World War II Essay -- History, War, Normandy Beaches

Starting with the hedgerows of the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany on June 7, 1944 to May 7, 1945 Ambrose tells an authentic story of World War II from the point of view of the men who battled in the war. The author explains the narrative of the â€Å"GIs, junior officers and enlisted men â€Å" (Ambrose 14), proved Hitler wrong by driving his Wehrmacht back from the beached of Normandy back to Germany. One of the greatest lessons that the reader can learn from reading the book, Citizen Soldiers is that the success of war is heavily relied upon by the junior officers and non-commissioned officers on the front lines. As the title suggests, Citizen Soldiers is not so much a study on tactical moves as it is on the citizen soldier from all parts of the United States. The book concentrates on the American GI Joe and not the Allies as a whole. The Gis were all American boys who believed in their cause, they drafted or had enlisted voluntarily, but only a few wanted to be at war, and Ambrose stated, Citizen Soldiers is not about â€Å"the generals, it’s about the junior officers and enlisted men of ETO---who they were, how they fought, why they fought, what they endured, [and] how they triumphed† (Ambrose 13). The epic drama of the European Theater of Operation (ETO) is told by Ambrose by following, almost step by step, various individuals and outfits among the tens of thousands of young Allied soldiers who broke away from the deadly beaches of Normandy and swept across France to Ardennes, fought the Battle of the Bulge, captured the bridge at Remagen, and crossed the Rhine to final victo ry in Europe. Ambrose notices that the U.S. ruined the Nazi war machine with considerable aerial bombing, artillery, and the great mob... ...that Germany was on the defensive side of the Western Front, reinforcements became ever more important. Yet as Ambrose explains the Germans could just not tactically keep the Allies in check with reinforcements. Resulting into withdrawal after withdrawal, which lead into another German tactic. The German technique of departure was that of being unhurried and expensive. They left little to the Allies and damaged everything in their withdraw trail. They also used malicious methods to dismember Allied troops such as mines and other nasty surprises. By portraying several German surrenders, Ambrose paints the picture that Germany had lost its compassion and need for traditional warfare. In since they had had enough and as Ambrose tells they were quick in many circumstances even humorous to some extent, to surrender, which would ultimately be Germany's last war tactic.

New Challenges for Africa and the Islamic World Essay

* Songhai flourished during the 1400s and 1500s, with an empire stretching 1500 miles east to west. (from Gao to the Niger River) a. Timbuktu * Timbuktu became a major center for trans-Saharan trade. Large supplies of gold, ivory, and slaves were sent abroad. * Timbuktu was a major center of Islamic scholarship, in particular because of the Islamic University of Sankore. * Civil war over succession weakened the empire which was then destroyed by Moroccan forces. B. Other West African States * The small Sudanic kingdoms that formed after the fall of Songhai were parts of a closely linked commercial network. * For example, the Dyula moved goods by donkey and canoe, dominating the regional trade. * A few non-Muslim states, including those of the Guinea Coast, had a matrilineal social structure. a. The Kanem-Bornu Kingdom * The Islamic kingdom of Kanem-Bornu prospered from trans-Saharan trade and reached its height under king Idrus Aloma. a. The Hausa and the Trans-Saharan Trade * The Hausa had trade-oriented states in modern-day Chad, eastern Niger, and Nigeria where cotton cloth and leatherwork were manufactured for export. * Islam became dominant, but women continued to play vital social and political roles. b. Trade on the Guinea Coast * A few non-Muslim states, including those of the Guinea Coast and Volta River basin, had a matrilineal social structure, and prospered from mining and trading in gold to the north. c. Europeans in West Africa * Portuguese encountered such large trading centers as the one at Guinala, (Guinea Bissau), where 12,000 men and women met weekly to trade. C. Bantu Trading Cities and Kingdoms (East) * Bantu settlers and Arab immigrants formed the Swahili culture. * The Swahili city-states grew wealthy by trading in African goods to peoples from around the Indian Ocean. a. Trade on the East African Coast * Swahili city-states were parts of the great trading network generally dominated by seafaring Arabs and Indian Muslims. d. The Shona and the Ganda * The Shona exported gold and ivory through the city of Sofala to the Middle East and India. * The Ganda people established the kingdom of Buganda west of Lake Victoria and Buganda dominated the region by the 1700s. e. The Kingdom of Kongo * In the Congo River basin, the Bantu kingdom of Kongo became one of the first great African states to be visited by European explorers. * The kingdoms of Luba and Lunda resisted European power into the nineteenth century. f. The Xhosa and the Zulu * The Xhosa and Zulu were the main Bantu-speaking groups to migrate into southern Africa. D. Africa in the Hemispheric System * Sub-Saharan Africans lacked interregional connections. * Sub-Saharan African was cut off from European and Asian trade. * Marginally fertile soils, scarce exploitable minerals, and few good harbors impeded development in Sub-Saharan Africa. a. Africa the Unknown * West and East Africa supplied gold, ivory, and other commodities to the Middle East and Europe for centuries. * The remaining Amharic Christians in modern-day Ethiopia were surrounded by Muslims and essentially cut off from contact with Europe. g. The Opening of Africa * Europeans set out to penetrate â€Å"Darkest Africa† with the â€Å"light† of the West, while also looking for direct routes to Asian spices and silk. * Africans were shocked and dismayed upon first sighting Europeans. h. The Beginning of the African Slave Trade * Europeans looked for slaves after setting up in the Americas. * Slavery had a long tradition in Africa, which involved Muslim traders. * Europeans already had enslaved their own peoples, though not with a racialized reason. II. EUROPEAN IMPERIALISM AND THE TRANS-ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE * Racism developed from early exploitative relationships forged by Portuguese and Dutch adventurers along the two coasts of Africa and in its southern reaches. A. The Portuguese and African Encounters * By the late 1400s the Portuguese had colonized the Cape Verde Islands and the nearby coastal region of Guinea-Bissau. * They also established a long relationship of cooperation with the prosperous Kongo kingdom of south central Africa and sent Catholic missionaries. a. Bartolomeu Dias and Vasco de Gama * In 1487 Bartholomeu Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope and the Indian Ocean. Vasco da Gama established relations with East African Swahili trading cities. * In India, European goods could not compete with more valuable and finer products from India, China, Indonesia, and Persia. Da Gama had finally located the sea route to the east. * The Portuguese set up a network of trading bases around the Indian Ocean, and tried to limit the activity of their Arab, Ottoman, Persian, and Indian rivals. i. The Portuguese and the Kongo * The Christian King Alfonso I, a Portuguese ally, controlled the Kongo and attempted to emulate Portugal by expansion and modernization. * Slavery soured Portuguese-Kongolese relations. j. Queen Nzinga and African Resistance * After Alfonso’s death, the Portuguese conquered Kongo and Ndongo. Kongolese and Ndongo warriors were no match for Portuguese armies. Queen Nzinga of Ndongo strongly resisted the Portuguese. * Kongolese Christian kings appealed to the Pope to halt the slave raids. The Kongolese kings allied with the Dutch to curb Portuguese influence. Kongo endured civil wars, which led to the capture of more slaves. * Portuguese forces occupied several major Swahili trading cities. They eventually controlled several trading ports from the Persian Gulf to China. They used brutal methods to achieve their ends. k. The Decline of Portuguese Influence * Portuguese influence waned on the East Coast of Africa by the 17th century after they destroyed much of the trade by dissuading merchants to venture to the cities they nominally controlled. * In the late 1600s, Arabs from Oman pushed the Portuguese out. E. New Challenges for the Shona States and Ethiopia (East) * The Portuguese controlled the lower Zambezi Valley in order to dominate the gold trade. * They also moved up the Zambezi River and ended up controlling the largest Shona state of Monomotopa. * They also settled coastal Mozambique and mixed culturally, often through intermarriage. a. Ethiopian Civil War * The Portuguese forces assisted Ethiopians against their Muslim neighbors. * Jesuit missionaries converted Ethiopian king to Catholicism. * Attempts to change the Ethiopian Church did not succeed, and the missionaries and other Portuguese were expelled. F. South Africa and Dutch Colonization * Dutch settlers in Cape Town traded with the Khoikhoi, but then seized their land. They enslaved or killed all the Khoikhoi living near the Cape, then imposed white rule over Africans. * Slaves were imported from Madagascar, Mozambique, and Indonesia. * As the economy developed, Africans and Asians outnumbered whites. a. The Boers and â€Å"trekking† * Some Dutch settlers, or Boers, moved eastward to escape governmental control and look for new land to settle. * The Boers tried to take over Xhosa and Zulu lands. G. The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade * Europeans enslaved Africans to fulfill their labor needs in the Americas on plantations and in mines. * Physical differences established racial basis of trans-Atlantic slavery. a. The Slave Trade Expands * West Africa was fragmented, which made it vulnerable to slave trading. The Europeans established trading forts from Senegal to Angola. * The Europeans traded cotton goods, guns, iron, rum, and tobacco for slaves. The Europeans often cooperated with local African chiefs to obtain slaves. * The exact number of enslaved Africans is uncertain, but it probably totaled 25 to 30 million individuals. The trans-Atlantic slave trade reached its peak between 1700 and 1800. l. Horrors of the Middle Passage * Slaves were branded, chained together, and packed into overcrowded slave ships. * Many slaves committed suicide before reaching the Americas, so slavers installed nets along the sides of slave ships to catch jumpers. There were also many attempted mutinies en route. * The majority of slaves were sold to plantations without regard to personal ties. m. Rationalizing the Slave Trade * Europeans justified slavery by claiming that Africans were inherently inferior. * Some Westerners argued that slavery benefited Africans by exposing them to Western culture, values, and religion. H. The Slave Trade and African Societies * Some coastal regions of West and Central Africa succumbed to chronic raiding, kidnapping, and warfare. * Some societies were particularly destabilized when huge numbers were enslaved. * Out of these patterns of human enslavement emerged the Atlantic System. a. The Impact of the Slave Trade on Africa * Some African societies prospered by selling neighboring peoples into slavery. The kings of Benin obtained firearms by trading cotton textiles, pepper, ivory, and beads, and prohibited the sale of male slaves. * States such as Dahomey prospered by cooperating with the slave traders. Coastal regions from Senegambia down to Angola suffered the most (ex. family damage.) * The trans-Atlantic slave trade created economic imbalances that hindered the evolution of local industries, though African societies arguably benefited from the introduction of peanuts and corn. n. Early Imperialism and Colonialism in Africa * Europeans practiced imperialism and colonialism in Africa. * The scramble for Africa intensified with industrialization in Europe. Western industrialization helped end the slave trade, but accelerated the need for African natural resources.

Zara Company

IntroductionThe United Arab of Emirates is always open to local and international markets, and keeps abreast of the continuous change in the marketing environment. The economy in the UAE is very strong as it ranks in the world market and compete with major countries. People in these days consider more about fashion and they try to follow any new lines of fashion because they care about elegance and everything that can make them beautiful. Zara is a brand that can satisfied people especially in the UAE because it products many of unique clothes, bags and shoes in a good price to be one of famous brand and known in the world. Spanish brand and one of a famous brand in the world which that is specialized in clothing and it founded by Ortega Goanna and Rosalie Mere in 1975. Brief background information about the brandZara is Spanish brand and one of a famous brand in the world which that is specialized in clothing and it founded by Ortega Goanna and Rosalie Mere in 1975. Zara known as one of the big and major selling brands and fashion retailer in the world and it is available in 86 countries in the world like Spanish which has a big number of Zara's shop, Germany, Morocco and the UAE. Zara has around 1763 shops around the world which can make a big seller and profit for Zara. Zara started to be distributed in 1957 for different countries in the world and they opened there shops in the Middle East during 1998 until 2000 in different countries such as the UAE, Kuwait and Egypt. Zara has different lines fashion for different categories like male, female and kids too and they focus on fast and practical fashion which is product in weeks.Consumer productThere several useful product that Zara provides to its customers. However, we chose makeup for women. We as female like to wear makeup always and we want Zara to produce those product because of the quality of their products. Like foundation is important one and lipsticks and mascara those are the main. These product will serve women specific the young girl because they like beauty cosmetics. The strength is the quality that Zara use with manufacturing its product so customer won't suffer from it although the weakness is the competitors like H&M they offer makeup for their customer with high quality and lower prices. B- Marketing Opportunities We have some idea, it will help Zara shop to improve and be better they can attract the customers through price cut and build more Zara shop in many different places it will be easy to visit this shop and buy more products, I think when Zara shop do the offers that will help them to find many customers. Product development is the creation of products with new or different characteristics that offer new or additional benefits to the customer, the process consists of the following stages coming up with a product idea, researching the idea, designing and planning.  Primary Research We evaluated the survey of people opinions about Zara. A total of twenty response, seventy five percent (75) were female. And twenty- five (25) percent were male. Most people were between two and thirteenth, and few of them were between fourteenth and twenty. We analyze the response in orders of question, and it turned out a huge amount of people prefer to visit Zara more than the other shop because they have excellent products. Not also they own one but even they think it reliable. From the study, most people who responded agrees to buy a product from Zara greater than the other products. According to the survey a small percentage of people are willing to buy this moment. On the other hand, slight amount of people is not interested in purchasing more products because it is very expensive and some people they don't have the Zara shop in your country. Or it depends on some people taste and that's why they don't see Zara shop as a first choice. However, Zara company improve their products and service quality to coming up with a product.Marketing opportunities:The marketing opportunity is â€Å"A potentially favorable condition in which a business can capitalize on a changing trend or an increasing demand for a product by a demographic group â€Å"(Investors words, N.D).We think marketing opportunity linked to its productivity development. When it is at a high level, Zara's profit will continue growth. The companies compete with each other, and they almost have the same competitive opportunities. The development, diversification, and innovation help the Zara and other companies to protect the opportunities of competitive.Human capital as well as technology information allow Zara to respond to the demand for its customer better than other companies (Lee.J, 2015). The clothes, perfume and chose industry need to understand the marketing opportunity to be in a good position in the market. There are many things that help Zara company to have a good marketing opportunity such as technological innovation and diversification. Innovation:The strategy of developing ideas that create value which is modern and suitable for people. When Zara's company create creative and innovative ideas in its product and services, it attracts its customer to come to the shop and by more. We are now in the era of innovation, so all people look forward exotic and creative things. Diversification:Diversification is an administrative method that gathers many investments in one portfolio.Zara Design team are producing 18.000 different model of clothes per year, that's about 70 every working day in a continuous process (7 innovation, 2013). Existing market segment and new market segment:We think new market segment attract people to come to the shop and buy because in these time people like the trend things. The existing market segment will not be developed and suitable for everybody.Segmentation and Targeting:â€Å"The identification of individuals or organization with a similar characteristic that has significant implications for the determination of marketing strategy)†Fahy & Jobber, N.D).Marketing segmentation helps Zara Company to support profit and economic growth, improve customer retention, and more effective targeting of communication. The clothing is changing every day which means the targeted consumer would need to be following the current fashion trends.We can divide consumer segmentation to behavioral, psychographic and profile. Behavioral:The objective of Zara Company is to increase customer equity and customer satisfaction, so the company tries to do research that improves products and services and pay attention to occasions. For example in AlEad they introducing a new collection. Geographic:Zara Company opens many branches in our country to facilitate access to it. And also open the branches in the places that are suitable for people regarding weather and safety. Demographic:Zara opens its branches in the area of population concentration such as malls, to be easy for the customer to buy. If Zara opens its branches in the place that's far from the population density, this will cause problems such as loss. Customer profile:The age range of Zara's customer is various, and it includes children, teens and adults. The more age group buy from Zara are between 18-40 years. They have mid-range income which makes them able to purchase. Also, they are interested in fashion trends.(Lee, J.2015).Application of the marketing mix:All markets applies marketing mix to promote their brand or product. The 4Ps make up a typical marketing mix; product, price, place, promotion. Zara provides various products for their customers. Also the main strength and power of Zara Company is that it's able to react quickly to the latest highly fashion, season needs and customer needs whether products or services. The following are the products line in Zara product mix;Clothes for men, women and kidsPerfumesShoes for men, women and kids6.1 Product We want to develop a new product that Zara Company doesn't considered about that is Makeup moreover Zara customers most of them are women they are loyal. As we see here the UAE community like Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah are developed and civilized, and they're in line with the latest trends in fashion specially the females, they like modern, show, painting and to wear makeup every day. Zara Company did researches and studies about launching makeup for women soon with high quality, professional and qualified workers, new features such us multi-tasking (foundation cream, lipsticks, mascara and eye shadow†¦) with suitable prices so clients could save money. The company is willing to spend lots of money on attractive advertisements for this new products. Cosmetics products serve women to look more shine and beautiful. As well as it will help them with suitable prices that we put. The products will have the brand logo and label, so that it distinguished from other makeup brands. However, the packaging it will be freak, clear and attractive also with low cost so the makeup won't be expensive. 6.2 Proposed price:Zara sits the price range depends on some factors such as countries, economy and number of costs, so every country has a different price of Zara's brand. Also, Germany has different prices from the UAE, so they have a high price for the products more than the UAE or other countries in the Middle East who have Zara Brand because the economy is different and the cost too. In addition, Zara tries to give people a good quality of clothes at affordable prices so that can bring a lot of profit for Zara. The pricing in Zara in the UAE is around 115AED – 500AED. Moreover, cosmetics like lipstick is 29 AED, blusher 20 AED, foundation 80 AED, eyeshadow plate 55 AED and mascara 32 AED. Value: Zara gives people one of the unique and fashionable clothes in the world with good price that all people can buy. Zara uses pull system in their stores and produce a small quantity of each style because of big numbers of styles that they produce each month. Zara uses a good manufacturing method to avoid any threat that they face such as some disruptions because the weather and factory problems which can effect on the production. In addition, it is an important for any company to build their values to make their brand one of the famous brand in the world, so Zara makes this value by the trust with their customers and give them a good quality of clothes. The value in Zara is around 13 billion in a year and more than 3 million customers around the world. Cost:The high cost requires a lot of money and profit to make a sustainable profitability. The advertising and store promotion cost 3.5% from their revenue, the company does not cost alt of money on their advertising but they said that the company invested around 450$ million on commercials and logistics area. In addition, the sales index's increased to 6%. Competitor: There are a lot of competitors of Zara such as H&M and Mango because they are two big companies that can make some challenge to Zara. There are some similarity and difference between these three companies such as Zara is product fast fashion for different categories like male, female and kids and H&M products for the same categories too but for practical and fashionable designs but Mango is special for only male and female without kids. The distribution in the world, H&M has more distributed in the world more than Zara and Mango so that can effect on the number of the profit too because H&M has a big profit in a year more than these two. The competitors also provide the similar techniques of promotion but Zara have to create creative and innovative promotion .For example in occasion it provide new collection with a good prices. 6.3 Proposed place:There are a lot of methods that Zara uses to be more distributed like having a lot of retail outlets in different countries.Also, Spain has a big number of Zara's shops in the world, so this is a kind of exclusive distribution. In UAE we have many stores of Zara which are located in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, AlAin and Sharjah. The survey results show that Zara company should open new brunches like in Fujairah and Ajman. We prefer to open Zara in each city in UAE because to make it easy to access to it.We also think that Zara has to open new section which is Makeup. Makeup attracts women to come and buy. Because of the quality and suitable prices that will support people to buy.If Zara makes offers this will cause more distribution and this will help Zara to be more effective. 6.4 Proposed promotion: The brand should focus on promotion to be more famous in the world and because a lot of people these days use the internet and websites to do shopping and see the new products so the brand should focus on website, some application like Facebook and Instagram help Zara to have a lot of customers from different countries. Nowadays, people use social media all the time, Zara has to join to social media to attract people by commercial advertising in Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. Moreover, release posters on the streets. Finally, they can put an advertisement in the cinema and television. In Dubai shopping festival, Zara takes the advantage of the opportunity and make offers that are the local people and foreigners happy with it. Conclusion Our report maintains data that we collected about Zara brand and how it began, who is the founder of, where is it location. Zara known as brand that has high quality of products and services that is it provides and manufacture. Zara organization is successful and the best brand between its competitors' and has huge number of clients. Also the Zara company continues to develop itself always in order to not lose the customers. The prices are reachable and suitable for all people. We included primary research a questionnaire survey to get the evaluation of Zara from people. References group, i. w. (n.d.). Market opportunity. Retrieved from investors world: http://www.investorwords.com/19306/market_opportunity.html#ixzz5CF7EiPeqinnovation, 7. (2013, November 13). Process Innovation – Zara. Retrieved from 7 innovation: https://7innovation.net/2013/11/13/process-innovation-zara/Lee, J. Y. (2015, May 12). Final zara marketing strategy . Retrieved from slide share: https://www.slideshare.net/JiYoungLee26/final-zara-marketing-strategyRuddick, G. (2014, October 20). How Zara became the world's biggest fashion retailer. Retrieved April 17, 2018, from https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/11172562/How-Inditex-became-the-worlds-biggest-fashion-retailer.html Appendices: questionnaire 1. -clothes-shoes-perfumes 2. Do you think Zara shop prices suit everybody?-Yes-NO-Not sure3. Do you prefer or suggest to open new branch in your city?-Yes-No-Not sure4. Are you loyal customer to Zara store (e.g. have a customer card)?-yes-No-Not sure5. Are you satisfied with products and services that offered by Zara?-Yes-No-Not sure 6. What do you think of the quality of Zara products? -Excellent-Good-Poor-Very bad7. How often do you visit Zara? -weekly-monthly-once in a Yearly8. Does Zara's promotions attract you to come and buy?-yes-No-Somehow 9. What is special about Zara?-quality -prices-It offers all type of product (Perfumes, Bags, Dress and choses).10. Does Zara Company improve their products and services quality?-yes-No-Not sure

Advantage And Disadvantages Of Dividend Payout Policy Finance Essay

Advantage And Disadvantages Of Dividend Payout Policy Finance Essay When a company has a surplus of profit, it can be used either pay back the shareholders or reinvest into the business. The way that company pay back to shareholders is call dividend payout. In the recent years, the number of companies paying dividends has declined. For example, the PSEG Company in the United State, the payout ratio was about 67% in 2004 and fallen to 45% by 2007.Shows in the graph below: (http://www.pseg.com/index.jsp) This essay will mainly discuss the advantage and disadvantage about the dividend-paying. What are dividends? Dividends are payment made by corporation to the shareholders. Dividends come from the profit earned by company. There are two ways where company spends the surplus of profit, one is to reinvest to the business and the other is to pay back to the shareholders as dividends. The companies who pay dividends are usually taking no benefit if the reinvest the surplus profit back into the business, under this condition dividends are chosen to pay to t he shareholders, which is call payout. The forms of dividends are variable. The most common one will be the made by cash, which is the most common method of sharing corporate profits with the shareholders of the company. The second one is the stock dividends that is paid in form of additional share and it is counted by proportion, for example, if the shareholder owns 100 shares of the stock with 5% stock dividends, the shareholder can gain 5 more shares. Others like property dividends are taken as dividends payout as well. Advantage of dividend payout policy There is certain amount of people of the rightist position state that company pays a high dividend payout is important for investors for the reasons that paying dividends can convince the shareholders about the company’s financial well-being. The higher rate of dividends payout shows better the company operating as well as larger number of profit, which might attracts the investors. Dividends are also attractive for the i nvestors who want to get the stable current income easily. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“There is also a natural clientele of investors, such as the elderly, who looking to their stock portfolios for a steady source of cash to live onà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  (P456, Richard, 2008). In principle, the shareholders could sell a part of the shares to gain money even if the company does not pay dividends, but it is more convenience for the investors to get the money if companies pay the dividends by checks. In this case, the payout policy of cash dividends will reduce the cost of transaction as well as the inconvenience for the shareholders selling the shares. In addition, the long-term stable dividends payouts could help the company less affected by the changes of the dividends. Those companies with long history of stable dividends will be less influenced if the dividends decrease, but will be positively affected when dividends payout increases or even dividends stay the same level. Furthermore, companies with out a dividend history are generally viewed favorably when they declare new dividends. The dividends announcement has resulted in a 4% rise of the stock price according to the dividend initiations studied by Healy and Palepu (P448, Richard, 2008).

Organised Crime and Terrorism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Organised Crime and Terrorism - Essay Example It was not long ago that airliners were not allowing people on board who carried toothpaste with them because of the fear that some explosive elements might be contained therein. The same case applies to other ordinary things like clothing. Today there are mandatory strip searches at airports to sniff out even the most hidden explosive or weapon before it gets into the plane. Even shoes and other ordinary things, considering the Reid case, have been used in an attempt to cause terror. Of course in this case it was a shoe bomb. As the terrorists have become adept with their clandestine activities, so have countries and especially security agencies. They have introduced sweeping measures like surveillance on suspicious targets, wiretapping of mobile phones belonging to suspects among other measures. In general, the focus of governments has moved from its previous reactive state to a more pro-active state where the gathering of intelligence is the new battleground between these two foes . These and many others shall be the focus of this paper. There shall be a special focus on the U.K and the legislative options that have been introduced to sniff out this new threat (Campbell 2013). There has been wide ranging legislation that has been introduced in the United kingdom to curb terrorism and organized crime, both of which are very much evolving situations. The rate at which such legislation has been introduced, not only tells of the severity of these crimes but also the extent to which the government is ready to go to ensure that the citizens are safe. Since the Blair premiership the laws that have been introduced include the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001, the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005, the Terrorism Act 2006 and the Counter- Terrorism Act 2008. This flood of legislation is a reflection of the speed at which this threat is evolving (Hanman 2013). Governments have had to put in place, at times controversial measures to ensure that no terrorist slips through the dragnet. One of these controversial measures is wiretapping. Basically, the police are allowed to listen in on conversations of people that they suspect to have intentions of causing ter ror or any other harm on great scale (Barrett 2013). There has been an assessment of the role and effectiveness of wiretapping in the wake of several terror related activities. This form of intelligence gathering has been found to be very effective. There are several ‘wanna-be’ terrorists in the U.K. Most of them are Muslims of Pakistani origin. Several of them make multiple trips to their native countries to receive training mostly offered by Al-Qaeda, the Taliban among other groups. The credentials of wiretapping therefore are not what is under debate here. There are much more serious issues (The Guardian 19th march 2009). As a case officer, I would recommend wiretapping so as to obtain even more information about these terrorist sympathizers and their intentions. We already have the mobile number (07097911156) of Hector from the from Tinkers mobile phone. Wiretapping is allowed under the anti-terrorism laws as a last ditch measure to ensure national security. The onl y grey area as pertains its use is the fact that until very recently, information obtained thus was not admissible in court (The Guardian 6th February 2008). By listening in on conversations by Hector there is a great likelihood that we shall get even

Organizations' pursuit of continuing resources from their environment Research Paper

Organizations' pursuit of continuing resources from their environment - Research Paper Example However, successful organizations enjoy the growth and organizational effectiveness. With the increasing globalization, the competition among the organizations is increasing because in the previous years, only a few organizations used to compete for the resources in a specific geographical location whereas, today, the organizations across the geographical region can also enter to compete for resources. The aim of this study is to discuss the organizations’ pursuit of continuing resources from their environment. How organizations compete for resources? What are the consequences and costs of obtaining resources? How the attainment of resources varies based on the type of organization, environment and organizations’ stages of development? In this research study, the answers to all of these questions will be given. In order to investigate the research objectives in this research study, a qualitative research methodology has been used. The secondary information and the research work of the other researchers have been used. The academic publications, theoretical framework, real examples and empirical research have been used to determine the answers to the mentioned questions. Because of the nature of the study and the adopted methodology, the critical analysis approach has been used to quantitatively analyze the collected data and literature. The organizations are highly dependent on their environment to attain the resources for their survival and growth. The interdependence exists between the organizations and environment in the form of transactions, in which the limited resources are exchanged under a competitive environment. Since the organizations compete for these resources therefore, to what extent they have been able to access the resources over a period time, determine their success and organizational effectiveness (Yuchtman & Seashore, 1967).Various relationships exist among organizations

Class learning log Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Class learning log - Research Paper Example The term competitive intelligence is not as old or common as marketing or finance, neither it is separable from the other operations of any organization. It signifies continuous effort of a company to maintain its position in the era of cut throat competition and bring value to its stakeholders. The two most significant learning in the Competitive Intelligence class for me has been the Intelligence Cycle and KITS (Key Intelligence Topics). Both these processes have different significance. The Intelligence cycle consists of stages of Planning, Collection, Analysis and Dissemination and an extension of the traditional competitive intelligence. At the same time, KIT is the process of identifying and prioritizing the key intelligence needs for the senior managers. Interestingly the six CI question of the beginning of the first class created much of interest. This class talked about the recognition and respect of the profession, applicability of law, disclosure of information, confidentiality of information, conflicting issues and ways to avoid conflicts of interests in fulfilling one’s duties, ethical standards and many more. This was the first experience of knowing understanding different aspect of business environment can bring an opportunity to leverage on as well as negligence can be fatal for the survival of the organization. Understanding of environment provides an opportunity to change it. Deeper is the profile and intelligence, broader is the understanding of elements of environment and easier it will be for a business professional to get clues from the environment as warning and develop strategies that can either help in preparing for unforeseen circumstances or leverage on that too. There are various terms given to competitiv e intelligence such as foresight, insight, environmental scanning, peripheral vision, competing through analytics and business