The Asian economic crisis which began in July 1997 has led to many discussions regarding its genesis (e.g., Asian Development Outlook, 1998; Fischer, 1998). A frequently mentioned cause of the crisis is the lack of transparency in Asia. Rather than arms-length transactions between independent parties, many commercial negotiations in the region are believed to be tinted with and tainted by political and other vested interests (Asian Development Outlook, 1998; The Straits Times, 1998). Indeed, allegations of nepotism, corruption, crony capitalism, and collusion may have contributed to the downfall of Asian governments in Japan, Thailand, and Indonesia. Besides strengthening their banking and financial sectors to address the crisis, Asian economies have been urged to do business in a cleaner and more ethical manner with better corporate governance (The Straits Times, 1998). Towards this end, present and potential businesspeople and executives in Asia must be favorably predisposed towards a high level of corporate ethics and social responsibility (CESR et al., 1996). This poses a major challenge to the extent that even businesses in the West have been criticized for their limited adoption of CESR (Robin and Reidenbach, 1987). Accentuating the difficulty is the fact that this commitment depends on the cultural, institutional, and organizational environments under which managers operate as well as their personal characteristics (Ferrell and Gresham, 1985; Hunt and Vitell, 1986; Stajkovic and Luthans, 1997). Despite the increasing research attention paid towards CESR in the West, its theorizing and empirical analysis in Asia is limited. A notable exception was McDonald and Pak (1996) who found that neutralization and self interest were the most significant factors considered by business managers in Hong Kong, Malaysia, New Zealand, and Canada in resolving ethical business dilemmas. Instead, researchers have tended to focus their efforts on how foreign enterprises can adapt to Asian business practices (e.g., Tung,...
pages: 31 (words: 8498)
comments: 1
added: 07/12/2011
How do the writers of "the Cone", The Red Room" and "The Man with the Twisted Lip, create atmosphere, tension and suspense? In this piece of course work I will be looking at how the writers of three short stories create atmosphere, tension and suspense, through the choice of setting, the role of the narrator, how the other characters are used, how the stories are structured, the use of language, your own response to the stories. I will be looking at "The Cone" and "The Red Room" by H.G Wells, and "The Man with the Twisted Lip" By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In "The Red Room" Wells uses mans fear of darkness to his advantage "even with seven candles the place was merely dim" (pg7), Wells knows that most people are afraid of the dark and so he knows that the reader can relate to the characters when the become afraid of the darkness, this builds up tension with the reader as they can relate to what is happening. This is the only story out of all three that is set in a secluded place "Lorraine Castle" (pg5) In history castles have been the settings of many horror stories and having his book set in a castle instantly creates a sense tension and atmosphere as the reader knows that a castles are already scary places. This is in contrast to the other two stories as they are both set in outside areas or move between different areas. "The Man with the Twisted Lip" is set in London but in two contrasting parts the respectable area of "Lee" (pg8) and the crime infested East end where the docks are situated. This contrast creates an atmosphere as the reader is kept wondering what will happen next? Doyle uses human fears to his advantage just like...
pages: 9 (words: 2379)
comments: 0
added: 02/17/2012
I INTRODUCTION - This paper contains three parts. The paper contains an introduction to a nine article literature review, a body containing a 2-page outline for each article (including the research problem/question, theory being researched, methodology used including research design, variable operationalization, hypotheses, and data analysis, findings, implications and future research direction) and a Summary and Conclusion to the entire set of literature as part of this work. The nine article review is required course work for CSA 6080, - Professional Studies Workshop (Information Technology Management). The instructions have been provided have been include for reference in Appendix A. CSA 6080 Sylabus on page #25. The topic of interest is a desire to contrast the current cost world Vs the world of considering constraints management. The two worlds can be applied to any systems thinking (Goldratt and Cox 1992) scenario and is directly applicable to information systems and information technology (IS/IT) management theory. The current process of instituting IT/IS into organizations makes the topic of extreme importance as the cost world struggles with the issues of local optimas and IT/IS performance. Nine articles were chosen to investigate the current literature on the basis of IT/IS investments and the organizational performance or 'bang for the buck' return on those investments. The articles are summarized below for initial exposure: ARTICLE Bharadwaj, A. S. (2000). "A resource-based perspective on information technology capability and firm performance: An empirical investigation." MIS Quarterly 24(1): 169-196. Gooijer, J. d. (2000). "Designing a knowledge management performance framework." Journal of Knowledge Management 4(4): 303-310. Hu, Q. and R. Plant (2001). "An empirical study of the casual relationship between IT investment and firm performance." Information Resources Management Journal 14(3): 15-26. Kumar, A., W. M. P. Van Der Aalst, et al. (2001/2002). "Dynamic work distribution in workflow management systems: How to balance quality and performance." Journal of Management Information...
pages: 16 (words: 4214)
comments: 1
added: 08/23/2011
Ruth Bader Ginsburg was born Joan Ruth Bader, on March 15,1933 in Brooklyn , New York . Her parents , Nathan Bader and Celia Amster Bader were Jewsih Americans whose families had immigrated to the United States. Celia was from central Europe and her parents moved to the United States before she was born and Nathan's from Russia his parents moved when he was thirteen. Ruth's older sister Marilyn died at the age of eight, so Ruth grew up as an only child, in the flatbush section of Brooklyn . Her father worked first as a furrier and later, as a haberdasher. Ruth's mother Celia, played a major role in her daughter's life. Celia took Ruth on frequent trips to the library and saved money to enable her daughter to attend college one day. Celia taught Ruth the value of independence and good education. Ruth used her mother's advice and worked diligently in school. Ruth attended P.S. 238 elementary school .As an adolescent Ruth Bader distinguished herself as a scholar. She graduated first in her class at P.S. 238 and there at age twelve or thirteen wrote an editorial, "Landmarks of Constitutional Freedom"; for the student newspaper. She was also confirmed with honors at the East Midwood Jewish Center in Brooklyn. Ruth Bader then went to James Madison High School. Bader's Classmates remembered her as competitive and popular. Ruth kepta secret from her classmates while attending high school; her mother Celia suffered from stomach cancer. Celia Bader passed away a day before her daughter's graduation ceremony. Ruth did not attend a "Forum for Honor" to which she was in for graduating sixth in her class. Celia Bader left Ruth a large sum of eight thousand dollars for her college tuition. Ruth , however did not need it , because she earned...
pages: 6 (words: 1634)
comments: 1
added: 09/12/2011
Investigation to find the effect of different concentrations of sugar solutions on osmosis
Prediction
Osmosis is defined as 'the movement of water molecules from an area of high water concentration to an area of low water concentration, across a semi-permeable membrane' (Collins, 1999).
If you get information from books put the copied text in brackets and at the end put the authors surname and date the book was published in brackets. Then put the full details of the book at the end of the course work in the 'References'
In a high concentration of water the amount of solute (e.g. sugar) is low. This could be called a weak or dilute solution.
In a low concentration of water the amount of solute (e.g. sugar) is high. This could be called a strong or concentrated solution.
When two such solutions are divided by a semi-permeable membrane the water will move from the area of high concentration to the area of low concentration, until both sides are equal (have reached equilibrium).
This can be seen in living cells. The cell membrane in cells is semi-permeable and the vacuole contains a sugar/salt solution. So when a cell is placed in distilled water (high water concentration) water will move across the semi-permeable membrane into the cell (lower water concentration) by osmosis, making the cell swell. This cell is now referred to as turgid. If done with potato cells the cells would increase in length volume and mass because of the extra water.
If these potato cells were placed in a solution with a low water concentration, then the opposite would happen. Water would move out of the cell into the solution. In extreme cases the cell membrane breaks away from the cell wall and the cell is referred to as plasmolysed. The potato cells will have decreased in length, volume and mass.
The...
pages: 5 (words: 1226)
comments: 1
added: 10/10/2011
Overall History of Norway
The Kingdom of Norway is located on the west part of the Scandinavian peninsula. Geographically, it extends northward from the North Sea over 1,000 miles along the Norwegian Sea into the Arctic Circle, farther north than any other European land. Sweden, Finland, and the U.S.S.R. all share borders with Norway on the east and the northeast. With an area of over 125,000 square miles, Norway is slightly larger than New Mexico. The Kingdom of Norway is located on the west part of the Scandinavian peninsula. Over 70% of Norway has very little vegetation, is covered by mountains, glaciers, and rivers, and is uninhabitable. Its numerous and deep fjords give Norway over 12,000 miles of oceanfront and tens of thousands of islands off the cost from a sheltered coastal shipping channel. Norway also has sovereignty over five islands, the largest being Spitsbergen in the Arctic Ocean. Norway north of Bodo experiences the midnight sun for a few weeks on either side of the summer solstice (June 21). Norse Vikings raided the northwestern coast of Europe repeatedly from the 8th to the 11th century. More than just pillagers, the Vikings explored Iceland, Greenland, and the New World extensively. This time period and its myths are chronicled in the Icelandic Sagas. There are various open-air and Viking museums throughout Scandinavia to see how people used to live in this rugged land. In 872 the first ruler of a united Norway, Harold the Fairhaired, came to power. Norway was part of the Danish kingdom for almost 500 years until Sweden won control in 1814. The country became officially independent in 1905 with a Danish prince on the Norwegian throne (King Olav V). Norway was committed to neutrality in World War I. The country was occupied by the Germans for five years...
pages: 8 (words: 2062)
comments: 1
added: 10/17/2011
I'm a budding scientist and I think one of the distinguishing characteristics is the diversity of experiences I possess.
I'm Cynthia Gershome from India. I have been working in one of India's reputed Research and Development organisations, Dr. Reddy's Research Foundation for the past two years. For the betterment of my academic credentials and to gain an in-depth understanding of Pharmacological sciences, I intend to pursue a PhD degree. My objective for graduate studies in Pharmacological sciences is to prepare myself for a career in research.
During these two years at Dr.Reddy's research foundation, I found my work experience and laboratory training to be extremely rewarding. My learning curve has been boosted tremendously during my stint here. A broad spectrum of responsibilities have been assigned to me, some of which have been of research experience, includes screening out new chemical entities (NCEs) in both in vivo and invitro conditions. Our lab is involved in the in-depth studies concerning the actions of PPAR ligands at the cellular and sub-cellular levels. I was involved in standardizing protocols in the lab and executing experiments in primary hepatocyte culture and cancer cell lines like HepG2, HCT and other cell lines like 3T3L1, L6, THP-1 cell lines. Apart from this I have also been exposed to a fair amount of work in cell biology including immunoprecipitation, glucose uptake studies, enzyme assays like COX, CAT assay. Apart from this I have experience in animal handling and have screened NCE's in various animal models such as db/db, ob/ob, Zucker fa/fa rats, ob-SAM, SAM, C57BL6 mice. Working at this level in an industrial milieu has convinced me to pursue my research as a viable career.
Among the several outcomes of our research endeavors has been a poster presented at the 62nd scientific session of American Diabetes Association meeting held at San...
pages: 3 (words: 637)
comments: 1
added: 10/27/2011
Organizational Behavior is about how people and team members act in organizations. It is about how individuals can establish a positive relationships among themselves, between their team members, between their managers and how managers act towards their work group. Its purpose is to enable high levels of human performance and competitive business performance by achieving organizational objectives, and social objectives. Among other important aspects of organizational behavior is the ability to have people skills "My college course work did an excellent job in helping me become a subject matter expert," says Jason. "But it did very little to help me understand the people factor. I have now learned, through experience, that the primary reason most projects succeed or misfire is due to the people factor…" (Stephen P. Robbins, 2000, p. 3) Understanding people and blending their skills and personalities into a successful working team is a necessity in today's working place. Throughout my career in information technology, I've seen some individuals who are experts and very knowledgeable about the task on hand, but when they are asked to prepare and deliver a presentation in front of group of people, they feel unaccountably bad, ill, angry, irritable and so on, which leads to embarrassment, frustration and panic attacks. I have also dealt with managers who were very technical and good at what they do, but when they were faced with this consulting team from India, they had all kind of problems getting their message across, at times they even loose patience and say things that are inappropriate just to intimidate them, they criticize them in front of others, and they snap at them, they forget the fact that they are dealing with people from another part of the world, they should expect some culture and social issues including the language barrier. For these...
pages: 3 (words: 765)
comments: 1
added: 11/01/2011
In today's competitive business environment, companies are continuing their search for means of effectively recruiting and retaining qualified staff. When considering the options available, employers might want to look at a frequently overlooked benefit – tuition assistance programs. I believe that my company should offer this benefit. By offering this benefit, my company would also benefit in a number of ways. An educational assistance program provides reimbursement for tuition, textbooks, and other educational fees connected with an employee's successful completion of course work. Usually this program requires the employee to pass their classes with a grade of "C" or better. Whether or not my company was to choose to pay in advance for me to take a course or reimburse after successful completion of a course, the fact that my company would be willing to pay for my career-related coursework or completion of my college degree would be a sign of its trust and commitment. Tuition assistance would help me to prepare myself for further career development and advancement. My company should offer reimbursement for work-related courses and other courses that may be beneficial to the company. Work-related courses would directly improve my skills and enhance my knowledge of the duties I perform in my current position. I would also acquire new skills needed to perform newly assigned duties and responsibilities. My company would invest in my higher education with the expectation that the investment be returned through enhanced job performance. A tuition reimbursement program would help my company get back the skills that they need in the workplace. This program would allow my company to hire better qualified, more educated, more productive employees. That extra productivity would make it economically feasible to pay a large portion of tuition bills. An educational assistance program would also offer a tax break to me and to...
pages: 2 (words: 491)
comments: 1
added: 11/02/2011
"If you and I are in the woods being chased by a bear, I know I don't have to outrun the bear. I just have to outrun you." Competition, the life blood of innovation, this is my life's compass. Nothing makes a day brighter than being better than the next man. Shallow as my view may be to some, winning determines much of how I conduct myself. Confronted with a career stifled by being too good to young, I left to start my own company. While I was implementing a software product for a client that left much to be desired, I founded a software development project with a partner to make a better one. It is with this mindset that I determine and pursue all of my goals. The most important goals in my life thus far have been growth in my industry and technical skills. As an IT company owner facing negative growth in customer spending for almost two years straight, this sector provides a lot of challenges. Having to be perceived as the best available for the least amount of money is a given these days. I pride myself on developing relationships that allow me to meet customer technology needs of today, while simultaneously creating a roadmap for their future needs. Giving them direction work to keep myself employed in the future. Returning to school is not a decision I that gave much thought. Working for myself gives me the unique position of being involved in every facet of business. While functioning as a piece of the larger puzzle in the corporate world, one most often feels a disconnection between their work and the overall goals of an organization. My distaste for that situation, along with my general experience being an employee have led me to believe working for another...
pages: 4 (words: 904)
comments: 1
added: 11/05/2011