Facebook Case Study Essay

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY A firm that has been floating on the stock exchange has been selected and evaluated and the firm I have chosen was Facebook. In my report I have included the recent history of Facebook as to how the social networking site started and the developments from the introduction until recently. I furthermore went on to evaluate the source of finance with a brief explanation as to what source of finance is and the different type of sources available to business i.e. Short term , medium term and long term. This explains the type of finance business need starting from day to day transactions to long term purchasing of assets and investments. After my understanding of what sources of finance are, I done some research on Facebooks source of finance and came to a conclusion that the firms sources of finance is long term source of finance as they earn money through shares(IPO). The reason for Facebooks floatation was simply because at the time they decide to go public the firm was already valued as one of the top companies around, however even though the firm was highly valued there was still negative stories about the firm. Facebook continues to grow and to try and keep the 200 million users entertain there are now talks of a Facebook phone that is due to be released this year. INTRODUCTION I am required to select a firm that has floated on the stock exchange in the last 4 years analyse and critically evaluate the firms decision to go public. The firm I chose was Facebook and in my report I will be discussing the following about the firm. Recent history of the company The firms sources of finance/ Capital structure of the firm Reason for flotation Implications of the flotation Performance of shares since flotation Future prospects for the firm Recommendations as to the future financing ABOUT FACEBOOK Facebook is a popular social networking website whose name originated as a nickname of directories handed out to university students that aided in them getting to know their fellow students. The social networking site was invented by Harvard computer science student Mark Zuckerberg, along with a few class mates. Facebook officially started off in October 2003 when Zuckerberg launched â€Å"Facemash.com† to allow visitors to compare pictures of two students and say who’s hot and who’s not. The website became popular as people enjoyed going on the internet and checking out pictures of their friends. In January 2004 an article in the Harvard Crimson stated that Zuckerberg registered the Facebook.com domain as he was now inspired by the success of Facemash. Shortly after the launch of Facebook the website eventually grew as it was now discovered by Sean Parker (Former Co Founder of Napster) who informally advised the student on what to do, and by June 2004 Facebook received its first private investment from Peter Theil [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROrUea0gLlY], the founder of PayPal who gave $500 000 in exchange for 10.2% of the company. Sean Parker later became president of the newly incorporated company Facebook. Facebooks domination continued to grow until it became the second most visited web property online. In August 2009 Facebook acquired the real time new aggregator site friends feed and in 2012 Facebook made a huge splash in the market by acquiring instragam for approximately $1 billion. This year Facebook has introduced a graph search to help users find out more about their friends and connections. This feature lets you search through data shared by friends to discover people their interest, restaurants, much and much more. This is the first major step Facebook has taken towards competing with Google. SOURCES OF FINANCE Business needs money to support investment and finance their day to day activities. A company may choose to raise money internally (by retaining and investing profits) or externally. Each source of finance has a risk attached to it, the risk that the business will not meet the financial commitments related to the source. The mix of all the financial sources is known as the financial risk of the company. An essential requirement in raising finance is that business should meet repayments and other expenses, as the fall due. This is generally achieved by ensuring that there is a good match between _cash inflow generated by the use of money and cash outflows to the service payments to the finance raised_. TYPES OF SOURCES OF FINANCE. Short term finance- Usually needed for a business day to day operations e.g. paying wages, ordering suppliers etc This is usually the cheapest one to use as it is easier for a lending institution to asses lending risk for shorter loan periods. Types of short term finance include the following: Overdrafts Short term loans Trade credit Accrued expenses and deferred income Factoring Medium term finance- This source of finance can be used to finance the acquisition of Motor Vehicles, Machinery, Computers, etc. Three main types of medium term finance are: Hire Purchases Leasing Term Loans Long term finance- In financing the purchase of a building (major investments), long term finance would be appropriate. There are two alternative methods of raising long term finance Debt-Bank loans and Bonds Equity-is an important source of long term finance and consists of: Preference shares, Ordinary Shares and Retained Profits (internally generated cash flow). Equity finance is raised through the sale of ordinary shares to investors and can be raised either via: A new share IPO ,Placing or Introduction A rights Issue. FACEBOOK’S SOURCES OF FINANCE/CAPITAL STRUCTURE. Facebook’s source of finance is the long term finance as the firm makes its money through sale of ordinary shares from investors such as IPO (Initial Public Offer) which is the first offering of shares to the general public. The social networking site officially filed for an IPO on February 1 2012. The preliminary prospectus declared that Facebook was seeking to raise $ 5 billion in investment at the time the company announced that they have 845 million users active on the site with close to 2.7 billion likes and comments daily. After the IPO, Mark Zuckerberg planned to retain 22% ownership stake in Facebook with 57% of voting shares which was valued by the underwriters as being worth $38 each and pricing the company at 104 billion, the largest valuation ever to date for a new company going public. Facebook selected Morgan Stanley as the lead advisor for the IPO as the company had earlier lead the IPO of internet giants like Group on, Zynga and other banks such as Goldman Sachs, Bank of America Merril Lynch,Barclays Capital and JP Morgan. According to AllFacebook , shares have been actively trading between $25-$40 which gives Facebook a valuation of approximately $17000, more than Microsoft which was valued at $15000.Most of Facebooks trades takes place through secondmarket a company responsible for generating a market around typically illquid assets while while the value of the trades is unkown.While Facebook stock is not the type of thing you can trade in a day due to the fees and time involved in transactions ,however most investors see a great return in just 6 months. BELOW IS A GRAPH WITH FACEBOOKS SHARE PRICE IN MAY 2012 WHEN FACEBOOK DECIDED TO FLOAT.GRAPH 1.1 REASON FOR FLOTATION The reason for Facebook’s flotation was due to the fact that the company’s IPO was valued as one of the best amongst top companies. When Facebook made its long expected debut as a public company, the social networking company linked up with the largest public companies in the world alongside Mc Donalds , Amazon.com and Bank of America. The wall street journal reported that Facebook was prepared to file initial paperwork for an offering that could raise as much as $10 billion. As the news about Facebook spread worldwide and it later became the most popular and influential global website, Investors now started to flock to acquire shares in Facebook. Articles stated that even though Facebook was valued a high price there was still a debate within business and media circles on the true value of the company. The social networking site also made money through advertising allowing other companies to advertise about their business on the website. In May 2012 Mark Zuckerberg and other executives began a road show to persuade institutional investors to buy shares before the flotation. One of the underwriters JP Morgan along with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley were included in the road show. IMPLICATIONS OF THE FLOATATION FOR THE FIRM Even though there is a great amount of effort in the flotation of Facebook there are still some negative views on the social site. An article in the guardian called â€Å"_Facebook flotation: three reasons to avoid it†_ it states that Facebook is not worth $100 billion and that Zuckerberg has not put a price tag on his creations so it’s still early to say that he will attempt to achieve that amount when the flotation started. Below are the three reasons given in the article: Zuckerbergs first letter to the potential investors was a strange dispatch. As it stated that Facebooks ambition was to build a service that gives people the power to share and help them once again to transform many of the core institutions and industries. Facebook has no need to float as it does not need to invest as the firm is profitable and generates enough cash to pursue its current objective. Zuckerberg is keeping control of Facebook by adopting a dual voting structure with him and investors. In response to the negative publicity about the website , Facebook opposed by saying that the main reason for floating is to allowing longstanding investors to cash in a portion of their winnings and to help Facebook grow. The float promoters were then seeking to emphasize that the investments obtained were potentially for a profitable growth and to play down the risk faced by the firm. PERFORMANCE OF THE FIRMS SHARES SINCE FLOATATION Zuckerberg has called the stock performance â€Å"disappointing†. The social networking leaders stock has lost nearly half its value since flotation. More than $50 billion has been cut off Facebooks market value as the companys shares have fallen from $38 to $19.43. The CEO has lost the most as the value of his facebooks holdings falls more than $9 billion which questioned his skeptics and guess his ability to lead a company. The performance of the shares has obviously been disappointing and has caused some demotivated employees, however Zuckerberg motivated them and they believed that things will improve as time goes go on. After numerous up and downs and significant critics from the public the share prices started showed a highly volatile behaviour with prices as low as $17.73. The prospective performance of the company did not impress the investors and therefore had a impact on the company as a whole. In November 2012 Facebook shares has shown a significant rise in value reaching the highest price in months, As the value it continued rising the company witnessed an increase of 15% each month to date. The major factor that has pushed the social networkings markets performance is the increase in investors’ confidence in the companys potential to earn a higher revenue in the prospective periods. The confidence is directly linked to the increasing success of the performance as the number of business advertising on the website increased which means higher revenue and higher revenue means higher returns for investors. FUTURE PROSPECTS FOR THE FIRM Facebook has and always will be the king of the social media sites , as the site is still growing worldwide. To date the social networking website has more than 200 million registered users. Researchers believe that Facebook can evolve another google as they are also relying on advertising for their revenue. The social networking sites goal now is to create a personalized digital newspaper through the newsfeed that has everything a person would want to know about people. This will be perfectly customized just for the users. Mobile will be the key to Facebooks future growth said the head of advertising as only 30% of users access through desktops and 70% through mobile devices every day. A plan to invest a huge amount of money will be the target for Facebook in the future as talks on creating a Facebook smartphone continues. Facebook is also targeting other continents like Asia, Latin America and Africa as users in these areas have grown by 33% each year. Even though they introduce the mobile device Facebooks ultimate goal will  still remain to get more users online and to improve current features that will keep current users entertained. CONCLUSION /RECOMMENDATION TO THE FIRM’S FUTURE FINANCING Facebook is available to everyone all over the world and there still huge potential for growth for the firm. My recommendation to the firm regarding their finance would be to focus on their advertising model, improving it and allowing business to advertise more on their website. By doing that they will do enhance their chances of doing better than search engine giant Google and revenue will increase which will benefit both the firm, current and potential investors. With the introduction of the new Facebook phone they have to ensure that the phones are better then other smartphones. Facebook has to earn the general publics confidence in them by coming up with new ideas on their IPO, if the public is satisfied they will invest more in the company. However with the introduction of the new phone I believe share prices will increase.

Persuasive Communication Essay

When trying to persuade the boss it is important to state the facts and make sure to check the validity of these facts that will be presented before it is put forward. Remember to quote your credible sources, as you may be asked about where your data arrived from. Analyze the persuasive effectiveness in terms of its logos, pathos, and ethos, if applicable, on what you are trying to convince your boss on. Use statistics and data that are current and choose reputable publications. Try to avoid logical fallacies. Presenting something that you want the boss to accept and give you the â€Å"wow† effect is important. You must make an effective entrance into a room. Walk tall and enter the room with a purposeful, confident stride. Give a firm handshake and smile. Having a positive attitude is a good way to start off a conversation. You must first find common ground with your boss by sharing a common view of the problem, issue or goal. Confirm with the boss that you are on their side and want this idea to help better the company. When trying to persuade a peer a mixture of facts and feelings may be used because you should have an indication of the person’s personality. This can benefit you to use what you know about how that your peer thinks when trying to persuade this person. Usually, a peer will listen to you much deeper than a person who does not you well. When dealing with a challenging person it is important to use techniques to grab their attention. Challenging people have self-interest and may want to argue an issue. Use those self-interests to break down the facts and use sentiments to make them understand. If you are trying to persuade an open minded person you can explain your side of an issue by inflating the data. Open minded people are willing to listen to all sides of the arguments. Whether you are trying to persuade your boss, a peer, a challenging person, or an open minded person, all people think, and have personalities, that differ from you. Knowing who your audience is can be very important when it comes to persuasion.

Overcoming the Temptation to Overuse the Internet for Research Essay

Students today face a tremendous amount of obstacles in their day-to-day learning environment that may not have been an issue in generations past. The main problems remain the same as they always have. Time-management is a skill that learners must acquire if they want to turn in assignments on time and make the grades they need to obtain the goals they have set for themselves. Procrastination is a component of poor time management that many students face, which leads to cramming and an increased level of stress. Whereas students faced both of these issues in the past as well as today, one problem that has crept into society that students are struggling with every day is the increasing overuse and reliance on the Internet for research, information gathering, and even general learning. The growing use of the Internet in the recent years has made information much more accessible than ever before. The term â€Å"Google it† is so widely and commonly expressed that it would be very difficult to find anyone who did not understand. When someone needs information for school, work, or personal use Google seems to be the first and most convenient crutch. Convenience is the foremost reason students go straight to the Internet when they are in need of research sources. Barberio (2004) states, â€Å"the very real possibility exists that students overuse the Internet, much to their detriment and most likely, to the growing consternation of their instructors† (p. 307). Even when traditional textbooks are available, they almost always come with some links available to accompany the text with sources on those links easily available. Once students access these links, they no longer have the bountiful wisdom of a librarian to help them sort through it as they could in a traditional library. Setting the parameters for coursework research and requiring credible sources and proper online citation styles is left to the instructors in each subject (Davis, 2003). Professors and universities have concerns for the temptation of cut-and-paste plagiarism and show frustration over the lack of traditional library use and the scholarly research and references libraries offer. Besides the convenience, another reason students rely on the Internet too much is because of the struggles previously discussed. Poor time management leads to procrastination. Procrastination leads students who may have otherwise had the time to do more traditional research, to grasp at the instant gratification that the Internet offers. According to Carter, Bishop, & Kravits (2007), developing good time management skills helps students to finish their work on a schedule and avoid procrastination that helps to lower stress. In order to alleviate the temptation of counting on the Internet for resources, students must address the reasons they rely on it too much in the first place. As far as convenience is concerned, there may be no way around that. The Internet will continue to be used as a resource for gathering quick and â€Å"easy† information. However, the Internet can be a fine source of professional research and cost-free quality articles, scholarly papers, and official documents. If students today can sort through the vast pages of â€Å"search results† and biased Internet information, and gather un-biased facts from different sources. If they can then take this data and use critical thinking skills to draw intelligent conclusions, the Internet can be a worthy source for their research and learning. Another way to avoid over-using Internet resources would be to schedule a trip to the local library. Students may find it is surprisingly easier to gather information there. Before going to the library, students should be very precise with the information they are looking for, so that they do not waste the time that they have there. Overcoming poor time-management and procrastination would be another way to schedule that time for library research. When building a schedule, it is helpful to obtain some type of planner to help keep track of important goals, assignments, tasks, responsibilities, and deadlines. Schedulers or planners can take shape in many varying forms including the traditional hand-held â€Å"Day runner† or notebook, calendars online such as Google calendar, or planners built into mobile phone applications. In addition to keeping track of this information, it is important to break the larger tasks into smaller tasks and prioritize the information to ensure that each task is completed on time. After setting a solid schedule, the next step is utilize tools to help manage time. As a student, there are a number of techniques that can be used to help manage time. These techniques include incorporating to-do lists into one’s routine and making use of the course syllabus to ensure compliance. Again, breaking the syllabus down into smaller tasks makes it easier to look at and less stressful to comprehend. Copying each week into its own folder in a Word doc on the computer desktop is one example of how to keep track of the syllabus. Students also need to become familiar with the many resources available through the University (Carter, Bishop, & Kravits, 2007). Students face many trials every day when trying to reach their goals. The Internet and its easy access to information without leaving one’s seat have become extremely tempting as a one-stop shopping for every need that comes along in the course of a day. When students are faced with a research paper, the habit remains to turn to Internet searches as a quick way of gathering this information. Learning how to properly gather this data and to use critical thinking skills is vital if scholarly research is going to be accomplished. Students must also use time management skills so that procrastination is not an issue and time is available for alternative forms of research.

How Governments attitude and policy towards sport has changed and Essay

How Governments attitude and policy towards sport has changed and envolved over the last 25years - Essay Example Sports policy can also be regarded as a prism through which wider ideological and practical political thought can be viewed. The three governments of Margaret Thatcher/John Major (Conservative) and Tony Blair’s New Labour illustrate the contrasts that can be found within sports policy. As Houlihan (2002) suggests, â€Å"some policy areas are easier than others to plot and delimit†, and this is especially the case with sports which is often a fulcrum around which a number of forces, from education to national prestige to public health revolves. The Thatcher government adopted what may be regarded as a characteristically laissez-faire and privatized view of sports leadership at both the national and local level. One of her first actions as prime Minister was to boycott the 1980 Moscow Olympics as a protest against the Soviet invasion of Afgahnistan. Britain was no alone in this boycott, being joined by 62 other Western countries. One aspect of Thatcher’s policy that contrasted with the provision of money for various sports stadiums, organizations and for sports on school, something which every government since WWII had instituted was her government’s reaction to football hooliganism. Under watch football hooliganism took on massive and deadly proportions, such as the fights that occurred at the European Cup Final in Brussels in which 36 people were killed (Frosdick, 2005). Thatcher introduced a number of new laws and policies that would ban alcohol at grounds, increase police powers to control the behavior and size of the crowd, as well as introducing surveillance such as close-circuit TV cameras that had previously been regarded as an invasion of privacy. Football hooliganism was a fulcrum around which many forces revolved, including serious suggestions that a National Identity Card should be introduced, even though at its height the problem

US long-term unemployment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

US long-term unemployment - Essay Example Current macroeconomic concerns include whether the economy is in a sustained recovery, rapidly reducing unemployment, speeding a return to normal output and employment growth, and addressing government’s long-term debt problem. Harvard Professor Robert Barro holds that unemployment is not the cause of the prevailing high levels of unemployment insurance benefits, instead, unemployment is the result of long-term unemployment. This argument is highly questionable owing to the fact that lest that 40% of the unemployment in all states barely qualify to receive any given socioeconomic benefits. His argument is fundamentally flawed owing to the fact that the current level of unemployment far surpasses the level of employment that prevailed between 1981 and 9182. The stand taken by Paul Krugman is quite interesting and reveals the inner workings of unemployment. He believes that employers, who are predominantly oligarchs, play a huge role in the high levels of long-term unemployment. He believe that employers are more willing to employ and individual who is already employed as opposed to individuals who are looking for employment. This, in his opinion, creates a situation that leads to certain individuals experiencing for a long time, ending up heavily relying on social benefits that are offered by this state through unemployment

Protection Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Protection Plan - Essay Example During the day, the client may have to travel by car, train, and plane and attend a variety of functions, including meetings and invitations for meals at restaurants, and do personal activities such as recreation and errands. Over the day, the client will be exposed to a range of risk levels, ranging from higher risk (meeting and greeting members of the public at an outdoor rally) to low risk (dining at an exclusive, gated country club with high security). Some planning for the day would have begun on previous days. Once the itinerary is known, one or more bodyguards would travel the route to the venues, to check the roads for unexpected changes (road work, detours, closed lanes) and to check the venue. The venue needs to be checked for bugs and the security of the facility (exits, entrances) needs to be inspected. As well, the bodyguards will want to know the names of the staff who will have contact with the client, so that a simple electronic background check can be run on these individuals. An hour prior to leaving with the client to his first appointment, the driver-bodyguard and another bodyguard remove the cars that will be used to transport the client from the locked garage and inspect them. There may be only one car for a lower risk client. A higher risk client will have additional cars to form a protective convoy of vehicles that can flank the client's vehicle. The vehicles are inspected before leaving. Once the cars have been inspected and they are deemed to be ready for use, they are brought into position near the exit door where the client will leave the secure building. At least one driver-bodyguard stays with the cars while waiting, because the now-searched cars cannot be left unattended. If the convoy is left unattended, an attacker could attach an IED or sabotage one or more of the cars. Then the bodyguard team flanks the client as he moves from the secure residence to his car. The convoy then moves out towards the destination. The team will have chosen a route which avoids the most dangerous "choke points", such as one-lane bridges or tunnels, because these routes have no way of escape and they are more vulnerable to ambush. In some cases. If the client has to travel by train, the bodyguards will inspect the rail car they are traveling in and the other cars he/she will use. When the convoy arrives at the location, one or more bodyguards will exit first to confirm that the location is secure and that the staff who were booked to work that day are the ones who are present. If the location is secure, these bodyguards signal that it is safe to bring in the client. The client is escorted into the building using a flanking procedure. If the client is attending a private meeting inside the building, and the building itself is secure (controlled entrances) the client will not need to have a bodyguard escort in the building. The bodyguards can then pull back to monitor his or her safety from a further distance. Bodyguards could monitor entrances and exits and the driver-bodyguard watches the cars. If the client is moving about in a fairly controlled environment such as a private golf course, which has limited entrances and exits, the security detail may drop down to one or two bodyguards, with the other bodyguards monitoring the entrances to the facility, the cars, and remaining in contact with the bodyguards escorting the client. Throughout the day, as the client goes about his activities, the number of

Case study for strategic management Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

For strategic management - Case Study Example The main competitive advantage of the company is its network effect. The brand is well established in the international market with many clients across the globe as compared to its competitors. This has been effectively and efficiently supported by the company resources and assets. Pursuing Asia market was a failure as the company recently pulled out of Japan. However, the company has managed to survive in other areas by buying startups, especially in China. Further, it is developing strategies that will enable to compete in the Asian market. The latest challenge is the low entry barrier system into the market that allows both local and international firms to enter the market. Good examples of these companies are the Amazon and Yahoo, which are already established in the market. This poses a threat of a reduction of the entire market share, hence, of revenues and profits of the

Cooperation and Conflict Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Cooperation and Conflict - Essay Example As sometimes, genes get affected the most. In spite they all declare that conflicting or cooperating is human inborn qualities, which vary human to human. Talking About cooperation, article clearly put in the picture that itnergroup cooperation are more powerful than individual cooperation. This whole article in simple words is about the human evolution on the basis of its nature that conflicts and cooperates simultaneously. This article strongly supports its side of the issue by giving citations from different books. It took help for the explanation of the issue from different views recount by different biologists, ecologists, anthropologists and other scientists. In this argument author emphasis the cause of disturbed human evolution is everything other than sex. However, Sex also reacts negative as much as other different natural activities. Moreover, the author gives unbalanced length of explanation to each factor that makes the article sometimes deep and sometimes more shallow. The best counterargument to the thesis of this article was how nature selection affects the human behavior. The Citation and notions of different scientists gives deem on what this article tends to illustrate.

Effects of Organic and Conventional Management Practices on Soil Assignment

Effects of Organic and Conventional Management Practices on Soil Quality - Assignment Example The different crop management practices involved in conventional farming that include mixing of soil by tillage frequently and then leaving the soil exposed during significant periods of time lead to rising oxidation of organic matter and also reduces the levels of organic matter significantly thereby increasing the risks of soil erosion (Glinski, Horabik & Lipiec, 2011, p.527). It was during the 1990s that the crop management practices involved in conventional farming were questioned owing to the heavy use of chemicals. These chemicals had the potential ability to cause environmental degradation (Hunter, 2004, p.45). Studies have revealed that the quality of the soil under such farming practices have been poor thereby increasing the costs of the products as well as health. Considering these effects the long term sustainability of the conventional farming has been questioned against the alternative practices being available. Indirect costs including the offsite damage from erosion of soil, pollution in the surface and ground water, hazards to health of both human and animal, and damage to wildlife from conventional farming practices are at the moment tolerated by the humanity (Reganold, n.d.). Conventional farming has proved to have certain negative effects of the quality of the soil. Owing to the exposed nature of the soil, the productivity of the soil tends to get reduced due to wind and water erosion, compaction of soil, soil organic matter getting lost, accompanied by losses in water holding capacity and biological activity.

The Warehouse Designing Challenge Essay Example for Free

The Warehouse Designing Challenge Essay Warehousing is a critical node in the network of logistics management. Warehousing primarily involves the activities centered on receiving and dispatching materials and supplies coming into and going out of the organization. Other materials such as work-in-progress, consumables and others are also held and managed by the warehouse. Current developments in lean manufacture, just-in-time and other similar inventory reduction approaches have continued to depress inventories and may in deed change the focal point of where the place in which the inventory is held, more likely pushing it back up the chain of supply. In fact, the emphasis has now shifted for warehousing, and now it focuses on; facilitating smooth flow of goods to the clients, meeting the service standards requirement of clients, incorporation of activities such as postponement, which is a value adding activity as away of reducing stock keeping units (SKUs) and the number of product lines in a system as well as raising the dynamism in meeting customer needs (Rushton, Oxley and Phil, 2000). Being a critical and busy part of an organization, there are some issues to do with warehousing that an organization needs to take care of lest the operations of the warehouse malfunction and consequently disrupting the entire supply chain, which normally has a ripple effect on the entire operation of the organization. These issues concern the actual design and management of the general day to day operations of a warehouse. The problem and challenges for the design a resource optimizing warehouse still is a complex task to logistics designers. The strategic issues concerning the design of warehouses are discussed in this paper. Designing a warehouse; Warehouses, distribution centers and stores have to operate as integral component elements within the supply chain. Hence, when setting up these facilities, the key decisions must be determined by overall logistics strategies for cost and service. The following factors have to be considered in setting up the facilities; Product and Market base stability; Long-term projections of how the product range may develop together with long-term market expectations for growth will very much influence on the location and size of a warehouse facility, including the space that should be set aside for potential future expansion. The considerations made in this stage will extend to impact on the organisations perceived needs for flexibility in future, which consequently can influence on the level of technology to be adopted and the type of warehouse to be built. Type of goods to be handled by the warehouse; The goods that an warehouse can handle include finished goods , raw materials spare parts, and work-in-progress in a span of material sizes, types, productive lives and other characteristics that may be set by an organization. The range of units to be handled could be from individual small items to packages, sacks, palletized loads and on up to containers of ISO certification. Special requirement s for humidity and temperature mould most likely have to be met, and all these requirements will have absolute impact on the level of technology to be adopted. Location, type of facility and its size; the specific role of a warehouse in a supply chain together with capacity, the role and location of any other facilities in the in the chain will directly determine or at least influence the size and design capacity as well as the type of operation of a warehouse. The need for inventory reduction, customer base, amount of inventory , overall service level and time compressions in the supply chain should be critically looked into in making decisions concerning location, type and size of a warehouse to be built. Whether the warehouse should be operated by the organization as an own-account or outsourced to a third party to run it is yet another consideration that should be made. Inventory and its location; there rises a question within the supply chain of not only in what locations to hold goods but also what goods and in what quantities to hold (Donald, Waters, 2003). The options that could be available could include distribution centers designed to cater for specific parts of the product range or specific markets, specific geographic areas, or regional centers for distribution of fast moving product lines, and a strategy of holding slower moving lines in the national distribution centers only. Customer base, service levels and product range are the factors that will influence the choice. Choice of unit load; the choice of loads-roll or cage pallets, tot bins, pallets-will have significant weight in determination of the characteristics as well as the nature of the goods passing along a supply chain. This clearly encompasses a wide range of products, pack types and services, and unit quantities (Rushton, et al, 2000). ). This may look like as a routine factor that is less subject to strategic influences and more to operational influences. Within the warehouse however, it can influence the sizing and choice of storage systems as well as handling equipments. Further, in a wider context, it will affect vehicle loading and unloading as well as vehicle utilization and eventually the entire transport operations (Ross, 2004). Warehouse Design Procedure; The basic principle of good warehouse design is to first of all define the overall requirements of the system and by carefully analyzing data, come up with a design that incorporates equipments and methods which most closely match those requirements. However, a n overriding prerequisite exists which is, for whatever level of technology or deign that is adopted for a particular project, a fast, accurate and effective information system to monitor and drive the operations is an end result. The following steps make up the design process; i). Definition of system requirement and design constraints; the design requirements for distribution depot operation or a warehouse after taking into considerations such as likely business developments and potential forecasts for future growth, are likely to constitute; desired service level to be achieved, required throughput and storage capacities, specified facilities such as quality , packaging and others. the constraints in this stage could include but not limited to; time, for instance the facility could be set a date by which it is to be running; financial limits such as limit on cost per unit throughput or capital expenditure, among others. ii). Define, obtain, and analyze data; specifications for the most appropriate location and type of warehouse to be built can be obtained from various sources, for example through conducting a research based on the company’s size, structure and the nature of business it engages in, fairly reliable information can be adduced from the data collected and from this a n effective design of a warehouse developed. A firm can also decide to outsource the warehouse designing professionals who are more likely to develop for it the most resources optimizing warehouse than any other person. Iii). Establish what unit loads that will be used; this will be a decision concerning the appropriate unit loads that are to be adopted, and include stillages, Skid sheets, pallets, tote boxes, roll cage pallets, and garment rails. The choice of unit loads to be handled directly influences the ability t utilizes space efficiently and the choice of equipment. The customers may impose the dispatch unit loads with suppliers imposing the unit loads their material supplies arrive at client’s premises as well. The warehouse designer should therefore put these factors into consideration when designing the most appropriate for the processes to be carried out. Benefits of unit loads include movement minimization, standardization of equipments, material security, as well as minimizing the time it takes to load and unload vehicles. Wooden pallet is the most common unit load (Ross, 2004). iv). Postulate primary methods and operations; the primary processes that will take place in a warehouse, must be established together with how they will be performed. The communication and information requirement should also be determined. Considerations of which systems, paper or paperless, will be used also need to be emphasized, with the kind of warehouse management system in mind. v). Calculate staffing levels; this requirement for operating staff is closely related to the requirements for mobile equipment, and in majority of cases will fallout of the calculations. The staffing costs should enable full costing of the warehouse to be made. vi). Prepare possible sites and building layouts; this encompasses all the component of warehouse processes both inside and outside the building. After this stage comes the final stage whereby the design of the warehouse is turned into a physical facility. Management of Warehouse and information; The broad responsibilities of managing distribution center or warehouse include good control, effective planning, as well as optimum resource use in the drive to achieve the objectives of the operation. The aims of an effective operation includes; meeting the service level requirements; operation that is cost effective; use of resources in an effective and efficient manner, safe operation, meeting the requirements for safety and in work environment; and maintaining the integrity of stock (Rushton, et al, 2000). The operating cost for any individual component in a warehouse mainly depends on the nature of the industry and the nature of the particular warehouse’s operations among other factors. The dominant costs have though been found to be staff and building costs. Two key factors that managers and designers should put more emphasis on are the utilization for building space and proper design and management of systems for picking orders. Conclusion; The adoption of computer based information systems in the management of material supplies, such as just-in-time approach, which have enabled up-to-the–minute information on stock location and availability to be accurately provided, have in a big way challenged the need to have warehouses and holding stock. Even with the deep integration of logistics and production planning, together with accurate techniques for forecasting demand, there will always be a level of mismatch between demand an d supply optimization in many if not all supply chains. Hence warehouses cannot be eliminated from the supply chain. For this reason, the management of warehouses should be done using the highest level of management techniques in all areas of operations. The fist step is to design a warehouse that will effectively optimize the use of available space in the most economic manner possible. Such an initiative will keep the supply chain flowing and hence make an organization to avoid or reduce the operation losses that come with clogging or stalling of supply chains, whose consequences are usually severe. References Donald, C. , Waters J. , Waters, D. (2003). Global logistics and distribution planning: strategies for management (4th ed. ). London: Kogan Page Publishers Ross, D. (2004). Distribution: planning and control : managing in the era of supply chain management (2nd ed. ). MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers. Rushton, A. , Oxley, J. , Phil, C. (2000). The handbook of logistics and distribution management. VA: Kogan Page Publishers.

External Environment: PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)

External Environment: PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Globalisation refers to the growing economic integration of the world, as trade, investment and money increasingly cross international borders (which may or may not have political or cultural implications) (Schifferes, 2007). Over the past years, there has been a great increase in globalisation. The aim of this study is to analyse the international business environment of an organisation and the impact of globalisation on business organisations. The organisation chosen for this study is PwC. PricewaterhouseCoopers (trading as PwC) is a multinational professional services firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the worlds largest professional services firm and the largest of the Big Four accountancy firms measured by 2012 revenues (Wikipedia, 2012). The Big Four firms are PwC, Deloitte, Ernst Young and KPMG. 1 ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS The business environment can be divided mainly into two groups: internal and external. The external environment can be either micro or macro. There are several tools that can be used to analyse these environments. Internal Environment: Consists of the strengths, weaknesses and core competencies of an organisation. It can be analysed using SWOT analysis, Value Chain analysis and Three Circles analysis. SWOT analysis is the main tool used in analysing the internal environment. It is an acronym for Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Value Chain analysis attempts to understand how a business creates customer value by examining the contributions of different activities within the business to that value. Three Circles analysis involves examining customers needs, company offerings, and competitors offerings in order to clearly articulate what the companys competitive advantage is and how it differs from those of its competitors. External Environment: It refers to the business environment that an organisation has little or no control over but directly affects its operations. The following tools can be used to analyse the external environment: PEST Analysis. This tool used in analysing the forces affecting the macro environment of an organisation. It is an acronym for the political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal forces. Porters Five Forces Analysis. It is used to analyse the attractiveness of an industry by considering five forces within the market. Stakeholder Mapping. It is used to identify stakeholders and their level of power and interest in an organisation. This enables the company relate with each stakeholder. 1.1 ANALYSIS OF THE MICRO-ENVIRONMENT (PwC) Threat of new entrants: To succeed in the professional services industry, some requirements include: Huge capital investment Years of experience Brand loyalty The industry is already dominated by strong firms with these qualities doing well both locally and internationally; new entrants are not a threat. Bargaining power of suppliers is high. They are big, rich and their alumni are  everywhere, throughout institutes, regulatory bodies, government, their clients boards and even within almost every other accountancy firm (Prizeman, 2011). Bargaining power of buyers is low. To obtain the best in professional services, there are very few options to choose from. Threat of substitute products No substitute; professional services (especially auditing) are required by law. Except when smaller firms offer the same services at cheaper prices, which is not a major threat. Rivalry The industry is highly competitive especially among the Big Four accountancy firms. 1.2 ANALYSIS OF THE MACRO-ENVIRONMENT The PEST analysis of PWC is given below: Political There are several laws that govern the firms activities. PwC offers services such as tax advisory and assurance services which are a very sensitive part of business. They should be treated with utmost care else face severe penalties. For example, they were recently fined  £1.4 million for failures concerning reports on client-money accounts at JPMorgan Chase Co. (JPM)s London securities unit (Moshinsky, 2012). Also, these regulations are changed or updated from time to time; therefore, PwC has to ensure they are always in compliance with the law. Furthermore, regulations on payment of taxes, financial statements and auditing make PwC continuously relevant in the market. Economic The recession in UK and other countries has affected the sales, profit and growth of several companies, including PwC. Therefore, some companies hire other firms which provide the same services as PwC but charge less, so as to reduce costs. This has also affected PwCs profits. Socio-Cultural Due to the highly professional services the organisation offers, it requires several highly skilled employees. Finding such individuals and retaining them is not an easy task, especially when other companies keep trying to win them over; offering them better employment packages. Technological This could act as a threat or opportunity to the organisation. New inventions, changes and advancement in technology provide an avenue for PwC to improve its operations and stay ahead of the competition. Computers, software, phones, internet, intranet etc are important resources to the firm. But keeping up with the rapid changes in technology is almost impossible. 1.3 IMPACTS OF THE INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT Political Regulations governing PwCs activities differ from country to country and these are updated from time to time. These include employment laws, tax policies and competition laws. As an international organisation, this affects the firms operations because PwC has to ensure that all its operations including strategies and values are in line with the laws in the several countries it operates in. For examples, in most countries, the law requires that accounting firms to be locally owned and independent. This has affected how PwC is structured. Economic The global recession cuts across the several countries PwC operates in; this has generally affected the firms operations and flow of income. The industry, professional services, is a highly competitive one with other members of the Big Four (top four countries offering professional services) striving to be the market leader and several other firms seeking growth in the same industry. Also, the rise in unemployment as a result of the global recession has made it difficult to obtain employees with the necessary skills and experience required in the firm. Lastly, the increase in free trade among nations of the world makes it possible for PwC to continue to expand and increase in several foreign countries. Socio-Cultural There are several ethics that govern how people and organisations operate. These ethics differ from country to country. PwC believes in excellence and integrity. This could be difficult to uphold because in certain countries. For example, bribery has become generally accepted in some African countries even though they know it is wrong. PwC employees could get involved in this, which would affect their ability to judge fairly, be excellent and uphold integrity. Technological Some countries are not as technologically advanced as others. This can slow down PwCs operations in some of these countries. For example, internet connection is not as stable and fast in Nigeria as it is in the UK. Fluctuations and temporary breakdown of internet service can have adverse effects on the companys activities. A team in Nigeria might not be able to meet up the deadline of making a certain presentation, if there is no internet service needed to carry out research and development on that topic. 2 IMPACT OF GLOBALISATION ON ORGANISATIONS 2.1 EXTENT OF GLOBALISATION The Industrial Revolution led to the globalisation of today. It started in UK and spread to other parts of the world. Changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation and technology had great effects on the world economy. Globalisation began to grow as a result of the increase in world trade in the 1940s. When it became evident that the Great Depression in the early 1930s was due to the restrictions and barriers to free trade in the world, countries began to lift and/or reduce restrictions to trade. This led to the development of several trade agreements among countries. Furthermore, the continuous advancement in technology has also led to the constant increase in globalisation. PwC is one of the many firms that has benefitted from the increase in globalisation. It has a network of firms that spread across 771 cities in 158 countries. Free trade between UK and these other countries has made it possible for PwC to move its resources (especially capital and manpower) to these countries, blend in with diverse cultures and set up a network of firms that has made PwC become the global market leader in professional services. 2.2 EFFECTS OF GLOBALISATION The benefits and opportunities that globalisation brings to organisations especially PwC are: Larger markets: Globalisation has made it possible for PwC to expand not only within UK but to other countries as well, enabling the organisation to emerge as the worlds market leader in its industry. Foreign investments: Globalisation provides an avenue for PwC to increase its investments by investing internationally, which also leads to increase in returns. Increase in profits: Access to larger markets and increase in investments has lead and will continue to lead to increase in returns, revenue and profits for PwC. Movement of labour: Globalisation allows for free movement of human resources among countries. This provides an opportunity for PwC to hire professionals from one country to work in another country. Thereby enabling firms to have access to skilled workers regardless of where they are located. Exchange in culture: The world is full of diverse cultures. An international firm like PwC has access to inputs from people of different cultures, beliefs, customs and backgrounds. This enables the firm to learn more and be versatile. Competitive advantage: Operating in the international market gives PwC an advantage over other similar companies operating locally. Larger markets, increased investment, increase Employment opportunities: Globalisation enables PwC to provide employment opportunities in several countries especially the underdeveloped and developing countries it operates in. This is a great way to be socially responsible and impact the communities. Globalisation also has a number of challenges that affect organisations. Some have been explained in 1.2 and 1.3, others include: Less developed countries: Operating in countries that are underdeveloped or developing can be difficult sometimes. This is because they might not always have the resources available to make the business as productive as it should be. Exposure to the international market: Globalisation means the firm would be exposed not only to local forces but international ones as well. The firm has to deal with competitors, markets, trends, political, economical, socio-cultural, environmental and legal issues at the international level. Cultural differences: Operating internationally exposes the firm to diverse cultures. To be effective in these countries, PwC would have to adapt to their cultures, rather than impose its own, yet without losing its unique touch. This is quite tasking. Criticisms: Critics have pointed out negative effects of globalisation; PwC has to avoid being part of the problem. Criticisms include: loss of culture to stronger ones, exploitation of less developed countries and increase in unemployment in developed countries. 2.3 STRUCTURES OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS Organisational structure consists of activities such as task allocation, coordination and supervision, which are directed towards the achievement of organisational aims (Pugh, 1990). It could be functional, divisional or matrix depending on the type that best suits a companys operations. An organisation that operates internationally must carefully select a structure that would accommodate its operations both at home and abroad. Structures of some international organisations include: Walmart Stores: Walmart is a multinational retailer corporation headquartered in the US. It has a divisional structure with three main divisions; Walmart Stores (U.S.) Sams Club (U.S.) and International stores (Hitt, 2008). This structure helps Walmart to focus better on each division. Narrowing the focus really allows the company to perform more effectively because they are allowed to pinpoint specific areas needing change and adjust appropriately (George and Jones, 2005). Starbucks: It is a coffee company headquartered in the US. It has a matrix structure combining divisional and functional structures. Divisions are based on the regions the company operates in; China and Asia Pacific, Americas and EMEA (Europe, U.K., Middle East, Russia and Africa) (Starbucks, 2011). The functions are designed to consolidate functional activities into teams that have a shared vision and goals to support the business (Shultz, 2008). An advantage of having this kind of organisational structure is maximized communication channels (George and Jones, 2005). Unilever: It is a British-Dutch multinational consumer goods company. It has a matrix structure, divided based on product segments (2), functions and the regions it operates in. Unilever developed and implemented this organisational structure for their company to improve communication and to take advantage of resources that are available to them (Hitt, 2008). PwC: PwC runs as a network of firms rather than a multinational company due to laws in different countries requiring accounting firms are to be locally owned and independent. Each firm runs its own structure but all report to PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited (PwCIL) that coordinates the activities of all partner firms. 2.4 INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS OF PWC Networking: All PwC firms operate as a separate legal entity; thereby allowing them to operate independently. Although not to be referred to as a multinational company, its operations are not different from multinationals except that, PwC firms have autonomy to operate and do not send money to the Global Headquarters. Support from other members: All firms in the network count on each other when they lack necessary information or expertise for a project. Internet: Free access to information to all members via PwCs global portal network; employees in different countries can relate with and gain from each other. Same methodology: PwC firms all over the globe have the same approach to work from pre-project planning to post-project assessment. Charges: Whenever someone from a firm helps another firm in a different country, the person is per hour spent. Quality Assurance: To ensure that member firms are committed to quality and strictly abide by standards /policies, PwCIL quality assurance team constantly conducts a PwC-wide quality control check. CONCLUSION Globalisation is here to stay. As the world continues to encourage free trade, organisations will continue to expand internationally. Therefore, in order to thrive in the international market, organisations have to make the most of the international business environment. Environmental analysis enables the organisation to understand its strengths and weaknesses, as well as opportunities and threats to the company. This enables the firm to understand the impact the international environment has on its operations and adjust accordingly. Criticisms to globalisation should not prevent free trade, but educate organisations on the better ways to operate internationally. Important to note is the organisational structures of a number of multinationals: matrix and divisional structures. TASK 2 CLASS PRESENTATION INTRODUCTION Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a process with the aim to embrace responsibility for the companys actions and encourage a positive impact through its activities on the environment, consumers, employees, communities, stakeholders and all other members of the public sphere who may also be considered as stakeholders (Wood, 1991). IMPORTANCE OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY According to Von Tunzelmann (1996), corporate social responsibility is important in business because: It is a way of motivating and building pride in employees and managers. It contributes to the development of a healthier community (e.g. through a better qualified workforce or a reduction in the level of crime), thus creating a more favourable business environment. It assists in identifying new markets and anticipating societal and consumer preferences. It allows differentiation from competitors. It leads to an enhanced reputation helping the company to be well-liked in the community. It encourages a climate of trust and goodwill, facilitative of business. It helps in overcoming problems associated with the implementation of operational plans. It helps in maintaining public confidence in the legitimacy of business operations. It minimises the prospects of future regulation. MORAL AND ETHICAL ISSUES Ethics refer to the moral principles that guide or influence peoples actions and behaviours. The most important resources in any organisation are the people in it; therefore, it is necessary pay attention to the principles that guide peoples conducts. Organisations that operate internationally are faced with several moral and ethical issues, described by Mehalu (2011): Utilitarianism in this view you approach an ethical problem using the question, Which course of action will do the most good and the least harm? This view is based on the ideas of Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill (18th and 19th Century). Actions are considered good or bad depending on the extent to which they make the greatest number of people happy. So suffering of a few is okay as long as it maximises the overall good. Rights view in this view you ask the question, Which alternative best serves others rights? This view is based on the ideas of Thomas Jeffersons Declaration of Independence (USA) and John Locke and Immanuel Kant. Actions here are judged according to whether peoples rights have been served and may be seen in terms of keeping within the Law. (E.g. shareholders rights are written in Law). Theory of justice view in this view you ask the question, What plan can I live with which is consistent with the basic values and commitments of the community in which I live? This view is based on the ideas of John Rawls and Alasdair MacIntyre (late 20th century). Actions are judged according to the enforcement of widely-held views of justice and virtue. (E.g. protecting the needy; looking after the community). Integrative social contracts theory in this view you would ask the question, What course of action is possible in the world as it is now? This view is based on the ideas of Machiavelli in which actions are judged according to pragmatic consideration and practicalities. Decisions are made according to the current situation and with reference to what ought to be done. So you would be both pragmatic and idealistic as the need arose. CORPORATE STRATEGY AND ETHICAL RESPONSIBILITIES Although corporate social responsibility is important and beneficial to organisations, sometimes there are conflicts between corporate strategy and ethic and social responsibilities: Profit Sharing: The aim of most organisations is to maximise profit; shareholders want maximum returns on their investment. But focusing on moral and ethical activities can reduce the extent to which profits can be maximised. This can create a conflict when deciding how to draw a line between profit sharing and contributing towards CSR. Corruption: Sometimes, managers or employees are faced with unethical issues that could help in achieving corporate strategy. For example, falsifying or hiding sensitive parts of a financial report to make company records look good. Or giving bribes to get vital information about competitors. Being morally or ethical may seem to have negative impact on a firm in the short-run, but in the long-run, it is still the best option. Competition: PwC is the market leader in the professional services industry; the company strives to maintain that position for as long as forever. The industry has a very high level of rivalry; therefore, in order to maintain that position, PwC has to constantly be ahead of the competition. In implementing this strategy, PwC has to ensure that ethical, moral and legal steps are taken. This is not always easy because it yields slower results. For example, PwC could decide to directly or indirectly bad-mouth other firms to their clients so as to win them over. Or release private information regarding its clients to prospective ones in order to win them over. Recruitment: Finding a balance between the organisations commitment to improving the society by reducing unemployment and achieving corporate strategy by employing high quality staff is not always easy. PwCs has a rigorous recruitment process which does not leave room for private interest as everything is done right. But it also seeks to improve the society by hiring and training. LEGISLATION AND CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is guided by a number of laws, regulations, standards and principles: The Global Compact: The Ten Principles: CSR in PwC is based on a set of principles listed by USB (2012): Human Rights Principle 1: Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights within their sphere of influence; and Principle 2: make sure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses. Labour Standards Principle 3: Businesses should uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining; Principle 4: the elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labour; Principle 5: the effective abolition of child labour; and Principle 6: eliminate discrimination in respect of employment and occupation. Environment Principle 7: Businesses should support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges; Principle 8: undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility; and Principle 9: encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies Anti-Corruption Principle 10: Businesses should work against all forms of corruption, including extortion and bribery. CSR in PwC is also governed by a number of national and international norms and standards. Four pre-dominant ones explained by Stanislavska et al (2010) are: SA 8000 SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY Social Responsibility: It is a certification norm which sets requirements in the area of child labour, forced labour, BOZP, discrimination, work hours, right to congregation and evaluation. It was created by Social Accountability International (SAI), a non beneficial non-governmental organisation in the US. The SA8000 specifies the requirements for corporate social responsibility in 9 areas: Child Labour, Forced and Compulsory Labour, Health and Safety, Freedom of Association Right to Collective Bargaining, Discrimination, Disciplinary Practices, Working Hours, Remuneration and Management Systems (SA 8000, 2012). AA 1000 ASSURANCE STANDARD: AccountAbilitys AA1000 series are principles based standards to help organisations become more accountable, responsible and sustainable. They address issues affecting governance, business models and organisational strategy, as well as providing operational guidance on sustainability assurance and stakeholder engagement (AA1000, 2008). It also includes: constructing socially responsible strategies; methods of communication with involved parties; ethical audit; choice of indicators and CSR reporting etc. ISO 26000: International Organisation for Standardization (ISO) is an independent organisation concerned with the creation of international standards for industry. ISO standards are voluntary mechanisms managed by market and as such they can be realized by private economic organisations. ISO 26000 aims to assist organisations and their network in addressing their social responsibilities and providing practical guidance related to SR, identifying and engaging with stakeholders and enhancing credibility of reports and claims made about SR. Furthermore, the standard aims to: emphasize performance results and improvements; increase customer satisfaction and confidence; promote common terminology in the SR field; be consistent, and not in conflict, with existing documents; treaties, conventions and other ISO standards (Castka and Balzarova, 2008). Some PwC firms have been accredited with a number of other ISOs including ISO 14001 environmental management systems and ISO 27001 information security management system. OECD GUIDELINES FOR MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISES: The Guidelines are recommendations addressed by governments to multinational enterprises. They provide voluntary principles and standards for responsible business conduct consistent with applicable laws. The Guidelines aim to ensure that the operations of these enterprises are in harmony with government policies, to strengthen the basis of mutual confidence between enterprises and the societies in which they operate, to help improve the foreign investment climate and to enhance the contribution to sustainable development made by multinational enterprises (OECD, 2011). Code of Conduct (PwC, 2011): PwC also has a code of conduct based on its core values (excellence, teamwork and leadership) that govern corporate social responsibilities in all its firms around the world. It covers topics such as behaving professionally, respecting others and corporate citizenship. It also includes a summary of ethical questions that should guide employees: Is it against PwC or professional standards? Does it feel right? Is it legal? Will it reflect negatively on you or PwC? Who else could be affected by this (others in PwC, clients, you, etc.)? Would you be embarrassed if others knew you took this course of action? Is there an alternative action that does not pose an ethical conflict? How would it look in the newspapers? What would a reasonable person think? Can you sleep at night? CONCLUSION No firm operating either locally or internationally should ignore the importance of corporate social responsibility. Although sometimes it may seem to be in conflict with corporate strategy, in the long run, it is of great benefit to any firm. Proper attention should be paid to the laws and regulations that govern CSR. There are many of them; as much as possible, organisations should seek to abide by all of them. Also, companies can develop their own code of conduct based on these laws and its mission, vision and values. This would make it much easier to abide by.

homelessness Essay -- essays research papers

All over America, there are people wandering the streets without a home. These individuals are seen as a crowd, a separate collective existence. They are called the homeless, as if that defines who they are, but we too often neglect to add the unspoken word in that title: people. It seems today that the more fortunate citizens of America who have a roof over their heads have forgotten their innate responsibility to watch over those in this world whom are incapable of caring for themselves. Tragically, â€Å"thirty to fifty percent of the homeless have severe mental illnesses† (Torrey 1). These individuals live life in such a way that few people in this world could possibly even begin to compare their hardships. The fact that they survive completely independently, most without the medication they need, is bewildering. The problems resulting from the lack of attention given to the homeless who are mentally ill can be solved through the establishment of better health clinics, an d stricter laws involving patient care. If more clinics were to be established specializing in the mental health of the homeless, then the attention could be given to them that they need. E. Fuller Torrey, author of â€Å"The Homeless Mentally Ill Should Be Forced To Receive Treatment† describes the habits and reasons for the incredible amount of mentally ill homeless: â€Å"They sleep, importune strangers, gesture to imaginary accomplices, shout angrily at the wind, forage through cans, and sit quietly with glazed ey...

Sylvia Plath’s Mourning and Creativity Essay -- Sylvia Plath

Sylvia Plath’s Mourning and Creativity Abstract In this article, I concentrate on the connection between mourning and creativity in Sylvia Plath’s work. Melanie Klein postulates that the pain of mourning and the reparation experienced in the depressive position is the basis of creative activity. Through creative activity, one can restore lost internal and external objects and lost happiness. I argue that Plath’s work is an example of Klein’s idea that artists’ creative products represent the process of mourning. For Plath, art -- in her case, writing -- was a compensation for loss, especially the loss of her father. She seems to have continued writing as her exercise in mourning and reparation trying to regain not only her bereaved father but also her internal good object which was lost when her father died. Through her writing, Plath attempted to enrich her ego with the father-object. Keywords: Sylvia Plath, Melanie Klein, mourning, creativity, reparation In her paper, â€Å"Mourning and its Relation to Manic-Depressive States,† Melanie Klein claims that the work of mourning is a reliving of the early depressive position. I would like to quote Klein's account: My experience leads me to conclude that, while it is true that the characteristic feature of normal mourning is the individual's setting up the lost loved object inside himself, he is not doing so for the first time but, through the work of mourning, is reinstating that object as well as all his loved internal objects which he feels he has lost. He is therefore recovering what he had already attained in childhood. (Klein, 1988a, p. 362) According to Klein's hypothesis, the loss of the present object in the external world brings with it the mourner's unc... ...lath, 2000, p. 300). Works Cited Arnold, Matthew, The Poems of Matthew Arnold, ed. by Kenneth Allott, 2nd ed. by Miriam Allott (London: Longman, 1979). Ellmann, Maud, ed., Psychoanalytic Literary Criticism (London/ New York: Longman, 1994). Melanie Klein, Love, Guilt and Reparation (London: Virago, 1988a). ---, Envy and Gratitude (London: Virago, 1988b). Plath, Sylvia, Letters Home: Correspondence 1950-1963, ed. by Aurelia Schober Plath (London: Faber, 1976). ---, Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams and Other Prose Writings (London: Faber, 1979). ---, Collected Poems of Sylvia Plath, ed. by Ted Hughes (New York: Harper & Row, 1981). ---, The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath, ed. by Karen V. Kukil (New York: Random House, 2000). Segal, Hanna, â€Å"A Psycho-Analytical Approach to Aesthetics,† International Journal of Psycho-Analysis vol. 33 (1952).

Native Americans- Minority Role Essay example -- essays research paper

Thesis Since the arrival of the Europeans in 1492 the Native American has systematically been dehumanized, decivilized and redefined into terms that typify a subordinate or minority role, restricted life opportunities persist today as a result. I. Introduction-Majority/Minority group relations- the role of power II. Historical Overview A. Native American life before contact with the White man. B. Early contact, efforts at peaceful co-existence. C. Conflict and its consequences for Native Americans III. The continuing role of power A. Control techniques used by the majority group B. Native American life today, SES, housing, education, etc. Power and Minority Group Position: The Case of Native Americans Majority/Minority group relations can be illustrated by studying the role of power and how it is distributed between groups. The majority, or group that wields the most power, directly affects the circumstances for the minority. In most cases power struggle leads to racial and ethnic inequality. This scenario describes the case of the Native Americans. Since the arrival of the Europeans in 1492 the Native American has systematically been dehumanized, decivilized and redefined into terms that typify a subordinate or minority role, restricted life opportunities persist today as a result (Farley, 2000). When European settlers arrived on American shores to settle a New World, around 7 million Native Americans had been settled in the wilderness north of present-day Mexico for some time. It is believed that the first Native Americans arrived during the last Ice Age, approximately 20,000 - 30,000 years ago, by crossing the Bering Strait from northeastern Siberia into Alaska. Over thousands of years, â€Å"spiritual kin-based communities† had survived by living off the land and bartering goods. Their diversity was reflected by their societies, which ranged from small, mobile bands of hunter-gatherers in the Great Basin to temple-mound builders in the Southeast (DiBacco, 1995). The encounter of early explorers with the people of the Americas would ultimately set in motion the destruction of long existing Native American life and culture. Engrained into the minds of the Europeans were prejudiced images and stereotypes of the Native Americans, which we struggle still today to eradica... ...ypes. Even still, today’s 2.1 million Native Americans have proved their resilience by surviving oppression in a world dominated by other races and cultures. Unlike other minorities who have fought for equal rights in American society, Native Americans have fought to retain their land and cultures and have avoided assimilation, at a hefty cost. Works Cited Bataille, Gretchen. The Pretend Indians: Images of Native Americans in the Movies. Iowa State University, Ames: 1980 Berkhofer, Robert F. The White Man's Indian. Alfred A. Knopf Publishers, New York, 1978. DiBacco, Thomas V., Lorna C. Mason, and Christian G. Appy. History of The United States. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1995. Keohane, Sonja. â€Å"The Reservation Boarding School System in the United States, 1870-1928.† http://www.twofrog.com. 3/19/2005 Jordan,Winthrop D. and Leon F. Litwack. The United States. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1991. Todd, Lewis Paul and Merta Curti. Triumph of the American Nation. Orlando: Harcourt Brace Joranovich, Inc., 1986. Zinn, Howard. A People’s History of the United States. New York: Harper-Collins, 1980. Farley, John. Majority-Minority Relations. New Jersey: Prentice Hall,2000.

Gender Factor Of Ill Health Health And Social Care Essay

These stereotyped outlooks are normally referred to as gender functions. Gender affects many facets of life, specially. In this article I ‘ll concentrate on depicting how gender is a critical determiner of wellness and unwellness and how gender determines the differential power of commanding work forces and adult females over the their wellness and lives, their societal place, position and intervention in society and their susceptibleness and exposure to specific wellness hazards. Besides I will advert the differences between work forces and adult females from a wellness position, beside its relation with nursing ( Rodney K, 2000 ) . Many research workers, including life scientists, sociologists, have attempted to explicate some of the grounds why differences in illness occur. Sociological accounts frequently focus on life manner differences. For illustration, females may be treated as the weaker sex in some states and their medical concerns may be downplayed or ignored. Limited fiscal resorts may restrict entree to wellness attention installations. Women ‘s function as the primary attention giver of the kids may hold both positive and negative impacts on her wellness. If the adult female stays at place to raise her household, she may hold less exposure to occupational jeopardies such as chemicals in the workplace ( McGuire, 2002 ) . On the other manus, she may hold higher exposure to household indoor air pollutants. She may besides hold less contact with people with whom she may be able to vent her concerns and Frustration. Differences in behaviours may besides play a function in differences in p prevalence of disease. Males tend to be hazard takers, tobacco users, and devour intoxicant more to a great extent than adult females. Men tend to be more loath to encompass prevent I on schemes. This has contributed to the spread of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. Dietary differences, with adult females devouring less protein and Ca, may lend to anemia and increased osteoporosis hazard in females ( Abreu, Jose M, 2001 ) . Gender differences occur peculiarly in the rates of common wellness upsets – depression, anxiousness and bodily ailments and deceasing. These upsets, in which adult females predominate, affect about 1 in 3 people in the community and represent a serious public wellness job. It is well-known that in most developed states adult females outlive work forces. In 1996 in the UK a miss ‘s life anticipation at birth is higher than male child ‘s life anticipation. Although the ratio of male to female births ( 1:1.05 in 1991 ) might look to give males an advantage, males in fact have higher rates of decease ( Meltzer H, 1995 ) . There are many differences that account for work forces and adult females regard wellness issues, but far off from medical side, traditional gender functions define maleness as holding power and being in control in emotional state of affairss, in the workplace, and in sexual relationships. Acceptable male behaviours include fight, independency, assertiveness, aspiration, assurance, stamina, choler, and even force. Traditional muliebrity is defined as being nurturing, supportive, and delegating high precedence to one ‘s relationships. Womans are expected to be emotionally expressive, dependent, inactive, concerted, warm, and accepting of subsidiary position in matrimony and employment. Competitiveness, assertiveness, choler, and force are viewed as unfeminine and are non by and large tolerated as acceptable female behaviour ( Baljit M, 1995 ) . Furthermore there are many differences in male and female respect wellness issue get clearer, discernible and reaches a extremum in late adolescence and early maturity. Plenty of surveies have shown that those differences are in some facets of wellness non all. The British Health and Lifestyle Survey showed an extra in adult females of depression and jobs with nervousnesss, and as a group, sometimes differences could be obvious in certain symptoms, such as concerns and fatigue are some sorts of wellness jobs. Another survey from WHO showed that Women are more likely to seek aid from and unwrap wellness jobs to their primary wellness attention doctor while work forces are more likely to seek specializer wellness attention and are the chief users of inmate attention ( Rosenfield S, 1989 ) . Work forces are more likely than adult females to unwrap jobs with intoxicant usage to their wellness attention supplier. In one of the experiments done in one of the Americans laps on one 1000 work forces and adult females, the consequences showed that adult females have a higher prevalence for haemorrhoids at most ages, and of arthritis and rheumatism at older ages ; but it besides suggested a male surplus of digestive upsets, asthma and back problem in younger maturity, and as expected a male surplus in bosom disease at older ages. Other consequences pointed out that work forces in the United States suffer more terrible chronic conditions and have higher decease rates for all 15 prima causes of decease, and die about seven old ages younger than adult females. Another research proved that adult females who have small instruction are less likely to have wellness attention, particularly prenatal attention and aid from trained wellness forces during the bringing of their babes. More a dult females with no instruction reported costs as a barrier to seeking wellness attention ( CDHS, 2000 ) . In add-on to all above, technological and medical progresss may hold an impact on the result of disease intervention between the sexes. For old ages, females w e rhenium excluded from drug tests, partially due to the fright of inauspicious foetal results if the female would go on to go pregnant while on an Investigational drug. It was frequently assumed ( on occasion falsely ) that females would react to the drug the same as males. However, females today are now more likely to be included in drug tests and the consequences of these tests may demo that females react likewise or otherwise to a drug. Likewise, some surgical interventions may be more technically hard on females due to smaller organ or blood vas size. This may do more surgical complications and lead to increased morbidity or mortality rates in females. As surgical techniques better, one may observe the complication rate differences between the sexes to decrease ( K Hinds, 2001 ) . However, health-related beliefs and behaviours are of import subscribers to these differences. Men by and large are more likely than adult females to follow beliefs and behaviours that increase their hazards, and are less likely to prosecute in behaviours that are linked with wellness. There are a figure of possible beliefs and accounts for differences in work forces ‘s and adult females ‘s wellness have been put frontward. These include biological hazards, acquired hazards associating to different behaviours or exposures, and differences in the leaning to acknowledge unwellness and to describe symptoms of ill-health, and different entree to, and usage of, wellness attention ( Petticrew K, 1973 ) . Furthermore, gender differences in wellness and wellness attention are good documented. Women by and large experience poorer wellness than work forces, although some surveies have shown that the way and magnitude of gender differences in wellness may change harmonizing to the peculiar wellness result. Determinants of gender differences in wellness include biological ( e.g. familial and hormonal factors ) , psychological ( e.g. gender images and individualities, chronic stressors ) , behavioural ( smoke, imbibing, feeding, physical exercising ) and societal factors ( e.g. societal support, socio-economic position ) . Research on forms of wellness attention use suggests that, in general, adult females have higher use rates of medical services than work forces, after commanding for wellness results, although differences might be little. Assorted accounts for adult females ‘s greater service usage have been suggested: differences in societal function, wellness cognition, wellness p osition, sensitiveness to symptoms, willingness to describe wellness jobs, credence of aid seeking, conformity with intervention ( Sabo D, 1995 ) . In amount, adult females have more frequent unwellness and disablement, but It is well-known that in most developed states adult females outlive work forces, but the jobs are typically non serious ( life endangering ) 1s. In contrast, work forces suffer more from life endangering diseases, and these do more lasting disablement and earlier decease for them. One sex is â€Å" sicker † in the short tally, and the other in the long tally. There is no contradiction between the wellness and mortality statistics since both points to more serious wellness jobs for work forces ( Gordon DF, 1995 ) .

Killing Custer Book Review Essay

From time to time, a book of true historical significance is written on a subject that has been written on almost endlessly. The Battle of the Little Big Horn is one of the most written about, speculated on, celebrated, talked about, and glorified events in American History. Popularly known as â€Å"Custer’s Last Stand†, it has been the subject of many films, documentaries, novels, and was even re-enacted at every Wild West Show put on by Buffalo Bill Cody. In the work Killing Custer: The Battle of Little Bighorn and the Fate of the Plains Indians, Welch and Stekler do an excellent job in the subject matter at hand, and come to the correct conclusion that this battle, which was a huge military disaster for the United States, directly resulted in an even greater disaster for the Indian victors who won it: that is, total defeat and total subjugation. The first chapter sets up the massacre of the Blackfeet on the Marias River, James Welch and Paul Stekler have done a magnificent job in researching and putting forth, a new book on this subject that has been so written about. Citing much of the new discoveries, that is archeology, and the Indian accounts, Welch was originally contacted by Stekler to do a script for a documentary for PBS’s â€Å"American Experience: Last Stand at Little Bighorn†. They worked on it together, and that particular one hour documentary was excellent. Feeling that he hadn’t exhausted the subject, Welch delved more deeply into it, and wished to write a book on the subject. â€Å"Killing Custer† was the result, and it is quite excellent indeed. It is a stunning and thrilling read from cover to cover. The information is not wholly new, but Welch and Stekler combine all of the newest discoveries into one stirring volume, and they stress the narratives, which in the past were largely discarded and disclaimed, of the Indian accounts of the battle, after all, they were the ones who survived it! The authors rightly put the battle into its historical perspective, pointing out that this huge defeat of the United States Military led directly to the total subjugation and defeat of the Plains Indians, putting them on reservations once and for all, with the final defeat and insult at Wounded Knee, the massacre that was so unnecessary and so tragic.

Divorce and Its Effect on Children

Divorce and its Effect on Children Sociology 120 Wednesday December 7, 2011 My research paper is focusing on how divorced parents affect children. I am focusing mostly on how the child is affected behaviorally, emotionally, and academically. I chose this topic not because my parents are divorced, but because I will be getting married at the end of this month and I thought this would be interesting. I believe that in many cases, divorce is not needed and that the parents should work a little harder and sacrifice to have better relationships with each other and their children.The question I want to answer is if children are affected by the divorce of their parents, and if so, how much. My hypothesis is that children of divorced parents are negatively affected behaviorally, emotionally, and academically. I felt like it was better to focus specifically on these three areas so I could better measure what it is to be negatively affected by divorce. After I first chose this topic to researc h and use for my paper, I started off with the general question in mind of does divorce affect children. I used the LCC library resources online to start gathering information.It was after I spent a while gathering information that I discovered that my topic was too broad and that to more effectively answer the question I was seeking, I needed to narrow down my topic. I looked at the research I had collected from online, newspaper articles, and academic journals, and found a few reoccurring themes. These themes of children of divorced parents being affected emotionally, behaviorally, and academically are the ones I would like to address in my paper. Divorce has become a very common element in today’s society.When more than half of all divorces involve children under the age of 18, divorce does not only affect the husband and wife, but now more than ever their children get mixed up in the sometimes ugly process of divorce. Every year more than one million children experience t he divorce of their parents, and overall close to 40% of all children will experience parental divorce before they turn 18(Amato). Emotional damage is most likely the hardest effect to identify and diagnose with children of divorced parents because it can be hard to measure and is not something that can easily be see.An article in American Journal of Family Law entitled â€Å"The Psychological Impact of Divorce on Children: What is a Family Lawyer to do? † discusses a study that surveyed 1,000 teenagers between the ages of fourteen and eighteen. The study recorded their opinions on divorce and measured thoughts, feelings, and attitudes on the subject. Dr. Robert Gordon conducted the poll and named it the GordonPoll Youth Survey. The teenagers were asked about their parents’ arguing and 50% of the teens said it is â€Å"terrible. When asked what the arguing consisted of, 26% said that their parents’ arguments included â€Å"criticizing the other parent. † Another 35% said that their parents’ arguing included screaming, hitting, and â€Å"throwing stuff† (Jolivet). Dr. Robert Gordon stated after the results of the poll were collected and analyzed that, â€Å"Clearly, children are more deeply bothered by parent conflict than most adults think. While very few adults would scream, hit or throw things at their spouses, most married couples would admit that they at least occasionally disagree and criticize each other in front  of  their children.I’d like to think that these survey results would make them think twice about that† (Jolivet). Whether the parent’s are still together and fighting, or divorced and fighting, it is clear that the children who are caught in the middle of the parents’ feud are the ones who suffer the most. This same article discuses a list of factors that researchers have compiled together to help identify a high-conflict divorce that could have a more significant impact on a child.The factors that have been identified include â€Å"criminal convictions, involvement  of child welfare agencies in the dispute, several or frequent changes in lawyers, frequent court hearings, the overall length  of  time it takes for the case to settle, and a history  of  contact or timesharing denial† (Jolivet). The effects on children emotionally and behaviorally are roughly doubled when they are a part of a high-conflict divorce. These high-conflict situations should be avoided at all costs to ensure the emotional impact on the child is minimal.Studies have shown that children who are a part of these high-conflict divorces experience powerful negative emotions including, â€Å"chronic stress, insecurity, and agitation; shame, self-blame, and guilt; a chronic sense  of  helplessness; fears for their own physical safety; a sense  of  rejection, neglect, unresponsiveness, and lack  of  interest in the well being† (Jolivet). Luckily, most divorces would not be classified as a ‘high conflict,’ but that does not mean the emotional impact on children of divorce is nonexistent. At the very least, stress is a major problem that divorce has on a child.Robert Emery, Ph. D. is a Professor of Psychology and Director of the Center for Children, Families, and the Law at the University of Virginia. Emery has written numerous books on the subject of divorce and family relationships. An article he has written displays the results of a study he did on college students and the lasting impact divorce has had in their lives. Of the 99 students polled in this study, 73% admit that they would be a different person today if their parents had not divorced. Close to half also say that their parents’ divorce still causes struggles in their lives (Emery).Emery also says that besides stress being a major impact on children of divorce, the risk that they will have other affects is substantial. He says, â€Å"Divorce c learly increases the  risk  that children will suffer from psychological and behavioral problems. Troubled children are particularly likely to develop problems with anger, disobedience, and rule violations. School achievement also can suffer. Other children become sad for prolonged periods of time. They may become depressed, anxious, or become perhaps overly responsible kids who end up caring for their parents instead of getting cared for by them† (Emery).The article â€Å"The Psychological Impact of Divorce on Children: What is a Family Lawyer to do? † states a number of behavioral problems that are brought out in children who experience a high-conflict divorce. Some of the behavioral problems are defined as, â€Å"a group  of  behaviors which can be described as: lower commitment to marriage, infidelity, problems with anger management, feelings  of  insecurity, neediness, demandingness, denial and blame, contempt, and poor conflict resolution skills, high er levels  of  depression, and more problems with peers† (Jolivet). In comparison, Dr. Paul R.Amato of Pennsylvania State University compared the results of these studies to similar ones of children who have grown up in stable, two-parent families. The children of the stable families have a â€Å"higher standard of living,   receive more effective parenting, experience more cooperative co-parenting, are emotionally closer to both parents, and are subjected to fewer stressful events and circumstances† (Jolivet). Another study performed by Dr. Amato and Dr. Danelle D. DeBoer has shown that adults who have experienced the divorce of their own parents as children prove to have higher rates of divorce themselves. During the 17 ear study, 2,000 married individuals and 335 of their children who also got married were observed. The study revealed that divorces were seen more often among the adults that had parents of their own who had divorced. Dr. Amato commented on his s tudies with the theory that parents who had seen their own parents’ divorce saw divorce as a reasonable solution to an unhappy marriage. Dr. Amato does add that adults with divorced parents are not necessarily going to be doomed to divorce themselves, but that they may need to work a little harder to keep their own marriages from following the same path to divorce (Jolivet).Psychologist Judith Wallerstein, founder of the Judith Wallerstein Center for the Family in Transition, has conducted numerous interviews with children of divorce and to this day is dedicated to her qualitative method stating it is more personal and intimate. Wallerstein began her interviews back in 1971, directly after the no-fault divorce was passed in California. Divorce rates began rising as parents took advantage of this new law not taking into account the affect it would have. Wallerstein decided to start talking to the children about how the divorce affected them.Of the original 131 children she had when she started her project, she has continued contact with 93 of them. The children are now adults themselves and through her interviews she has determined that, â€Å"the major impact of divorce does not occur during childhood or adolescence, rather, it rises in adulthood as serious romantic relationships move center stage. When it comes time to choose a life mate . . . the effects of divorce crescendo† (Peterson). Wallerstein found that of the 93 adult children of divorce she has interviewed, only 40% have married.She says that the adult children of divorce expect to fail at marriage and that they fear â€Å"loss, conflict, betrayal and loneliness. † She also states, â€Å"That she is amazed that the children of divorce tell her divorce is with them every day of their lives† and â€Å"how much their parents' divorce shaped their adult years. † (Peterson). It’s plain to see that based on the results of these numerous studies, that divorce certa inly does play an important role in the lives of children of divorce both while they are still young and as they grow into adulthood.It not only affects their life as a child, but also their future. An article in the The Miami Times entitled â€Å"How divorce affects a child's education,† Fran Newman, author of â€Å"Children in Crisis† explains some of the ways a child’s education is affected by divorce. She states that it can be very difficult to detect the way divorce affects a child, but one of the more noticeable changes is in a child’s education. Whether the child begins acting out in class, or their grades drop, it is something that needs to be addressed. Newman encourages strong communication between home and school.She also adds that, â€Å"in recognizing that there's something wrong at home, teachers look for two things. One is a child who is normally energetic and outgoing withdraws. The other is the stable child who all of a sudden begins to act up and get into all sorts of problems† (Education). Are the differences in school because of the arguing that occurs at home, or the fact that the parents devote most of their time to the divorce, new spouse, or themselves instead of their children? Sara McLanahan, a sociologist at Princeton University, has done several studies measuring the academic effect divorce has on children.In one such study, McLanahan discovered that children of divorce are more likely to drop out of high school compared to children whose parents stay together. In her studies, she found that the middle-class is affected the most and that, â€Å"They are roughly three times as likely to drop out of high school if their parents split up. † She also found some interesting results that show how the children are affected as they grow into adulthood. In girls, she discovered that they are more likely to have a premarital birth, and boys have a higher chance of being unemployed (Divorce).Kathleen K iernan of the Family Policy Studies Centre and Martin Richards of Cambridge University have also done research of the lasting impact divorce has on children as they grow older. Their research however was focused on families in Great Britain where there are more records, some dating back to the 1950s, of how divorce impacts children as they grow into their 20s. These records confirm much of what McLanahan has shown in her studies of children as they move out of their teens. The studies done by Kiernan and Richards have confirmed that children of divorce are more likely to drop out of school and even leave their homes early.This leads to higher rates of early cohabitation and premarital birth. Kiernan’s and Richard’s work also suggests that children of divorced parents are less likely to attend a university (Divorce). Writer Diana Mahoney best described divorce when she said, â€Å"No  divorce  is a good  divorce, but when it comes to the kids, some  divorces  are clearly better than others† (Jolivet). It is clear that not all children of divorce are impacted the same ways as others, or as profoundly. Parents have the huge responsibility of caring for their children and many parents take this matter too lightly.Many steps should be taken before divorce is even an option, and too many parents see divorce as the only step when a relationship becomes a little shaky. If a divorce is absolutely necessary, it is the parents’ great responsibility to make sure the child always comes first no matter what. Works Cited Amato, Paul R. â€Å"The Consequences of Divorce for Adults and Children. †Ã‚  Journal of Marriage and Family  62. 4 (2000): 1269-87. ProQuest Central. Web. 4 Dec. 2011. â€Å"Divorce and Children: They Muck You Up. †Ã‚  The Economist  Mar 20 1993: 33-. ProQuest Central. Web. 6 Dec. 2011  . Emery, Robert E. How Divorce Affects Children. † The Truth about Children and Divorce. 2011. 05 Dec. 2011 http://www. emeryondivorce. com/ how_divorce_affects_children. php. â€Å"How Divorce Affects a Child’s Education. †Ã‚  Miami Times: 15B. Ethnic NewsWatch. 2011. Web. 4 Dec. 2011  . Jolivet, Kendra Randall. â€Å"The Psychological Impact of Divorce on Children: What is a Family Lawyer to do? †Ã‚  American Journal of Family Law  25. 4 (2012): 175-83. ProQuest Central. Web. 4 Dec. 2011. Peterson, Karen S. â€Å"Unhappily Ever After Children of Divorce Grow into Bleak Legacy. †Ã‚  USA TODAY: 01. D. ProQuest Central. Sep 05 2000. Web. 6 Dec. 2011  .