The Beginning Of She Heroes - 830 Words

The beginning of she heroes We hear about superheroes all the time and see them everyday on TV shows, movies, and comic books. They tend to hide behind a mask to conceal there real identify and they are loved by everybody with the exception of your typical mutated villain that hates them. Their defenders of the universe and can do no wrong. At least that is how they are portrayed on TV shows like Arrow, The Flash, Agents of S.H.I.L.D, and movies like The Avengers, Thor, and Captain America. As perfect as they sound there is another type of hero, a more realistic hero that like its fictitious counter part can also be seen on TV shows, movies, etc. They appear in shows like Blue Bloods, Rookie Blue, Cops, Cold Case and many more but unlike superheroes they don’t hide behind a mask. They are liked by some and hated by many but they will always be in the frontline protecting and serving the community, they are the protectors in blue and always a call away. You may ask who are thes e heroes in blue, protectors of the innocent and helpless, well they have many names some good and some not so pleasant but they prefer to be called police officers. There are all types of superheroes with different powers and abilities. Somewhere born with powers like X-Man, some became superheroes like Batman, others where bitten by a radioactive spider like Spiderman and another was part of an experiment like Captain America. JustShow MoreRelatedGilgamesh: A Mythical Hero Essay840 Words   |  4 PagesFrom the beginning of time, mythology has appeared to be one key method of understanding life’s confusions and battles. Within these myths lies a hero. From myth to myth and story to story, heroes experience what may be called a struggle or a journey, which lays down their plot line. Bearing tremendous strength, talent, and significant admiration, a hero holds what is precious to their audience, heroism. Over time however, no matter the hero, the hero’s role remains indistinguishable and identicalRead MoreThe Heroes Of A Hero1021 Words   |  5 PagesThe Heroes of Fearless A hero can be many different types of people and have many different qualities. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a hero as a person admired for achievements and noble qualities. Tom Hanks said â€Å"A hero is somebody who voluntarily walks into the unknown†. Heroes are strong and courageous, but they can also be quite and work behind the scenes. Eleanor Roosevelt once said â€Å"We do not have to become heroes overnight. Just a step at a time, meeting each thing that comes upRead More`` Fahrenheit 451 And The Sniper ``1643 Words   |  7 Pagespeople as ‘heroes’. However, the definition of a hero can be very elusive. Many kids believe that heroes have to be athletic and robust, but as they grow up, they realize a hero s actions and thoughts can be more influential than their physical abilities. It can be difficult to determine what elements make up a hero. However, by examining heroes in different stories, the elements of what makes a hero can become clea rer. Classic heroes in The Odyssey can be examined, along with the heroes in FahrenheitRead MoreHero Essay About Hero1014 Words   |  5 Pagesunknown†. Heroes are strong and courageous, but they can also be quiet and work behind the scenes. Eleanor Roosevelt once said â€Å"We do not have to become heroes overnight. Just a step at a time, meeting each thing that comes up... discovering we have the strength to stare it down†. In his novel, Eric Blehm portrays some obvious heroes, but some of them are low key and stay behind the scenes. Throughout the novel Fearless there are many heroes; Nathan, Savannah, Kelley, and Adam are all heroes in differentRead MoreThroughout the history of literature, there have been many tales of tragic heroes. These heroes700 Words   |  3 PagesThroughout the history of literature, there have been many tales of tragic heroes. These heroes include Oedipus from Oedipus Rex, Cassius from The Tragedy of Julius Caesar and many others. Many m ay ask, â€Å"What is a tragic hero?† A tragic hero is a person of noble birth with heroic or potentially heroic qualities. This person is fated by the gods or by some supernatural force to doom and destruction or at least to great suffering. But the hero struggles greatly against this fate and this cosmic conflictRead MoreFacade Of Normality : Puppy Love, Possibilities, And Puberty1378 Words   |  6 Pagescomfortable in society is a hazy dream. Violet lives in a world where many people are super but nobody wants to accept it. After years of finding new identities and blending into normality, the heroes have all settled into their ‘normal’ life. Violet and her family were relocated to Metroville. At the beginning of the movie they have been in their current home for three years. We get a glimpse of everyone’s daily life and the struggles that are a part of it. While Bob goes to work and seems miserableRead MoreA Long Narrative Poem That Is About Heroic Deeds And A1631 Words   |  7 Pagesthe tales and quest of heroes. It played a crucial part in the Epic of Gilgamesh from Mesopotamia because it recorded the epic deeds of heroes and their culture. The epic of Gilgamesh meets the criteria of an epic poem because the plot centers on the hero of unbelievable stature, it has a wild setting, and it in involves supernatural and godly forces. The epic poem of Gilgamesh plot centers on the hero of Unbelievable stature because of the Gilgamesh and Enkidu, in the beginning Gilgamesh was a kingRead MoreHeroes Are Heroes Of Heroes1416 Words   |  6 PagesThe stories of heroes are told everywhere; stories of caped men and dashing knights; the poor orphan who used his gift to save the world from the scheming villain, etc. When it comes to the topic of epic heros, most would unhesitatingly agree that heroes are static characters, they were destined for greatness since birth. This is not quite so, as heroes must be dynamic characters. They are made into who they are and they aren’t created from a prophecy or an anomaly that sets them apart from the normRead MoreThe Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde1317 Words   |  6 Pages Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson, Dr. Jekyll, who is the main character, has an evil alter-ego by the name of Mr. Hyde. So, much like Diana, he lives a double life. However, not all heroes have a n alter-ego; for example, mythological heroes like Hercules, or epic heroes like Beowulf. And unfortunately, not all heroes are worthy of recognition. Dorian Gray in The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde falls under this category. Mr. Gray is a well-liked individual who turns evil and manipulative byRead MoreMoses Versus Odysseus1589 Words   |  7 PagesIMPERFECT HEROES Odysseus and Moses represent the standard hero, which is one scarred with imperfections—a hero that commits crimes, lies, deceives, is in some sense immoral. Moses as an adolescent murdered an Egyptian who was pestering a Hebrew man (Exodus, 45) whereas, Odysseus betrays his faithful wife by having affairs with several women, such as Calypso and Circe. Odysseus’s crave for adventure and Moses’ violence show that both Hebrew culture and Greek culture are accepting of a tarnished

My Perception Of The American Dream - 1554 Words

It’s hard to say at what age people start to daydream about life’s possibilities. It must start early being as a child, I’ve always envisioned my future life to be like the stereotypical American dream. I may have inherited that dream from my mother; she came to the United States from Mexico at only 15 years old. She came to pursue the same dream - - the opportunity to achieve wealth and success. Growing up in a traditional Hispanic household is something I will always cherish, but one characteristic of Hispanic culture is the mindset that women are meant to be housewives and mothers. This expectation worked with my perception of the American dream. I thought, perhaps I could be the mother that was always baking and cleaning. I wanted a two-story house with a white picket fence and an American Flag in the front yard, the ideal family of four, a golden retriever, and I could be the perfect housewife. I wanted the female version of the â€Å"American Dream†. As children, dreams are untainted by reality, but over time dreams change. I realized that life’s fulfillment needs so much more than just material objects. My childish American dream focused on material things: I never wished to be emotionally secure, but just to have things. My definition of â€Å"success† evolved. Now, my greatest aspiration in life is to be content; which to me means to be financially stable, to earn a master’s degree, and to have a career that allows me to give back to my community. The biggest differenceShow MoreRelatedNarratives, It Is How You Interpret Them1091 Words   |  4 Pagesoften times our perception and emotions toward the situation change. While reading several short narratives this semester, I recognized the same thing. The characters were put into situations, and I only had one view point. As a class, coming at it from a different perspective, we saw things differently. Seeing different viewpoints and how it alters our perc eption of the dream affects the realism of the narrative. Dreams have many important aspects to them, especially in American Literature. I believeRead MoreThe American Dream By The 1970 S Essay1277 Words   |  6 Pages Over time, The American Dream has changed in an innumerable amount of ways. Past civilizations have laid the foundation for what we view it to be today. In the 1970s, people looked at a variety of aspects such as culture, political affairs (government), one’s appearance, and entertainment to fit their definition of â€Å"The American Dream†. The 1970’s helped shape and influence what people regard as the current American Dream. Living in the 70s was in the midst of a unique culture. TheatresRead More All My Sons - What do you believe to be the social, moral message897 Words   |  4 PagesAll My Sons - What do you believe to be the social, moral message of the play? How does Miller convey this to his audience? Arthur Miller’s play, ‘All my sons’ contains many different social, moral messages. Within this play Miller has successfully portrayed the moral dilemma as to where responsibility begins and where it ends. Choices and decisions occur throughout the play, with each character having to make their own decision. Miller questions forgiveness through all the characters especiallyRead MoreAmerican Dream1551 Words   |  7 PagesAmerican Dream: It is a well-known fact that the term â€Å"American Dream† first mentioned by James Trusslow Adams in 1931 (Wright 197) explains the model of an individual’s ideal existence, which is applied exclusively to the US – the country full of freedoms, possibilities, and opportunities. Nowadays the fame about the American dream reached all continents, and more and more people take the concept for granted dreaming about moving to America and spending the rest of their lives in a more favourableRead MoreThe Politics And Foreign Policy1044 Words   |  5 Pagescomfortable with very liberal attitudes on many issues, including homosexuality, abortion, the environment and foreign policy. Contrary to my initial expectations of the results, I truly feel that the results of the quiz accurately describe my views flawlessly. Not only does the term Next Generation Left provide a basis for my attitude, but it also parallels with my situation both regarding sustainable finances and high quality education. Generally, I would consider myself a social liberal and fiscalRead MoreAmerica s The American Dream1277 Words   |  6 Pagesinterpretations of what the American dream is, but we all can agree that it is a concept that provides us with the hope for a better life. It is a dream of experiencing life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. To some people, the American dream is about being wealthy, practicing liberty, to believe in any religion, and to have better opportunities in life. Throughout history, many immigrants have migrated to America because they want to begin a new life and achieve the American Dream. Many can debateRead MoreThe American Dream1196 Words   |  5 Pagesdifferent interpretations of what the American dream is, but most can agree that it is a concept that provides us with the hope for a better life. To some people, the American dream is about being wealthy, practicing liberty, to believe in any religion, and to have better opportunities in life. Throughout history, many immigrants have migrated to America because they want to begin a new life and achieve the American Dream. Many Americans can debate that the American dream is not realistic because the UnitedRead MoreThe American Dream1587 Words   |  7 PagesThe American Dream is an idea that has existed for more than a century as an idea of what we can and should achieve, thanks to the freedoms supplied to us by our government. The first example of this idea appears in our very own Declaration of Independence, where founding father Thomas Jefferson wrote: â€Å"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all me n are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuitRead MoreExpanding The American Dream By Marco Rubio1144 Words   |  5 PagesExpanding the American Dream â€Å"The American Dream is a term that is often used but also often misunderstood. It isn t really about becoming rich or famous. It is about things much simpler and more fundamental than that† (Marco Rubio). The American Dream was a great term to attract many immigrants to this country in the belief that families can restart and reach their dreams. The idea that one can radically change their life and become â€Å"rich† was extremely attractive and can give incentive into movingRead MoreLorraine Hansberry Is An African American Play Writer Who1583 Words   |  7 PagesLorraine Hansberry is an African American play writer who wrote the play â€Å"A Raisin in the Sun.† The Play highlights the lives of a lower-class Black American family in the 1950s living under racial segregation and oppression in Chicago. The title of the play was inspired from the poem â€Å"Harlem† by Langston Hughes. The poem questions â€Å"What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?† (Hansberry, 2013, p. 976). The protagonist, Walter Lee Younger, struggles internally with

How Do William Golding and Williams Shakespeare Present Disturbed Characters Free Essays

How do William Golding and William Shakespeare present disturbed characters? In Lord of the Flies Golding presents disturbed characters as savage and blood-thirsty. After his own experience in world war two, he seems to believe everybody has a savage personality and thriving which is brought out through an extreme situation. Golding uses the technique of evoking emotion from the reader through the use of innocent children committing unthinkable actions. We will write a custom essay sample on How Do William Golding and Williams Shakespeare Present Disturbed Characters? or any similar topic only for you Order Now He conveys his views through the ever growing savage characters of Jack and Roger, whereas Shakespeare presents Lady Macbeth as a mentally disturbed character consumed with an obsession of becoming a part of the hierarchy within society. In the first chapter of Lord of the Flies Golding uses the Island as an allegorical object, presenting the general overview of society and civilisation. The Island can be represented as the Garden of Eden; an innate place of perfection to be undisturbed and civil. It seems to be an idyllic place for some time with rules and order throughout, this is up until it is corrupted and nature is changed by the boys’ savage intentions. This relates to biblical themes of the Garden of Eden once corrupted by mankind (Adam Eve). We also see a use of pathetic fallacy, the Island in this sense is more important than anything, it foreshadows the events which are beginning to unfold. Throughout both pieces of Literature Shakespeare and Golding use religious beliefs and values; in Macbeth the uses of supernatural creatures like the witches represent a devil like figure. The strong Christian themes in the play and during Elizabethan times made them even more evil, Shakespeare conveys Lady Macbeth as the total opposite of what a women ‘should be’. She knows as a female she is limited because of her gender, she asked to be filled with cruelty which is ironic because she created the plan to kill the King. This point is significant in the quote â€Å"unsex me here†. Similarly you could argue the ‘beast’ brought to the attention of the boys by a ‘littlun’ is equally as important. Simon proposes the beast is only the boys imagination itself, although they laugh off his idea, Simon is central to the novel; he links to Golding’s point of innate human evil which exists. He is the first boy to acknowledge that the ‘beast’ is an external force of human nature. Lady Macbeth is first introduced to us as Macbeth’s loving wife, she seems thrilled to hear of her husband’s progression in social status. Her first reaction is to concoct a plan to kill the king; we are equally as shocked as Macbeth when she â€Å"pours her spirits in thine ear†. This leads us to believe she is a somewhat calculating character. Lady Macbeth then begins to develop into manipulating Macbeth, she uses blackmail such as â€Å"break this enterprise to me? † she weakens Macbeth â€Å"you were a man† implies she does not think of him as being worthy to be called a man. To some extent Lady Macbeth is to blame, as soon as she hears of Macbeth’s news her character is blinded by ambition. Similarly the three witches give Macbeth prophesies leading to the evil plan which is soon presented. The first significant change in their relationship comes when she creates a description of juxtaposition, turning a pure and natural thing into a horrific image; saying she would have â€Å"dash’d the brains out† of their unborn child. Using this hypothetic situation Macbeth is beginning to consider the consequences, she uses pronouns ‘you and I’ implying they are equally as involved and together through all of it. Golding presents the character of Jack as a developing character of savagery throughout the novel. He compares the deterioration of Jack’s civilized and well brought up mind with his lust and instinct to hunt. This is shown when the boys try and outline order on ‘their’ island. Jacks reaction to this is aggressive and intolerant- â€Å"bollocks to the rules! We’re strong- we hunt! †. Here we see that he seems manipulative towards the other characters trying to control them into following him as the leader. When the group of boys head up the mountain our perception as to Jack’s cruelty is further developed. This is shown when Jack is seen to â€Å"snatch the glasses from Piggy’s face†; â€Å"His specs- use them as burning glasses†. Golding uses this cruel streak in Jack so the reader feels sympathetic to lesser characters such as Piggy. The deterioration of civilization on the island first begins with the breaking of the conch, in the novel the conch symbolises rules, like a school bell when the noise sounds it enforces a sense of regulation and order. Secondly the fire symbolises a feeling of hope, it is the one thing that could save them and mean rescue. Contrastingly it represents destruction and corruption, it destroys the idyllic feel of the island first presented to us by Golding. Identity is a main theme in both Lord of the flies and Macbeth, Golding uses the technique of theriomorphism to give Jack animalistic qualities. For example Golding says â€Å"he passed his tongue across his dry lips and scanned the uncommunicative forest† conveying Jack as a primitive character. In other words Golding is beginning to show Jack’s impulsive and has a compulsion to kill, giving the reader an impression of his savage streak emerging. He also uses the word â€Å"uncommunicative† which literally is telling the reader the island is abandoned but foreshadows what is to come. This is an effective word choice because it gives an insight to the communication which causes their downfall. Our understanding of what is to come differs from the previous text ‘Coral Island’ the wildness of the surroundings influences changes in characters such as Jack to take natural animalistic instincts; contradicting the theme of ‘happy endings’ as conveyed in Coral Island. A link between both Lord of the Flies and Macbeth is that both involve a sense of changing identity and deterioration of characters. During Elizabethan times when Shakespeare wrote Macbeth, the ‘social-scale’ of class and stature was called the ‘divine right of kings’. External factors of society such as religion and the threat of war makes the actions of a simple Elizabethan wife seem unthinkable. From the beginning of the play onwards, the relationship of Macbeth and his wife is one of equality. Straight away we are aware that Lady Macbeth is highly respected by her husband; â€Å"my dearest partner of greatness† is how he addresses her in the letter. A change of identity is suggested to Macbeth, Lady Macbeth says â€Å"Your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower But be the serpent under’t† She is controlling him, telling him to convey a normal front yet be the killer you know you are beneath. Contrastingly Jack uses paint to cover his face in Lord of the Flies, this is a primitive, tribal act in which he can cover his identity and be the hunter he insists upon. As we come to the final scenes of the play, not only can we see a mental deterioration but Shakespeare’s use of iambic pentameter conveying her as physically and mentally disturbed. During such times ‘mental illness’ was not understood and looked upon as being ‘mad’. In act 3 scene 4 she has changed completely, a doctor and gentle-women observe her as she has clearly become mentally out of control. Lady Macbeth even imagines herself with hands covered with blood, there is a stream of guilt as she shows her fragmented speech reflecting her thoughts and soliloquy â€Å"out, damned spot! I say! † How to cite How Do William Golding and Williams Shakespeare Present Disturbed Characters?, Papers

Music preference and personality Essay Example For Students

Music preference and personality Essay New research from around the world suggests that an individuals favorite music genre is closely linked to his or her personality. Professor Adrian North of Heritor-Watt University, Edinburgh, I-J, has undertaken the largest study so far of musical tastes and personality type. He is an expert on music psychology and has carried out extensive research on the social and applied psychology of music, in particular the relationship between pop music culture and deviant behavior in adolescence, music and consumer behavior, and the role of musical preference in everyday life. Over the course of three years, Professor North asked more than 36,000 people in more than 60 countries to rate a wide range of musical styles in order of preference. Certain aspects of personality were also measured by questionnaire. The results showed: Blues fans have high self-esteem, are creative, outgoing, gentle and at ease Jazz fans have high self-esteem, are creative, outgoing and at ease Classical music fans have high self-esteem, are creative, introvert and at ease Rap fans have high self-esteem and are outgoing Opera fans have high self-esteem, are creative and gentle Country and western fans are hardworking and outgoing Reggae fans have high self-esteem, are creative, not hardworking, outgoing, gentle and at ease Dance fans are creative and outgoing but not gentle Indies fans have low self-esteem, are creative, not hard working, and not gentle Plywood fans are creative and outgoing Rock/heavy metal fans have low self-esteem, are creative, not hard-working, not outgoing, gentle, and at ease Chart pop fans have high self-esteem, are hardworking, outgoing and gentle, but are not creative and not at ease Soul fans have high self- esteem, are creative, outgoing, gentle, and at ease North said he wanted to study why music is such a significant part of peoples identity. People do actually define themselves through music and relate to other people through it but we havent known in detail how music is connected to identity, he said. We have always suspected a link between music taste and personality. This is the first time that weve been able to look at i t in real detail. No one has ever done this on this scale before. People may define their musical identity by wearing particular clothes, going to retain pubs, and using certain types of slang. So its not so surprising that personality should be related to musical preference. We really got the sense that people were selecting musical styles to like that match their own personality, North said. He believes that his results show why people can get defensive about what they like to listen to, as it is likely to be profoundly linked to their outlook on life. The study also demonstrates the tribal function of musical taste that can explain why people often bond over music. North noted that classical and heavy metal music both attracts listeners with similar personalities but dissimilar ages. Younger members of the personality group apparently go for heavy metal, while their older counterparts prefer classical. However, both have the same basic motivation: to hear something dramatic and theatrical, a shared love of the grandiose, he said. The general public has held a stereotype of heavy metal fans being suicidal depressed and being a things. Aside from their age, theyre basically the same kind of person .

Macbeth And Metaphysics Essays - Characters In Macbeth,

Macbeth And Metaphysics The Three witches in the tragedy Macbeth are introduced right at the beginning of the play. They tell Macbeth three prophesies, he will be Thane of Cawdor, Thane of Glams and King. These prophesies introduce him to ideas of greatness. Macbeth will eventually follow through on killing king Duncan. This brings into the play, idea of fate and the role with which it has in the play. The witches could foretell the future, they can add temptation, and influence Macbeth, but they can not control his destiny. Macbeth creates his own anguish when he is driven by his own sense of guilt. This causes him to become insecure as to the reasons for his actions which in turn causes him to commit more murders. The witches offer great temptation, but it is in the end, each individuals' decision to fall for the appeal, or to be strong enough to resist their captivation. The witches are only responsible for the introduction of these ideas and for further forming ideas in Macbeth head, but they are not responsible for his actions throughout the play. Lady Macbeth is shown early in the play as an ambitious woman with a single purpose. She can manipulate Macbeth easily. This is shown in the line "That I may pour my spirits in thine ear". (I,V, 26) Before the speech that Lady Macbeth gives in act one scene five, Macbeth is resolved not to go through with the killing of the king. However, Lady Macbeth says that it would be on his manliness and his bravery if he didn't. This then convinces Macbeth to commit regicide. Although Macbeth has the final say in whether or not to go through with the initial killing, he loves his wife and wants to make her happy. She is the dominating individual in the relationship which is shown in her soliloquy, "This have I thought good to deliver thee, my dearest partner of greatness, that thou mightst not lose dues by rejoicing by being ignorant of what greatness is promised the. Lay it to thy heart, and Farewell."(I, V, 7-10) Once Macbeth kills for the first time, he has no choice but to continue to cover up his wrong doings, or risk loosing everything he has worked so hard for. In the end, it all comes to Macbeth himself. Everyone is responsible for his own destiny. This is an essential theme in this tragedy. Macbeth, chooses to gamble with his soul and when he does this, it is only him who chooses to lose it. He is responsible for anything he does and must take total accountability for his actions. Macbeth is the one who made the final decision to carry out his actions. He made these final decisions and continued with the killings to cover that of King Duncan. The killing of Duncan starts an unstoppable chain of events in the play that ends with the murder of Macbeth and the suicide of Lady Macbeth. In the beginning, Macbeth had all of the qualities of an honorable gentleman who could become anything. This is all shattered when his spirit overrides his sense of honorability. Although Macbeth is warned as to the validity of the witches prophesies, he is tempted and refuses to listen to reason from Banquo. When the second set of prophesies Macbeth receives begin to show their faults Macbeth blames the witches for deceiving him with half truths. While the witches are not totally responsible for the actions of Macbeth, they are responsible for introducing the ideas to Macbeth which in turn fired up Macbeth's ambition and led to a disastrous and unnecessary chain of events.

Parliamentary Group On Domestic Violence Essay The WritePass Journal

Parliamentary Group On Domestic Violence Essay Abstract Parliamentary Group On Domestic Violence Essay ]. Ferguson, R. and Miller, L. â€Å"Parliament for the Future: Forecasting the form of digitally-enabled Parliament†. 2007. Hansard Society Report. (Hansard Society, London). Koelher, Robert. 2009. Democracy’s Paradox, 18 June. huffingtonpost.com/robert-koehler/democracys-paradox_b_217523.html. [Accessed 12 December 2012] Kupchan, Charles A.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"The Democratic Malaise: Globalization and the Threat to the West†. Foreign Affairs;  Jan/Feb2012, Vol. 91 Issue 1, pp. 62-67. Mahrer, H. and Krimmer, R. Towards the enhancement of e-democracy: identifying the notion of the middleman paradox'. 2005. Information Systems Journal 15 (1): 27–42. OECD. â€Å"Promise and Problems of E-Democracy: Challenges of Online Citizen Engagement†.  OECD Publishing. (2003). Postman, N. â€Å"Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show†, Business, Penguin, New York, (1986). Wandhà ¶fer, Timo, Steve Taylor, Harith Alani, Somya Joshi, Sergej Sizov, Paul Walland, Mark Thamm, Arnim Bleier and Peter Mutschke. Engaging Politicians with Citizens on Social Networking Sites: The WeGov Toolbox. 2012. IJEGR 8.3: 22-32. For more resources checkout our home page WritePass

Nordstrom Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Nordstrom - Assignment Example Nordstrom, like other departmental stores has a central management in Downtown  Seattle,  Washington with stores spread in many other states. Another defining characteristic of Nordstrom as a departmental store is its high level of customer service, though this comes at a price, making Nordstrom products and services more expensive than in other retail outlets. Customer Service Nordstrom has cultivated a culture of full customer service whereby all the firm’s employees know the true meaning of putting customers first. First, important customers are identified, served well, and measures put in place to ensure they return over and over again to give Nordstrom business. The first measure is sparing no efforts to ensure that the customer leaves the premises with maximum satisfaction. In addition to acquiring goods, the customer gets high quality service utility. Secondly, business cards are exchanged between the customer and the sales person that they interact with. This ensur es that the sales person has complete control of this relationship that is free from interference by the management. This sales representative acts as the link between Nordstrom and its customers, with only a rule stating that the former uses their best judgement to ensure customer satisfaction. Another strategy for ensuring a long-term relationship in Nordstrom includes follow up calls on customers informing them of new products. In summary, Nordstrom identifies its customers and gives them undivided attention to ensure a thriving long-term business relationship. On the other hand, there is Target. Target is a business enterprise that does not provide much choice of products for customers. In addition, Target has been widely accused of poor customer service and its lack of concern for customer needs. In contrast to the expensive Nordstrom, Target sells designer merchandise at discount prices but there are stringent rules for their sales. For instance, Nordstrom exchanges goods for customers even if they did not sell the said goods but in Target, after three days, sales are not reversible. Nordstrom encourages its customers to do business with them while in Target a willing customer may get a hard time in an attempt to be served. Factors Contributing To Company Success Six managerial and positional components of service in Nordstrom ensure the survival in a highly competitive environment including the six P’s i.e. product, place, promotion, price, presentation, and personnel. First, on product, the firm only sells according to its customer requirements as Eric Nordstrom said that business has to go on even if only one shoe was in sale. Second is the place consideration whereby the management puts all possible factors including, gut feeling, into consideration before setting up a new business. Promotion is the third factor and Nordstrom uses the customers’ word-of-mouth as their main promotional vehicle, giving customers the best service and count ing on them to spread a good word about Nordstrom. The other factor is price and Nordstrom exploits the common belief that a higher price translates to higher quality of goods and services. Prices at Nordstrom are above normal. However, customers flood into the stores expecting premium quality service and Nordstrom does not disappoint. Presentation is the fifth strategy whereby products are presented just the way

Theme 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Theme 1 - Essay Example Diversity creates a unique organization comprised of people from different cultural backgrounds working together for the same goals. Achieving such therefore requires effective management skills in order to facilitate the integration process in a bid to create a cohesive working environment as portrayed in the essay below. Social networks such as Facebook and Twitter provide manager with a platform to interact with people from different backgrounds. The technologies facilitate enhanced communication thereby enabling the managers to obtain ideas from different people instantly. In doing this, the manager must exhibit effective management skills key among which will include interpersonal skills in order to achieve integration at the workplace. With effective management skills, the managers will therefore form an appropriate culture at the organization. Organizational cultures must always consider the diversity of the employees. Such a culture thus makes all the employees suppress retrogressive features of their cultures and encourage them to adopt appropriate features of the organizational culture that safeguards the profitability of the organization. The managers must develop effective communication channels at the organization. With such, the employees readily exchange their ideas thereby developing a culture of improved consultations both among themselves and with their managers. This makes production among other operations at the organization cost effective since they minimize errors thereby facilitating increased productivity (Thomas, 2009). An organizational culture is a vital management tool that helps determine the conduciveness of the work place. This refers to the values the managers instill in their workforce in order to safeguard the production at the organization. After recruiting employees from diverse cultures, the managers must find a way of unifying their diversity through a single culture at

Philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 12

Philosophy - Essay Example Thus, all knowledge of things comes to us by objects that are outside. In a way, Hobbes has put forward a mechanism of knowledge; we receive stimuli and our brain and heart interpret it and then they send us signals that help us interpret what that thing is. However, at least in Leviathan, Hobbes is not too clear on how the signals are sent from within us. Hobbes goes on to state that, thus, â€Å"when we would express the decay, and signify that the sense is fading, old and past, it is called memory† (Hobbes Chapter II). He says that memory is simply our old sensory perceptions that have faded enough for us to not be able to remember them clearly, likening it to the light of the stars which fades during daylight, but is there still. Thus, our experiences are the sum of our memories. For Hobbes, memory is at par with imagination, with one slight difference, memory must always be empirically possible, whereas imagination need not be so. However, what is interesting is that Hobbes does not lay down the condition that memory has to be true in the sense of it having actually occurred, it can be an untrue event when it comes to the veracity of its occurrence, but it will be considered a memory of it is empirically possible. So, according to Hobbes, all memory, just like our senses, are perceived from objects that are outside of us, which we interpret through our sensory perception. In turn, it is these memories that shape up our world-view and our beliefs about things that are around us. When it came to memory, Plato held the view that everything that we know, or will ever know, is actually present in our memory already, or anamnesis. Time, and its passing, are mere illusions, when what is actually happening is that our memory is unfolding, nothing more. We are not acquiring new knowledge, rather it is our old memories that are unfolding and the illusion of time makes us believe

Examining issues with audit quality

Examining issues with audit quality The major accounting scandals occurred worldwide has brought the focus of public to the audit profession and the audit quality. Enron and WorldCom cases in United States and Parmalat case in Europe are the example of major scandals as a result of the failure of audit services. In Malaysia, the Transmile case which involved around RM530 million of accounting fraud has also addressed the problem about the quality of audit services. These examples of corporate and accounting scandals that happened worldwide have indicated that the audit quality of the audit profession is not at an appropriate and acceptable level. Over years, the audit quality issue has been discussed and debated globally. Several actions have been taken by international and domestic authorized agencies to address the audit quality issue. For example, the government of United States has introduced and enacted the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002 as a response to the audit failure in big major corporations, such as Enron and World Com. In addition, the Center for Audit Quality has been established in United States as one of the steps to enhance the audit quality of audit profession. In Malaysia, the Malaysian Institute of Accountant (MIA) plays a vital role in addressing the audit issue and promoting and enhancing the quality of audit. Generally, the function of auditing is to provide reasonable assurance that the financial statements are prepared and presented in a true and fair view and free from material misstatements. The audit reports and audited financial statements will be widely used by the various groups of stakeholders for decision making. Hence, audit quality is an important factor that affects the credibility of the audited financial statements as perceived by the stakeholders. In other words, high audit quality is necessary criteria to build up stakeholders confidence on the audit profession. According to Gaurav Shah, there are five important steps that should be followed to produce a quality audit. Firstly, auditors should plan the audit thoroughly after clearly understanding the objectives and directions of auditing and clearly define the agenda of audit. Next, auditors should perform the audit procedures according to the scope and goal set in the earlier step and continuous measure the performance of the audit works in order to avoid any unnecessary variances happened during audit process. The third step is to record the result of performance, including any errors and problems and report appropriately the result to the management level. Subsequently, improvements should be made on the audit process by solving any detected problems. Lastly, follow up audit should be conducted for the control purpose to avoid any recurring of problems. 2.0 AUDIT QUALITY In order to understand clearer the concept and evolution of audit quality, we will discuss the definition and dimension of audit quality, the audit quality gaps, the factors that affect the audit quality and the relationship between audit fees and audit quality in this section. 2.1 Definition of Audit Quality There is no specific definition for audit quality in the auditing standards. Generally, people focus on the reliability of the audited financial statements when referring to audit quality. When an audit is said to have high quality, the financial statements are usually free from material misstatements and able to provide reliable information for decision making. Traditionally, audit quality has been defined by DeAngelo (1981) as the market-assessed joint probability that a given auditor will both discover (a) a breach in the clients accounting system and (b) report the breach. Under such definition, there are two main features in audit quality, which are the competence of auditors by possessing necessary knowledge to made correct judgment or discover problems on clients accounting system and the independence of auditors to disclose these problems. On the other hand, the Audit Quality publication by ICAEW in 2002 indicated that audit quality is related to the professional opinion given by auditors based on essential evidences and objective judgments. Hence, it is important to understand clearly what is expected on auditors works to provide an appropriate professional opinion on financial statements in order to achieve high audit quality. 2.2 Dimensions of Audit Quality The AUDITQUAL model According to the AUDITQUAL model by Angus Duff (2004), there were nine different dimensions in assessing audit quality, which were reputation, capability, independence, expertise, experience, responsiveness, empathy, client service and non-audit services. These nine dimensions were closely interrelated to represent the whole picture of audit quality. Besides, these nine dimensions can be grouped into two distinct factors that relating to technical quality and service quality. Technical quality is mainly related to the competence and independence of auditors, such as their technical skills, integrity and ability to express objective judgment and opinion. Hence, the dimensions related to technical quality are reputation, capability, independence, expertise and experience. On the other hand, service quality focuses on issues related to audit clients, such as the additional value-added services provided and the responsiveness to the needs of clients. The dimensions of audit quality under this service quality are responsiveness, client service, non-audit services and empathy. 2.3 Audit Quality Gaps Audit quality and failure had become one of the key issues in the audit profession mainly due to the perception gaps of audit quality. According to Angus Duff (2004), there are totally eight gaps being identified in the audit quality model. These gaps are mainly the different perception of audit quality between different parties, such as the auditors, clients and stakeholders, and regulators. With referring to the diagram above, Gap 1 is the discrepancy between the client expectations and the perception of audit firm on client expectations. Gap 2 represents the difference between client expectations and the quality standards of audit firm. Gap 3 refers to the difference between the quality standards of audit firm and the observed quality on audit. The difference between the promises made about audit quality through external communication and the quality of audit forms Gap 4. All Gap 1 to Gap 4 actually represent the quality differences which happen within the audit firm. On the other hand, Gap 5 represents the client expectations and the clients perception of the audit quality delivered. Gap 6 is the discrepancy between the client expectations on what auditor should attain and what auditor can reasonably be expected to attain. The difference between what auditor can reasonably be expected to attain and the auditors responsibilities as stated in laws and regulations creates Gap 7. Gap 8 is the difference between auditors responsibilities as stated in laws and regulations and the actual performance of auditor. The usually said of audit expectations gap in audit profession is collectively represented by Gap 6 to Gap 8. 2.4 Factors Influencing Audit Quality According to the Audit Quality framework developed by Financial Reporting Council (FRC) of UK in 2008, there are five key drivers that affect the audit quality. These five key drivers are the culture within an audit firm, the personal qualities and skills of audit partners and staff, the effectiveness of audit process, the audit reportings reliability and usefulness, and the factors outside the control of auditors. An audit firms culture is significantly affects the ways of how audit works and processes being performed. A strong and positive culture will directly increase the audit quality of an audit firm. The top management of audit firm should create a positive environment that encourages the audit staff to achieve high quality in audit works. In addition, proper time and resources should be available for every audit works to enhance and maintain the audit quality. Financial considerations should not be the main focus or factor that affects the allocation of time and resources. An appropriate control and monitoring system should be designed and put in place to safeguard the quality of audit too. Audit is a service rather than a product. The quality of audit service may vary when the audit is performed by different people. Hence, human factor is important in determining audit quality. Audit partners and staff should equip with necessary skills, knowledge and professional skepticism in order to provide high quality audit works. It is important for auditors to understand well the environment of the clients business and adhere to the relevant auditing principles and ethical standards. Proper training should be given to auditors to develop their competency and capabilities. The works of junior auditors should always be monitored and reviewed by senior auditors or partners to ensure the quality of audit. The audit process is one of the key drivers to audit quality too. Appropriate audit methodology and tools should be applied in audit according to situation. Audit partners and senior auditors should be always involve in the audit process to provide adequate support and monitor on audit process. In addition, auditors should gather sufficient and relevant audit evidence to support the judgment and conclusion reach throughout the audit process. Proper audit documentation should be put in place too. Furthermore, it is important to consider and maintain the level of independence, objectivity and integrity of auditors in the audit process to ensure the audit quality. The way how an audit being reported will affect the quality of an audit too. Audit reports should be prepared in an appropriate form that follow the guidance of relevant standards. Audit reports shouls be written by using clear language without ambigous words. Proper opinion and conclusion should be provided in audit reports regarding the true and fair views of the financial statements. In addition, proper and clear communication with audit committee is necessary and such action will provide apositive impact on the audit quality. Factors that outside the control of auditors also play an important role in the quality of audit. For example, the corporate governance of an organization is important to enhance the audit quality. An adequate and good corporate governance within an organization directly assists the auditors in performing audit and hence increase the audit quality. The another example of factors outside the auditors control is the role and behaviour of audit committee. An audit committee should always actively address the issues identified throughout the audit process. Other examples of factors outside the control of auditors include the role of shareholders and the audit regulatory environment. 2.5 Audit Quality and Audit Fees Audit quality is something that is intangible and unobservable. Hence, the audit fees are usually used as a proxy for audit quality in many research studies. Generally, there is strong positive relationship between audit fees and audit quality. In order to achieve higher audit quality, it is necessary to conduct more investigation and audit procedures on the financial statements. This resulted in more audit hours and higher audit fees. In addition, the use of more senior auditors and specialized auditors also is required to achieve higher audit quality. This resulted in higher audit fees too. Hence, it can be concluded that higher audit fees should be an indirect evidence to reflect higher audit quality because more resources and efforts has been put in to provide reasonable assurance that financial statements are free from material misstatement. In 2002, the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) had issued the MIA-By Laws (On Professional Conduct and Ethics) and the laws have provided guidance and recommendation for setting appropriate audit fees. The audit fees should be charged based on the total time spent for particular audit works and the charge-out rate of the related auditors. Therefore, the longer the time spent and the more the number of auditors involved, the higher the audit fees. This should later reflect in higher audit quality. 3.0 AUDIT QUALITY ISSUES Due to the limitation of pages, we will only discuss five audit quality issues in this section, which are inconsistency of audit quality across countries, reduced audit quality practices (RAQP), single audit quality issue, International Standard on Quality Control (ISQC) and the corporate governance issue. 3.1 Inconsistency of Audit Quality across Countries The key element of audit quality is its consistency. The nature and process of an audit should be the same regardless the size of the organizations and the countries where the audit is performed. However, it is a global challenge to maintain the international consistency on audit quality when across countries. The inconsistency of audit quality across countries is mainly due to the national differences in the following aspects (ICAEW, 2010). Political, economic and business environment The characteristics of political, economic and business environment play a significant role on the audit quality of financial statements. The national differences included the corruption and bribery level, the business ethics level, the number and rights of foreign investors and the quality of governance in economic activities. Legal framework Without a formal and complete legal framework, it is difficult to achieve high audit quality. According to the Fundamentals Third Parties published by Audit Quality Forum of ICAEW, it is important to have supportive legal framework for auditors to obtain relevant and reliable information from third parties. The excessive threat of litigation and legal liability can adversely affected the audit quality. Excessive litigation may cause auditors to view standards as rigid rules without proper judgment in their application. In addition, excessive litigation may also prevent the further evolution and innovation in standards and practice. Education Inconsistency of audit quality in different countries may due to the countries education system and their global connectivity level, such as the degree of international communications and relationships. The financial operations and preparation of financial statements should be overview by financially literate person with relevant knowledge, skills and experience so that relevant accounting standards can be applied accurately. On the other hand, auditors should possess adequate and necessary knowledge, skills and experience to carry out works with proper professional judgment and skepticism. Culture According to Hofstede (1980), there were four main dimensions of national culture, which were individualism versus collectivism, strong versus weak uncertainty avoidance, large versus small power distance, and masculinity versus femininity. Different culture between different countries may affect the way a business is operated and certain behaviour to be acceptable or not. For example, Malaysia is a multicultural society where directors of organizations may come from different ethnic backgrounds. The different in ethnic background caused different hold in cultural values. Hence, the directors of organizations may perceive audit quality differently. Perceptions of audit The auditors in different country may perceive audit quality differently due to the length of time over which regulations and systems about accounting and auditing had been developed, and the origins and development of audit service. The motivations of auditors also influence the perceived audit quality too. Several initiatives had been taken to promote the international consistency of audit quality. One of these initiatives is strengthening the adoption of International Standards on Auditing (ISAs) and International Standards on Quality Control (ISQCs) issued by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB). In addition, national independent audit oversight bodies are established, such as Public Companies Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB). Besides, national regulators had arranged agreements between countries to rely on each others works. To further encourage the consistency of audit quality across countries, the following four areas of potential action can be considered (ICAEW, 2010). Share experience In order to improving communication and building up necessary skills to achieve consistency and audit quality, it is crucial to share information and experience between auditors on how to build on current practices and potential new use of information technology (IT). This can be done through international exchange and education programmes that expose auditors to new and different environments. Sharing experience and practice is not only limited to audit firms and audit firms networks, it also can happen between national professional accountancy bodies and national regulators and between national and global organizations. Acknowledge national differences International standards should focus more on how national differences may affect audit risk. In addition, standards should have adequate flexibility for auditors to exercise professional judgment to deal with misstatement risks in order to suit with the related national environment. Promote the role of audit The role of audit can be promoted to identify the issues of economic development. When a country facing problems to issue clean audit reports and such problems could not be solved by acknowledging national differences or sharing experience, it gives a sign that there are certain issues need to be resolved, normally related to the political, economic, and business environment or the legal framework. The IAASB standards should be implemented internationally in order to help highlight the national differences and support economic development. Support research Academic research and studies are important in contributing to the consistency in audit quality across countries. Various issues and information are explained clearly in the research papers for better and thorough understanding by others. These issues include the effective ways of sharing experience globally, the acknowledgment of national differences within international standards and the connection between the audit practice and issues of economic development. 3.2 Reduced Audit Quality Practices (RAQP) In the post-Enron era, auditors are said to be working under high pressure condition in the competitive audit market because they are required to perform more audit works but no increase in their audit fees. The behaviours of auditors under such condition directly affect the audit quality and thus rise up an important issue in the auditing profession. Due to the cost-quality conflict and high working pressure, many auditors had engaged in the Reduced Audit Quality Practices (RAQP). According to Herrbach (2001), RAQP can be defined as the poor execution of an audit procedure that reduces the level of evidence gathered for the audit, so that the collected evidence is unreliable, false or inadequate quantitatively or qualitatively. The occurrence of RAQP is considered as normal phenomena in the current audit profession and it does occur in various countries across the world, such as Australia, United States, New Zealand, United Kingdom and Malaysia. Generally, it is important for auditors to identify the factors that lead to RAQP, such as the time budget pressure, in order to understand well the adverse effects of the factors on auditors and audit quality, and hence manage such factors better. In fact, the RAQP has affected the audit quality directly as well as indirectly. Underreporting of time is an example of auditors behaviour that indirectly affects the audit quality. Due to underreporting of time, several problems, such as lack of budget revision and unrecognized time pressure on future audit, arose that will give impact on the audit quality. The RAQP that normally has direct impact on the audit quality are the incomplete implementation of necessary audit programs and procedures in order to complete audit tasks. Such practices include accept weak client explanations or doubtful evidence, premature signing-off, fail to research an accounting principle, reduce the amount of work performed on audit step and so on. (Mohd Nazli et al., 2010) The RAQP is an issue in the audit profession of Malaysia too. It seen that there is an increasing number of auditors engaged in such unprofessional and unethical behaviours and thus giving a negative effect on the audit opinion and audit quality. The weak enforcement by relevant bodies in addressing the RAQP issue is said to be the significant factor that caused the high occurrence of such practices in Malaysia. For example, the Malaysian Institute of Accountant (MIA) is said to be failed in taking appropriate disciplinary actions against delinquent auditors. Furthermore, there were only a little litigation cases against auditors in Malaysia. (Mohd Nazli et al., 2010) 3.3 Single Audit Quality Issue The grants received by state and local governments from the federal government have been increased significantly over years. For example, the grants given by the federal government of United States to its state and local governments had increased from $7 billion in 1960 to around $450 billion in 2007. Hence, it is very important to adopt a single and uniformly structured audit to oversight the activities. This single audit concept is mainly used to provide reasonable assurance to the federal government about the use and management of the grants. (GAO, 2007) Hence, the single audit is clearly a significant mechanism to examine the accountability of the governments on the use and management of its funds. However, many countries, such as United States, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia, are facing problems about the sufficiency and quality of the single audit. For example, the Presidents Council on Integrity and Efficiency (PCIE) of United States had identified serious single audit quality in its report with title Report on National Single Audit Sampling Project in 2007. More than half of the single audits performed had been identified with deficiencies and therefore such single audits were being classified as unreliable or unacceptable audits. In order to address the single audit issue, the PCIE with support from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has made some recommendations to address this issue in the same report. These recommendations include: The single audit standards, criteria and guidance should be revised and improved. In order to conduct and perform single audits continuously, auditors are required to establish and maintain the minimum continuing professional education (CPE). The disciplinary processes should be reviewed and enhanced to deal with unacceptable audits and auditors that not meet the basic training and CPE requirements. 3.4 International Standard on Quality Control (ISQC 1) The International Auditing and Assurance Board (IAASB) of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) has approved and implemented the International Standard on Quality Control (ISQC 1) in 2004. Later in June 2006, the MIA has adopted the ISQC 1 as the approved auditing standard in Malaysia. All registered practitioners in Malaysia are required to comply with this new quality control standard and additional responsibilities have been imposed on them. Generally, the ISQC 1 is able to enhance the audit quality by focusing on the quality control within the firms. There are six quality control elements stated in the ISQC 1 that must be addressed in a comprehensive way. These six quality control elements are the leadership responsibilities for quality, ethical requirements, acceptance and continuance of client relationships and specific engagements, human resource, engagement performance and monitoring. As stated in ISQC 1, audit firms are required to document all evidences of the operation of all the six elements in their quality control systems and retain the documentation for an adequate period. The adoption and implementation of ISQC 1 could generally improve the quality of the audit practices by auditors besides increasing the quality control within audit firms. However, many small and medium audit firms in Malaysia had pessimistic perceptions on the adoption and implementation of ISQC 1. Similar result has been shown on the survey conducted in South Africa (Research Project, 2005). Most of them opined that such standards just burden their works and responsibilities because there are insufficient partners or staff to guide the quality control team due to the size of the audit firms. Furthermore, the ISQC 1 is said to be not user friendly because many partners and staff felt difficult to understand the standards and implement the standards in normal practice. This may due to the lack of exposures and training on the ISQC 1. (Aida Hazlin Ismail et al., 2008) 3.5 Corporate Governance Issue One of the initiatives that had been taken by many countries to promote high audit quality is enhancing the corporate governance of an organization. For example, in Malaysia, the Malaysian Institute of Corporate Governance (MICG) had introduced the Malaysian Code on Corporate Governance (MCCG) after the economic turmoil in 1997. When referring to corporate governance, people normally focus on the board of directors of organizations. The two main and observable characteristics of board of directors are the board composition and the separation of roles of Chairperson of the board and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). The MCCG has provided guidance and recommendation on these matters. According to MCCG, an effective and well-balanced board of directors should have a certain proportion of independent directors. The MCCG has recommended the organizations in Malaysia should have a minimum of one-third independent directors on the board. This action can improve the oversight and control of board on entities operation and avoid too much power being placed on the CEO and top management. According to the governance theory, the independent directors should always protect the interests of shareholders by using higher audit quality services because auditing is a good monitoring activity to control the behaviour of management. (Zalailah Salleh et al., 2006) In addition, the MCCG also recommends the organizations of Malaysia to separate the role and function of the CEO and the Chairperson of the board. This recommendation is to avoid the unnecessary conflict of interest and the domination of power and authority by a single person in decision making. By separating the power and authority, the independent Chairperson of board is expected to have a higher demand on higher audit quality. (Zalailah Salleh et al., 2006) Furthermore, the MCCG also provides guidance and recommendation on audit and accountability. According to the MCCG, the board of directors has the responsibility to maintain an appropriate relationship with the external auditors of the organization by establishing transparent and formal arrangements. (Zalailah Salleh et al., 2006) As a conclusion, it is important to maintain the independent of the board of directors and separate the role of the CEO and the Chairperson in order to maintain the high audit quality of organizations. 4.0 RECOMMENDATION The audit quality issues have been debated around the world for a long time periods. Different research papers and studies have investigated and discussed the importance and shortfall of audit quality in recent years. In order to improve the audit quality, several recommendations has been proposed. Hence, in this section, we will discuss and elaborate some recommendations for improvement of audit quality. Understanding the nature of audit quality Audit quality should be recognized as a multi-dimensional construct. Researchers, educators, auditors and other relevant parties should always view audit quality in broader aspects, which should include both the service quality, such as responsiveness and empathy, and the technical quality, such as the reputation, capability and independence. Undeniably, there are empirical relationships occurred between the factors which explain the service quality and technical quality even though these two facets of audit quality have been viewed as distinct constructs. Hence, it is difficult to improve the audit quality by focusing on only single aspect and missing out the other relevant variables and aspects. Emphasizing on the perception of audit quality by clients and stakeholders In order to improve the audit quality of the services provided by audit firms and auditors, it is essential to understand clearly what audit quality is perceived by the clients and stakeholders, who are mainly the key users of the audit reports and audited financial statements. According to the survey conducted in the Auditqual: Dimension of Audit Quality by Angus Duff in 2004, both auditors, clients and stakeholders rated the reputation and capability dimensions of technical quality as the highest in their perception of audit quality. Hence, the reputation of firms and the capabilities of audit staff and partners seen to be the key factors when promoting the audit services to clients. This clearly show that clients and stakeholders are valuing much more on the firms reputation and auditors capabilities rather than other factors, such as the non-audit services provided. Proper systems to monitor and improve audit quality The audit firms provide services rather than products to their clients. Therefore, it is important for audit firms and auditors to provide the highest level of audit quality for their clients in order to gain sustainable competitive advantage and a leading position in the audit market. An adequate understanding of the clients perception on audit quality should be used as a basis to monitor and improve the audit quality. In addition, the audit firms should understand and minimize the audit quality expectation gaps which occur both within the audit firms and between the perception of clients, stakeholders and auditors. Hence, proper systems should be developed and put in place to continuously monitor the perception of audit quality by clients, identify the reasons for the shortfalls of audit quality and design appropriate actions to improve the audit quality. Employ, retain and develop competence staff As noted before, audit is a service provided by individual rather than a product. Hence, the audit quality is significantly dependent on the quality of the individual. Every audit firms should then employ, retain and develop high-caliber staff in order to provide high quality audit services that add values to the clients. The good quality staff should be equipped with adequate and necessary technical and interpersonal skills to deliver high level of technical quality and service quality to the clients and stakeholders in their audit works. Therefore, it is important for audit firms to properly screen individuals before employment being made through appropriate tests and assessments. After employment, continuous effective communication with staff should be established to retain and develop high quality staff. Examples of effective communication include open meetings, feedback via intranet and independen

Character Relations In The Awakening :: essays research papers

It would be easy to say that Edna Pontellier emulates both Madame Ratignolle and Mademoiselle Reisz, however, throughout the novel, it is evident that Edna steps out beyond this assumption and asserts herself as another person altogether. This is obvious in the defining features of each of the women. Madame Ratignolle, for example, is always represented in a very flamboyant nature and is usually associated with clothes, whereas, Mademoiselle Reisz, in contrast, has no relation to clothes or anything of material nature. She instead is associated “passionately'; with music. Edna, on the other hand, has none of these qualities attributed to her. She is not described in terms of clothes. She is never attributed with being flamboyant. She is not musically inclined, with the exception of the fact that the music moves her toward the “awakening'; of her sensuality.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When examining the first stirrings, “a certain light [that] was beginning to dawn dimly within her,'; we see that Edna thinks independently of outside interference. When she “was beginning to realize her position in the universe as a human being, and to recognize her relations as an individual to the world within and about her'; she does just that—she realizes the world within her, not without her. That is to say, she does this entire “awakening'; on her own. She does not directly receive any outside influence.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Edna Pontellier, as a whole, is a woman completely different from any other in the novel. She stands alone and thinks alone and speaks alone. Her ideas and thoughts are completely hers. It would be wrong to say that Madame Ratignolle and Mademoiselle Reisz are embodiments of two different Ednas. They are not. They contribute their thoughts and ideas to Edna but Edna interprets these thoughts and ideas and either incorporates them or disregards them. In the end, with one fell swoop, she disregards everything ever suggested to her by these two other women. In the final chapter, she takes off all her clothes and walks into the water thereby ridding herself of both Madame Ratignolle and Mademoiselle Reisz. She does this in that, as mentioned earlier, Madame Ratignolle is often represented by her clothes, thus, by taking off all her clothes and standing “naked in the open air, at the mercy of the sun, the breeze that beat upon her, and the waves that invited her' ; she rejects Madame Ratignolle’s self-righteous dedication to her husband and children.

All Souls: A Family Story From Southie Essay

A national bestseller, All Souls: A Family Story From Southie (Beacon Press, September 1999), won an American Book Award and a New England Literary Lights Award, as well as the Myers Outstanding Book Award administered by the Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights in North America. With All Souls MacDonald writes a gripping memoir about his life growing up in the Old Colony housing projects in South Boston, a predominantly white Irish Catholic neighborhood. He writes about the crime, drugs and violence in his neighborhood in the years following Boston’s busing riots, and of his brothers and sisters, many of whom fell prey to drugs, crime, and suicide. The book introduces his mother, Helen King (Ma), a feisty woman who raised her ten children while living in the projects. (An eleventh child died in infancy.) Additionally, the book often mentions Whitey Bulger, a gangster and FBI informant in Southie, who brought the drug trade into the neighborhood, contributing to the deaths of hundreds of young people due to suicides, murders, and overdoses. Despite all that is bad, MacDonald writes about how proud and loyal the residents were to be from Southie, excluding MacDonald himself who admits in the book he told those he met that he was from Dorchester and how some of the best elements of the neighborhood have been wiped out along with the worst due to gentrification. Michael Patrick MacDonald (born March 9, 1966) is an Irish-American[1] activist against crime and violence and author of his memoir, All Souls: A Family Story From Southie. Since being involved in activism, he helped to start Boston’s gun-buyback program, founded the South Boston Vigil Group, which works with survivor families and young people in Boston’s anti-violence movement. MacDonald was the recipient of the 1999 Daily Points of Light Award,which honors those who connect Americans through community service. Michael had been awarded an Anne Cox Chambers Fellowship at the MacDowell Colony, a Bellagio Center Fellowship through the Rockefeller Foundation, and residencies at Blue Mountain Center and Djerassi Artist Residency Program. He currently lives in Brooklyn, New York, and devotes all of his time to writing and public speaking on topics ranging from â€Å"Race and Class in America† to â€Å"Trauma, Healing, and Social Change.† MacDonald is Writer in Residence at Northeastern University in Boston.

Offshoring Essays

Offshoring Essays Offshoring Essay Offshoring Essay International Business Offshoring Introduction Offshoring also known as offshore outsourcing, is defined by firm activities being geographically relocated from the firms domestic country to a lower-cost foreign country (WTO, 2013). Frequently, the operations are offshored from industrialized countries to less-developed countries in order to reduce labor expenses and to leverage the cost advantage. The aim of this report is to explore on the aspect of the offshoring and answer the question is it beneficial to the society. In the further part this report will evaluate on the aspect of reshoring as the process of companies eturning back to home country that is currently taking place. The aim will be to answer the question whether it is as a result of the correction to offshoring or a reaction to a change in circumstances and a rethinking of strategy by companies. Offshoring concept and potential benefits and drawbacks to the society The concept of the offshoring in the increasingly dynamic global market has been introduced as an answer to Multi National Enterprises (here and after MNE) how to stay competitive growing. In the era of globalization and economic turmoil, the idea f gaining competitive advantage has become as a priority. However, shifting production has raised the arguments against the exportation of the Jobs from the home country. This can cause higher unemployment and the exclusion particular jobs from the market. Table 1. 1 presents the percentage of lost Jobs due to offshoring. In some cases, such as Portugal, offshoring accounts for more than 50% (Figure 1) as a reason of lost Jobs (WTO, 2011). Figure 1: Total Job losses due to offshoring announced in the ERM, by country, in 2005. Daniels and Sullivan (2013) pointed that reason for MNE to move low-skilled Jobs to hird part country is to lower the price for their products and services. The price competitiveness determinates competitive advantage and growth of the company. As a result growing company can create new Jobs, higher-skilled and better paid. Recent trends, however, show that in order to stay competitive, MNE are ready to shift more Research of 2,700 US and European companies showed that 700,000 higher-skilled jobs were outsourced in 2009 and another 250,000 will be through 2014 (Daniels, Sullivan, 2013). As Roberts pointed out (2013), to stay balanced with the population rowth between 2002 and 2011 US economy needed around 14 million new Jobs. However, at the end of 2011 there were only 1 million more Jobs than in 2002. Within this period 3,5 million of middle class manufacturing Jobs were lost. 1,188,000 new waitresses and bartenders Jobs were created, lowly paid service Jobs that cannot be offshored. MNE seek for offshoring not only to gain production cost efficiency but also to reach other resources hardly or not available internally. Study of Oshri and Kotlarsky (2009) on strategic drivers and risks of offshoring (Figure 2), based on nterview with Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) of 263 European leading companies unveiled the priority drivers for offshoring. In contrast to common belief, Clos and CFOs pointed that access to skills not available internally is more important (64%) that cost reduction factor (41 (Oshri and Kotlarsky, 2011). This can be observed in the example of India. Today Indias higher education institutions produce 4. million skilled workforces annually (Business Standard, 2013), many of them specialized in software engineering, computer chip design, and code writing. This of course affects employees from other well developed countries as Indians specialists and engineers are lower paid. Figure 2: Key drivers of offshoring, source: Oshri and Kotlarsky (2009) Another issue that needs to be considered is the requalification and ability to adapt to Job market by redundant workers. High unemployment causes increasing costs for the government, either to retrain or provide with the benefits for the unemployed. People provided with benefits might struggle to raise money for their children education. They, without sufficient funds to gain higher qualification, may feel excluded from the society. Such situation certainly can affect productivity of whole generation. Furthermore, it was rightly noted by Roberts (2013) that short term strategy of Americans companies to reach profits cause them not only losing their best employees but also the consumers who buy their products. Employees being unemployed or doing lower paid Jobs are less presence in the consumer market. They also provide fewer retirement savings for future investments. Reshoring concept and drivers for MNE Due to increasing costs of offshoring number of businesses are turning to new trend of reshoring, coming back with the production to home country. In the last decade wages in China has gone up by 10-20% a year, faster than the labor productivity. The Chinese government has set a target for annual increases in the minimum wage of 13% until 2015. Moreover, a stronger Chinese currency has made the costs even higher (The Economist, 2013). On the other hand, the costs in the US are falling. It has been caused by lowering wages in some states due to high unemployment and agreements between businesses and unions (The Economist, 2013). This along with the increasing productivity, falling energy prices and come back with their operations. Additionally, oil price (Figure 3) that has been increasing in the last few years. As a result, cost of transportation from China or India has risen significantly. Figure 3: Figure 1. US crude oil prices (based on average prices paid by US refiners for all grades of oil based on EIA data) converted to 2012$ using CPI-Urban data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Due to high costs, in 2012, 37% of American companies with annual sales above $1 billion were planning or actively considering moving production back to US. Further 48% of companies with sales above $10 billion came out as reshorers. Besides the increasing costs of offshoring, many companies faced the dilemma of dislocation of RD hubs from manufacturing sites. In many cases this causes negative effects. Many companies are reluctant to shift their innovation sites to other countries in order to not lose the valuable known-how and intellectual property. Some of the companies, looking for cost cut, moved production to other locations, most often closer to their borders. This new trend, called nearshoring, relates to the shifting the production and service activity to geographically closer locations. Figure 4 shows three clusters where the companies, called clients, located their facilities in distance- limited locations (Carmel, Abbott, 2007). Number of US companies shifted their operations to Mexico and South America. The average wage in Mexico is slightly higher than that in China. The costs of transporting products to US are far lower that from China, and the time of shipping from Mexico is counted in days, not weeks (The Economist, 2013). Figure 4: Global distribution of nearshore destinations and their division into three clusters. Conclusions and Recommendations As a conclusion, number of MNE from developed countries moved production sites and services to lower cost countries. This has been done in order to gain and keep competitive advantage over other competitors. However, over the past few years, businesses have faced increasing costs of operating in offshored countries. Despite that production costs in US might still be higher than in China, the gap has narrowed substantially, and it seems no longer to be a clinching reason for manufacturing in the emerging markets. Separate locations for innovation centers manufacture sites appeared to be a challenge for some companies as well. Problem their face is that host countries such as China, do not provide sufficient regulations to protect the intellectual property. Some firms are concerned about moving to China because of their fear to lose their technology and know-how. Some MNE decided to come back to home country, others relocated their sites to lower production cost countries closer to their borders. However, the aim of the nearshoring is the same as offshoring, cost efficiency, and is good alternative to many companies, not to the society in the home country. Offshoring is trend that will be playing important role ircumstances, the strategy of the MNE will change too. The countries perceived today as a source of low cost labor, have become more and more often seen as a consumer markets. China, after India most popular offshoring destination, is also 2nd the biggest economy in the world, with fast growing middle class and forecast to reach 630 million consumers by the 2022 (The Diplomat, 2013). Population of BRIC countries accounts for around 2. 6 billion, which is around 27% of world population and is still growing (worldometers, 2013). This means MNE will be still going offshore in order to gain their share in those markets. Producing and sending products from one place will not be rational in the few years. Globalisation and developing markets will force MNE to set up nearshoring instead of offshoring in order to be able to recognize and respond to local conditions quick. Increasing pressure for the local responsiveness will lead to multi-domestic strategy where MNE will have to deal with the consumer divergence and host-government policies (Daniels, Sullivan, 2013). The size of the reshoring will depend on the strength of the government and law-makers in the developing countries. Win the businesses over and make them come back to ome country will be one of the greatest challenges for the policy-makers in the coming years. References: Brakman, S. , Garretsen, H. et al. (2006), Nations and Firms in the Global Economy, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, Chapters 3, 4 5. Business Standard (2013), SWOT analysis I India as an offshoring destination, [Online] [Accessed on 26/10/2013] Available from: business- standard. com/article/economy-policy/swot-analysis-india-as-an-offshoring- destination-113070300226 1 . html Carmel, E. Abbott, P. (2007), Why Nearshore Means That Distance Matters, [Online] Accessed on 28/10/2013] Available from: http://auapps. merican. edu/†carmel/ papers/nearshore. pdf Daniels, J. , Radebaugh, L. , Sullivan, D. (2013), International Business. Environment and Operations, Essex, Pearson Education Limited, pp. 57-59, 467-468. G? ¶rg, H. , WTO (201 1), Globalization, offshoring and Jobs, Geneva, WTO Publications. K. pp. 146-185. Our Finite World, (2013), Ten Reasons Why High Oil Prices are a Problem, [Online] [Accessed on 27/10/2013] Available from: http://ourfiniteworld. c om/2013/01117/ten- reasons-why-high-oil-prices-are-a-problem/ Oshri, l. Kotlarsky, J. , Willcocks, L. 01 1), The Handbook of Global Outsourcing and Offshoring, 2nd edition, New York, Palgrave Macmillan, p. 15. Roberts, P. (2012), America R. I. P. : Death of the Middle Class, Offshoring of American Jobs, [Online] [Accessed on 25/10/2013] Available from: globalresearch. ca/america-r-i-p- death-of-the-middle-class-offshoring-of-american-Jobs/5308637 Roberts, P. (2013), The Offshore Outsourcing of American Jobs: A Greater Threat Than Terrorism, [Online] [Accessed on 25/10/2013] Available from: http:// www. globalresearch. ca/the-offshore-outsourcing-of-american-]obs-a-greater-threat- than-terrorism/18725 The Economist (2013), Coming home, [Online] [Accessed on 26/10/2013] Available from: economist. com/news/special-report/21569570-growing-number- american-companies-are-moving-their-manufacturing-back-united The Economist (2013), Here, there and everywhere, [Online] [Accessed on 26/10/2013] Available from: economist. com/news/special-report/21 569572-after- decades-sending-work-across-world-companies-are-rethinking-their-offshoring The Economist, (2013), The story so far, [Online] [Accessed on 26/10/2013] Available from: economist. om/news/special-report/21 569574-offshoring-has- rought-huge-economic-benefits-heavy-political-price-story-so The Diplomat, Barton, D. (2013) Half a Billion: Chinas Middle-Class Consumers, [Online] [Accessed on 30/10/2013] Available from: http://thediplomat. com/pacific- money/2013/05/30/half-a-billion-chinas-middle-class-consumers/ WorldoMeters, (2013), Current World Population, [Online] [Accessed on 1/11/2013] Available from: worldometers. info/world- population/ WTO (2013), Supply Chain Issues, [Online] [Accessed on 20/10/2013] Available from: wto. org/english/res_e/booksp_e/aid4tradesupplychain13_part2_e. pdf

Publishers are Shapers of History

Publishers are Shapers of History It is common knowledge that publishing firms employ people. They have a staff that includes editors and others who are responsible for the day-to-day operations of the publishing house.[1] This means that publishing is not only about books but also about the business of selling books to make a profit.[2]Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Publishers are Shapers of History specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More These areas of concern focus on the practical aspect of publishing.[3] However, publishers are not just employers and businessmen, they are also â€Å"cultural mediators and arbitrators of quality and taste.†[4] In other words publishers have the power to shape the course of history and one of the best examples can be seen in recent events when Pearson, the publishing firm that owns Financial Times and Penguin decided to withhold the payment of dividend to Libyan Investment Authority on moral grounds.[5] Accordin g to Thompson there are four types of resources that publishing companies possess and these are: economic capital, human capital, symbolic capital and intellectual capital.[6] The economic and human capital are aspects of the business that are tangible and easily recognisable by the general public. This includes the buildings where the offices can be found. This also includes the facilities and the equipment needed to publish books. The human capital on the other hand are the people involved in the business and make it possible for the firm to do all the labour needed turn manuscripts into books and deliver to the hands of the consumers. In the first two resources that was discussed a publisher is seen as both an employer and a risk taker. There is a need to learn the intricacies of managing people, hiring and replacing those that are no longer effective in their work. A good hire will increase the economic and human capital of the firm. In addition the publisher will have to manage the office, the facilities needed for publishing work and other material needed by the firm. This means that a publisher is the major risk taker in the said venture. He or she must learn how to make it work to succeed in the business or face financial ruin. However, making money and managing people are just part of the publishers major responsibilities. In order to sustain success a publisher must realise that there is a need to be mindful of the firms symbolic capital or how they outside world perceived the firm. This is true when it comes to current trends and issues that has to be addressed etc. A publisher has the power to shape culture and history. This can be achieved in two major ways. First, a publisher can choose what issues to support and what issues to condemn. Second, a publisher has the power to hire and support a particular writer while make it difficult for another to succeed.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This is true for publishing firms that are already on top of the literary world. Imagine for instance that a powerful publishing firm decided to support an idea, runs with it and throws all its resources behind its promotion. Books will be published of course and when the book is successful the firm can even collaborate with film studios and create a film. This will further enhance the potency of the message and increase the scope of its influence. The publisher can also choose the writer whom it will groom and develop into a powerful dispenser of ideas. Imagine once again if a publishing firm chooses to support a controversial author and provide that person a platform from which he or she can express ideas that can change the world. This is the power of the publishing firm and of course the publisher. However, the most important aspect of this idea is the fact that publishers are conscious of this power. They are not obli vious to their capacity to impact culture and shape the opinions of people. In some cases the publisher feel that it is their responsibility to be painfully aware of their power. The same thing can be attributed to the leaders and publishers that belong to the Pearson group. The recent spate of headlines made it clear that the dictator that controls Libya is willing to bring the country down in flames and bloodshed. The whole world seems helpless as the only thing that can be done is to facilitate the repatriation of foreigners and assisting refugees that are fleeing out of the country. However, the Pearson group made a stand and they said that they will not pay the dividend owed to the Libyan Investment Authority for obvious reasons. It is a daring move and many people in the free world will undoubtedly applaud such actions. On the other hand the words of Thompson reverberates because he did not only say that publishers are merchants of culture and arbitrators of social values, he also said that publishers and publishing firms are in the business of making money. This issue is made more complicated when viewed from a corporate standpoint because a publisher is not the sole owner of the company. There are shareholders. Thus, even if a publisher felt that it is proper to do a heroic deed by bending the rules to teach a Libyan despot a lesson about the importance of human life, there are conflicts of interests that must be resolved. There is now a tension between the need to influence society and the need to make money and demonstrate financial responsibility. This is evident in the press statement released by Pearson:Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Publishers are Shapers of History specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Its abhorrent to us, what is happening in Libya. We have made it pretty clear we are uncomfortable with the holding, but we work in a public market company and we dont choose our sha reholders; our shareholders choose the company, so there is not a lot we can do.[7] It is clear that the publishers at Pearson worried about the impact of their action. They know that people can criticise them. Those who support the Libyan government will probably sue them in the court of law. It is therefore important to point out that Pearson was careful to demonstrate that their hands are tied because of recent developments and recent regulations that were made with regards to the crisis developing in the Middle-East, especially in Libya. They were careful to protect their interests but at the same time it is clear that Pearson exercised its power. The firm is conscious of its social capital and this means that its leaders and publishers were willing to do something that they believe is right even if it they will have to pay a steep price for such actions. Conclusion The business aspect of publishing is easy to understand. Books cost money to print and market. There is a need to maintain human capital and the publisher had to have solid skills in money management in order to run a company. However, publishing books is not just about making money. Publishers are aware of their social capital and they know that to some extent they have the power to shape history. This was in full display a few days earlier when Pearson, owner of the Financial Times and Penguin, decided to block the dividend payment to an investment company linked to Libyas dictator. They made a statement that they were not happy with the bloodshed and all the negative things that are happening in Libya. This is a prime example that a publisher or a publishing company is not just an employer and an investor, it is also in the business of changing the world. References Andrews, A. R. Cooper. Pearson Blocks Dividend Payment to Libyan Investment  Authority. Available from: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/media/8354458/Pearson-blocks-dividend-payment- to-Libyan-Investment-Authority.html. [01 March 2011]. Greco, A. (2005). The Book Publishing Industry. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Thompson, J. (2010). Books in the Digital Age: The Transformation of Academic and Higher  Education Publishing in Britain and the United States. Cambridge: Polity Press. Thornton, P. (2004). Markets from Culture: Institutional Logics and Organisational Decision in  Higher Education Publishing. CA: Stanford University Press. Yager, F. L. Touby. (2010). Career Opportunities in the Publishing Industry. New York: Infobase Publishing. Footnotes Yager Touby (2010), p.154 Greco (2005), p.3. Thornton (2004), p.38. Thompson (2010), p.32. Andrews Cooper (2011), p.1. Thompson, p.30. Andrews Cooper, p.1.

Islamic and christian perspective on computer science Essay

Islamic and christian perspective on computer science - Essay Example It is from such beliefs that people various perspectives emerge, all shaped by the specific dogmas of the time. As such, one would expect that at any particular time, it is highly likely that various perspectives will root out from various religious beliefs. For the purposes of this paper, the paper shall research and analyze Islamic and Christian perspectives on computer science. My major is computer science. It encompasses the study of software and hardware development and management to meet societal needs. While studying computer science, we also study contemporary issues around computer science such as religious perspectives on computer science. Under religion, a unit in computer science, we also study philosophy, critical theory and psychology. Given the interdisciplinary approach my university adopts, the course on religion is also designed to teach on various religious beliefs held by various societies that practice such religions. This assists one to be able to interact cordi ally with others as a computer scientist in a dynamic world. The goals of the major are to prepare one to be in a position understand the dynamism that exists in the society. Apart from instilling skills and technical know-how, the course also prepares one to embrace the concept of diversity and be prepared to accept others without any discrimination based on their religious beliefs. It is also apparent that the course prepares one to function properly in the current global village where various cultures, values and practices are increasingly becoming evidenced in the work place. Islamic Perspective on Computer Science One may observe that Islamic perspective on computer science is one that

Economics of Shipping Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4750 words

Economics of Shipping - Essay Example This paper deals with how different factors affect bulk carrier's demand and supply and how Baltic Dry Index be used to predict the demand and supply of Dry Bulk Carrier for next three months. This paper also describes how recent global economic recession has caused decrease in steel production and thus decreases in global demand for iron, coal and minor bulk commodities and how this has affected the demand for bulk carriers. The paper also deals with industry specific risk factors and how they can affect the earnings of the companies supplying bulk carriers. A bulk carrier is a merchant ship that is used to transport bulk cargo that is not packaged such as coal, ore and grains. The ship usually carries cargo in its cargo holds. It is a ship in which the cargo is carried as bulk. The bulk carriers were first made in 1852 but with time, the economic forces caused these ships to become more sophisticated and caused them to increase in size. There are two types of bulk carriers, wet bulk carrier and dry bulk carrier. The bulk carriers are dominating merchant ships. In terms of tonnage they comprise about one third of total world's fleet. So far the world's largest bulk carrier is able to carry about 365,000 metric tons of dead weight (DWT). The bulk carriers are divided into six main categories: small, handy size, handy max, panamex, capsize, very large bulk carrier (VLBC) (MAN Diesel Group, 2005, p. 3-4. ). Small bulk carriers have capacity of about 10,000 DWT and mini bulk carriers are most popular amongst them. They have a capacity of about 500 to 2000 tons and are usually used for river transport. Such ships easily pass under bridges and they have small crew. Handymax and Handy size have a capacity of more than 10,000 DWT and these two represent about 71% of all bulk carriers. Handymax ships have a capacity of about 52,000 DWT and have about four holds to carry cargo. Panamax canal's lock chamber limits the size of Panamax vessels. And it can accommodate ships with beam of up to 32.31m, a length of overall of up to 294.13m, and a draft of up to 12.04m (Autoridad del Canal de Panam, 2005, pp. 11- 12) Capesize vessels are very large vessels and have capacity of about 20,000 DWT. They carry cargo mainly like coal and iron. Large capacity capesize ships are specially designed to carry iron. Baltic Dry Index Baltic Dry Index is based on Baltic Exchange. This index is means of providing prices of raw materials transported by sea (Baltic Exchange, 2009).. The Baltic Exchange is a membership organization and its member is at the heart of world trade. Every day brokers around the world want to know how much it would cost to transport cargo around the world. These indices are made by assessment of international broking companies. The bulk cargo market relies on the mutual agreement and cooperation of ship owners and brokers to ensure a smooth flow of business(Baltic Exchange, 2009).. It is a rule of Baltic Exchange that all members should follow a code of business and abide by the rules. In case any member fails to follow rules then the member is expelled. There are about five hundred companies and about two thousand people that are member of Baltic Exchange