Final paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 10

Final paper - Essay Example Therefore, in this paper, I will be discussing institutional racism based on stereotypes and how it has come to affect Middle Easterners. I will attempt to make a comparison between past and present treatment of students of Middle Eastern origin in the United States as well as show different places where this type of discrimination might take place. Furthermore, I will discuss how stereotypes of these individuals often affect these individuals in both their public and personal lives based on my own experiences. In the United States, institutional racism has become a part of everyday life for many individuals especially from the Middle East or for those Americans who have origins in this region. In my experience as a student of Middle Eastern origin, institutional racism enforces stereotypes of people from this region without necessarily taking into account their individual differences. I have been faced with many problems during my stay in the United States and this has been based on beliefs by ordinary Americans that because of the way I look, I am a threat to them. There was an instance where after going into a restaurant to get something to eat, I was viewed suspiciously by not only its staff, but the customers as well. Many of these customers actually moved away from the table that I took and despite waiting for a long time, no one seemed to be willing to come to my service. This was within my first few days in the United States and my dreams of this country being a bastion of liberali sm were shattered as I came to realize that the stereotype of Arabs as terrorists had become firmly entrenched in American viewpoint (Oswald 1775). I later came to experience open discrimination at the University of Arizona when attending classes, and this became a trend because whenever I entered a classroom, and took a seat, the students who had been sitting all around me would move away from me and take other seats. Only those who did not seem to have a problem with me or my

The Whiskey Rebellion 1791 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Whiskey Rebellion 1791 - Essay Example Congress agreed and President Washington chose to appoint Henry Knox as the Secretary of War, Thomas Jefferson as the Secretary of State, and Alexander Hamilton as the Secretary of the Treasury. The appointment of Jefferson and Hamilton would later have a great impact as the two had conflicting views about the future role of the American government. It was Hamilton’s goal and responsibility as Treasurer in this new government to reduce or eliminate the massive debt incurred by the Revolutionary war. Hamilton was a very smart individual. He devised and implemented several strategies in order to reduce the national debt and provide stability to the American economy (Henretta †¦, n.d.). Overall, his policies worked very well and the nation prospered as the debt was paid down. However, his fiscal policies divided the government and the people into distinct groups with opposing political views, those who sided with Hamilton and those who supported Jefferson’s small government views. One of Hamilton’s policies included an excise tax on spirits in order to pay the interest on the national debt. This tax did not sit well with western Pennsylvania distillers whose main source of income was the production and sale of whiskey (Whiskey Rebellion, n.d.).

Financial Performance Comparison Research Proposal

Financial Performance Comparison - Research Proposal Example It should be noted that both of these business organizations are important players in the global pharmaceutical industry. Astrazeneca is involved in the "discovery, development, manufacture, and marketing of prescription pharmaceuticals primarily for the cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, neuroscience, oncology, respiratory and inflammation, and infection areas in the healthcare sector worldwide" (Astrazeneca Plc Profile 2006). GSK is the major competitor of Astrazeneca as the former engages in the "creation, discovery, development, manufacture, and marketing of pharmaceutical and consumer health related products worldwide" (GlaxoSmithKline Plc Profile 2006). In comparing the profitability of investing in these pharmaceutical companies, financial ratio analysis will be conducted. Financial ratio analysis is a very essential tool in assessing the financial health of a business entity. It enables a financial analyst to spot trends in a business and to compare it with the performance of similar business enterprises within the same industry. This tool is currently utilized by business managers, investors, creditors, suppliers, and other decision makers in order to determine the financial performance and well being of a business organisation. Financial ratios are grouped into five categories, each showing a different aspect of a company's financial operations. These are profitability ratios, financial leverage ratios, liquidity/solvency ratios, efficiency ratios, and investor ratios. 2.1. Profitability Ratios Profitability ratios measure the ability of the company to generate income from its investments less the costs incurred (Fraser & Ormiston 2004). Return on capital employed is a variant of return on investment. Return on capital employed (ROCE) is a measure how well the company is utilizing its capital. The computed sales profit margin, which is the ratio of operating income to sales measures as a percentage of sales, the excess revenue from sales over cost of normal operation excluding financing. Asset turnover measures the amount of sales generated by every pound in the company's assets. Net profit margin, on the other hand, is the ratio of net income to sales showing the company's ability to efficiently manage cost and turn its revenue into profits (Fraser and Ormiston 2006). Logically, higher performance ratios indicate a healthier financial condition. Table 1. At first look, it becomes apparent that GSK is more profitable than Astrazeneca. GSK reports higher return on capital employed, gross profit margin, and net profit margin from 2003-2005. Astrazeneca only manages to overtake GSK in asset turnover ratio during 2005, implying that the former is more efficient in utilizing its resources to generate revenue. Looking at the ratios more closely, it can also be deduced that even though GSK shows higher profitability than Astrazeneca, this ability to make profits has been significantly declining over the years. From the ROCE of 78.28% in 2003, GSK's performance has slumped attaining an ROCE of 38.06 last year. Gross profit margin and asset turnover have also dropped from 78.28% and 2.48 times to 76

Defining African Religion and Insiders and Outsiders Essay

Defining African Religion and Insiders and Outsiders - Essay Example African theology is highly felt in present day America due to the presence of the African Americans. Most of the religions are an affirmation of the existence of natural law. Natural laws are sets of unwritten laws that place emphasis on morals and obedience. The cultural practices are passed on from one generation to another. Africans practiced their religions before the interference from the white colonialists. At this time, there was no knowledge of factors such as the Holy Trinity or the Bible. Religious practices are geared toward having prosperity, peace and happiness in the community. Each type of religion has a different set of rules that should be followed to the T. lack of commitment to the religion displays disregard for the community. People who are caught committing an offence face a number of punishments which range from minor punishments to cases of exile (Magesa, 1997). Jacob Olupona offers an alternative view of the practice of African religion in most of the African communities. The writer takes a different outlook towards the practices of different communities. The book thus gets its inspiration from countries like South Africa and Nigeria. Despite the difference of locations, the two countries have some common similarities. Some of the similarities are seen in the use of proverbs. Africans value the opinion of the elder members of the society. Most of the proverbs are created by the ancestors and passed on to the offspring’s. The use of proverbs has thus been incorporated into the religions. They act as a way of guidance in that they have moral codes of behavior. The book mentions the importance of rituals in the African community as a whole. Rituals are reserved for several occasions and celebrations in the community. Each celebration has a special ritual which acts as a symbolic example. In the case of religion, Africans dedicate an immense number of rituals to worship.

Management Decision Support System (DSS) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Management Decision Support System (DSS) - Essay Example s this system uses internal sources of information but it also use external sources of information that are vital to the organization for instance reports regarding current stock prices and reports which give competitors information. The fundamental difference between Decision Support System and other information systems is that Decision Support System has more analytical capabilities. It has multiple models to analyze and synchronize large amounts of data. This action of Decision Support System allows decision makers to view the data in a form which allows data to be easily analyzed. This has far reaching consequences because the decision that comes out is more justified and rigorously tested (Sauter, 159). Decision Support System employs interactive and user-friendly software. This software allows the user the luxury to ask multiple questions, modify key assumptions and add new data set into the scenario. Some Decision Support Systems are heavily model drive whereas other Decision Support Systems are model-driven and are focused more on extracting vital information from heaps of data to enable mangers to take effective decisions. It is this very reason why Decision Support Systems are also known as business intelligence systems because these systems focus on helping users to make better business decisions (Laudon and Laudon, 490-505). Since high quality decision making has become imperative for the survival of an organization therefore organizations these days are investing heavily on Decision support systems, more renowned as business intelligence systems. These systems consist of technologies and applications which enable better decision making. Business intelligence systems provide firms with the capabilities to collect large amount of information and using this generated information to develop new knowledge about operations and bring changes in the decision making behavior of people so that they achieve success in achieving profitability target and

Information Systems management Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Information Systems management - Research Paper Example expenditure from 10 to 6 billion dollars and development time from 6 to 4 years (Tang &Zimmerman, 2009).Supply chain integration is basically the â€Å"approach of technically linking supply chain of vendors and customers† so as to make sure the â€Å"process is streamlined and to increase efficiency and accuracy.†(Pearlson & Saunders, 2010, p.152).However the final outcome was a complete opposite. As things stand now, apart from the project being in over budget of billions of dollars, it is also behind schedule by 3 years (Steve, 2013). Boeing’s Chief of Commercial Airplanes, Jim Albaugh, explains that they have spent so much more money than anticipated trying to recover than they ever would have used had they tried keeping major technologies nearer home (Steve, 2013). The main problem facing Boeing is shortfall in supplier oversight due to enthusiastic embrace of Integrated Supplier Information System, which allows suppliers to log in a portal, provided by Boeing, and thus need not necessarily meet with Boeing’s main team in US (Steve, 2013). Boeing further, rather than planning for face-to-face basis of communication, or on-site communication relied so much on their information systems with a web-based communications instrument known as Exostar that required suppliers to feed the latest information regarding their work progress (Steve, 2013). This IT equipment was to offer improved control, supply chain visibility as well as integration of important business processes, thus reducing development cost and time (Steve, 2013).Thus, instead of face-to-face kind of communication, the information technology tool was supposed to, in real time, flag problems. Not surprisingly, this technology miserably failed. As a result of this â€Å"remote con trol† outsourcing business, Boeing 787 encountered several Information systems problems that included electrical system faults in addition to battery issues that resulted to the Dreamliner’s grounding (Dominic, 2013). This

SWOT Analysis on Chase Bank Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

SWOT Analysis on Chase Bank - Research Paper Example (Funding Universe, 2011) The merger in 2000 cemented the creation of one of the world’s biggest financial concerns. The company’s mission statement is (Company Statements and Slogans, 2011): "At JPMorgan Chase, we want to be the best financial services company in the world. Because of our great heritage and excellent platform, we believe this is within our reach." II. Strengths and Weaknesses One of the greatest strengths of the J. P. Morgan Chase banking line is the vast consumer base. J. P. Morgan Chase is the biggest bank in the United States. (Tully, 2009) The iterative mergers of banks to form this financial behemoth have meant that the infrastructure and access of the J. P. Morgan Chase enterprise is huge. The bank sports total assets of some $2 trillion while the total equity has been placed at $176 billion. (Forbes, 2011) Currently Forbes has declared J P. Morgan Chase as the world’s largest public company. (Forbes, 2011) These facts point to the bankâ₠¬â„¢s stability as a premier finance institution which ensures that it can deal with fiscal shocks in the short and long term. Currently, J. P. Morgan Chase sports branches as well as ATM facilities around the globe. Moreover, J. P. Morgan Chase is effectively present in over 60 countries globally. The number of employees is well over 200,000 globally. This ensures that the bank is connected to multiple markets. Problems in one market cannot force the bank into a corner as it has other outlets. One of the reasons that J. P. Morgan Chase fared better than the competition during the recent economic crunch was because it was present globally. Markets with internal consumption patterns helped J. P. Morgan through the worst. (J. P. Morgan Chase, 2011) On the downside, J. P. Morgan Chase has damaged its reputation over the years. A number of scandals have tarnished the bank’s reputation. In 2002 J. P. Morgan Chase had to pay the United States government some $80 million as fines fo r deceiving investors through biased market research. Similarly, the J. P. Morgan Chase hand in financing Enron caused heavy losses as well as $2 billion in compensation and legal settlements. (Market Watch, 2002) Another instance of consumer’s breach of trust occurred when J. P. Morgan Chase admitted to having overcharged military personnel’s mortgages. Families that had been overcharged and foreclosed were compensated through payments totalling $27 million in 2011. (Mui, 2011) These failures to protect the customers have been repeated over and over and may erode customer base in the longer run. J. P. Morgan Chase needs to review its policies constantly and should rely on consumer feedback extensively to judge the reputation and consequences of policies. Another weakness displayed by J. P. Morgan Chase has been their IT infrastructure. The system has proved to be inadequate to sustain business operations. The cancellation of an outsourcing agreement with IBM caused qu ite a stir. Employees were transferred to IBM’s payrolls which cause massive employee dissatisfaction. New consultants were hired to take the outsourcing bid forward but this caused additional expense and lost time. Productivity at J. P. Morgan Chase was seen to have decreased as well due to IT problems. (Kawamoto, 2004) This problem could be relieved by letting a large IT corporation such as IBM, Microsoft etc. deal