Sunday, October 13, 2019

Effect of Temperature on the Rate of Reaction between Sodium Thiosulphate and Hydrochloric Acid :: GCSE Chemistry Coursework Investigation

Effect of Temperature on the Rate of Reaction between Sodium Thiosulphate and Hydrochloric Acid Investigation Chemical reactions are used in our everyday life, they literally keep us alive. They are used in food, respiration and everywhere else in the environment. A chemical reaction mainly occurs when reactants react together to produce a new product. The speed at which this reaction takes place is called the rate of reaction. The product produced has a number of particles in the solution that has formed from the reactants. The concentration is the amount of particles in a certain amount of water. If a cross is placed under the beaker of the solution, the cross will eventually disappear because the high temperature of the water will make the particles move faster because they have more energy and they will move more quicker to give a bigger impact which will cause more frequent and violent collisions and the solution will disappear as the product forms to create a misty solution. The rate of reaction is normally recorded in tables and can then be defined onto graphs to show how the rate curves of different factors affect the speed of the reaction. A rate curve is the curve of a graph that shows how the reaction changes at different intervals. The gradient of the graph tells us whether the different rate curves have the same relation, meaning if they have a similar rate of reaction. Reactions can take place in a variety of customs; they can bee steep or steady. The steeper the slope, the faster the reaction takes place. The steadier the slope, the slower the reaction takes place. Aim: The aim of my investigation is to find out whether the increase of temperature increases the rate of reaction between the two reactants of Sodium Thiosulphate and Hydrochloric acid. I will then find out and evaluate on how temperature affects this particular reaction. Factors There are four main factors, which affect the rate of reaction that are considered as variables for the experiment I will be doing, they are the following: Molecules can only collide when two of them meet together. This meeting between the two particles can only take place on the surface area of the material. If the surface area of the material is increased, the particles gather more space to collide with each other with force. With a large surface area, the particles will have more area to work on so the collision probability will be high. A catalyst is a separate substance to the ones you use in your experiment and is used to speed up the reaction between the reactants.

Saturday, October 12, 2019

Marc Antony’s Funeral Oration Essay -- Julius Caesar, William Shakespe

In William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Mark Antony pleads with his â€Å"Friends, Romans (and) countrymen† to lend him their ears in an effort to exonerate Caesar from false charges laid against him. The three main conspirators in Caesar’s murder, Brutus, Casca and Cassius portrayed Caesar as an ambitious tyrant to the Roman people. After Caesar was unjustly killed by his friends and comrades, the crowd was persuaded to believe that his death was necessary for the good of the republic. However, Antony’s oration cleverly manipulates the crowd through the use of pathetic appeals, especially enargeia, into rebelling against the assassins and mourning the death of Caesar. Caesar’s untimely and unnecessary death created a unique rhetorical moment that Marc Antony seized. Bitzer states in his article â€Å"The Rhetorical Situation† that â€Å"a particular discourse comes into existence because of some specific condition or situation which invites utterance† (Bitzer 41). According to the assassins, Caesar’s murder was necessary for the good of all the Roman citizens, who unquestioningly believed Brutus’s accusations that Caesar was ambitious and unfit to govern Rome. Marc Antony used his speech to win back the citizens and unite them in grief and outrage at Caesar’s murder. One of Marc Antony’s objectives as he ascended to the pulpit was to refute the claims of Caesar’s guilt of ambition: â€Å"I thrice presented him a kingly crown, / Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition? / Yet Brutus says he was ambitious; / And, sure, he is an honourable man. / I speak not to disprove what Brutus spokeâ €  (3.2.98-102). He reminded the public that Caesar had been offered the opportunity to be crowned King of Rome three times, and each time Caesar had refused it... ...r the name of the slain leader and managed to sway public opinion from one extreme to another. His words cause the angry mob to scour the streets of Rome for anyone who took part in his murder. His pathetic appeals to his friends, Romans and countrymen incited them to become an enraged mob to avenge Caesar’s death. His words display the assassin’s malicious actions for what they were and honor the memory of Caesar. Works Cited Bitzer, Lloyd F. "The Rhetorical Situation." Philosophy and Rhetoric (1968): 39-48. Crowley, Sharon, and Debra Hawhee. "Chapter 6: Ethical Proof : Arguments From Character." Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students. New York: Pearson Longmann, 2004. 163-203. Crowley, Sharon, and Debra Hawhee. "Chapter 7: Pathetic Proof : Passionate Appeals." Ancient Rhetorics for Contemporary Students. New York: Pearson Longmann, 2004. 205-219.

Friday, October 11, 2019

Customer service – the investigation assignment

I'm going to do an investigation into two different organisations taking into account the principles, products and services that are offered and the companies' customer care policies. My first organisation is Alton Towers; a fun packed theme park aimed at all types of age groups, maybe not for the over 50's though. It is the UK's best loved theme park, 2 hotels, a spa, an extraordinary golf course, and nineteenth century gothic castles. My second organisation is First choice tour operators; a leisure travel company operating in four different sectors. They have many high street stores and are a well-known respected tour operations company. My first impression of Alton towers was quite alright, it weren't bad customer service but we had a few problems. I and my friends had gone for a birthday party and we had pre-booked our tickets so that we could just go straight through and not have to queue up. When we got to the desk the lady couldn't find us on the computer and asked us for our reference number, we weren't given a ref number we just got told to show them a confirmation letter they had emailed us. There was a mix up on the computer and they eventually sorted it out. They never really apologised to us for making us wait and not explaining thoroughly what had happened. By the end of our visit we had forgot the kafuffle at the beginning as we'd had such a good day and the service throughout the day was brill! My first impression for First Choice tour operators was fantastic. I flew with first choice to Gran Canaria in Xmas 2005. When we first got on the plane they greeted us with smiles and asked if we were ok etc. When we sat down ready for take off they all came round to check if we required anything and to see that we were all ok. I think that is good service as there job is too look after their customers and that's exactly what they were doing. Some airlines do have good customer service but first choice just seemed to stand out to me. I've flown with Gold Trail before and they were horrendous, you would ask for assistance and they would come back to you in around 45 minutes; They were absolutely terrible. We were also delayed on that flight for 7 hours and didn't receive anything for it. The principals of customer care. First impressions are the first sign of good customer care, for example if you walked into a travel agents wanting to find out some information on a holiday you have seen, you would want the agent to approach you first with a cheery happy face and be polite! That is a good first impression, if you walked in and you had to speak first and they looked all morbid and mardy, you wouldn't think that was a good first impression. In any organisation the people of the company should always give a good first impression because that's what the customer remembers. Any company should have good company image, an appealing logo is a first, you wouldn't go in a travel agents if they had a shabby logo on their shop, you would want it too look appealing and stand out. Employees should have a the company's logo on their uniform as that gives a good impression, plus customers will know that they are part of that company if they need assistance. Speed and accuracy of service is vital in customer care, you want to be served as quickly and efficient as possible. You don't want to be waiting ages to be assisted and then they don't give you the advice you wanted or they sell you the wrong product. Every company should have a customer service policy; all companies should provide a helpful, friendly and reliant service. The methods my two organisations use to monitor and evaluate their customer service. Alton towers have a comment sheet and cards to ensure that all customers are enjoying their visit. The comments sheet/cards enable the company to understand what the customer likes and dislikes and too see if there are any problems. When you're in the park they come round and put the sheets under your windscreen wiper so that when you return to your car you can fill it in. If you have any complaints or claims you must write to their customer relations manager within 28days of your trip to Alton towers. All complaints or claims that do not involve in injury or death, Alton towers cannot accept liability. First choice holidays listen to their frontline employees, customer focus groups, customer feedback questionnaires and by conducting mystery shopping where a third party acts as a customer and feeds back to the company on the quality of the service they receive. These are all good ways for company's to monitor their customer service. There are many other ways a company good monitor their customer service; observations, feedback from team members, suggestions box or book, questionnaires and surveys, or simply just have a customer service desk if they feel they are not satisfied within the store and want to complain straight away. The benefits of good customer service The benefits of an employee would be that if they gave a good service within their job then they would enjoy their job as they would be praised.You would also be secure in your job as if your good at your job and can deliver a good service, your employer will want you to stay. If you are good at your job and the customers are all satisfied, your employer may give you a pay rise. Incentives can also be given to you by your employer.For example you could be set a target and if you reach it you can be awarded some money or even a holiday. The benefits to the employer would be that the sales and profits of the business would rise because of returned customers and more customers would come to you as the returning customers would tell other people. There would be less complaints if the business had a good service, which would mean more positive feedback. If the business was in competition with other businesses they would have a better advantage as customers would want to go to their business as they deliver a better service. Customers will be highly satisfied if you give them a good service, you will be meeting their needs and exceeding their expectations, they will return and give word of mouth. Returning customers is good for every business, it is also good for both the customer and the employee as you will build a good repour. Customers will also gain your loyalty and certainly give recommendations. Consequences of a poor service If you give a poor service the financial side of the business will fail and lose money. The reputation of the employer will be bad and people who were thinking of applying for a job in that company will reconsider there thoughts. My first impression of Alton towers was a poor service, we said we weren't going to pre-book our tickets there again we would just do it the normal way, but as the day went on the service was brilliant and we had forget all about the kafuffle at the start of the day. First Choice was a great first impression at the start; we went back to them as they had delivered a good service. If they had delivered us a poor service we would not have gone back and would have told other people how rude they were etc. In all customer service related jobs, every employee should abide by the data protection act because all customers details and personal information is confidential. If any disabled individual entered an establishment you would not treat them any different. You should not treat any individual different from anyone else, everyone should be treat the same despite race, sex, religion or any views they have on anything.

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Berjaya Corporation Berhad Essay

1.0 Introduction A business that seeks to operate honestly, considers people and the environment when making business decisions, and tries to make a positive contribution to the local community and to wider society Berjaya Corporation Berhad is an investment holding company and is engaged in the provision of management services. Berjaya Corporation group of companies is founded by Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Vincent Tan Chee Yioun when he acquired a major controlling stake Berjaya Industrial Berhad in the year of 1984. It is originally known as Berjaya Kawat Berhad and now known as Reka Pacifiic Berhad. In October 1988, Berjaya Group became the holding company of Reka Pacific Berhad. The principal activities of the subsidiaries consist of Consumer Marketing, Direct Selling & Retail; Financial Services; Hotels, Resorts, Vacation Timeshare & Recreation Development; Property Investment and Development; Gaming & Lottery Management; Development of Sanitary Landfill, Environvental Services and clean Technology Investment; Food & Beverage; and Investment Holding (appendix 1). Hence, due to their strategies structure, it has made them successful until today. At Berjaya Corporation group of companies, they believe that being a social responsible company can bring a balance between profitability and communities they operate. Due to their business, Berjaya companies almost in touch with society daily needs. Therefore, Berjaya always encourage their staff to take part in the Group’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities. Over the years, Berjaya Corporation had planned many charity projects, fund-raising events and donations as a social commitment towards the society. 2.0 Current Practices 2.1 Community To curb the escalation of strays in Malaysia, Berjaya Corporation Berhad organized a charity concert and conducted by Berjaya Youth to raise funds  for the approximately RM115,000 for the sterilization of 1,000 rescued animals. Besides that, Berjaya Youth had collaborated with Paws Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) to launch its Mobile Animal Clinic at Berjaya Times Square (appendix 2). Better Malaysia Foundation, Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Vincent Tan ‘s personal foundation, had donated the mobile animal clinic that worth RM220,000 to create awareness on the importance of spaying and neutering of animals to curb the escalation of strays in Malaysia. The mobile animal clinic features a well-equipped examination room that can administer vaccination and perform sterilization on animals safely. Besides that, Berjaya Corporation has partnered with PAWS Animal Welfare Society to build a cattery building that can provide space for 300 cats. This cattery is to improve the living conditions of homeless cat till they get adopted. With this cattery, Berjaya Corporation want to create awareness for people to adopt a cat instead of buying. This is a good news for PAWS as PAWS is shortage of space and limited funds to take care those abandoned cats and dogs (appendix 3). Disabilities are always one of the groups that need community to give support. On 14 June 2014, Berjaya Corporation Berhad donated RM200, 000 to the Life Prostheses Centre (â€Å"LFL†) located in the Bandar Utama Buddhist Society’s building in Petaling Jaya, Selangor. The centre is the first and only prostheses workshop in Malaysia that provide free prosthetic limbs to poor and less fortunate Malaysia (appendix 4). However, the cost of making a limbs is not cheap, each cost estimated between RM3, 000 to RM5, 000. With the contribution of RM200,000 , it will enable the centre to get 40 to 70 prosthetic limbs depending on the type and level of amputation. Next, Berjaya Cares Foundation contributed 10 units of dialysis machines worth RM450,000 to the National Kidney Foundation of Malaysia (appendix 5). Since the establishment of this foundation, Berjaya Corporation have never failed to support them, Berjaya Corporation Berhad has raised funds for National Kidney Foundation through annual Kenny Roasters Chicken Run event  for 2 years and through donation boxes placed in 7-Eleven outlets. Last year, they get to set up a one-stop information hub for all matters related to kidney and kidney care. 2.2 Employees Employees of Berjaya Corporation had their priority in the company. Berjaya Corporation always give their employees good quality in their workplace to make sure their employees can focus in their career development. Besides that, employees are constantly encouraged to participate in training and development programmes which relevant to their job field, so they can improve their productivity and develop skill sets. Moreover, Berjaya Cares Foundation regularly organizes talk about health, safety awareness and other topics such as personal development to their staff (appendix 6), while the Sports Toto Fitness Centre with full completed gymnasium equipment and facilities is set up to encourage their staff to exercise regularly and maintain a healthy lifestyle. Besides that, Berjaya Cares Foundation had set up a Staff Welfare Fund to manage and supplement financial aid to their employees and their family member whenever they need help in illness, natural disaster and death. This is a very good benefit to become their staff. 2.3 Environment A group of 17 Sports Toto volunteers went to Kuala Selangor Nature Park to plant mangrove trees. Mangrove trees are very good in carbon absorption and act as natural flood retention â€Å"sponge† to hold heavy rainfall which can prevent flood. Next, Mangrove trees help to hold sediments along riverbanks to safeguard coastline erosion and reduce pollution to coral reefs and marine life and also provide breeding and nursery grounds. They had planted 100 mangrove saplings (appendix 7). Other than Sports Toto, Berjaya Hotel & Resorts conducted a project of three  day Tioman Island Clean-Up Day with over 100 participants including staff, media and children from Sekolah Kebangsaan Tekek, Tioman. This activity can educate people about the importance of coral reefs to the ecosystems. There are a total of 121 reef-destroying Crown of Thorns were removed during the dive clean-up (appendix 8). They also clean up the beach with given handheld plastic bags. The result of cleaning up the beach is 15 bags of discarded plastic litters, paper wastes, beverage cans and bottles that weighing over 300kg. 2.4 Sports Toto In Malaysia, gambling is illegal as Malaysia is a Muslim country and majority of the population is Muslim. However, Berjaya Corporation Berhad insists of starting up the gambling business to the country and it is known as Sports Toto. Sports Toto Malaysia was incorporated by Malaysia Government in 1969. Then it is privatized in 1985. Today, Sports Toto is owned subsidiary of Berjaya Sports Toto Berhad and listed on the main market of Bursa Malaysia. Sports Toto is a zero sum game that accumulates the money and distributes to the winners and at the same time, gain profit from it. When people are winning the game, there will always a lot of losers. There are losers more than winners. 2.5 Conflict of the Board As we know, the current chairman and Chief Executive Officer (â€Å"CEO†) of Berjaya Corporation is Dato’ Robin Tan Yeong Ching, the eldest son of Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Vincent Tan Chee Yioun. Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Vincent Tan Chee Yioun was the previous chairman and CEO of Berjaya Corporation and now he is the major shareholder of Berjaya Corporation. Dato’ Robin Tan Yeong Ching was later appointed as the Chief Executive Officer (â€Å"CEO†) of the Company on 1 January 2011 and subsequently as the Chairman/CEO of the Company on 23 February 2012. CEO and Chairman shouldn’t be the same person because this will be conflict. 3.0 Rank about the company 3.1 Employees Employee is the most concern for Berjaya Corporate Berhad because employees are company’s best asset. As Boudreau and Ramstad (2007) present: â€Å"Whether it is called â€Å"people,† â€Å"labor,†Ã¢â‚¬Å"intellectual capital,† â€Å"human capital,† â€Å"human resources,† â€Å"talent,† or some other term, there source that lies within employees and how they are organized is increasingly recognized as critical to strategic success and competitive advantage. Without employees, Berjaya Corporate could not be success like today. Berjaya Corporation Berhad is the Top 30 Best Companies to work in Malaysia and today Berjaya Corporation Berhad has a total of 17,000 employees strength. Berjaya Corporation has various industries such as food and beverage, automotive, hotel and resorts and more. Hence, employee takes an important role in the company as they are backbone of the company and they are the one who services the customers. Therefore, company need to treat their employee nicely as the way you treat your employees is the way they will treat your customers (Branson, 2014). According to the Maslow Hierarchy Needs (Abraham Maslow, 1943), there are five categories of human needs such as basic needs, safety needs, belonging needs, esteem and self-actualization needs. These five needs separated to high and low categories. However, company should try to fulfill the low needs for their employee. Although is not a company’s responsible to fulfill all the employees needs, employees will become loyalty to the company once the company can fulfill their needs. Employees who The hierarchy of needs theory is relevant to this study as the theory is applicable to organizational orientation and employee motivation (Greenberg & Baron, 2003). First of all, employees work to fulfill their basic needs in their life. They will only work for company when there are reasonable salary amount for them. Thus, Berjaya Corporation will give their employee bonus, incentive and even lucky draw during Berjaya Founder’s Day. Next, safety needs is a very important need towards the employees especially  for some job that will take risk. Berjaya Corporation had always conduct healthy talk or body check to their employees, so they know how to take care their body. Other than that, belonging needs is very important to an employee. Employee who feels they belong to the company, they usually will put a great deal of effort into their daily tasks. 3.2 Community Community is the second concern of Berjaya Corporation, they have planned many charity events and donations towards the community. Every year, they will have an event called as Berjaya Founder’s Day. Berjaya Founder’s Day is an annual affair dedicated to give back to society. This day, they will rise up a fund from the efforts of staff and sponsor form banker, suppliers and friends of Berjaya. The first Berjaya Founder’s Day was conducted on 26 February 2011 and get RM6.6 million donations for 30 beneficiaries. Next, the second Berjaya Founder’s Day get a total amount of RM11.6 million for 61 charitable organizations. The third Berjaya Founder’s Day on 23 February 2013 contributed RM20.2 million to 74 charitable organizations, while the latest Berjaya Founder’s Day on 22 February 2014 has collected RM25.6 million to 90 charitable organizations. From above, we can see that every year of the amount and number of charitable organization are increasing. This shows that nowadays society a lot of people need help from a big company like Berjaya Corporation come out to support them. These charitable organizations include those that support community, education, heath causes, international humanitarian aid, local performing arts as well as environmental awareness and animal causes. According to instrumental theories from Garriga and Mele’s (2004), Berjaya Corporation is focusing on achieving economic objectives through social activities. Through social activities, this can maximize shareholders’ value and is a strategy for competitive advantage. Times have changed. There are more than 8,000 companies around the world use corporation social responsibility in their business. Because corporate social responsible is a way for companies to benefit them while also  benefitting the society. It is a win-win situation. According to a data released by Net Impact, the nonprofit that aims to help businesses promote sustainability, 65% of MBAs surveyed say they want to make a social or environmental difference through their jobs (Knowledge@Wharton, 2014). When a big company can give back to the community, it will be the most inspiring parts of corporate life. It shows that the company takes care of the society and it is an ethical company. This helps company to get good reputation from the society. 3.3 Environment Environment is the third concern of Berjaya Corporation. Berjaya Corporation is a diversified company that will initially influence the environment from their projects. When they are starting up a factory in a rural area, Berjaya Corporation will have to go through the process of deforestation. Cutting off the trees will definitely given a negative impact to the environment such as landslide due to the destroyed on the existing mechanical root structure in the area. However, as an ethical business, Berjaya Corporation will take up the responsibility to improve the environment by organizing an awareness event. For instance, mangrove trees planting for environmental conservation were held on 19 April 2011 with the group of Toto Sports volunteer in Kuala Selangor. Total of 100 mangrove trees are planted. The resource of our planet is limited and unsustainability is stated in the theory of Environmental Ethics (Paul W. Taylor, 1986). Moreover, Berjaya Corporation has also incorporated â€Å"Go Green† program in their business to avoid wastage and spread the awareness towards their customer. For example, use green products for take away food and beverage such as Starbucks Reusable Tumbler and Kenny Rogers Roasters I-Care Box. This shows how Berjaya Corporation cares about the environment. In addition, Berjaya Corporation chooses to cooperate with local suppliers to use less paper work and also give business to them. In addition, Berjaya Corporation ships their products by sea rather than airfeirght. 3.4 Sports Toto Sports Toto is a subsidiaries company of Berjaya Corporation. Sports Toto is very popular among Malaysian and it is the largest number of forecast operator in Malaysia as it has more than 670 outlets in Malaysia. Over the years, Sports Toto has been made many corporate social responsible such as charity, community sports, education and cultural promotion. It is a responsible corporate citizen but also a unhealthy games for Malaysia especially Malaysia is a Muslim country. It is unfair when only the Chinese and Indian can buy Toto tickets while the Malay is not allow to purchase. Malaysian called it â€Å"buy a hope† when they place their bets. Therefore, everyday there are a lot of Malaysian spend money on buying toto tickets. Some of them even use their money like water to purchase to try to win the grand prize. But Sports Toto is the only one that â€Å"winning big†. However, people with little money are always attracted to buy because it gives them the feeling of winning and the amount of the prizes is too great for them. In summary, gaming industry is harmful for individuals and society. However, it is the greatest happiness for the greatest number, stated by the utilitarianism theory of Jeremy Bentham (1987) . Jeremy Bentham said that it does not matter on the action but the result. If the result happens to be good and not harmful to others, it is consider as ethical. Therefore, the Sports TOTO game do helps on certain people on their financial issue. Sports TOTO creates hope for people to continue survive without financial difficulties. 3.5 Conflict of the Board In Berjaya Corporation, the CEO and Chairman seat is taken by the same person who is Dato’ Robin Tan. It is unethical to do so because it shows no fairness towards the employee. This is egoism ethical because they only hand over the position towards to their family instead outsiders. Chairman and CEO have different roles in the company, if this two roles combined together will creates an inherent conflict of interest. The Chairman of the Board of a company is the chief representative of the shareholders. The CEO of the company is the leader of the managers. The job of the chairman is to look after the shareholders. His main job is to fire the incompetent managers that are not qualified or control ones that overreach. Chairman should also look for workers that are potential enough to help company earn profit. While the CEO’s job is to manage, report to the board that set the policies and priorities based on the shareholders’ wished and needs such as higher income, high reward policy or bonus. Besides that, he should look out for the interests, salary or extra allowance of managers. If chairman was the same person, he will basically reporting to himself. This shows that Chairman and CEO had two different and conflicting roles. Where this might bring conflict of interest arises. 4.0 Recommendation Berjaya Corporation Berhad should encourage more green activities instead of replanting the trees or cleaning the beach. They should conduct green activities in all of his company and Subsidiaries Company together as this will be effective towards the society. They can also gather different ideas and save up unnecessary costs. It can also bring a good image to their employees or other company will follow their steps. Besides that, Sports Toto should stop convince consumers that buying toto tickets is a good habit through advertisement, this may lead people to spend a lot of money on toto tickets and end up becoming poor. Next, Berjaya Corporation should allow every employees to attend the health talk, not only the small amount because this may causes employee feel unfair and do not feel they belong to the company. Lastly, Berjaya Corporation should get two people to in charge position of CEO and also chairman as this two positions will have conflict if taken by the same person. 5.0 Conclusion Berjaya Corporation Berhad is very good in their CSR which makes them different from other company. CSR can also bring benefits in terms of risk management to company such as cost savings, access to capital, customer relationships, human resource management, and innovation capacity. CSR can also make company outstanding compare to company that did not do CSR. According to the European Commission, company with more responsible business can foster more growth. Hence, CSR is very important for a company especially public listed company like Berjaya Corporation. However, Berjaya Corporation not to only focus on CSR but also take care of their primary stakeholders such as shareholder and customer by fulfill their needs and wants. 6.0 Reference Bentham, J. (1987). An introduction to the principles of morals and legislation. In J. S. Mill and J. Bentham, Utilitarianism and Other Essays,Harmandsworth: Penguin. Berjaya.com, (2014). Berjaya Corporation Berhad. [online] Available at: http://www.berjaya.com/corporate-profile.html [Accessed 29 Nov. 2014]. BOUDREAU, J. W. – RAMSTAD, P. M.: Beyond HR. Boston. Harvard Business School Press, 2007. ISBN 978-1-4221-0415-6 Branson, R. (2014). The way you treat your employees†¦ – Virgin.com. [online] Virgin.com. Available at: http://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/the-way-you-treat-your-employees [Accessed 28 Nov. 2014]. Fisher, J. (2004) Social Responsibility and Ethics: Clarifying the Concepts, Journal of Business Ethics 52: 391-400. Greenberg, J., and Baron, R. A.( 2003). Behavior in Organizations: Understanding and Managing the Human Side of Work.Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Knowledge@Wharton, (2014). From Fringe to Mainstream: Companies Integrate CSR Initiatives into Everyday Business – Knowledge@Wharton. [online] Available at: http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/from-fringe-to-mainstream-companies-integrate-csr-initiatives-into-everyday-business/ [Accessed 27 Nov. 2014]. Maslow, A. H. (1954). Motivation and Personality: NY: Harper Taylor, Paul W. (2010). â€Å"Egalitarian Biocentrism†. In Keller, David R. Environmental Ethics: The Big Questions. John Wiley & Sons. 7.0 Appendix Appendix 1: Berjaya Corporate Structure Appendix 2: Animal Mobile Clinic Appendix 3: New home for homeless cat Appendix 4: Free prosthetic limbs to poor Appendix 5: Donate 10 units of dialysis machines to the National Kidney Foundation of Malaysia Appendix 6: Health talk to employees Appendix 7: Sports Toto volunteers plant mangrove trees Appendix 8: Tioman Island Clean-Up Day

Wednesday, October 9, 2019

Science ; Future

Much of what IVe said would seem uncontroversial or even platitudinous to the scientifically-attuned audiences here in Newcastle this week. But there's one thing that scientific advisors in any democratic system must not forget. When really big and long-term policies are in contention – whether about nuclear weapons, nuclear power, drug classification, or health risks – political decisions are seldom purely scientific: they involve ethics, economics and social policies as well.Such discussions hould engage all of us, as citizens – and of course our elected representatives. Sometimes this has happened, and constructively too. The dialogue with parliamentarians led, despite divergent ethical stances, to a generally-admired legal framework on embryos and stem cells – a contrast to what happened in the US. And Lisa Jardine has chaired the HFEA, another fine precedent. But we've had failures too: the GM crop debate was left too late – to a time when opin ion was already polarised between eco-campaigners on the one side and commercial interests on the other.Scientists have a special responsibility to engage – though they should accept that on the economic, social and ethical aspects of any policy they speak as citizens and not as experts. But despite many worthy efforts, there are habitual grumbles that such inputs don't have much traction with politicians. For them, the urgent trumps the important. The local trumps the global. And getting re-elected trumps almost everything. Anything that gets headlined in the media, or makes their postbag bulge, will get attention.It's volume not quality that counts. So scientists might have more leverage on politicians indirectly – by publicising their research and letting the media do the campaigning – rather than by more official and direct channels. This is one reason – over and above the general cultural value of our findings – why â€Å"outreach† by s cientists is important. And there are special things universities teachers can do. We're privileged to have influence over successive generations of students.We should try to sensitise them to the issues that will confront them in their careers – ndeed, polls show, unsurprisingly, that younger people who expect to survive most of the century, are more engaged and anxious about long-term issues. We fret too much about minor hazards of everyday life: improbable air crashes, carcinogens in food, low radiation doses, and so forth. But the wide public is in denial about two kinds of threats: those that we're causing collectively to the biosphere, and those that stem from the greater vulnerability of our interconnected world to error or terror induced by individuals or small groups.The issues impel us to plan internationally (for nstance, whether or not a pandemic gets global grip may hinge, for instance, on how quickly a Vietnamese poultry farmer can report any strange sickness). And many of them – energy and climate change, for instance, involve multi-decade timescales – plainly far outside the â€Å"comfort zone† of most politicians. One issue that should be addressed is whether nations need to give up more sovereignty to new organisations along the lines of IAEA, WHO, etc.Final message Unlike our 17th century forebears who I cited at the beginning of this talk, we know a reat deal about our world – and indeed about what lies beyond. Technologies that our ancestors couldn't nave conceived enrich our lives and our understanding. Many phenomena still make us fearful, but the advance of science spares us from irrational dread. We know that we are stewards of a precious â€Å"pale blue dot† in a vast cosmos – a planet with a future measured in billions of years, whose fate depends on humanitys collective actions. But all too often the focus is parochial and short term.We downplay what's happening even now in impoverish ed far-away countries. And we discount too heavily the problems we'll leave for our grandchildren. We can truly be techno-optimists. But the intractable politics and sociology – the gap between potentialities and what actually happens – engenders pessimism. We need a change in priorities and perspective – and soon – if we are to navigate the challenges of the 21st century: to share the benefits of globalisation, to prioritise clean energy, and sustainable agriculture; and to handle the Promethian challenge posed by ever more powerful technology.To survive this century, we'll need the idealistic and effective efforts of natural scientists, environmentalists, social scientists and humanists. They must be guided by the insights that 21st century science will offer, but inspired by values that science itself can't provide. And I give the last word to a great scientist who was himself once the president of the BA – the biologist Peter Medawar: The bells that toll for mankind are like the bells of Alpine cattle. They are attached to our own necks, and it must be our fault if they do not make a tuneful and melodious sound.

Tuesday, October 8, 2019

Introduction to 'Rent-seeking behavior Assignment

Introduction to 'Rent-seeking behavior - Assignment Example The elderly, for instance, look for higher social security payments. Unluckily, where rights over property are weakened as well as where someone’s ownership of goods or wealth becomes debatable, other individuals could acquire more through attempts to appropriate such wealth than through manufacturing themselves. Such behavior is known as rent seeking (Forbes, 2013). There is no good reason as to why economists use this term â€Å"rent†. It means payments to a production factor in excess of the amount needed to keep the factor within its current use. The word is used to illustrate government lobbying by individuals in order to achieve special privileges. It can be called privilege seeking (Dutton, 2014). Other examples of rent seeking include: the limitation of access to profitable occupations as in modern certifications as well as licensures. Taxi licensing happens to be referenced as a rent seeking instance. Licenses issuing limits the overall tax services supply (instead of making sure of equality or competence) threatening rivalry in livery vehicles, illegal taxes or unregulated taxes causes the taxi service transactions a compulsory transfer of a fraction of the payment from consumers to operators of taxi business. The rent seeking concept may as well apply to bureaucrats’ corruption in their splitting as well as extracting rent/bribe for their application of legal, however, optional for awarding the illegitimate or legitimate benefits to their clients. Tax officials may happen to receive bribes for having reduced tax payers’ tax burden for instance (Dutton, 2014). It has been well known that individuals lobby the government for some privileges. The insight of Tullock was that privilege lobbying expenditures are high and they dissipate gains to the recipients and lead to inefficiency. For instance, a firm that deals with steel

Monday, October 7, 2019

Forest Labs Case Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Forest Labs Case - Essay Example The new profits earned through the sales of Celexa were used by Solomon for the expansion of the company; he licensed several other drugs from pharmaceutical companies of Europe. However, Solomon has been accused of excessive marketing and the expansion of Forest is deemed as dangerous for other companies. Also, the profits made by Forest Labs over such a short span of time are unreasonable high. The previous year Solomon earned $8.3 million as the CEO of the company. However, it was found out that the Marketing Department had been marketing the earlier named antidepressants to adolescents and children, and that too illegally, although these drugs are not suitable for them. Hence, the Obama Administration decided to oust Howard Solomon from doing further business. Solomon agreed to pay a fine of $313 million for resolving the issue (Hooper and Henderson). In my opinion, the decision taken by the Government was ethical. This is because several pharmaceutical companies have been allege d of conducting business unethically in the past, but none of the charges or penalties levied against them seemed to have a deterrent effect on their business. Ousting a companies' CEO for conducting such activities should definitely bring out the desired effect as he would make efforts to correct the mal-practices prevalent in his company. There is always a counter argument which states that only ousting a CEO would not prevent the company from putting an end to its illegitimate practices; one should rather take a serious action against the entire marketing department which can directly be blamed for the offense. But, being the CEO of the company, the Government has full rights to hold Howard Solomon accountable for all the mal-practices going on within his company. The company shall also be fined a very heavy sum which is equivalent to the amount of sales made during the period of illegal marketing. But, I believe, the Government is justified in taking the step it took as it would serve as a starting ground and other CEOs whose companies are also indulged into such activities would learn lessons from it and would take action to stop any objectionable activities within them. By taking this decision, the Government is trying to send a message to the entire industry which, hopefully, would be heard by them. Also, there is a certain provision in the Federal Law that legitimizes the exclusion of an individual who has not been alleged of a crime. Hence, this action of the Government is in coherence with the American Law and thus, the Government cannot be questioned. By concealing negative case study about Celexa and by pushing sales representatives to pay illegal kickbacks to pediatricians, the senior executives of Forest Labs indeed proved to be highly culpable (Singer). Antidepressants can be highly lethal for adolescents and children. It is a belief that this is a cause of suicidal behavior in children and mental illnesses. This fact has been verified by the Fo od and Drug Administration (FDA). Among the various side effects that children experience due to such medications the common ones are feelings of sedation and weight gain, whilst some children may feel more energized with the intake of antidepressants. In short, antidepressants cause psychotic problems in children which are very harmful. Hence, I believe that