give me the data I need to base my theories on. Interviews will be taken to collect data in which selected participants are asked questions in order to find out about their activities, thoughts or feeling about relative issues. The sample size will be 50 plus and of both sexes and of different age groups. Secondary Data Collection Methods Studies made by others for their own purposes represent secondary data, (Cooper and Schindler, 2003). This will include both qualitative and quantitative data as well as descriptive and exploratory research. Books, magazines, articles, journals and other kinds of publications will be used to gather the data. The libraries that will be used for resources are London School of Commerce Library, the British Library, City Business Library and Online Library of University of Phoenix. As this report is a case on NHS (National Health Service), the web sites of the NHS and PPCC will be used to get information about the doctors surgery. The information gathered on the secondary research will be presented in the literature review part of this research. Data Analysis The primary data that will be gathered through questionnaire as a form of quantitative analysis will be analysed by using the Microsoft Excel spread sheet. To have a better understanding of the data, they will be presented in Pie chart and Bar charts. The findings will be also put as percentage of the total sample size. The interview will be analysed as qualitative data as there will be opinions, suggestions and views of the participants. Resource Requirements Some of the expenses that would incur during the primary data collection would be for light refreshments for the interviewees and the expenses for secondary data would be for buying the referral books, magazines, printing and binding of the research. There will be also some additional transportation cost for travelling to the libraries. Time Scale Time is a crucial element for any kind of work and I believe that the dissertation can be completed according to the following time scale. Time Scale Week Activity 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Submission of the Proposal Literature Review Interviews Updating Literature Review Data Collections and Questionnaire Data Analysis First draft of dissertation Revising draft Second draft of dissertation Final editing and preparing Final report ready

Is accounting profit figure a measure of true profit of an organizations

Is accounting profit figure a measure of true profit of an organizations Accounting rules and regulations are a mish-mash of rather conflicting concepts'(e.g. relevance and neutrality), giving managers discretion in deciding which principle to and not to apply(1). Profit is no simple figure which can be computed easily(2), infact it is a thorough process of naming and counting(3); identifying, calculating and summarizing many references generated. Some of these items donot exist, and hence are brought into existence by identifying and assigning monetary values, some involve quantifying the qualitative, while calculation of others may involve managers choosing between different rules and methodologies(revenue recognisation, inventory, depreciation calculation using different techniques), all of which are accepted, by providing a simple reasoning or justification for the choice. Hence, earning management itself is allowed in the profession giving managers the discretion to twist and turn certain figures to meet their criteria, provided a proper reasoning is given. Prudence-an important rule in history, guiding managers that should a conflict arise, a conservative approach to be adopted, as not to be over-optimistic about performance. But now, it is a mere subset of reliability, replaced by faithful representation by IASB, following FASB(4). Should we now expect more use of creative accounting? Given the current credit crunch is it fair to follow USA? Does this mean that instead of using a careful approach as to which colors to use, managers are free to paint the picture in any way they like? Similar implications apply for the use of fair value accounting (driven by Hicks,1975, income and opportunity cost theory), affecting asset valuation and income recognisation. Also given diverse and conflicting rules, what maybe true for one company or country, maynot be true for another(due to different accounting bodies). Therefore profit is merely creating rather than reflecting reality'(5). Another point to discuss is PAT(positive accounting theory); based on unrealistic assumptions as long as they are a good prediction, and underlying hypothesis are never rejected if proven wrong(6). The diagram below shows that in every step of PAT methodology there is a lot of subjectivity, and half of the time they donot tell what assumptions have been made. PAT is based on Adam Smiths rational economic man stating that all choices are based on self interest and accumulation of private wealth; hence accounting methods will be chosen to mislead and disguise performance'(7). Agency theory (Jensen Meckling, 1976) is closely related to this, displaying conflict of interest amongst shareholders and managers, which justifies why managers may resort to earning management, especially if performance-based salaries are used (management compensation hypothesis, Watt and Zimmerman 1986). Shareholders appoint auditors as a protection of their rights and assurance that managers are managing the company to the best of their ability, to maintain decision making efficiency, but auditors donot have access to all the information, and only base their decisions on the information provided by managers and given accounting regulations, does this information asymmetry means that auditors really provide a fair and truthful analysis of company reporting? Given the limited figures that auditors are given, can they analyze that profitability as shown by the company is actually correct? The answer is NO, and we have many examples such as Enron, Sunbeam, which despite been given unqualified audit reports, failed ultimately. Furthermore, as Watt and Zimmerman argue that PAT only gives a prediction of which method managers might use, but doesnot tell which accounting method should be used, for example a large company is likely to use income reducing methods to avoid political attention (political cost hypothesis), debt hypothesis states that a company which is close to breaking its debt covenants will choose policies to ensure such covenants are not violated(8). Also, it is too simplistic to state that it is the only truth. Infact even if profit figure is aligned with companys actual performance, according to coherence theory it is just a truth'(9), and not the ultimate reality. Although some might claim the contrary, as the media only compares the profit figures and doesnot refer to the variety of accounting policies that can be adopted(10). My argument ends with the viewpoint, that although accounting policies and audit reports are designed to protect stakeholders from false reporting, but due to gaps in rules, managers still maintain the discretion to choose policies, which is exploited to meet their objectives, hence shareholders and auditors should use a pool of resources, such as return on investment(11), key performance indicators, share price and economic profit (bank interest and return on other assets-12) to assess performance. Information is not stable, clear and self-evident(13), it is subject to constant change, and can be generated and interpreted in different ways. Truth is not in the numbers, it is only constructing reality using space, time and value machine'(13), therefore users of accounting information should use their own judgment, knowledge and opinions before reaching any conclusion and not base decisions blindly on profitability alone. NOTES: Rhoda lecture notes: The Growth of regulation: International standards and conceptual frameworks of accounting. My first reflective piece Lecture notes Ann-Christine Frandsen: Where do we find accounting Lecture notes Dr Fiona Anderson Gough: Early standards and normative theory, the influence of past on present Hines 1988 Friedman, The methodology of Positive Economics 1953 Adam Smith, The wealth of nations, 1776 Lecture notes, Rhoda, Positive accounting theory (PAT) Lecture notes, Dr Fiona Anderson Gough, Portraying success Deegan and Unerman, 2006 Lecture notes, Ann Christine Frandsen Ball and Brown, 1968 Frandsen A-C (2009), Information Organisation

Trapped in the Darkness Essay -- Papers

Trapped in the Darkness It's dark, indescribably dark. Usually there's moonlight, artificial light, starlight, something, but not here; there's nothing. I try to move, but I am restrained. I listen, but I hear nothing. I smell but I smell only something clinical. If it wasn't for my heart pounding and my lungs racing to catch up, I might imagine I am dreaming, but I'm not. I'm not! I fearfully reach out with my right hand and, afraid of what I might find, I try to resist the temptation to clench my fist. With each centimetre I stretch comes a new level of terror. I reach further and further, shivering in anticipation of what I might find. Shivering allows me to feel the clothes I'm wearing and bringing with it the frightening realisation that I'm not wearing the jeans and shirt I was last night. I'm dressed in something quite different. I bring my hand back, from its outward reach, to touch my waist: it feels like a jacket. I slide it up to my neck. I feel fabric: it's a bowtie. I'm in a suit. I rarely wear suits. Reluctantly I force my hand to resume its search for a clue to where I am. It's an unspeakable dread, not to know what I might find. I reach out my hand. Thud. It hits something. I hesitantly stroke the face of the object that it met. I reach out in another direction. Thud. And then I reach out in another. Thud. Increasingly alarmed by this feeling of being trapped I rub the surfaces with my hand, hoping they will yield some clue to my situation. I feel all around me, but it's futile. My sense of desperation mounts. Realising that senses alone won't help me I try to remember what I did last night. It was my bi... ...ain. There is a slight jolt and I'm stationary. Thank God! There's a low hum, like the hum of machinery, and I'm moving again, but not rocking this time. This time the movement seems quite linear, and as I begin to relaxà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ There is a roar, like the roar of a furnace which causes my heart to quicken, my lungs to race and my mind to panic. Tiring of this torture, I just want it to end. It's hot. My God it's hot! I begin to perspire; the air thins and I gasp for oxygen. My feet blaze, and suddenly I realise that this is no nightmare; this is no illusion. I scream in agony. Aware of the inferno approaching my feet, I start to convulse, fitting in a futile effort to break free from my constraint. Flames rupture the coffin that restrains me, and the foul smell of burning flesh is masked by the inevitability of death. Trapped in the Darkness Essay -- Papers Trapped in the Darkness It's dark, indescribably dark. Usually there's moonlight, artificial light, starlight, something, but not here; there's nothing. I try to move, but I am restrained. I listen, but I hear nothing. I smell but I smell only something clinical. If it wasn't for my heart pounding and my lungs racing to catch up, I might imagine I am dreaming, but I'm not. I'm not! I fearfully reach out with my right hand and, afraid of what I might find, I try to resist the temptation to clench my fist. With each centimetre I stretch comes a new level of terror. I reach further and further, shivering in anticipation of what I might find. Shivering allows me to feel the clothes I'm wearing and bringing with it the frightening realisation that I'm not wearing the jeans and shirt I was last night. I'm dressed in something quite different. I bring my hand back, from its outward reach, to touch my waist: it feels like a jacket. I slide it up to my neck. I feel fabric: it's a bowtie. I'm in a suit. I rarely wear suits. Reluctantly I force my hand to resume its search for a clue to where I am. It's an unspeakable dread, not to know what I might find. I reach out my hand. Thud. It hits something. I hesitantly stroke the face of the object that it met. I reach out in another direction. Thud. And then I reach out in another. Thud. Increasingly alarmed by this feeling of being trapped I rub the surfaces with my hand, hoping they will yield some clue to my situation. I feel all around me, but it's futile. My sense of desperation mounts. Realising that senses alone won't help me I try to remember what I did last night. It was my bi... ...ain. There is a slight jolt and I'm stationary. Thank God! There's a low hum, like the hum of machinery, and I'm moving again, but not rocking this time. This time the movement seems quite linear, and as I begin to relaxà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ There is a roar, like the roar of a furnace which causes my heart to quicken, my lungs to race and my mind to panic. Tiring of this torture, I just want it to end. It's hot. My God it's hot! I begin to perspire; the air thins and I gasp for oxygen. My feet blaze, and suddenly I realise that this is no nightmare; this is no illusion. I scream in agony. Aware of the inferno approaching my feet, I start to convulse, fitting in a futile effort to break free from my constraint. Flames rupture the coffin that restrains me, and the foul smell of burning flesh is masked by the inevitability of death.

The French Revolution Essay -- European Europe History

The French Revolution The French Revolution is one of the major revolutions in European history. The revolution marks a turning point in French history and in world history in general. Forms of government, morals, ideologies, and social development were greatly affected by this event in all Europe and even in the United States. The beginning of the French Revolution is generally dated from June, 1789. However, the crisis in political and economic affairs in France in that period was so great that social unrest, rioting, and rebellion were common for two years before. The end of the revolutionary period was marked by the establishment of the Empire by Napolean in 1804. The basic causes of the French Revolution were rooted in the rigidities of French society in the 18th century. Lines of distinction between classes were tightly drawn, and opportunites for social advancement were very few. The economy was not growing as fast as it should have been. Then needs of an increasing population were not being met. Governmet was inefficient and unrepresentative. Economic problems made the heavy tax exempt but neary so, while the peasents and middle classes were subjected to greater and greater burdens. Crops falied, and trade was stagnant. The people could no longer be taxed, but the government faced bankruptcy unless new revenues were found. The only soulution was to tax the privileged classes. But they were jealoous of their privileged posistion. Altought they were not completely unwilling to contribute some additional taxes, they never understood how grave the economis crisis was. They say the crises as only some form of financial corruption that could be explained away by firing the king's finac... ...tion of his enemies and was rampant, war was at the doorstep, and bread riots were common. The tide turned in another direction, and a stronger executive power in the form of the Dierctory (1795-1799) was set up. A five-man committe ruled the country. Meanwhile, Napolean was making his name famous by his military success. Napoleon allied with two directors in the Directory and with his btoher Lucien, who was president of the Council of Five Hundred, and assembly under the Directory. On Nov. 9, 1799, in the Coup d'Etat de Brumaire he overthrewthe government. A form of government modeled on the old Roman type was established. Napoleon was elected first consul for ten years. By 1804 Napolean assumed the title of emperor, and absoulute monarachy was revied. Bibliography Microsoft Encarta, 1997 Sucdus Som Sibro Universal World Reference Enclopedia

Civil Disobedience Paper Essay

Throughout US history, there were many occurrences performed by people that helped define American Identity. Some of the many aspects that helped evolve characteristics of American identity are civil disobedience, freedom of religion, and immigration. Historical happenings throughout time helped create how the US is today, and why certain freedoms are allowed. Civil Disobedience is one of the important aspects of american identity. Harriet Tubman played a great role in performing civil disobedience involving her freeing slaves. Harriet had a huge bounty on her head and still she rebelled against the law, rescuing more slaves. Henry David Thoreau also performed a part in the act of civil disobedience when he refused to pay taxes, because of his opposition to the Mexican-American War. He wrote an essay Resistance to Civil Government stating that citizens have the right to disobey the law if the law was considered unjust. Furthermore, Woman’s rights is another example of civil disobedience. Women weren’t treated as equal as men and were denied the right to vote. In 1848 the Declaration of Sentiments had 12 resolutions that called for equal treatment of women and men under the law and voting rights for women. Overall, civil disobedience plays a huge role in American identity. Freedom of religion is another aspect that highlights american identity. Many people came to America in search of religious freedom. Colonists wanted a chance to worship freely and have a religion they wanted to take part in. When the pilgrims came to American their goal was to escape the persecution of the puritans. Later on many religions began to disperse everywhere and therefor, population began to grow in America. The Salem Witchcraft Trials, and the Great Awakening of the 1730s played a great role in influencing freedom of religion. America became a refuge for those who wanted religious freedom and became a home to the many people that had the chance to improve their lives. Overall, religious freedom is a huge aspect defining American Identity. Since before America’s founding, immigration has been part of the American identity. In 1845, potato famine in Ireland stopped plants from growing and many families were starved and wished for an escape, nearly 3.5 million Irish migrated to America during the 1820s through the1880s. The Irish weren’t the only immigrants that migrated to America. The Germans had come to America during World War 1 in order to better their lives. Immigrants with money would buy farms in the country, and immigrants with very little money would stay in the city, mainly in New York. By 1855, New York homed at least seventy percent of the New York population. Many immigrants have come to America and still have many coming in and out of our country nowadays. Overall civil disobedience, freedom of religion, and immigration are just a few of the many traits given to the US over time. Because of all these happenings that have occurred in the US, we as citizens have many rights. Here in the US we are known to have different yet unique identities, all thanks to the acts of rebelliousness and righteousness throughout US history.

The Business Ethics Field of Study

The business ethics field of study has evolved through five distinct stages. These stages are before 1960, the 1960s, the 1970s, the 1980s, and the 1990s. It also continues to evolve in the twenty-first century. With each stage come new changes. In the last 30 years the ethics field of study, starting from the 1980s, has shown multiple changes. In 1980 business ethics was acknowledged as a field of study. A group of institutions with diverse interests promoted its study causing business ethics organizations to grow and include thousands of members.The 1980s also brought forth the development of the Defense Industry Initiative (DII) on Business Ethics and Conduct. This Defense Industry Initiative includes six principles. These six principles are as follows: 1. Supports codes of conduct and their widespread distribution 2. Member companies are expected to provide ethics training for their employees as well as continuous support between training periods. 3. Defense contractors must crea te an open atmosphere in which employees feel comfortable reporting violations without fear of retribution. . Companies need to perform extensive internal audits and develop effective internal reporting and voluntary disclosure plans. 5. DII insists that member companies preserve the integrity of the defense industry. 6. Member companies must adopt a philosophy of public accountability. Another change that occurred during the 1980s was the lift of many tariffs and trade barriers, and businesses merged and divested within an increasingly growing atmosphere.The fourth distinctive stage of the business ethics field that brought change over the last 30 years is the stage 1990s. In the 1990s Congress approved the Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations. This set the tone for organizational ethical compliance programs in the 1990s. The guidelines broke new ground by codifying into law incentives to reward organizations for taking action to prevent misconduct such as developing eff ective internal ethical and legal compliance programs.Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations if a company lacks an effective ethical compliance program and its employees violate the law, they can incur severe penalties. The final change of the business ethics field that occurred in the last 30 years is from the twenty-first century. In 2002 Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act to try and improve ethical standards in business. This new act made securities fraud a criminal offense and stiffened penalties for corporate fraud. It also requires corporations to establish codes of ethics for financial reporting.In 2004 there was an amendment to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations that requires that a business’s governing authority be well informed about its ethics program with respect to content, implementation, and effectiveness. All of these changes from the last 30 years have institutionalized the need to discover and address ethical risks. Th e twenty-first century brought forth changes but also has challenges too. I think the biggest challenge to business ethics in the twenty-first century is the fact that not all business managers and executives have high ethical standards.Fraud is something that happens quite frequently in this century and it’s very unfortunate. There seems to be an increasing number of businesses that need to improve their ethical standards and offer more training to prevent this. Business ethics is something that every company needs to take seriously and really enforce within their employees. It will not only contribute to loyalty and employee commitment, but it will also contribute to customer satisfaction and profit

Case Study – Sustainable Tourism in Lagos, Portugal

[pic] College of Commerce Catering and Tourism Sustainable Tourism Case study on the tourism related problems of Lagos, Portugal [pic] Rebecca Zug 19. 11. 2012 Table of Contents 1. Executive Summary 3 2. Findings 4 3. Discussion 5 4. Conclusion and Recommendations 8 5. Implementation 8 6. References9 Case study: Lagos, Algarve, Portugal 1 1. Executive Summary The reason why I choose Lagos for this case study is because I was living there from May 2012 – October 2012 and I think it is a good example for some problems which may occur due to tourism.However it is not an example for the typical mass tourism associated problems, because the nature of tourism in the Algarve is water sports related and therefore reflects a different lifestyle and attitude to the local environment. Lagos Lagos is a harbor town in the Portuguese Algarve coast. The region Lagos has about 30000 constant inhabitants, but due to the fact that Tourism brings 3 million people to the Algarve every year the am ount of inhabitants may be tripled at certain times of the year. Furthermore it has the highest share of residents with foreigners in the whole country.It is probably the most popular destination in the Algarve, because it offers a great diversity of activities for the whole family but mainly the younger generation (water sports: surfing, kiting, wakeboarding, diving, kayaking, as well as a huge gastronomical repertory with countless English bars, restaurants (mainly foreign cuisine), but still kept its old flair in the carless old town due to its 2000 year old history. There are several beaches, one km long sandy beach and more small bays, which are although it is quite a big town still not the typical city beaches.There are only separated single restaurants directly at the beaches, keeping the â€Å"original† coastline, while buildings are only few hundred meters behind. As you can see the problem is obvious as tourism caused kind of an invasion of foreigners on Lagos. A s very tough example: I did not use the Portuguese language ones because there were more foreigners around in town than Portuguese and even them adapted the English language so well (in the most important daily functions) that it was absolutely not necessary.This overcrowding of foreigners leads to a couple of tensions with the locals but there are some opportunities arising of tourism there as well which I am going to explain in the following study. First of all I am going to analyze all the problems occurred by tourism differentiated by their nature. First the problems occurred by the amount of foreigners (- socio cultural impacts) and then the environmental impacts and their economic consequences. Furthermore I am going to point out the opportunities which are already given but not used in this area.These opportunities lead to the solutions I may suggest to overcome the problems and finally I am going to write about the implementation, how the solutions may be adopted. 2 2. Finding s The main problem of Lagos is that the tourism sector and therefore the main business sector is ruled by foreigners. Most hotels, surf camps and water sports providing facilities as well as bars are owned by foreign people, mostly English and Germans which is the reason why most of the tourists are English and German too.Other than in most other vacation spots the tourism facilities are not only owned but run as well solely by foreigners. The reason for that is the new â€Å"fashion† of employing foreign interns rather than locals for every department in hospitality and gastronomy, because they are even more cheap (mostly board and lodging and a little pocket money) than locals. This phenomena is not used in lower quality accommodation but, as I experienced in former internships, in up to 5 star hotels as well.Of course it is a profitable way for the owners, because interns are highly motivated to learn, therefore they accept every kind of work for a very low compensation. F urthermore they are usually highly educated, studied in the field of operation and speak more languages. This is why owners of in this case surf camps and hotels employ mainly interns for the seasons. Another advantage of interns is to avoid the problems of seasonality, because they can primarily work in semester breaks or after high school graduation exactly in the time when the (high) season is.However this sounds perfect for accommodation facility owners it is a huge problem for the local community. Like this the positive impact of tourism in generating jobs for the community is missing due to the fact that even the lower quality jobs are given to foreigners. As well with the low wages for interns it is impossible to actually live a normal life in the area. My experience was that ONLY if it was really necessary (end of the season when everybody has gone home) owners are willing to employ locals for a couple of weeks as well on a higher wage (almost double), but solely if there is no other choice.Another problem arising of this is that most of these interns are not registered or on a no-payment base for what the owners do not have to pay taxes. This induces a lack of income for the community as well. In higher quality hotels it also creates an image of not trained staff (â€Å"intern flair†) which degrades the quality of services. But not only the accommodation facilities are run and owned by foreigners, almost every single bar in town as well. Also because of the majority of outgoers are foreigners the barmen and waiters are 90% foreigners, youngsters working the seasons, who only need money for their next trip.My observation was that only some restaurants but rather bistros and breakfast cafes are owned and run by Portuguese. The lack of jobs (unemployment rate in the Algarve is the highest in the whole country: 20%) leads to crime generation of the locals, who as kind of a revenge rob and break into foreign-owned houses. Other socio-cultural proble ms arising from the impacts of tourism are due to the above mentioned: the standardization and commercialization of the Portuguese culture. A very common phenomena is the building of outlets or well known chains in gastronomy or commerce sector (e. . McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Aldi, Lidl). The gastronomy of Lagos is ruled by all imaginable foreign The Green Room (Mexican Restaurant) in the old town of Lagos countries cuisines (Italian, Japan, Thai, English, Turkish, Romanian, Mexican†¦) but a very small part of real Portuguese food. An economic disadvantage is furthermore that there are loads of foreign supermarkets as well like Aldi and Lidl, which are cheaper and more familiar to tourists and the great number of English residents in this area.This means that the positive impact of the multiplier effect of tourism is missing, because foreigners do not go grocery shopping in local shops. As already mentioned the Portuguese language is starting to get lost due to the number of foreig ners not willing to learn and not forced to learn it because everybody speaks at least the necessary communicative English needed to manage everyday life. This adoption of tourist demands leads to a slow but very significant decrease in Portuguese culture. Environmental ImpactsThe problem of pollution is steady everywhere where people are and of course more people create more pollution and waste, this makes it to a fundamental problem of tourism. Water consumption in watering gardens of hotels, camps as well as pools and golf courses is an essential problem in the rainless months of the summer. Moreover is there no regulation for recycling in Portugal. Waste is collected in one huge ton for every street. There is no refuse collection for every house, however there are quite a lot recycling stations but this is only volunteer.Seasonality as in almost every tourism destination is an issue in Lagos as well. Low season starts in May + June, July + August are high season and September + October are low season again. From November – End of April most of the hotels, camps are closed or operate only partly. This provokes an even higher unemployment rate and of course lack of income. 3 3. Discussion The main problem of the foreigners â€Å"stealing† the jobs of the Portuguese is a very serious issue and can not be solved without the interaction of the local government.In my opinion there should be a regulation, setting a specific percentage of employees, who must be local. There are several examples where this governmental interaction lead to advantageous outcomes (GCC member states). In the Oman for example, the government set a guaranteed employment quote of locals, called Omanization, aiming the reduction of the portion of foreign employees. This way the unemployment rate would be decreased and therefore the tensions between locals and foreign business owners would be reduced as well.Difficulties may arise with the European Union, whose four main aims (free movement of people, capital, goods and services – jobs) are in contradiction with not allowing foreigners to work in a country different to their home country. But realizing the bad financial situation of Portugal and the statistical data has a lot to commend it. Also is employing locals a very important cultural aspect in the guests satisfaction, who lacked the involvement of Portuguese culture during their stay. As well do people living their whole life on the spot of course have a better knowledge about natural conditions, which are very important for water sports.Furthermore there should be a tax reduction for employers hiring locals, to make the employment of them attractive and economically advantageous. Due to this business owners are hopefully keen to officially reinvolve locals rather than foreign interns and therefore pay taxes on them. As well education in Lagos must be enhanced. There is only one University in the Algarve (in Faro) with an extension to the n earby Portimao which is public, all other higher education institutes are private.Furthermore most of the international schools are private as well and there are barely high quality state-run secondary schools. This means that mostly only the children of foreigners are getting a good education in this area, locals mainly have to go further away (Lisbon) and when they are already gone, they most of the times are not coming back, being aware of the bad employment situation in the Algarve. So even if the youth has the opportunity to be educated quite far away, they afterwards go abroad (a phenomena we can observe in Hungary as well).My suggestion would be to make the access to higher and good quality education available for everybody (mainly with European Union tenders) and put an effort in the education of occupations needed in this area: Tourism and water sports. Economically surf camps can help as well in producing income for the local community, for example in sending their guests to nearby cafes to have breakfast there. These breakfast possibilities are around almost every corner and owned by locals, because locals love to eat breakfast outside and combine it with a casual chat with friends.Thus guests have the opportunity in learning about the culture and habits as well as add to the local economy. Economically this won't affect the camps, because breakfast is absolutely not the main income source and rather eases up the work in camps and helps to concentrate on the major activities. Discounted firm prices may be negotiated, sometimes even with a commission for the camps. Problems would occur for camps outside the city center, there are a few camps (Algarve Watersports, The Surf Experience) which are located far away from the old town and therefore do not have the opportunity to send guests away for breakfast.The standardization problem of the local restaurants, who barely serve typical Portuguese food occurred due to the fear of local business owners. Ther e are a few Portuguese restaurants (e. g. Casinha do Petisco) with great Portuguese cuisine, enormous portions and good prices. Every single night this restaurant is full of people and there is barely never a less waiting time than 45 minutes to get a table. Although it looks quite unimposing it is the best going restaurant in town (even in the off season) full of a mixture of locals and tourists as well.This means that the demand for Portuguese cuisine is present and a great opportunity, which only has to be captured. Here the camps might help again, due to the fact that they normally do not serve dinner. Making agreements with local business owners serving Portuguese food, will probably emphasize others to at least serve Portuguese food as well, because many guests complained about â€Å"not being in Portugal† regarding the food supply. The environmental threats may be solved due to small interactions of the government again. For example the recycling of waste should be obl igatory.As it is seen in several European countries since decades (Germany, England), those guests and foreign residents even do it voluntarily in Lagos. We made it obligatory in our surf camp, but every time I brought the separated waste to the recycling stations, I only saw Recycling station in Lagos foreigners, who did the same. This is a good opportunity of tourism to promote recycling. It may be made obligatory intern by single camps, but there is a need of governmental intervention to make locals recycle as well.Due to the fact that there is no regular garbage collection for every house making it very difficult to control who is throwing his waste how away. Therefore it should be (e. g. as in Germany), that there should be a garbage collection for every house and every household gets different recycling tons on a yearly payment. Thus if people do not recycle his waste won't be taken away. As a matter of course this is combined with enormous costs, but may be covered by e. g. h igher annual payment of foreigners and European Union contributions.It would furthermore create jobs, because the garbage collection of every household requires more people. The pollution due to water sports activities is in proportion very low, because the main activity of surfing comes with an environmental friendly lifestyle. This green close to nature way of life is promoted and educated in the surf camps in encouraging their guests to be very careful with the environment, recycling, low water consumption etc. and advertise to respect the locals (with t-shirts for example).In a surfing society these things are so evident, that people react very upset on people ignoring these unwritten laws. (â€Å"Leave nothing but footprints and take nothing but memories†) Surf camps and locals know that the beaches Beach of Zavial are their main income source, this is why they are absolutely protected, no waste is left there and they are almost totally untouched, mainly only one restaur ant. Even the beach boys and lifeguards use surfboards and not motorized lifeboats in cases of emergencies.This statement is as well proved by the fact that even robberies hardly ever occur on the beaches, it is possible to stay hours in the water while nobody looks after one's belongings and nothing happens, but if one once do not lock the windows in his apartment, it is 99% sure that he won't find his apartment as it was left. The only thing which could be reduced are the daily long drives to the west coast. Every surf school in the Algarve has only one or two licenses (only The Surf Experience (first surf school in the Algarve) has the right to go to almost every beach) to teach surfing at a beach.This is actually a very good thing, so the carrying capacity of the beaches is balanced anf there are never to much schools, people at the beaches. But many schools have licenses for far away beaches (e. g. Algarve Watersport in Lagos has a license for the beach in Monte Clerigo  œ 40 km away) they have to drive there every day. Surely the possibility of surfing must be secured, but there are geographically closer beaches for the differently located camps as well. Also the public transport opportunities should be enhanced. Currently there are barely busses to the beaches, only to the major cities.As well the accessibility of Lagos from the airport after 20. 00 is poor, only with private shuttle busses. Due to the extension of the public transportation air pollution may be reduced. The problem of seasonality, in Lagos due to the climatic variations of a continental area, are that serious that most of the tourism related businesses have to close down the operation for the winter months, to avoid financial loss. Resulting in Lagos becoming a â€Å"ghost town†. An opportunity to avoid closing down the whole operation may be to offer discounted packages for this time, because actually the natural conditions or surfing are the best from November until March and the air temperature is still mild and springlike. But it is always hard to measure if it is worth to even run the operations on a very low level, because the â€Å"real surfer† for whom this conditions are advantageous won't come to a surf school or camp. This is why I would suggest a steady operation especially for apartment rentals, rental car providers, surf shops and restaurants. It is as well important to consider that people working during a season do not have the chance to rest or even think about holidays.Off season is the only time these workers can think about themselves, go on holiday, visit their families or even make doctors appointments. So people are actually looking forward to the end of the season (if they have an alternative job or earned enough to bridge the income less winter months). In addition may these time be used for maintenance works in the accommodation facilities. On these grounds I think that seasonality in this area has indeed a very powerf ul impact, but not in an absolutely negative way. 4 4. Conclusion and RecommendationsAs already mentioned is governmental intervention essential to solve the problems of the Lago's community. To avoid the negative economical impacts occurred by tourism and to achieve more positive impacts of it some regulations must be appointed: The introduction of an obligatory guaranteed employment rate of locals in every tourism related business and a tax reduction for businesses employing more locals than required, so the unemployment rate can be controlled and the thereby emerging socio-cultural conflicts may be reduced.In addition should recycling be made obligatory and the public transfer to the beaches should be enhanced. Also should the state-owned educational system be improved and specialized on available occupations, so that locals are able to stay in their home towns or areas and still receive effective education and have a belief in a future there. All in all are surf camps ecological ly sensitive accommodations that work to preserve the local environment, culture and surf. Those camps help ensure that tourism is sustainable and that the spot will be around for years to come.This great opportunity given by tourism must be captured. Surf camps can contribute economically and environmentally to make tourism in Lagos more sustainable. Economically and socio-culturally by encouraging their guests to go to local restaurants and put their breakfast into local cafes and environmentally while staying educative and teach the environmental friendly surfer's lifestyle to their guests. 5 5. Implementation The implementation of these solutions must be â€Å"SMART†: Specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely.To specify the goals I have to answer the following questions: What: To make Lagos more sustainable, while balancing the amount of local and foreign workers, therefore encouraging business owners to employ more locals, ease up occurred tensions between l ocals and foreigners and promote the â€Å"green† surfer lifestyle. Who: With the regulative and financial help of the government and the educative support of local surf camps When: Regulations should be set for the next season already, education during the season Where: Lagos and its affected beaches, PortugalWhy: Lagos is one of the most visited cities in the Algarve, not capturing the potential of being more sustainable would occur in an absolute invasion of foreigners, the loss of Portuguese culture and the excess of Lagos' carrying capacity. Measuring: How much? How will I know when it is accomplished: The unemployment rate should be reduced down to max 5-10 %. Local tourism related businesses should have a percentage of min 30% of locals working for them.All the surf camps in town should if possible transfer their breakfast to local cafes. Attainable: How can the goal be accomplished: The goals may be accomplished with the interaction of the government, the surf camps a nd the locals as well. Relevant: Does this seem worthwhile: Implementing these solutions will make Lagos more sustainable and keep it as an attractive destination in the future as well. Is this the right time: It is definitely the right time, because the problems will get worse and worse if nothing is to be done.Does this match other needs: It perfectly matches the most important need of reducing the negative and increasing the positive impacts of tourism. Time-bound: When: ASAP What can be done today: Inform and encourage to do something: governments, authorities, camps and locals. 6 6. References Personal experiences while working at Algarve Watersports http://www. carvoeiro. net/news-reader/items/2011-01-01_arbeitslosigkeit_an_der_algarve. html http://topachievement. com/smart. html ———————– [pic] ———————– 9