Cologne Cathedral and Amiens Cathedral Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Cologne Cathedral and Amiens Cathedral - Essay Example A good example of this is the Amiens Cathedral and the Cologne Cathedral which are known all over the world. Even though, the two were designed by one architect by the name Gerhard Von Rile, they vary in so many ways like structure foundations, building historical background and decorative designs. These two structures were included in the World heritage site simply because they have about 800 years of history, and hence their significant effect in the world1. At the beginning of Medieval, Rainald of Dassel decided to put up a suitable church that would attract so many church goers. In so doing this, he had to seek for assistance from a renowned architecture that had to offer his expertise in the designing and construction of the famous church. Background Information about the Buildings The Cologne Cathedral traces its origin at the beginning of the medieval period. This is after Rainald of Dassel had acquired some skills from the three kings and thus decided to construct the largest church. With the artifacts contained by the Cologne Cathedral during the Middle Ages, So many people were attracted to thus making it one of the most famous religion centers in the world at the moment. Some of the common artifacts include the Three Magi2. During the designing of the Cologne Cathedral, the architecture solely relied on the original design of the Amiens Cathedral both in terms of ground plan, width and even height measurements. A Latin cross was the main shape of the plan as commonly associated with the Gothic Cathedral. There were to be two aisles on both sides which were to offer support to the highest Gothic vaults. With these exceptional collections of relics, the Cathedral of cologne was outstanding, and perhaps this was the thought of Rainald of Dassel. He decided to implore Gothic architecture, which had become very common, in most parts of Europe especially France and England. Despite the design not being popular in Germany, he chose the French architect to c onstruct the Gothic Cathedral3. Fortunately this turned out positive since the cathedral become famous internationally. The Gothic style went through several evolution periods basing on the country. For example in France, the periods included Early, Lancet, Rayonnant and Flamboyant or late Gothic while, in England, there were three stages namely Early English, Decorated and perpendicular. In both cases, the last periods were the most sophisticated as its amazing development led to introduction of different styles. During construction using this style, the climate played a crucial role in determining the physical features of the medieval, Gothic cathedrals. The Amiens cathedral in France had between 3 to 5 portals leading to the central nave. This style was similar to the one used to build the Cologne cathedral in Germany except that the later was made mainly of bricks, as opposed to the stones used in the Amiens4. However, this might not have been the main reason why the design was chosen because during the Roman period, the Romanesque style was eminent. That was the main reason why the some Romanesque features still existed in the Cologne church before the Cologne Cathedral. It was only after the changes in the economy of the society that the Gothic style became prominent. This led to the powerful influence of the French which was evident in the Cologne Cathedral particularly the Amiens Cathedral. The construction of this church was not a walk in the park, as it was forced to stand still for some

The Influence of Classical Theorists on Contemporary Culture Assignment

The Influence of Classical Theorists on Contemporary Culture - Assignment Example The fast success of the movement garnered the support and sympathy of ordinary citizens to oppose the unfairness of the cuts and tax evasion tactics of the affluent. Lessons Learned from the Uncut Movement Aside from the glaring injustice of the tax restrictions on public spending, the significant and relevant models that can be seen in this phenomenal development in this example are the fundamental beliefs on economics and social change, class relations of capitalism and the theory of Hegemony. According to Antonio Gramsci, an Italian Marxist philosopher, hegemony is the permeation throughout society of an entire system of values, attitudes, beliefs, and morality that has the effect of supporting the status quo in power relations. Hegemony is an organizing principle diffused by the process of socialization into every area of daily life. To the extent that this prevailing consciousness is internalized by the population, it becomes part of what is normally known as common sense so tha t the philosophy, culture, and morality of the ruling elite appear as the natural order of things.  (Boggs  1976 p.39) This Uncut protest action is a classic example of the concepts of classical thinkers notably Karl Marx, Georg Wilhelm Freidrich Hegel and Gramsci regarding the basic beliefs mentioned earlier. Hegel aptly described the state in modern societies as the highest form of social reason. It represents the culmination of progress through history and the fact that the state is able to integrate self-interested members of civil society, who if left to themselves would be interested only in pursuing the personal goals of personal enrichment. (Callinicos, 2007 p.46) Karl Marx has a relevant discourse that elucidates the circumstances surrounding the reaction of the people towards the matter of reductions in public expenditures and tax avoidance by the moneyed sector. The economic basis of the social order must be seen as a complex totality made up of relationships between different elements engaged in production. â€Å"The totality of these relations of production constitutes the economic structure of society, the real foundation, on which arises a legal and political superstructure and to which correspond definite forms of social consciousness. The mode of production of material life conditions the general process of social, political and intellectual life. It is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but their social existence that determines their consciousness.† (Morrison, Marx, Weber and Durkheim, 2006, pp. 214-216)).

Legislation and Regulation for Money Laundering

Legislation and Regulation for Money Laundering Finance and Investment Law – Money Laundering Current Legislative and Regulatory Arrangements Money laundering is a menace. Tainted funds from drugs traffic and terrorism are the prime causes of the recent round of energetic legislation designed to make life more difficult for the launderers. The European Directive on Money Laundering has been followed in the UK by primary and delegated legislation. The aim is to deter laundering by well-focused use of the criminal law and, at the same time, to obstruct it by compelling banks and other persons and institutions in the financial services industry to ask more questions, keep more records and divulge more information. The money laundering legislation does not bear directly on the civil law, but, it will profoundly alter professional practices and is bound to filter back into the setting of standards which determine the incidence of civil liability. The huge profits of the drugs industry are gained ultimately from thousands of users who will never so much as contemplate recourse to the civil law. It is different in the case of theft, fraud and corruption. There the victims and their insurers have economic power, and the sums at stake are often large enough to justify a restitutionary campaign in the courts. Tracing is a weapon against laundering. It allows value held in one form at one place to be located later in other assets in another place. It lengthens the victims reach. Successful civil campaigns have been waged. The most notorious is the insurers recovery of assets derived from the Brinks Mat robbery. Often the defendants are not the principal rogues but others to whom the money has come or through whom it has passed. To the victim of a massive fraud, a bank or firm of lawyers or accountants will seem the most promising defendant, if the facts will only support a claim against them. This aggressive opportunism on the part of victims is a factor to be borne in mind as the law settles the conditions of the various restitutionary and restitution related liabilities which can be brought into play. In one recent case the plaintiff had been cheated of millions of dollars in Amsterdam. A sophisticated laundering operation had passed the money through many accounts in different names in different parts of the world. The plaintiff nonetheless traced a large part of it to a legitimate property development in London, and the development company had to make restitution. The same problems encountered in restitutionary campaigns after fraud are also met in more innocent contexts, as where money is paid away by mistake or on a basis which fails. Even in cases of the less disreputable kind the fact that the law will allow the value of one asset to be traced into another can confer great advantages. It will sometimes allow a plaintiff to extend a priority against an insolvent by enabling him to claim it, not against the asset with which he originally parted but against another to which its value can be traced. And it will sometimes allow a plaintiff to leapfrog the immediate recipient and claim against a third party who received, in different assets, value which proceeded from him. For all its utility tracing is one of the least perfectly understood areas of the law of restitution. It is caught on the horns of a dilemma. The longer its reach and therefore the greater its potency against fraud, the more difficult it is to describe exactly how it works; an d the more one insists on the need for an accurate and intelligible account of how it works, the greater the danger of shortening its reach. But there is no real doubt as to how this dilemma must be resolved. The law cannot tolerate figures which are beyond rational description. If there turn out to be limits to what can intelligibly be done by tracing, other weapons will have to be invoked. The law of tracing and claims contingent on tracing will soon settle down. Less stable in the medium term may be the law relating to or affected by restitutionary defenses. The introduction of the defense of change of position is already transforming the law of restitution. In one bound it has put the English law of unjust enrichment in closer touch with German law, and it may yet indirectly effect a civilian transformation of our approach to the cause of action itself. Festina lente may be the order of the day. The down to earth English approach may in fact be preferable. It is a great virtue of the English law of unjust enrichment that it talks in terms of very familiar reasons for restitution and does not go in for the metaphysics of causa and the absence thereof. Canada has succumbed to the temptation to start looking for sufficient juridical cause. The danger of that language is all the greater when it is not underpinned by mature civilian doctrine: it does not tell us why or wh en restitutionary rights arise but merely conceals the absence of an intelligible answer to those questions. Whatever larger changes it may portend, the new defense indubitably provides a new strategy for reconciling the interest in restitution with the interest in the security of receipts. As it takes over the protection of the latter it encourages a liberalization of the restrictive attitudes to the grounds of restitution. Those restrictions were previously the blunt instruments for the protection of that interest. The new focus on change of position also entails more attention to other defenses in its immediate vicinity. In this paper, bona fide purchase, ministerial receipt and passing on assert their independence. Counter-restitution impossible also declines to be absorbed into change of position but appears to be destined to have little future as an absolute defense. The Society of Public Teachers of Law once again stands in debt to those who gave up their time to attend these seminars and, especially, to the judges who were kind enough to take the chair. Lord Justice Millett chaired the seminar on tracing and Lord Goff chaired the seminar on defenses. We are most grateful both for their generous surrender of free time, if indeed a judge can these days be said to command any of that valuable commodity, and for the learning and wisdom with which they brought order to the discussion (United Kingdom Model Agreement, May 2003). Case Example In AGOSI v. United Kingdom the Court was faced with the question whether the imposition of a confiscation necessarily implies that the owners of the confiscated property should have been afforded the same rights as those granted to everyone in the determination of a criminal charge. The German company AGOSI had suffered a considerable economic loss when the UKs Customs Excise department had seized and eventually forfeited golden Krugerrands to a value of  £120,000 that had been illegally imported into the United Kingdom. Defendants X and Y were caught by UK Customs Excise officers as they attempted to smuggle into the United Kingdom on 2 August 1975 the golden Krugerrands they had bought on the same day from AGOSI in Germany (M2 Presswire, March 1, 2004). Because the cheque presented by them for payment had been drawn without provision, the sale contract was ab initio null and void and AGOSI had retained ownership of the Krugerrands. AGOSI initiated several procedures in the Unit ed Kingdom for restitution of the confiscated Krugerrands but was unsuccessful. AGOSI therefore took the case to the European Court of Human Rights, complaining that the confiscation amounted to a procedure for the determination of a criminal charge in which it had been denied the fair trial rights laid down in Article 6 of the European Convention. The Court responded that: The fact that measures consequential upon an act for which third parties were prosecuted affected in adverse manner the property rights of AGOSI cannot itself lead to the conclusion that, during the course of the procedures complained of, any criminal charge, for the purposes of Article 6, could be considered as having been brought against the applicant company. As a general statement this is undoubtedly true. The mere fact that persons own property that is being confiscated does in itself not necessarily imply that a criminal charge is being brought against them. When, for example, instrumentalities of an offence are being confiscated, that does not necessarily imply that a criminal charge should be brought against the owners who may very well have not been implicated in the offence in any way. Confiscation of proceeds from crime as a matter of fact often implies that the person who is being prosecuted is not the real owner. Nine years after AGOSI, the European Court of Human Rights arrived at a similar decision in Air Canada v. United Kingdom, which again involved a seizure by the UK Customs Excise, this time of an aircraft on board which drugs had been found on several occasions, including a few days earlier. The aircraft was only seized temporarily for a few hours until Air Canada paid a sum of  £50,000. 116 The European Court agreed with the English Court of Appeal that the case did not concern an in personam procedure but an in rem procedure and therefore did not require that mens rea of the owner or the possessor was established. This, as well as the fact that non-payment of the sum could not give rise to criminal prosecutions, unlike some out-of-court settlements (transactions) and that the procedure did not involve the intervention of criminal courts at any stage, induced the Court to reach the conclusion that the action of the UKs Customs Excise department did not amount to a criminal charge in the sense of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. It is submitted that this decision is flawed. The case law of the European Court of Human Rights regarding the applicability of Article 6 to confiscation procedures should be seen in close connection to its case law regarding the right to property, entrenched in Article 1 of the First Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights. In AGOSI the Court held that an import prohibition on golden coins constituted a law necessary to control the use of property and that the seizure and confiscation of the Krugerrands were consequently measures taken in accordance with this prohibition and were therefore governed by the second paragraph of Article 1 of the First Protocol. The Court ruled in the same sense in Air Canada. The text of Article 1, however, prompts the question whether confiscation of proceeds from crime should not be considered a deprivation of property under the first paragraph of this provision: 1. Every natural or legal person is entitled to the peaceful enjoyment of his possessions. No one shall be deprived of his possessions except in the public interest and subject to the conditions provided by law and by general principles of international law. 2. The preceding provisions shall not, however, in any way impair the right of a State to enforce such laws as it deems necessary to control the use of property in accordance with the general interest or to secure the payment of taxes or other contributions or penalties. This question was answered in the negative in Raimondo v. Italy, which concerned seizure and confiscation of real estate that was derived from mafia practices. It was held that although it involves deprivation of possessions, confiscation of property does not necessarily come within the scope of the second sentence of the first paragraph of Article 1 of Protocol No. 120 The Court referred to its prior judgments in AGOSI and Handyside, in which the Court seemed to have considered confiscation as a preventive measure. This was undoubtedly the case in Handyside where the Court held that the seizure, confiscation and destruction of obscene publications constitute a law necessary to control the use of property and were thus governed by the second paragraph of Article 1 of the First Protocol. These measures effectively prevented further distribution of the publication. It is, however, submitted that the confiscation of the illegally imported Krugerrands in AGOSI did not constitute a preventive measure as it did not pertain to the use of the property but only to certain economic-political goals that were set by the British Parliament. The (possession of) property was not unlawful per se at most; the confiscation dealt with derivative contraband, but not with per se contraband. An even more flagrant example is that of M v. Italy, a case decided by the European Commission of Human Rights, in which it was accepted that the confiscation of proceeds from crime under the Italian anti-mafia laws pursuant to a reversal of burden of proof did not fall foul of Article 6 of the Convention nor of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 as these confiscation measures were preventive and hence did not amount to a criminal penalty. Although all these cases differed from the earlier mentioned case of Welch v. UK (in which the Court did accept the criminal nature of the confiscation of drug trafficking proceeds) 124 in that the imposition of these confiscations did not require that the person was found guilty of a criminal offence, it is submitted that the punitive character of these confiscations could and should have been deduced from the possibility that the owner might avoid confiscation by demonstrating his innocence – a possibility which was explicitly acknowledged by the European Commission and the Court of Human Rights. In this perspective, it is useful to refer to the line of reasoning adopted by the American Supreme Court which explicitly deduced the punitive nature of in rem confiscations from the fact that confiscation is excluded in case owners can demonstrate exceptional innocence. It inevitably follows from this line of reasoning that the confiscation in AGOSI amounted to a penalty, as it wa s at least in part based on guilt of the owner. In Air Canada the punitive nature of the seizure of the aircraft as an instrument of crime was even more blatant, as it was not the aircraft as such that constituted the contraband, but the drugs that had been found on it on earlier occasions. It should be equally clear that the confiscation of assets belonging to a mafia member and presumably derived from an illegal origin, though termed preventive, is in fact nothing else but a criminal penalty. Given the absence of a formal international legislator, it is not surprising that the influence of soft law has been especially notable on the international level. The contribution of international soft law instruments to the fight against money laundering is impressive. One of the earliest international initiatives undertaken in the field of money laundering was the Recommendation No. R (80) 10 adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on 27 June 1980 entitled Measures against the transfer and safeguarding of the funds of criminal origin. The first international instrument to address the issue of money laundering specifically was the Basle Statement of Principles of 12 December 1988, issued by the Basle Committee on Banking Regulations and Supervisory Practices. The Basle Committee, which comprises the authorities charged with banking supervision of twelve western countries, thought it necessary to take action against money laundering lest public confidence, and hence the stability of banks, should be undermined by adverse publicity as a result of inadvertent association by banks with criminals. Regardless of the fact that the primary function of banking supervision is to maintain overall the financial stability of the banking system rather than to ensure that individual financial transactions are legitimate, the supervisors thought that they could not stay indifferent to the use made of banks by criminals. Money Laundering Regulations 2003 The new regulations replace the Money Laundering Regulations 1993 and 2001 and require any person who carries a relevant business to maintain certain anti money-laundering administrative and training procedures. In particular, the activity of dealing in goods by way of business whenever a transaction involves accepting a cash payment of 15,000 or more, will mean that the business needs to comply with the Regulations. Furthermore, records of identification evidence must be kept for at least five years following the end of the business relationship. Failure to maintain the necessary procedures is a criminal offence carrying a maximum penalty of two years` imprisonment and a fine. Research commissioned by BT and GB Group, has found two thirds (67 per cent) of top UK businesses are currently not compliant with new money laundering legislation that came into force on March 1, 2004, leaving their directors open to legal action and a possible two-year jail sentence. The Money Laundering Regulations 2003 require all UK businesses to prove the identity of their customers when handling cash transactions for goods of euro15,000 or more, and also to have adequate record-keeping procedures in place to demonstrate necessary checks have been undertaken. Furthermore, 40 per cent of companies that have implemented what they regard to be acceptable identity authentication processes feel they could still be victims of money laundering, and over half (53 per cent) of those with solutions in place fear that money laundering activity will increase over the next couple of years (The Daily Mail February 23, 2004). The new extended money laundering regulations make it a legal requirement for companies to have robust systems for customer validation and record keeping in place. However, research clearly highlights that organizations are confused about how to achieve compliance, and that there is a worrying lack of confidence in identity verification systems that are already in place. To help companies address this problem, BT has developed an online authentication service, called URU, in partnership with GB Group (Haynes, 2004). URU helps businesses protect themselves against the growing problem of identity fraud, and by helping them work towards achieving compliance with money laundering legislation it may even help keep directors out of jail. URU enables companies subscribing to the service to decide instantly whether to accept the identity claimed by an individual. It does this by asking a series of questions and comparing the information gathered to that held in the most comprehensive data se ts available in the UK, producing match or no match reports. The result is a faster, cheaper, secure and more convenient way to fight identity fraud. URU also provides businesses with an independent audit, thereby helping companies demonstrate compliance with the Money Laundering Regulations 2003. Other findings from the research include: A quarter of all respondents have no identity-checking process in place at all and have no plans to introduce one. Of those with defined and documented identity-checking processes in place, businesses remain confused about some of the basic terms of the legislation: o 34 per cent are unable to state the threshold value level of goods at which a money laundering check should be triggered o 10 per cent do not regularly ask for key identification documents such as a passport or drivers license. A quarter is unclear that directors are now personally liable for any breaches. There are marked variations in levels of compliance across different market sectors. Compliance is highest amongst financial services companies, with 62 per cent of stockbrokers and 55 per cent of Independent Financial Advisers (IFAs) already compliant, compared to only three per cent of car dealers and 23 per cent of luxury good companies (Dale, 2001). More than one in four companies feel that the cost of compliance will mean certain transactions will have to be refused, and 13 per cent see it as a cost that will have to be passed on to customers. The different levels of understanding about the requirements of the Money Laundering Regulations are a problem not only for businesses that need to comply, but also for the regulators aiming to crack down on this serious crime. It is in the interests of both parties to stem the rise of money laundering as a crime. Our URU system, which is designed specifically to help companies make large numbers of identity checks quickly and cost effectively, also helps organizations to meet the requirements of the regulations. Surveyors, estate agents, accountants, lawyers, licensed conveyancers and sellers of high value goods will now have had exactly a year to get to grips with the Money Laundering Regulations 2003 (Money Management; July 1, 2004). They are all caught within the range of business activities included in the regulations, and have had to set up internal compliance regimes. These involve regulation by the relevant authorities, training to ensure staff are alert to possible money laundering, the appointment of a money laundering reporting officer, identification procedures to check the details of all clients within the regulated sector and records of all identification checks to be kept for six years. Conclusion The objective standard for the suspicion of money laundering essentially provides the rationale for the know your client/know your business requirements. Failure to report a suspicion of money laundering is judged on the standard of whether a reasonable IFA would have been suspicious in all the circumstances. So what should make an IFA suspicious? The following are examples and should not be taken as an exhaustive list of circumstances that may give rise to suspicion. The important element is understanding what suspicion actually means. At the most basic level an IFA should be cautious of a client introduced through a third party or intermediary based in a country where drug production and trafficking, or terrorism is prevalent. This is not to say that suspicion should automatically arise in this context. It is perhaps only the background against which the reasonable IFA may later find grounds for suspicion. A transaction may have the requisite quality of suspicion where, without logical explanation, funds are routed in and out of the jurisdiction or between different accounts or institutions, or a transaction leads to financial loss. The settlement or payment following any transaction may also be suspicious if a client requests an unusual form of settlement. The term unusual will depend on the usual circumstances, but a request for payments in cash, or to a third party, or through a series of payments from an account may be suspicious. Recognizing a warning signal is the first step to complying with anti money laundering laws. If an unusual or unpredictable circumstance does arise which gives an IFA cause for concern, then the next step is to ask more questions. The answers to those questions will either allay fears or provide a foundation for reasonable suspicion. Bear in mind that although drugs and terrorism are examples of the crimes where money laundering cash is likely to be an is sue, the new laws relate to any proceeds, however small, from any crime, however petty it may seem. In particular, the new laws cover proceeds from tax evasion and benefit fraud. Various regulatory bodies have issued guidance to assist with the interpretation of the new laws. The guidance is also important to note because a court will take account of the guidance issued in a particular industry when applying the objective test as to whether someone knew or suspected money laundering. Bibliography Money laundering regulations. M2 Presswire; March 1, 2004. New laundering clampdown. The Daily Mail (London, England); February 23, 2004. Taken to the cleaners. Money Management; July 1, 2004. Haynes, A., Recent Developments in Money Laundering Legislation in the United Kingdom, JIBI (2004), 58–63. Dale, R., Reflections on the BCCI Affair: A United Kingdom Perspective, Intl Law (2001), 949–62. United Kingdom Model Agreement Concerning Mutual Assistance in Relation to Drug Trafficking (May 2003), reprinted in Mitchell, Hinton and Taylor, Confiscation.

Essay on Luck and Fate in The Rocking Horse Winner -- Rocking Horse Wi

Luck and Fate in The Rocking Horse Winner The Rocking Horse Winner, by D.H. Lawrence, is an informative story about luck and one's own fortune. In this story, Lawrence attempts to illustrate how one can guide one's own fate, instead of allowing things to happen by chance. He believes that the only person that affects what happens to someone, is really that person himself. "Everything is what you make of it," is Lawrence's message to the reader. By his use of characterization, instructional images, and irony in The Rocking Horse Winner, D.H. Lawrence attempts to convey to the reader that success and luck are not something that one simply waits for to arrive, but things that one must works to achieve. Lawrence uses to contrasting characters to help convey his point, namely those of the boy Paul, and his mother, Hester. Paul, according to the story, is lucky, whereas his mother is not. It was not simply decided upon that it would be this way, but each character had a hand in how they would end up. Paul's mother allowed herself to be resigned to the fact that fate had dealt her an unlucky hand. Though she had three wonderful children, she could not love them. Though she had a roof over her head, she was not content, and yet she did nothing to change this besides wait for the difference that never came. The story says that Hester "wanted to be first in something, and did not succeed," and when she did not succeed, she moved on instead of working towards her goal. Paul, on the other hand, learned very quickly that if he is to succeed, he must have dedication. Paul applied him... ...mple, and death. She discovers the poor boy rocking himself into unconsciousness on the horse, and only understands the significance and importance of his exertion upon his death. Paul's mother, the inadvertent teacher, becomes the student, only to lose her teacher. Lawrence wishes for his reader's to understand the significance of working towards your goals before enjoying the fruits of one's labor. He instructs that waiting for good things to just fall into your lap is a lost cause, and the odds are hugely against you. If however, this does happen to you, that you should "take your gold and sit on it," before making any kind of decision about its proper use. Chances might be that the products themselves might depict their use, as in Paul's case.

African American Identity in Media

The print ad was about drug abuse and risky teenage behavior. We have to be realistic and see that many of the victims continue to be African American teenagers, especially the ones coming from poorer families.Although any young person would be attracted to an ad like this one, it seems to reach out to African Americans more because it speaks of struggles and pressure, both of which they are most acquainted compared to other people in this country.What shared values or norms are promoted in the media or marketing piece you selected?The print ad highlights the values of identity and freedom. What the ad is saying is that you don’t have to give in to peer-pressure. You can do what your own thing and be your own person without destroying your life. You can be free from drugs and you do not have to fit into the stereotype of a â€Å"teenage junkie†. It’s not worth it. Be your own person. Own yourself.How do these values contribute to the cultural identity of African- Americans?It should bring about feelings of liberation and pride. African Americans have fought so hard in the past to have the same rights, walk the same streets and work in the same jobs as white people. This is what these ads are reminding them of. That they must continue to fight whatever it is that keeps them from being free.They must resist the stereotypes and transcend these daily temptations to join the deteriorating masses. These values create a sense of connection between them because it reminds them that freedom does not come easy but the sweetness of freedom makes it worth fighting for. Today many African Americans are leaders in business, media, sports, entertainment and all other possible fields — all because they transcended the stereotypes.   

Primewater Csr

Primewater Infrastructure Corporation ABOUT US ? PRIMEWATER – a â€Å"public service† oriented company ? CUSTOMER SERVICE FRIENDLY ? 24-hour customer service ? Primewatch ? Payments †¢ Over the counter †¢ Electronic channels ? Application on-line ? State of the art water treatment technology Providing safe water for the people and the environment. Providing safe water for the people and the environment. Primewater Infrastructure Corporation ABOUT US PRIMEWATER Infrastructure Corp. ? PRIMEWATER has gone from the traditional service of providing basic utility to one of the top service rovider of its kind in the industry. Central Water System, Inc Northwell Waterworks, Inc, Basic Utility Southwell Waterworks, inc. Providing safe water for the people and the environment. Providing safe water for the people and the environment. Primewater Infrastructure Corporation ABOUT US ? The management and staff of Primewater Infrastructure Corporation, including its technical manpower is composed mainly of mechanical, civil, electrical and chemical engineers who are all seasoned and very well capable in the management, operation and maintenance of water system facilities. All are regularly updated through through trainings and seminars from NWRB, LWUA, PWWA and DENR. Providing safe water for the people and the environment. Providing safe water for the people and the environment. Primewater Infrastructure Corporation OUR OFFICES LUZON AND METRO MANILA CEBU ILOILO CAGAYAN DE ORO Providing safe water for the people and the environment. Providing safe water for the people and the environment. Primewater Infrastructure Corporation SERVICE AREAS NORTH-EAST AREA – NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION ? Caloocan City ? Quezon City ? Valezuela ? Taytay ? Novaliches Teresa ? Marikina City ? Cainta ? Pasig City ? Antipolo ? 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Providing safe water for the people and the environment. Primewater Infrastructure Corporation TECHNICAL SERVICES ? Well maintenance and rehabilitation ? Aquifer level and status monit oring ? Deepwell rehabilitation ? Well disinfection ? Underground Televised Inspection ? (Deepwell Camera Logging) ? Research and Development Introduction of new technologies ? Service improvement ? Vertical Development ? Boosters ? Motor control and drives Providing safe water for the people and the environment. Providing safe water for the people and the environment. Primewater Infrastructure Corporation TECHNICAL SERVICES ? Maintenance Projects ? Water tank cleaning and chlorination of water facilities ? Water analysis and treatment ? Leak repairs and pipeline replacement ? Customer Complaints and Homeowners Associations’ Concerns ? Capex Projects and Development ? Water Quality Monitoring and ImprovementProviding safe water for the people and the environment. Providing safe water for the people and the environment. Primewater Infrastructure Corporation TECHNICAL SERVICES ? Production Monitoring ? Project Identification and DMA Formation ? Implementation and Project Monito ring ? Water Meter Testing Providing safe water for the people and the environment. Providing safe water for the people and the environment. Primewater Infrastructure Corporation TECHNICAL SERVICES NRW REDUCTION ? Control of System Loss ? (Soundsens, X-MIC, and ARAD Meter Testing Equipment) ? Geo-Referencing and VirtualMapping ? (Accounts’ Mapping Sysem) Providing safe water for the people and the environment. Providing safe water for the people and the environment. Primewater Infrastructure Corporation TECHNICAL SERVICES ? Hydraulic Analysis and Design ? (Integration of Epanet and Subdivisions’ Satellite View with GIS) ? Water Analysis and Treatment Process ? Sewerage Treatment Providing safe water for the people and the environment. Providing safe water for the people and the environment. Primewater Infrastructure Corporation CUSTOMER SERVICES BILLING AND COLLECTION ? Meter Reading of Water Meters Uploading of Read Data and Checking ? Bill Generation and Printing Pro viding safe water for the people and the environment. Providing safe water for the people and the environment. Primewater Infrastructure Corporation CUSTOMER SERVICES BILLING AND COLLECTION ? Modes of Payment Transaction ? OVER THE COUNTER Providing safe water for the people and the environment. Providing safe water for the people and the environment. Primewater Infrastructure Corporation CUSTOMER SERVICES BILLING AND COLLECTION ? Modes of Payment Transaction ? ELECTRONIC CHANNELS ONLINE ATM PHONE BANKINGProviding safe water for the people and the environment. Providing safe water for the people and the environment. Primewater Infrastructure Corporation CUSTOMER SERVICES BILLING AND COLLECTION ? Modes of Payment Transaction ? ELECTRONIC CHANNELS Providing safe water for the people and the environment. Providing safe water for the people and the environment. Primewater Infrastructure Corporation OTHER SERVICES ? Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) of a Water System ? Build, Operate and Owned (BOO) Scheme ? Develop Water Source and Supply Bulk Water to an Existing Waterworks Management and Operational/Maintenance Contract to an Existing Water System Facility ? Design and Installation of Water and Wastewater Treatment Facility Providing safe water for the people and the environment. Providing safe water for the people and the environment. Primewater Infrastructure Corporation ORGANIZATION AFFILIALIATIONS LOCAL ? Philippine Water Works Association – PWWA ? Philippine Water Partnership – PWP ? Water Environment Association of the Philippines – WEAP ? Well Drillers Association of the Philippines – WELLDAPHIL Providing safe water for the people and the environment.Providing safe water for the people and the environment. Primewater Infrastructure Corporation ORGANIZATION AFFILIALIATIONS INTERNATIONAL ? Water Environment Federation – WEF ? AQUAFED ? GLOBAL WATER PARTNERSHIP – GWP Providing safe water for the people and the enviro nment. Providing safe water for the people and the environment. Primewater Infrastructure Corporation MOVING FORWARD ? PRIMEWATER envisions expanding its operations to all untapped areas with potential. ? Consequently, we are moving towards providing our services to a significant number of locations and communities.A move that will maximize investment expenses and therefore give PRIMEWATER a leverage to offer the products and services at the least possible cost to the community. Providing safe water for the people and the environment. Providing safe water for the people and the environment. Primewater Infrastructure Corporation CSR Project: Gawaran Heights Source flow meter or Utilities Bulk Meter Coordinators Dist. Line †¢ Coordinators /collectors: appointed by the contracting party †¢ Flexible collection: depends on the source of income of the consumer †¢ Non revenue water: 5-waterfor the people and the environment.Providing safe water for the people and the environ ment. Providing safe 10% Primewater Infrastructure Corporation Application Fee: Php. 3,500. 00 + Tech. Cost Rate: Php. 10. 00 per Drum Note: the Coordinators are allow to sell water up to Php. 15. 00 per Drum. Providing safe water for the people and the environment. Providing safe water for the people and the environment. Providing safe water for the people and the environment www. primewatercorp. com

Australian Federation essays

Australian Federation essays When Australia was first established by white people, Governor Phillip had various powers and was able to rule in an autocratic way to keep the population under control (70% of whom were convicts). The wealthy and privileged filled the early parliaments and courts, which was an unofficial aristocracy. The citizens of the colonies were British citizens in a constitutional monarchy; a political system which is subject to the provisions of a constitution and in which a monarch has a right to be represented. Separate colonies developed into states that were united under a federal system of government after Federation in 1901. Gradually the influence of British governance declined. In the 1840s, males over 21 years old, in the Australian colony who rented or owned properties worth 200 or more were only allowed to vote. Early elections were not decided by secret ballot. Only prosperous people could afford to be parliamentarians as parliamentarians were not paid a salary. People who settled in Australia voiced their opinions about democratic ideals as they did not agree on these undemocratic practices. The working people from Britain fought for better conditions and a right to be heard. In the 1850s, countless people had gone to the goldfields in Victoria where a strong campaign began for reasonable treatment of less fortunate people. In 1854, the Eureka Stockade was an armed uprising by gold miners, and it began out of fury over a licence fee that had to be paid by them. The miners had no political representation; therefore they felt that the fee was unreasonable. The symbol for the fight for justice and equality continues to be represented by the flag that was raised during the stockade, and has been proposed as a national flag, should Australian become a republic; a country in a which the head of a state is elected. In 1856, voting by secret ballot came to Victoria and South Australia, while it came to New South Wa ...

Me, Myself, and I

Me, Myself, and I Me, Myself, and I Me, Myself, and I By Maeve Maddox Just as the personal pronouns I and me are frequently used incorrectlythe subject form I used instead of the object form me, and vice versathe reflexive pronoun myself sometimes crops up where I or me belong. As personal pronouns, I and me stand in the place of nouns, while the reflexive pronouns like myself emphasize a noun or a pronoun that is already in use as a subject or object word. They are mirror words which reflect a word already expressed (hence the name reflexive). The reflexive pronoun forms are: Singular: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself Plural: ourselves, yourselves, and themselves The forms hisself, yourselfs, theirselfs and similar variations are dialect forms. The reflexive pronouns have two main uses: 1. They serve as the objects of verbs when the object is the same person or thing as the subject: I hurt myself. The baby saw herself in the mirror. We lost ourselves in the woods. 2. They are used to restate or emphasize another noun or pronoun in the sentence: The king himself signed the proclamation. These witnesses swear they saw it themselves. The following constructions are incorrect: Myself and the others attended the concert. Jack and yourself are my best friends. Editing for reflexive pronoun usage is easy. If the self word comes after the verb, you can see at a glance if it restates the subject. If the self word is anywhere else in the sentence, look to see if there is another noun or pronoun that it restates or emphasizes. If there is none, you probably need to use a personal pronoun instead of a reflexive one. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:50 Rhetorical Devices for Rational WritingDeck the Halls13 Theatrical Terms in Popular Usage

How to Plant, Prune, and Understand a Golden Rain-Tree

How to Plant, Prune, and Understand a Golden Rain-Tree Golden rain-tree, Koelreuteria paniculata, grows 30 to 40 feet tall with an equal spread in a broad vase or globe shape. Rain-trees are sparingly branched, but with a perfectly-balanced and beautiful density. Golden rain-tree tolerates dryness and casts little shade because of its open growth habit. It makes a good street or parking lot tree, particularly where overhead or soil space is limited. Although it has a reputation for being weak-wooded, rain-tree is rarely attacked by pests and grows in a wide range of soils. Rain-tree bears large, beautiful panicles of bright yellow flowers in May and holds seed pods that look like brown Chinese lanterns. Horticulturist Mike Dirr describes the golden rain-tree in Manual of Woody Landscape Plants Their Identification, Ornamental Characteristics, Culture, Propogation and Uses as a beautiful dense tree of regular outline, sparingly branched, the branches spreading and ascending...in our garden, two trees literally stop traffic in late August and early September. Golden Rain-Tree Specifics Scientific name: Koelreuteria paniculataPronunciation: kole-roo-TEER-ee-uh pan-ick-yoo-LAY-tuhCommon name: Goldenraintree, Varnish-Tree, Chinese flametreeFamily: SapindaceaeUSDA hardiness zones: 5b through 9Origin: not native to North AmericaUses: container or above-ground planter, large and medium-sized parking lot islands, medium to wide lawnsAvailability: generally available in areas within its hardiness range Cultivars Fastigiata golden rain-tree has an upright growth habit. September flowers later in the year than other rain-tree cultivars. Stadhers Hill produces deep reddish fruits. Foliage and Flowers Leaf arrangement: alternateLeaf type: even-pinnately compound, odd-pinnately compoundLeaflet margin: lobed, incised, serrateLeaflet shape: oblong, ovateLeaflet venation: pinnateLeaf type and persistence: deciduousLeaflet blade length: 2 to 4 inches, less than 2 inchesLeaf color: greenFall color: vivid fall colorFlower color and characteristics: yellow and vivid, summer flowering Planting and Management Golden rain-tree bark is thin and easily damaged from mechanical impact. Limbs droop as the tree grows, so they will require pruning for vehicular or pedestrian clearance beneath the canopy. Rain-trees should be grown with a single leader. There is some pruning required to develop a strong structure. Rain-tree has some resistance to breakage. The Golden Rain-Tree Root System Golden rain-trees root system is coarse, with few (but large) roots. Transplant these trees when theyre young, or transplant them from containers. Do not transplant in the fall, as the success rate is limited at this time of year. The rain-tree is considered a city-tolerant tree due to its ability to withstand air pollution, drought, heat, and alkaline soils. It also tolerates some salt spray but requires well-drained soil. Golden rain-tree is an excellent yellow flowering tree and perfect for urban planting. It makes a nice patio tree, creating light shade. However, its brittle wood can break easily in windy weather, so there can be some mess. The tree has only a few branches when it is young. Light pruning to increase branchiness will increase the trees attractiveness. Prune the golden rain-tree while its still young to space major branches along the trunk and create a strong branch structure. This way, the tree will be longer-lived and require little maintenance. Dead wood is often present in the canopy and should be removed periodically to maintain a neat appearance. Only single-stemmed trees trained in the nursery with well-spaced branches should be planted along streets and parking lots. Source: Michael A. Dirr. Manual of Woody Landscape Plants Their Identification, Ornamental Characteristics, Culture, Propogation and Uses. Revised edition, Stipes Pub LLC, January 1, 1990, IL.

Criminal law (case study) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Criminal law (case study) - Essay Example Actus reus of murder (and manslaughter) is the unlawful act that's done deliberately and is a significant cause of death of some person. If the court is able to prove that the defendant had intention to kill (that is, mens rea) then it is murder, not manslaughter. Running from home in panic, Joe pushed his brother who hurt himself when hit the ground. Later his brother went home and died at night from head trauma. Joe can be accused both of battery and manslaughter. Since there is an ambiguity about the term "touching" concerning battery (e.g., the Court of Appeal in Wilson v Pringle [1986] 2 All ER 440 stated that to prove battery "the touching must be proved to be a hostile touching"), we will analyze the third case later. Post-traumatic stress disorder is "an anxiety disorder in which a particularly stressful event, such as military combat, rape, or a natural disaster, brings in its aftermath intrusive mental images of experiencing a traumatic event, emotional numbness and detachment, estrangement from others2" etc. One of the common responses of people with PTSD is uncontrollable behaviour that can be expressed in fits of anger (Chemtob et al., 1997) towards other persons or even assault on them. According to Mental Health Act 1983, there are different kinds of PTSD patients' treatment, e.g., hospitalisation, guardianship, supervision and treatment. The story tells us nothing about it, but since it will be essential later, we assume two probable situations: there was no medical treatment and control of Joe's disorder; there was medical supervision and treatment, but Joe was considered harmless at that time as there were no more measures provided. Having had flashback caused by victim's actions, Joe had lost the sense of reality and behaved according to his traumatic experience. The victim screamed and it caused Joe to have an imaginary return in the traumatic situation and probably to treat the victim as an enemy soldier. Joe's mind has created a delusive situation in which ex-soldier believed that his actions are correct: such belief in moral and legal rightfulness is the first reason to plead diminished responsibility (see Bratty v AG for Northern Ireland (1963) AC 386 at 409). The second factor is total loss of control. Since there were cases when partial loss of control didn't make an acquittal (e.g., in Broome v Perkins (1987) Crim LR 271), the defendant must prove that he had no possibility to control his actions, for the burden of proof in the case of insanity lies with the defendant. Then we must prove that either insanity or automatism took place. The factor that triggered flashback was external that should prove automatism, but Joe's reactions were atypical because of his mental illness that is the inner factor. There is an opinion that "if the defendant loses control because of an illness, that is, some internal factor, he can only plead insanity" (Hill v Baxter (1958) 1 QB 277). But there is the external factor in our case, the victim's scream. We should point that Joe's reaction was atypical and unexpected, and also can refer to the case of R v Rabey (1997) (Canadian case), in which defendant battered his

Technologies in media have the most potential for the future Essay

Technologies in media have the most potential for the future - Essay Example the television media, which made passing of information be appreciated substantially since it was capable of representing the news using both sound and video (Kumar 43). On the discovery of the internet, the media became transformed immensely. The internet was appreciated in the media field since it helped in effective representation of news and enabled the mass to have the satisfaction in reliability and access of information (Kumar 28). Developments in the digital technology have changed the way individuals get information. In this paper, the use of digital technology in the media for the future generation will be discussed. The use of digital technology has the most potential for the future in the media industry. Since the development of the digital technology, the media have changed in the way they present news. For instance, with the digital technology, the media have a different way of presenting news from analog to digital. This has made the media give information in an easier and effective way than before. With the emergence of the internet, there have been tremendous changes in the way people get news. People prefer using the internet to get information rather than watching the news on TV (Winston 5). Internet seems to be a development in technology in the media, which is essential for the future generation. Various reasons have been put forward supporting why the internet has huge potential in the expectations of the media industry. One of the reasons is that; the internet is a quicker way of getting information than all other forms. People are capable of getting information that they require in a single click of a mouse. The internet remains the fastest way of getting any information needed (Uwakwe 63). Hence, a vas number of individuals will rely on the internet now and in the upcoming days, in order to get a report that is needed urgently. The internet is preferred by most individuals since it is possible to research on an item and get a wide range

Linguistic analysis of Gypsie's (ROMANI) dialect of Cyprus (I WOULD Research Paper

Linguistic analysis of Gypsie's (ROMANI) dialect of Cyprus (I WOULD LIKE ONLY A PROPOSAL) - Research Paper Example Romani is a phenomenon of Indic language - the only one - spoken without interruption in Europe since medieval times (Gray 2003). Academic and ethnic studies have largely ignored the existence of this enclave: a glaring omission of which linguistic analysis is urgently required. This Cyprian pocket of Gypsies merits analysis and accurate recording, or the language of such a small and scattered population runs the risk of complete extinction within a few generations (Williams 2000). A detailed study will attempt to discover salient adaptations of this special dialect, and which linguistic system: morphological, phonological, lexical, or syntactical, carries the highest proportion of detectable loan adaptations. The lexical miscellany that survives does evolve, and therefore requires documentation (Trimiklitios 2008). Analysis is needed of certain terms and structures, as in this example: A project currently under way at Manchester University in England has the Romani language, its Indo-Aryan origins and history, and the diaspora of its speakers, under a magnifying glass. It studies ‘place, mobility and dialect differentiation of the Romani people’, exploring the linguistic features and their distribution in geographical space (Matras 2009), using interviews and custom software. Readings of this study and others like it will be invaluable: firstly to discern any mention of the Cypriot Kurbet, and then to understand different methodologies and styles of inquiry. It will provide an excellent launching point, show what already has been discovered and what problems solved, and help decision-making. It has already resolved matters of geneaolgy and culture. Starting with a similar foray into the history and culture of the Cypriot Kurbet, this proposal for research will deepen into an examination of the linguistic shifts and the reasons behind them, with the primary intention of setting up a lexicon of record. The plan is to carry out a

Cloud Computing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Cloud Computing - Essay Example Cloud computing is arguably the most popular emergent computing paradigm of the last decade (Hayes, 2009) and a technology at the peak of the Gartner hype cycle (Schonfeld, 2008). Cloud Computing aims at reducing the costs associated with management of hardware and software resources by shifting the computing infrastructure from on-site to on-network through the use of a variety of technologies that offer everything as a service under what could be generalized as â€Å"XaaS† (Rimal et al., 2009). X here could refer to software, platform, hardware, infrastructure, database, business, framework, organization and so on. One of the major challenges for the proponents of cloud computing has been to clear the confusion over the definition of cloud computing. Geelan (2009) analysed definitions from 21 cloud computing experts and none of them provided a unified definition as they all seemed to focus on different aspects of the cloud. To remove confusion with regards to what the cloud is in this research, we shall use the definition proposed by Vaquero et al. (2009) in this paper. Vaquero et al. (2009) built upon the work of Geelan (2009) and additional definitions from other experts to arrive at the definition below: Clouds are a large pool of easily usable and accessible virtualized resources (such as hardware, development platforms and/or services). These resources can be dynamically re-configured to adjust to a variable load (scale), allowing also for an optimum resource utilization. This pool of resources is typically exploited by a pay-per-use model in which guarantees are offered by the Infrastructure Provider by means of customized Service Level Agreements (SLAs) (Vaquero et al., 2009, p.51). ... One of the major challenges for the proponents of cloud computing has been to clear the confusion over the definition of cloud computing. Geelan (2009) analysed definitions from 21 cloud computing experts and none of them provided a unified definition as they all seemed to focus on different aspects of the cloud. To remove confusion with regards to what the cloud is in this research, we shall use the definition proposed by Vaquero et al. (2009) in this paper. Vaquero et al. (2009) built upon the work of Geelan (2009) and additional definitions from other experts to arrive at the definition below: Clouds are a large pool of easily usable and accessible virtualized resources (such as hardware, development platforms and/or services). These resources can be dynamically re-configured to adjust to a variable load (scale), allowing also for an optimum resource utilization. This pool of resources is typically exploited by a pay-per-use model in which guarantees are offered by the Inf rastructure Provider by means of customized Service Level Agreements (SLAs) (Vaquero et al., 2009, p.51). 2.0. Pros and Cons of Cloud Computing To appreciate the advantages of cloud computing and to analyse its disadvantages we have to first comprehend the different modes of delivery of this new paradigm. Each of these forms of delivery offers different advantages and disadvantages to different businesses. Cloud computing allows delivery of computing resources as services in the form of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) or Software as a Service (SaaS) depending on the level of abstraction that the client desires. 2.1. Infrastructure as a service Under IaaS, instead of

Case study about business law Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

About business law - Case Study Example The other tactic was using the illegalities of other investors – to silence them over the infringement of their intellectual property rights. That was the case with Sony, where BYD challenged the validity of their patents in Japan. Another tactic was the careful copying of patents to ensure that they did not match all design patents, like the case was with the F3. Another tactic was the illegal acquisition of the trade secrets of other companies, for example, that was the case with the documents retrieved from the systems of Foxconn (Li et al. a 3-5). The learning-by-hiring strategy is unlawful, as it offers a highway through which the patent rights of employers are transferred to rival employers or businesses. Due to its unlawful nature, an aggressive assertion and protection of patent rights can reduce the departure of these skilled workers. The tactic of adopting the intellectual property of others and hiding behind their illegality in the area of rights protection is illeg al, but cannot be proved, especially in the cases where the property’s patent ownership cannot be proved. That was the case with Sony, where their patent ownership in Japan was challenged. ... of trade secrets through the unlawful efforts of insider aides at victim companies is unlawful – as the practice amounts to trade secret theft (espionage) therefore BYD could be prosecuted for this action, if it is that they committed the crime (Li et al. a 5). The management practices at Foxconn, which have contributed to the strategy of BYD include that the company should have engaged in continual monitoring of the market, to ensure that the infringement of its Intellectual property was reported before it caused damage. The company’s greatest loss of trade secrets was caused by its lack of a system to restrict access to trade secrets and information. For example, the company could ensure that non-complete business agreements and non-disclosure were addressed fully and effectively, as it was the cause for the shift of its experts to BYD. Proper information security measures could also have been developed to secure vital information – to ensure that their trade s ecrets and vital information were safe (Stender et al. 30). Part 2 The options available to Foxconn include IP management strategies and litigation options. The strengths and weaknesses of the strategy of the administrative system used by Foxconn include the following: it requires less load of evidence, it is cost effective and the process is faster. The weaknesses include that low penalties are offered – which does not stop repeat offenders. Further, the raids conducted may not be authentic – which may allow the items seized to reach the market. The use of the judicial system presents the strengths that they would get damages for infringement and intense pressure would be exerted on the infringers. The weaknesses of the process include that it may cost the company high litigation costs, it may

Bitcoins Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Bitcoins - Essay Example These bitcoins serve as money for all types of payments and receipts on the web. Individuals can maintain their own bitcoin wallet, where these bitcoins are debited or credited. Since this is a peer-to-peer currency, it does not require any central authority to issue currency or track transactions (The Economic Times, 2014). The concept of bitcoins was first published in a newspaper in 2008. However, it was only in 2009 that the first online wallet software for transacting bitcoins was released. It was called Bitcoin-Qt. Nonetheless, this software initially was poorly developed and many of its features were exploited to create more and more bitcoins. Later on, a team of core developers and experts of software were employed to monitor, develop and enhance the bitcoin way of transacting. Since then, use of bitcoins has rapidly increased. Also, there have been considerable fluctuations in the price of bitcoins. The price of bitcoins had reached its peak in 2013, during the Cypriot financial crisis. From the initial days of inception, the bitcoin system has suffered plenty of glitches with respect to technology and software system that it was based on. This was largely due to lack of proper governance and management of the software. The system was found to crash multiple times. So, individuals were not real ly eager to use it as a system of online money. Bitcoins were largely used in online gaming versions, where individuals on winning points were credited with bitcoins. Hence, only youngsters and teenagers were found to take interest in this system. Soon as greater regulations were incorporated in this sector, bitcoin exchanges were regulated whereby they were required to submit reports of bitcoin transfers. Gradually, more and more business firms and non-profit groups started to accept this form of exchange. Currently, BTC China, which is a Chinese bitcoin exchange, is the largest bitcoin exchange in the world by virtue of trade volume.

Case study about business law Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

About business law - Case Study Example The other tactic was using the illegalities of other investors – to silence them over the infringement of their intellectual property rights. That was the case with Sony, where BYD challenged the validity of their patents in Japan. Another tactic was the careful copying of patents to ensure that they did not match all design patents, like the case was with the F3. Another tactic was the illegal acquisition of the trade secrets of other companies, for example, that was the case with the documents retrieved from the systems of Foxconn (Li et al. a 3-5). The learning-by-hiring strategy is unlawful, as it offers a highway through which the patent rights of employers are transferred to rival employers or businesses. Due to its unlawful nature, an aggressive assertion and protection of patent rights can reduce the departure of these skilled workers. The tactic of adopting the intellectual property of others and hiding behind their illegality in the area of rights protection is illeg al, but cannot be proved, especially in the cases where the property’s patent ownership cannot be proved. That was the case with Sony, where their patent ownership in Japan was challenged. ... of trade secrets through the unlawful efforts of insider aides at victim companies is unlawful – as the practice amounts to trade secret theft (espionage) therefore BYD could be prosecuted for this action, if it is that they committed the crime (Li et al. a 5). The management practices at Foxconn, which have contributed to the strategy of BYD include that the company should have engaged in continual monitoring of the market, to ensure that the infringement of its Intellectual property was reported before it caused damage. The company’s greatest loss of trade secrets was caused by its lack of a system to restrict access to trade secrets and information. For example, the company could ensure that non-complete business agreements and non-disclosure were addressed fully and effectively, as it was the cause for the shift of its experts to BYD. Proper information security measures could also have been developed to secure vital information – to ensure that their trade s ecrets and vital information were safe (Stender et al. 30). Part 2 The options available to Foxconn include IP management strategies and litigation options. The strengths and weaknesses of the strategy of the administrative system used by Foxconn include the following: it requires less load of evidence, it is cost effective and the process is faster. The weaknesses include that low penalties are offered – which does not stop repeat offenders. Further, the raids conducted may not be authentic – which may allow the items seized to reach the market. The use of the judicial system presents the strengths that they would get damages for infringement and intense pressure would be exerted on the infringers. The weaknesses of the process include that it may cost the company high litigation costs, it may

Disraelis second ministry Essay Example for Free

Disraelis second ministry Essay Disraelis second ministry deserves the title a great reforming ministry Discuss how far you agree with this view in relation to Gladstone first Ministry. A great reforming ministry is a government which manages to radically alter the political and social scene, aiming to deal with the most pressing problems and creating a long term legacy whereby later ministries aim to protect and improve what has been achieved instead of trying to alter radically. This is why it becomes clear that Gladstone ministry and not Disraelis should be considered a great reforming ministry. The aims of both ministries were radically different. Gladstones aims for his ministry when he came into power in 1867 were to try and create a more efficient and meritocratic society which removed privileges and advocated individualistic self-reliance. This ideology of beliefs were formed due to Gladstone long held religious beliefs which drove him and in the liberal ideas of equality of opportunity, tolerance and individualism he saw the best system to try and create a society based on Christian morals. Throughout all his legislation Gladstone aimed for the fair and just decision explaining his desire to try and pacify Ireland. This is in contrast to Disraelis aims as Prime Minister from 1874. Disraeli had managed to finally get the conservatives elected after being out of power for over ten years, and he achieved this through radically modernising the Conservative party which was represented in his Tamworth manifesto speech where he proclaimed the aims of the Conservative party were to protect institutions and traditions, strengthen the empire and alleviate the condition of the people. However Disraeli never had a clear agenda of reforms before he came into power instead his main aims were ensuring the continuation of power for the Conservative power, this meant Disraeli aimed not to disrupt his key support base of the middle and upper class and focused on reducing taxes. Additionally although due to his promise of alleviating the condition of the people he was forced to create social legislation to ensure minimal government intervention he aimed to make the acts permissive weaken their impact and focussed on areas which were non-controversial and where mild reforms could be implemented. This contrast reflects the differing impacts the two ministries wanted to achieve. Gladstones ministries reforms had a substantial impact. The 1870 education act with the setting up of board schools to complement the existing structure of voluntary religious schools reflect Gladstones desire to try and create equality of opportunity and to encourage individual self-reliance. This reform became the very foundations of the mixed school system which is present today, reflecting the long term impact this reform had. Additionally Gladstone introduced key reforms to remove privilege and create a more efficient government and army with the 1871 civil service reforms which meant entry to the civil service could only be achieved through examination and the army reforms that were carried out between 1870-1872 whereby the act of purchase was abolished and instead officer class could only be achieved through merit and amount of time privates would have to spend in the army was reduced to encourage higher uptake. This reflects the impact Gladstone was trying to achieve he didnt shy away from attacking key sectors of power within society because he believed it was morally right and fair to remove privilege from the upper classes. This was particularity important for a working class which aimed to be free individuals who wanted the vote and an equal footing. Whilst Disraelis legislation although Important was hampered due to Disraelis desire to minimise the impact of reform and to only focus on non-controversial areas. The 1875 Artisans dwelling act is a clear example of weak legislation, the act meant that councils could compel owners of slums to sell their property and allow the council to knock-down the slums and then sell the land to private building firms. However the legislation was permissive so the council didnt have to ensure slums were removed and it required councils to give compensation to the landowners and so by the end of Disraelis term the act had only been used in 10 councils m aking its impact very mild. Whilst other acts such as the 1875 Agriculture holdings act show Disraeli is unable to make truly effective legislation because he wishes to protect the power base of the upper class. The act should of ensured that tenants that improve their land receive compensation but Disraeli made the act permissive and stated that if there was a condition in contract which stated the landowner didnt have to pay compensation then the landowner didnt have too. Due to this again the impact of the legislation was minor. Other legislation shows Disraelis opportunistic nature and aim to keep power such as the 1875 conspiracy and protection of property act which reformed a piece of Gladstonian legislation which banned peaceful picketing this act allowed peaceful picketing which Disraeli hoped would give the Conservative support from the trade unions, to try and weaken the threat from the Liberal party. Even when Disraeli produced legislation which was aimed at alleviating the condition of the people such as the 1874 Factory Act which meant that by law women and children werent allowed to be made to work more than nine and half hours in a day but deliberately avoided the majority of the working population which was male and although the legislation had the impact of forcing factories to close earlier which effected male working hours as well it wasnt the intention. Overall examining the legislation shows the difference in impact the two different ministries legislation had with Gladstone causing a huge impact whilst Disraelis showing only a very minor effect focusing on refining Gladstone previous legislation or reforming on very specific small issues to try and gain support. However both ministries were flawed though, for all Gladstone large and influential reforms he was voted out in 1874 and although Disraeli aimed not to lose any support he also was voted out in 1880. The reason why Gladstone was voted out were that his legislation was so wide ranging it impact on nearly every sector of society and as such Gladstone also lost his wide spectrum of support. The upper classes disliking his aims of efficiency feeling that they were breaking the traditional power structure of society against their favour. The middle and working classes were effected by Gladstones controversial legislation which was highly unpopular at the time such as the Licensing Act of 1872 and the 1871 Criminal Amendment Act. Both of these act reflects sometimes Gladstone misjudgement on what was beneficial for the people and how to create a fairer society. Also Gladstone failed in one of his key aims which was to pacify Ireland but he was the one of the few politicians who was truly trying to find a workable solution instead of coercion. Whilst Disraeli was voted out not because he had made a massive impact but because he was Prime Minister whilst the economy entered recession, this meant that his mild measure had even less impact and his expensive imperialistic aims were highly controversial. So due to the recession Disraeli failed to alleviate the condition of the people and his other aims meant his government appeared to stall resulting in his popularity dropping. Overall although his legislation was occasionally flawed the overall improvement and effect that Gladstones ministry had on the country reflect a great reforming ministry. Gladstones Liberal beliefs in meritocratic and individual society have become corner stones of British society reflecting the ministries long term impact and legislation such as the licensing act although unpopular at the time has only been amended never removed by later governments as they see the positive impacts of the restriction of alcohol. This reflected against Disraelis achievement of mildly modify Gladstones legislation and avoiding awkward decision domestically or trying to alter the status quo shows that his ministry cannot be considered a great reforming ministry. As such I disagree with the view that Disraelis government was a great reforming government instead arguing that it was his predecessor Gladstone that was clearly the great reforming ministry.

Merger And Acquisition Joint Ventures

Merger And Acquisition Joint Ventures Mergers and acquisitions (MAs) are becoming a strategy of choice for organizations attempting to maintain a competitive advantage. This paper reviews related literature to identify some underlying issues related to the success rate of MAs. It also discusses critical issues of joint ventures and also the problems and benefits of them. In addition, there has been an increased focus on the use of inter-firm relationships or strategic alliances in todays business. This paper also argues the factors which lead to successful strategic alliances. When firms are dealing with negative earnings and/or economic downturns, operational restructuring and consolidation are initiated as a rescue tool. Some firms recover, while the others fail to survive. Restructring and consolidation are the next issues which discuss generally. Introduction and Background Mergers and Acquisitions Acquisitions and mergers are a national as well as global trend. They occur everywhere in organizations, administrative units and businesses in all industries and of all sizes. Many people are at stake and a great deal of money as well (Balle, N. 2008). Mergers and acquisitions are becoming an increasingly popular strategic option for organizations (McEntire and Bentley, 1996). In fact, recent stimates indicate that the annual price tag of mergers and acquisitions consummated in the USA exceeds $1 trillion (Stanwick, 2000). Mergers are commonly characterized as the consolidation of two organizations into a single organization. Acquisitions, by contrast, are commonly characterized as the purchase of one organization from another where the buyer or acquirer maintains control (Borys and Jemison, 1989). Mergers and acquisitions (MAs) have been a very popular strategic maneuver for global businesses, attaining growth, diversification, or profitability (Fowler and Schmidt, 1988). In fact, the merger mania that started in the 1980s, continued throughout the 1990s and is still vigorous (Houghton et al., 2003). MAs are nothing but extreme forms of organizational change, and change is often perceived by employees as threatening, due to their feeling of vulnerability and fear of losing security (Saunders and Thronhill, 2003). Under these circumstances, they have become increasingly important in helping to redefine employment relationships (Anderson and Schalk, 1998; Cartwright and Cooper, 1993; Guest, 1998; Herriot and Pemberton, 1995, 1996; Hiltrop, 1995; McLean Parks and Kidder, 1994; Turnley et al., 2003). Joint Ventures Joint ventures (JVs) occur when two or more legally separate bodies form a jointly owned entity in which they invest and engage in various decision making activities (Geringer, 1988; 1991). A joint venture may be termed International (IJV) where at least one of the parties (or parents) is based outside the country where the venture is taking place or if the joint venture is being administered on a wide level in more than one country (Geringer and Hebert, 1989). JVs are now seen in terms of weaponry employed by companies within the context of their business networks to facilitate competition in relation to firms core markets and technologies (Beamish and Banks, 1987; Harrigan, 1987; Buckley and Casson, 1996); they are thus of vital strategic importance for international business and their significance is growing. It has been argued that various features of culture might affect the development of joint ventures. In their article Swierczek and Hirsch (1994) concluded that it is important that future partners understand the impact of differences in culture before they begin to joint venture. They added that JVs are often characterized by problems of misunderstanding and limited effectiveness because of the lack of compatibility of the cultures represented in the joint ventures. Similarly Beamish and Inkpen (1995) found that MNEs could benefit equally well from local market knowledge which their partners could provide. They also stated that the life cycles of many manufacturing subsidiaries are short because the MNE is unable to understand the knowledge of local culture, economy and politics. Strategic Alliances A strategic alliance is an agreement between two or more partners to share knowledge or resources which could be beneficial to all parties involved. Strategic alliances can be as simple as two companies sharing their technological and/or marketing resources. In contrast, they can be highly complex, involving several companies, located in different countries. These firms may in turn be linked with other organizations in separate alliances. The result is a maze of intertwined companies which may be competing with each other in several product areas. (Niren M. Vyas, William L. Shelburn and Dennis C. Rogers 1999). A few years ago strategic alliances were perceived as an option reserved only for corporate giants. Today, however, for many companies, a go-it-alone strategy no longer seems to be a viable alternative. As a result of the maturation of several trends of the 1980s intensified foreign competition, shortened product cycles, soaring capital investment costs, and the evergrowing demand for new technologies alliances are becoming an attractive strategy for the future (Niren M. Vyas, William L. Shelburn and Dennis C. Rogers 1999). Restructuring and Consolidation It is rare to find a single product company. Most have diversified their interests into related or unrelated areas. Some companies are known as restructuring companies, The latter acquire other companies essentially for the purpose of reorganizationing or streamlining and selling them off subsequently to other owners at a profit. Restructuring companies also have the function of aiding the process of restructuring an industry (Proctor, T. 2001). Operational restructuring involves making decisions about appropriate workforce size and skill requirements, plant capacity and location, functions consolidation, and possible shifts in production focus. More specifically, operational restructuring can be considered a program: that is planned and controlled by management, and materially changes either: the scope of a business undertaken by an enterprise; or the manner in which the business is conducted (Lin and Lee and Gibbs, 2007). Focusing is on operational restructurings for two primary reasons. First, such events often affect a companys business strategies, operations, organizational functions, and existing management structures. Second, operational restructurings entail controversial corporate accounting practices of restructuring charges (Lin and Lee and Gibbs, 2007). Corporate consolidation is a topic of active debate among academics and practitioneres alike. Academic reserches emphasis the importance role corporate consolidation play in disciplining under-performing management and imposing operating efficiences (Healy 1992; Jarrel et al., 1988), practitioners view it as a tool of market share expansion and an effective response to a plethora of competitive challenges (Read, 1999; Howell, 2002). In its most visible form, M As, corporate consolidation is a sizable business run in Europe by established national players operating, increasingly, on a cross-border basis (Berg, 2002). Merger and Acquisitions Several researchers have suggested that in most cases MAs fail to meet initial financial expectations (i.e. Bruner and Spekman, 1998; Haveman, 1992; Very and Schweiger, 2001; Zollo, 2003). Back in the 1980s, Lubatkin insisted that although MAs had been a very important and popular means for executing organizational strategies, less than 20 percent actually achieved its expected financial or strategic objectives. Almost a decade later, Cartwright and Cooper (1992) quoted nearly 40 per cent failure rates for change efforts and a few years later, 1996, nearly 50 percent of MAs failure rate to achieve initial objectives. Along the same lines, Weber (1996) found that 35 per cent of those MAs that fail in their first three years of life are a result of poor employee relations. Over the years, several researchers have raised that percent again, advocating that more than two-thirds of MAs fail to create meaningful shareholder value (Ashkenas et al., 1998; Carr et al., 2004; Marks and Mirvis, 1998). As for the main reasons for such failure rates, there is a dispute among researchers. Existing literature has identified among the main reasons for not fulfilling initial goals both hard and soft factors. Specifically, there are researchers suggesting that paying the wrong price, buying for the wrong reason, selecting the wrong partner, and buying at the wrong time are some of the most prominent ones (i.e. Armenakis, 1999; Haleblian, 1999). However, others insist that underestimation of depth of the problems related to the human factor during a M or A condemns the projects success, and thus, more attention has to be given on employees needs (i.e. Bijlsma-Frankema, 2001; De Cock and Rickards, 1996; Houghton et al., 2003; Lesowitz and Knauff, 2003; Seibert, 1995; Stahl et al., 2003). Focus on value creation, not just integration Many companies organize their post-merger integration activities on a functional basis rather than a value-added basis. While many functional activities must be consolidated (such as bringing databases together and rationalizing policies, procedures and IT systems), not all integration activities yield equal benefits. Blindly and aggressively integrating various functions and businesses without regard to a value-creating hierarchy can actually destroy value (Chanmugam, Shill, Mann, Ficery and Pursche, 2005). Use culture as a value-creation tool The most successful acquirers of the future will see culture as a tool in three ways. First, they will look at cultural differences during the target identification and bidding phases, assess the potential impact of those differences, and incorporate their analysis into the valuation and bid. Second, they will try to avoid the pitfalls common during pre- and post-merger planning, and actively incorporate the elements of each companys culture that best support the desired combination. Finally, they will proactively use culture to create value through the use of high-visibility retention, promotion, termination and structural organizational design decisions (Chanmugam, Shill, Mann, Ficery and Pursche, 2005). Joint Ventures Critical Issues for IJVs An IJV is defined as an equity sharing arrangement in which a foreign corporation and a local firm (either private or government owned) pool their resources, sharing risks and operational control to operate an independent business unit on a continuous basis for profit and/or to attain some strategic objective (Geringer and Hebert, 1991). Broadly viewed, the IJV market entry mode represents two opposing trends. First, judged by the number of entries, it is becoming increasingly popular as a mode of market entry and expansion (Makino and Beamish, 1998; Vanhonacker and Pan, 1997). In recent years an increasing number of global corporations have become involved in IJVs at home and overseas, covering many sectors, industries, and product groups (Griffith, Zeybek and OBrien, 2001). The second issue relates to the fragile nature of IJVs, and it has been repeatedly argued that the failure rate or instability rate of IJVs is above thirty percent, and it is often markedly higher compared to other alternative forms of market entry and operation (Makino and Beamish, 1998). Gomes-Casseres (1989) offered two explanations for reasons of instability in any JV, arguing that the partners simply made a mistake; forming a JV when it may not have been the best thing to do, or they joined up with the wrong partner. Further, that their ini tial decision was right, but conditions changed so that the JV was no longer useful (Cullen, Johnson, and Sakano, 1995). Problems with Joint Ventures Some of the main problems with Joint Ventures include: Significant differences in the major goals of the parties, Details of the joint venture contract, The foreign corporations global integration and the local partners national orientation, Differences between the partners concerning marketing, Desire for control, Transfer pricing conflicts, Conflict over decision making, managerial processes and style (Julian and OCass, 2003). Benefits of Joint Ventures Joint ventures provide companies with the opportunity to obtain new capacity and expertise. They allow companies to enter into related businesses or new geographic markets or obtain new technological knowledge. Joint ventures have a relatively short life span (5-7 years) and therefore do not represent a long-term commitment. In the era of divesture and consolidation, they offer a creative way for companies to exit from non-core businesses (companies can gradually separate a business from the rest of the organization, and ultimately, sell it to the other parent company (appr. 80% of all joint ventures end in a sale by one partner to the other) (Trafford and Proctor 2006). Succe of a Joint Venture success of a joint venture may be influenced by five important characteristics. These characteristics are illustrated as building blocks in a model which Trafford and Proctor(2006), have termed the COPED model. COPED Model (Trafford and Proctor, 2006) Communication Many business alliances fail to meet expectations because little attention is given to nurturing the close working relationships and interpersonal connections that unite the partnering organisations (Weitz and Jap, 1995). An awareness of communication processes is essential within alliances if maximum efforts are to be coordinated and directed towards the success of strategic alliances. Ineffective communication can reduce the effectiveness of a strategic alliance and thus lead to conflict between partners (Jain, 1987). There is an assumption that organisations will function better if communication is open, if relationships are based on mutual understanding and trust, if relationships are co-operative rather than competitive, if people work together in teams, and if decisions are reached in a participative way. These conditions, however, are not observed in many organisational situations. Main barriers to communication concern are power differences; gender differences; physical surroundings; language; and cultural diversity (Huczynski and Buchanan, 2001). Openness Trust is considered a prerequisite for alliance success (Byrne, 1993) and lack of trust is a major reason for alliance failures (Peng and Shenkar, 2002). There is evidence to point to the fact that strategic alliances may be unstable and their success rate poor (Gant, 1995). Partner firms need to manage this risk adequately by understanding the conjoint roles of trust and control. The establishment of a new relationship between members of the organisation at all levels a relationship based on trust is an issue that is becoming increasingly important to organisations (Handy, 1995). Planning Many strategic alliances lack alliance strategies. A coherent alliance strategy has four elements: (1) a business strategy to shape the logic and design of the alliance; (2) a dynamic view to guide the management and evolution of the alliance; (3) a portfolio approach to enable co-ordination among the alliance to enhance flexibility; and (4) an internal infrastructure that supports and strives to maximise the value of external collaboration (Gomes-Casseres, 2000). When managed well, the above elements can create tremendous value. At the wrong time and when managed poorly, they can be costly distractions (Gomes-Casseres, 2000). According to Hill and Jones (2001), the strategic planning process can be broken down into five main steps: (1) mission and objectives; (2) environmental scanning; (3) strategy formation; (4) strategy implementation; and (5) evaluation and control. Ethos Ethos is the characteristic spirit or attitudes of a community, or people (Webster, 1992). It comes very much to the fore in strategic alliances when the co-operating firms continue to be independent organisations and a new situation appears in which an interaction is established between two firms with different organisational cultures. This usually implies different leadership styles and different objectives, which may lead to lack of trust between the parties and to conflicts which may arise when the time comes to make decisions (Buono, 1991). Similarly, cultural conflicts are more common in joint ventures, where a closer contact between the partners is required, than in contractual alliances (Schultz, 1998). Direction The public sector is under pressure to improve service delivery and cooperate more effectively (Cabinet Office, 2003). There is a growing demand for leaders able to carry out these tasks, and to see through fundamental processes of change. The appointment, monitoring, reward and accountability structures and processes all play some part in inhibiting and/or encouraging certain forms of leadership which give the correct direction. Strategic Alliances Parkhe (1993) defined a strategic alliance as a: relatively enduring interfirm co-operative agreement, involving flows and linkages that use resources and/or governance structures from autonomous organizations, for the joint accomplishment of individual goals linked to the corporate mission of each sponsoring firm. Following from this definition, it can be seen that an alliance must be a formal part of business strategy (Johnson, 1999), meaning that an agreement between two partners must be formalised into a contract, as opposed to a handshake deal or a verbal agreement. Second, alliances must be mutually beneficial; that is, they must result in a win-win situation. Koza and Lewin (1998) argued that one of the many reasons that strategic alliances were formed was to seek out new knowledge by acquiring new technology and skills. In this type of alliance they argued that the partners would seek to reduce information asymmetry between the partners. This may involve the standardization of service delivery of production processes, joint strategic planning, sharing of databases and knowledge transfer through staff exchanges. A second and related motivation for forming an alliance was to explore for new market opportunities. This involved innovation, basic research, invention, risk taking, building new capabilities, entering new lines of business, and investments in the firms absorptive capacity. Barriers to successful Strategic Alliances Barriers to successful strategic alliances must also be recognized. The three major barriers are: (1) Failure to understand and adapt to new style of management. The adaptation of a new style of management requires a change in corporate culture which must be initiated and nurtured from the top. (2) Failure to learn and understand the cultural differences. Not only do the cultural differences exist among international firms seeking alliances, but corporate cultures may be different among firms from the same country. Flexibility and learning are the greatest tools in overcoming this barrier. (3) Lack of iron-clad commitment to succeed. Individuals who negotiated or implemented the initial alliance agreement may change due to promotions, transfers, retirement, or terminations. Continuity of total commitment for the alliance is needed at all levels in the organization without which the alliance will fail to reach its full potential (Vyas, Shelburn and Rogers, 1995). Importance of Knowledge in Strategic Alliances Inter-firm cooperative initiatives are one of the precious ways for firms to identify, transfer and internalize external knowledge. Koguts review of literature addressing joint ventures found that one of the firms main motivations for entering into collaborative agreements was to transfer organizational knowledge (Kogut, 1988). Berg and Friedman, in a study of over 300 JVs at the 2-digit SIC level showed that in many cases, joint ventures did not in fact enhance the market power of the parent firm, but rather functioned as a means of knowledge acquisition (Berg and Friedman, 1981). Thus the issues of knowledge creation, knowledge transfer and learning have attracted researchers and have been examined several times in academic research and management consulting applied studies. Restructuring and Consolidation Why and how to Restructure an Ailing Business A number of typical situations that a firm with declining performance may encounter and could cause this firm to go through an operational restructuring are stated in this section. -Needs for operational restructuring The decision to restructure is driven by a number of considerations. At times, restructuring is in response to significant sea changes in the business environment while in other cases it is done to address poor operating/stock performance. Both internal (e.g. financial distress) and external (e.g. recessions) economic and financial conditions can drive the decision to restructure. Additionally, votes of no confidence in management will likely lead to corporate restructuring (Lin and Lee and Gibbs, 2007). -Typical activities of operational restructuring and consolidation Restructuring and consolidation efforts can take on a couple of forms. Often times management takes steps to contain costs, but in at other times drastic changes such as a refocusing of business direction occurs. For a firm that incurs losses, cost control is often the first step to return to profitability. Slashing labor costs, production costs, selling and administrative expenses, RD expenditures, and financing costs are common measures of corporate restructurings (Denis and Kruse, 2000). Downsizing and employee layoffs are the restructuring actions that are typically taken to cope with poor operating performance, especially within contracting economies(Lin and Lee and Gibbs, 2007). Other Issues Operational restructuring and consolidation has been considered as one important turnaround strategy for a firm in a bad situation, especially during an economic recession. Lin and Lee and Gibbs (2007), stated that delisting risk increases when firms undertake repetitive restructurings, massive workforce reduction, and large-scale asset downsizing. Moreover, firms with high levels of debt and failure to cut costs and/or narrowing its focus on core competencies are also more likely to delist. Conclusion As more and more companies opt to supplement organic growth with mergers and acquisitions, the earlier stages of MA transactions are becoming relatively mature, commoditized processes. According to Galpin and Herndon (2008), in order to build replicable MA integration, MA integration must be managed as an end-to-end business process. MA integration is a competency set with specific skills that must be built throughout the organization. The organizations MA integration process and capabilities must be in place before the train leaves the station that is, before the deal gets done. The organizations MA integration process must be continually improved by learning from previous mistakes and successes. The researches indicate the existence of five helpful characteristics identified under the heading of Communication, Openness, Planning, Ethos and Direction, which may be present in a successful partnership (joint) venture. The COPED model, is for building more comprehensive and productive relationships between public sector organisations and private sector companies which lead them to a successful joint venture. Strategic alliances are in the age of business without boundaries. A strategic objective aimed at expanding the competitive knowledge resource, and clearly there are special skills in bringing these arrangements to fruition. Professional managers recognize that in the age of business without boundaries it is essential that they provide learning opportunities and the necessary knowledge that will enable their employees to effectively and securely collaborate internally and externally. So there is a need for knowledge and learning regarding to strategicalliances (Dealtry, 2008). Operational restructuring has been considered as one important turnaround strategy for a firm in a bad situation, especially during an economic recession. Moreover, firms with high levels of debt and failure to cut costs and/or narrowing its focus on core competencies are also more likely to delist. So considering and learning about restructuring and consolidation is another important isuue to take account for managers.