Buddhism in East Asia Essay Example for Free

Buddhism in East Asia Essay Many people will choose Confucianism as the most important factor in understating East Asian culture. Confucianism, indeed, is crucial in understanding the culture. However, one should not overlook the influence of Buddhism on Confucianism and many areas of East Asian culture. Buddhism, one of the world’s oldest religions and a philosophy, is shared by East Asian countries, thus in order to fully appreciate the East Asian culture, one should learn about Buddhism and its significant influence on the culture. This paper will discuss Buddhism shared by East Asian culture and how the religion played an enormous role in shaping the mindset of people affecting their culture. Buddhism started approximately in the 6th century BCE, starting with the birth of the Buddha in India. The religion then spread through Central Asia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia (Keown). Among many branches of Buddhism, Mahayana has been diffused from first west, north, and east throughout East Asia (Skilton). The fundamental principles of Mahayana are liberation from suffering and the belief in the existence of Bodhisattva. Bodhisattva is someone who achieved Nirvana, the state of being free from both suffering and the cycle of rebirth (Keown). One can find a carved wood elongated figure of Bodhisattva Guanyin (1999. 13. 0003) from Spurlok Museum, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL . In this wooden figure, Guanyin is barefoot with hair wrapped in knot, wears ornate robes and holds a basket with flowers (Spurlock Museum). One can also find a photo of Bronze Seated Buddha in National Museum at Kyongbok-Kung, Seoul, South Korea (1986. 27. 0017) in Spurlock Museum . These are an important artifact and a photo because one can easily find very similar artifacts of Guanyin or Buddha in China, Korea, and Japan. It shows one how Buddhism was shared by East Asian countries (Yu). Upon first encountering Buddhism, many Chinese scholars regarded it as merely a foreign religion. This caused Buddhism to transform itself into a system that could co-exist within the Chinese way of life. Thus, filial devotion, one of the most valued by Confucianists, in Buddhist teachings became the core texts in China. It further strengthened the Confucian value by claiming that the salvation of an individual was a benefit to the society and family. Therefore, Buddhism could spread well in the Chinese population (Chen). From this point, Buddhism spread to Korea and Japan, and Buddhist ideology began to merge with Confucianism. This caused many Confucian scholars to redefine Confucianism as Neo-Confucianism (Chen). While Neo-Confucianism adapted Buddhist ideas, many Neo-Confucianists strongly opposed Buddhism. Nonetheless, Buddhism offered Confucianism important ideas such as the nature of the soul and the relation of the individual to the cosmos, ideas not explored by Confucianism (Chen). Again, Neo-Confucianism was spread through Korea and Japan, and they were all deeply influenced for more than half a millennium (Chen). Moreover, many other indigenous religions and philosophical systems in East Asia integrated the ideas and teachings of Buddhism, so it came to be a natural part of living. In conclusion, the teachings of Buddhism not only influenced in shaping the mindset of East Asian people, but also affected their philosophy of life.

Bribery In International Marketing Marketing Essay

Bribery In International Marketing Marketing Essay Bribery and corruption is a way of life in many countries and these practices affect the way international business is regularly conducted. However, in most of these countries, it is illegal to offer or receive bribes or engage in corrupt practices. Yet these corrupt practices are a part of the culture or normal way of doing businesses. Unless companies conform to such practices, in many cases, international business cannot be transacted. This essay will try to provide discussion about bribery and corruption in international trade, with examples from very different point of view in according to the principal ethical system, despite whatever religious, realistic and nature. Analyses of the case of Siemens bribery scandal related to ethical issues will be investigated. Bribery is an important issue of concern for many companies. Confrontation of bribery vary across many countries, but everyone has a different concept about it, such as in Hong Kong and Greece, here, managers are less critical of bribery in certain situations than that of the Americas. Paying bribery carries with it a great risk to damaging the companys standing with the country which the briberies are paid, and at home too. Moreover, there is also the risk that the commercial culture of the company will become more open-minded of several of other practices at the legal issues. There is also evidence to suggest that those countries with the reputation for bribery and corruption damage themselves, as it reflects in their economic growth, has a low rates for high level of corruption, like that of Nigeria. It is true to say that bribery in international markets can lead to astonishment, bewilderment and misunderstanding for expatriates, at both organisational and personal levels. This essay examines bribery from two viewpoints and tries to develop procedures to bridge them. The first viewpoint is relativist, accepting that different cultures have different ethical values and not imposing an expatriates values onto another culture. The second viewpoint is universalist, averring that ethics apply anywhere in the world, and is based on psychological and economic grounds. To resolve these two approaches, it is suggested that trying to understand the cultural forces that determine home and overseas attitudes to the many forms of bribery, this is a first step to adjustment. The next step is the development of a global or regional code of conduct that allows flexibility within a gray zone. The result could be an evolving code that adapts to the many dimensions of bribery for each countrys situation, in a manner that is a negotiation between the cultural, psychological and economic values of an expatriates organisation and of local officials. Introduction International marketing is complex as foreign environments are different from home environments, as they differ on physical, cultural, legalpolitical, economic, competitive and distributive dimensions (Ball and McCulloch 1996). Due to these environments, marketers can adapt parts of the marketing mix for each overseas country or region (Hoang 1997), for example, a company might alter its packaging, distribution channels and advertisements in each of its international markets. These marketing mix issues are not the only ones facing international marketers. Cultural management issues are important too, and bribery is the most important of these, at least for Australian and US marketing managers (Armstrong et al. 1990). For example, should a firm pay a customs official to process a shipment through normal channels? Should a firm pay education expenses in its home country for the child of a prince in an overseas country that the firm wants to enter? Should payments to distributors be paid into two separate accounts when one is apparently illegal? Should funds in the public relations budget be paid to someone who appears to do nothing for public relations other than being related to someone in power? Issues like these are important to someone from a culture where these activities are unusual. 1937 Nevertheless, little research has been done on the ethics of international marketing (Armstrong and Sweeney 1994), and interest in ethical issues in general has been mainly empirical (Donaldson 1989). Moreover, levels of corruption vary widely around the world, as seen in a survey of 52 countries by Transparency International (1997). Furthermore, the issue of bribery in particular is often considered within only one of the six different environments above, and bribery is sometimes discussed in the legal environment chapter of a textbook for example, Keegan and Green 1997), where the effect of the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) on that countrys ability to compete with Europe in international markets is covered (Graham 1984). Alternatively, bribery is sometimes in the public relations part of a textbook (Phillips Doole and Lowe 1994), where it is discussed along with concern about corporate citizenship and employee safety. In addition to this, bribery can be treated as a separate, ethical issue, usually based on cultural issues (Donaldson 1996). However, the aim of this essay is to consider bribery from across several environments such as legal, cultural, economic and competitive, in order to develop a managerial approach to the issue. Contribution is an integrated and up-to-date review of these several viewpoints in a form that international marketing managers might find useful. As well as, the review is from a non-US view, while several other papers have a US view that is different from other developed countries (Donaldson 1996; Mayo 1992; Across the Board 1993). It is concluded that managers can develop a code of conduct for the several dimensions of bribery that bridges the relativist and universalist views. This essay has four main sections. Firstly, bribery in developing countries is looked at from a Western view point that aims toshow the roots of bribery may be common to both. This leads into a cultural, relativist view of bribery, which suggests that bribery is appropriate if it is normal in the culture of an overseas country. However, counter arguments to this relativist view are then presented, including psychological and economic arguments. Finally, facing these two contrasting positions, the essay considers how management could handle bribery. In this essay, bribery is defined broadly: bribery is offering, or promising to pay, anything of value to influence an act or decision by officials in a foreign government, including politicians, a political party or a bureaucrat to assist in obtaining, retaining, or directing business to any person (based on the FCPAs definition). This definition does not cover issues such as human rights or child labor use, sexual harassment or industrial espionage. Our definition of dealing with officials about business matters is the one of major concern to marketing managers in particular. 1938 Four Roots of Bribery From a Western point of view, bribery sometimes appears to be caused merely by the greed of locals, especially poor locals. however bribery has four, more complex roots which appear to exist in both Western and developing countries. Firstly, a bribe can be simply linked to a tip to insure promptness at a restaurant, just as a restaurant kitchen can sometimes have inefficient processes that require human involvement to overcome, so can the bureaucracy of a developing country. Bribes may be seen to be a way of purchasing government services when a government cannot afford to provide salaries that are adequate for the service to be provided free to every person (Tullock 1996). Thus, bribery may be a form of privatisation that makes the wealthy who can afford it, pay for a service. Indeed, the relatively high-principled FCPA that tries to limit the involvement of US firms in bribery, actually permits payments to officials to do their normal duties while disallowing payments to high-level officials for special favors. A prime example is a US business person can bribe a customs officer to expedite an inspection but not to skip it altogether. However, the next three roots of bribery may not be allowed by the FCPA. Secondly, a bribe can be considered to be a normal promotion activity. Such as that of BMW cars are provided free to family members of politicians in Western countries for the spillover effect on the prestige of the car. If the wife of the Premier of Victoria, Australia has free use of a BMW, why cannot officials in overseas countries who are close to real power also be given gifts to help promotion. Similarly, many Western companies provide corporate hospitality at sporting venues such as at the Ascot, Henley and Wimbledon in the name of promotion (Ramsay 1990). Therefore, how is this kind of promotion different from some bribery in developing countries? This leads to the third root of bribery, which is related to the general idea of gifts to show respect and gratitude to a person in a relationship, at certain times. Gift giving is common at Christmas time in Western countries, and gift giving at birthday and holidays may serve the same purpose in overseas countries (Onkvist and Shaw 1997). As interactions between buyers and sellers proceed, a social relationship is developed that can be enriched by gift giving. Social relationships are often characterised by the exchange of gifts and hospitality as trust develops between the parties. In seeking to build relationships of trust, the exchange of gifts may be seen as an entirely appropriate act of social bonding. (Wood 1995, p. 11). This reciprocal gift and favor giving is more important in some Asian countries than in the West, simply because of their cultural values (Hofstede 1991, p. 169). Finally, in food and other markets in developing markets, the occasional expatriate customers are usually asked to pay more than locals because the stallholder knows that his or her usual price is usually a far smaller proportion of the discretionary spending of an expatriate than that of a local. A dual price system 1939 reflects the dual economies that exist in many developing countries and do not exist to the same extent in western countries. That is, a poorly paid overseas official with an extended family living in his small house may consider it reasonable to ask a wealthy foreign business person staying at a five star hotel to pay more than the usual low prices for labor and other services in his or her country. Thus a bribe may be seen to improve equity just as a progressive taxation system aims to do in developed countries. The inequity without bribes in a developing country may be even greater than in a market or a taxation system of a developed country, because the official will have high local power from their immediate and extended family, friends and political party despite having low monetary wealth. In contrast to this , the foreign business person has lower power despite having higher monetary wealth. That is, bribery may not violate the Christian but sometimes be considered to be a universal doctrine of love you neighbor like yourself, but actually affirm it (contra Coady in Way 1996, p. 19). Overall in brief then, bribery is seen to exist and has roots that exist in both a Western and an overseas countries. Cultural View of Bribery Implicit in the discussion above is a relativist, cultural understanding of bribery that what is right or wrong, good or bad, depends on ones culture. However, this argument implies that there are no golden rules underlying most human behavior (Way 1996, p. 19), that is, ones own culture is the major influence on views about bribery. This concept of culture therefore deserves to be explored further. Culture has five dimensions: the relationship between the individual and the collective group, power differentials within society, masculinity and femininity, dealing with uncertainty and Confucian dynamism (Hofstede 1991). Several of these dimensions strongly influence views about bribery. The first dimension of individualism/collectivism would appear to be the most related to bribery (Tanzi 1995; in Onkvist and Shaw 1997, p. 175). Developing countries are more collective than developed countries, that is, officials place greater emphasis on their responsibilities to their own extended families and friends, than do Western business people. However individualism/collectivism is not the only cultural dimension affecting bribery. Developing countries are often high on the second culture dimension of power distance, that is, individual officials with which marketing managers deal have major obligations to their supervisors. Thus, the officials will support a bribery culture if it is related to power as some of the four roots of culture above were shown to be, and especially so if their own superiors accept and foster bribery. In addition to this, some Asian countries are more concerned with 1940 virtuous behavior than the abstract truth (which is related to the dimension of Confucian dynamism). An officials actual behavior toward his or her immediate and extended family, and toward friends and superiors is more important than abstract universal values applying to all humans, to which some Westerners cling (Hofstede 1991). Onkvist and Shaw (1997, p. 175) appropriately sum up this relativist, cultural view of bribery: the concept of arms-length relationships would seem strange and alien. It would even seem immoral. The idea that, economically speaking, one should treat relatives and friends in the same way as strangers would appear bizarre. In brief, a cultural view of bribery initially suggests that expatriate marketing managers should simply fit in with local bribery practices wherever he or she goes. However, the cultural relativism approach to bribery developed above cannot be the basis for a marketing managers approach to bribery, because awareness of cultural differences is only the starting point for international cooperation. That is, a marketing manager cannot completely adapt to a different culture and deal in bribes with no regard for his or her own cultural values, for an appreciation of anothers culture does not mean forgoing ones own culture. Successful intercultural encounters presuppose that the partners believe in their own values. If not, they have become alienated persons, lacking a sense of identity (Hofstede 1991, p. 237). To handle the issue of bribery comprehensively for a real world individuals involved in business, managers need to consider issues other than cultural differences per se, and we turn to these relatively universalist issues next. Economic and Managerial Issues of Bribery Economic advantages of bribery for the receiving official and for the company that receives preferential treatment ahead of its competitors, are obvious. However, there are economic disadvantages for both the taking and the giving country. First, bribery can send incorrect signals about demand price and supply cost in a market economy. More directly, bribery adds to the cost of contracts and goods roughly by five percent in Asia (Kraar 1995), this could perhaps be even more in some instances. Secondly, it distorts the decision-making processes too. When contractors are selected on the basis of what the decision-maker will receive personally rather than the contractors ability to do the best, lowest cost job, then the whole economy suffers misallocation of resources. This form of bribery was perhaps a major influence in the recent meltdown of some Asian currencies. Thirdly, bribery can lead to industrial standards being dropped with social and economic repercussions upon the firm. For example, workers may work in substandard conditions that may impair productivity, people may die in buildings that collapse due to building standards inappropriate, and the environment and firms future may be hurt by over-zealous timber-felling. 1941 Moreover, there are other disadvantages of bribery that are particularly important for the giving country. Firstly, home and foreign customers help pay for uneconomic spending in bribes, often for the enrichment of a few overseas individuals who become more wealthy than ordinary citizens of the giving country. In 1995, bribery cost businesses almost $45 billion worldwide (Kaltnhauser 1996). Secondly, bribery could be used against the giving organisation, in the case of managers returning to the home country and rejoining the salesforce at home could accept bribes for practices that the giving organisation does not want done at home. That is, a relativist position that allows a match between expatriate individuals and the corrupt organisations overseas, may also foster at home the separation of personal and organisational moral standards, with consequences at home that the organisation does not want. In brief then, bribery has economic and social disadvantages that a purely cultural understanding leading to a relativist attitude to it, may hide. How Can Managers Handle Bribery in a Competitive Market? Given the two contrasting views about bribery above, what can managers in a non-US company do to bridge the gap between a relativist and a universalist approach to ethics. The practices and what managers in a US firm do is clear, they obey the FCPA or get around it by channeling funds through an agent who then handles the bribery behind a screen. Some managers might try to offset a competitors bribe with a better, total product You might offer a lower price, a better product, better distribution or better advertising to offset the benefit of the bribe to the decision influencer (Keegan 1989, p. 201). This US position is an idealist position that many non-US managers may not adopt, for it assumes that the better, total product will win the contract, when in fact, bribery occurs to oftentimes successfully ensure that it does not. Moreover, competing firms from European countries and Australia are allowed to treat bribes as a tax-deductible business expense, reducing the after-tax effect of the bribe. In April 1996, the OECD passed a resolution saying bribes should not be taxdeductible and in 1993, Transparency International, a not-for-profit organisation with chapters in 40 countries, tried to increase awareness of briberys existence, but anti-foreign bribery legislation outside the United States does not yet exist. Moreover, one is never sure of the level of bribes that competitors are offering for a project, and so deciding on how much to improve the total product to fight bribery is difficult. In addition, bribery is sometimes paid for day-to-day operations as well as a project, and so discussion of a better, total product may be of limited usefulness. For instance, if bribes are not paid by an individual firm, it may experience bureaucratic delays on wharves and in warehouses and its goods may 1942 be stolen, while its bribe-paying competitors do not experience these costly problems. In brief, curbing bribery from an idealistic position may be quixotic until the United Nations or a similar organisation arranges for a multinational, legal approach to it. Given the present, imperfect world within which companies operate, some more options to handle bribery are available. One option is to choose to internationalise into the less-corrupt countries. Clear examples of corrupt countries are China, Indonesia and India, which are rated among the most corrupt countries to do business in the world after Russia; indeed, corruption in Indonesiaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦is almost a way of life. Only Singapore is more squeaky-clean than most Western countries (Hard graft in Asia 1995, p. 61). Organisation code of ethics. There is another option to approaching the ethical gaps in international marketing. Firstly, within the home firm, managers could develop an organisation code of ethics for any non-home country within which it operates, or maybe for a particular region of many countries. For all these countries, this code would outline the degree of standardisation and adaptation in each of eight or so dimensions of bribery, such as expediting bureaucratic processes, promotion, corporate hospitality, gifts, dual prices, wage rates, occupational health and safety standards, and lobbying to influence government policies. The code would take into consideration the cultural, legal-political, economic, competitive and distributive environments of each foreign market and the home organisation. For instance, it might specify when bribes appear on an invoice and when they may not (adapted Cadbury 1987). Moreover, acknowledging the greatest differences between an expatriates and his or her home organizations ethical systems, and the local environments ethical standards, this code might specify when some purchases or tenders are outsourced away from the organisation to a local agent. familiarisation tour of the home organisation would help home country managers appreciate overseas operations, and helping with scholarships to home country universities would foster long-term links when the students return. Of course, managers need to know relevant national and international laws or hire reputable lawyers who know local laws and customs. Although local legal and judicial systems can be underdeveloped, flawed and flouted (for example, with bribes), a firm may have in its global code that local laws will always be observed, even if the risks involved in flouting them, even though competitors may be prepared to take the risks. Finally, to help implementation of the code, the organisation could institute and code of ethics sensitisation training before managers enter an overseas country and when they return, based on cross-cultural sensitisation sessions like those discussed in Hofstede (1991, p. 232). Ethics audits could also be carried out, emphasising improvement and learning about the processes used, such as TQM continual improvement programs do. Furthermore, these audits would foster an evolving awareness of ethical considerations for each of the eight dimensions in a particular organisation, and in a particular country. Conclusion Evidence suggests that bribery is a fact of life in international marketing that can lead to astonishment, bewilderment and misunderstanding for expatriates at both organisational and personal levels. Two viewpoints about bribery were examined. The first viewpoint was relativist, accepting that bribery has the same roots in Western and other countries and so different ethical systems may be simply the result of different cultural values. In contrast, the second, universalist viewpoint is that a set of ethical values applies anywhere in the world, based on psychological and economic grounds. To bridge these two views, it is strongly suggested to try to understand the cultural forces that determine home and overseas attitudes to the many forms of bribery, which will indeed be a first step to adjustment. The next step is to develop a global or regional code of conduct that allows flexibility within a gray zone for some situations in particular countries, based on win-win adjustments. The result could be an evolving code of conduct that adapts to the many dimensions of bribery for each countrys situation, in a manner that is a negotiation between the cultural, psychological and economic values of an expatriates organisation and of local officials. 1945

The Advantages Of Renewable Energy Resources Environmental Sciences Essay

The Advantages Of Renewable Energy Resources Environmental Sciences Essay The rapid growth of the world population leads to energy demand on a rise especially in developing countries. In addition, due to the limited ability to supply of non-renewable there are a number of huge challenges that are posed to the population of the world. This situation leads to the risk of depletion of cheap fossil energy and environmental pollution as well as climate change. According to Loir, there will probably be sufficient oil and gas for this century, and coal for 2 or more (Loir .N 2007, p.843). Or Edwin Cartlidge reports the annual total consumption of energy sources by the world population is about 1.41017 kWh, of which the proportion of the fossil energy has accounted for 90% of the energy sources used (Physics World 7/2007). Therefore, researchers around the world have been constantly trying to find solutions to diversify energy sources and reduce harmful emissions and greenhouse emissions into the environment and renewable energy sources have taken the spotlight. T hus, what is the renewable energy? The Oxford Dictionary () defines renewable energy as natural energy that can be used again and again and will never run out. There are four major types of renewable energy: solar, hydro, wind and geothermal energy. This paper will discuss advantages and disadvantages that renewable energy resource (RES) brings, as well as analysis the importance of RES to the worlds future. 2. Discussion of findings 2.1 Advantages of renewable energy resources (RES) The use of renewable energy has many potential benefits, including human beings and environment. Firstly, one of the most important  advantages of renewable energy  is that it is renewable. Essence of RES is derivation from natural processes so the energy is sustainable and never run out. Truly, renewable energy is really important and necessary to human beings when fossil fuels are more and more exhausted. With the never-ending supply of renewables, we would feel secure when having abundant supply of energy to last our planet, our human race and our economies, for generations and ever. Khemani (2011) says: As long as human life is there, there will be earth, sun, wind and water, and the energy from these sources will also be available as long as they are there. With the abundance from many renewable resources and development of science and technology, he strongly believes that renewable energy can meet the worlds energy needs today and tomorrow. Secondly, another benefit of renewable energy technologies is that ability of providing a measure of assurance of continued electricity supply at times when it otherwise might be threatened. In some circumstances, renewable energy technologies can be more reliable than other forms of electricity. For example, solar electricity systems can be used after storms for response and recovery. Renewable energy technologies such as generators powered by photovoltaics (PV) can supply electricity if the grid fails. Often the sun comes out in the immediate aftermath of a devastating storm. It can take weeks to repair the electricity grid and restore power to all customers. If battery storage is added to the system, it can supply electricity even after the sun goes down or through several cloudy or stormy days. Energy is needed to provide lighting, heating, air conditioning, cooking, transport and to  power  all the technologies in the family home or business premises (Parker 2010) Moreover, renewable energy not only is regarded as an unlimited resource but also plays an important role to regional development. Renewable energy and energy efficiency can help revitalize rural communities. For example, Wind turbines and solar panel systems can provide energy and provide rural communities with new tax revenue. Farmers on windy lands can lease space to wind developers, earning thousands of dollars for each turbine every year. One of the greatest alternative energy benefits is that it is so much better for environment than the use of  fossil fuels that contribute heavily to issues such as acid rain, smog and global warming. On the contrary, renewable energy has little or no waste products such as carbon dioxide or other chemical pollutants. Renewable energy systems produce much lower carbon dioxide emissions as opposed to carbon-intensive fossil fuels such as oil, coal and natural gas while they are being used only a small amount of fuel during the manufacturing of equipment (Walser 2012). With renewable energies, energy is usually converted from one form to another without the creation of pollutants. Chandler (2006) takes solar energy as example, light energy from the sun can be converted directly to electricity using photovoltaic without the production of any pollutants like carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gasses. Similarly, wind power energy relies on moving air and converts it into electricity wit hout polluting the environment. Therefore, it is obvious that the non-pollution or minimal impacts on environment are the positive advantages of renewable energy. 2.2 Disadvantages of renewable energy resources (RES) Although it is obvious to recognize the human as well as environmental advantages of utilizing renewable forms of energy, we must also consider some limiting sides from the energy. The biggest disadvantage of renewable energy is that the cost of the energy is relatively higher than non-renewable energy. The initial costs of renewable energy still make many people ignore it completely when comparing it with fossil fuel on two aspects: total cost and over the same time period. For example, installation of solar energy water heater costs many times in comparison with a heater, so they decided to buy heaters for hot water solution. According Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) (2008) reported that turbine installation costs $ 47.5 billion; by contrast, we only have to spend a much smaller amount of money to build thermal power station about $ 2,25 billion (Shah 2011). He also pointed that other incidental costs such as maintenance costs and production costs cause price increasing. Generally, it is price that the reason has prevented approaching and using clean energy as compared to the fossil fuel sources of energy. Another distinct disadvantage is relying too much on weather conditions and geographic locations to create energy (Sinclair 2011). Each types of renewable sources is just better suited to some places. This means that you cannot use each of these renewable sources in all locations. For instance, when using geo-thermal energy, you must be in a location that provides the environment for geo-thermal energy to be produced. Likewise, we cannot generate hydro-electric power without having a fast-flowing water source, such as a river or waterfall. In addition, the energy also brings some inconvenient problems. Take solar energy water heater as an example, it is inefficient because in summer ambient temperature are high and the use of hot water is not needed; however, in the winter we could not have hot water due to low light of the sun. Shah (2011) claimed that despite the fact that most renewable energy sources are more environmentally friendly they may still have a negative impact on the environment. He stated that hydroelectricity projects can cause a dramatic change in the development of wildlife and ecosystem along the river and flood risks. 2.3 Can renewable energy supply the Worlds energy needs? With the significant benefits from renewable energy, we cant deny that roles of it are more and more important. Nowadays, by advances and achievements of science and technology scientists are having every confidence in bright future of renewable energy. According to the report of The  Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2011, renewable sources occupied about 13 percent of the worlds energy in 2008 and the proportion likely to have risen. The report also point out that within four decades renewable energy  could account for almost 80% of the worlds  energy supply. The statistics are completely appeared in the near future if we combine four main alternative resources and use hydroelectric to fill in gaps, which makes easier to match demand. The most important thing is to combine renewable energy sources into a bundle (cited in BERGERON 2011). Particularly, in research (Edenhofer et al. 2011) shows that by 2050, geothermal energy could meet more than 3 percent of global electricity demand and about 5 percent of the global heat demand, hydropower will contribute about 30 percent of worldwide electricity supply, wind power will grow to more than 20 percent and solar energy becomes one of the major sources of energy supply with about 15 percent.

Communication is Structure :: Business Communication Essays

In collapsible corporations, communication is the dynamic structure between the individual members that shapes and guides the progress and actions of the people. It is the communication that coordinates and not formal written procedures. The success of dynamic organizational forms such as collapsible corporations is inversely related to the quantity and quality of communication between members around the world. Problems arise when communication slows or stops and progress is taken for granted- requiring hypercommunication to achieve subsequent residual recovery of right direction. Problems are just uncommunicated differences- in actions and expectations. (used 10/22/00 This intense deliberate communication is itself a transaction cost- it needs working hard at and may not always be business- you provide deliberate opportunities to other people in the collapsible corporation to explain and notify about problems- but naturally they do not actually arise every time members communicate. But the benefits from avoidance of misunderstanding achieved from effective and honest ongoing inter-personal communication- facilitated by technology tools such as the Net- make such dynamic organizations possible and also prevent greater, later costs incurred from error correction. Of course the communication needs to be timely and truthful for it to be valuable- it needs to be proactively stated, discussed, openly, honestly and fully disclosed. For remote communications, the use of Internet email, fixed and in particular mobile telephones is often prolific. There should be regular broadcast news and information in the form of say email messages updating members around the world on how the business is doing and latest developments. Informal discussion of this news, plus the formal emails kept different people in different places up to date with these moves. This kept people in different time zones in touch with the same information distributing at low charge around the world. Periodic face-to-face meetings are also necessary to supplement and balance this electronic communication- just as with teleworking, the balance between electronic and physical and the overriding dominance of neither is very important to the success of the venture. Respect and trust and so on is important in relations between colleagues, with some people easier to talk and relate to than others, but primarily, as long as activities and approaches were agreed to by other managers, you are okay.

The European Union Essay -- EU Europe European Union Politics Essays

Introduction In the course of fifty years, the European Union has expanded from six countries united under economic treaties to a large collective of twenty-five sovereign nations. Maintaining the union within such a large group has grown more difficult as numerous treaties have been drafted to control the governance of the European Union. To reduce the number of treaties in the union, the convention decided to draft a Constitution, which now moves through the process of ratification in each of the sovereign nations. The Constitution works to set up a basis for the expansion of the Union and the requirements that need to be met when a country seeks entry into the Union. But with the greater controls the EU seeks to place on the legal arena, many countries question whether their individual sovereignty will survive in the system. The evolving legal system will be shaped by the Constitution, but the influence of the document could reach much farther than what it allows for in the text. In this paper, I intend to explore how the Constitution will affect the culture within the European Union through the legal changes imposed on nations and the further expansion of the Union. History of the European Union In 1950, after the economic depression caused by the first and second world wars, Europe sought a way to ensure lasting peace among the nations. The French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman, following the ideas of other world leaders, proposed to integrate the European coal and steel industries in the hopes that political and economic unity would ensure peace among the involved nations. This brought forth the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951, constructed between Belgium, West Germany, Luxembourg, France, Ital... ...e than the United States of America. Works Cited A Constitution for Europe. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2004. Craig, Paul and Grà  inne de Bà ¹rca. EU Law: Text, Cases, and Materials. Pg 9, 11. New York: Oxford University Press. 2003. d’Estree, Claude. Personal Interview. 9 March 2005. â€Å"E pluribus unum?†. The Economist. 25 September 2004. â€Å"EU Czech Klaus Reaction†. CTK National News Wire. Brussels. 4 March 2005. General News. â€Å"The History of the European Union†. 2005. Europa. 7 February 2005 . Wolf, Martin. â€Å"No way to create a more dynamic and flexible Europe†. The Financial Times: London England. Pg 17. 7 April 2004. Smith, Don. â€Å"RE: EU†. Email to Katie Mulligan. 9 March 2005. Smith, Don. Personal Interview. 2 March 2005.

Marketing in a New Venture

Today is a very different day as far as communication goes. We live in the age of NOW! Over are the days when one has to wait for a letter from a friend, go to the grocery store before it closes or run to the bank before it closes to pay a bill.   These advances come with set backs, such as scams. I have had some emails sent to me about winning a lottery that I have never played.   Such people pray on the destitute and ignorant.   They lurk anywhere from emails to job postings.   I must say, I respect Craigslist for having warnings and allowing a posting to be flagged if it seems at all suspicious.   The craigslist team has put forth much effort to minimize such attempts. I have not seen this on many other sites. Craigslist has a reputation of being the ‘go to’ spot for employment, gigs and events.   If they were not careful about such things, they would probably lose a lot of business. This forces businesses to work hard to at least appear legitimate.   It also puts a new twist on ‘let the buyer beware.’   With so many scams on the internet, it is quite difficult to call a spade a spade.   The warnings from Craigslist enable the consumer to   make an informed decision and probably be less likely to deal with companies unheard of by most. It also empowers the average joe by perhaps prompting him to take that extra step to contact   the   Better Business Bureau or consumer affairs to verify the legitimacy of these companies.   As an avid user of craigslist, I am leary of ambiguous terms used in ads.   Such ads I shy away from.   I have come across ads that have been flagged and it helps me to feel that other users are looking out for each other.   Craigslist creates a sense of comraderie and the safety in the big brother is watching theory. It has a commune feel and if that is not what they were going for, it is definitely not a bad side effect. I had never heard of craigslist until a friend of mine mentioned it to me. Once I went on it, I was hooked. I wasted less time on spam in disguise because the community was looking out for me.   I learned of it by word of mouth, which is perhaps the way some other services would benefit.   For example, a service for home replenishment would benefit from word of mouth.   It is purely the nature of the medium that suggests this.   Let us say that we know of a birth.   The new mom may not be able to get around and may want her groceries delivered. I may tell her about it. Perhaps a friend broke his leg on a ski trip and cannot get around so well, I may speak of it then.   Maybe many students are studying for a final and are so enthralled in the studies that we cannot take a break. I may suggest it at that point.   It is the type of entity that requires a situation to entertain the thought of utilizing the service.   Another situation, such as a graduation (event) lends itself easily to viral marketing.   Requiring those that I have emailed to respond RSVP will give the hosting site information a marketing list and some of them will partake in such an event.   A service to allow incoming college students to create personal pages, organized by their institutions, may benefit from word of mouth marketing with limited viral marketing. Since it is organized by the institution, it limits access to those that are not privy to the institutional privileges. A service using a device to look up barcodes can definitely benefit from bootstrapping.   The items that are being looked up will probably link to the company or manufacturer of such products.   They in turn will send similar product emails to the person looking up the products.   This may result in traditional marketing, such as coupons and mailings with an instant direct marketing list.

Levels Of Achievement Need

Conceptual FrameworkStudy habits and academic performance of the working students have attracted increased attention among the university teachers and students with the aim of knowing and understanding the reasons, problems and other factors affecting them. This may empower them for lifelong learning to their journey to success hindered by their busy schedules and always no time to their study and academic performance. In Surigao State College of Technology the study habits and academic performance of working students give any positive and or negative impact on their grades depending on how they cope with it.Figure 1.The Research ParadigmThe research paradigm illustrates the conceptual framework of the study that shows the relationship of the input, process and output of the topic. This framework embodies the specific direction by which the research will have to be undertaken by describing the relationship between specific variables identified in the study. The input consists of the research method applied in conducting the research regarding the study habits and academic performance of the working students. Qualitative research undertaken to gain insights concerning attitudes, beliefs, motivations and behaviours of individuals to explore a social or human problem and include methods such as focus groups, in-depth interviews, observation research and case studies.The process on the other hand shows how the research being conducted through defining the problem/s of the research first and gather the required data relevant to the research from the respondents through answering the questionnaires. The output as a result, will indicate the general view of the situation on how the behavior and performance of a student relates on their study habit and academic performance. Conclusions are to be made to know and define the outcome of this study and give justification to the research.Statement of the ProblemThis study aims to determine the levels of achievement needed a nd the academic performance of self-supporting student in Surigao State College of Technology particularly the students of Bachelor of SecondaryEducationmajor in English, from first year to third year college students. Specifically, this study seeks to answer the following questions, 1. What is the profile of the respondents in terms of their: a. Gender;b. Age; c. Monthly Income of their Parents; 2. What is the academic performance of working students from first year to third year in all of their major subjects in English? 3. Is there significant relationship between academic performance of the respondents and the profile of the students with regardsto: a. Gender;b. Age; c. Monthly Income of their Parents; 4. What are the study habits of the first year to third Year Collegeworking students? 5. Is there significant relationship between the study habits and the academic performance of the respondents?